some food

• chicken korma and basmati rice
• pan-fried tofu, with lemon, garlic, zucchini, and beet greens
• red beans & rice
• green curry with eggplant
• spinach-bacon quiche
• chicken and green beans kaeng par curry

I love hypocrisy

I apparently have a thing for hypocrites – like I find them endearing or something. Here we have the French behaving every bit as we would expect a certain other person to, lacking entirely a sense of ironie.

But even as protesters sought to cast McDonald's as the embodiment of all that is wrong with fast food and American culture, the French never stopped eating its hamburgers.

Statistical Graphical Illiteracy

All of these suck at conveying the important information – that the risk of death is dramatically reduced by annual screening. The article itself talks about a different study entirely, about decisionmaking for self versus someone else (and attempts no graphical display of its findings).

future brunch foray

4 Taste Off Rush. The menu offers inspired choices like ostrich Benedict and pomegranate-banana pancakes (each $10.95).

new, indie coffee shops

[metromix]

wtf is this shit?

If I asked you "what do you think head on is" and you replied "probably a blowjob simulating gel", I would say, "well, that's what I thought it was too". But it isn't.

Caramelized Sugar Cookies

These cookies are really interesting – they're really sort of a rich cracker dough loaded with butter, that you roll out in a pile of sugar, thus impregnating the dough. The dough itself has no sugar at all, nor any eggs, so it's hard to call them a proper cookie at all. I’ll definitely be making them again, probably to serve at a party or something.

are you seriously claiming

that some overpaid idiot riding without a helmet actually deserves this serious an ethical treatment? Jessica: you study justice and democratic theory. thoughts on this nonsense?

When [NFL football player] Roethlisberger decided to ride without a helmet, what were his obligations to the larger society, in this case greater Steelerdom? And what mechanisms should there be for society — or Steelerdom — to impose those obligations?

In a democratic society, everybody benefits from other people's risk-taking. But must everyone pay for it as well? The question goes back to the founding of the country and continues to shape who Americans are as a society.

"America more than European countries prizes entrepreneurial spirit and the freedom of individuals to run risks, even if they might not turn out well," said Cass R. Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago. "One reason the economy does so well is that people take gambles. And sometimes they work out badly."

And I thought making pancakes was disaster-prone! [I tried really hard to find some images or maybe the video of the commercial that shows in black and white the poor disheveled woman spattering pancake batter around the kitchen and finally, I think, grilling the cat. Any help out there?

But today, the venerable NYT alerted me to an ever more present danger:

Early-morning grogginess can wreak havoc on a person's eye-hand coordination, occasionally turning the act of dishing out corn flakes into a messy adventure…. Philippe Meert has experienced that messiness firsthand. Four years ago, while on a business trip in Los Angeles, he tried to start his day with a healthy breakfast.

Experimentation

Yes, I changed my blogger template. No, I'm not sure I like it. It's really just a stopgap until I write my own. We all know how lazy I am, but also how much I hate hard-coded widths in html. I did add the trickery to make comments show/hide directly on the page (no stupid clickthrough), but sometime over the summer I'll fix it up the way I want it to look.

chipotle cheddar grits, sautéed spinach, and broiled snapper

Today featured tasty polenta(/grits) and fish. It was an interesting effort; I worked on keeping each element distinct, such that only the spinach had garlic, and the grits had smoked pimentón and chipotle. I liked it, and plan to work on it again sometime soon. It’s also tasty as a vegetarian dish, or, I am sure, with the grits formed and fried (mmm).

Beet Risotto

Featuring fresh market vegetables of course, beet risotto is colorful and delicious.

oh yeah

I received word yesterday that, as expected, I passed my comprehensive exams (see post below).

the day of the BEAST

We went by our condo today to check on it, and also to think in situ about wall colors. We were pleased to discover that work had in fact commenced:

Moreover, one work order indicated that the hardwood floor work was to commence yesterday – the day of the BEAST. I hate cell phone pictures, but it’s the best I had today.

Science Idol

The Union of Concerned Scientists is hosting Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. We're looking for your creative take on the issue of political interference in science. Submit one-panel or multi-panel, print cartoons that address the misuse of science on a specific issue or in general.

european anti-GMness

Two articles in the Times on GM foods:

But European consumers and farmers generally do not want them, leaving the European Union to try to steer a Solomonic course between conflicting interests. The basic problem is that Europeans, whose food culture has developed over centuries, balk at putting biotech crops in their fields or their mouths.

Shaï

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while but forgotten. Normal catalogues are full of sultry pouts, and people wearing just one article of clothing (think Abercrombie boys in just jeans, since we all really inspect the clothing in the picture). Shaï’s brilliant catalogue does away with the pretense – it is full-on pornography, in gay, straight, and lesbian versions, to say “wear our clothes and get laid.” (Thanks, Taylor, for the link)

I am a little crazy

So we went to brunch, and to see the al gore movie, and then I hung out at Steve and Shane’s this afternoon; I went home before realizing that I didn't have my building key, and didn't really feel like just taking a shower than then the train back up there for dinner, so I rode back the way I came. It all came out to 23 miles, and it was fun. I meticulously charted it on gmap-pedometer.

foodlist

• quesadillas with cheese and refritos negros
• pasta with lemon and tofu
• pasta salad with yellow squash, dill, and tzatziki-ish sauce.
• Risotto with zucchini, asparagus, and basil
• Tortilla española and mixed greens salad
• (from last week) Tofu with chili and basil and sweet thai noodles
• barbecue baked tofu, salad, cornbread

some more on vioxx

Medical Examiner in Slate:

To test the thesis that Vioxx might help prevent bowel cancer, researchers sponsored by Merck launched a study of 2,500 patients during the course of which it became apparent that whatever the drug's effect on cancer risk, it clearly increased the risk of heart attacks and of stroke. As a result of these findings, Merck took Vioxx off the market, leading to an estimated loss of $28 billion in market value for its stock. (It's worth noting that this increased cardiovascular risk appears to be a class effect that applies to all COX-2 drugs, not just Vioxx.)

The NEJM study in question. (may require proxy or whatever)