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Topics - Nast

#1
Literate Chaotic / Highly Fucking Relevant Poem
July 27, 2016, 09:33:08 AM
So the poem that Hillary quoted for her 1969 graduation speech is pretty awesome and uncannily relevant to current day affairs. Thought I'd share:

"The Art of Making Possible" by Nancy Scheibner

My entrance into the world of so-called "social problems"
Must be with quiet laughter, or not at all.
The hollow men of anger and bitterness
The bountiful ladies of righteous degradation
All must be left to a bygone age.
And the purpose of history is to provide a receptacle
For all those myths and oddments
Which oddly we have acquired
And from which we would become unburdened
To create a newer world
To translate the future into the past.
We have no need of false revolutions
In a world where categories tend to tyrannize our minds
And hang our wills up on narrow pegs.
It is well at every given moment to seek the limits in our lives.
And once those limits are understood
To understand that limitations no longer exist.
Earth could be fair. And you and I must be free
Not to save the world in a glorious crusade
Not to kill ourselves with a nameless gnawing pain
But to practice with all the skill of our being
The art of making possible.
#2
So I'm trying to apply for a job at a privately-owned bed and breakfast. Would it be a good move to pop over there in person to introduce myself and ask if they are hiring, and if so, for what position? Or is this obnoxious? I just ask because in the past I've gotten into awkward situations for doing this (the people at the establishment were busy and stressed out and didn't want to deal with me, the person I talked to wasn't even sure if the place was hiring or not, etc.).

I'm worried that if I ask via email, I'll just be ignored or given a vague fluff-off answer.

I'm happy to hear of your advice on best how to approach this.
#3
I generally have a problem finding foods to eat for breakfast, since I am a freak of nature and dislike the conventional American fare (cereal, eggs, French toast). Usually I'll just end up having leftovers from last night's dinner, but my favorite things for breakfast are:

-Tea/hot chocolate
-Atole
-Miso soup
- Soup/curry

So, what do y'all usually have?

#4
Bring and Brag / Painting Series
November 17, 2015, 03:24:19 AM
Hey guys, recently I completed my first-ever painting series. I'll just post a link here instead of spagging up the place with giant images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/46049981@N03/albums/72157658468792505

They're ten paintings, and all of them are done with spray paint and acrylics.
#5
There's an artist who makes glass sculptures of microorganisms. They're gorgeous:

http://www.lukejerram.com/glass/gallery
#6
Literate Chaotic / Strange Relations
October 10, 2015, 07:04:12 AM
Tonight I came across the obituary of a person whom I never met and I never knew.

Even though we had no connection in life, the impact of his death reached me through a series of chance (?) events. Like ripples on a pond, like links on a chain. Without ever intending it, he permanently altered the context of all my future romantic relationships. (Thanks.)

The comments on the obituary page are breaking my heart. It's weird to read them - to feel so involved and yet uninvolved at the same time. I'm reading the private diary of my lover and discovering a portion of their inner life that utterly excludes me.

I cried. For lots of reasons. It's complicated. Partly because I felt so sad that I couldn't help them, either the living or the dead. They have this monumental, world-bridging connection, and I'm just some transient observer in it all. Partly because now that I know more fully, it doesn't matter at all.

So I float away, silently, like I'm the ghost.
#7
Or Kill Me / The Desert
September 24, 2015, 06:56:34 AM
You know, from the outside, things look alright: I have a warm bed, I have enough food, I'm not homeless or in prison. I live clean, I have a college degree. People tell me that I'm talented and good-looking. But on the inside I know that I'm a failure, because somewhere along the line I fell off this conveyor belt and was never able to get back on again.

I used to bright, you know, but there's so much dust in this place that I can't distinguish myself from the landscape. It's so flat and wide and desolate. The sun beats down; I have no protection.

I missed every milestone.

My peers went zooming past me long ago to that place they call a Fulfilling Life. You can see it shining over there on the horizon, that fabled place, that place we're promised if we behave in school and interview well.

The desert is full of mirages.

I stopped being thirsty a long time ago. The dust sort of settles in everywhere - into your mouth, your nose, your eyes - until you become dust yourself. My throat filled up, I expected to yearn for breath, but that never came. I accepted this.

