Monday, February 17, 2014

earmarking, hairy eyeballs, temperature cooking issues, Olympic beverages, mannequin portraits

Made caramels and chili with Jack and Leslie yesterday (and yes, their house smelled just as amazing as you'd imagine it). Various phrases were bandied about, including the term 'earmark' and its origins. i referenced the action of identifying domesticated animals by marking their ears (with a cut or a tag), while Leslie called to mind the political definition (to designate funds, etc). Yes, the latter gained it's roots in the former (and let's not confuse them with dog-earing, the act of folding over a page in a manner in which some dogs' ears flop down). 'Hairy eyeball' is North American (North, Jack, ya Yankee) slang for looking at someone in a disapproving manner. Curiously, wikionary also reports a secondary slang meaning of looking at someone through batted eyelashes, which would connote the entirely opposite meaning (and let's not confuse either of these with the Lagunitas beer, " Especially formulated for when you wake up feelin’ like you need to shave your eyeballs to see the new day. " Okay, that too.)

i mentioned earlier to Bryan that out of my 4 attempted batches of caramel, only 2 turned out. The other two simply overheated (like, hit a temperature plateau, then suddenly surged before i could remove the pan from the stove burner), and turned out more like hard candy. He said that he and Sarah had a heat problem brewing beer this weekend; temperatures are difficult to keep constant while the mash steeps. They semi-successfully used a cooler, but we were curious what people did in ancient times (like, before thermometers). i looked up the oldest known beer recipe (via wikipedia, which feels a little like cheating), and jars are cited. We took this to mean clay jars, which can hold heat fairly well, but maybe also some sort of heatbox (proto-crockpot)?.

Regarding beverages in Sochi, it appears that Canada's Molson beer has set up a beer fridge at the Olympic village, and lets Canadian passport holders have free, unlimited access to the content. Talk about ambassadorship! Moreover, NBC has set up a private Starbucks for its journalists, with the alternative being McDonalds. Perks!

Kelly AT, sharing  ardent runner/cyclist/athlete woes of not being able to find jeans that fit due to musculature, sent this NYTimes article my way. This clothing issue isn't uncommon, my cycling partner Asuka and i have considered this as a possible business opportunity, but the article focuses on skiers. Favorite part? Upon hulk-smashing open/ripping a pair of jeans, " “ I drive them across town and my mother sews them for me,” said Hudec, who, it is worth noting, is 32."" Good for you, man, and it's nice to be so close to one's family.

In honor of a recent holiday, i offer up this excellent art project called Life Once Removed by Suzanna Heintz, who staged traditional family portraits with herself and a mannequin husband and child.

And because, darn it, i'm a virologist: this music video details the unlikely event that a.) there is ever a 'cure' for the cold virus(es), and b.) it anthropomorphically falls in love with the scientist who cured it.

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