"Your response is required by law..." written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

03/16/10 09:53 - 37ºF - ID#51203

Your response is required by law...

This came in the mail today...

I am looking at this envelope with such weird emotions. It feels crazy that I am being counted as a part of the population here, in a completely foreign country.

I know it's not like I am getting electoral franchise or anything, but it seems like a momentous thing to be doing. In some small way, I am going to be part of this massive census - a detailed stock-taking of human resources in a country that is half-way across the planet from where I was born.

I reckon, it's a routine government-initiated statistical exercise to many, but to me, today, it's a source of wonder - in black and white.

tinypliny writes at 10:48:20 03/20/10 - Comment #55383: HAHAHAHAHA I have talked to a lot of people and I would say you have a pretty good life. LOL

drew writes at 03:43:14 03/17/10 - Comment #55338: Wow. I literally laughed so hard I cried.

jenks writes at 02:29:25 03/17/10 - Comment #55337: and this skit of christopher walken doing his census interview is classic. and hysterical. a must-see.
:::link:::

jenks writes at 02:27:13 03/17/10 - Comment #55336: I love that, despite the "REQUIRED BY LAW' being printed in bold right on the envelope, I saw about 5 of them in the recycling bin by the mailboxes in my building today. :/

james writes at 01:32:10 03/17/10 - Comment #55333: IN 2020 I plan on being a soldier fighting the spiders on Mars.

heidi writes at 01:21:37 03/17/10 - Comment #55332: In 1980, I was living with my parents and brother in Morris Run, PA.

In 1990, I was still living with my parents and brother but in Blossburg, PA.

In 2000, I was living with my gf Shelly and our friend Lisa in Laurel, MD. We got the long form and it was so confusing that I gave up filling out the form and someone had to come and ask us all the questions. We sat in the back yard with the census worker, offered her lemonade, and threw frisbee for the dog while answering questions.

In 2010, I'm living alone in Buffalo. Thankfully I got the short form.

Wonder where I'll be in 2020??

tinypliny writes at 12:15:32 03/17/10 - Comment #55328: Ooooh "For other reason": yeah, I was hatching a plan to take over this planet.

tinypliny writes at 12:12:10 03/17/10 - Comment #55327: Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else?
Does spending a night at the office count?

They just want you to be spending your time at college housing or in the military or in jail either fighting for child custody or maybe in a nursing home as a seasonal residence - yes, they know, you get sick every other season and persuade yourself that you are going to die.

I'd say that is ONE sneaky question.

What happens to kids who are born in the night between Mar 31 and April 1, I can't imagine the stress their parents are going through now - totally agonizing whether to ignore their baby or fill it in as a Person 3 - clearly showing how little they care about it.

tinypliny writes at 12:03:21 03/17/10 - Comment #55326: LOL - I am filling it out finally after hours of staring at it and I can't believe this. They let you fill your own race in. I am so tempted to say I am from Gallifrey.

And apparently, all the countries in Asia are now separate races but Europe doesn't get a country-by-country break up. Hee Hee.

zobar writes at 11:31:37 03/16/10 - Comment #55325: You're one of us now. <-:

Last time around I felt annoyed that I was being cens'd in Rochester. It was totally accurate - the student population there is huge but stable - but I felt I should have been representing my peeps instead.

- Z

Permalink: Your_response_is_required_by_law_.html
Words: 119
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: eating in

03/14/10 01:57 - 38ºF - ID#51186

According to Wordle...

I am a tea fanatic.

And I don't even write about it so much. How did they know?!

Caught (e:ladycroft)'s wordle - (e:ladycroft,50987) and I think it did a pretty good job there. :-)

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

Category: art

03/14/10 11:19 - 35ºF - ID#51185

Spunk, reloaded.

Via

't-you-tell

Permalink: Spunk_reloaded_.html
Words: 8
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: art

03/13/10 07:01 - 38ºF - ID#51177

Marvel.ous.

Permalink: Marvel_ous_.html
Words: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: eating in

03/07/10 08:29 - 32ºF - ID#51129

Super-Godmum No Knead Bread

I made bread today for the first time in my life. And it is probably the best bread I have ever had. I can't believe this - it is seriously blowing my mind.

