![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In lieu of actual words
Feb. 21st, 2013 05:27 pmBecause 3-D printing just boggles the hell out of me.
Check out the article for a photo of the ear that was grown. It looks very ear-like.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
Fly-by post
Dec. 27th, 2012 03:24 pmSpam header of the day: “A complete line of products for failures in bed.”
Not much of a market for those, I would think.
In Real Science(TM) news, a spider has been discovered that builds decoy spiders, legs and all, possibly to deter predators.
Hope everyone who celebrates had a good Christmas, and everyone who doesn’t a nice vacation day. Mine was quiet. Cooking got short shrift for a number of reasons, but dinner still turned out surprisingly well. The initial plan was roast chicken with mashed parsnips and roasted carrots, but I lacked the time/energy. So.
Peeled and chopped the parsnips and carrots into roughly equal-sized pieces. Added two chopped onions. A couple of stalks of wilted celery I didn’t want to toss. Mixed it all in a bowl and tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Sautéed on medium heat until almost but not quite soft. Added bone-in chicken breasts, herbes de Provence, and chicken stock, and braised until the chicken was done. Removed chicken. Mashed veggies, which by this point were mushy, with butter, cream, and a tablespoon of cognac.
I served this with stuffing, but it didn’t need it. Forgot the cranberry sauce, and didn’t miss it. The chicken picked up the flavor of the veggies, and stayed moist. Call it Braised Chicken Breasts w/ Puree of Root Vegetables. Whatever you call it, it’s a keeper.
In other news, WordPress site is still getting killed with spam. I’ve gotten more in the last couple of months than I did in the last year and a half. Akismet snags the bulk of it, but still. How many counterfeit designerwear sites are there out there?
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
Though I think I’d get even less work done than I do already if my office furniture started messing with me.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
Dogs Teaching Chemistry!
Nov. 17th, 2012 03:38 pm(h/t to A Blog Around the Clock)
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
I can’t keep up with the changes over at Madame Agent’s critique auction for Sandy relief. We’re currently looking at the possibility of 4 critiques, with 4 folks donating $1500 each. Tune in tomorrow to see how it all shakes out.
King had a restless couple of hours this evening that I think was caused by an upset stomach. He seemed fine when I came home. I admit that I did give him a couple of biscuits, a new brand that might not have agreed with him. After a few minutes, the restlessness hit–he paced, drank water, and wanted to go outside. He went to the bathroom. He seemed anxious and a little clingy.
I had to give him his chemo tablets, so I did. I also gave him 10mg famotidine in case he had heartburn. I then fed him some chicken breast and rice. He remained restless for another half hour or so. Then he finally settled. He’s sleeping now.
I, on the other hand, am now the one feeling restless and edgy.
When I take King in for his next follow-up, I am going to ask about the best way to handle an upset stomach. I’d like to have something on hand to give him when it hits.
I hate when something like this happens now because I worry that it could snowball.
I need a cookie.
In other news, I just watched two minutes of STAR WARS–Episode 3. It was all I could take.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
I love stories like this. The reality that there are tiny, tiny corners of the world that contain plants or animals that exist nowhere else.
This story begins with a cliff-hanger. On the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountains, around 850 metres above sea level, two adjacent cliff faces hold the entire population of Borderea chouardii – one of the world’s rarest plants. It’s a small herb that grows into crevices in the rock. Its leaves are heart-shaped and its flowers green and unassuming. There are around 10,000 individuals here, all growing on a square kilometre of vertical rock.
In 1973, I visited London for the first and, to this point, only time**. During that visit, I took a bus tour of Hampton Court and Windsor Castle.
Our very voluble guide took care to point out unique items, such as the notch in an outer wall–I have forgotten whether it at Hampton or Windsor–that marked the height of Cromwell’s tallest soldier. But there was something else he said that I remember, and I swear I am not misremembering even though I was 15yo at the time and not as engaged in soaking it all in and looking at all the old stuff as I would be, say, today. He said that there was a tree in the garden–again, I don’t recall at which site–that did not grow anywhere else in the world. I recall the phrase “Eden tree,” but *that* could be misremembrance. I have searched online every so often for information about the gardens, but have yet to find any reference to a unique tree.
**not counting a couple of quick jaunts through Heathrow on the way to and from connecting flights to Glasgow/Intersection ’95.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
Shakespeare’s English
Feb. 14th, 2012 07:25 pmIt’s 10 and a half minutes, which is longish for a You Tube clip. But it’s a fascinating discussion of Shakespeare’s plays being performed in the English of the time, aka Original Pronunciation. Rhymes that didn’t in Modern English rhyme once more. Puns pop out where before, the modern pronunciations obscured them.
Thanks to Jeffrey Richard over at Facebook for the link.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
In lieu of actual content
Dec. 18th, 2011 10:42 amCool links by way of Ed Yong’s weekly link round-up:
There’s something about the look on the lizard’s face. It has a “you’re going to post this on You-Tube, aren’t you?” resigned air about it.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
Once again, in lieu of actual content
Nov. 23rd, 2011 08:51 amSix servings of Thanksgiving factology, courtesy of DiscoverBlog
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
In lieu of actual content
Nov. 13th, 2011 10:24 pmAn absolutely marvelous time-lapse video of the Earth, taken from the ISS.
Gacked from Bad Astronomy.
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
Saints with White Hot Hammers
Oct. 11th, 2011 08:21 pmOver at Atlas Obscura, it’s Day 11 of the 31 Days of Halloween. Today’s entry discusses St. Foy, who sounds as though she would be right at home in a Discworld novel.
In life, St. Foy was one of many young Christians who was martyred for her faith by the Roman Empire, but it was several hundred years after her execution that her life got really interesting…Even when she was helping people, she often couldn’t resist tormenting them, so much so that in town her miracles were known as “St. Foy’s jokes.”
What follows is the tale of how St. Foy aided a knight with a herniated scrotum. I’ll let you read it over there.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
I got nuthin’
Oct. 6th, 2011 09:33 pmLacking the mental wherewithal to compose an actual post, I will have to fall back on a newly-discovered Cool Link: Atlas Obscura. I mean, who couldn’t use a “definitive guide to the world’s odd & unusual places”?
Over on the blog page, they’re counting down the 31 Days of Halloween:
On Atlas Obscura this month, every day is Halloween. Stop by the blog every day this month for true tales of the unquiet dead. Come for the severed heads, stay for the book bound in human skin. Every story is true, and each one is a real place you can visit. We dare you.
Today’s tale is The Corpse Bride of Portugal.
Two years later the heartbroken prince ascended the throne, and, in an act that may indicate just how unhinged he became as a result of her death, Pedro has Ines’ body exhumed, dressed, and placed in the queen’s throne. Allegedly, he then required all of the members of his court to address Ines as his wife, kiss her skeletal hand, and declare their allegiance to the happy couple. Unsurprisingly, the court obeyed.
Yup, it’s a love story.
Mirrored from Kristine Smith.
