Today I saw, among other things, links to the user manual for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This got me thinking of the stereotypical user manual for crazy large government-scale objects, and how they always seem to begin with “Congratulations on your purchase of a Large Hadron Collider!” They continue with prattle about how you’ll become the envy of your friends and other small governments, how over a thousand scientists in lab coats labored for years to produce this fine product for your use in taking over the world, or whatever. Then, I did a quick google search for Congratulations on your purchase of, and was amused by how many products actually begin their manuals like that.

Anyway, onto the links.

• Scientists have worked out a way to capture an estimation of 3-D textures using two still pictures, one with and one without a flash — cue the 3D home photography!
• This sink doesn’t have a conventional drain.
• This artist designed cameras to give the maximum amount of redeye. (via OOBJECT)
• Rocks — a cute movie about the lives of rocks. (via Dark Roasted Blend)
• An amusing redo of the X-men as Victorian-era paranormal investigators. (via SuperPunch)
• I think I just hit my amusement quota for the week. I pity the fool who doesn’t use Hitachi Data Systems Virtualization! (via Stupid Storage
• This one’s also an ad, but it’s a funny ad. Funny because, unfortunately, it’s true. The elegy of Steve the server (via Stupid Storage

More tomorrow!

Tonight I had Target Swiss mac and cheese. It was decent for a ready-mix box.

The links:

• A linguist tries to predict what english will look and sound like a thousand years from now. Mostly over my head, but the concept is fascinating. (via Digg)
• Art.Lebedev, the russian design house, has a USB thumbdrive that’s shaped like a folder icon. Very cool. (via Oh! Gizmo)
• For the math person in your life, a trigonometry wall clock (via Oh! Gizmo)
• Liu Bolin is an artist that meticulously paints his subjects to look like their backgrounds. (via NOTCOT)
• Method, the non-toxic cleaner company with cleaners that actually work (and that we like) a) has a blog, and b) is coming out with a dishwasher tablet. (via NOTCOT)
• This Russian artist crafts miniature sculptures that must be viewed through a microscope (via Dark Roasted Blend)
• And finally, a page with photos about a hiker who found a baby chipmunk and nursed him back to health. (via Reddit)

More tomorrow!

Not much today, for I am zonked. But here’s what there is:

• Human exoskeleton helps paralyzed people walk. This is what science is for. (via Reddit)
• From the “well, duh” files — Paitents suffer when healthcare and insurance policy limits collide (via Digg)
• Apparently perl under most RedHat builds is broken (via Reddit)
• The new California Academy of Sciences is using the same shredded denim insulation we used for soundproofing. (via Notcot)
• A wonderful idea from Simpson Doors — chalkboard magnetic panel doors (via Notcot)
• And one more — clips from The Wrong Door, a BBC sketch comedy show from a parallel universe where special effects are part of everyday life. The short clips are great. (via Gizmodo)

More tomorrow!

I only did one more food post at out of house and home — for Oreo-style pots-de-creme. Quite yummy, though my attempt at creme filling still needs work.

Links! Again with just one! I suppose the internet has started to take weekends off.

• The Daily Show welcomes the Republican National Convention to Minneapolis. (via Reddit)

More tomorrow, internet! I expect results!

Today was lots of fun, in a run-around-and-get-things-done kind of way. I’m quite tired now though.

I put up only one post so far about the food, but with pictures, at out of house and home, our group food and recipe blog. But I got the pictures set up for the pots-de-creme and devonshire berry pavlovas (thank you again, Extraordinary Desserts), so just have to write the posts for those. I’m also probably going to make another batch of yuzu cream tomorrow — I have some limes and an orange I have to use up, some puff pastry in the freezer, and a new microplane grater to try out.

Today I only found one link. One link! Internet, you’ve failed me for today! Also I’m too tired to go hunting now.

Today’s link is to this story about medieval nanotech (which isn’t nearly as cool as that combination of words should be), whereupon it’s been discovered that a thin coat of gold on certain stained glass windows actually works kind of like titanium dioxide to help remove VOCs from the air when struck by sunlight — a natural air purifier, as it were.

We’ll try for more tomorrow. Internet, you’ve been told!

Today was a day. Not bad. People liked my pots-de-creme. I’ll try it again soon I think.

Here are the links for your amusement purposes:

• A helpful book review (via Reddit)
• Don’t mess with the librarians (via Neatorama)
• Beautiful vistas — somewhere in Slovenia I think. No idea what the page says, but the pictures are impressive. (via Dark Roasted Blend)
• Amusing furniture, too!