The recipe is extremely simple and it's shocking just how wonderful it tastes with butter.

And of course, no recipe is worth following so I went ahead and completely messed it up with abandon.

I don't have any measuring cups or implements or scales. Worse, I don't really have a concept of what a cup is, so I did a very rough volumetric-ratio-eyeballing (which actually means, I just dumped in whatever seemed okay). (e:heidi), you can sigh now. ;-)

That's not all. I didn't let it rise for 20 hours because I was impatient, threw in an obscene amount of walnuts and dates, and then added a whole chopped jalapeno because I didn't want it to be sweet. Then I thought, what the heck, why not be crazier and added a whole fistful of flaxseed and a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil just because it happened to be near the flaxseed.

Even with this terrible approach to baking, I got splendid results. And of course, I went the extra health freak mile and used 100% high-fibre hard winter spelt flour and no bread flour. I have heard of recipes being described as "forgiving" but this one HAS TO BE the SUPER-GIGANTOID-GODMUM of ALL the forgiving recipes in the history of cooking on this planet.

Go ahead, mess it up. You will get edible results. :)

tinypliny writes at 01:47:05 03/09/10 - Comment #55210: @ (e:jason): The pan I cooked it in is around 8" in diameter so yours should be just fine. You would need at least a 4" depth including the space in the lid to let it rise. In fact, you could put it in a narrower pan and get away with it.

According to breadtopia, the three crucial steps are just coating the pan with oil, heating it to 450 along with the oven before putting in the dough and covering it with a heavy lid while baking the bread - this is so that the steam doesn't escape. You get a supple and nicely browned crispy crust instead of a dry cracked nightmare.

And yeah, serranos are like one of those parades you keep anticipating and that turns out to be such a major let down because the participants were all wearing sweaters instead of being topless.

jason writes at 08:44:55 03/08/10 - Comment #55207: Shit, Tiny, I'm sorry, I didn't read the comments before commenting. But how large was your fry pan? I literally just this weekend bought new stainless steel cookware, but the biggest fry pan I have is 10 inches. Will that work

jason writes at 08:43:20 03/08/10 - Comment #55206: Tiny, what kind of vessel did you cook your bread in? Also, I bought some serranos recently, all excited to get some spiciness into my food, and they were freaking duds. I was so disappointed after making my salsa verde. God damn.

tinypliny writes at 07:59:58 03/08/10 - Comment #55205: That jalapeÃ±o was a good decision, every time a date comes along, jalapeÃ±o launches soul-stirring whiplash attack on your taste buds. hehe

tinypliny writes at 07:56:00 03/08/10 - Comment #55204: @ (e:jenks) - Um. I'll get my coat.

Godmum = contracted slang for a very plebeian fairy god mother, possibly with wings clipped off and who totally looks like that cook in Alice in Wonderland who tries to throw the piglet baby into the cauldron - > :::link:::

@(e:theecarey) and (e:jacob) - why, thank you! I would say I am blushing to the roots of my hair, but that is really not possible when you have about 1 cm of it. I could lie though - always the alluring possibility.

The pan apparently makes a difference. I used a stainless steel fry pan with stainless steel handles - because no plastic/ebonite is oven-safe at 450F for 45 minutes. You would also need a heavy lid for this pan (again, without plastic/ebonite). I used another heavier fry-pan and inverted it over the fry pan with the dough in it. I gave the base fry pan a generous coating of olive oil before plopping it into the oven and heating it well enough so that dough wouldn't stick to the pan.

The dough is super-sticky and wet - and was not remotely taking any sort of shape, but I found out that the wetter it is the bigger holes you get in the baked bread. Plus I ran out of dough so I didn't really do the floured-surface folding step. I just gave it a nice whirl with a spatula after it had risen for around 6-7 hours, allowed it to rise for 2 hours more and plopped it all in the oven.

Baked it with the fry pan cover for 45 minutes.

