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Do you cook and eat at home (or someone's home) for Thanksgiving or go out to eat in a resturant?
Last year my in-laws decided for various reasons that the traditional Turkey Day dinner was going to be done at a resturant for that year only. To my dismay this is now the plan going forward inspite of me saying I would take everything over to keep it in a house setting. Where do you all have your meal (if at all) on Thanksgiving?
21 Answers answer
I have always cooked at home. usually I have a house full of friends (my family is about 650 miles away). But this year it is just me and my best friend, and we are talking about going to a restaurant. We haven't seen any really good discounts on turkeys this year, so it would probably cost us about $50 to make the meal, and then we'd be stuck with sinks full of dirty dishes and a huge amount of leftovers. So we are talking about going out to a restaurant for the meal, and then relaxing at home with coffee and desserts. We haven't decided yet, as we are looking for someplace nice. There are a couple of buffets we can rely on to have good traditional holiday food, but the ambiance is lacking. So we are keeping an eye out for any of the nicer restaurants that might be catering to the holiday diners. We may compromise and buy a prepared turkey meal from one of the groceries. But he doesn't like breast meat, and dinners with whole turkeys are expensive, plus too many leftovers.
I cook at eat at home. I can say from experience that it really sucks for people who have to work on Thanksgiving. The cooks and servers often don't want to be there. It's their bosses (who almost always take the holiday off, the jerks) who force them to work.
I eat at my dad's girlfriends, and have for the past 15 or so years. Before that, we'd always have the whole family over to our house. Some years, with going to my dads, I've also gone to my cousins house, and then sometimes another cousins house as well!
My mom tends to make Thanksgiving dinner for us and maybe a friend or two on Saturday, but this year it may be Wednesday.
This year, it's just my moms and my dads dinners at least, I didn't mind going multiple places for Thanksgiving until everyone expected me to eat! I'd eat myself sick 95% of the time!
Dinner is at the in-laws, before that it was at mom's. I cook a lil somethin' for both. While I understand people wanting to share a meal and not the massive cleanup duties, I believe people in food-service should get a day off too.
@thumperchick: I am cognizant of that argument. But I also take into account that for a lot of people in food service, a day off is a day without pay. Many local business only let their employees have 25 hours a week, which means no paid holidays, sick leave or vacation. I remember when I was working as a temp and was in the same boat. I actually implored my boss to let me work on the holidays so I could make my rent in December and January. So I don't feel bad patronizing businesses because I know for many of the workers the business being open on holidays means they can do more for their families and actually enjoy their own holidays without worrying about losing half a week's pay.
Hm, I just got am email from a golf club for their Thanksgiving lunch. It includes turkey, ham, turducken and all the expected sides. It's pricey ($26) but we may have found our place.
Last year a group of us ended up being in the entirely too exhausted/busy/etc. to shop and cook camp, so we went out. Not really my preference, but at the time it made perfect sense for everybody. And a few of us went to the movies afterward.
I like the home cooking element. It's not often I get a whole day to cook and laze about, so I take advantage of that when I can.
We either cook at home or travel to someone else's to eat...normally they come to us.
We've done the out to eat thing - only problem is no leftovers...I love leftover turkey.
@mtm2: Yeah, there is something magical about holiday leftovers.
@moondrake: Turducken! Yes, that is your place.
We host Thanksgiving at our house now, after many years of my parents having it. We're not a terribly large family, so it is not a huge undertaking. I wouldn't have it any other way.
One year I was on vacation with friends over the Thanksgiving holiday, so we had our meal at a restaurant. I felt like I really missed out that year. Yes, I missed the foods that we always have, but mostly I missed spending the day with the family. It's a long day of togetherness (which I get, maybe some families don't want) -- cooking, cleaning, watching football, playing games, etc. That's the stuff that you'll miss out on when meeting at a restaurant.
as an extra note to my question, I do have the turkey in the freezer and will pick up all the rest of the fixin's and do my own big Thanksgivign Dinner at home later that weekend
We've cooked at my house for about 8 or 9 years now. Before that, we'd go to some other family member's house. Never been to a restaurant for Thanksgiving.
