Pie redux

I had mentioned the making of rhubarb pie to some of my friends, and though you should see the final result.
It was very tasty.  It’s gone now.  We were supposed to eat it with vanilla ice cream and forgot to get that part.  This is probably because we can pick up gelato by walking to [...]

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Cynical women watch a barbecue show

Now, we know we’re not the target audience, and we also know that many of the final results of these programs are really very tasty.

But it can’t escape our notice that much of the language used during “Primal Grilling” is only a few steps away from a very different kind of discourse.  Secrets are shared [...]

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In case you’ve missed the Bad Writing

I was sorting through some old papers and came across some excerpts from student placement bluebooks. These were responses to short comparison/ contrast prompts… Did a high school senior think option A or B was preferable? Could they marshal three reasons to explain their choice? Could they rub two [...]

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The triumph of external validation

So I’ve been pleased to discover that the electrical work needed at Chez Rethoryke was much simpler [and thereby much less expensive] than originally anticipated. Cheaper + up to code = happy homeowner.
But of course, value isn’t always determined that way. There’s plenty of research to demonstrate that people will value something that [...]

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Self-evident feline behavior observation

Courtesy of http://www.newmanveterinary.com/feline.html:
Some litter contains baking soda or other additives which “fizzle” when moistened. Many cats do not like litter that “talks back”.

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Pie pie pie pie

Yesterday featured the sort of weather that makes you look at the coconut custard pie you just bought and say “Well, here’s dinner!”
Today’s weather is much the same, although I might try something else for dinner — say, a can of chilled tuna, some fresh strawberries, and a splash of balsamic vinegar….maybe roasted red pepper [...]

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The Lovers, the Dreamers, and me

It was not a normal Sunday.
For starters, I was at church for the early service, and my task was to assemble rainbow ribbon pins. In between fighting with right-handed scissors and stabbing myself with safety pins, I was listening to the musicians practice from inside the sanctuary, rather than from my office window.
Plonk-a [...]

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The real power of Dark energy…

…is apparently to make physicists reenact the Book of Job:
The notion that there are a zillion universes, whose individual properties are just a cosmic dice throw, is a story that has been told before and “raises the blood pressure of many physicists seriously,” as Dr. Livio put it. But the idea has rarely been mentioned [...]

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