Bloggery Gone Awry

A more entertaining way to watch water boil

1 February 2010 | via elsewhere | no reply

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Shared by jg

LOL! That’s awesome. Do you think their timing algorithm is public?

Egg Watchers is a great concept. You just tell the system what size of egg you’re boiling, whether or not the egg is refrigerator-cold, and how well-done you want it. Then, you’re set up with a YouTube video that will end at approximately the same time your egg is done.

No more boring waiting around! For an 8 min. 30 sec. extra-large hard egg, I was treated to the delightful educational mockumentary above.

My only complaint: I’d love to see this concept expanded to a full-on YouTube-based cooking timer. I’ve got 15 minutes for this pasta to boil, how will the Internet entertain me?

Eggwatchers

(Thanks, Laura Browning!)

The Power Gap

1 February 2010 | via elsewhere | no reply

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The Power Gap by Airside for a new exhibition at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunder..(more…)

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.

27 January 2010 | books, food | no reply

My interpretation of this book boils down to: If you & your neighbours are accustom to buying inexpensive pants which someone, somewhere was paid $2.00 CAD per hour to produce, then expect to be paid $2.00 CAD per hour to produce pants.

There is a great chapter in this book on Cheap Eats & it’s well worth the read. Some quotes:

There was no shortage of rice in India and no shortage of food in the world during the “food crises” of 2008. Yet millions of Indians – as well as Africans and Asians – suddenly found themselves stranded on the edge of starvation.

What had changed was not rice but the rice trade. Historically, the Indian government had kept a firm grip on rice stores and maintained a policy of food self-sufficiency that discouraged exports. In the 1990s that policy was softened, and Indian rice was made available on the world market. Indiand farmers and traders auction their wares to the highest bidder, with the result that rice which had once sold domestically or was stockpiled by the government was sold abroad. Over time this practice increased price instability… (page 169)

[Psychologist Adam Drewnowski notes that] Americans respond almost viscerally to the concept of food “value.” Price, Drewnowski said, drives taste, because left to their own devices, Americans tend to choose what is cheap and therefore develop a taste for cheap foods. (page 182)

Mmmm… Teriyaki Shake & Bake(TM).