I've done Thanksgiving with families (both my own and other people's) and in restaurants over the years. I greatly prefer being in someone's home. For the past five years or so I've done Thanksgiving with some friends, their family and sometimes other people they have invited. I started doing that because it didn't make sense to travel to be with my family for various reasons. And, now, it's just come to make a lot more sense to spend more time with my family over Christmas and not travel when the rest of the country seems to be trying to fly somewhere. So I bring pies and grumble a bit when I get stuck at the adult table rather than with the "kids" (some of whom have their own kids now) and the nephews ask if I'm going to be there, partly because they want to see me and partly (mostly?) because I bring pies. And it's a lot of fun. I do miss being with my family some, but we talk on the phone and I try to visit earlier in the fall and it all works out fairly well.
@inkycatz: I took advantage last year of having to do nothing other than show up at a certain time to take the family to a movie before Thanksgiving Dinner, still would have rather had a home cooked meal and it is a point I have learned to not bring up in front of Mrs Natedogg828 anymore
@natedogg828: That's a good plan (the later Thanksgiving dinner at home). We've done that before, too. I am always grateful when we go to my inlaws and they cook dinner, but lord, the things those people do to poor innocent sweet potatoes. Sometimes it's nice to get your own version later.
This year we're at home and the inlaws are coming. I have a 5K in the morning, so I'm going to try to get most of the prep work done the night before.
@natedogg828: It only takes once... :)
@inkycatz: my problem is I brought it up twice, you would think after 15 years of marriage I would know better
I have about 30 -35 people every year. Two turkeys, 20lbs mashed potatos, 10 lbs. sweet potato, corn, corn bread, salad and pies. I make all bu the pies and love every minute of it.
Home (someone else's, thankfully). I've never been to a restaurant on Thanksgiving Day.
Eat at home or my parent's house.
Cooked at Home. Always. I have never not cooked a holiday meal. 40+ years. We have had the traditional meal postponed a time or two for loved ones to get out of the hospital, but we still do it.
I've done both. While almost always I stay home (or somebody else's) a few times I've gone to a nice resturant. One time in particular in NC was very nice. This year I'm splitting the difference: I'm alone so I'll get a partially cooked dinner from Whole Foods, and finish it myself. Some years I did the whole thing myself, but that was when I had 3 dogs. They appreciated all the food.


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Age: 1.5 months.
The newborn can't be seated on her back for sure.
Is there any special kind of vessel available for seating and bathing newborns?
How do you bathe a newborn in a stressfree way when you don't have anyone to help you?
Age: 1.5 months.
Is there any special kind of vessel available for seating and bathing newborns?
This is what we did - it was very straightforward with a little planning and preparation:
Then lift her out and place her on the towel, and wrap it round her. Towels with a hood are quite a good way to wrap your baby so she warms up quickly.
Dress her, and when she is wrapped up, place her back on the towel on the floor while you drain the bath and pop used cotton buds etc in the bin.
Why can't the newborn be seated on her back? That is the safe position for them to sleep. My five week old daughter has always been fussy and even with two people, she HATES bath time, so I can't offer tips for it being stress free. However, we sponge bath her with a wash cloth rotating her half way to clean her back, and its certainly safe.
Consult your pediatrician of course, but one thing we do is fold her ears over to prevent water from dripping in them when washing her hair.
Infants cry and get distressed a lot. My daughter screams bloody murder when you change her onsie. She quickly gets over it though. If she doesn't like bathing, you have to accept that, and focus on keeping it safe and minimizing distress.

subset: commoncrawl


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| Romanow, Stephany, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff, Houston, TX
The Gate megaproject is one of Europe's largest LNG terminals. With two jetties, it can unload simultaneously two vessels of the Q-Max type, the world's biggest LNG carriers.
