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Last Visit 2021-12-26 23:55:06 |Start Date 2007-04-01 15:09:25 |Comments 9,863 |Entries 1,011 |Images 1,430 |Sounds 30 |SWF 1 |Videos 219 |Mobl 27 |Theme |

Category: e:strip

08/23/10 04:35 - 65.ºF - ID#52547

Location Location Location




At this rate, the population density at Niagara Square will soon outstrip the heart of Chandni Chowk.
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Permalink: Location_Location_Location.html
Words: 18
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/23/10 04:35


Category: the odes

08/19/10 11:01 - 74.ºF - ID#52477

Chuck Norris CAN believe

that it's not butter.

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But I can't believe that
I share my birthday with HIM!

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Permalink: Chuck_Norris_CAN_believe.html
Words: 17
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/19/10 11:01


Category: eating in

08/19/10 08:34 - 75.ºF - ID#52476

Wishful Dinner

What I would really like to make for dinner today...
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But didn't.

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Permalink: Wishful_Dinner.html
Words: 14
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/19/10 08:34


Category: the odes

08/18/10 08:59 - 66.ºF - ID#52467

Bread Crust

As a kid, I always liked the brown crusty edges of bread and the two extreme-end slices (that are completely crusty on one side) way more than the white portion. Even now, I really like the brown bits and eat them first.

image

No one else in my family liked bread enough to eat it so I had no idea that many people actually prefer to throw the brown crusty edges out when they make sandwiches. I am constantly amazed whenever some kid makes a fuss about the edges. Surely everyone knows the crust is the most delicious part of any bread!!? If I were given a choice, I would like all my slices to be the extreme-end slices.


PS: Extreme-end slices toasted with a hint of hummus, mint sprigs and raw crispy red onions. Mmmm...
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Permalink: Bread_Crust.html
Words: 138
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/18/10 09:03


Category: science

08/12/10 12:56 - 75.ºF - ID#52418

What are the right questions?

How do you know you are asking the right questions in research? I was in a fascinating meeting with a brilliant basic science researcher at Roswell recently. I went in with my ideas and background and after the discussion, came out with a virtual unique-coloured lens that lends an entirely new perspective to what I thought I knew before.

There are infinite ways to look at a problem. And of course, there are infinite problems. So in the midst of all this infinity, how do you pick the one problem, the one perspective that really will go forward and help the patients? How?

If you trawl through NIH RePORT website you will be amazed at how many billions and billions of dollars have been awarded to the vast landscape of researchers and institutions across the board. Research has become an industry. But what are the products that this industry is so industriously producing? How many of these generously funded projects are actually making any tangible positive impact on what an average patient with cancer is going through? Are we even thinking of this patient?

Is it possible to think of the patient when you are dabbling in population research and you can't really say anything with a lot of certainty about any one individual? I thought about all of this after the meeting. There are so many ways I could dissect what I know. How would I really know which approach is the correct one that will perhaps lead me a smidgen closer to my personal objective? Time will tell - but I wish there were some kind of certainty today and at this very moment.

I could present a counter argument to my own thoughts that Science is always a quest towards the unknown - and so it is perhaps prudent not to look at the ends too much. But I am conflicted about treating Science as an abstract entity. I want to be involved and productive in Science that has a tangible practical impact on people who need it the most. I am just not clear about the path to this personal Nirvana, though. This lack of clarity worries me... I need to work out a way to cut through some of this smog of consciousness.

Meanwhile, I am loving this speech by Atul Gawande. Even more entertaining are the comments. Spot on!

You don't know where the solar plexus is? Really? It lies tangent to the velluvial matrix, just below the avorial passages.


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Permalink: What_are_the_right_questions_.html
Words: 447
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/12/10 12:05


Category: the odes

08/11/10 11:14 - 76.ºF - ID#52417

Amazing.

I have seen the swallow-dance incorporated into so many films and videos, but I think this is probably right up there among my favourites.


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Permalink: Amazing_.html
Words: 27
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/11/10 11:15


Category: eating in

08/08/10 02:39 - 82.ºF - ID#52397

My blender jar just shattered

I was expecting the motor to give way before this happened.
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I knew this day would come, with all the torture I put it through but it's depressing, nevertheless.

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Permalink: My_blender_jar_just_shattered.html
Words: 31
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/08/10 03:11


Category: art

08/06/10 11:06 - 63.ºF - ID#52378

Lights. Art. Music!

The gorgeous opening sequence of the Pillars of the Earth.

::Download Flash Video::



With an awesome score by Trevor Morris.
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Without the SFX

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::



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Permalink: Lights_Art_Music_.html
Words: 30
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/08/10 03:10


Category: the odes

08/04/10 10:34 - 77.ºF - ID#52365

French Press Mesh Vs. Permanent Mesh Filter

The wikipedia entry on the French Press reads...


A French press consists of a narrow cylindrical beaker usually made of glass or clear plastic, equipped with a lid and a "plunger", made of metal or plastic, which fits tightly in the cylinder and which has a fine wire or nylon mesh filter.


image

Because the coffee grounds remain in direct contact with the brewing water and the grounds are filtered from the water via a mesh instead of a paper filter, coffee brewed with the French press captures more of the coffee's flavour and essential oils, which would become trapped in a traditional drip brew machine's paper filters.



So does this mean that using a mesh filter instead of paper filters will produce better coffee in a regular coffee maker?
image
Reviews for this gold mesh coffee filter on Amazon don't really address the question of taste. Has anyone tried the mesh filter instead of paper and noticed their coffee tasting better?
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Permalink: French_Press_Mesh_Vs_Permanent_Mesh_Filter.html
Words: 204
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/04/10 10:45


Category: opinion

08/03/10 10:57 - 76.ºF - ID#52360

Avoid Verizon in Buffalo

Okay, so you are thinking of moving to Buffalo, or are in Buffalo and looking for a high speed internet service? Well, let me make your decision a little easier with simple and easy-to-remember points.
1. Verizon has the WORST dsl service in Buffalo and Western New York.
2. Their technical help is non-existent and they put you on hold for an average of 1/2 hour.
3. After 1/2 hour or more of holding, they transfer you to an outsourced call center where people speak with strange made-up imitation American accents - that are even more difficult to understand than what their regular accents might have been.
4. Most of Verizon's technical support personnel have a flowchart in front of them that automatically assumes that the customer is an idiot and needs to be told to check their wall sockets a zillion times over.
5. Verizon's technical service representatives are masters at evading the real issue and waste as much of your time as they possibly can.
6. And as for Verizon's DSL service, you seldom get more than 1/4th of the speed you paid for and they couldn't care less about your concerns - as amply demonstrated by their mind-numbingly inept technical "support".

Avoid Verizon. Ditch them if you have them. I am not sure if Time Warner is good but I am pretty sure that no one can be worse than Verizon in Buffalo and the whole of WNY.

Update on RoadRunner: I just phoned them and in spite of what their web page here: says about their rates, they outright denied that the Road Runner Lite and Basic packages even exist and tried their surly best to sign me on to their TV-Phone-Internet bundle. The fact that I don't have a TV and don't plan to get one just to put their service on seemed incomprehensible to the bloke I spoke to. Seems to me that both Verizon and Time Warner run their shoddy off-peak time technical/sales support services through the same herd of insolent and rude technical representatives. This has been one totally frustrating evening. Maybe I need to start making plans to poison entire call centers of both Verizon and Time Warner. Both of you, I hope all your employees are cut off internet services when they really need it.

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Permalink: Avoid_Verizon_in_Buffalo.html
Words: 386
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/03/10 11:42


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