Fortune Cookie # 637

A bargain is not a bargain
unless you can use the product.

Anagama Moon

Arriving for my shift I had to take a moment to marvel...


KilnMoon
Originally uploaded by william_meloney

Religion: A Convenient Belief

H.L.Mencken once said “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”

...and he wants his beliefs to be safe as well.

I won't stop climbing mountains...

...but I have little desire to climb the same ones twice.

I am not my work...

...any more than a potter is one of her pots or a psychologist is one of his patients.

Sadly men and I now assume a goodly number of women attempt to classify each other with the off-hand question, "So, what do you do?"

From personal experience this is a form of the age old Alpha-(fe)male-posturing behavior. Lacking, as I am, the social graces to make pleasant conversational small talk I simply fall back on to the convenience of finding my place by asking the newcomer what he or she does. I can then quickly assess how low I must bow or what subtle level of contempt I may allow myself to have for this person.

Unfortunate!

Unfortunately we have given the convenience such simple social posturing the upper hand in our lives. Now we allow ourselves to "be" what we do. Some even go so far as to obscure our real lives behind the facade of our "doing".

Breaking out of this circumstance is very difficult. I know full well the discomfort that I felt (feel) when an acquaintance that I am on comfortable speaking terms with has repeatedly refused to define himself by what he does.

The Painted Bird is a controversial 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosiński which describes the world as seen by a young boy, "considered a Gypsy or Jewish stray," who wanders about small towns scattered around Central or Eastern Europe (presumably Poland) during World War II.

Kosiński, when asked how he could speak so distantly and unaffectionately about such a intimate and seemingly autobiographical work stated simply, "It no longer belongs to me."

The Zen of ... the Biscuit

“Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.”
~ Carl Sandburg

I have recently taken up the quintessential meditation - trancendental biscuitry. Requiring the clearing of one's mind. Necessary is mise en place - the gathering and placement of the ingredients. Then comes the ritual. Turn off the monkey-mind, clear away the baggage of the day. Unfocus, so as to see clearly.

Let the hands work without condition. Allow the biscuit to be - in its before form. Embrace the inner biscuit. Do not clutch at it or insist that it conform. Ask it to manifest its biscuitness. Go along with the biscuit for its journey not yours. Then surrender the biscuit to the mother oven. Leave it there to become. The biscuit will tell you when you both have arrived.

Always remember that it is not a light flakey morsel but the biscuit becoming that we seek.

---

Today's meditation was gracious and forgiving. Having misread the recipe (yes, I am still bound by the written word - it is only my third time after all) I tripled the salt but then removed half. Instead of using my trusty wooden spoon I opted for an industrial spatula. With it I applied the very minimum number of folds to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients which included a table spoon of chrisp (real) bacon bits and a 1/4 cup of chedar cheese.

Turned out on the lightly dusted counter I applied only 8 kneads and then patted the dough to the desired thickness. I have opted for the 1/2 pint mason jar as my cutter - the only drawback is the vaccuum that prevents the newly cut biscuit from plopping back out. Perhaps a bit more flouring is in order.

Each biscuit then went "face" down on the baking sheet. 10 minutes at 420-something (really do need to acquire a proper oven thermometer). Then an extra 1 minute. I assume that the cheese made for the slight sticking to the sheet pan but they came up cleanly with a serving spatula. Then on to a cooling rack so their bottoms wouldn't steam into paste.

Pork fat rulez! Everything is better with bacon.

2008 Political Retrospective...Bork, bork bork!

Making an informed choice would have been so much easier if I had seeen this then...

“Ada Lovelace Day” Pledge

Pledge “AdaLovelaceDay”

"I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same."

— Suw Charman-Anderson (contact)

Madams Curie and Meloney...

The following is reproduced with the gracious permission of the

The Marie Curie Radium Campaign

HE NEVER OVERCAME STAGE FRIGHT as a professor, though she taught for nearly 30 years. Yet in order to turn the Radium Institute into a world-class institution, Curie shamelessly sought out assistance, just as she had done during the war years to create the radiological service. Throughout her career Curie had benefitted from the subsidies of wealthy French benefactors. Now, thanks to the interest of an American woman, U.S. citizens also became involved in filling the needs of the Radium Institute.