[project management]
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification plant Gate
terminal, located in Maasvlakte (Rotterdam) has been named
project of the year by the European Construction
Institute (ECI) and is featured as the cover of
HPs August issue. The award was announced by the
Institute during the 23rd Annual ECI conference in
Düsseldorf, Germany. ECI is Europes only
transnational learning and improvement network covering the
entire project cycle for engineering construction.
The Gate terminal megaproject is one of the largest LNG
terminals in Europe, with an initial throughput
capacity of 12 billion m3/yr and three
180,000-m3 storage tanks. The terminal has two
jetties and is able to unload simultaneously two vessels of the
Q-Max type (the worlds largest LNG carriers). The
high-scale Gate terminal is able to fulfill the natural gas
needs for The Netherlands and part of Europe. Total project cost is estimated at 800
million euros.
This project is a success story. TS LNGa joint venture
of Techint-SENER and TSEV (Techint-SENER-Entrepose-Vinci), the
main contractor of the plantdelivered the facility to the
client on September 1, 2011, as planned, complying successfully
with the EPC contract. The project began in June 2008; special
attention was consistently applied to safety, protecting the environment, operational
availability and versatility. This plant is environmentally friendly, and it was
designed for the unthinkable. For example, it has a
safe shutdown earthquake element with a return period of 5,000
years. The Gate terminal was designed to manage rising sea
levels linked to global warming and to comply with the latest
safety and security standards, such as SEVESO, HAZOP, HAZID,
ISPS, SVA, etc.
Along with the plants design, onsite safety was a high
priority for the main contractors and the TSEV consortium. More
importantly, the construction phase was completed
with one of the highest levels of safety ever recorded for
works implemented in Rotterdams Europort (boasting more
than 2.5 million work hours without accidents).
The TS LNG joint venture was in charge of managing the
engineering, procurement, construction and start-up of the LNG
plant. Techint E&C was the leader for the building
consortium TSEV, and the company was also assigned the entire
project and site management, together with the supervision of
construction works. SENER participated in project management,
procurement and construction works. Also, SENER was
responsible for managing the plants implementation,
commissioning and start-up, as well as for the engineering
activities. In addition, the Gate terminal was also named
LNG Project of the Year in January
2012 by the European Gas Conference Awards.
Fig. 1. Aerial view of Gate
terminal at
Fig. 2. Workers finish
insulating pipework at
the Gate terminal LNG facility.
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A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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Let It BeSat, April 27, 2013 - 7:30 PMSavoy Theatre London in London, UK
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The University of Saint Mary softball team put together a two-game winning streak Thursday.
Playing at Haskell Indian Nations University, the Lady Spires took down its hosts 14-4 and then 10-5.
The victories push USM's overall mark to 7-15, 3-5 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The team hosts McPherson at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Location, ST | website.com


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As the cost of living continues to go up, so do expenses for everyone.
For Western Kentucky University, it's a $6.4 million fixed cost increase.
"A five-percent tuition increase will allow us to cover our fixed cost increases and that's it. Anything less than a five-percent increase given those fixed cost increases would mean a budget reduction," says WKU President, Gary Ransdell says.
WKU's $400 million budget allows them to pay for 2,300 employees and 21,000 students.
"We are about as efficient as you can get as a university. Any further reduction in our budget is going to result in the loss of jobs and personnel, and we are trying to avoid that," Ransdell says.
While Western Kentucky University is a state-funded school, Ransdell says most of their budget comes from tuition.
"We have completely shifted the financial dynamic over the last dozen years, shifting from state having most of the responsibility to now, students having most of the responsibilities. That's the reality that we face with the decline in state support," he says.
Ransdell says 60% of the WKU budget comes from tuition, while only 18% of the budget is state funding.
"I already pay double what the in-state is and on top of that, I'm going to have to pay more, and it's hard coming from California to pay that much to go to school in Kentucky," WKU student, Amy Lynne Hicks says.
In-state students will be paying an additional $400 on the year, and that will be even more for out-of-state students.
"Western is definitely a reasonable school for what i am getting. It sucks that tuition is going up, but I love Western and I'll stick with it," Hicks says.
For some WKU students, a college education is worth it.
The WKU Board of Regents will meet April 26th to set the budget for the next school year.
If the five-percent tuition increase is approved, it will go into effect on July 1st.
WKU is the third most expensive state-funded university in Kentucky, behind University of Kentucky and University of Louisvile.
At the same time, WKU is the third largest university, and the second largest undergraduate program in Kentucky.


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I've asked the following question on math.stackexchange but there has been no response so I'll ask it again here:
A positive definite function $\varphi: G \rightarrow \mathbb{C}$ on a group $G$ is a function that arises as a "diagonal" coefficient of a unitary representation of $G$.
For a definition and discussion of positive definite function see here.
I've often wished I had a collection of diverse examples of positive definite functions on groups, for the purpose of testing various conjectures. I hope the diverse experience of the participants of this forum can help me collect a list of such examples.
To clarify what I'd like to see:
What is an example of a positive definite function on a group $G$ that is not easily seen to be a coefficient of a unitary representation of $G$? What are some positive definite functions that arise in contexts sufficiently removed from studying the coefficients of unitary representations?
Also, the weirder the group $G$ the better. I'd like a collection of quirky beasts...


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I've spent the past few years working on iOS apps, and I'm now giving some serious consideration to creating an Android port of one of my apps.
I'm sure that complaints about fragmentation are a frustrating cliche to experienced Android programmers, but as an iOS programmer, I'm quite honestly overwhelmed by the number of configurations and devices that my app might end up running on.
There are literally thousands of Android devices in the wild, but I know there are successful Android developers in the world and I know they're not testing or developing for thousands of different devices.
So how can a relatively small company deal with fragmentation? Is it possible to pick the five or six most popular devices, focus on those and prevent the app from being installed on any other devices? Are there any other strategies for practically dealing with the number of different configurations an app will face?


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- Home
- Introduction to the Markets
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Press Alt + shift + h then Enter to skip to secondary navigation. Mac users press Control + shift + h
A portion of a company's profit paid to shareholders. Public companies that pay dividends usually do so on a fixed schedule although they can issue them at any time. Unscheduled dividend payments are known as special dividends or extra dividends.


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Trojans Sweep SAC Doubleheader from Carson-NewmanApril 9, 2014
AU Moves into Tie for Second Place in League Standings
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Anderson University softball team ripped 27 base hits, including five home runs, as the Trojans rolled past Carson-Newman, 8-0 and 13-2, to sweep the South Atlantic Conference softball doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
Anderson (33-9, 11-5 SAC) stretched its win streak to nine games and has won 12 of its last 14 outings, while handing Carson-Newman (28-14, 7-9 SAC) its second-worst loss in school history.
Game #1
Anderson 8, Carson-Newman 0 (5 innings)
Junior third baseman Bri Cason was a perfect 3-for-3 in the opener, with three singles and an RBI. Sophomore Molly Child was 2-for-3 with a walk and belted her SAC-leading 12th home run of the season, a solo shot in the second inning. Child also scored three runs. Freshman Courtney Czentnar added a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly.
Junior hurler Katelynn Howser improved to 12-4 on the season with her fourth consecutive win. The two-hit shutout, her second of the season, marked her sixth complete game of the campaign. The right-hander struck out two and did not walk a batter over the five-inning span, while limiting C-N batters to just a pair of singles, with neither runner reaching scoring position. Howser has allowed just 12 hits in her last 21 innings of work.
Anderson batted around in the top of the first inning, as the Trojans erupted for four runs, providing Howser with all the run support she would need on the afternoon. Molly Child ripped a one-out single to center, while seniors Abby Child and Danielle Swygert followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases. Czentnar's sacrifice fly to center was deep enough to plate Molly Child with the game's first run and the Trojans capitalized on another walk and a pair of singles to build the 4-0 advantage.
The Trojans added a pair of runs in the second frame, with Molly Child pulling a one-out home run beyond the fence in right-center to boost AU's lead to five. Back-to-back singles by Abby Child and Swygert, sandwiched around a wild pitch, plated another run.
Molly Child led off the fourth inning with a walk and three batters later Czentnar blasted her ninth round-tripper of the season over the right-field fence to give the Trojans an 8-0 lead and cap the scoring in the opener, as Howser retired the Eagles in order in the fourth and fifth innings.
Game #2
Anderson 13, Carson-Newman 2
Swygert was 3-for-4 in the nightcap, as the senior nearly hit for the cycle. She finished with a walk, a run-scoring single, an RBI-double and a two-run homer, her sixth of the season. Senior Charlotte Sieber added a second-inning single and blasted her first home run of the campaign in the seventh inning. Abby Child was 3-for-5 with a pair of singles and a double, and drove in two runs, while scoring three runs.
Neidigh tallied a double and a walk and crossed the plate twice, while Molly Child tallied a pair of singles and two runs scored. Czentnar homered for the second time of the day in the decisive third inning, marking the second time this season that the freshman has homered at least twice in a doubleheader. Junior Rebecca Martin was 2-for-4 with two singles and an RBI.
Freshman right-hander Lauren Rudesheim started the nightcap in the circle and went one inning, while surrendering two earned runs on three hits. She walked one and struck out one. Howser (13-4) entered in the second frame and earned the win with six innings of two-hit relief. She struck out five and walked one.
Anderson again jumped ahead early, as Neidigh led off the contest with an opposite-field double down the left-field line and scored on Abby Child's single to center. But C-N countered to score two runs with two outs, as the Eagles took their first lead of the afternoon. Outfielder Kelli Hensley, a two-time SAC Player of the Week honoree, led off the first inning with a walk and scored on Brittany Hefner's triple down the right-field line. Hefner then crossed the plate on Haley Taylor's single to center, as Carson-Newman took the brief advantage but would not cross the plate again.
The Trojans answered with four runs in the top of the third, as AU loaded the bases with no outs and capitalized on three singles and a sacrifice fly to regain the lead, at 5-2.
Carson-Newman managed to get runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the third, but Howser escaped the jam by notching one of her five strikeouts.
Anderson pushed out to a 8-2 cushion by adding three runs in the fourth inning, as Swygert's one-out double to left-center brought home Abby Child and Czentnar followed with her 10th round-tripper of the season.
Child doubled and scored in the sixth and the Trojans put the game out of reach with a four-run seventh inning, which was highlighted by Sieber's solo shot and Swygert's two-run blast.
Anderson wraps up its home slate on Saturday, when the Trojans welcome league-newcomer Queens to Smethers Field on Senior Day. First-pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
With the five home runs on the afternoon, the Trojans set a new school record for round-trippers in a season with 63, surpassing last season's tally of 58. The new mark ties Lenoir-Rhyne's 2007 squad for second all-time in the conference record books.
Both Neidigh and Swygert have made their mark in the Anderson softball record books, as well. With Neidigh's two base hits on the afternoon, the second baseman eclipsed former Trojan standout Caroline Rochester for the school record with 231 career hits, while Swygert's four hits on the day give her 230 for her career, equaling Rochester's old mark. With Swygert's fourth-inning double in the nightcap, the first baseman also set a new school record with 55 career doubles.


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Due to rather strange circumstances, I only have until Monday to learn (at least) the basics of PHP and .NET programming. I'm already fairly competent (though there is a lot of room for improvement) in C++ so I feel I have some of the concepts nailed already, but I need to get into the two languages in a bit more depth in a very short time frame.
Unfortunately I won't have time to get any books so will need to exclusively use online resources, I'm more of a 'do-er' so any way to test my skills in a practical way would be a huge bonus :-)


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Kettle Falls woman celebrates 106th birthday
Caregiver charged withcriminal mistreatment Birthdays certainly aren't uncommon occurrences at Buena Vista Nursing Home in Colville, but last Wednesday's celebration was far from routine. Surrounded by friends, neighbors, social workers, nursing home staff and representatives from the Stevens County Sheriff's Department, Kettle Falls resident Frances Swan turned 106-years-old. With cake and gifts on hand, Swan, who the media has referred to as "the oldest woman in Washington State," made jokes about her age. "I've never been over 105 in my whole life," she laughed. Last Wednesday was a happy transition in an otherwise sad, bittersweet story. Stevens County Sheriff's deputies rescued Swan recently when Detective James Caruso found her living in refuse, squalor and begging for food. Police were at 108 E. 10th Ave. in Kettle Falls investigating a case of animal cruelty when they found Swan in a bedroom. She said she hadn't been fed in days. They arrested 78-year-old John Herbert Friedlund, who was purportedly Swan's caretaker for six years. Swan's husband passed away 20 years ago and the couple had no children and no relatives living in the area. "There was rotting garbage, rotting vegetables, rotting food, dogs all over and the smell; the stench of the house is almost indescribable," Detective Caruso said. "It's almost indescribable how bad it was trying to go through there." According to Stevens County Superior Court records, deputies already had a warrant to arrest Friedlund for starving horses. Friedlund supposedly gave Caruso permission to enter the home and retrieve his medicine before taking him to jail. That was when Caruso found Swan. "It's just amazing to think she's gone from that to this," Caruso said Wednesday at Swan's birthday party. "She's a strong lady." Friedlund was released from jail last week on a $25,000 bond. Court conditions for his release include the stipulation that he is not allowed to leave the Tri-County area or return to Swan's house in Kettle Falls. He cannot contact Swan in any way or damage property belonging to her. Friedlund appeared in Stevens County Superior Court on June 28 to face charges of Felony Criminal Mistreatment and five counts of Animal Cruelty. As for Swan, according to Buena Vista Director Lorri Carter, "She's in a good place now and would like to eventually return home."


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My wife has chosen to be a functional trainer and is studying at the moment to have such a career. I my country (Ukraine) that kind of training is not a trendy profession. I doubt that she will be called-for enough.
So, I wonder, is it popular in USA and Europe? Is it a good choice of prefession? Is it trendy enough in other countries?


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A project by Dan Graham organized for the roof Dia Center for the Arts at 548 West 22nd Street will open to the public on September 12, 1991. Hours are Thursday through Sunday, 12 noon to 6 pm.
Marking a new initiative for Dia's changing exhibition program, Dan Graham has transformed the roof into a small-scale urban park for the Chelsea neighborhood and the greater New York community. The project includes the installation of a large-scale architectural glass pavilion designed by Graham in collaboration with architects Mojdeh Baratloo and Clifton Balch. Graham will work with Dia to develop a program of performances, readings, and events in and around the pavilion. In addition, a small utility shed on the roof will be converted into a cafe and video viewing room.
Graham has developed an environment integrating aesthetic and utilitarian functions, and visual experiences, bringing the citiscape into the roof and extending the roof into the citiscape. Constructed from a two-way mirrored glass, the walls of the pavilion shift between transparent and reflective states as the intensity of light changes creating changing and complex visual effects with the sky, surrounding landscape, and interactions with people on the roof. A rooftop area will be available to the public where there are dramatic and unexpected views of Manhattan and the Hudson River.
A monitor with headphones will be set up in the cafe/video viewing room showing five pre-selected video programs (organized around themes Dan Graham has chosen) at set times during the visiting day for at least the first year following the opening of the roof project. The themes of these programs will be Architectural Video; Fairy Tale and Narrative; An Anthology of Performance; Cartoon and Animation; and a selection of videos by Dan Graham.
Graham was born in Urbana, Illinois in 1942 and lives and works in New York City. His work has been exhibited widely, especially in Europe. While he has received numerous public commissions in Europe, "The Children's Pavilion" a collaboration with Jeff Wall in 1989, was his first in the United States. A book of Graham's writings edited by Brian Wallis will be published by MIT Press in 1992.
The project at Dia will incorporate a full range of issues he has explored for over twenty years in various forms and settings, and will be referenced in a video by Graham and Dia which will be available in early 1992.
This exhibition has been funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, Washington D.C.; The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; and the Cowles Charitable Trust.
* * *
For additional information or materials contact:
Press Department, Dia Art Foundation, email@example.com or 212 293 5518


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6 Unknown Artists Who Made All of Our Favorite Movie Moments
#3. Douglas Trumbull Defined the Look of Sci-Fi -- Before Computer Effects
It's easy to make fun of the old science fiction movies that look like shit today, but what about the ones that don't? Take Blade Runner -- the opening shot of the Tyrell Corporation pyramid still looks breathtaking, and this was done in 1982.
Mr. T debuted in the same year, and he hasn't aged nearly this well.
Or how about that huge fucking spaceship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which is five years older?
If you didn't hear the notes in your head, you're probably not a person we'd care to know.
Of course, the granddaddy of them all is 2001: A Space Odyssey -- those shuttles look as awesome as ever, despite the movie being over 40 years old.
We'll trade you your 2001 for the one we had anytime, Kubrick, space babies and all.
Ever wonder how they accomplished all of that before CGI existed? The short answer is Douglas Trumbull, who holds credits for "special photographic effects" on some of the most influential sci-fi films ever and crafted everything we just showed you with his bare hands (and his assistants').
Digital Cinema South
You actually had to stand up and wear pants to work in special effects back then.
You see, "special photographic effects" is just another way of saying "impossible shit we now do with CGI." For example, the opening sequence to Blade Runner was actually done by covering a table with forced-perspective miniatures that were hand painted and fiber-optically lit, then double exposed over footage of fireballs that Trumbull's crew shot in a parking lot outside the studio.
The futuristic city was later occupied by the grittiest ant colony ever.
We've told you about how the trippy "stargate" sequence at the end of 2001 wasn't created with computer effects but with simple photography tricks -- that was Trumbull's idea, too.
He's the reason your parents quit smoking pot.
Even today he kicks CGI in the balls, creating the practical outer space effects for the film Tree of Life using stuff like chemicals, paint, and milk, and extremely zoomed-in cameras. None of that pansy-ass "computer" shit for him.
#2. The Sherman Brothers Wrote the Soundtrack to Your Childhood
Nowadays, putting music to a children's movie consists of buying the rights to a pop song and animating the sarcastic animals that dance to it. Remember when these things actually put effort into their soundtracks? Disney's Mary Poppins alone spawned half a dozen classic tunes, from the inescapable catchiness of "Chim-Chim-Cher-ee" ...
... to the proto-rap of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews: original gangstas.
Meanwhile, The Jungle Book had everything from elephants doing a military march to Beatles-like vultures singing a barbershop quartet to a monkey scatting like a jazzman.
So what happened? How did we go from this to a freaking lemur singing "I Like to Move It"? The simple answer is that the Sherman brothers stopped working. Dick and Bob Sherman wrote every song we mentioned, and many more -- they even came up with the theme song from Winnie the Pooh, a melody that will live on long after our planet has crumbled to dust.
The Sherman brothers got their start when their father, a successful songwriter from the 1920s and '30s, goaded them by telling them they couldn't write a popular kids' song. They proceeded to prove him wrong by writing every popular kids' song ever and becoming more famous than he ever was.
Eventually they hooked up with Walt Disney, who, in addition to using their talents to reshape dark novels into lighthearted hit movies, also tasked them with writing songs for his theme parks -- you may have heard of this little ditty of theirs called "It's a Small World."
