And now for something completely different that’s totally MOD…
You’ve been waiting, no doubt, with eager, breathless anticipation since Tuesday for this moment to arrive. It’s time! Time to tear into this pile of hermetically sealed envelopes check my e-mail and answer the questions within!
TitanKT asked six questions and suggested I choose my three favorites.
- What are you thankful for this year?
- I’m thankful that I finally have dental insurance. Last night, I chomped down on a piece of turkey just so, and let’s just say that was not a pleasant experience.
- What are you looking forward to as we progress through this holiday season?
- What I’m really looking forward to is some time off. The travel, the snow, and the drinking of cocoa with my family will, of course, be a happy bonus.
- Do you open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
- Christmas Day. My parents allowed us children to open one gift onChristmas Eve as sort of a preview, but that doesn’t really count, since the main event was always the next morning. I wouldn’t be opposed to having the main event on Christmas Eve; I’ve just never done it that way.
Erik Rubright asks,
- What started your love for Science?
- I don’t think I can point to any one particular event. Even when I was a wee little child, I was fascinated by anything with pipes, wires,buttons or lights. I would not hesitate to take apart toys, tape recorders, and the like just to see how they worked. I think that’s the heart of science, a desire to discover how things work.
- Is Schrödinger’scat dead or alive?
-
The widely accepted answer is "yes, until the cat’s state is measured." However, the thought experiment neglects to define one important detail: the volume of the sealed, impermeable box in which the experiment takes place. If the volume falls below a certain threshold, the cat will be found in the "dead" state at the end of the experiment, regardless of whether atomic decay triggers the mechanism.
- Do you believe in quantum immortality?
- It’s an interesting idea. Unfortunately, since we can’t (yet) detect, much less see into, parallel universes, there’s no way of testing it.
I went to a little potluck style Thanksgiving dinner this evening. I thought I’d share the recipe for the dish I brought.
Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Onions
- 3 c. Rotini pasta
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp mustard powder
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 c. milk
- 2 c. Cheddar cheese
- 8 oz bacon
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp thyme
Cook and drain pasta. Meanwhile, cook bacon. Crumble or chop bacon. Reserve 3 tbsp of drippings in pan. Saute onion and thyme in reserved drippings. Set bacon, onions, and thyme aside.
Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour, salt, mustard, and pepper to butter. Cook one minute. Whisk in milk. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Simmer two minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese. Continue stirring until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth.
Combine pasta, sauce, bacon, onions and thyme. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly.
We all thought it was pretty tasty, though next time I think I’d try using a cheese blend rather than pure Cheddar.
Today, I finished the Crackerbox amp. You may recall that I mentioned finding an orphaned stereo speaker. You can see it below, left. After thinking about it, I decided to salvage the case along with the speaker within. I cut out the warped part and replaced it with a piece of plexiglas I found, then after some more thought, declared that to be the bottom of the device.
After that, it was just a matter of drilling, wiring, and screwing. Then, voilà!
The remaining bits for my WSG arrived today. A friend of mine is going to help me get the front panel markings printed as a vinyl decal, which we think will look pretty nice on the steel box I’m planning to mount everything in. I can hardly wait.
Scrolling through the other NaBloPoMo participants, I happened across The Monday Challenge.
The Monday Challenge
The task: Using the comments link, ask me 3 questions about anything (be gentle though, it _is_ Monday). I will attempt to answer them as best I can by midnight tonight.
Whilst I won’t tag anyone, please feel free to do the challenge on your blog.
Not only will I feel free to accept this challenge, I will also feel free to change the name and rules. I will now call it the Memeday Challenge and I will answer the questions by midnight Friday. If there are no questions to answer, then I will instead write a short, peevish and sulky post about what I had for lunch that day.
Since I’m still waiting for a few more parts to finish the WSG (they shipped today, at least) I decided to build something else in the meantime. Something that would be useful with or without the WSG. I decided to build the "Crackerbox" amplifier (aka the Little Gem) as seen in Make #9.