I think that’s it for now. More tomorrow!

So today I took the day off; despite having got up at noon (i guess I really needed the sleep) I think I got more done today than I normally do on a weekend. Though I still didn’t get everything I wanted done.

I made kitchen joy today: I baked my very first salmon piece, and had a lovely maple-onion-mustard glaze on it (and have lunch for tomorrow, too!). Then, I started on the recipe pair from Extraordinary Desserts — Devonshire Berry Pavlova (with egg whites) and Chocolate Pot-de-creme (with egg yolks). The meringues came out OK; I found out that when you bake them you’re basically trying to dry them out (thank you, Mr. McGee), and mine didn’t dry out as much as they should have. They worked, though, and now I have a few bags full of meringue shells. They’ll go well with the half-assed mock Devonshire cream I made yesterday, and the blueberries I picked up at Trader Joe’s, as well as the champagne grapes from Costco. I love the season of cheap fruit! Thanks to Ms. Krasne’s class, I got my egg whites to stiff peak stage for the first time ever.

After that, I worked on the Oreo-style pots-de-creme. It didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, and I’m not going to taste them till tomorrow, since they have to refrigerate. But even if the presentation sucks, with any luck the taste will be decent. We’ll see — it’s my first real food experiment. I took pictures of both and will try to put them up this weekend.

On to the links!

• Gamers find a glitch in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 where Tiger walks on water; EA explains that he’s just that good. (via Neatorama
• For someone who’s not excited about taking chemistry class this year: Chemistry Party. (via Reddit)
• New Miyazaki film proves the man hasn’t lost his touch. (via Digg)
• Impressive picture of a smile. I wish I consistently had that sense of timing when taking a picture. (via Digg)

More tomorrow, and with luck some meaty posts!

Today was just a day. Tomorrow I will make oreo pots-de-creme.

Links!

• Crazy but reasonable hacks to get cross-country data replication working for Facebook — I don’t use ‘em, but they’re doing interesting things to keep up with their user load. (via Reddit)
• This looks tapestryshopp’d. (via Reddit)
• New York’s going to start replacing their current streetlights with these slick LED streetlights. Always a fan of the LEDs. (via Gizmodo)
• Milwaukee unveiled the Bronze Fonz (via SFgate)
• The world’s most elusive human being (via Digg)
• Zero Punctuation is my favorite video game reviewer, and his latest review is out. (via Digg)

And some food-related yumminess. The other night, I made some fried bananas with half-assed mock devonshire cream (I didn’t have enough of the ingredients for mock devonshire cream, so I threw enough bits together so it tasted good); but these grilled chocolate banana boats look really good. (via SlashFood).

Because it’s summer, and alcohol tends to dehydrate me more than make me enjoy it, I’m probably going to try my hand at these mocktails later this week too. Ah, plans.

More tomorrow!

The internet hasn’t been doing its job for a couple of days, but I think I’m back.

I took a fish class last night, and got some ideas on cooking halibut, salmon, and scallops — yum. Also found out why steak from the midwest US generally seems to taste better than what one can get in the grocery store — because apparently the cattle from the midwest wander around less on the flat grazing land, as opposed to California’s more hilly land. Or something. Actually I’m really not sure why, but I know that the steak in the surf and turf meal tasted absolutely amazing.

On to the links!

• Crochet a Prince of All Cosmos Katamari Damacy hat! (via BoingBoing)
• At Crazy-Go-Nuts University — I mean, Krispy Kreme — they’ve come up with grass sandals. Yeah, *that* Krispy Kreme. (via Geekologie)
• If H.P. Lovecraft wrote the little booklet that comes inside chocolate boxes… (via digg)
• I am incredibly amused by the picture of Ninjas with Guitars (via Joystiq)

Yay for now. More tomorrow, I hope!

Today is just another day. But it is friday. Or it was, when I started this post.

• More craziness from Siggraph. This application is almost photoshop for video. I’m almost more impressed than I was by the Microsoft photo browser software from a couple of days ago.
• Drugstore annoyances. I was amused.
• Fun and amusing links and such at Dark Roasted Blend. Mmm, coffee.
• If you want your baby to grow up knowing about the harsh realities of life…bathe him or her with Johnson and Johnson’s Nothing but Tears shampoo (as proposed by The Onion).
• A cute animated photo(?) of an elephant on a trampoline (via Super Punch)
• Last, a great way to dress up the surveillance cameras in your life — add anthropomorphic features!

Now, enjoy Agent (Carl) Sagan explaining the nature of the universe via Apple Pie to Morpheous in The Matrix: