21st Century Zibaldone: January 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Photosynth-Hours and Hours of Coolness to Be Had

I saw Photosynth being utilized on one of the CSI shows ealier this week. But didn't know what it was. Then I see this article on Slate and the world of Photography is not so flat. Here is an example of this application using the Inauguration and the pre-inauguration party at the Lincoln Memorial. It is possible to zoom in, or zoom out. It is even possible to rotate a 180 degrees, and if enough photos are uploaded 360 degrees. I spent almost an hour zooming in and out of the inaugural pics. WOW! The effect is almost a 3D rendering of the Capitol Building and the people gathered there. As I moved through the pictures it was almost instantaneous the switching from picture to picture, and view to view. A new way to view the pictures of the beginning of a new era in America. Now if I find a place to put all my pictures of Sanming, China, that will be something. Photosynth on.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Anyone Up for Escaping Winter?

Expedia has quite the deal going on. Get an all inclusive 4 night trip to a Mexico or Caribbean Island resort. (hat tip to independenttraveler.com). The trips start at $514 and include air fare. I think I might go here.

To take advantage book by February 14; travel through May 30, 2009

Travel on.

How Many Strange Foods Have You Eaten?

The folks over at independenttraveler.com have a list of their top seven strangest foods.

Here is one of them: blood pudding. A favorite of the Irish for breakfast. Now I have tried some of the items on the list, such as, the blood pudding. A little trick I used to make it taste better was to cook it longer and pepper the hell out of it. Of course, we were staying with relatives and they let me jump into the kitchen. All the Americans visiting were quite thankful for my "improvements." Though Father Aaron, the relative we were staying with, didn't seen too keen on having the pudding overcooked.

I have also had the head cheese. My mother use to have it around whenever my Grandfather, her father, visited. I had it once and puked it up. Of course when ever he visited we also had pickled pigs feet and pig knuckles. Which were both hard as hell to eat with any sort of decorum. On the plus side, I didn't have a huge shock while living in China.

Often friends would order pig's feet, or pigs knuckles to see what I would do. The only trouble I had was with the nail, of course I had trouble with the toe nails on the chicken claws, as well. It didn't matter how the claws were prepared, bbq'ed, fried, boiled, pickled, roasted, seasoned, or vacuum packed and sold by Walmart; I had trouble with the nail. Surprisingly the claws didn't taste like chicken. I don't know what the nail tasted like, as I never ate one. I just bit it off and spit it out, like a lugee. In my defense the Chinese people did the same thing, perhaps with a little more grace and a more pleasant facial continence than I could muster.

Also living in China gave opportunity to eat, fish head, fish cheecks-very tasty, pig brains, cow stomachs, pig and cow intestines, pig ears, pig noses, cow tongue, camel-ka-bob, dog soup, fried star fish, and fried crickets, ants, grubs, worms, spiders, as well as scorpion-with the stinger on, no less. None these foods were particularily painful to eat, though many of the fried ones tasted like burnt french fries. This was especially true for the star fish which i ended up throwing away after three bites.

So what strange exoctic foods have you eaten, or would eat, if given the chance? Eat on.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Mother of All Swag Piles

I should have studied Marine Archaeology or Marine Law. Either way I would have hit it big. That is if I had been on the Sub Sea Research Team which found a sunken WW II British vessel. Or retained by them to file the claims case in US Federal Admiralty Court.

The ship code named "Blue Baron" by the team is said to be holding gems, gold bullion, platinum, and diamonds worth 2.6 billion British Pounds. I think with the exchange rate that is pushed over the 3 billion mark in U.S. Dollars.

What do you wish you studied instead?

Update: This site claims it is over $4 billion dollars worth of swag. That is a lot of rum and wenches me hardies.

Friday, January 23, 2009

It Takes Photos Too

The Canon 5D Mark II can shoot video, or rather capture video. According to Canon it has the capability for "[F]ull HD Video capture at 1920x1080 resolution for up to 4GB per clip with HDMI output for HD viewing of stills and video." Emphasis mine. On top of that it is a 21-megapixel pro-level camera. And ISO speeds expandable to 25600. Now that is some shooter. It only has a suggested retail price of $2699.00-body only. At that price, it is too bad they don't come in different colors; then I could buy one of each color.

Well I know where twenty-seven hundred dollars are going after I hit the lottery.

Just in Time for the Super Bowl

The folks over at Food & Wine section of MSNBC have this handy little recipe for panni.

