RIP Ali Ahmed Aslam - the Pakistani to Scotland immigrant who invented Chicken Tikka Masala. I find it fascinating that some "foreign" dishes are adopted whole hearted by citizens of the home country, while others are shunned as fake.
2-Figs—Nearly half of all of the food consumed by chimps appears to be one or another kind of figs, fruits of the Ficus trees. Fig trees produce delicious, nutritious fruits in large numbers. Chimps are not the only animals to eat figs. Fruit bats love figs, as do many birds and as do the other apes. When living in the same region, gorillas eat fewer figs than chimps, but gorillas do eat figs, as do orangutans. The majority of the carbon atoms in the average American have been said to come from corn; it is possible more than half of the carbon atoms in chimps come from figs.
Rahul Verma, a food critic who writes for The Hindu newspaper, claims: "It's basically a Punjabi dish not more than 40–50 years old and must be an accidental discovery which has had periodical improvisations."
The interesting thing too is that cuisine is not a fixed thing. Like go back 5,000 years and people are grazing on wild berries and stuff. The narratives about cuisine like to categorize dishes as being from this or that country, and like to then compare them to some sort of ideal version of the dish. But the reality is that these things are fluid. We are not at the endpoint of history here, just at a random point on a line
You can see the cognitive dissonance with people claiming that only "authentic" paella is true paella (despite paella itself being a fusion of multiple cultures) or people stating that American Chinese food is not real Chinese food (despite wide regional variations in "Chinese" food in China).
I think it is a maturity thing and folks wanting to seem as though they possess superior knowledge to others on a subject, instead of just realizing that there are variations. And, like all things cultural, whether it be food, music, language, there is a whole lot of borrowing and rearranging that happens and that is how new culture is shaped and emerges.
It tasted really delicious - super chicken-y with a fantastic fond when I pan fried them, but it made them a super odd texture. I recognize that texture - it's the texture of cubed chicken you get at Chipotle or some other fast-casual fry-up places.
In the end, the texture is just too weird and I won't prepare it like that again despite the flavor improvement.
Kung Pao chicken last night my wife made - not as spicy as we wanted, probably because the red peppers were maybe too old - but it was still very good. (one year?). I had it with a good Riesling.
Russian forces in Ukraine increasingly made up of rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, bank robbers and Methodists
All things being equal, I slightly prefer the GOP representatives who showed their disdain by staying away, unlike Representatives Gaetz and Boebert, who attended and behaved like ill-mannered teenagers.
FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried - who was born on Stanfurd's campus to two Furdie professors - plead guilty to criminal charges according to unsealed court documents. His girlfriend Caroline Ellison (Stanfurd, BS Mathematics '16) plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
I went through an adult baseball card collector phase in the late '80s. Had an impressive collection including cards I bought as a kid. Finally burned out on the whole deal and sold my collection and used the proceeds to pay off the rest of my student loan debt and buy a new stereo system.
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, 15/19 WB). Finished up the season. Went slow and then ended in a flurry with the last three season. My wife hated the finale, but I quite enjoyed it. Definitely some laugh out loud moments.
Righteous Gemstones is so damn funny. Danny McBride is brilliant in his ability to lace in just enough drama to keep the show sustainable despite the ridiculousness of the characters and premise. East Bound and Down was similar in this way.
Not sure if this belongs in the Ukrane/Russia category instead, but I saw that there is an episode of David Letterman's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" with Volodymyr Zelensky on Netflix. Evidently, Letterman traveled to Kyiv for the interview in October and it took place in what was described as the safest place in the city - an operating subway station 300 feet underground. It looked fascinating, especially given that Letterman is not necessarily one to do a serious interview with anyone. I hope it is mostly serious, but I'd also like to see some light moments, too. I'll report back if/when I see it.
White Lotus, my wife and I watched E1, S1 last night. Interesting writing and perspective, maybe a bit of Fantasy Island 2.0 with a tone of cultural criticism, some of which is obvious, some of which is more subtle. Not sure if this is going the direction of TransParent which started very strong for me, but which I had to stop watching due to the insufferable level of privilege and self-absorption the characters portrayed.