When your body gets sick, people send you flowers.
When your mind is sick, it's like no one wants to look at you at all.
#8
Discordian Recipes / YUMMY DESSERTS
September 21, 2015, 05:22:47 AM
Sometimes I make desserts for special occasions, friends, etc. Here are some cakes I make in the recent past: orange olive oil bundt cake, vanilla chiffon cake with fun fruit ornamentation, a mango mousse cake that contains pure rage





(Sorry for the obnoxiously large pictures; I'm having trouble resizing them on the machine I'm on and will try to fix it later)

Feel free to post your own desserts.
#9
Is there a certain age that at which you would allow your child to post on an internet forum that wasn't child oriented?
Of course there are the usual issues about safety and child predators and "is my little Johnny looking at weird Dutch porn again?" that any parent would be concerned about, but I'm more interested in hearing about what opinions you would have in terms of what level of social development a kid should reach before being able to interact with adult strangers online.

The only issue that comes to my mind, and this is something that comes from my own experience, is that while a kid may have enough smarts to engage in forum interaction, they may lack the proper amount of emotional development to avoid and/or cope with the usual pitfalls of online dickery. I know that if at age 15 I got into an argument with a stranger over the internet, I would definitely take it personally, resulting in lots of butthurt and hurt feelings and simmering resentments. Not to say that this sort of thing doesn't happen to adult forum users. In fact, it's awfully common.

I joined my first internet forum when I was 13, and PD a few years after that. I'm an adult now, so looking back on it naturally makes me feel a bit embarrassed about the silly things I must have posted, but it also makes me think about this sort of thing more.
#10
So probably some of you can sympathize with being the recipient of mind-numbingly dumb and perhaps even racist chain emails forwarded to you from a relative. Well, tonight I found an email forwarded to my inbox from my well-meaning  mother, which filled me with such annoyance that I had to hit "reply all" and send a brief response, which probably will do no good but at least temporarily relieved the flow of bile that had quickly welled up from depths of my gall badder. The email forwarded, entitled "Welcome to a Chinese Wal*mart" was a series of photos of the interior of a Wal*Mart and the products within in it, focusing on such lurid things as bins of organ meats, frozen crocodile heads, and wacky household products. This in itself didn't offend me, it was the asinine "Hey look at how BARBARIC and WEIRD these furrnerrs are" tone that the commentary on the photos were written in that did it. This was my response:

     While the article brought up a fair concern of lack of sanitation standards in the store (that I won't debate), I found it was mostly pandering to the depressingly common and may I say thoroughly racist depiction of Eastern culture as backwards and wacky, effectively reducing it to an "Other" to merely be gawked at from the comfort of our Western cultural tunnel. The author sneers at food products that are considered dirty and inedible in the West such as organ meats and reptiles, making a spectacle of what is a normal part of these people's food culture. It is an extremely juvenile and culturally insensitive approach, the adult equivalent to a 4th grader making fun of another student's lunch. Clearly our culture has not moved on from the fucking 18th century, when stories of the "exotic Orient" titillated the populace and fed into an inaccurate and imaginary picture of East Asians that made any cross-cultural understanding nigh impossible.

     And if we're going to compare apples to apples, it's no worse than the processed crap foods that American Walmarts are filled with.Hell, at least these people know that the food they're eating was at one point alive, not something brewed in a chemical vat and canned, to later be injected directly into the bloodstream of our precious Honey-Boo-Boo child so that she may continue to entertain us with her antics, while meanwhile, our email inboxes pile up with this sort of unsolicited racist trash.

    Or Kill Me.
#11
I love Lucy Worsley! She's adorable. You can watch her entertaining and informative series on the development of the home throughout Western history as divided into four rooms - the living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIrHgg4Ar0A. The timeline runs from about Medieval period to the 1950s.

I learned a lot about the past and it confirmed my belief that Tudors are smelly.
#12
Or Kill Me / Today's Small Incidence of Peevishness
December 24, 2011, 08:03:44 AM
I was idly leafing through "Food and Wine" magazine today, when I was surprised to find that it made me angry. I was surprised.

