"We are creatures of carbon." written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: science

02/27/10 11:22 - 32ºF - ID#51087

We are creatures of carbon.

::Download Flash Video::

We evolved through our carbon interactions.

We migrated lead by our carbon needs.

We reproduced guided by our carbon culture.

We engineered our carbon environments.

We sheared the fabric of our lives with carbon based hostilities.

We continue to interact and change our carbon dynamics.

To carbon we all shall return.

C Graphic:

Permalink: We_are_creatures_of_carbon_.html
Words: 79
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: eating in

02/26/10 07:19 - 26ºF - ID#51080

Organic milk - hating it!

I finally caved in and bought a carton of Amish Organic Country Farms 1% Milk (well, mainly because they were out of the fat-free milk gallon). I really had high expectations from this milk - seeing as how it is organic and all. I could not have been more unrealistic about my expectations.

This milk tastes like it came directly from the cow or buffalo or whatever bovine they were milking. I know some of you are smirking and saying. "It's milk. What else did you expect?".

Let me tell you, I did not expect the farmyard cow/bovine smell. It completely throws my milk drinking experience. It taints my coffee and makes tea unbearable with its heavy heavy cow-ish/bovine odour. My tongue is now coated with the same odour and I can feel it slowly creeping up my sinuses. Ugh. Ugh. UGH.

I am DONE with this Organic Amish milk business. I am going back to fat-free mass-produced possibly hormone tainted neutral-smelling milk. I think I will deal with the devil and trade a little undue cell proliferation for the urge to throw up everytime I drink my favourite black tea with milk.

Maybe boiling will do away with the smell? What do you think?

libertad writes at 09:08:32 02/27/10 - Comment #55072: I have no idea. I never buy a gallon and I admit I don't even look at the price of things that I buy on a consistent basis. The glass has a refundable deposit on it. You really should try it just once because it really tastes so awesome.

tinypliny writes at 07:04:24 02/27/10 - Comment #55071: I find myself in perfect agreement with (e:zzzzzzooobbbba)rr even though I am less than unprincipled about many things - which is equivalent to saying that I deliberately may have deleted the concept of principles from many icky situations. I draw the line at inhaling and gulping down the scent of cows and other ruminants, however.

LOL @ (e:heidi)'s comment. Yeah, shows shocking lack of exposure to anything farm-related, huh? Do you like that smell - can you detect it, just curious...

@Libertad - really? recyclable glass? How much is a gallon at the coop?

libertad writes at 11:47:17 02/27/10 - Comment #55069: I prefer milk that comes from cows not treated with growth hormones but never have had organic. I like Byrne Dairy which is sold at the coop or I have heard at Price Rite. The coop sells it in a glass returnable jar and I swear it tastes so good from a glass jar.

heidi writes at 09:35:08 02/26/10 - Comment #55068: city girl.

zobar writes at 08:32:22 02/26/10 - Comment #55063: I don't know nothin about organic cow milk. You'd be able to use it up quicker, and probably notice the taste less, in cheesy dishes. I recommend a yin/yang mornay sauce with organic milk and Kraft singles freedom cheese.

I once ended up with a carton of rice milk and it totally fucked with my coffee until I found something else to do with it. Soy milk is ok in coffee. Rice milk tastes like rice. I like rice as much as, if not more than, the next guy but if you don't draw the line somewhere man where are your principles.

- Z

Permalink: Organic_milk_hating_it_.html
Words: 206
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: opinion

02/25/10 10:34 - 20ºF - ID#51078

China = Italy = Information Oligarchy

I can't believe how similar they are. One has a paranoid stuffy government who monitors any anti-political comments like a hawk. The other has a prime minister who owns every traditional broadcast media in the country and is now moving to crush internet freedom so that his broadcast media would profit and thrive at the cost of the net.

How do people vote in these autocrats?

Italy may be one of Europe's favourite tourist destinations, but I bet very few scientists would actually want to live there. How close-minded and disturbing is this latest news?! Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Permalink: China_Italy_Information_Oligarchy.html
Words: 110
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: grocery

02/17/10 10:10 - 29ºF - ID#51034

Pastele Paper Vs. Parchment Paper

I went hunting for Parchment paper today (and by hunting, I mean wandering about aimlessly through the aisles at Pricerite till I see something vaguely interesting that I can pore over). I didn't exactly find Parchment paper but I found a roll of something called Pastele paper.

Someone had put a produce sticker on the roll of paper so that it was priced by the pound, had an expiration date and had directions for refrigeration. I thought it was curious, and was carrying it around to ask someone what it was.

