Harvesting items, newsworthy or not

 
My Introduction to Booze

kd's story about her experience with a daughter and an unidentified substance reminded me of this story of my pre-school days in Puerto Rico. We (Mom, a Navy wife; Dad, a Navy Lieut. J.G.; and myself) were living there while Dad was the public works officer on the Navy base at Roosevelt Roads. In those days (1953-1954), a Navy Lt. j.g. was paid relatively little, probably about $120/month. All housing was paid, of course, but families bought their own food and liquor on base. The Navy was pretty social in those days (and maybe still is), so there were parties to be hosted with that paycheck as well. That being the case, the social events were typically of the BYOB variety; the tipple of choice was rum (Puerto Rico, after all) or gin.

This particular event occurred on a Saturday or Sunday morning in the summer, after my parents had hosted one of these parties. It was hot, I was playing outdoors, and Dad was stirring around in the kitchen. He called out to me to ask if I was thirsty, and evidently I agreed, for there shortly appeared an aluminum tumbler (to this day I remember its color---bright purple) full of a clear liquid. I took a huge gulp, and immediately began to yell, "Dad, it burns!" Dad, naturally, came running. He gingerly sniffed the contents of the tumbler, took a small sip, and realized what had happened. One of the party-goers had, as budgets and tradition demanded, brought his own bottle of chosen drink the night before, and had left it in our fridge. Further investigation showed that the container was a 7-up bottle, but the contents were not as innocuous as that might imply. No indeed.

It was gin.
posted by Link Meister at 5:45 PM

 
The "wouldn't look right" gene appears to be bypassed the higher one gets in politics. What else could explain Gov. Racicot continuing to draw a salary from his former law firm, a heavy hitter on K Street? Enron almost appears to have been a shadow government in waiting; over thirty senior administration officials and ambassadors held significant numbers of shares in the firm. That's in addition to the cash contributions made to campaigns. And, once again, the Administration fuels the perception of cover-up; sticking to a stupid principle can burn you. And yet another instance of fueling those perceptions: It has taken nearly a week, but we now know the shape of the pretzel! Other ethics news: Merck reportedly will discontinue perks for docs. It has had the (perhaps unwarranted) appearance of bribery, sometimes.

Has "political correctness" run amok again? In the wake of the FDNY statue controversy, have another one in Brooklyn: Take down that Washington portrait! (Thanks again to Howard Kurtz for the link).

Here's a useful piece of software: from Belarc, Inc., a program which profiles your PC! Yup, click on the "Advisor" option and it lists all software/hardware (down to serial numbers, no less) for use in inventory management, control, or just satanic curiosity. The listing only goes to your PC; it ain't uploaded anywhere, btw.
posted by Link Meister at 5:44 PM

 
Broccoli sprouts safe! Phew! And, also from the daily press release file, how about a virtual career fair? Interesting concept; I hope it works.

Here's a fun "Today" show reminiscence from Bill Safire; aircraft carriers and medal presentations on live TV! More TV: Roy Blount, Jr. has a paean to Mark Twain; I've been watching the Ken Burns documentary, as has he. I wonder what Twain (or trust-buster Teddy Roosevelt, for that matter) would have made of this Smithsonian controversy? More pictures: video downloads raise copyright issues; the MPAA apparently thought that was the recording industry's problem; no more.

Another sidelight of the Enron debacle: the company tried to expand its broadband content to include sex videos. From oil pipelines to "dirty pictures;" what a leap! Enron continues to cast shadows; whatever happened to open government? "White House officials continue to believe there is no legal basis for Congress to demand information about meetings of the (Ed. note: energy) task force with business executives...".
posted by Link Meister at 3:24 PM

 
Um...no offense meant to any West Coast readers, but some of the views expressed here seem like just so much left-coast navel-gazing. California is, as we are all reminded frequently, the sixth or seventh largest economy in the world; why doubt your own relevance? Of more import, perhaps: the Fed's security agencies converge on Vegas, not to spy upon the undoubtedly subversive attendees at BlogCon, but to peruse the latest in techno-security apparatus. Speaking of security, there's a new career path out there for accounting-oriented geeks; computer forensics!

