tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124883132024-03-14T01:31:04.662+11:00For Battle!With an arse-and-a-half in every 200k block.Mousicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08063945349373603132noreply@blogger.comBlogger1109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-20229307662202682462021-11-12T05:25:00.000+11:002021-11-12T05:25:30.496+11:00Daylight Savings Time<p>Just got a weird bug in my brain, as a result of a conversation yesterday, and wrote this in the comments of a friend's blog. And then realized that it's exactly the sort of crap we used to post on here. Which made me nostalgic, so I came and posted it here too...</p><p>---<br /></p><div class="edit-comment" id="edit-comment1312833" style="background: none;"><p>Hold my beer, because I am going to overthink the Everloving Crap out of this.</p>
<p>Arguments both for and against DST always sound to me a bit like what they’re _trying_ to say is this:</p>
<p>There’s this minor inconvenience (DST | minimal useful daylight) that
only affects maybe 10% of people, so why should the other 90% of us
have to crawl over broken salted glass to appease these petty tyrants!</p>
<p>What they actually sound like to me:</p>
<p>There is a minor inconvenience A that affects everyone, but only 10% of people care.<br />
There is a minor inconvenience B that affects everyone, but only 10% of people care.<br />
The solution to A is the cause of B, and vice-versa. So 10% of people
are going to be irritated either way. I don’t want it to be my 10%.</p>
<p>And then a small vocal percentage of People Irritated By A will argue
loudly with a small vocal percentage of People Irritated by B, and
meanwhile a few people are nodding both directions and 81% of us sitting
on the sidelines are not sufficiently irritated by either to understand
why it’s worth making a fuss over. And the core misunderstanding
actually seems to stem from human empathy, of all things. It is natural
for people to assume that others will feel the same way they do, so
both sides envisage 90% of people suffering and 10% benefiting, and
therefore it’s clearly an untenable argument and anyone can see that the
other guy is just being selfish.</p>
<p>Wait for it; I’m just getting started.</p>
<p>Because I just did the same thing, when I had the above thought this
morning, and realizing that is what actually kicked me out of bed to
write this down. I naturally assumed that most other people felt the
way I feel, and therefore when spitballing made-up percentages I chose
10% of people to be irritated enough to care, making 81% of people agree
with me that it’s just not that big a deal either way. But it could
just as easily be 90% of people who care passionately about either issue
(making 81% irritated by both but presumably paralyzed by indecision,
9% still pushing one way or the other, and a mere 1% actually agreeing
with me.) Its hard to find real opinion numbers – a recent US poll had
“43% want to stay on standard time year-round, while 32% prefer to see
the clocks remain on daylight saving time. Only 25% percent like the
existing state of affairs.” But that’s seeking people out to ask for a
preference, and “don’t care” wasn’t an option. The “final stage
completion rate” of that poll was 17.4% – so that’s how many people
cared about the issue enough to finish responding to a poll – but that
could be high or low for a lot of reasons. Checking a handful of online
petitions finds most struggle to get more than a few thousand people to
even go to the effort of signing an online petition. But _that_ could
just reflect the general opinion that online petitions are useless…</p>
<p>Anyways, I was interested in the realization that it is a form of
empathy that causes each side of the argument to sound unreasonable to
the other, and likewise a sort of empathy that makes people like me feel
that both sides are being a bit hysterical. And that both sorts of
empathy are very possibly misplaced, depending on the actual opinions of
people, which I at least don’t know and couldn’t find much decent data
on in a cursory google. Thought it was an interesting enough idea to
share; do with it what you will.</p>
</div>anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-40328912167073104492017-01-26T14:27:00.000+11:002017-01-26T14:46:37.085+11:00Time CapsuleSo I mentioned before that I'd been contacted by time travelers. I wanted to do a follow-up on the latest developments, and it needed a bit more space than FB really allows... Viva ForBattle!<br />
<br />
(Once more for the uninitiated; if you know the truth behind all this, please refrain from telling me. I'm carefully avoiding googling any of it, because frankly I'm enjoying the ride and don't want to spoil it. I'm actually feeling a little bad about spoiling it for you all instead of signing you up for it, but I figure it's a little late now...)<br />
<br />
So back in December, I got a letter claiming to be from a law firm representing my great uncle Sherman Moser. Which would have to be a heretofore unknown brother of my father's father. They said that I had inherited something from his estate which they would send along shortly, along with some letters from one of their other clients. Sounded a bit like a scam, but whatever.<br />
<br />
Then earlier this month I got another packet from the same firm, with a bunch of letters. These letters were dated and postmarked at various times between 1942 and 2010, and were written on the backs of what appeared to be period documents. They all fit together as pieces of a single tale: a time traveler was lost in time, and his partner was searching for him. She needed to know when exactly he was in order to be able to fetch him back. The information she needed was encoded on some sort of map, which would be left to me by my great uncle. All I had to do was keep the map and hand it down to my descendants, and she would pick it up from them later to get the info she needs. (Might perhaps have done better research on the likelihood of my having any descendants, but I've got a niece who's a Dr Who fan...) At this point I'm thinking this is too elaborate to be a scam; this has got to be some kind of awesome service that you can sign people up for.<br />
<br />
Today part III arrived:<br />
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(Lurking Coz not included.)<br />
Within was a radiocarbon dating report, putting the origin of some artifact at somewhere between 440 and 520 AD, an Italian newspaper article about a naked woman appearing in a restaurant out of nowhere, scribbling a letter on the back of a menu, begging the owner to mail it, and then disappearing again, and this:<br />
