the best thing i read today

Today’s best thing comes in two sweet parts, as both links are ice-cream related.

Ice cream is my favorite food in the entire universe, so I love the idea that with this handy gadget, the ice cream ball, I could theoretically make as much as I wanted without polluting (aside from the environmental costs of transporting the ingredients to make ice cream).

The ingenious Ice Cream Ball is the fun and easy way to make yummy homemade ice cream. Why? Because the ice cream is formed by rolling the ball around. Simply bung your ice cream ingredients in one end, cram ice and rock salt in the other and then play with the ball. [the British say "bung." Heh.]

After about 20 minutes you’ll have a pint of delicious homemade ice cream. No van required!

The one thing they keep warning you is that you can’t kick the ball around, so I’m guessing people were doing that a lot. I think that’s understandable, though; kicking it like a soccer ball seems to me a mighty tempting option for this kind of gadget, though that’s probably not the most sanitary way to go, come to think of it.

But if sanitation isn’t the issue, they might consider taking the product one step further and making the ball slightly bigger, leaving enough room for a hamster to do the tiring work of moving the ball around to freeze up the ice cream inside the (super-isolated-from-the-germies) cylinder.

The other ice-cream-related reading is this account of one geek’s attempt to combine two post-alcohol-binge antidotes, Pepto-Bismol and ice cream.

His approach was somewhat cautious: he first emails Proctor and Gamble to ask them what they thought as far as the feasibility of this. They, of course, reply that P-B should only be ingested as a medicine to cure upset stomach, or as the blogger understands it, “No information.”

The end result is surprisingly not that disgusting-looking, and may possibly even be somewhat effective:

The taste? Actually, it’s quite nice. The vanilla and sugar temper the metallic bitterness of the medicine, giving the end result a flavour not too dissimilar to black cherry. And as a hangover cure? Initial studies are encouraging, with no negative side-effects experienced as yet. A mild mid-week drinking session provided the first test, and while my cross-breed concoction certainly didn’t eliminate the suffering altogether, the benefits did not go unnoticed.

Since he’s been in contact with P&G, who knows, maybe we’ll see this one day in the freezer, next to Chunky Monkey. I don’t really like Pepto-Bismol, so I would probably stick to Mr. Garcia’s cherry-flavored concoction anyway, but I nevertheless enjoyed reading about this strange attempt at hangover alchemy.

Filed under: best thing, food, fun

the best thing i read today

Last night I read this great NY Times article, Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock.

It’s an encouraging piece that puts the spotlight on something that’s becoming more and more of a problem (not that it isn’t HUGE already), which is the hijacking of Christ’s good name by an evil, rotten, and rather creepy bunch of Republicans. At least one pastor, Rev. Gregory A. Boyd of Woodland Hills church in St. Paul, Minnesota, is trying to undo this wrong.

“America wasn’t founded as a theocracy,” he said. “America was founded by people trying to escape theocracies. Never in history have we had a Christian theocracy where it wasn’t bloody and barbaric. That’s why our Constitution wisely put in a separation of church and state.”

He lost a thousand members, 20% of his congregation, mostly “white, middle-class suburbanites,” but gained more diverse members, and gave voice to many who’d felt compelled to remain silent for too long.

“Most of my friends are believers,” said Shannon Staiger, a psychotherapist and church member, “and they think if you’re a believer, you’ll vote for Bush. And it’s scary to go against that.”

I’ve never thought it was scary to go against that idea, just awesomely frustrating, because a lot of people can’t seem to entertain the idea that any honest Christian might not agree with some of the things traditional Republicans value. Then again, I find the idea that there’s any sort of common ground between Repug “values” and Christian values rather mind-blowing, though I guess if you forget how to use your brain, I can sort of see how you might be tricked.

As the good pastor notes:

“I am sorry to tell you,” he continued, “that America is not the light of the world and the hope of the world. The light of the world and the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.”