Now they claim it is perfect for the morning after a big blow-out. But hell, I don't know about you but I can barely stand to make it to the bathroom to piss or puke, let alone try and cook. So I am thinking it might be better to make these the day before. Or for a true hangover meal go with the ole Roger Omelette. This is named aftern an old roommate. When we lived together we use to have some serious drunk-fests in our little trailer. Anyway we ever we got well enough to keep something in our stomachs this was what we usually made. And it is quite simple. Take all the eggs in the frig, crack them into a frying pan. Then add whatever is not nailed down in the frig and sometimes the cabinet-if there weren't any visible mouse droppings. Ahh good times!!!

What is your morning after meal?

Powered by ScribeFire.

Great Blue Satan Spreads Across America

Someone mapped the Big Blue Satan, AKA Wal-Mart, spreading across America. It is something to see how the Big Blue Satan spreads out across this great land. My favorite part is that the person used little green dots to make each new store. Check out how the map looks at the end. The country looks ill with all those little florescent green dots, almost like a super-virus is over taking the country. I wonder if the C.D.C. can innoculate US.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Potatoes Romanoff Perfect to Fight the WInter Chills

This little dish looks delicious and is fairly easy to make. I found the video and recipe here.

The recipe come from the Strip House Restaurant in Manhattan.

It is quick and easy. But personally I would add some bacon bits and maybe some garlic, minced would add a good kick.

What would you add?

UPDATE: A dash of horseradish would kick it up to 11.

GORILLAPOD SLR ZOOM

The writers over at earthboundlight.com came up with a list of gifts for photographers. One of the gifts was the Gorillapod SLR Zoom.

This nifty little tri-pod is made by the good folks at Joby. They are an outfit out of San Fran. There are three sizes. It's also light weight, and it contorts into positions that might make some of these folks jealous.

Stars Go Rogue

The Hubble Space Telescope captured "renegade" stars tearing through the universe like a 16 year-old tearing through the streets the day after getting his license.

The stars are tearing through space at 112,000 mph or 180,250 kph for our friends around the world. How would you like to be driving something that fast next Saturday night?

Which leads to the obvious question does the Universe contain the equivalent of spike strips?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

C.S.I. For Your Travels

TravelSmith has a personal UV germ detector with flashlight. The perfect gift for the traveling germaphobe. Or for the germaphobe who stays home. Personally, I am sure hotel sheets are not the cleanest, but do I really need proof that I am right?

Watch the Earth Age 650 Million Years in 120 Seconds

This is a pretty cool video.

I especially like how it projects into the future. Some day we will all be a little bit closer.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Perfect Dessert?

(photo by: José Picayo)

Before the New Year's resolutions kick in, why not sin a little?

This could be quite possibly the world's perfect dessert. And it may soon merit being made its only food group. It has peanut butter, chocolate and it is in pudding form!?! What elegance. what beauty. What brilliance. Pudding......mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Friday, January 2, 2009

How Hot Can You Go?

I love eating 'Hot'; I can't get enough. I love to make my own salsa using the recipe from Bobo's in Stillwater, OK. Bobo's is gone but if you weren't unlucky enough to work there you can order it from the former owner, product #7971. It is so good my mouth waters just thinking about it.

However, salsa or pico-de-gallo can not be splashed on everything. That is hot sauce's job. We never made hot sauce at Bobo's but with this recipe I can make it every day, or at least every day I have peppers available.

Personally I think this recipe is a bit to vinegary for my tastes. That goes for most of the comerical products out there too. But it gets me a point from which to experiment from. And that is the true joy of cooking.

Some of the people who replied have suggestions which improve upon the original recipe, at least in my opion. See here and here. One of the suggestions send you here.

Enjoy and happy Hot Sauce making.

UPDATE: If anyone is in Portland area check out Salvador Molly's and their Great Balls of Fire. Dam them things is hot. My mouth is still buring and I ate 'em three years ago.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Dream Reborn

Thanks to Mark Jolly I can dream once again of heading to a beautiful Mexican beach. Mexico: Four little hot beach towns - Mexico- msnbc.com
From Puerto Escondido in the North to Huatulco in the Southeast and Mazunte and San Agustinillo in the middle, this part of the coast of Mexico sounds like a bit of paradise.

With beaches like this

and this

I am definatily making plans to leave the cold, wintery (though back to its normail rainy self this week) NorthWest.