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It's a star map, of a portion of the sky around the North Star. Matches the description of an artifact mentioned in a newspaper article included with the very first letter. Said artifact my supposed uncle Sherman supposedly dug up in an archaeological dig. The big circle on the left panel could be the sun or a planet or the moon I suppose, since the ecliptic passes through that part of the sky. It's really quite funky and well put-together (doesn't _really_ feel 1500 years old, mind, but still...)<br />
<br />
Don't know if this is the end or not - can't wait to see if there's more. If it _is_ a scam then a) it's the most elaborate one I've ever heard of, and b) when they finally get around to asking me for money, I think I'm liable to send them $20 and a note saying "well done!"<br />
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<br />anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-19997777302752838212015-10-01T02:05:00.002+10:002015-10-01T02:05:28.020+10:00Alas, Poor Yorrick!Just noticed it's been a year since anyone posted on the old For Battle. *sniff*.anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-61079905926888719562014-09-30T00:29:00.000+10:002014-09-30T00:29:46.295+10:00Torbjorn the RunecarverThere are apparently still a few people left out there that Coz and I haven't cornered to tell this story to, and who are therefore still wondering why the merest mention of Vikings sends us into fits of snickering in the corner. But it takes a little while to tell properly, so I thought I'd write it down.<br />
<br />
Back in 2012, we got to spend a month in Spain, Sweden, and Norway. At the very end of our trip, we visited the town of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fornsigtuna">Sigtuna</a>, Sweden, which is famous for it's runestones. "Famous" turns out to be correct; its close to Stockholm, and the place is jam-packed with bus tours full of Germans and midwesterners, strolling the strip in their Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops, buying tacky souvenir horned hats. Once you get off the main drag however, it's a lovely little medieval town with quite a nice museum. And runestones.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U7pgZkY7PO8/VClhDef2PeI/AAAAAAAAAa4/QITM0-F9GHo/s1600/8099964002_3dd457ba8d_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U7pgZkY7PO8/VClhDef2PeI/AAAAAAAAAa4/QITM0-F9GHo/s1600/8099964002_3dd457ba8d_z.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The stones are scattered throughout the town - some whole, some broken up and re-purposed in churches or graveyards. There's a map you get from the Tourist Info office, but some are fairly-well hidden, so you have to track them down. Each is accompanied by a small plaque, written by some slightly-stuffy archeologist 20 years ago, explaining what they have translated of the writing on the stone, and what they know of its history.<br />
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I don't remember any exact text, but it went a bit like this:<br />
<br />
"Stone of inferior workmanship, carved by Torbjorn in XXX to commemorate the building of a new bridge over the River Tun."<br />
<br />
"Excellent example of twined knotwork or vines by Olaf Rolfsdottir."<br />
<br />
"Crude piece without writing; attributed to Torbjorn."<br />
<br />
"Beautiful interwoven dragon motif, carved by Hjarlmar Rockbiter on the tenth anniversary of his father's death, in his memory."<br />
<br />
"The inscription reads: 'To honor his ancestors, Knut Erikkson had this stone carved by the hand of the Great Torbjorn' - poor spelling and bad penmanship."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpd6QDPwSjs/VClhDJom_NI/AAAAAAAAAa0/H9VEZVfg3pw/s1600/8099956285_c99a180d36_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpd6QDPwSjs/VClhDJom_NI/AAAAAAAAAa0/H9VEZVfg3pw/s1600/8099956285_c99a180d36_z.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A decorated "blank" (no writing) by the Great Torbjorn.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was never explicitly mentioned in the signs, and yet slowly a picture started to form; every single time he was mentioned, Torbjorn the runecarver copped some fairly harsh criticism from our unknown archaeologist / art critic... and yet Torbjorn had clearly also carved about half of the stones in town.<br />
<br />
At which point you may be thinking "Heh; that is mildly amusing." But Coz and I had been on the road for over a month; despite having a fantastic time, we may have been a bit frayed around the edges. Whatever the reason, this struck us as the most hilarious thing we'd ever seen in our lives. Pretty soon we were rushing to the next sign and expounding pretentious critiques of his obviously inferior skills. We're giving each other the Torbjorn used-runestone sales pitch:<br />
<br />
"Oh yeah mate, I _could_ do you one of those twisty things like Olaf Dragoncarver, but it'd be 6 months, and it'd cost ya. Now this baby here, this I did last year for Dave the Smith over in Uppsala, to honor his wife's father. Only she ran off with a tinker and now he doesn't want it, does he? Never put the names on; never had a day in the sun in its life. Now for you mate, because I like you, I could do this baby signed and delivered by Tuesday for - I'm cutting me own throat here! - for a mere 20 gold Knuts. Do you a mostly *cough* matched set if you like; put one on either end of a bridge and no one will be able to tell them apart. I swear it to you by Odin's left testicle. Praise your ancestors coming <i>and </i>going. Wattaya say? Only I'd move fast; had this guy up from Stockholm yesterday and he was <i>very</i> interested in this piece..."<br />
<br />
By this point we're weeping tears of laughter, and having to hold ourselves upright on ancient historical artifacts to keep from falling over. The few other tourists who made it out this far have brittle smiles and are backing away slowly, because we've obviously overdosed on history and cracked. Which only makes us laugh harder, because we're imagining them as customers stunned by the full kilo-candle glare of the commercial juggernaut that is the Steve Jobs of runestones; Bloodeagle-Me-Own-Chest Torbjorn.<br />
<br />