In other words, enough with the conflating of nationalism with religion! Aside from the fact that we’re already uncomfortably close to full-on fascism, it’s like, totally un-American! I wish more people would listen to people like him, though if things keep going the way they are, the whole question might be moot.

“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world.”

Filed under: best thing

nothing today either (or yesterday)

Yeah, so i forgot to write anything up last night. i was busy with the Rails app.

My Vegas cousins are coming over again (they gave us exactly, oh…..7 hours’ notice) and they’re here for a week, more or less. So I’m guessing I won’t have much to write up at all this week.

The weather’s become muggy and hot again – the day before yesterday was, I guess, nothing but an all-too brief respite from this ugly heat. I want my old California climate back!

Filed under: Uncategorized

the best thing I read today

Today the weather was much, much cooler than it has been lately, with salty ocean breezes (that’s seriously what it felt like!) blowing through our big windows that face southward. I pretty much lay underneath those windows all day, courting pneumonia and reading “Never Let Me Go” (the Ishiguro book I mentioned last night). So no, I didn’t do very much web surfing today, either, and really have nothing to report in that department.

(This is why I can never be a real blogger; creating content, no matter how derivative, is tough!)

But I did get this month’s Gourmet today, and it came with a special detached supplement packed with articles written by various lesser-known celebrities, foodie and non-, like David Rakoff and Calvin Trillin. Highly enjoyable! Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be up on the magazine’s website (for shame!), so I can’t link to it. But I guess that would have to qualify for the most awesome thing I read today. I’m sure you can find it in the library.

Filed under: best thing

nothing to report today

I went to the library to use their air conditioner. Worked on the Rails app (HUGE renovations), and borrowed books, actual BOOKS!

I did do some websurfing, of course, but I’m currently nose-deep in “The Undomestic Goddess,” which finally found its way back to the bookshelf (and Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest too! On the same day! I consider that lucky). And I have to catch the daily show in about four minutes. Haven’t time to think about what I’ve read today, and nothing particularly awesome comes to mind.

Three complaints:
1) Why is WordPress so slow all of a sudden?
2) Why is it so freaking hot!? And not even hot in the usual, so-cal desert way, but in the muggy, but-we’re-not-in-Asia-so-WHY? kind of way. GRRRRR!
3) I didn’t get either of the two scholarships I tried for (could only have gotten one, max, anyway, but so then, why not one, at least?) It was a long shot to begin with, but I’m really aching for that $4000.

Filed under: Uncategorized

the best thing i read today

… was “Do the Right Thing,” a feature in today’s LA Times West Magazine about Ben Goldhirsh, a 26-year old philanthropist who’s been pretty busy these days, running a production company that wants to make “films that matter“, preparing to launch Good Magazine, and putting his fingers in lots of media pies – all of it to try to change the world.

This piece sometimes seems a little awestruck by Goldhirsh, but he is undeniably an interesting study: his dad started Sail Magazine, sold it for millions, and then started Inc Magazine, which sold for hundreds of millions. But:

“My dad was frustrated, seeing me grow up in a privileged environment,” Ben says. Worse, he felt guilty for creating it. So he did what he could. “I never had any money,” Ben laughs. When he left for boarding school and college, his father made sure he stayed broke.

Then,

When [Bernard] grew too ill to run Inc., he invited Ben, then 20, to take over the business. Ben remembers his answer: “How do you feel about someone inheriting a magazine about entrepreneurship?”

Ultimately, they started a trust from which Ben could take out money — but only to make investments or start new companies that a board made of his father’s friends and advisors approved of.

“For a long time I thought I’d go into politics,” he says now. “But who really has more influence: a congressman or Rupert Murdoch?” As much as anything, it is a comment on his generation—ambivalent about Democrats and Republicans, but likely to volunteer, buy socially responsible goods and be steeped in media. Bristol came to Hollywood with similar ambitions. Al too: “I didn’t want to work in government,” Al says, “but I wanted to effect change. The cultural arena provides just as good an opportunity.” Ben, though, had the cash to act on that impulse. “There’s an emerging culture of giving a damn among young people,” he says. “We just want to offer a platform for that.”