Now, I like food. I like fancy food. I too have been caught up in unwise entertaining-related flights of fancy - anxious dinner parties, a feverish desire to bake the finest scones. But as I read through the publication, I immediately understood the reason behind my reaction: The whole thing is perverse. It's not about food. It's about selling a fantasy world in which you impress your social circle with your gastronomic sophistication, purchased authenticity, and packaged warmth. It's hospitality porn.

In recent years there has been a trend for things that once were shameful signs of poverty and pronvinciality, in ironic inversion, to become luxury commodities for the typically white, privileged and middle aged .  It's like hundreds of Marie Antoinettes, playing farm girl: it abounds with articles about with "wildcrafting" (a glitzy term for foraging), wood burning ovens, heirloom vegetables, and converted farmhouses. People practically compete with each other in shows idealized rusticity: I can just imagine someone rattling off to his friends about the vintage organic lemon press made from some Tuscan grandmother's peg leg hanging on the wall, while they nod, enraptured, over their glasses of wine. Isn't unfair that you can't buy an impoverished Ecuadorian family? That would really spruce up the patio.





#13
I'm reading about the Salton Sea for a report for school, and my word this place is AMAZING. If Tucson is Eris' Holy City, then the Sea must be her Unholy Bathtub.

It has beaches made entirely of decomposing fish bones, and loathsome sludge-like water that glows at night with the light of bioluminescent bacteria. The pollution is atrocious, and the only fish that can tolerate the high salinity are tilapia, which aren't safe to eat on account of being filled with botulism. And that's not to mention the urban decay.

The kicker is that when the sea dries up and becomes merely a gigantic toxic lake bed, poisonous dust laden with selenium from agricultural pollution will be picked up by the desert wind and will degrade the air quality for miles and miles around.

It all sounds lovely, doesn't it?
#14
Discordian Recipes / Some Nice Things To Bake
March 08, 2011, 08:31:35 AM
I consider myself a mediocre baker, yet have a terrible need to heap baked goods upon friends, strangers, and acquaintances. This sometimes causes me existential angst.

Therefore, I would be more than glad if you could share with me your simple yet tasty cakes, cookies, pies, and pastry recipes. I say simple because while I know how to sift, fold, and whip, I'm not as confident in my baking abilities as cooking. Baking has always struck me as something very precise and scientific, the algebra of the culinary world, and I was never good at math in school anyway.

The most challenging thing for me is getting the correct degree of doneness in my baked goods . You see, my oven is electric, and I faintly recall that electric ovens (maybe it's only the newer models) have mechanisms that self-correct the temperature. But I have noticed that my oven is a finicky finicky creature, and I really ought to check if the temperature is off. Sometimes turn out done in half the time the recipe suggests. Other times it's spot-on. Hm.

So I'd be happy if you'd have any generally handy tips too.

Thanks!

#15
Bring and Brag / Little Red Riding Hood, as told by Nast
December 17, 2010, 07:57:57 AM
Little Red Riding Hood was walking down the forest path to deliver her basket full of homemade preserves to Jesus Christ, who was sick in bed with a case of the snuffles. She was sure her gesture would make him feel much better, as she had made sure to bring twice the amount of apricot flavor this time. Jesus liked apricot flavor the best.

Her mother had warned her not to go into the forest and to simply walk around it, but that would have taken all day and besides, what did her mother know? She just sat around all day collecting unemployment. Little Red Riding Hood knew that when she grew up, she would be clever and become a scientist, instead of having four kids and eating directly out of the box of Cheerios every night for dinner, because she just didn't care anymore.

Little Red Riding Hood felt very clever taking the shortcut through the forest, and wasn't even afraid of the wolves that were rumored to lurk there.

Meanwhile, hiding behind a tree there was in fact a wolf, and he was very hungry.

"Hello," said the wolf to Little Red.
"Hello," she replied. "If you're trying to sell me something, I'm not interested."
"Oh not at all, I was just wondering where you were going."

Now, Little Red Riding Hood was not a stupid girl per se; she knew for example that one should not under any circumstances let one's guard down around salespeople, but she was still young and didn't know that wolves weren't to be talked to either. So she made the foolish mistake of telling the wolf where she was going.

"I'm going to see Jesus, and bring him these homemade preserves as he has a case of the snuffles."