So there you have it; hundreds of years of proud heritage and culture, reduced by a pair of giggling Aus-Sceppos to a bad Used Car Salesman joke. I think we escaped confinement for our own safety only because the town policemen were superstitious, and didn't want to touch crazy people. If you mention vikings or runes and we lose it a bit, just smile and back away. And for goodness sake don't let us sell you any runestones...anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-27770530076238172162014-03-26T14:02:00.002+11:002014-03-27T03:28:22.522+11:00Cocktails... for Science!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://robslongbow.blogspot.com/2014/03/martidnas.html">Experiments in home-extracted DNA as a cocktail garnish.</a> I'm tentatively calling it a martidna - since people in this country seem to believe anything alcoholic in a martini glass that costs at least $8 is a martini - but that could use some work. Suggestions?</div>
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<br />anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-52953705683849217952014-02-28T16:40:00.001+11:002014-02-28T16:47:34.469+11:00Sorry Guardian......and I realise that its puerile and immature of me even to notice, much the less snigger, but I completely fail to believe that this juxtaposition of photos and captions was accidental:<br />
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Just... no.<br />
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(I swear I did not make this up. Or photoshop it. Or anything. Screenshotted in the wild, from the sidebar at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">The Guardian</a>.)anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-52064602652136524502013-10-05T10:59:00.002+10:002013-10-05T10:59:54.022+10:00Chrissie Pissie: a proposalA thought I had at last year's Chrissie Pissie, and would like to bring up now in the lead up to the social season:<br />
<br />
Can we shift the $15 surly santa presents away from 'gag gifts' towards 'stuff people would actually want in their house'.<br />
<br />
Two reasons I can think of:<br />
1. Less clutter in people's houses, more things they remember fondly. I really don't need more geek-themed coasters, cookie cutters or sound emitting devices in my life. I do however want cool coffee mugs, or some lovely tea, or a nice book, or a pot for a houseplant, or a cool kitchen gadget, etc.<br />
2. More meaningful environmental impact. Each of those items takes energy, and water and resources to make. To then have them used once or twice is, in my books, not something that fits with the ethos of most of us.<br />
<br />
I do however think that nerf guns/sports equipment that get used on the day and then handed to a child are an exception. But then, they'd get used more than once or twice, so they fit reason two.<br />
<br />
Thoughts?Krinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11980216332202750739noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-69523669458645068822013-10-01T20:49:00.001+10:002013-10-01T20:49:20.040+10:00Turkey day is approaching....You have been warned! Batton down the hatches, loosen those waistbands, slow-cooked turkey is a-comin'! Get ready with your servings of grits and jell-o salad. We will once again provide the venue and the birds, and look forward to seeing you all there!
Turkenation is scheduled to commence around 1pm on Saturday, 30th November. Dinner will be around 6 or 7 pm as usual.
MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-29098142842849743732013-09-03T13:43:00.000+10:002013-09-03T13:43:24.970+10:00Get on Up!<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm sure most of the ForBattle! crowd probably agree with this. Via GetUp! on Facebook:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">"Get
this: the TV networks are refusing to put GetUp members' ad on the air.
Channel 7 refused outright on the grounds that it was "distasteful",
while Channel Ten and Channel Nine have told us directly that they won't
continue running the ad because it criticises Rupert Murdoch.<br /> <br />
"And in a really bizarre twist of events, Channel 9 withdrew the approved
ad from broadcast after having accepted payment for the ad spots, and
haven't confirmed they'll refund the money.<br /> <br /> "They're giving
Murdoch a free pass while censoring our free speech. We won't let that
stop us though. Can you help us make sure as many Australians watch this
ad as possible? It's already been seen by more than 100,000 Australians
online - like & SHARE this to keep it growing!"</span></span></span></span></span></h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"> So I'm sharing,because I'm really bloody sick of the appalling bias in our media.</span></span></span></span></span></h5>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"> </span></span></span></span></span></h5>
worldpeace and a speedboathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00735857941964784431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-38677498091490359572013-06-21T22:33:00.000+10:002013-06-21T22:33:41.064+10:00Finite HaikuSo a funny thing happened in my brain today. I wondered... given that haiku has exactly 17 syllables all up (5/7/5), and that the english language has a certain number of words/sounds, how many unique haiku exist? Well.. I'm still not sure, but I did some poking around to work out the worst case scenario.
The worst case scenario is that English is a living language, and that haiku is simply a collection of 17 syllables, each from a pool of all possible syllables in the language. While this is very simplistic, and throwing random syllables together is unlikely to produce words let alone meaning, it does future proof against new words that may turn up. And it does provide a maximum number.
So how many syllables are there in English? Turns out that I couldn't find any definitive answer, but I did find an article here <a href="http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/barker/Syllables/index.txt">http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/barker/Syllables/index.txt</a> which again is kind of a worst case scenario. The author refers to 15,831 syllable candidates. This does seem rather large, but I'd be interested if someone else had any good sources on something more accurate.
So if we take this worst case of 15,831 syllable candidates, and we have 17 positions to fill, again using a worst case scenario that any syllable can follow any syllable, we end up with 17^15,831 unique haiku - which will include both the nonsense ones and also every possible sensible haiku.
It did take a while to find a calculator that wasn't going to fall over punching in that kind of number. Luckily, Wolfram Alpha was obliging and came up with <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=17%5E15831">1.7*10^19479</a>. A stupidly large number.