“[Curie], who handles daily a particle of radium more dangerous than lightning, was afraid when confronted by the necessity of appearing before the public.”--Stéphane Lauzanne, editor-in-chief of Le Matin

Despite her distrust of journalists, in May 1920 Curie agreed to give an interview to Mrs. William Brown Meloney, editor of an American women's magazine. In the interview Curie emphasized the needs of her institution, where research was just resuming following the devastating war. Thanks to her alliance with industry, few labs in the world if any were better equipped with radium than Curie's. But Curie succeeded in shocking Meloney by emphasizing the fact that research and therapy centers in the United States together had about 50 times as much radium as the single gram she--the scientist who had discovered the element--had in her laboratory. When Meloney learned that Curie's most fervent wish was for a second gram for her laboratory, the editor organized a “Marie Curie Radium Campaign.”

Meloney, Irène, Marie and Eve shortly after their arrival in the United States, where the press dubbed Eve “the girl with the radium eyes.”

Led by a committee of wealthy American women and distinguished American scientists, the campaign succeeded by soliciting contributions in the United States. Meloney also arranged for Curie to write an autobiographical work for an American publisher. The book would provide royalty income over the years. Equally important, it would capture in simple and moving prose the romantic and heroic image of science that was so helpful for public support and fund-raising.

---

While I take certain pride in relating this anecdote I remind myself and you gentle reader that Madam Curie's hardest work, under the worst possible clinical circumstances, was done well before fame and fortune smiled upon her. Moreover, it is noteworthy that for all of Marie Curie's belief in the beneficence of radium as a gift to science and medicine its pursuit most certainly contributed to her general weakness and ill health.

---

A fine letter from Curie, written in English, to a major American benefactor, discussing her book – her own autobiography combined with a biography of her husband Pierre, her work at the Radium Institute in Paris, and her association with Indian leader Surendranath Banerjea.

Born Marya Sklodowska in Poland, Marie Curie made her scientific career in Paris, first with her husband Pierre and then on her own after his untimely death. Known for her investigation of radioactivity and the discovery of polonium and of radium, she won two Nobel Prizes, one in physics in 1903 along with Pierre and Henri Becquerel and one in chemistry in 1911. Following World War I, Curie devoted herself to the newly-opened Radium Institute at the University of Paris, and made it an international center for the study of radioactivity. For research there, however, she needed more radium, which had become extremely costly.

That deficiency was remedied through the efforts of Marie Mattingly Meloney (1878-1943), an American journalist and magazine editor who had long admired Curie and who learned of her laboratory’s need for radium during a May 1919 interview with her. Meloney organized a fund-raising campaign among American women to secure the $100,000 needed to purchase a gram of radium for Curie, and arranged for Curie to visit the United States in the spring of 1921 to be officially presented with the gift at a White House ceremony. Meloney also urged Curie to write her autobiography, and after much prodding, Curie agreed to do so, adding it as a supplement to the biography of Pierre Curie that she was then preparing. She discusses both parts of her book in the first half of this letter.

Long and substantive letters by Curie, in any language, are quite scarce, as are letters by her written in English. The combination of the two here makes this letter an exceptional rarity. $15,000.00

---

Catherine Barnes

P. O. Box 27782
Philadelphia, PA 19118
USA
Phone: 215-247-9240
Email: mail@barnesautographs.com

An old friend, half the world away...

"Mo" was a gift in 1974. He appeared as if summoned by an ancient incantation. His mischievous smile and quick wit would brightened the most Al-bone day. Then, as is often the case, he moved the tassel to the other side of the mortar board and disappeared almost as mysteriously as he had arrived. Left lingering in the air was the poetry of his name, Mohezin Tejani.

So on a lark I Googled Mo ... and just look what I found: The Chameleon's Tale.

Now you can apologize to Rush...

Now you can draft your own "apology" to Rush just like the pros do it. Best of all, we'll share your "apologies" with Rush personally.

Check it out >>

Olechko - Worthy of note

Sunday brunch at Campania

(Disclaimer: I have no vested interest in this artist's work I just like his paintings)

Lining everyone else's pockets...

Senate Stalls on Housing Bankruptcy Bill

Friday 13 March 2009

by: Kevin Drawbaugh and Corbett B. Daly | Visit article original @ Reuters

Mary Ann Herrera at her home in San Antonio. Legislation that could help homeowners is bogged down in the Senate. (Photo: Eric Gay / AP)

Washington - Legislation meant to help distressed U.S. homeowners by allowing bankruptcy courts to adjust the terms of mortgages on primary residences has stalled in the Senate, said congressional aides on Friday.