"Oh how nice of you. You know, here I was thinking that no one cans nowadays, but it's nice to see someone keeping up the practice. Does Jesus live very far away? I thought he was supposed to live in heaven, or Texas."

"Oh no," Little Red replied, "He lives just up the path in a bungalow.
"Well then, since it's such a nice day out and I could sure use a constitutional, how about I join you?"
"That sounds lovely!" exclaimed Little Red, and they began to walk together.

When they walked a little and reached Jesus' bungalow, they knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Jesus said, "I"m afraid I'm in such a weak condition, you'll have to mind the door yourself."

So they opened the door and walked in. There was a terrible lot of retro wallpaper; Jesus was always into the kitsch. He sat in bed with a nightcap and spectacles, doing a crossword puzzle and snuffling a bit.

"Hello my children, it's so nice to see you! I was feeling so dreary with this cold."
"Well", said Little Red, opening the basket, "I happened to bring you some homemade preserves to make you feel better. There's even extra apricot flavor, I know that's your favorite."
"Oh, what a darling thing to do! Let's enjoy them together."

So they all happily ate the preserves, even the wolf, and he was no longer hungry.

Just then however, a tall and burly lumberjill burst through the door. To everyone's horror, she swung her axe with her large forearms and disemboweled the poor wolf.

"Aha, you cursed beast! No longer shall you terrify little old grannies!" she bellowed. She looked inside the wolf's stomach cavity, but to her slight dismay there were no little old grannies to be found.

"Now why did you go and do that?" ask Little Red, indignantly. "He was quite the gentleman."

"But I thought he had eaten your grandmother, and you were going to be next!" replied the lumberjill.

"Oh no," said Jesus. "All that's just a sexual metaphor."

And so they pondered this.

THE END





#16
Propaganda Depository / Let's Enjoy Our Noses
November 01, 2010, 06:07:46 AM
I was thinking about how many people are unhappy with their noses, so I made this poster to promote nose-diversity.



My nose is number 4. : )

Which one is most like yours?
#17
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAPPPPP
                                      \
#18
OUR HEARTS BLOSSOM IN PROFUSION TO GREET THE SPLENDID OF DEAR LEADER!
        \
#19
People who are smart yet not smart enough to know when to hide it.

People who press the button at the crosswalk a million times, even though it doesn't do anything. They must like the beepy noise.

When you set out to prepare a recipe, but near the end you discover that you don't have a key ingredient or that you left it out.

The kiosks at the mall that sell hair extensions and cell phone accessories are irritating
#20
Discordian Recipes / Natto! A Food Report
September 26, 2010, 06:04:40 AM
I lost my natto virginity today.

For those who don't know, natto is a traditional Japanese food consisting of fermented soybeans infamous for its funky odor and texture.



For a giggle, please note that the packaging say "bukkake" in Japanese. Now,  bukkake is also a perfectly innocent word meaning to splash or douse (as in you're supposed to splash your natto with soy sauce before eating it).

But considering that this is what natto looks like, the alternative meaning of "bukkake" is somehow very apropos:



The biggest thing that turns people off about natto is the smell. Curiously, I didn't find it to be all that bad. Based on people's descriptions, I was expecting a putrid, sour odor to issue forth from the package when I opened it. To me it just smelled earthy and a little pungent. Now, I can see how some people say it's reminiscent of sweaty socks. But I think that's an unfairly extreme statement; if natto smells like socks then parmesan cheese smells like vomit and stilton like your great grandmother's moldy basement. IMHO, there are plenty of fermented foods that smell far worse than natto, I think people are just being squeamish because's it's an unfamiliar food.

As for the texture: Amazing! When you stir this stuff up it sticks to your chopsticks, suspended in numerous tiny threads like silly string or a spiders web. Admittedly it's more fun to play with than to actually eat. When you put it in your mouth, well, it's thick and slimy and ropey.

Bukkake!

Its other attributes are far from endearing but what made me dislike natto was the taste. It's very bitter. And not bitter as in the gentle astringency of black tea or the refreshingly clean bitterness of bitter melon; natto's bitterness bloomed in your mouth and lingered on the back of the tongue and made you want a glass of water to wash it away.