So it may just be another (bunch of) startup(s), sure, but with a nice, big twist. It’ll be interesting to see where this leads.

(If you subscribe to Good Magazine for $20, the whole fee goes to a charity of your choice.)

Filed under: best thing

the best thing i read today

Well, I didn’t actually *read* this, so much as stared in glee, and laughed and laughed.

At pictures of world leaders when they were young.

I think my favorites are Blair and Putin. Look at Vladimir Putin! His expression doesn’t seem to change at all through the decades; even as a teenager, even when he’s freaking showing off his newborn daughter, he still looks like the scariest man ever. Those eyes! Like cold, uncaring….fish. Or something deadly. He looks like someone who would easily kill you in your sleep if he deemed it necessary, and have absolutely no compunction about it. And like, the only reason he hasn’t done anything truly evil yet is because people are too scared of him to really make him mad.

Scary!

Filed under: best thing

the best thing i read today

Without a doubt, this NY Times article about Italian food in Genoa was the best thing I read today.

Though Genoa is not the largest city in Northern Italy (both Milan and Turin are bigger), it is the country’s most important port and features, in the città vecchia (old city), what is among the most sprawling, best preserved and most active medieval quarters in Europe. Here you find the typically narrow lanes that can barely accommodate anything wider than a scooter; at least three world-class churches; and, at the border with the “new” city, a street of spectacular palazzi. These days, the area includes dozens (I’m tempted to write “countless,” but indeed the list is finite) of restaurants that leave me walking around muttering, “If there were only one of these in my neighborhood, I’d be happy.”

Genoa also has a population that cares deeply about food, in a way that is ordinarily reserved for towns and villages. The artichokes from nearby Albenga are practically worshiped; anchovies are considered daily fare (you may eat more of them in a day here than you do in a year at home); pine nuts, olives, local seafood and herbs (especially basil, of course) are all ubiquitous, and the continuing dedication to the old ways is evident on nearly every street, in the bakeries that make farinata (the chickpea flatbread akin to Nice’s socca), vegetable tortas and focaccia, in the vegetable markets the size of closets and in the shop that sells tripe and nothing but.

It makes me wish I’d heard of Genoa so I could’ve gone and visited it when I was closer to Italy.

Filed under: best thing

Our cars are too important to leave behind.

I applaud the mayor’s proposal to offer a week of free public transit for Angelenos: it’s a good experiment to undertake, I think.

The only problem I foresee is that it might not actually go far enough. They might have to up the ante and try *paying* people not to use their cars in this sprawled-out city of ours, and even then it’s iffy. Public transport is pretty difficult to use in Los Angeles because there aren’t very many lines to take to get around, and when almost nothing is within easy walking distance of these sparsely-distributed metro stations. Then there’s the itty-bitty problem of getting suburbanites into the city via public transit – how??

Filed under: Uncategorized

the best thing i read today

I think I’m gonna try to record the best thing I read each day, at the end of the day. Because it’s a good way to document how I’ve been spending a significant portion of my time. I know I’m going to regret all this websurfing later, like the grasshopper that sang all summer, but maybe I can try to rationalize at least some of it away as quality time.

Anyway.

Unfortunately, the best thing I read today was an advert for the UCLA computer store, where I can get a 15″ MacBook Pro for a giant discount (more than the usual educational rate). As in, I can actually consider getting a silvery Mac notebook rather than a white one. I’ll probably end up holding off until next year anyway, but wow. That’s a nice discount.

And since people can’t see the ad unless they’re currently Bruins, today I’ll post something I read a few days ago that made me laugh out loud for, like, minutes, at least.

It was a comment in a Metafilter post about Bush’s “liebes-attacke auf Angela Merkel,” i.e., the unsolicited neck-rub he gave the German chancellor:

“Buster Bluth is running my country. Fantastic.”

Filed under: best thing, fun