Good things
I set up an Etsy store, Wearable Topologies (with thanks for naming help particularly to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hrafn and tigerbright). Right now it's all hats I felt like making; let me know if you're interested in something you don't see there.
I went to New York briefly last weekend. Mostly I was visiting friends (in Brooklyn and Piscataway, which has an amazing number of deer roaming about). It was great to catch up; I hope I'll have time with more people next time I manage to get to the city.
Three amusing signs seen in transit:
For the record: the Bolt Bus seats were nicer, and had free wifi/outlets, but the driver seemed noticeably tired in transit, which made me nervous.
I've had the chance to play characters in a couple of new-to-me gaming systems, which has shown up how accustomed I've gotten to Krayzen. Each of them has different dynamics, and very different plot lines as well. It's been fun.
A friend is a DJ who sometimes uses wobbles in his music (is it dubstep? house? not really sure of all the subgenres, though I'm pretty sure it's not brostep), to the point of making a controller that can be worn on the hand rather than using something physically attached to whatever laptop (so cool). I think I have to get him so Weebles for his wobblesauce :-).
I went to another food science lecture Monday. This one felt more science-light, actually, with more of a focus on food before it gets to the kitchen, and thoughts about how to make it wonderful. The speaker was Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farm; the restaurant is at the farm, which gives him opportunities others don't have to enhance flavor in the field. Highlights included how grass-fed herbivore meat is different from grain-fed herbivore meat, being leaner and more flavorful (also less able to handle the official USDA requirement to be chilled to 31.5 F within two hours of slaughter, which is detrimental to grass-fed meat's flavor and texture). I learned about some of the concerns of rotating pasturage, avoiding the second bite (from the same plant). Interestingly, they're using technology to determine which animals to slaughter (testing for fat marbleizing between the 12th and 13th ribs with a sonogram) and when to harvest plants (measuring their Brix levels to maximize sugars). Other topics included using biochar to enhance soil fertility, making charcoal out of kitchen waste (pig bones, corn bones, lobster shells, etc) to be used for roasting the next round of the same food (thereby infusing more flavor), and using a greenhouse to have fresh vegetables in the winter (aiming for ones that are sunlight determined rather than temperature determined). Interestingly, the greenhouse is warmed through the winter with warm water running through pipes, with the water heated by the breaking down of organic matter in the compost pile, which I think a very cool cycle.
hrafn and tigerbright). Right now it's all hats I felt like making; let me know if you're interested in something you don't see there.I went to New York briefly last weekend. Mostly I was visiting friends (in Brooklyn and Piscataway, which has an amazing number of deer roaming about). It was great to catch up; I hope I'll have time with more people next time I manage to get to the city.
Three amusing signs seen in transit:
- The Fung Wah bus had a sticker on the window:
"Your safety is important to us. Please, if you see a driver talking on the cell phone for more than 5 minutes, give us a call at our toll free hotline."
Because those first five minutes can't be nearly so distracting as later conversation. - A pushcart selling "chessnuts" (sic).
- A storefront sign featured "Underwear. Boxing. Tank top. [something I've forgotten]. Muslim oil." Er, what?
For the record: the Bolt Bus seats were nicer, and had free wifi/outlets, but the driver seemed noticeably tired in transit, which made me nervous.
I've had the chance to play characters in a couple of new-to-me gaming systems, which has shown up how accustomed I've gotten to Krayzen. Each of them has different dynamics, and very different plot lines as well. It's been fun.
A friend is a DJ who sometimes uses wobbles in his music (is it dubstep? house? not really sure of all the subgenres, though I'm pretty sure it's not brostep), to the point of making a controller that can be worn on the hand rather than using something physically attached to whatever laptop (so cool). I think I have to get him so Weebles for his wobblesauce :-).
I went to another food science lecture Monday. This one felt more science-light, actually, with more of a focus on food before it gets to the kitchen, and thoughts about how to make it wonderful. The speaker was Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farm; the restaurant is at the farm, which gives him opportunities others don't have to enhance flavor in the field. Highlights included how grass-fed herbivore meat is different from grain-fed herbivore meat, being leaner and more flavorful (also less able to handle the official USDA requirement to be chilled to 31.5 F within two hours of slaughter, which is detrimental to grass-fed meat's flavor and texture). I learned about some of the concerns of rotating pasturage, avoiding the second bite (from the same plant). Interestingly, they're using technology to determine which animals to slaughter (testing for fat marbleizing between the 12th and 13th ribs with a sonogram) and when to harvest plants (measuring their Brix levels to maximize sugars). Other topics included using biochar to enhance soil fertility, making charcoal out of kitchen waste (pig bones, corn bones, lobster shells, etc) to be used for roasting the next round of the same food (thereby infusing more flavor), and using a greenhouse to have fresh vegetables in the winter (aiming for ones that are sunlight determined rather than temperature determined). Interestingly, the greenhouse is warmed through the winter with warm water running through pipes, with the water heated by the breaking down of organic matter in the compost pile, which I think a very cool cycle.
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