(e:jacob) - I was really intimidated - but turns out this "recipe" just does not go wrong whatever you do. You NEED to see this at breadtopia and read the ~900 comments of people who have done crazy things and still come out with awesome breads! :::link:::

jacob writes at 04:34:55 03/08/10 - Comment #55196: That looks amazing. You have to be some sort of ethnic Julia Childs, a cuisine prodigy. Fav part: "and then added a whole chopped jalapeno because I didn't want it to be sweet"! I am definately going to have to try it out. I admit, bread intimidates me. I guess I just have to dig a bit to bring out my "indian" brave in the kitchen.

theecarey writes at 12:20:57 03/08/10 - Comment #55193: I love your style, Tiny!!
This looks delicious! I use recipes as extremely loose guidelines with varying end results. Fortunately most dishes turn out, some end up more blah, but the creative process was the best part. I was just thinking about concocting some super healthy and tasty bread/pancake/muffin creation. It looks like this "recipe" may be the foundation to get me there. Your creation looks so good! What sort of pan did you cook that in? It looks like a fry pan shape.I'm really not sure what kitchen supplies are called either and "eyeballing" measurements is a regular thing.

jenks writes at 11:04:31 03/08/10 - Comment #55189: godmum?

mrmike writes at 10:08:11 03/07/10 - Comment #55183: free spirited cooking, I love it. That is soul food

Permalink: Super_Godmum_No_Knead_Bread.html
Words: 270
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: grocery

03/07/10 11:58 - 32ºF - ID#51123

Pricerite, I love you.

Pricerite now has Blue Diamond Almond milk (Original, Unsweetened and Vanilla) at $1.99/0.5 Gallon.

I am swimming in a Sunday bliss induced by mango tea in almond milk, reading several engrossing articles on mitochondrial mysteries and writing my IRB protocol while broad beams of sunlight from my flat windows caress my bald head. And that is a run-on sentence with very poor form that I am trying to avoid in my technical writing.

Ah. Perfection. (Or will be perfection, if I finish this IRB protocol and a good part of my background and specific aims for the analysis I want to carry out.)

But, Pricerite, I do love you. And that justifies the terrible grammar and deplorable lack of structure in this entry.

tinypliny writes at 07:30:05 03/08/10 - Comment #55199: EDR = Existing Data Review.

Sorry about the jargon. (Kind of scary how glib I have become in IRB jargon now that I am doing so many of these protocols).

Ah! I see about the budget. Are you "the clinician" on some of the other grants where people have put in your % effort? Do you at least get protected time for this?

jenks writes at 11:14:21 03/08/10 - Comment #55192: and the budget bit was explained to me. It's an 'in kind' budget- apparently the university is trying to quantify how much 'good' they do for the 'public' which includes research. So I have to claim what % of my time (and thus paycheck) I spend on my research.

jenks writes at 11:08:20 03/08/10 - Comment #55191: EDR?

tinypliny writes at 10:16:01 03/07/10 - Comment #55185: Budget proposal for an EDR with a consent-waiver?!! *That* IS absolute BONKERS - even by the worst IRB case-scenario! Did your hospital get bruised by some ethics violations or grant fraud at some point in the distant past by some random fellow/faculty who is not in Canada?! I can only think of that as a plausible reason for such massive red-tape.

jenks writes at 09:31:17 03/07/10 - Comment #55179: yeah, I applied for a waiver of consent, and should get an expedited review. But they keep bouncing it back b/c I don't think my research proposal needs to be like a massive NIH grant proposal, but they want more.. This is a descriptive, pilot, nothing study. No statistics beyond "x percent of people with carpal tunnel syndrome also have tennis elbow". And STILL- this has taken months and isn't done yet. the latest is they want a budget proposal- even though it's an unfunded, zero-budget project. It totally discourages me from wanting to ever do research.

tinypliny writes at 07:07:57 03/07/10 - Comment #55176: OH MAN. Retrospective chart review involves human subjects and the whole HIPAA battalion. I submitted mine in January and have not heard back from the clinical research services yet.