How stupidly large? Well... let's compare it to some other things. For the bridge players out there, there are 5.4*10^28 unique bridge deals. For the chess players, it's estimated that there are 1*10^120 unique chess games.
So I'd like to make the number more accurate, but I'm not sure how. Any suggestions? Maybe if I could find the average number of syllables in a word (not in a normal distribution, but across the english language), I could use that and the total number of unique words. Any other ideas?MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-42727595031891370922013-04-04T02:30:00.002+11:002013-04-04T02:33:01.821+11:00Sith NamesI was thinking on the way to work this morning - because, you know, youTube videos of babies with lightsabers should probably not be consumed before breakfast - and I've decided to join the Sith. I mean everyone was all trendy and jumped on the Jedi bandwagon, spawning headlines in the Telegraph like "Jedi the largest alternative religion in the UK" ("alternative" apparently being defined as "not bigger than Jedi".) So its time to move on to the new hip thing - Emo Jedi. And more importantly, I want to get in before all the good names are taken.<br />
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So the rules for geting your Sith name are apparently simple:<br />
1) You pick a word you like the sound of that starts with IN. Like INvader, or INsidious.<br />
2) You add Darth and lop off the IN.<br />
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The problem is that the prefix IN on a word often means "not", so you have to be careful not to end up with a meaning you didn't quite want. Some names I am considering:<br />
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Darth Sulator<br />
Darth Fluenza <br />
Darth Frared<br />
Darth Spector<br />
Darth Cur<br />
Darth K (yo!)<br />
Darth Fidel (apparently already taken by some guy in Cuba who got in way early.) <br />
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Some names you might end up stuck with, if you wait too long to join:<br />
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Darth Continent<br />
Darth Competent (actually, this is my vote for the new head of our order. We could use some competence.)<br />
Darth Complete<br />
Darth Attentive<br />
Darth Comprehensible<br />
Darth Hospitable<br />
Darth Ept<br />
Darth Flammable<br />
Darth Fomercial<br />
Darth Seminate <br />
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Disney, you're welcome to use any of these you like. Darth Brooks does NOT fit the pattern, and is not allowed.<br />
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<br />anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-71141184605887218932013-03-25T17:40:00.000+11:002013-03-25T17:40:02.887+11:00Pueblo Canyon Ruins, Sierra AnchasAll right, so even I have admitted at this point that Facebook has completely supplanted the blog as a method of keeping in touch, but I want to squirrel some maps and route information away to share with others (and myself, when I forget it 5 minutes from now.)<br />
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This weekend we did an awesome hike to a place called Pueblo Canyon Ruins, in the Sierra Anchas. The ruins are relatively hard to get to, so they have remained in pretty good condition; a fair number of rooms are intact, above-ground floors are still present if broken, and there are a fair number of pictographs that would at least appear to be genuine.<br />
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There is some graffiti damage (some of which is also apparently historical - cursive script in chalk dated 1911 that, given the climate - I can believe could be legit.) There is also a stretch of trail on the way in that is pretty scrambly. Not terrible; we did it with packs, dogs, and a man with a broken back, but I wouldn't try this hike with anyone who wasn't willing to scramble on all fours. Its supposedly about 8 miles round trip (sounds about right; took us most of 3 hours in and a bit over two hours back) and involves about a 1,750 ft elevation gain, almost all of which is stacked at the beginning. You can camp at the end but almost nowhere else, which means you're camping right in amongst the ruins so - duh! - for the love of whatever don't spoil it. Don't light fires back under the overhang, pack out your trash, and not to put too fine a point on it; crap before you come or be willing to walk a mile back to do it. (Can't believe some people. There was toilet paper in the middle of the trail at one point. If you appreciate it all this should go without saying. If you don't appreciate it, don't come. You won't enjoy it anyways.)<br />
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How to get there:<br />
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Hwy 188 south from Roosevelt or north from Globe, to the eastern end of Lake Roosevelt. Its about 3 hours from Flagstaff to this point. Turn north on Hwy 288 - also called the Globe-Young Highway. Pass over the Salt River. At about mile marker 265 you'll see a prominent marked righthand turn onto Cherry Creek Road (National Forest Road 203). This is a good dirt road for the first 20 miles, with a number of popular camping areas along it. You'll climb in and out of a couple of valleys, and cross a couple of streams - there aren't many places to go the wrong way, and they're fairly obvious. Somewhere around the 19-20 mile mark you'll cross a stream by a prominent private ranch and the road gets markedly worse. They say 4WD is required - I think the clearance is more important than the actual power to all four, as the road was reasonably flat, just scattered with largish boulders. We made it in our little Jeep Compass, which is by no means an offroad vehicle, but in places we were pushing our luck. At the 21 mile mark you pass a sign, and the cliffs to your left are starting to look pretty impressive:<br />
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Somewhere about mile 23 (our directions said later, but our odometer said about 23) you pass over a partially buried steel drainage pipe, and within the next 100 feet you'll see an old mining road heading precipitously up to the left, and down to the right. (The guides we were following said this road was "passable but not worth it." I think you'd be insane.) Just up at the next bend in the road there is a parking spot on the right, and a faded sign on the left. You should actually be able to see the ruins you're heading to ahead and to the left from here - high up the walls - but you'll have to have good eyes.<br />
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The trail:<br />
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The trail heads steeply up the mining road for maybe a mile, passing a wilderness area boundary sign, and eventually coming to a huge grey boulder on your left. It zigs right then left - no real branchings to this point, til it comes to a bit of meadow with a big white rock on the right with a (modern) spiral pictograph:<br />
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There is an easily-missed fork at this point: bear right to stay on the correct trail (left takes you up Cold Creek.) From here there are no more real choices. Climb up above the oaks and into the manzanita, from which you can see down to your car far below. You're moving north at this point, around the point of a ridge and into the next side valley (The main valley, and road you were on, heads north-south. This side valley faces east. You're coming northwest, onto the southern side of the V.)<br />
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As you come around the point into the side valley that is Pueblo Canyon, you can see the ruins about midway up the far wall. And you can see why you're making this crazy zigzag in the first place - there's no way up over there:<br />
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The bush-bashing happens in here - its scrambly, but just keep telling yourself that this is waiting at the end:<br />
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You don't really need a guide from here on out: there is one ruin on the
southern wall (partially destroyed by a uranium mine) followed by a
waterfall (apparently does NOT run year-round. We took all our water
and didn't need it, but someone we met on the trail said they'd been
there when it was dry. I reckon if you saw water on the road near the
trailhead you're probably fine, but you have been warned.) After the
waterfall you come back along the north wall of the canyon and get to
visit all the ruins you've been looking at for the last hour:<br />
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anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-39628155411767809672012-10-15T20:57:00.002+11:002012-10-15T20:57:21.916+11:00Turkinator 3: The resurrectionWe have the technology. We can rebuild it.<br />
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I'm using as many of the old parts as possible to retain the spirit of the turkinator.