More accounting (yes, it appears dull, but...): anyone ever buy anything distributed by McKesson? The company's murky history encapsulated here! The Mob takes over pharma! I'd buy a history of that deal. Then there's the recording industry: "They are motivated by fear, greed and ineptitude." Gee; got anything new to say about them?
posted by Link Meister at 4:11 PM

 
Press pools I'd heard of; press "pens" is new to me. I should dig out my old copy of Sen. Fulbright's book; plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, it would appear. Power to the (wealthy) people, Part 2: doctors setting up "boutique" practices, which look like retainers to me. In a similar vein, if you've got the cash, you can find places like this for Alzheimer's patients. I don't know, it feels a little odd to me. A Norman Rockwell vision of the world as therapy? Then there is this example of "it's not what you know, it's who you know", as well as the Bush administration's continuing attitude that if Clinton approved it, it must be bad.

The office of the future? Hmmm...dunno if I want a desk telling me to get that memo out, stat!

Reading Jon's blog over the past two days has given me a serious case of Mainland envy. Yeah, yeah...living in Hawaii is wonderful, but...the ability to just get in a car and drive for 200-300 miles is something I really miss. Here we have kd, Ezrael, Skits, and possibly even Hoopty all casually deciding to meet in Santa Monica. Even if I wanted to meet somebody on Maui, it would take advance planning of several days, just to get the plane tix. Oh, well...have fun, guys!

posted by Link Meister at 4:15 PM

 
I can see the utility of an image database for the medical community, but my privacy antennae just quivered. More quivering: Howard Kurtz has this item. "Limbaugh has been talking to callers through a real-time transcription service that includes color coding for tone and ideology." Color-coding for ideology?!? I knew that red/blue electoral map would re-surface! In the same column, Bill O'Reilly bitches that NPR has never invited him to talk about either of his books. Gosh, a frustrated author!

". . .the UK is not a nation of hairy-handed sex fiends", at least according to Internet usage catalogers in the country. Shelagh, take heart! And all you contact lens wearers, a new material may reduce future infections.

Yet another Andersen/Enron memo leak: What the hell was their attorney thinking? Well, here's what Andersen says the lawyer was thinking. As usual, the attempted cover-ups make the initial mistake look twice as bad as it might otherwise have done.
posted by Link Meister at 6:20 PM

 
I may just not have been frequenting the right sites, but I wonder why I've not heard of Amazon's Honor System before? Viewers/readers of a website can voluntarily pay to help maintain the site, using Amazon as an intermediary. The author/content provider gets 85% of each buck contributed, while Amazon takes the remaining 15% as a service fee. It is apparently a growing service, with multiple categories of providers using it. Hey, Soup Lady! Under Health and Home, they've got recipe sites!

Speaking of recipes:

I am a mystery novel fan. Among my favorites is Nero Wolfe, created by Rex Stout. Wolfe is a gourmet, and food is often mentioned in the books. After about the first thirty stories, there was a clamor, or at least a perceived need, for a cookbook containing recipes for some of the meals mentioned in the fiction. The book was originally published in 1973 by Viking Press. It had been on my Christmas wish-list for easily 25 years, as it had gone out of print. Then, about two years ago, Viking put out a new edition; I snapped up a copy through Amazon, passing the word to several friends who had also been looking for it. Here's a sampling of one of the simpler items from the book: it's called Hedgehog Omelet.

6 large eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup blanched chopped almonds
1/2 tsp. Grand Marnier
4 strips bacon
2 Tbsp. blanched slivered almonds
5 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. marmalade

Separate the eggs; beat yolks until fairly thick. Add salt to the yolks. Beat the whites until they hold stiff peaks, then fold them into the yolks. Put the chopped almonds into a bowl, add Grand Marnier, and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Fry bacon until crisp; drain and crumble. Add the bacon and chopped almonds to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly.

Before cooking omelets, saute slivered almonds in a Tbsp. of butter; melt the remaining butter in a separate pan. Now cook the omelets as usual; spread marmalade into the center before folding. After they are folded and rolled onto a warm plate, brush with the melted butter, then stick the sauteed almonds into the omelets to look like bristles. Glaze under a hot broiler, and serve immediately.

If you want this for Sunday breakfast, replace the Grand Marnier with lemon or almond extract instead.

Sounds harder than it really is, folks. Enjoy.
posted by Link Meister at 6:40 PM