November 9, 2009

Poker, anyone?

This needs to be seen, plain and simple.





Oh dear.

November 5, 2009

Rule 8: Consumption of Eggnog

After hearing rumors of egg nog sightings at area grocery stores, I finally saw the blessed cartons of deliciousness firsthand last week. This got me thinking about seasonality of eggnog and the calendar of allowable eggnog drinking. After some (careful) thought, Mr. Marlow presents:

Rule 8: The Proper Consumption of Eggnog

Eggnog is described by Wikipedia as a "sweetened dairy-based beverage made with milk, cream, sugar, and beaten eggs... flavoured with ground cinnamon and nutmeg." Families will often have variants of this basic recipe, and the spice used to garnish a glass of egg nog will often range from cinnamon to nutmeg to allspice. John Legend, however, has a strong opinion on the correct spice to use.



As a lifelong drinker of eggnog with cinnamon, I have a bit of a soft spot for that combination. While there may not be a 100% correct recipe for this nectar, there are definite time periods where it should and should not be consumed.

Commercial non-alcoholic eggnog - Thanksgiving to March 1st
Commercial alcoholic eggnog - Thanksgiving to February 1st
Homemade non-alcoholic eggnog - year-round
Homemade alcoholic eggnog - November 1st to March 1st

Explanations (though not necessary) follow.
Homemade eggnog has a longer season because a: the effort that goes into making it should be rewarded and b: it's tough to find the stuff in stores all the time.
Non-alcoholic eggnog has a longer life because at some point, if you want a drink with alcohol in it, there are better options than eggnog. However, sometimes there is just an irresistible urge to have the coma-inducing elixir. I understand that.

It's happening to me right now.

November 4, 2009

Lunch

I'm on the road for the job this week, but I don't think the per diem would cover a lunch of this magnitude.

Yeah, you read that right - 47 thousand dollars for 6 people. That is:

my rent for 2009 for one person's lunch.
well over my salary for 2009 for a table's lunch.
...over 3.5 times what Aaron Miles made per hit in 2009? Yuck.

h/t to Serious Eats, Cot's Contracts and The Hardball Times.

November 3, 2009

Rule 4: On Going Through Doors

Thomas B. Marlow returns with the latest installment of his Rules of Everyday Life -

Rule 4: On Going Through Doors

When presented with an entryway, there are several factors one must consider before proceeding through one door or another.

Number of doors:
1 - Go through this door. Wait for anybody coming through from the opposite direction, and hold it for anybody following you.
2 - Go through the door to the right.
3 - Go through the door to the right. The middle door should not be used except in the case of fire, or some other emergency that legitimately calls for mass movement. As you pass through the door, silently curse the architect for placing three doors in the passageway.
4 - Go through either of the two doors on the right, but preferably the one farthest to the right.
5 - Seriously? Either of the two doors on the right, again preferring the one farthest to the right. Curse the architect out loud.
6 - Go through any of the three doors on the right, with the outermost doors most preferable.
7 - Do not enter this building.
8 - Go through any of the four doors on the right. Pretend that these doors are numbered 1-4 with the number increasing as you move to the right. The best doors to use are (in order of best to worst) 4,2,3,1.
9+ - Do not enter this building.

General Guidelines -

1. Obviously, the door on the right of the structure are most preferable, but if a stranger is holding a door for you, go through that one. That's right, even if it is on the left. Sometimes, being polite is more important than strict adherence to the rules.* If a friend tries to hold a left door for you, look at them and say, "Hey! NO! We go through the correct door, crazy!"

2. Holding doors for people behind you is recommended. It is mandatory if you can tell the person behind you is pregnant or has an injury (I once saw a friend let a theatre door slam on a girl with a broken leg. She probably doesn't care for Thomas B. Marlow's rules at all.) In the case that there is an able-bodied person far enough behind you so that you'd have to wait a bit holding the door for them, and they don't make an effort to quicken their pace as to reach the door in a more timely fashion, let it go.

3. Do not hold revolving doors. Do not repeatedly go around in revolving doors. Act like you have been in a revolving door before.


*Not always. For example, regarding pie seasonality: adherence to the rules > politeness.

November 2, 2009

XKCD, getting delicious.

xkcd



If you are a fan of :

Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Jurassic Park
nerds
sweet graphics

You need to go look at this map of character interaction in movies. Brilliantly done, Munroe.