I have heard that others who have tried to build this circuit have failed. I found it to be quite simple. Amazingly, it worked the first time that I hooked up the battery. A pleasant surprise, to say the least. Sure, the sound was a little tinny, but I was using a speaker that I found in a fax machine. It sounded quite a bit better when I hooked it up to an orphaned stereo speaker.
Other folks have said that the "$5" in the title of the article is misleading. I agree to a point. I couldn’t find the 25-ohm rheostat anywhere but Radio Shack, and that alone had to have cost around $3. I went to Fry’s for three other parts and spent about $5 .there also. If I had gone to a real electronics shop, I’m guessing that I probably could have got the pots for about $1.00 each, the chip for maybe $0.50, and the resistors and capacitors for something like $0.10 each. I don’t know if I could have got a battery, battery clip, and speaker for $2, but I suppose it’s possible. So yes, it’s not a $5 amp if you shop at a chain, and especially not if you shop at Radio Shack.
Friday
On Friday night, some friends of mine from my previous job invited me to go see a band that one of them was playing in. We went to a mediated interpretation of a local dive bar. It was a rough and tumble place of the sort you wouldn’t want to take your mother, in exactly the same way that Starbucks is a hip and trendy local coffee house. Anyway, someone out there didn’t have to take his mother, since she came with her friends and sat a few tables over. She was wearing a naughty hat made of balloons. No true dive bar has magicians making naughty hats of balloons! Sadly, I didn’t get a naughty balloon hat, but at least I did get to hang out with some friends and to listen to some fine music.
Saturday
A few days ago, the Weird Sound Generator board I ordered from MFOS arrived. While I could have ordered the WSG kit (which would have included all the required electronic components along with the board) I figured I’d probably have most of the parts I needed already. For the rest, I went to my local electronics store. Not only did they have the parts I needed for a much lower cost than the kit, but the cost was even lower than chain electronics stores and online vendors. Even better, some of the parts I found were unique: antique pots and milspec chips. Assuming this WSG works, it’s going to be unique.
Sunday
Sunday was the day I got around to assembling the WSG. I completely assembled the board, and then realized I was missing a few items for the front panel. Since nothing was open except for Radio Shack and Fry’s (which are very expensive when it comes to components) I placed an order for the remaining components from Jameco. At least this will give me some time to think about a case to mount the project into.
Not sure what Christmas gift to get that diehard Star Wars fan this year? How about this Han Solo desk? This stylish glass desk featuring a smuggler encased in carbonite is sure to impress guests and inspire coworkers to new heights of loyalty and productivity.
It’s Friday, so it’s time to play the Stupid 33, as seen at gambrinous with griffonage.
- 1. When was the last time you cried?
- A few minutes ago, when I realized I still had no idea what to post about.
- 2. Were you named after anyone?
- No, my parents just ran out of steam in the middle of Chapter E in What To Name Your Baby.
- 3. Why are you so fickle when it comes to women?
- Does it please you to believe that I am fickle when it comes to women? Have you had many experiences with fickle men? Why do you suppose this is? Is your problem really with men? Really?
- 4. What is your favorite lunch meat?
- Turkey, I suppose. I don’t like bologna. It tastes like unroasted hot dogs.
- 5. Do you have kids?
- Why do you ask? Wait a minute, is this questionnaire just a widely-cast fishing net in an attempt to find a man? I was going to try that once, but the man I wanted threw himself at me before I even published it.
- 6. If you were another person would you be friends with you?
- Er… what? Clarify, please? If I was another person, would that person be friends with the person that wasn’t me anymore? If I was another person, would that person be friends with itself? If I was another person, then would the person I am now be friends with that person’s self? I… I’m dizzy… I think I have to lie down a moment…
- 7. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
- What, little old me? Pshaw. Never.
- 8. Do you still have your tonsils?
- Hmm. Why would a woman searching for the perfect man ask if I had my tonsils out? That’s not even a commonly performed procedure anymore, is it? Oh, lady… I think you might have just dated yourself.
- 9. Would you bungee jump?
- No. Nooo.
- 10. What is your favorite cereal?
- You know what I haven’t had in ages and sounds just fantastic right now? Peanut Butter Crunch. Do they still make that?