However, in a moment of absent-mindedness at the checkout queue, I forgot about how weird it was and bought it before I remembered I didn't know what it was. Does anyone know what it is, though? Can it serve as a Parchment paper substitute? Or is it just wax paper in disguise? Should I return it?

Chowhound has a thread on Pasteles

- apparently they are a Puerto Rican specialty comfort food. But it doesn't tell me if the paper is inflammable in the oven.

Anyone have a clue about the combustion physics of Pastele paper?

tinypliny writes at 09:40:30 07/20/10 - Comment #57421: Hmmm...the thing is I don't go to weggers any more. I sat down and did some expense accounting. You won't believe this but over the course of the last year, not going to weggers has saved me $1000. The prices at weggers have to be such huge mark-ups for such substantial savings!

paul writes at 10:11:15 07/20/10 - Comment #57415: Parchment paper is available at wegmans both in the normal variety by baking goods and in the higher quality, non-bleached variety in the nature's market place.

tinypliny writes at 02:23:17 07/20/10 - Comment #57413: So, the pastele paper is a poor cousin of the parchment paper. Not recommended for baking. It may not burn but it doesn't prevent sticking and get's all sort of stuck on residue in the end. :/

tinypliny writes at 10:45:32 02/25/10 - Comment #55053: Good tip about the Silpat (e:jenks). Thanks! :)

jenks writes at 11:28:51 02/19/10 - Comment #54972: does it look like paper? the expiration date etc almost makes it seem like it's... i dunno... thin pastry or something?

I can't help about the pasteles.

but I do know parchment paper can sometimes be hard to find... but any kitchen store should have it, and decent grocery stores USUALLY do.

But another option- buy a Sil-Pat. I don't know how much they cost, since mine was a gift, but the thing rocks. And it's reusable (and thus (I'd hope) more environmentally friendly than parchment). And if it works for those lace cookies, I think it would work for ANYthing.

tinypliny writes at 07:48:31 02/18/10 - Comment #54951: But I want to use the thing for making speculoos. Do you think it will stay flame-free in the oven?

I read more about pasteles and they sound like a fridge-full of veggies, a shelf full of spices and lentils and a freezer full of meat mixed together in a complicated way and steamed in plantain leaves!

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:51:55 02/17/10 - Comment #54949: If memory serves (from my misspent youth in NYC), pasteles are wrapped in plantain leaves or/and less authentically parchment paper. Without seeing what you bought I would suspect you got parchment paper (hopefully) that would be good for making pasteles.

Permalink: Pastele_Paper_Vs_Parchment_Paper.html
Words: 192
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: office

02/17/10 08:44 - 29ºF - ID#51033

Mr. Deadlier to the rescue.

I was having a particularly dead-wall time at work today with the Roswell network dragging its amoeboid appendages, my reference-manager hanging like a choking seaweed, frequent and unexpected power outages that managed to erase my drafts several times in the morning and none of my literature searches going too well.

The straw that broke the frustrated camel's back could well have been the Inter-Library loan request form that refused to submit.

BUT, like all crazily structured bewildering films with indescribably happy endings, an (e:strip) peep came to the rescue and ironed a long-standing 8-month annoyance out.

It is time for an especially loud round of applause for (e:mrdeadlier) :-)

Permalink: Mr_Deadlier_to_the_rescue_.html
Words: 113
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: grocery

02/17/10 07:30 - 29ºF - ID#51031

Thank you, Pricerite.

I know some folks view Pricerite as an evil walmartish-variant grocery but I am writing this journal to thank the store for setting up shop in downtown Buffalo and being there for me heavy rain or yucky snow. The employees at the store beat even Wegmans at being super-nice and courteous.

My fridge was completely empty and depressed-looking half an hour back and now I have extremely fresh, large and juicy tomatoes.

For 89c a pound without the pain of waiting for a bus in the cold, without owning a car and without planning the trip for an hour. This is what a perfect daily grocery-shopping experience should feel like. Thank you!

PS: They have more Latin American produce and stuff than any other major grocery. I do wish they had more Chinese greens though. I guess they must have done some intense market research and decided that west and east Buffalo would be their most prominent clientele.

Permalink: Thank_you_Pricerite_.html
Words: 161
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: simple pliny

02/17/10 04:59 - 29ºF - ID#51028

Update on the Going Bald Experiment

I checked and I am mildly shocked to see that I seem to have raised $475 for cancer research simply by promising to go bald in 2 weeks.

I am experiencing a warm fuzzy feeling despite the treachery of deviant Lake Erie which seems to have unfrozen again.

