Fleet Time

Next, wire the mikes and turn them around.

Sunday's list of longer articles that caught my eye. Posted on Saturday because it was ready.

• Bot Nets
• ISMAR preview
• Ralph Lauren vs. BoingBoing
• Brian Wilson / George Gershwin
• Bombing the Moon
• Cell Detection and Cell Jamming

A Manly Marshmallow

This one is a bit out of the restaurant mainstream. I can't vouch for the recipe personally, (uhh...yeah, it tastes like chicken) so I'm working from instructions. My friend Geri has mentioned eating crickets, (they taste like crickets) but entomophagy remains theoretical among most of us. As you can see from the picture, some cultures have no such qualms. Under our current Wall Street management, grasshopper just might become the workingman's lobster. Stay tuned.

1. Catch the little buggers. You were young once, you know how to do this.
2. Pop the head off. The innards should come out of the body cavity along with the head. This also removes any parasites that may be along for the ride. Remove the large legs and wings. If you're squeamish, or the grasshopper is large, you can boil them first to make this process easier.
3. Cook: You can wet them in a beaten egg mix, dust with corn meal, and sauté, or go straight to the deep-fat fryer. For those of you into drum circles or thumping your inner survivalist, you can insert a pointed stick into the body cavity and roast over a fire. (sort of a manly marshmallow) Serve with ranch dressing and a lemon wedge. (a toothpick and some parsley to clear the breath might be in order too)

Who can tell. I didn't like Brussels sprouts when I was a kid, and now.... Video

Periodic Table of Science Fiction

Periodic Table Poster

Michael Swanwick has republished his Periodic Table of Science Fiction in his personal blog. (see Flogging Babel to the right) I read it ages ago, but just like almost everything by Mr. Swanwick, it gets better the second, third and fourth time around.If you've ever wondered about the literary uses of praseodymium, here you go.

Dogs and Halloween

Image forwarded by Sue

This is my Neighborhood

When scientist Pat Gaines heard a scream of a hawk while at Bonny Lake State Park in the Colorado and Kansas border, he looked up to see this amazing spectacle: a kingbird relentlessly attacking a red-tailed hawk several times its size!

Gaines had focused his camera on one red-tailed hawk because the bird had been screaming. As he followed the hawk across the sky, a kingbird dive-bombed the hawk.

The hawk, which is not a predator of the kingbird, flew as fast as it could from the kingbird. For a moment it appeared the kingbird had stopped attacking. But then it began the pursuit again and — to Gaines amazement — landed on the hapless red-tail’s back.

“He rode the hawk for 25 yards. The hawk was not trying to fight back — it was just trying to get out of there,” said Gaines.

As the kingbird rode bareback on the hawk, it pecked away at the hawk’s head.

“They (the kingbirds) are not afraid of anything,” said Gaines. “Until this happened, I had never seen one perch on a hawk’s back.”

Mirrored from Nearorama

Fleet Week 09

Andy Kilday

Fleet Week set-up is starting. Soon the pier will have power cable, trailers, fence-o-rama, and a ship that's a great deal larger than the tug in the background.

Lorenzo