Also in keeping with the spirit of the event, no metric parts are being used. There is still a bit to do - still need to attach the lid, make the air vents, attach the handles and the chains.MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-58706395753306955112012-10-14T21:44:00.001+11:002012-10-14T21:44:27.559+11:00Noble end of the turkenator....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-87865327469484906432012-04-28T09:35:00.001+10:002012-04-28T09:35:36.040+10:00Mr Nw has a new theme songHe drinks banana wine.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z0A0fOX1FAg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Available for free download:
<a href="http://mokolours.bandcamp.com/album/ep2-banana-wine">http://mokolours.bandcamp.com/album/ep2-banana-wine</a>MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-56041024987270615932012-03-23T14:14:00.004+11:002020-04-29T20:29:32.464+10:00KidJesusI think I surely must have told this story to every single person I've ever met, and yet digging around in the For Battle archives I can't see any evidence that I've ever actually scanned the photo in and shared it; shame on me. Alas its in an old picture from back in the dark ages, when dinosaurs roamed the earth on 1200 baud modems and people thought the world would end in 2000 for some arbitrary calendrical reason, not 2012 like any sensible person nowadays. Its called a "photo" apparently, and no matter how many times I put it in the DVD drive it still won't read. (And it turns out Jesus isn't above sabotaging the oldsters' computer to keep embarrassing photos from coming out on his 21st - century. I've just spent the last hour trying to make the damned (sic) scanner work).<br />
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Anyways, Coz' and my favorite favorite thing of all the amazing things at the British Museum was this set of mosaics from back before the sanitised authorised biography of Jesus outsold the previous umpty-eleven tell-all versions. I don't remember where or when it was from, though there should be another of those photo things around here somewhere with the details.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JjzHb60QNLM/T2vtk4kYjrI/AAAAAAAAAIo/DK8sOrOwwHs/s1600/jesusteen.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722928969420410546" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JjzHb60QNLM/T2vtk4kYjrI/AAAAAAAAAIo/DK8sOrOwwHs/s400/jesusteen.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 266px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
The text beneath, for those of you inexplicably having trouble reading this lousy scan of a lousy photo which hung on our wall for a decade collecting dust, (and taking into account that I can barely read the damn thing myself) reads:<br />
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"Jesus plays by the side of the river. Jesus making pools, a boy destroys one with a stick and falls dead."<br />
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"The Virgin admonishes Jesus, who restores the boy to life by touching him with his foot." (ed: read, "sulkily kicking him in the arse...")<br />
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(Something about Jesus striking a teacher dead to avoid having to explain why he didn't do his homework.)<br />
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I wish I could find the one where Jesus - having established a bit of a rep in the whole striking-people-dead department - goes round to play with a neighborhood kid. The kid's mom sees J and hides her kid in the oven, but J being omniscient knows this and turns the kid into a baked ham.<br />
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Anyone who has ever been or known a child knows that an omnipotent Jesus was a serious pain in the arse when he was a kid.<br />
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Edit: They're called the Tring Tiles, apparently. anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-19785789053040667392012-03-11T07:56:00.000+11:002012-03-11T07:56:05.676+11:00Ta-Da!Welcome to ForBattle v.2.98<div>
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Hopefully comments will appear to everyone no matter how gibbous <i>*such* a good word</i> the moon is and no-one hates the template too much.</div>
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No, I have no idea why only comments from 2005 and today appear. Mystery!</div>
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Yes yes, all the side-bar links have gone.</div>
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If you want any of them back or have any suggestions for new ones, add them in (or let me know and I can)</div>
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If you want something changed, go forth and do it!</div>
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If you hate it all and want it to go back to the way it was (maybe you were one of the chosen people who the comments would show themselves to), invent a time machine.</div>
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Okay, just do that last thing anyway, because it would be cool.</div>
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</div>DVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005183458698367875noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-1875262497910531092012-03-10T09:28:00.000+11:002012-03-10T09:28:05.158+11:00mmmgibbousOkay, the weird comments widget we have is annoying me. Comments seem to go missing or only appear if you dance 3 times widdershins wearing a gold blanket under a gibbous moon.<br />
So, anyone have any objections to me changing the blog template and getting rid of the comments thingy.<br />
I guess we will lose all the old comments but we may then be able to see any new ones.<br />
