Continuing with my fascination for altered time and space perception (through mechanical means), I had not heard about Schlieren Photography until I saw this video on Slashdot Review over the weekend.
The balloon (what is it about balloons?) was one of my favorites, but the towel was cute. The shockwaves emanating from piston shots was instructive. In some cases you can actually see the bullet overtaking the shockwave from the initial firing of the weapon.
Geez! How these countries are going to claw their way out of third-world status while they continue to indulge in superstitious idiocy such as this is hard to imagine.
This gem comes from Solapur, in Maharastra, India. C’mon folks! This is the 21st century!!! We’re supposed to be flying around in little cars worried about the Mars colony. Not tossing infants off of towers to appease… whom?
Just posted some pictures from Shih Fang and Ken’s Spring Get Together.
I like my popcorn. When Michelle is out for the evening I can quite happily make do with a supper of popcorn with cheesy seasoning.
11 Years ago I was in a Target and spotted the popcorn maker below. It was inexpensive ( under $15) and came with a simple recipe that I’ve tweaked a bit over the years so it’s exactly right for me. I’ve seen a lot of other inexpensive poppers in various stores, all that really matters is that you can stir the popcorn kernels while cooking and that steam can get out.
First the ingredients:
Put the popcorn popper on the stove, set the burner to just under medium-high (7.5 on my stove dial).
Add the cooking oil and 3 kernels and give a couple of spins with the popcorn paddle to spread things out evenly.
Turn on your oven, it really doesn’t matter the heat, and set the cooking timer to 2 minutes. This will heat it up and dry out the air in the oven.
Put the butter in a small pan on the stove. I like to have it on maximum power for about a minute or so to get things moving and then bring it down to medium-low.
When at least two kernels have popped this means the popper temperature is right, dump in the rest of the popcorn and spin the popcorn paddle a couple of times to spread everything out and get the hot oil all over the kernels.
You can either spin the popcorn paddle continuously or wait until you hear the first kernel pop. But make sure you keep spinning it after that. Not fast, your goal is to both keep the popped corn from burning and to encourage the kernels to all pop at more or less the same time.
When the popping has slowed (less than one pop per second) pull the popper off the heat – better a few unpopped kernels than ANY burning happening in your popper. That smokey smell is instantly absorbed by the freshly popped corn and can ruin the batch.
Pour out the popcorn into a large, oven-safe bowl. I use stainless steel myself. If a couple of kernels pop while you’re pouring suck it up you sissy! 🙂
Shake the bowl to even out the popcorn and then take the butter from the stove, it should be fully melted by now and start spinning the bowl. Drizzle about one third of the butter over the popcorn, then either shake the bowl or use a spatula to mix it up. Do this a couple more times to get butter all through the popcorn.
Plain salt can work fine here. If you go to “Wendy’s” restaurants you can grab a fistful of their salt packets and use them instead, it’s very finely ground and will stick to the popcorn nicely.
I’ve been alternating between Reese Cheesy Popcorn Seasoning and their Buttery Flavored Salt. Be warned that the Buttery Flavored Salt is VERY salty so use it sparingly. I use at least two to three times more of the Cheesy Seasoning than I do the Salt. Be generous with whichever you choose – this is a treat so you should enjoy it. If you prefer not to enjoy your treats, have some dark chocolate instead…
Like with the butter, make sure you add some salt/seasoning, mix up the popcorn and then add some more. That way you don’t end up with a wonderful top and a bland bottom.
Take your popcorn and toss it in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes (prep your movie or check your email). What you want to do is to get rid of as much moisture as you can. 
Warning: if you are using the seasoning above, do NOT try to put the popcorn into the oven while the burners are still going – the cheese will burn very easily and ruin the popcorn.
You can use the preheated oven to salvage day old popcorn. It becomes kind of rubbery because it acts like a sponge absorbing moisture. I actually store my unfinished popcorn in the oven which is a very dry environment and usually get two nights of popcorn bliss this way. We have a rule in our household that the oven interior light must be on before turning on the oven – this prevents broiling the popcorn when preparing another meal…
If all you have is an air popper, the reason its texture is so crappy is because it seems to retain WAY more moisture than when you pop it on the stove (or maybe it absorbs the moisture faster, either way the result is the same). Tossing it into the oven for 1/2 hour (even better if you can shake it up a couple of times while it’s drying) is WELL worth the wait if you can stand it.
