January 2012
1 post
“Sound harnessed by human beings delivered with generosity and emotion is what we...”
– from Björk’s Biophilia
November 2011
1 post
“California, the department-store state. The most of everything and the best of...”
– The Little Sister, Raymond Chandler (1949)
September 2011
1 post
“The American rapper Slim Shady has bought the rights to Jane Austen’s...”
– Marcus Brigstocke, “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue”, June 27, 2011
August 2011
1 post
“Her feet were cold
So she put them in my armpits
Now my armpits smell like...”
– Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008)
July 2011
1 post
“Those singing masons building roofs of gold”
– Shakespeare, Henry V (1:2:198)
June 2011
1 post
“Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others”
– Pierre Abelard
May 2011
2 posts
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken...”
– Anton Chekhov
“It’s not the broth but the TV schedule that’s spoiled by too many...”
– Humphrey Littleton
April 2011
3 posts
“Picture a world without language. Go on. No gossip. No chit-chat. No road signs....”
– Charlie Brooker
“This magic comes only with the sounding of the music, with the turning of the...”
– Benjamin Britten
“The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first...”
– Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (accepting the Henry Norris Russell Prize from the American Astronomical Society)
February 2011
1 post
“It took a lot more than six days to get this job done”
– Ray Troll on evolution from his song “Devonian Blues”
January 2011
2 posts
“10 elements of basic kitchen knowledge
1. Salt dissolves in water.
2. Salt...”
– Hervé This
2 tags
“If someone told me to write a book on morality, it would have a hundred pages...”
– Albert Camus in Notebooks (via hypertexty)
December 2010
3 posts
“Depression could be sort of a major art form—there’s so much raw material...”
– Norman Clegg, “Changing Face of Blamire” episode of Last of the Summer Wine, 1975
“The young are a great comfort as you’re growing older—makes you realize at...”
– Norman Clegg, “Forked Lightning” episode of Last of the Summer Wine, 1975
1 tag
“A man leaned over to a man in a pub
And said in a voice
‘I used to be...”
– poet Ian McMillan
October 2010
2 posts
1 tag
“A painter is a kind of choreographer of space. He creates kind of a dance of...”
– Barnett Newman, interviewed in the documentary film Painters Painting
“Bly’s First Law
Science is culture.
Bly’s Second Law
High...”
– Adam Bly
September 2010
4 posts
“Kai’s Existential Dilemma
I think….
there….
4a.m.
...”
– Kai Krause
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what...”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We read to know we’re not alone”
– Shadowlands, 1993 bio-pic about C. S. Lewis
Chesire Cat: a Talmudic scholar?
Image via Wikipedia
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll:
“Cheshire Puss… would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh,...
August 2010
3 posts
“I also remember walking down the street and stepping over a lot of whacked out...”
– Ralph Arlyck from the docudrama Following Sean, 2006 regarding the Haight-Cole neighbourhood he lived on in the late 1960s.
“We actually had very few of these street fairs when I lived here. But in a...”
– Ralph Arlyck from the docudrama Following Sean, 2006 on his mid-1990s revisit to the Haight-Cole neighbourhood he lived on in the late 1960s.
“Reader pass on nor idly waste your time
In bad biography or bitter rhyme.
For...”
– From a gravestone in a cemetery in Peterborough, UK
July 2010
3 posts
1 tag
“‘Do Buddhists believe in God, or not?’ Ellie asked on their way to...”
– Contact by Carl Sagan, Chapter 17: The Dream of the Ants
1 tag
“‘If you love it [MS Comic Sans typeface], you don’t know much about...”
– Vincent Connare (creator of MS Comic Sans), Online Wall Street Journal interview
“At other times, like now, when the static was clearly patternless, she would...”
– Carl Sagan, Contact
May 2010
2 posts
1 tag
April 2010
3 posts
“It’s a degenerate society that allows serious trials to be an aspect of...”
– attributed to Sir Edward Marshall Hall, circa 1920
“Rule #61.
ANY hamburger that exceeds in height by more than one centimeter the...”
– Shola Olunloyo, chef
Black Garlic Sauce Gribiche
Image by I Believe I Can Fry via Flickr
Hard boil 3 eggs. Peel and cool the eggs, then separate the yolks from the whites. Pass the yolks and the whites separately into 2 bowls. Add 1 raw egg yolk to the bowl with the cooked yolks along with 1 Tblsp (16g) of Dijon mustard, 1 Tblsp (14g) of white wine vinegar, 1 tsp (5g) of salt, and pepper to taste. Whisk well until mixture becomes a smooth...
March 2010
4 posts
1 tag
“There aren’t any concepts in the theatre; there are ideas about how it...”
– Jonathan Miller, from the BBC’s Lebrecht Interviews
1 tag
“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a...”
– Bertolt Brecht from the play, The Life of Galileo (1939, 1994), scene 9, 74
“Every save-the-world cause has a list of suggestions for “what each of us can...”
– Jaron Lanier, You Are Not A Gadget, (p 49-50 of the B&N eReader edition.)
2 tags
Storytelling to Aid in Music Practice
Image via Wikipedia
You can use the fact that everyone likes a good story to help shape the music you are playing. The first thing you need to do is to write down what the music reminds you of. Is it a scampering insect, a floating leaf, a noisy train station or a barking dog? There is no right answer here. Write down what ever comes into your head. It may be that different sections of your...
February 2010
1 post
1 tag
Simple Syrup
Image via Wikipedia
SIMPLE SYRUP @ 28 Baumé degrees (on hydrometer). 2 Cups or more exactly 480 ml of water. 1 Pound or more exactly 455grams of sugar. Warm together till sugar dissolves. Cool and refrigerate. How hard is that.
Related articles
Day 9 - Simple Syrup (bitsandnibbles.wordpress.com)
January 2010
4 posts
Vanilla
Image by Island Vittles via Flickr
What’s plain-vanilla about vanilla? It’s the second most expensive “spice” after saffron due to it labour intensive production.
Related articles
Vanilla Bean from Costa Rica (lostateminor.com)
What Are Some Good Uses for Vanilla Pods? Good Questions (thekitchn.com)
A History of Vanilla (friendseat.com)
Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a breakdown of the six levels of thinking, from the lowest level to the highest. Can you challenge yourself to think about everything in your life at the deepest level?
Knowledge: Knowing a fact. Knowing 2 + 2 = 4, doesn’t mean you know what 2 + 2 = 4 means.
Comprehension: Understanding a fact: You understand the concept of addition and how 2 + 2 = 4.
...
“Knowing what to call something makes me more aware of that thing. For instance,...”
– Ammon Shea
“We tasted the gentle excitement of a well planned celebration. And yet we were...”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry from Wind, Sand and Stars
December 2009
1 post
1 tag
TV's Unintended Consequences
Image via Wikipedia
The proliferation of passive sedentary activities like television viewing has led to inactive lifestyles and decreased physical fitness. but can TV positively affect health as well?
…
But there may be more tangible benefits to TV, especially in developing nations. Daniel Hawes, a PhD candidate in applied at the University of Minnesota, discusses a study of a thousand...
November 2009
3 posts
1 tag
1 tag
October 2009
3 posts
1 tag
Fourble Board
Image via Wikipedia
The unusual title is a bit of oil worker argot: the “fourble board” of an oil derrick is a narrow catwalk that is as high up as four lengths of drilling pipe placed vertically (two lengths of pipe are a “double”, three are a “thribble” and four are a “fourble.”
[An explanation of the title of an episode of the old time radio...
“qui desposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles
[who has put down the...”
– from the Magnificat
“Designers think they’re in the artifact business, but they’re not....”
– Allan Chochinov