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-DVDVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005183458698367875noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-14391193738415807272012-03-09T13:07:00.001+11:002012-03-09T13:07:32.403+11:00Vale Muscat<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IVNBn_-Jpvc/T1lefNeYsnI/AAAAAAAAAkc/UyF4RSUa72w/s1600/muscat.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IVNBn_-Jpvc/T1lefNeYsnI/AAAAAAAAAkc/UyF4RSUa72w/s320/muscat.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717705092209619570" border="0" /></a>Muscat<br />aka Mucky, Muc Muc, Musket, Miss Woodles<br />(25/10/93? - 9/3/12)<br />Shoulder cat of great affection<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Muscat was a found cat. MissFliss' sister brought her home from the vet where she worked and we were a good home recently left catless when Kestrel was hit by a car. We were made for each other. We weren't sure how old she was so we decided that St Crispin's Day was close enough and a good date to remember.<br /><br />Muscat was tiny but from an early age loved to ride on shoulders. In fact, she couldn't be held any other way. It you picked her up she needed to go straight over the shoulder or she would claw her way there.<br /><br />When she was one year old she nearly died when she was hit by a car. She spend two weeks at the vet recovering. Her jaw was dislocated and she lost most of her teeth. Her skull was cracked and she most certainly suffered brain damage. Initially the vet didn't know if she would survive. I guess if they recommended putting her down at that point I would have agreed. But no one suggested it and Muscat made a good recovery.<br /><br />She was very affectionate. She particularly loved tall people and would beg to be picked up by Stig or Rufus. At Strathfield, the house had a shelf built above the picture rails and Stig would routinely throw her up there where she would happily prowl around the room. She also loved boxes (as many cats do) and she loved to sleep in the washing basket. Often I would throw a piece of clothing in to be greeted with an unamused 'mrow!'.<br /><br />She constantly had teeth trouble following the accident. Every few years she would need a teeth clean and have a few more removed. She was down to her last 4 teeth. She also had a clouded eye for most of her life where the kitten Fronti scratched her during play.<br /><br />She always looked a little cranky because of the markings on her face. Perhaps she was a little cranky too as tortoiseshell are said to be. If she wasn't sick she would fight the vet. She was determined. If the child was annoying her she would stand her ground rather than retreat to safety. Very feisty.<br /><br />Eighteen years is a huge amount of time to share with an animal. She is the longest serving pet I've ever had. I don't expect I'll have another relationship like it.<br /><br />She was affectionate and warm and cuddly on her terms and cranky and sharp when she wasn't in the mood. I will miss her.<br /><br /></div></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H7--HgN_R7Y/T1lee1xcDHI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/CcvhazX_sa8/s1600/cats.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H7--HgN_R7Y/T1lee1xcDHI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/CcvhazX_sa8/s320/cats.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717705085847080050" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zoml2ZvV3ug/T1lefVf6GhI/AAAAAAAAAko/UOK6hhXvJvg/s1600/washingcats.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zoml2ZvV3ug/T1lefVf6GhI/AAAAAAAAAko/UOK6hhXvJvg/s320/washingcats.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717705094363486738" border="0" /></a>Mousicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08063945349373603132noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-32521115358537083132012-02-23T07:27:00.004+11:002012-02-23T08:51:12.969+11:00Wire Brush and Dettol for my BrainCoz suggested I post something about this; possibly because my guilty conscience makes me talk about it too much, and she's hoping I'll get it off my chest and shut up. Anyways; American politics ahoy! Run now while you still can!<br /><br />I voted for Newt Gingrich the other day.<br /><br />There. I said it. It makes me feel soiled to admit it, but its true.<br /><br />You see, the reason you Aussies are already hearing about the American presidential election, is that the parties here don't pick a new leader by staging a back-room rebellion a la Gillard (and/or Rudd?) Instead we have primaries, where only the people registered for a given party get to vote*, and they vote for who they want their presidential candidate to be in the main election. I was registered Democrat, so in the primaries I got to choose whether to vote for Obama or... not. Everyone knows the Democrat in November's election is going to be Obama, so no one else serious is even bothering to run. Well thats a bit dull, isn't it?<br /><br />So with a grimace of distaste, I re-registered as a Republican, so I can help choose who the Republican candidate in the next election will be. The trick is to find the candidate least likely to beat Obama - who I will actually vote for in November - but who is still a credible contender for the Republican nomination, so I'm not throwing my vote away. That last bit is kind of hard, because the only thing Republicans have managed to consistently agree on for two weeks running out of the last 6 months has been that they don't want Romney, and Romney is the Republican who - until recently, at least - has shown as the most likely Republican to beat Obama. <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/president_obama_vs_republican_candidates.html">RealClearPolitics</a> has been handy for this - that page collects all the polls from the last month or so, comparing each candidate as if they were running one-on-one against Obama, and <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html">this one</a> shows whos likely to win the Republican nomination this week. Gingriches chances at the nomination are currently low compared to Santorum, but some of the meta-analysis out there shows that the Brown Sticky One is artificially inflated at the moment by his recent - and only - victories, and Gingrich might well come back. Honestly, I've done more research on these nutjobs than I have on almost any candidate I've actually cared about in years.