- 11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
- Not if I can avoid it. I’ve got to untie my boots, of course, but not my sneakers. Is this a pet peeve of yours?
- 12. Do you think you are strong enough to be with me
- Ah, now I think I understand why you see men as fickle. You’ve got "strong opinions" and a "forceful personality", haven’t you?
- 13. What is your favorite ice cream?
- I miss Cool Britannia, but I think Jamoca Cookies and Cream is pretty darn good, too.
- 14. What is the first thing you notice about people?
- Their attitude, or as I’ve always thought of it, "whether or not they have a mean face."
- 15. Red or pink?
- Red or pink what?
- 16. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
- That I do so many of these questionnaires.
- 17. Who do you mess with the most?
- As in tease, psychologically torment, make sport of? I don’t. It’s mean. I think you’re mean. If we’d have met in person I’d have noticed it right away.
- 18. What was the last thing you ate?
- Burrito. If we’d have met in person, you’d have noticed that right away.
- 19. What are you listening to right now?
- Evelyn Thomas, "High Energy." Hey, Amarok picked it, not me.
- 20. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
- My brother. Making Christmas plans. Yay!
- 21. Why aren’t you married?
- As Eureka’s Deputy Jo Lupo said, "The good ones are all married, gay, or robots." Or some combination thereof. Does that mean I’m a good one for having answered all the questions so far? Yay! Ooh, but what if I’m really a bad one in disguise? If I were a bad one, would I have to answer the rest of the questions? Really? Rats.
- 22. Last movie you watched?
- Oh. Hmm. I don’t remember. I hope it wasn’t The Mummy 3. I doubt I’ve watched anything lately that would score me any points here.
- 23. What did you dream about last night?
- So, now you’re pre-screening your men based on psychological analysis as well? Very well. I dreamed about the Damn Hell Server Project From Hell That Won’t Die Because There’s Always Some Stupid Fucking Detail That Gets Left Out Every Single Fucking Time I Go To Fucking Work On It… which I hope to now consider case closed. Please? Pretty please?
- 24. What book are you reading?
- I refer you to my latest Now Reading post. What were you expecting, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan? The Unsuggester told me not to read that one.
- 25. Summer or winter?
- Winter.
- 26. Hugs or kisses?
- Hugs.
- 27. Do you have any special talents?
- No, my talents are fairly mundane.
- 28. What are they?
- What do you want, a résumé? Well, I’m not giving that to you! It’s got my home address on it, and you’re mean and like to mess with people! I’d probably come home someday and find mustard all over my doorknob, or worse.
- 29. What did you watch on TV last?
- An episode of the Ghost Hunters. I wanted to watch Mythbusters but was outvoted.
- 30. What is your favorite sound?
- ZERRRRRR-RRRR-RRRR-CH!
- 31. Rolling Stones or The Beatles?
- Beatles. And, dare I say, if you’re not trying to establish yourself as a music snob, then you’re even further dating yourself with this question.
- 32. Most likely to respond to this meme?
- The sort of guy who’d get the answers more or less right. However, I refer you back to question #21. Beep boop, girl.
- 33. Least likely to respond?
- Anyone else.
Q. Aren’t you really just lazy? Explain the difference between laziness and real writer’s block.
A. Way to start off on the right foot, Miss Accusiefinger. If you were to ask me (and you just did) I’d tell you this. Laziness is wanting to do anything but write. Laziness will lead you to washing dishes, cleaning the toilet, raking the leaves, baking pies, anything to avoid sitting down to a blank white screen, and the infernal cursor blinking ever so mockingly.
Writer’s block, on the other hand, is when you want to write, but the internal editor goes out of control, deleting all your good stuff before you even have a chance to write it. Writer’s block has famously been compared to constipation. A writer sits down to write and nothing comes out. The internal editor won’t let the words flow.
The opposite of writer’s block is logorrhea, in which the words flow so freely that the pages can’t get from the typewriter to the wastebasket fast enough. Okay, so the metaphor is a little bit dated, but the point is that it’s better to have an abundance of crap than nothing at all. There might be something salvageable among all the crap that can be polished up and admired. But you’ll never know if you can’t even squeeze out the first word.
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