Natto, like oysters, is one of those foods that make you wonder who the hell was the first person to try it. I can't imagine people finding the pungent, sticky mass of beans under their bed of rice straw and thinking "Oh boy, I'd like to have this for breakfast everyday!". But natto seems to be very healthy for you and the people who enjoy it really enjoy it. So more power to them.
#21
Why do all colleges have to have giant hideous abstract sculptures installed on their campuses?

Every one I've been to has at least one.

And it's always some great big pointy triangular thing in primary colors, or something resembling what I'd imagine a sheet metal factory would like after a heavy bombing.

I don't understand it.
#22
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / ATTN AUCOQ
July 29, 2010, 06:46:12 AM
Now you've gone and made me all nostalgic for coq au vin, the dish my crazy botox-filled aunt who thinks she's French brings over for Thanksgiving.

I suppose that was your intention?
#23
Bring and Brag / ITT I SING SONGS TO ENTERTAIN YOU
July 18, 2010, 05:25:13 AM
...or possibly horrify you. Really, I've never had any vocal training and the only time I sing is while in the kitchen.

But I thought it would be fun to share with you. Hopefully I'm not too awful. D:

http://ifile.it/fx7r2k9 - A song about fireflies...in Classical Japanese

http://ifile.it/j28db43 - The theme song from Disney's Mulan in Finnish. I don't speak a word of Finnish, but that doesn't mean I can't pretend to.

http://ifile.it/t2fhsgx  -  Moon River



#24
Bring and Brag / Smut in Santa Barbara
July 09, 2010, 08:10:54 AM
Barbie has been made into an unfortunate example to passerbys - this is Bratz turf



A randy pillar



A randy sidewalk



I assume that these were the result of the Solstice Parade in town a few weeks ago. You could only imagine how grossly threatened my sensibilities were!
#25
Or Kill Me / Woes for the Woe Pile
July 09, 2010, 07:36:47 AM
"Don't tell Jason," I overheard the tiny voice on the phone say. "He might be jealous."

And I was.

It's completely wrong and possibly even a bit childish for me to feel that way about another person's good fortune, but my heart has grown so, so bitter lately (and not just from knitting!)

It's just... very hard to hear that someone is getting what they want out of life while meanwhile you're stuck in an abnormal unhealthy family that's been threatened by poverty for a good few months. And that you're very scared, and lonely, and frustrated that whatever you try you just can't seem to Get It Right. Maybe I lack the ambition to haul myself out of this mess and into the world. Maybe what my dad said was right, that I am lazy. And maybe my brother's right, that I'm weak and delicate and could never last.

I remember mentioning on here that my family was never abusive. But I was wrong, I now know that it was an emotionally abusive environment. When I finally saw how other, normal adults lived, it was strange and amazing at the same time: they had friends, they listened to music, they went and did things together, they seemed to love each other. There was a void in place of those things throughout my childhood, affection was sucked in along with them.

Now I'm old enough, I know I need to work towards independence, to work towards my own life that I can fill with joy. How will I possibly get there?

I've gotta be brave.
#26
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Lord Whimsy
July 02, 2010, 07:35:47 AM
Has anyone ever checked out Lord Whimsy's stuff? I'm very smitten with his naturalist dandy aesthetic. He also links to Discordiansim on his site:

http://www.lordwhimsy.com/whimsy/index.html

Newer blog:

http://theaffectedprovincial.blogspot.com/

Older blog:

http://lord-whimsy.livejournal.com/

I haven't bought his book, but it looks charming.
#27
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / ATTN Kai
May 21, 2010, 12:54:29 AM
In the old children's book I got, there's a story about caddis worms! It made me think of you:

Some caddisfly larvae find themselves born into a pond, but their white backsides make them very vulnerable. So one of them gets the bright idea to build houses to protect themselves. (At this point they all think they are very clever, not knowing that caddis worms have always done so).
However, the Biggest Caddis Worm builds his case carelessly, even though the others forewarn him to make sure it is thick enough. Eventually they fasten their houses onto something solid and enter a deep sleep. Soon, Water Adder comes over and bumps the Biggest Caddis Worm's house, and he tumbles out. Belostoma happens to be by and carries him off. None know just what became of the Biggest Caddis Worm after that.  :sad:
#28
Or Kill Me / Words and Lack of Words
May 07, 2010, 01:59:26 AM
The first thing people usually say about me is that I'm so quiet. I usually tell them that I simply have nothing to say. This probably makes me a terrible bore, but splattering everyone with your raw unfiltered verbal diarrhea makes you an even greater one.

