Linkdump

Enterance Area by Embarcadero

Time's tight this week. This will have to be in the form of a linkdump.

• Augmented Reality app
• Live Free or Die
• Wilson Center: Trust in Government
• Net Neutrality
• Solar System Photos
• Spyware Screwup

The Pharm of Tomorrow

Ribo-Funk

Moondog

We're from New York, darn it.

I stumbled across an article in a pile of old magazines ( Wilson's Quarterly; Autumn '07 ) about Moondog. In 1954, the N.Y. court adjudicated the case Hardin v. Freed. ( Moondog, nee Louis Thomas Hardin and Alan Freed, big time DJ ) Freed claimed that Hardin was infringing on his trademarked name and his audience was being mislead and his value was being diminished. Hardin was a blind man, living on the streets, dressed as a Viking wizard, and playing avant-garde compositions. Freed was a DJ at WINS, i.e. not a waco. You would think the issue was foregone, but testimony by some heavy hitters (Benny Goodman, Arturo Toscanini ) and the fact that Hardin recorded as Moondog before Freed trademarked the name saved the day. Freed would soon see the inside of the courtroom again when that little payola matter came up.

I met Moondog once. In Utica N.Y., in the summer of '72, he just sort of wandered into town. Trust me, there are very few six foot, blind, Viking wizards in Utica, then or now. My friends and I showed him around, so to speak, listened to stories, rustled up some dinner, and gave him a couch to sleep on. The next day we packed him a lunch and took him to the throughway entrance, and down the road he went. Today, looking back, I wish I'd had the sense to write down some of those stories.

Here are two recordings.
• Birds Lament
• Viking 1

Dirk Dirksen Place

Dirk Dirksen Place

I walk by this little loading area all the time, but didn't notice the name change until yesterday. In days gone by it was Rowland Alley, loading dock for the Mab and The On Broadway. (Mab, door to the left, On Broadway, a set of hinged stairs with a fairly steep angle leading up, also on the left) The new name is Dirk Dirksen Place. A sidewalk plaque reads:

Shut up, you animals: Dirk Dirksen (1937 - 2006), ringmaster of the circus of the creatively inspired, and the willfully deranged, presided as Pope of Punk over nightly excursions into living theater on the premises 1974 - 1984 at Ness Aquino's Mabuhay Gardens, previously a Filipino supper club. He opened the lid on society's garbage can of new talent to look for truth and beauty that gave rise to San Francisco's counter-culture music scene.

I don't remember Dirksen being referred to as Pope of anything, and the fab part of Fab Mab was a newspaper invention. Later, the club became the Red Velvet Lounge ( bridge and tunnel ), The Stone ( across the street ) became a strip joint, Morty's closed and sits waiting, and the Chi-Chi club is now private. As I mentioned: in days gone by.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Fettuccine Alfredo is properly an à la minute service. All the tricks for stabilizing the sauce ( box mix from Colloids 'R' Us, flour, Parmigen flakes in a bag ) yield a fragrant wallpaper paste, but don't do justice to the real thing. As is the norm for simple recipes, buy the good stuff and work quickly. You can't hide behind a long list of ingredients. Since Fettuccine Alfredo is very rich, and sets rather quickly, its best position is as a quick lunch, appetizer, or as a primi piatti. Have your mise en place ready. If you have to hunt for the nutmeg, the dish will go south and you'll get sent back to the dishroom.

• Prep: Bring your pasta water up to heat and salt it. Grate or shave 1½ oz Parmigiano-Reggiano per four servings.(¾ cup) Reduce 1 cup heavy cream or manufacturing cream ( again per 4 servings ) to 2/3 cup.
• Service: Put a ladle's worth of boiling water into the serving bowls. Drop 9 oz fresh fettuccine. Put 2/3 cup reduced cream, 1/2 cup fresh cream, two twists black pepper, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, a pinch of kosher, and bring to heat. When the fettuccine floats, add it to the pan along with the ¾ cup cheese and 1/8 t of nutmeg (notes). Simmer and toss until cheese incorporates, thin with ¼ cup pasta water, toss some more. Empty water from bowls (should be hot) divide pasta, and get it over the rail.
• Notes: Nutmeg should be fresh. Use a nutmeg nut and grater. More is not better. Nutmeg is a strong spice, so balanced is better. On cream; reduced cream has a velvet mouthfeel, but tastes rather blah. The addition of the fresh cream remedies this. Adding the pasta water yields an initially thin sauce, but the starch in it will thicken by the time you get it to the table. It adds a bit of flavor, and gives you a bit more time to work with. The same thing goes for preheating the bowls with boiling water. Don't monkey around with measuring cups or one size fits all, get the correct size ladle, get the correct amount to the pan, and get on with it.

Cheesy Art

Centerpiece made of Cheese

For those of you who don't have a walk-in freezer large enough to do centerpiece ice sculptures, get a big hunk-o-cheese and...

Via: Unorthodox Chef

I'll be Watching You

These glasses with a built-in video camera allow you to discreetly record all that you see. The 0.3MP pinhole camera is located in the bridge, providing 320 x 240 resolution for AVI videos. Up to 2-1/2 hours of video can be recorded directly onto the built-in 2GB memory. The left temple's frame houses a slot that accommodates a microSD card for additional memory storage. Videos can be copied to a computer running Windows XP/Vista using the built-in USB port and included cable. The built-in rechargeable battery provides up to two hours of recording from a two-hour charge using the included AC adapter. Plastic lenses have UV-400 coatings.

I know I could develop this post in several directions, but I ain't going there. You decide what you think about one more surveillance tool in general circulation. And just to give that creepy feeling a boost, I saw an ad for a laser interferometer, optomised for audio frequencies, for under three hundred dollars. Just the thing for all the budding Nancy Graces. Build yourself a boogie-man, win some advertising dollars.

Via: Book of Joe