Archive for the ‘ Uncategorized ’ Category
I love the moment when bread first comes out of the oven. The kitchen is hot and filled with the smell of it and, for just a little while, the loaf makes a tiny crackling sound, as if it is resting, at last, after a day and a night of effort. I made this loaf [ READ MORE ]
Disenchanted Lib Dem voters will be pleased to read today that, after getting thoroughly fucked on, well, everything they thought their party stood for, Cleggy has finally persuaded the Tories to do something good and righteous in the name of civil liberties. Although their pleasure is likely to evaporate once they realise that an “unmistakable [ READ MORE ]
I found this article back in July last year, while reading the Stranger in a Seattle coffee shop. I cut it out but then promptly forgot about it until last week when I found the clipping in a (clearly underused) pocket of my bag. Anyway, it is old but still awesome. And sort of relevant [ READ MORE ]
Kate Sheppard has a great satire in Mother Jones today of Republican arguments about the new START treaty being “rushed” and, in particular, of Mitch McConnell’s absurd statement on CNN that: “I think if they’d taken more time, I know the members of the Foreign Relations Committee spent a lot of time on this but [ READ MORE ]
I’m now blogging on online security and human rights here: http://securityandrights.org/ I’m working on the issue at the moment and starting a blog seemed like a novel way of keeping material organised and staying abreast of the news. I am hoping it will turn out to be better, in any case, than my usual method, [ READ MORE ]
A cracking good piece by Joshua Green in The Atlantic today about John McCain’s long journey from principled centrist to right wing troglodyte. I guess I find his current positions on things like DADT so disturbing because, like Green, I once admired him for standing up (a little) to the properly crazy Republicans on things [ READ MORE ]
The CIA has found some tapes of Ramzi ‘I’ve been locked up for a decade without trial’ Binalshibh being interrogated in one of their secret overseas prisons. The government twice told federal judges that the tapes didn’t exist but it turns out they were just ‘under a desk.’ There is a point where giving almost [ READ MORE ]
I’m having trouble embedding this video from Fox News. Anyway, it is worth following the link to watch. Favourite quotes: “If [college] degrees are making people more likely to support same sex-marriage … how do we fix this?” and, from Tucker Carson, “well, it is possible to make a case for college.” And, of course, the [ READ MORE ]
Governor Schwarzenegger this week suggested that California could solve is problem of overcrowded prisons by sending “20,000 illegal immigrants” for internment in Mexico. “Think about it”, he exclaimed to the Sacramento press club, “ if California gives Mexico the money…” The Governor then went on remind those present to “constantly bear in mind that Transportation [ READ MORE ]
From Badger5000 on Twitter. Not sure I entirely agree. But he has a point. Same reason I’m nostalgic for the Keating years in Australia[ READ MORE ]
The Guardian newspaper reported this weekend that British police are planning on deploying a number of unmanned drones similar to those currently in use over Afghanistan and Iraq. Presumably the use of high-tech military hardware in pursuit of such laudable goals as: “prevention of theft from cash machines, preventing theft of tractors and monitoring antisocial [ READ MORE ]
I’m a big fan of Michael Ruhlman’s new book Ratio and its associated iPhone app. Instead of recipes, as such, it gives ratios for sauces, doughs, batters, custards, stocks, and so forth. Hollandaise, for example, is given as: five parts butter, one part egg yolks, and one part liquid (a reduction of vinegar and aromatics). [ READ MORE ]
I often make pizzas when I’m tired and don’t have the energy to cook something complicated. I tend to just make a simple dough then let it prove a bit on top of the oven while I’m searching the fridge for things that might work as toppings. Or opening a beer. This evening I spread [ READ MORE ]
Republican Senator for Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, is putting forward a proposal for a vote this week that would, if successful, prevent the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the fact that Murkowski’s proposals were written with the help of energy industry lobbyists and have been widely condemned by environmental groups, [ READ MORE ]
There are many and varied explanations for the continuing Israel-Palestine conflict. A story on France 24 this morning reveals, however, that the major barrier to peace is actually stunningly simple: Israel is run by school children. As the story reveals, The Israeli Transport Ministry has decided to no longer display road signs in languages other [ READ MORE ]
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