So what's so awkward about silence? A lot of people have a horror vacui in regards to conversation. They try to insulate the spaces with all sorts of chatter, as if the silence is painful. It doesn't have to be. Have you ever been with someone with which the connection was so solid words were unnecessary? That you could just share a moment, and didn't have to open your mouth and search for something clever or funny to say? That means more than all the small talk in the world.
#29
Discordian Recipes / Knives - Please to Advise?
March 30, 2010, 08:54:11 PM
So, what would be some essential knives to have around? We currently have a santoku and deba (both shamefully dull), and maybe 4 steak knives. Sad, isn't it?

I'm not hacking up animal parts everyday, so I'm mostly concerned with some everyday, chops-your-goddamn-carrots type knives to invest in. What brands would you recommend? What's the best way to sharpen?

I'd like to become knowledgeable about it, because I know how important preparation is.
#30
A memory came back to me when I was in the shower tonight. I remembered that when I was younger I could distinguish people, their homes, and their possessions by their personal scent. Now, most people neither smell good nor bad, it's just somehow the smell they carry.

I was in school when someone had left a jacket in the classroom. My teacher asked me if I knew whose it was, and I said "I might," and then sniffed it.
"Oh," I said, "That's Austin's."
My teacher acted surprised and called Austin over to see if it was his. It turns out it was! My teacher bent over and sniffed him
"No," she declared, "He doesn't seem to have a special Austin-scent. You know, Nast, that's really weird."

I also have a tendency to notice places' smells a lot. It doesn't have to be particularly distinctive like, say, your mother's apple pie. It could be the botany lab, or a specific supermarket, or a 99 cent store. Does anyone else have similar experiences? Or am I a total freak?
#31
Or Kill Me / America's Next Top Model
February 23, 2010, 07:22:36 AM
Hey you.

Yeah, you with that dumb look. You better wipe it off when I come your way because I am THE QUEEN. You may not know it when you see it; my face hasn't launched a thousand ships, but that's because those fuckers knew I was out of their league.

I got it, and you can't buy it from the Mac Store. You can't buy it anywhere because what I got is me and that's all I need. You think you can get to me? I'm so far above you I can't even see you way down there in Whogivesafuckistan. The truth is, some people may disapprove of me. They don't like me because they don't know how to live their lives. What they don't know is that every pretty morning, every delightful breeze, every drop of dew on the magnolia flowers is mine. The world is my oyster and I'll be damned if I be kept from what I am entitled to.

I am beautiful. I am amazing. I am

America's Next Top Model
#32
Discordian Recipes / I HAS A SILLY QUESTION
February 10, 2010, 06:22:59 AM
So how does one gain weight?

For me, it isn't a body image issue or any of that crap, it's just that currently I'm 1 bmi point underweight and would not like to feel so waiflike that I have to tie myself down in gusty weather. Currently I'd say that gaining another 10 pounds is my goal.

I've always been a skinny kid. I also try to keep myself fed, eat breakfast and all, and I always follow a healthy diet. I was just wondering if there were any calorically dense foods I could be consuming. Much obliged!
#33
Bring and Brag / Arts You Can See with Your Face
January 12, 2010, 07:18:03 AM
I suppose I'll use this thread as a repository for the arts and such I turn out, for your potential viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
#34
I've created this thread to post recipes that I like; they've been found, learned and scavenged from many sources. I hope you find them tasty.  :)
#35
I'm 17, and live in an apartment with my brother and parents. While I understand that I am obligated to contribute with household chores, I feel that others have been neglecting their share of obligations. It's been a custom in my household that I handle the cooking , and the others collectively contribute to most of the cleaning. However, the place is usually a mess. My mom is too busy taking care of my grandparents, my brother has been in a state of depression for some time now, and my dad doesn't really do much of anything. It's simply too much for me to handle everything.