PS: Apparently, they won't shave my head to the bone and will leave a smattering of hair. I am going to request that they really shave it all off. I have got my department paying for my most expensive hair-cut ever so it better be technically perfect.

Permalink: Update_on_the_Going_Bald_Experiment.html
Words: 94
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: buffalo

02/15/10 07:02 - 27ºF - ID#51021

Erie freezes over: No more snow?

Lake Erie has frozen over.

Hopefully, there will be a lot less (or no more) snow for the rest of the month. *Rubs hands* Hee Hee.

Source:

Permalink: Erie_freezes_over_No_more_snow_.html
Words: 42
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: the odes

02/12/10 04:12 - 23ºF - ID#51002

Search on. and yawn.

The Original.

And the Super-Originals.

Hah, you believed that?

What *really* happened...

Or maybe starting an international mess was not really your cup of tea...

Permalink: Search_on_and_yawn_.html
Words: 39
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: simple pliny

02/12/10 12:51 - 21ºF - ID#51001

Thinking of going bald...

for bucks.

But mainly because I want to see if I can tackle a fraction of pain and the serious blow to vanity that the patients I study are going through everyday.

March 3 is the D-day

I don't know if I can work up enough guts to go through with this and bear being absolutely bald for the rest of the winter.

tinypliny writes at 10:39:08 02/13/10 - Comment #54889: And really? Bad business practices? Hmmm...

Glad the money is going to Roswell then. I know that everything is above board and peer-reviewed.

If you think, why not wigs for cancer patients? Most of them are adults - and I am sure many would appreciate the availability of well-made wigs those initial days of losing hair unexpectedly.

tinypliny writes at 10:29:03 02/13/10 - Comment #54888: @dragonlady7: First of all, YIKES. I would never want any woman to lose her hair. Ever. For any reason.

All my comments about locks of love were merely because the peeps (Matthew and Peter) were considering cutting off their hair and mentioned it in response to my post. And that ArtVoice model - well, she had lovely everything and I couldn't help teasing Peter. :-)

Long hair is a thing of beauty - it has immense cultural significance where I come from. I am not even telling my folks I am doing this because I am sure my parents and brother will have a collective heart attack if they heard. (I have been told that my blog is super-boring for them most of the time, so they don't even bother reading.)

As I said before, this is a personal experiment for me, because research has always been and will be very personal to me. It is not about donating hair - as much as it is about the experience of losing it, empathizing and identifying with women who lose it because of no fault of their own. I want what I work on to have a deeply personal face to it, because my deepest fear is waking up one day, going to work, forgetting why I ever came and not caring. Sometimes, you have to light your own light because so many people have lost their faith and become impersonal. Sometimes idealism is not naÃ¯ve because you have to believe in it to be yourself.

Maybe you should photograph your hair in all the hot Ukranian braids and post it here. :-)

dragonlady7 writes at 09:33:11 02/13/10 - Comment #54887: I have to weigh in briefly just because, as a woman with very long hair, I am harassed pretty much daily to get my hair cut off. [No one ever bothered me in college, but since I turned about 25 I get two or three comments every time the length of my hair is apparent. I don't even wear it down.]
Simply because I have long hair, people, mostly women, sometimes get quite nasty about my presumptuousness of keeping it to myself. I am a member of an online group-- well, I was-- devoted to the care and maintenance and discussion of long hair, and there were a lot of threads on there about Locks of Love. They have repeatedly been under investigation for poor business practices, and I determined very early on that I would never donate to them.
There are other organizations I would happily do business with, but I strongly encourage you to do research before choosing a particular one to donate to. LoL has, in the past, stated on the record that they simply throw away much of the hair donated to them. (Most of their wigs are for children; adult hair is too coarse to use.)
Some of this may no longer be true. I did all my research about five years ago when people first decided I was too old to deserve my hair. It may be out of date. But I encourage you to explore it now, before you make your donation.

And I applaud your selflessness and resolve. I will not be donating my hair, simply because I receive so much pressure to do so: I will do what moves *me*. I would rather paint houses or dig ditches or contribute in some other way. If I am going to cut my hair off for any reason, I will sell it myself and then use the money how I see fit. No one has the right to demand I give anything up. I don't go down the street yelling at Lexus drivers that they obviously have more money than they need and should donate half of it, or yelling at healthy people that they have TWICE the kidneys they need and should donate one, and yet people feel perfectly free to out-and-out abuse me for the horrible crime of having "too much" hair. No thank you.

