Share the Joy

Conservapedia is depressing.

http://www.conservapedia.com/Counterexamples_to_Relativity

These people presumably don’t believe in refrigerators (in which entropy is lowered locally at the expense of higher entropy outside):

“The theory predicts natural formation of highly ordered (and thus low entropy) black holes despite the increase in entropy required by the Second Law of Thermodynamics.^[9] ”

Wait, maybe they’ve never seen glaciers – no artificial machinery involved there, just a complex combination of physical process that lead to localized order.   Or they haven’t seen crystals.  Rocks.  Stuff accumulating while excited then cooling.  Gah.

One of my clearest memories from school is – after the teacher warned us of the possibility of a vocabulary test the next day – listening with disbelief to a classmate say:
“I’m not going to revise tonight, just in case there isn’t a test.”

Apparently, there are a lot of people who are doing their strenuous best to believe that there’s no climate change happening, and even if there is, it’s certainly nothing to do with man’s butchery of the sea, atmosphere and ecosystems.

http://www.ncdrought.org/

So Starbucks sell Chai Latte, and it is quite simply splendid. Make your own:

1 mug of water
1 1/2 inch stick of cinnamon (no need to break it – that will just make washing up harder)
8 green cardamom pods
7 whole cloves
1/4 inch fresh peeled ginger root

1 mug of milk (I use Lactofree cos I’m just that kind of guy)
5 heaped teaspoons sugar
2 Darjeeling tea bags

Bring water, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger to the simmer.
Simmer for 10 minutes (on a lower heat).
Add milk and sugar, heat until simmering NOT BOILING

Add tea bags (note that they puff up showing the tea has been scalded as it should be)
Remove from heat and cover, Let steep for at least 3 minutes and strain.

There. You have a venti chai latte and a guaranteed armchair.

UPDATE 9/3/07

Ive backed it off to 7 whole cloves (experimented with between 6 and 10)
You can use a LOT more ginger if you want to – adds heat, loses subtlety
Chop the ginger with the grain i.e. along the root – the juices seem to flow more readily.

Ruberad wanted me to engage with a discussion about laws.  I’ve briefly shaken my brain into a comment under the post, and it’s going to get a barrage with a lot of references to God in it.   I’m kinda busy, so could you please join in over there?  Warning – there’s a very long echo in the room.

You’ve all tried them – bend to break, give em a shake, and the rave is a multicoloured 3am extravaganza.

Maybe you could also use them to eat Chinese food in the dark?

If you were provided with an infinite range of toast unguents, which would you choose right now if presented with two slices of toast? Also, what kind of bread would it be?

Happy new year!  Even to a particular friend who is quite adamant that there’s nothing special about Jan 1st, it being a numerical thing unrelated to much other than a part of the year which is neither darkest, coldest, or intrinsically most interesting (this latter clause mine own, and I invite said humbugger to comment!).  I’ve sworn off cake, am taking one sugar instead of two in my coffee, and have resolved to eat a decent breakfast every day.  This has so far been egg-centric.  I’ve also sworn to rise at 7 every weekday morning in order to enforce a diurnal rhythm.  It’s working – I felt bloody awful and quite useless for the first couple of days (starting Tuesday, but this afternoon I had a really productive time.

Poor old cliff is going to lose his income.  It’s a conundrum.  Copyright and patents have time limitations so as to let other people have a go.  If Cliff hadn’t given us “congratulations”, someone else’s tune would have filled the spot.  That tune is out there now, but we haven’t heard it.  But this is what Cliff lives off.  You could argue that he should have piled more into a pension scheme or something.  He’s become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and he’d quite reasonably like it to continue unabaited until he shuffles off this mortal coil.  This situation speaks to a general issue about artists.  We need them.  Life would be less fulfilling without those breathless, out-of-control moments when we are absorbed by a painting, a pop tune, or a startling sculpture.  Is it just another job?  I dunno.  We need these guys to be able to relax – or stress – into the right state of mind to produce these things of whatever form which give us so much.  But they burn out, or lose something, and then what?  I don’t know the answer, but I reckon it’s worth thinking about, and it should be discussed more because it’s an important part of being human.

Should anyone get the Robbie Williams lifestyle?  It’s probably necessary to the production of those magnificent choonz (and odd bit of utter crap here and there).  Maybe there’s nothing special about art – it’s just another staple, like a really good recipe.  Eggs benedict anyone – who gets the royalties for that?  I don’t begrudge cliff his money, but it’s not clear anyone deserves a life of luxury.  But I want one, of course.   Maybe there’s no single clear answer.