The problem is, my dad doesn't respect anything around the house. For example, this Thanksgiving, he completely ruined a metal cookie sheet by attempting to carve the turkey on it with an electric carver. It was so gouged I had to throw it away. I was upset with him for it, because I'm the only one who uses such things. His reply was "It was crap anyway, we might as well buy a new one!"

I have yet to see a new one.

He's expressed a lack of interest in improving living conditions for himself or his family all throughout his life. It's the reason the 4 of us are stuck in a depressing 2 bedroom on shaky income.

More over, this problem of not getting my parents to listen to me extends beyond silly issues like housekeeping. I've tried to set boundaries with them before with behaviors I'd find hurtful, annoying, or downright creepy. They however, cheerfully ignore these wishes in pretense of "doing things out of my best interest". It gets me so upset that I often have to resort to yelling at them / fighting. But I'm tired of yelling, even though that is the only thing that (strangely) will get them to listen.

What do?
#37
Discordian Recipes / Warabimochi
June 10, 2009, 07:34:18 AM
I'm very fortunate, having access to a Japanese market, albeit small and located in the next town over. But being able to explore the foods they have, and trying my own hand at making them is an adventure. So, this time I tried making warabimochi, which is a confection made out of bracken fern starch. I didn't take a picture of mine, but they generally look like this:



Warabimochi:

100g Warabi starch (I don't know the cup measurements, I just used half of the 200g package!)
3 cups water
Kinako (toasted soybean flour) to roll around in

Sugar syrup:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup water

....................................................

In a medium sized pot, combine warabi starch and 3 cups water. Stir together well. You should get a white liquid. Turn the heat on high, and keep stirring until the mixture turns translucent throughout, resembling a gel. Take off heat, and pour the gel into a baking dish, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours until set.

Combine brown sugar and water in a saucepan. Turn up heat and boil the mixture until syrupy. You know how to make syrup, right?

When set, cut the warabimochi in the dish into squares and remove. Coat in brown sugar syrup, and roll around in the kinako.

...................................................

So how did they taste? Well, I didn't hate them, but I didn't love them. The warabimochi itself is tasteless, though I did sort of detect a faint woodsy-earthy...brackeny aftertaste. You mostly taste the kinako, which is toasty and vaguely peanutbuttery, and the sweet syrup. The texture, however, can best be described as smooth and wobbly. You may not like it if you're not into jelly-like textures. But, I'm glad to say I've tried it.
#38
Discordian Recipes / Cherry Clafoutis
May 19, 2009, 06:44:44 AM
On a whim decided to make cherry clafoutis for the first time. Used this recipe.
My god! It's like a delicious almondy breadpudding with tart cherries.
#39
Bring and Brag / Actias isabellae
February 21, 2009, 09:10:18 PM
A picture I did of Actias isabellae (Spanish moon moth) with gouache paint and a ballpoint pen.
They're found in the Pyrenees and small areas of the Alps. As a larva they feed on various types of pine trees.



Normally I would have scanned it, but the picture was too big. Hopefully I'll do some other paintings of saturniid moths in the near future!  :)
#40
Techmology and Scientism / Some Neat Plants
January 07, 2009, 06:55:22 AM
Monotropa uniflora

Known as Indian pipe, ghost plant, or corpse plant, Monotropa uniflora a species of flowering plant that lacks chlorophyll, and because of this, is pale white in color. Because it itself cannot photosynthesize, it takes its nutrients from mycorrhyzal fungi (fungi that live amongst the roots of plants) that in turn have a symbiotic relationship with a photosynthesizing tree. The tree photosynthesizes sugars in its leaves, which are carried to the roots. The mycorrhyzal fungi leaches of these sugars from the tree roots, in exchange for ferrying nutrients and minerals to the tree. Monotropa uniflora then takes some of the sugars from the mycorrhyzal fungus. This processes of indirectly obtaining nutrients is called myco-heterotrophy and is also employed by some orchids (in some species only during specific stages of their life-cycle), a liverwort called Cryptothallus, and some ferns and clubmosses (during specific stages their life-cycle).

Gnetophyta

Gnetophytes are a division of woody seed-bearing plants. Gnetophytes share a trait common with flowering plants in that they possess similar types of cells in their water conducting tissues.