OK OK I sound a little obsessive here, but I’ve actually experimented a lot and mentally kept track of what worked and what didn’t. The whole thing is pretty automatic for me and, since I’ve already done the thinking, I don’t need to really think about it anymore. Hopefully you can benefit and enjoy your popcorn.
This morning I noticed that my mouse (Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0) was acting a little wonky. When moving the mouse smoothly over the mousepad, the cursor would go about 3/4 of the expected distance and then pause and then maybe go a little further. All the while I was continuously moving the mouse.
It was as if I had one of those old mice with the balls in them that were so annoying when they got dirty.
I opened up my mouse applet in the control panel and Battery level was good and the signal quality was high. I tried changing the mouse pad too. But nothing seemed to help.
I’ve had this mouse for about 4 years now and it has been great. So I was not enthusiastic that it might be failing me now.
I found this article which eventually clued me in that I should try hitting the “connect” button (little oval button on top of the mouse’s receiver that plugs into my computer). Which solved the problem.
I recall now that yesterday evening I bumped the mouse and knocked it off of my desk. Frankly I’m surprised I don’t do that more often. Anyway that must have jarred it sufficiently that it needed to “resync” with the receiver and all was good.
Just throwing this up here in case anybody else runs into this issue.
I’ve been scanning older pictures and have begun posting some of them on Flickr. Nearly all of them were taken with my Praktica LTL3 camera back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. If you knew me back then, take a peek!
This is an ongoing project so they’ll be going up over the next few months.
Whether you’re of a religious bent or you favor a more naturalist view of the world, these resources are well worth the effort to review. For the religiously inclined, exploring supposed flaws and inconsistencies in your faith can either help you to better understand and concretize your world views or it can allow you to honestly evaluate those views against new criteria.
Those who are not religiously inclined will find that understanding some of the myriad religions, especially those prevalent where you live, gives you new perspectives. I have personally found it very enriching to actually read the bible and to be able to recognize its influences on other literature and media.
There are a few problems with using the word “atheist” to identify one’s religious affiliation. Strictly speaking everybody’s an atheist. It really just depends which god(s) you choose not to believe in. Most Christians could be considered atheists where Thor is concerned for example.
Another issue is that the word is so very charged. Every word has a degree of charge, ranging on a spectrum from Positive, through Neutral to Negative. Calling someone a “Freethinker” or a “Humanist” brings about subtle, yet important connotations versus labeling them as “atheist” even though we may understand rationally that they all imply the same things.
The other really big problem with the word “atheist” is that it defines someone, who has no stake or attaches no significance to religion, in religious terms. So the label is misleading.
Being a-theist or non-theist is very different from being anti-theist. This can be a subtle distinction, but it is one that most people get wrong.
Regardless of your religious leanings, developing your skeptical toolkit is paramount and so these skeptic resources are very useful. I believe that skepticism and religious faith can and do coexist well together. Whether traditional religions can withstand skeptical inquiry is perhaps another question, but if skepticism leaves your faith intact but not the institution representing it, well you can decide what to make of that…
Some of my favorite resources:
The Institute for Humanist Studies – Humanism, per their website, is “a philosophy of life inspired by humanity and guided by reason. It provides the basis for a fulfilling and ethical life without religion.” They have a pretty good monthly podcast if you want to keep abreast of developments or if you’re simply interested in hearing folks discuss Humanist topics. They have several links on their site that may also be of interest but I have not perused these.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation – A major objective of this group is to maintain the separation of Church and State. This is something that is in everybody’s interest as, with so MANY religions including sects within these religions, if any one were to gain authority as the state religion what do you suppose would happen to all the others? And what do you suppose are the odds that your religion would emerge victorious? No, the freedom to practice your religion, or to not practice any religion at all, rests with ensuring that no group, not even humanists / atheist / freethinkers, gets into a position to dictate how the citizens of this country may pursue their faith.
