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More random pieces
May. 19th, 2011 11:20 pmOne of the best books I've never finished, despite starting a number of times, is The Shape of Space. Some of the more interesting ideas about topology in the beginning of the book are about chess: playing on a regular board but considering two opposite sides joined is the same as playing on a cylinder, while considering each pair of opposite sides joined is spherical chess. Of course, opening positions would have to be different from regular chess. And if one pair of opposite sides were twisted in their connection, Moebius chess. Two pairs of flipped edges I think is a Klein bottle, but I'm not sure. Just thinking about strategy for these different surfaces hurts my brain; this is about where I end up putting the book down each time to think, then letting it sit too long. I don't get very far, but I still find it intriguing.
Recipe from a not-quite-awake brain: mix ricotta, mascarpone, a few tablespoons of sugar, and either ginger or ginger-lemon syrup, then bake. I might try this as a gluten-free Shavuot dessert in a few weeks.
I bought a bunch of blank white 3" x 5" cards and started a deck for 1000 Blank White Cards. If you have a card idea to contribute, that would be cool; I've been carrying around pen and cards.
Booze update: since I was running out of rum, I ended up making two smaller batches of pineapple liqueur, one each with rum and vodka. During the first, infusion week, I realized that though I wasn't playing with additional ingredients (mint or vanilla came to mind first), nor additional steps (such as roasting the pineapple first to bring out more complex flavors), I did want to experiment with using brown sugar rather than white. But when I started macerating the drained fruit, I had a brain blip, and automatically used white sugar for whichever I decanted first, and I wanted to have as similar batches as possible, so the other one used white sugar as well. Luckily Trader Joe's still had organic pineapple, so I got another one and started two more batches (having acquired more rum). I've put the brown sugar near the jars as a reminder. (I'm not sure why pineapple seems so open to all sorts of permutations, but it does.)
Looked at another way, a seed library could be stocked with seeds that grow books, which has me considering whether a given seed would produce a single title, or works by a single author, or perhaps by genre? Also, how distinct would orchards need to be to prevent cross-pollination, rather like the ocean of stories in Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories getting polluted.
(eta Hm. Longer books would have trees that take longer to grow? Would paperbacks be on trees or shrubs? Special mulch for full-color coffee table books?)
Stupid tax paid: my car was towed for street cleaning. To add insult to injury, I couldn't get the engine to catch when I ransomed it. Happily a mechanic has now looked at it, but.... ::sigh::
I'm feeling stymied on my hat-in-progress. I keep having vague ideas of how I want to continue, but nothing clear, which is unusual for me. I got to a certain point, tried something I thought might work, but doesn't look as I want. Maybe the next idea will turn out better. Or perhaps I'll declare it done, but it doesn't feel whole yet.
PSA for locals, just in case someone hasn't heard about it yet: this Saturday afternoon (noon to 6 P.M.) is Porchfest, music played on porches all over Somerville.
Also: farmer's markets have started again! Copley this week, many more next week, including Central Square on Monday and Davis Square on Wednesday. Yay!
Recipe from a not-quite-awake brain: mix ricotta, mascarpone, a few tablespoons of sugar, and either ginger or ginger-lemon syrup, then bake. I might try this as a gluten-free Shavuot dessert in a few weeks.
I bought a bunch of blank white 3" x 5" cards and started a deck for 1000 Blank White Cards. If you have a card idea to contribute, that would be cool; I've been carrying around pen and cards.
Booze update: since I was running out of rum, I ended up making two smaller batches of pineapple liqueur, one each with rum and vodka. During the first, infusion week, I realized that though I wasn't playing with additional ingredients (mint or vanilla came to mind first), nor additional steps (such as roasting the pineapple first to bring out more complex flavors), I did want to experiment with using brown sugar rather than white. But when I started macerating the drained fruit, I had a brain blip, and automatically used white sugar for whichever I decanted first, and I wanted to have as similar batches as possible, so the other one used white sugar as well. Luckily Trader Joe's still had organic pineapple, so I got another one and started two more batches (having acquired more rum). I've put the brown sugar near the jars as a reminder. (I'm not sure why pineapple seems so open to all sorts of permutations, but it does.)
Looked at another way, a seed library could be stocked with seeds that grow books, which has me considering whether a given seed would produce a single title, or works by a single author, or perhaps by genre? Also, how distinct would orchards need to be to prevent cross-pollination, rather like the ocean of stories in Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories getting polluted.
(eta Hm. Longer books would have trees that take longer to grow? Would paperbacks be on trees or shrubs? Special mulch for full-color coffee table books?)
Stupid tax paid: my car was towed for street cleaning. To add insult to injury, I couldn't get the engine to catch when I ransomed it. Happily a mechanic has now looked at it, but.... ::sigh::
I'm feeling stymied on my hat-in-progress. I keep having vague ideas of how I want to continue, but nothing clear, which is unusual for me. I got to a certain point, tried something I thought might work, but doesn't look as I want. Maybe the next idea will turn out better. Or perhaps I'll declare it done, but it doesn't feel whole yet.
PSA for locals, just in case someone hasn't heard about it yet: this Saturday afternoon (noon to 6 P.M.) is Porchfest, music played on porches all over Somerville.
Also: farmer's markets have started again! Copley this week, many more next week, including Central Square on Monday and Davis Square on Wednesday. Yay!