The species Welwitschia mirablis, native to the deserts of Namibia and Angola only produce two leaves in its extremely long life span, which is generally thought to be 1000 or greater. Over time the two leaves split and tatter, giving it a rather ratty appearance. In adaptation to its arid climate, it can also absorb water in the form of dew through special structures on its leaves.

Utricularia

Bladderworts are a genus of carnivorous plants that live in aquatic environments or wet soil. They possess extremely sophisticated trapping mechanisms, in the form of vacuum-driven bladders that they use to trap and consume tiny prey. The bladders set themselves for use by pumping out water. This causes their walls to collapse because of the vacuum created. Attached to the mouth of the bladder are tiny trigger hairs. If prey bends one if these hairs, the seal is broken and the vacuum sucks the unfortuanate create inside to be digested. The mechanism is similar to an eyedropper.
#41
...And it takes damn near forever!
So on Friday one of my mom's coworkers taught us how to make chile relleno, and the result was a delicious fried packet of cholesterol. The thing that surprised me is that it took about two hours to make 14 stuffed chiles, but it was totally worth it. Here's the recipe:

---

6 poblano peppers (look for ones that are straight as possible, without indentations)
8 small yellow peppers
1 pack of ground beef
onion
tomato
garlic
canola/grapeseed oil
ranchero cheese
5 egg whites
2 egg yolks
A little bit of flour
sour cream
pomegranate seeds

1. Wash the chilies.
In a large cast iron pan on medium heat, place the chilies and burn their skins until they are evenly charred, turning if necessary. Place them in a plastic bag for a bit: this will steam them, and make their skins loose and easier to peel.

2. Chop some tomato, onion, and garlic. Heat a pan greased with some oil, and then briefly sautee the tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Now add the ground beef. Once the beef is cooked, set aside. This is your stuffing for the chilies.

3. Take the chilies out of the plastic bag, and peel their skins of. Be very careful not to tear them. Once they're all skinned, slit one of their sides and remove the seeds and membranes. Again, be careful not to tear them.

4. Now wash your hands really well, because capsaicin can be a bitch.

5. Stuff some of the chilies with the meat mixture, and the rest with the ranchero cheese. To seal the chilies, use toothpicks to close up the slit.

6. Now for the batter: separate five eggs so that you have five whites, and reserve 2 of the yolks. Place the whites in a mixing bowl, and them whip them up into a foam using an electric blender. Near the end, add the yolks. You can tell when the egg foam is done by turning the bowl upside down and nothing falls out!

7. Lightly dust the stuffed chilies with a pinch of flour on all sides.

8. Fill a medium sized pan with oil up to about 1 1/2" to 2", and heat the oil on high until it's sufficiently hot for frying. Now turn the heat down.

9. Dip a chile in the egg foam, spooning the mixture on all sides with a spoon, and then fry in the pan. Flick the oil with a spatula onto the tops of the chilie, so the egg foam batter puffs up. Once one side is golden, flip it on the other side.
Repeat until all chilies are fried.

Serve the chilies with warmed sour cream and pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top.

#42
Bring and Brag / Flowers etc.
July 21, 2008, 08:16:27 PM
Here are some photos of flowers I took throughout this year with my crappy digital camera:











#43
Discordian Recipes / What-what? In the Halibut.
May 03, 2008, 06:15:12 AM
So, my father caught a big-ass halibut the other day, and now we have enough fillets frozen to keep us for a week. I was wondering if you degenerates had any tasty recipes for it, since fish isn't really my specialty. 
I was thinking of doing a halibut in chard with lemon-thyme butter recipe that I got from the internets, but I will gladly and thankfully follow any of your suggestions.  :)
#44
Bring and Brag / I Has a Graphics Tablet
April 19, 2008, 08:24:19 PM
I got a graphics tablet last week, so I've been practicing drawing with it:


#45
Bring and Brag / Some GIMPs
January 06, 2008, 12:12:24 AM
"LOLGoldenApple"


"Windbladder Emblem"


"Neon Windbladder Sign"


#46
Bring and Brag / Delicate Beauty
September 30, 2007, 08:14:09 PM