<br /><br /><ul><li><tc>jerk - vs each other - </tc><tc>vs Obama</tc></li><li><tc>Santorum</tc><tc> - 33.7 - </tc><tc>Obama +6.4</tc></li><li><tc>Romney - </tc><tc>28.4</tc><tc> - Obama +5.7</tc></li><li><tc>Gingrich - </tc><tc>14.4</tc><tc> - Obama +13.7</tc></li><li><tc>Paul</tc><tc> - 12.3 - </tc><tc>Obama +8.3</tc></li></ul><table><tbody><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table><br />Of the folks still in it, Paul has no chance of actually winning the nomination, Santorum polls too well against Obama, so Gingrich it is. (Plus Santorum's a disturbing freakweasel, instead of just a power-mad self-centered megalomaniac like Gingrich, so I couldn't bear the idea of voting for him even out of sabotage...)<br /><br />And that is how I came to cast a vote for Newt Gingrich (in advance, by mail) in next week's primary. Once we get past the primary, I can re-register Democrat, and shower extensively. Thank you for your patience; I now return you to your regularly scheduled Labour infighting...<br /><br /><br />*Except where it doesn't work that way, because there are actually entirely different rules for every one of the 50 states. But thats the gist of it, most places.anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-56398169836451668972012-02-04T17:01:00.001+11:002012-02-04T17:05:38.731+11:00Scale of the UniverseI likes this:<br />
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<a href="http://images.4channel.org/f/src/589217_scale_of_universe_enhanced.swf">http://images.4channel.org/f/src/589217_scale_of_universe_enhanced.swf</a><br />
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Also, when did this blog suddenly get a .au after it, and has that broken all the comments?MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-30065893944581283272012-01-26T14:57:00.000+11:002012-01-26T14:57:07.615+11:00Movie formulas for profita.k.a. a recipe for movie-making success!<br />
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So it turns out that there are some interesting factors that make for a successful movie. Strangely, things like dinosaurs really don't help movies do well. Oddly enough, having a piano seems to be a boon. How do I know these odd factiods? They are backed up by science! Well, some amusing maths done for a competition lead to these and many more startling discoveries. The data was taken based on the last 5 years worth of US movie releases.<br />
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The full story complete with all of the ingredients to add is at<br />
<a href="http://www.jeromecukier.net/blog/2012/01/23/hollywood-data/">http://www.jeromecukier.net/blog/2012/01/23/hollywood-data/</a><br />MrSnerghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12109512402899099794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-27165989176646792842012-01-11T12:05:00.000+11:002012-01-11T12:06:07.029+11:00It Occurs to Me...A thing occurred to me on the ride home, in what I'm certain is not an original thought. If Republicans:<br />1) <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-says-corporations-are-people/2011/08/11/gIQABwZ38I_story.html">Believe</a> that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission">corporations have the same rights as people</a>, and<br />2) <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDEQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.euthanasia.com%2Frepu.html&ei=wtsMT9HsKeXJiQLHy5iCBA&usg=AFQjCNHAHJnHafWTWrWZ7uIPiu60I_3Hyw">Believe that embryos have a right to life</a>, and<br />3) Are consistent<br />Then declaring bankruptcy in a start-up should be against the law.<br /><br />Fortunately (for them) I'm not too worried about #3 turning out to be true. So that's all right then.anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-52426981702628310682011-12-16T13:24:00.002+11:002011-12-16T15:36:19.359+11:00Vale Fronti<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cpFZHnXxTb8/TuqrdNv3E-I/AAAAAAAAAf8/A0YNDFr0qLE/s1600/fronti2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 247px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cpFZHnXxTb8/TuqrdNv3E-I/AAAAAAAAAf8/A0YNDFr0qLE/s320/fronti2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686545997903631330" border="0" /></a><br />Frontignac<br />aka Slugface, Fatboy, Lardarse, Trigger, Fang.<br />9/9/1995 - 15/12/11<br />A cat of infinite noises.<br /></div><br />Mother - Nutmeg (Yseult's cat)<br />Father - random Kirribilli tom<br />Brother - Basil (also Yseult's cat)<br />Step-sister - Muscat<br /><br />He was a fearless kitten. Muscat was so unimpressed to suddenly have a little brother and hissed at him for about a month. Fronti just ignored her.<br /><br />When he was tiny Fronti could clear a room with his farts. That was when we discovered he was lactose intolerant. The farts stopped when the milk stopped.<br /><br />He was also incredibly noisy for such a tiny creature. We used to have the cats sleep on the bed with us. Muscat would sleep near our heads but Fronti could only sleep at our feet. The noise of his purring would keep us awake otherwise. We thought the noise would decrease as his got older but we were very wrong.<br /><br />At about six months old he was chased up a tree by a neighbours dogs. I had to call the fire brigade to get him down. I took photos of the event but the record was lost when the camera was stolen shortly afterwards. He happily rode on the fireman's shoulders down to my arms. I think the firemen were happy to have something to do at 6am in the morning.<br /><br />We was a great catcher of mice, rats and birds. I didn't witness it but I was told that Fronti would sit in the backyard and taunt the magpies into swooping him. Fronti would leap up to try and catch them when they did. Fronti also loved it when Stig would give him fish heads to eat. Fronti would take them to the 'Fronti killing ground' and happily crunch them down.<br /><br />At his largest, Fronti was almost 12kgs. But he was a cat with a large wheel base and while he puddled well he would never be considered obese.<br /><br />At about seven years old Fronti developed a bladder problem which had him on special food for the rest of his life. This same condition killed his brother. Despite a few acute times, the condition was managed. At the beginning of this year Fronti suffered an injury to the edge of his eye which needed treatment. When he was a kitten he caused the injury to Muscat's eye which is still quite obvious as the cloud on her eye. In 2009, Fronti was diagnosed with a thyroid condition which had him injected with technicium and radioactive iodine to destroy the hyperactive bits of thyroid. Shortly after, he had a benign lump removed from his side. He has been an expensive kitty costing us probably about $7000 over his lifetime, but it's been worth it.