I’ve gotten word that another blogger who has been tracking IP addresses associated with comments (on his own blog and on the blogs of others) is preparing to blow the whistle on what he is inclined to view as sock-puppetry. I’m not sure how complete this blogger’s information is, nor whether it is consistent with other conclusions besides the ones he is drawing.
But at this point, it might not matter that much. So I’m just going to go ahead and tell you what I know.
Category Archives: Personal
Spring keeps on springing (audience participation edition).
It would appear that our rainy season is really over until next winter (which is not to say that it won’t rain at all between now and then, just that things will be more dry than wet). So, it seemed like a good time to document some recent developments in the Free-Ride garden.
Today, I’m presenting six photos from the garden for you to identify:
- Common name is fine — no need to provide the Linnaean binomial unless you really feel like it.
- No, I’m not asking you to identify these plants because I’ve forgotten what I’ve planted. (Not this time, anyway.)
- Your identifications will germinate (harden-off? compost?) in comment moderation until Monday night (9 PM PST, to be precise), so there’s no need to worry that your comment will spoil the fun for others who want to guess.
- If you have a favorite recipe that uses one or more of these mystery crops and you’d like to share, that would be awesome.
And now for the photos:
Spring starts springing.
As Friday was the first day of spring (for my hemisphere, anyway), I went out to the back yard to survey the local level of springiness.
I didn’t make a quantitative measure of the spring constant, but qualitatively, things seem to be on their way.
Dr. Free-Ride plays with molecular gastronomy.
Today I decided to play with some chemicals I ordered to try to spherify V-8. It’s the molecular gastronomy thing where you mix a liquid with sodium alginate, then drip it into an aqueous solution of calcium chloride to get the juice-alginate mixture to gel, forming a skin around a liquid center.
My first attempt did not produce the results I was shooting for.
In which the elder Free-Ride offspring proves there is no largest prime.
It’s a proud day for any parent when offspring start getting interested in formal proofs. So I felt a little thrill when the elder Free-Ride offspring sat down with Dr. Free-Ride’s better half to consider whether it was possible for there to be a largest prime number:
In which the younger Free-Ride offspring offers a visual representation of Skullcrusher Mountain.
The younger Free-Ride offspring’s admiration for and appreciation of the work of Jonathan Coulton continues unabated.
In fact, JoCo songs have become the subject of painstaking drawings that the younger Free-Ride hopes Mr. Coulton might encounter while Googling himself (as one does).
The latest offering is the younger Free-Ride offspring’s conception of Skullcrusher Mountain (lyrics here):
Passing thoughts on nature documentaries.
We’ve been watching some episodes of Blue Planet here, marveling at the beautiful cinematography, as well as at how emotionally gripping they can be.
Especially in the Frozen Seas episode, I found myself feeling almost wrung out by the dramatic roller-coaster. This is definitely nature red in tooth and claw (and blood-soaked maw), although as my better half points out, there’s actually rather less on-camera carnage than you might expect from the narration.*
Twitter made me lunch.
Well, in truth, I did all the preparation and cooking, so I guess technically I made myself lunch. However, it was by way of Twitter that I was given a good, quick idea for what to do with a mess of produce I brought in from the garden today. (Eating this produce promptly is important, seeing as how our fridge is full of pie at the moment.)
Within moments of my Tweet:
What meal can I make from: broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, spring garlic, and lemon?
blogger, SciBling, and food-maven Mark Chu-Carroll replied:
Happy Square Root Day!
It has come to my attention that today’s date (03-03-09) makes this a Square Root Day.
The Free-Ride household will be marking the occasion pretty much the way you’d expect — with an evening meal that includes square roots.
Things could get worse before they get better (starving student edition).
Times are tough all around these days. However, at schools like mine, a large public university with a population that includes a significant number of students who are older than traditional college age, are the first in their families to go to college, and/or were in economically precarious situations before the current economic crisis, the situation feels especially dire.