Democrats backing the bill - known as "cramdown" and opposed by most of the banking industry - have been unable to line up the 60 votes needed to clear the way procedurally for it to move ahead, the aides said.

"We're stuck in a place where we don't have 60 votes to pass the House bill as is," said an aide to a senior Democrat.

They can find it in their hearts to give BILLIONS to A.I.G. but they cannot help the guy on Main Street.

... and people wonder why, as a culture, we have such contempt and distrust of politicians!!!

From the department of HUH!?!?

Employee Free Choice Act as Stimulus for US Economy

Friday 13 March 2009

by: Seth Sandronsky, t r u t h o u t | Perspect

. . .

All things constant, the more a worker earns, the less she needs to borrow to get by.

. . .

In fairness Seth Sandronsky's article focused on the economic merits and faults of organized labor. But...

This single sentence epitomizes in my view the real problem of our economy. We as a nation have gotten to the point where we feel compelled to 'borrow to get by.'

'To get by' suggests to my mind a base level of economic existence. Having been independently poor for the majority of my life I believe that I have a well established sense of what it takes 'to get by.' I can say that it doesn't include a McMansion, a "bubble" salary, the right clothes, or other trappings of our social largess. It does mean living within our means.

My observation is that for much too long we have established our desired life style and then tried to afford it on our earnings. This could well precipitate a need to 'borrow to get by.' Wouldn't it be much better all the way around to establish our earnings and then live an affordable life style?

Huh?

I like Pi

3.14159

Happy Pi Day!

...beyond the primal fear box.

Ronni Bennett from Time Goes By, Elder News shared this ...

Sad news. On 7 March, 78-year-old Gene Maudlin who blogged for four years at Old Horsetail Snake died. According to a lovely tribute to him at A Mark on My Wall,

“Gene died today utilizing Oregon’s Death with Dignity plan. He was tuckered out from trying to breathe. His Scamp was with him at Hospice Hopewell House.”

Gene's site was one of the best daily laughs in the blogosphere. He was irascible, irreverent, profane and fall-down funny. His blog is archived here. Give yourself a smile or two today and read some of it.

I took an involuntary breath, a small gasp, when I read 'Oregon's Death with Dignity plan.' The small gasp surprised me. Why?

I have long been a staunch supporter of personal life/death rights. I believe that every individual should be allowed to make decisions regarding their "quality of life". I believe that every individual should be allowed to decide when to initiate their own death process.

That having been said let me acknowledge that such a decision, 'to initiate their own death process', is not the same as wantonly taking one's own life in desperation or fear. It is of paramount importance that we acknowledge that our frail biological canister we call our body has very finite resources. I believe we should honor and acknowledge this fact in accepting gracefully that eventually our body will stop functioning properly. When that becomes obvious to the person then we must have programs like Oregon's Death with Dignity plan.

So what can I take away from my surprise gasp?

Here is a man, Gene Maudlin, that I never knew. Until Ronnie mentioned him and his blog I would have never had the opportunity to discover Gene. (Sadly the blogosphere is so huge that many great and small, like me, will go undiscovered.) So, what can I take away from my surprise gasp?

I am not the only one who gasps. I am not the only one who is surprised when they gasp.

I surmise that a great number of folks upon gasping and possibly being surprised simply turn their backs on the matter. Reacting to a sort of primal fear they label Oregon's Death with Dignity plan as bad. Without giving any thought to Gene's personal circumstance. Without giving any thought to the extensive soul searching that Gene did prior to making his decision. Without knowing that the people who really knew Gene honored and supported his decision.

Human beings are great because we have the ability to move beyond our primal fears. So, while you are moving 'beyond the box' take Ronnie's good advise and read some of Gene Maudlin. His blog is archived here. Give yourself a smile or two today and read some of it.

My father would have loved this... Thanks Gene!

A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one day he stops to entertain in one of the many bars in West VirginiaKentucky. He's going through his normal run of stupid jokes when a large fellow in about the fourth row stands on his chair and says, "I 've heard just about enough of your denigrating jokes."

He continues to berate the joker. "What makes you think you can stereotype us that way. I'ts guys like you who keep people like me from being respected at work and in the community, or of reaching their full potential as a person, because you and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against us, all in the name of humor."