I am sorry to rant; I get this all the time, however, and it's only going to get worse as I get older.

tinypliny writes at 06:55:59 02/12/10 - Comment #54885: Take a look at the Locks of Love Guidelines -> :::link::: Looks pretty straightforward. They just need a 10" minimum in a ponytail/braid.

Shorter hair is just sold for money. Layered hair is made into multiple ponytails. I think they only don't accept chemically bleached/damaged hair. I think you are okay - unless you have bleached your hair recently.

metalpeter writes at 06:12:47 02/12/10 - Comment #54876: The one misgiving I have is that I don't know if you like put it all in one pony tail or two (not all my hair is the same length) and no idea where to go, I looked into it once but forgot what I found. Also my hair doesn't seem very strong either. It is an idea though.

tinypliny writes at 06:08:56 02/12/10 - Comment #54873: With the length of my hair being what it is, anything less than going bald would hardly be fair to anyone including me. LOL

You have some fabulous locks! You should join me and donate to locks of love. Imagine how gorgeous women (who have lost their hair) will look with your golden highlights and deep/light chocolate hair! :-)

metalpeter writes at 06:05:15 02/12/10 - Comment #54872: Well I saw some guy on the news and he was a teacher and he didn't go all the way bald and that is true of the other person on the news also. But look into that. In Terms of Locks For Love, I've been thinking about that for some time. I think it would still make my hair kinda long not sure.

tinypliny writes at 05:05:50 02/12/10 - Comment #54869: @(e:carolinian): I am not very good at covering my head generally. I should really take your advice on this one and super-LOL at the NCP dome-showing at Goodbar. Haha Sounds very 80s biker-hair-metally for some reason.

@(e:Jason): Excellent point, but have you personally known a woman who has had a diagnosis of breast cancer in her 20s or 30s?

carolinian writes at 04:33:12 02/12/10 - Comment #54868: I recently took off all my hair as a New Years Resolution. My advice: buy lots of warm hats.

Perhaps we should have a "Nair Club For Peeps" night at Goodbar where all of us bald estrippers show off our domes.

jason writes at 03:38:15 02/12/10 - Comment #54867: IMO, raising money for research is more important than trying to feel a measure of the "blow to vanity". It's crazy and it's wonderful. Good for you. And I can't wait to see (e:Matthew) down to the wood.

tinypliny writes at 03:34:58 02/12/10 - Comment #54866: It's 03/10. And I cannot believe it but my generous little family away from home at Roswell just donated $100 for my little resolve and anti-vanity experiment! :::link:::

heidi writes at 12:59:50 02/12/10 - Comment #54865: ooops... your bday 3/13?

tinypliny writes at 12:16:23 02/12/10 - Comment #54864: I am having palpitations now and my palms have gobe sweaty. I just registered.

Who knew I was THIS vain! I am just finding out!

tinypliny writes at 11:59:18 02/12/10 - Comment #54863: Wow, thanks so much, (e:Matthew). Mine is 10 days before yours.

I think you have a long enough hair to donate to the locks of love! Is your hair at least 10" long?

I am registering by the end of today. Not sure whether to join "Trump's troops" or start a group of our own.

Anyone else in? :)

matthew writes at 10:52:55 02/12/10 - Comment #54862: I'll do it if you do it Tiny. My birthday is 3.18 and I've been thinking about chopping it for the exact same reasons.

tinypliny writes at 10:35:06 02/12/10 - Comment #54861: Thanks, Heidi!! :) (It's actually not for another month - but hey I will accept all good wishes any time!)

(e:Drew), maybe for a bloke, but quite honestly, I am finding out how nervous its making me!! I think its good to go through all these feelings, it makes me think I have been taking the patients too lightly. Its almost like a real-time psychological lesson.

drew writes at 10:11:32 02/12/10 - Comment #54860: Shaving your head is fun.

heidi writes at 10:06:50 02/12/10 - Comment #54859: Happy birthday, (e:tinypliny)!!! (Tomorrow, right?)

tinypliny writes at 01:20:24 02/12/10 - Comment #54857: That's incredibly sweet of you say. :-)

It's not really an attention-getting maneuver though. I am not even going to ask anyone to donate (though people may feel free to pitch in if they really want to). I am just viewing this as a fresh start to a new decade in my life. A sort of renewal of what I set out to do. It sounds kind of sad that I need a visual cue to start afresh but it just might shake me out of the rut I seem to have settled in.

Besides, my hair grows like the amazon - you have no idea. ;-)

enknot writes at 01:10:00 02/12/10 - Comment #54856: I really don't know how else to say this, but um please don't. I really really reeeeeealy like your hair. Aaaaand whos gonna pay attention to lil ole pliny when the CEO has no beard.