<br /><br />His most recent illness progressed much faster than I expected. Last week I noticed he had stopped eating, his meow was muffed and he seem to have a sniffle. The vet did a battery of tests which ruled out most common problems. We don't know exactly what killed him but it was likely some sort of tumour in the liver or kidney. Basically he died because he was old and the parts started failing. If we had caught the lung infection in time it was likely he wouldn't last much longer past it. It does explain the big cough he had during winter. I just thought it was an extra large furball but in hindsight it was probably the early chest infection.<br /><br />Fronti was huge and cuddly and noisy. He was often the butt of many jokes and he was loved for it. He was greedy and lazy and warm and soft. We was also very gentle and usually obedient. He had a long and happy life for a cat.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIkvvsEnF4M/Tuqrc1qV0xI/AAAAAAAAAfw/yZXBkd6ChnQ/s1600/fronti1.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 184px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIkvvsEnF4M/Tuqrc1qV0xI/AAAAAAAAAfw/yZXBkd6ChnQ/s320/fronti1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686545991438029586" border="0" /></a><br />Edit - I forgot to mention Fronti's drug days when he was heavily into the catnip. Those days he would head out before breakfast and lick the dew off the catnip and usually eat leaf or two. He would spend most of the day curled up around his precious plant. The poor old catnip plant was almost pruned to bonsai status.Mousicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08063945349373603132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12488313.post-40358750891672294432011-11-03T13:35:00.004+11:002011-11-03T14:25:08.892+11:00Paean to American Roadside CuisineAmericans can be a bit schizophrenic about food.<br /><br />Here's what I mean by that:<br /><br />There is a type of cooking here known as "Texas BBQ". Not all Texas BBQ is alike, of course, but if you pick one at random you'll most likely find someplace where they lovingly prepare a meal along these lines:<br /><br />1) Get yourself a nice cut of beef brisket.<br />2) Marinate in a specially crafted blend of spices.<br />3) BBQ.<br />4) Fork shred, so as to more easily embed flavour, without destroying the texture.<br />5) Gently smoke the meat for quite some time in a specialised smoker, over a variety of woods.<br />6) Heat to luke warm, put a big ole scoop on a sugar-infused lump of sponge rubber masquerading as a hamburger bun, along side a jumbo-sized serve of nothin, and sell.<br /><br />VrrrrrrrrrRP! What?!? Run that last one by me again? You get something that looks like this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LTc5Xvojd_g/TrIA1Yo9nYI/AAAAAAAAAHE/zcn5Yzopmww/s1600/PAM_0166-Serious-Texas-BBQ-Durango-Colorado-500x375.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LTc5Xvojd_g/TrIA1Yo9nYI/AAAAAAAAAHE/zcn5Yzopmww/s400/PAM_0166-Serious-Texas-BBQ-Durango-Colorado-500x375.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670595797960203650" /></a><br /><br />And the meat is delicious! But after all that care preparing it, they might as well fire it down your throat out of a cannon for all the trouble they go with serving it. You can _almost_ admire the purity of it - we're about the meat and nothing but the meat! - but not so much as you actually want to eat one of these styrofoam-encapsulated blobs a second time.<br /><br />Well just up the road from us is a place where occasionally is parked a trailer emblazoned "Big John's Texas BBQ". For all I know he makes a great sandwich - I've never had the heart to try one, after too many lukewarm lump experiences. But he makes spectacularly good meat. I'm not just saying that because the guy behind the counter has a Texan accent, and he's big (he may even be named John too.) I'm saying that because he's an artist. He paints pictures on my palette with protein and spice. A Michaelangelo of Meat. I've had it a couple of times for various reasons without ever actually ordering a sandwich, and its always delicious. And he sells it in bulk.<br /><br />So rather than risk another hamburger bun fiasco, the other weekend I bought a pound of brisket off him. I spent the morning making fresh french bread, and timed everything else to be finished just as the bread came out of the oven. I grilled some onions with some fire-roasted Hatch chilies until they got all caramelised and yummy. I heated the meat to mouth-scorchingly hot - quickly, so as not to dry it out - and melted some good sharp cheddar over it. I served it on the aforementioned fresh french with some avocado, some black pepper, some of Big John's own vinegar-ey spicey sauce that he kindly packed for me to go, also hot. Garnish with crisp romaine lettuce and fresh tomato straight out of the fridge, for that nice temperature contrast and crunch.<br /><br />It was fantastic. It was so good I went back and made another one and ate it too. I could barely move afterwards. My whole Saturday morning was consumed (sic) by lunch. I took a picture (which doesn't really do it justice, and in fact looks a bit oogly to me now; trust me, it was magnificent):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IThzeRG7CMc/TrIGpL2K6zI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/zkl6tl50hZM/s1600/stuff%2B515.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IThzeRG7CMc/TrIGpL2K6zI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/zkl6tl50hZM/s400/stuff%2B515.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670602185437276978" /></a><br /><br />If they served these I'd happily pay $20 for one. So why the extravagant care over the meat followed by nothing else? I dunno; just American schitzo cuisine I guess... but it really is fine fine meat.anti obhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com0