Arizona - after spending $95m to put 3,000 shipping containers on the border - will take them down. Arizona's governor came to an agreement with the Biden Administration to do so because most of this performative spectacle was done on Federal land.
I heard the headline but haven't read any details. Any idea why Ducey relented even though a Dem is coming in soon and probably would have done the same?
J6C transcripts showed that Publix heiress Julie Fancelli repeatedly pleading the Fifth, but also invoked the first, fourth, and 14th amendments. She was even asked what the First Amendment has to do with anything, to which she plead the First, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th. Why she pleads the First and 14th is beyond me. She is accused of supplying up to $3m to finance the J6 insurgency, which includes paying $600k to Kimberly Guilfoyle, $200k to Alex Jones, and $1.25m to Charlie Kirk partly to hire buses for the insurgents.
maybe she thinks section 2 of the 14th Amendment somehow applies?
"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state."
Sean Hannity tells court that he "did not believe for one second" that Sydney Powell's theory of Dominion machines were running to switch votes to Biden from Trump, despite hosting her a bajillion times
Surprised me how badly SA got gashed. Every time I had checked in on them all year they looked really good. Was certainly NOT the cupcake some people were too quick to label them against UCLA.
Coach Rivera (UC Berkeley, 1984) tells certain players that they made the Pro Bowl. Of special note is Jeremy Reaves on special teams. Check out his journey, which started as being an UDFA in 2018 and was a long-shot to be sure. And his mom passed away last year, to which Reaves credited football to help him cope.
When I checked in on Gamecast to see the score they were up by 15 or 20 with eight minutes left. Figured it was a safe lead. I guess it's a good thing to get a win?
If Knowlton were ice cold he would have fired Fox right after winning that first game. But he's instead probably working on another contract extension.
The jury was still out on Millner, so let’s not make him out to be something he is not. But still, you’d like to keep him…maybe this ULM kid can be functional, if he ends up in Berkeley.
My kids got me a 1 hr Intro to Flying thing where I get 30 min of flight training and 30 min behind the stick for Father's day. Going today. Hopefully I have as many successful landings as takeoffs.
My wife and I and her friends went on a duffy boat rental on Sunday. One of her friends' boyfriends insisted on "piloting" a boat with a top speed of 5 mph and took it a little too seriously.
Bay Area job has a big catch. That's gonna be a no from me, dawg.
https://www.sbsun.com/2022/12/21/now-hiring-140000-job-comes-with-san-francisco-waterfront-views-room-and-board-but-theres-a-catch/
$70k to work 90 hours a week? That's a no from me too.
is this working for Elon Musk?
DBD Cooking Academy
RIP Ali Ahmed Aslam - the Pakistani to Scotland immigrant who invented Chicken Tikka Masala. I find it fascinating that some "foreign" dishes are adopted whole hearted by citizens of the home country, while others are shunned as fake.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/dec/21/ali-ahmed-aslam-inventor-chicken-tikka-masala-dies-77
Al Pastor - Lebanese immigrants to Mexico
Fish Tacos - Japanese immigrants to Mexico
chili peppers - new world berry imported to Sichuan
Pho and Banh Mi - Because of French Colonialism
Cantonese Egg Tarts - from the Portuguese
Chicken Vindaloo from the Portuguese
Italian cuisine is made up!!! Tomatoes are a new world fruit, and noodles are from China!!!
:D :D :D
All cuisines are made up, TBB
How to Eat Like a Chimpanzee: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/how-to-eat-like-a-chimpanzee/
2-Figs—Nearly half of all of the food consumed by chimps appears to be one or another kind of figs, fruits of the Ficus trees. Fig trees produce delicious, nutritious fruits in large numbers. Chimps are not the only animals to eat figs. Fruit bats love figs, as do many birds and as do the other apes. When living in the same region, gorillas eat fewer figs than chimps, but gorillas do eat figs, as do orangutans. The majority of the carbon atoms in the average American have been said to come from corn; it is possible more than half of the carbon atoms in chimps come from figs.