If there are no patient-identifiers in your analysis you could potentially write-up a non-human subject research protocol. RPCI's non-human protocols are approved very efficiently. I have my non-human subject research protocol approval but CRS is totally dragging its feet on my existing data review portion.

jenks writes at 06:20:14 03/07/10 - Comment #55173: ugh, wanna write my IRB protocol? All am I doing is a tiny little retrospective chart review, but they keep wanting more and more from me. It is totally discouraging me from ever doing research.

tinypliny writes at 04:39:26 03/07/10 - Comment #55164: Because journals are MEANT to be run-on and on. 8^)

Because I am way more impressively creepy in person. hahahaha

heidi writes at 04:00:34 03/07/10 - Comment #55163: I'm surprised you don't comment on the ridiculous run-on sentences in my posts :-)

And why haven't we seen pictures of your adorable bald head?

Permalink: Pricerite_I_love_you_.html
Words: 122
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: simple pliny

03/03/10 08:15 - 33ºF - ID#51103

Totally Bald.

I went bald today and it is a liberating feeling. I can feel little streams of air wafting across my head. A young lymphoma patient snipped my curls off. She is still on a regimen of five different kinds of chemotherapy. A cancer survivor told me about the time when she lost her hair - all of it, including the hair from her nostrils. She said she felt as if she were breathing the world in every time she inhaled.

I am more convinced than ever that we need to keep going, work harder and think out of the box in our battle against this wretched disease. We don't have any time or space for cynicism. My department's reaction amazes me. All of them, without an exception, went out of their way to make my bald nutty head feel appreciated and warm. They are a unique family.

I ran into the charming (e:enknot) in the cafeteria when I went searching for (e:libertad). Tony, who on earth is Andrew Reed and how do you know him? More importantly, what is he doing on the tables of our cafeteria? He is not even a first-page hit on Google Images:

He is clearly not one of these:

Or is he? Do you have a deep dark obsession with the British church, state, police and sport, that no one had an inkling about... till right this moment!??

(e:libertad), I am now so curious about your office! I am going to gatecrash someday. You work in a mysterious building that is just marked by a direction - not even a name! And no guests are allowed?! Why, my office is always crawling with guests and other random people!

metalpeter writes at 08:53:45 03/04/10 - Comment #55143: I want to see it. If I ever really wind up doing locks for Love, who knows I know I would want the pictures posted.

heidi writes at 11:04:41 03/03/10 - Comment #55133: Yes, please post the picture!! Congrats, (e:tinypliny)!!

paul writes at 10:59:46 03/03/10 - Comment #55132: where is the picture!

libertad writes at 09:09:11 03/03/10 - Comment #55130: Wow, it never occurred to me how many of those in the morgue were smokers. I hope their spirits encourage us to give great support!

tinypliny writes at 08:58:46 03/03/10 - Comment #55128: Hmm.. so the quitline is "above the morgue". You can persuade ANYone to quit!

libertad writes at 08:45:58 03/03/10 - Comment #55125: I should say I have (e:enknot)'s pic of tiny being bald. I will send upon request. She is cute bald!

tinypliny writes at 08:40:44 03/03/10 - Comment #55124: I made them take it to the bone - but I still have a slight fuzz left. The hairdresser was using electric clippers and they can't really go as far as a conventional blade.

Hehe, I didn't have THE peterazzi around! ;-)

libertad writes at 08:40:34 03/03/10 - Comment #55123: I have a pic of (e:tinypliny) bald if anyone wants it...

libertad writes at 08:39:50 03/03/10 - Comment #55122: The answer (e:tinypliny) is that our office is oppressive. We are chained to our desks and are starved of sunlight.

I can arrange to have you come take a peak while I'm on lunch tomorrow. We are directly above the morgue so if you can get to the morgue we are just one story up which is better than 6ft under? I guess you will have to wait and see...

metalpeter writes at 08:34:10 03/03/10 - Comment #55121: Did they cut very low or do you look like Cojack Or stone Cold Steve austin or best example is (e:vincent)? My other question is why no Picture?

Permalink: Totally_Bald_.html
Words: 336
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/20/12 02:20

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.