I enjoy listening to their weekly podcast – also on Air America – it can be a bit corny at times (I’m not a real fan of their brand of music) and sometimes one of the show’s co-hosts, Annie Laurie Gaylor, can seem a bit strident at times. But they do have a lot of relevant things to say.
An added bonus is that the other co-host, Dan Barker, is actually a former minister. His knowledge of the bible and Christian teachings is extensive and gives him a solid background for when he conducts interviews or offers editorials.
American Freethought – I have only recently started listening to their podcast and have not had a chance to thoroughly check out their website. The podcast seems to come out every 2-3 weeks. Right out of the gate it was professionally done and obviously carefully prepared. They seem to focus more or less on a single issue per episode and I find them to be quite appealing. The background of one of the hosts involves a fair amount of activity in this realm (non-theism) and he brings some good insights to the show. I don’t know about the other host’s background as I don’t see much about him on the site, but he is also very engaging and they make a solid duo.
There are a plethora of freethinker, humanist and other non-theist resources available. Probably you can find most of them through the links in the sites above. But, with a day job and other interests, these are the ones that I’ve had the chance to check out and would recommend.
Oh, and no list would be complete without including Mr. Deity. This video series (they are still producing new shows) pokes fun at some of the inconsistencies or perceptions of the Judeo-Christian faith and expand on them. Apparently a number of religious groups show these at their gatherings to use as talking points, so they can’t be all that offensive. But they are entertaining.
If you are new to being a skeptic or are interested in learning more about it, the links below will prove invaluable.
Most important to remember is that a skeptic is not (necessarily) a cynic. A cynic is essentially a nay-sayer. Someone who will take the most negative connotation or meaning from a situation or who always starts with a negative premise.
A skeptic is someone who requires evidence before they will accept assertions. The wilder the assertions – i.e. the more they contradict what is already known to the skeptic – the more evidence is required to justify that novel position.
Next stop is the podcast “The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe” (SGU). I already detail my impressions about it in the linked-to blog entry so I won’t go on about it here.
Then there are a series of good websites, one of my favorites is Phil Plait’s “Bad Astronomy” blog. This started off as a website highlighting bad science (particularly astronomy, duh) in movies and other published venues. The moon hoax debunking is brilliant and well worth the rather extensive read. Phil has branched out somewhat and his daily blog covers topics ranging from interesting astronomical happenings through to foolish legislation based on poor understanding of science, to the invasion of “Intelligent Design” (aka creationism) into the science curricula of our nation’s classrooms.
Appealing to a somewhat less science-focused, but still rigorously skeptical community is Rebecca Watson’s “skepchick” blog. Rebecca’s sometimes sardonic wit is legendary in the skeptical community. She is extremely adept at getting to the heart of an issue, clarifying it and, if warranted, poking fun at it. She also participates in the SGU if you want to hear her in her element. The blog actually has several contributors which adds diversity but also means there is a fair amount of content.
Other resources:
PZ Myer’s “Pharyngula” blog. I have just recently started reading PZ Myer’s work and am impressed so far but I don’t know enough to comment yet.
The “Amazing Randi’s” website “James Randi Educational Foundation” has some good information although I tend to find it a little hard to read. There is information there on TAM (The Amazing Meeting) that is supposed to be a mecca of all things skeptical. I hope to attend TAM6.
From any of the above resources you will find links to still further skeptical sites and information.
Suburban Tap caters to a pretty active crowd and it’s a basic pub at heart. The fries here are surprisingly good. I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised as, so far, I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve had on their menu. I’m pretty sure these are the pre-fab kind of fries (a la Burger King) but their texture and taste are great. 4 out of 5.
I’m slowly moving my pictures from my own, locally hosted, gallery up to Flickr. There’s a wider audience there and, quite frankly, the local gallery is a bit onerous to maintain. There are *thousands* of files involved so any updates and backups take quite a while to complete.
These pictures were taken at Michelle’s office’s annual Hallowe’en party. The costumes there are usually quite spectacular and this year was no exception!
