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Mezzani #3
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Other
- Hits: 1405
Now this was a bad idea from the get go. But I bought into it so I've only myself to blame.
First of all, cooking it up, I generally wait until the bottom softens and then push the rest down to boil. That did not work. What happened is that those damned macaronis served like little geysers and funneled up the boiling water and sprayed it all over the kitchen. Eventually I had to break them into the pot.
Secondly, even broken they're too fucking big. You can't twirl them on your fork, you have to try and impale one (at which point they make surprisingly animated attempts at escaping) and then pick it off the floor. There's no 5 second rule here, I'd have to sweep or some-such, so it's right into the garbage. Try again. Once you manage to spear one you then have the problem of fitting it into your mouth.
Yeah, right.
Mezzani #3. A thoroughly bad idea. Although I did read about some restaurant that was using them as an environmentally friendly alternative to straws...
Edmonton
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1612
A quick trip with the daughter, arrive a bit early and poke around downtown, the city has grown around places I remember, or, in that other trick of time and memory, I find places I remember in unfamiliar settings, the daughter notes what a change in character and culture the city has compared to Calgary, and it's true. The city has a culture - Calgary, well, not so much. Calgary's the rich brother that didn't need manners or education or character because - hey - it had money.
Now who's laughing?
Walk past the Bistro, the old building that used to house it, now a shell that conceals the bottom few floors of a skyscraper, see other familiar old buildings revitalized, Churchill Square with it's library and concert hall, the McDonald Hotel now opened (it was closed almost the entire time I lived there), despite the large marginal contingent clearly visible on the street it's physically a much more vibrant city than when I last lived here. There's perfectly interesting and dirty streets, cafes, filled with people, a very different cultural climate than Calgary, even the daughter observes, it's been too long since I've visited, I need to spend a few days here and rediscover old haunts (those that still exist), need to come back and take a few days and rediscover it, who knows who I'll run into?
The "Wee Book Inn" - they tried Calgary, lasted a year - maybe - then folded. People in Calgary don't read books, not good books at least, I pop in and admire their selection. Nothing I need - but if you read books, know books - compare their selection - in a relatively tiny shop - with the same selection in a warehouse that represents Calgary's tastes - you'd understand.
We lunch at Bistro - they've done a fine job of rebuilding, relocating, the perfect blend of familiarity and renovation, the food, double and quadrupled in price, not expensive - but, again, the curse of memory, of ninety-five cent open faced sandwiches, those days are gone. I should have fattened up.
Nostalgia. Don't know if I'm a fan, but the sand is running through the glass, and - as I'm noticing - you never dip your toe in the same river twice.
Google Dog
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1406
The internet has begun to become a rather homogeneous place, pretty much every website resembling each other, and given that 90% of them are run by 10% of the population, this isn't surprising.
But, searching as I do for peculiar things in extraordinary detail I noticed that I was reaching the end of results often quicker than I expected. I mean, my interests are obscure, but the internet is a big place...
So I Googled Dog.
WONDERFUL! Over 7 and a half BILLION results! Boy oh boy I'm gonna learn some fun things about dogs.
I quickly go past the first couple of dozen pages - first page results seldom interest me, I'm looking for the obscure, remember, and the curious.
Wait a minute - Page 23 - now only 23 pages of results? WTF happened? And, no, I don't believe there's just 230 results. Nice try guys.
Scroll to the bottom of the page:
Notice how Google is censoring me - it makes it an option to search with omitted results included, but really, I should trust it. All the other missing results will be much like the results I've already flipped through.
What is rather droll here is that there are a lot of concerned people worried about Google's compliance with Chinese censorship, and aren't paying any mind to the fact that Google is fully censoring any searches done here. And - 23 pages of results - how many were paid placements for dogfood - petstores - etc, etc. So basically I search for "Dog" and I'm left with the impression the entire World Wide Web is roughly the size of ... I dunno - Drumheller?
I'm being shown 0.0000030383091149273452% of the internet's results on dogs. It's like Google has decided the remaining 99.999999+% of the web is dark. "Nothing to see here folks, move along."
I am Jesus
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: WTF
- Hits: 1171
Apparently now a game. You can view the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3XY1R7ydTA&feature=emb_logo
They've gone to town with the comments...
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