I really enjoyed the Stanley Tucci series on Italian cuisine.
I can sum it up easily.
[Name of Region] approaches food by focusing on simple ingredients.
Even shorter version: [Region] focuses on [regional] ingredients.
tempura is also from the Portuguese.
Crab Rangoon - I still don't like these!
In re chicken tikka masala:
Rahul Verma, a food critic who writes for The Hindu newspaper, claims: "It's basically a Punjabi dish not more than 40–50 years old and must be an accidental discovery which has had periodical improvisations."
The interesting thing too is that cuisine is not a fixed thing. Like go back 5,000 years and people are grazing on wild berries and stuff. The narratives about cuisine like to categorize dishes as being from this or that country, and like to then compare them to some sort of ideal version of the dish. But the reality is that these things are fluid. We are not at the endpoint of history here, just at a random point on a line
You can see the cognitive dissonance with people claiming that only "authentic" paella is true paella (despite paella itself being a fusion of multiple cultures) or people stating that American Chinese food is not real Chinese food (despite wide regional variations in "Chinese" food in China).
I think it is a maturity thing and folks wanting to seem as though they possess superior knowledge to others on a subject, instead of just realizing that there are variations. And, like all things cultural, whether it be food, music, language, there is a whole lot of borrowing and rearranging that happens and that is how new culture is shaped and emerges.
I dry brined chicken as an experiment.
It tasted really delicious - super chicken-y with a fantastic fond when I pan fried them, but it made them a super odd texture. I recognize that texture - it's the texture of cubed chicken you get at Chipotle or some other fast-casual fry-up places.
In the end, the texture is just too weird and I won't prepare it like that again despite the flavor improvement.
Kung Pao chicken last night my wife made - not as spicy as we wanted, probably because the red peppers were maybe too old - but it was still very good. (one year?). I had it with a good Riesling.
Ukraine/Russia
Russia's only aircraft carrier caught fire. Again.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-kuznetsov-murkansk-fire-aircraft-carrier-1768956
Per Armed Forces of Ukraine, 100k dead Russians
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1605875110770089985
Russian forces in Ukraine increasingly made up of rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, bank robbers and Methodists
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64050719
Zelensky got innumerable standing ovations from the Senate and House. Not sure what it will mean.
All things being equal, I slightly prefer the GOP representatives who showed their disdain by staying away, unlike Representatives Gaetz and Boebert, who attended and behaved like ill-mannered teenagers.
DBD Street Journal
FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried - who was born on Stanfurd's campus to two Furdie professors - plead guilty to criminal charges according to unsealed court documents. His girlfriend Caroline Ellison (Stanfurd, BS Mathematics '16) plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/sam-bankman-frieds-girlfriend-ftx-founder-plead-guilty/story
Phase
Me: punk rock, but really no "look" of punk rock that I wore.
I went through an 18 month married phase.
I went through may phases as a teenager and early adult trying to find my way.
I went through an adult baseball card collector phase in the late '80s. Had an impressive collection including cards I bought as a kid. Finally burned out on the whole deal and sold my collection and used the proceeds to pay off the rest of my student loan debt and buy a new stereo system.
Somewhere in my dad's house (or perhaps lost to time) is a Tony Gwynn rookie card.
I have 36,000 for sale if you want back in. Mainly early 90's
Three. (As in three-phase power.)
DBD AV Club
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, 15/19 WB). Finished up the season. Went slow and then ended in a flurry with the last three season. My wife hated the finale, but I quite enjoyed it. Definitely some laugh out loud moments.
We love that show.
Likewise
me 3
Watching The Righteous Gemstones - episode 4 last night; hella funny and corrupt show - HBO
Righteous Gemstones is so damn funny. Danny McBride is brilliant in his ability to lace in just enough drama to keep the show sustainable despite the ridiculousness of the characters and premise. East Bound and Down was similar in this way.
Not sure if this belongs in the Ukrane/Russia category instead, but I saw that there is an episode of David Letterman's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" with Volodymyr Zelensky on Netflix. Evidently, Letterman traveled to Kyiv for the interview in October and it took place in what was described as the safest place in the city - an operating subway station 300 feet underground. It looked fascinating, especially given that Letterman is not necessarily one to do a serious interview with anyone. I hope it is mostly serious, but I'd also like to see some light moments, too. I'll report back if/when I see it.
It's an interview between two comedians - there's bound to be some light moments.
White Lotus, my wife and I watched E1, S1 last night. Interesting writing and perspective, maybe a bit of Fantasy Island 2.0 with a tone of cultural criticism, some of which is obvious, some of which is more subtle. Not sure if this is going the direction of TransParent which started very strong for me, but which I had to stop watching due to the insufferable level of privilege and self-absorption the characters portrayed.
Fleishman is in Trouble is getting really good.
Didn't realize they'd made a series of that. I found Fleishman the character to be insufferable in the book.
every character is insufferable in the tv show . . . it's pretty overtly mocking them
The DBD: every character is insufferable.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Arizona - after spending $95m to put 3,000 shipping containers on the border - will take them down. Arizona's governor came to an agreement with the Biden Administration to do so because most of this performative spectacle was done on Federal land.
https://ktla.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/nationworld/headlines/ap-arizona-to-remove-shipping-container-wall-from-mexico-border/
I heard the headline but haven't read any details. Any idea why Ducey relented even though a Dem is coming in soon and probably would have done the same?
J6C transcripts showed that Publix heiress Julie Fancelli repeatedly pleading the Fifth, but also invoked the first, fourth, and 14th amendments. She was even asked what the First Amendment has to do with anything, to which she plead the First, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th. Why she pleads the First and 14th is beyond me. She is accused of supplying up to $3m to finance the J6 insurgency, which includes paying $600k to Kimberly Guilfoyle, $200k to Alex Jones, and $1.25m to Charlie Kirk partly to hire buses for the insurgents.
https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/20220218_Julia%20Fancelli.pdf
https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/20220218_Julia%20Fancelli.pdf
maybe she thinks section 2 of the 14th Amendment somehow applies?
"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state."
Josh Hawley (R-MO) tells his incel base that they should stop being incels
https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1605390759791939584
Sean Hannity tells court that he "did not believe for one second" that Sydney Powell's theory of Dominion machines were running to switch votes to Biden from Trump, despite hosting her a bajillion times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/business/media/sean-hannity-fox-trump-election.html
Elsewhere in college
Band humor
https://twitter.com/sweg_leaps/status/1605991750052495377
Travis Hunter follows Prime to Colorado
https://twitter.com/DNVR_Buffs/status/1605773623578411008
Oregon gets an embarrassment of riches on Early signing day.
28 commits, 26 signed
3 five-stars, 15 four-stars, 10 three stars
Meanwhile, Cal signs 10, 1 four star (Nyziah Hunter) and the rest are 3 star
One of the five stars that didn't sign just flipped to Oklahoma
Western KY beats South Alabama 44-23
Would have been a bigger spread but Yam Banks with this sweet throw-tato interception.
https://twitter.com/Ben_Cary_/status/1605767423059103744
Ok, I tried.
End of half was this chaos
https://twitter.com/SickosCommittee/status/1605771466527477760
Western Ky looked good. Granted it was South Alabama.
Missed a word. Western Ky QB looked good.
I saw it was on when I channel surfed by, but just couldn't get excited to watch.
South Al won 10 games this year and was one boneheaded decision away from beating Ucla
That was this season?! That feels like it was a couple seasons ago. I even thought to myself, "oh yeah, they had that close game at UCLA last year"
Ya, South Alabama is pretty good.
Surprised me how badly SA got gashed. Every time I had checked in on them all year they looked really good. Was certainly NOT the cupcake some people were too quick to label them against UCLA.
Western Ky blitzed the Jags early with their tempo passing (Tyson Helton at his best), and kept them at arms length.
I watched a few minutes before halftime and that must have been rough for South Alabama fans. That defense was getting torched.
PRO
Coach Rivera (UC Berkeley, 1984) tells certain players that they made the Pro Bowl. Of special note is Jeremy Reaves on special teams. Check out his journey, which started as being an UDFA in 2018 and was a long-shot to be sure. And his mom passed away last year, to which Reaves credited football to help him cope.
https://twitter.com/RossTuckerNFL/status/1605759093414580224
Watch this. If you're impatient, skip to 1:21 - but I recommend watching the whole thing to see his teammates' reactions.
https://twitter.com/Commanders/status/1605746548230410240
The odious Dan Snyder doesn't really deserve to have a mensch like Rivera as the coach
I'm not crying, you're crying. <sniff>
NFL Sunday Ticket to Youtube in 2023
https://twitter.com/YouTube/status/1605934302432149504
Humbug, Broncos.
While they're not real, those helmets are 🔥🔥🔥
https://twitter.com/Broncos/status/1605989042733993984
I appreciate this quality video
https://twitter.com/PlayoffTanaka_/status/1605298847764295680
ex-Bronco Ronnie Hillman dead at age 31 from cancer.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35304107/former-broncos-rb-ronnie-hillman-dies-cancer-31
As predicted by HSB, Dubs get absolutely blasted 143-113 by Nets
https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401468625
That Poole contract is looking really iffy. He has to learn to play some defense.
Pro Wrestler Tony Atlas tells Yahoo sports about his new hobbies like weight lifting and art and...
https://sports.yahoo.com/tony-atlas-great-having-hobbies-160151696.html
Knicks get docked a draft choice for "tampering" - or as I call it "pulling a UCLA"
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/knicks-docked-draft-pick-for-tampering-with-jalen-brunson/3154664/
FIFA investigation
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/32461/12773268/salt-baes-world-cup-final-antics-on-pitch-being-investigated-by-fifa
Only in soccer would there be an investigation into "antics".
CAL
[MBB] Cal's Bizarro-Perfect season ruined as UT-Arlington was awful. Cal is now 1-12.
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-ut-arlington-mens-basketball-2022
Cal at least won't be the worst team in the WAC.
When I checked in on Gamecast to see the score they were up by 15 or 20 with eight minutes left. Figured it was a safe lead. I guess it's a good thing to get a win?
I gotta be honest. I was privately hoping for a winless season just to see what Knowlton would do.
If Knowlton were ice cold he would have fired Fox right after winning that first game. But he's instead probably working on another contract extension.
There is more glory in the infamy of 0-28 than in simply being terrible and 1-27.
I think this attitude really sucks for the players, just because you don't like the coach.
He’s a terrible coach. He built this roster and he’s leading them nowhere.
I don't think anyone disagrees with this except for the Fox family.
Same. I was both happy and disappointed with the win.
I was also.
I always always always root for Cal teams to win. But....it wouldn't have broken my heart if this iteration of the Bears went winless.
From the front page:
Jack Plummer in the portal
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-quarterback-jack-plummer-enters
And Millner. Kind of a sour morning so far. I was hoping he'd take over the starting job.
Another season of Rent-a-QB.
New OC will be looking to rent a different model.
Hopefully, Millner's move is because of what Spavital told him, and not because Spavital hasn't talked to him.
Let's hope spavital has a royal flush up his sleeve. Otherwise we are screwed.
The jury was still out on Millner, so let’s not make him out to be something he is not. But still, you’d like to keep him…maybe this ULM kid can be functional, if he ends up in Berkeley.
Go Bears!!!
DBD Pilot
My kids got me a 1 hr Intro to Flying thing where I get 30 min of flight training and 30 min behind the stick for Father's day. Going today. Hopefully I have as many successful landings as takeoffs.
https://media.tenor.com/2-yfUiEOgQ8AAAAC/top-gun-pete-mitchell.gif
Let us know when you're back so we know you survived!
Ended up not being able to go up because the visibility was only 4 NM. Their insurance requires 5 NM of visibility. Rescheduled for Jan 2.
My wife and I and her friends went on a duffy boat rental on Sunday. One of her friends' boyfriends insisted on "piloting" a boat with a top speed of 5 mph and took it a little too seriously.
DBD is opening a Pilot truckstop?
Career pivot. Bear-ee's with an Oski logo.