Flustered, the ventriloquist begins to apologize, when the harrasser pipes up, "You stay out of this, Mister. I'm talking to that little jerk on your knee."

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

Nope! Think BIGGER!!!

WAY BIGGER

"Beyond the Box"

Coined by yours truly, the new mantra for our time...

If we are to really grow in these perilous times then we must indeed...

Think beyond the box!

Strawberry fields forever...

Thanks Sean

Middle is the new black...

Now we are starting to see the New Calvinism take hold, and being middle class is once again something to laud or hold onto...

- /ambivalence

How sad!!!

That living-within-one's-means (exercising fiscal responsibility) while being an average Joe working an average job is now something to be lauded. I wonder if the 'New Calvinism' will protect all those upper-class-wannabes who built their McMansions over in the new economic subdivision, the gated community of Gluttony, right on the corner of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sunday Salavation: Salmon Eggs

No, no, not roe... from the Urban Gourmand series...

Hot cuisine during the econolapse, er... econolypse, er... downturn.

(This worked so well I really should have taken pictures...)

Two small potatoes, cut into 1/4" cubes.
Half a slice of homemade pumpernickel bread, cut into 1/4" cubes

2 eggs
1 green onion
1/3 cup salmon, flaked. (Leftover from Friday's baked salmon fillets)

---

Potatoes go into a HOT skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. As they begining to brown (2-3 min.) toss and add a little more olive oil.

Finely chop the green onion (ya'll call 'em scallions) and add to the 1/3 cup flaked baked salmon. Mix ever so gently so they become good friends.

Even small cubed potatoes take a while to cook so don't rush the process. Use that fancy wrist-flick and give them a good toss. Spread them back out so each cube has at least one side down to the skillet.

Now timing is everything. Taste a potato. Done? Done-ish? Done-ok? then add in the bread cubes. Toss them to soak up any residual flavor fortified olive oil. Continue over moderate heat.

Now like I said, timing is everything. Heat a clean skillet with one drop of water in the center. When the water evaporates spray the skillet with the non-stick cooking spray of your choice. Vigorously beat the two eggs and add to the clean-hot-sprayed skillet. Commence to scramble.

Timing is EVERYTHING. Add the salmon&green onion (ya'll call 'em scallions) mixture when the scrambled eggs are just beginning to coalesce (reads still wet but firming up fast.) Continue to scramble until they are still moist (they look slightly undercooked) then plate them. Don't wait! They will finish cooking while you plate the potatoes.

Enjoy!

I found the potato/pumpernickle an interesting counter point to the salmon&green onion.

Bonus nonsense:

Stan Freberg Lyrics

"Stan Freberg Christmas Dragnet lyrics"

This is the season.
My name's Wednesday.
My partner's Frank Jones.
The Chief's name is Captain Kellogg.

December the 24th, Christmas Eve.
They brought in a guy named 'Grudge'.
When I heard what they booked him on, my blood ran cold.
It was a 4096325- 096704: not believing in Santa Claus.

4:35 p.m.
I was working the holiday watch out of homicide with Frank.

"Hang up your stocking yet, Joe?"

"Yeah, just before I come down. You too Frank?"

"Alway do.
Hung it up early just in case I have'ta work late tonight.
Wouldn't wanna miss out on when Santa Claus comes you know. "

"Sure wouldn't, be a shame."

"Whatcha gonna do tomorrow, Joe?
Whatcha gonna do on Christmas, got any plans?"

"Nothin' much."

"Why don't you come by the house Joe?
We're gonna have Christmas dinner.
You know, all the trimmings:
turkey, celery stuffing, oysters maybe.
Chestnuts, all the trimmings, you know.
Cranberry sauce, love'ta have ya.
The Missus always fixes a plate of relish
with them little carrot sticks.
You know, olives, pickles, scallions.
Most people call them green onions, but they're really scallions.
Did you ever notice that Joe?"

"Notice what Frank?"

"How most people call them green onions but they're really scallions."

"Uh-huh. Scallions."

"Anytime after two, Joe. Love ta have ya."

"Uh-huh. Well I'll see."

"Love ta have ya."

"Uh-huh. Well, I'll see."

"Love ta have ya."

"Uh-huh. Well, I'll see."

"Missus always fixes a plate of relish with them little carrot sticks.
You know - olives, pickles, scallions."