And now it's in your head for the next week.
The Sherman brothers' on-and-off association with Disney's studio lasted until 2000's The Tigger Movie. But their awesomeness wasn't limited to Disney movies: They also wrote the songs for films like Charlotte's Web and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
#1. Dennis Muren Invented Modern CGI
Visual effects have evolved like almost no other field in the past 30 or so years. We've gone from being shocked by things like the flying bike in E.T.:
"It was as simple as building a trebuchet."
To being blown away by the T-1000's morphing effects in Terminator 2:
Not to mention being the forerunner for years of Capri Sun commercials.
To watching with complete indifference as entire CGI armies battle each other in the Star Wars prequels:
The entire medium has been slowly reshaped over the years ... and most of the reshaping has been done by pretty much one guy: Dennis Muren.
Muren started out moving model spacecrafts in front of a blue screen and manually putting together effect shots for Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind before being crowned the visual effects supervisor of E.T. -- of course, "special effects" at the time meant working with puppets all day.
And he did all this while suffering from an extreme case of gigantism.
Muren was a highly sought after expert in his area, working in the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Ghostbusters films, but that still wasn't enough for him. Not content with simply being the best in his job, he went ahead and invented himself a new one.
You see, while working on the 1985 Young Indiana Jones series, Muren created the first fully computer animated character, as well as the first morphing effect, in Willow. Learning to use Photoshop back when the rest of the world was still trying to figure out how to turn on a computer monitor, he realized the power of digitally compositing images together into a single shot and used that knowledge to create the water penis in James Cameron's The Abyss and, later, the T-1000.
But his biggest contribution to popularizing CGI came in a movie where he isn't credited -- when his buddy Spielberg told him he was making a film about stop-motion dinosaurs, Muren told him, "Nah man, fuck that shit and check this out."
"So remember last year when I was really into animal cross-breeding?"
And now we have the Jurassic Park we know and love. Thanks, Dennis! You gave us fucking dinosaurs!
Follow David on the Twitter or take a gander at his work over at Film School Rejects.
For more unsung heroes, check out 8 Online Fads You Didn't Know Were Invented Decades Ago and 6 Artists You Didn't Know You Were a Fan Of.
If you're pressed for time and just looking for a quick fix, then check out 3 Adorable Animals the Internet Loves (Are Going Extinct).
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Chromagranin A Blood Test
Last Modified: January 7, 2013
When is chromagranin A used? Is there any preparation for this test?
Nevena Damjanov, MD, Medical Oncologist at Penn Medicine responds.
The chromogranin A blood test is used to monitor neuroendocrine tumors that secrete chromogranin A. It is used in combination with imaging modalities as part of the physician's attempt to assess whether treatment needs to be started or changed. Though there is no preparation necessary, we know that some medications and some medical conditions affect the chromogranin A level. For that reason, it is not used in isolation to determine treatment recommendations.
This question and answer was part of the OncoLink Brown Bag Chat Series. View the entire transcript from the Focus on Neuroendocrine Tumors Webchat.


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Please enter a maximum of 5 recipients. Use ; to separate more than one email address.
| Ben DuBose, Hydrocarbon Processing,
The downstream industry has a responsibility to better educate workers on the dangers associated with hazards during maintenance turnaround work, according to Cody Nath of Refined Technologies. Nath spoke in a Monday afternoon technical session on hydroprocessing principles and practices.
SALT LAKE CITY -- The downstream industry has a
responsibility to better educate workers on the dangers
associated with hazards during maintenance turnaround work,
according to Cody Nath of Refined Technologies.
I feel the industry has done a good job, in general,
of educating contractors, operators and personnel on the
dangers of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), but not as much on other
hazards during process venting, said Nath.
Nath spoke in a Monday afternoon technical session at the
AFPM Q&A and Technology Forum on hydroprocessing
principles and practices.
In particular, hydrogen (H2) can be extremely dangerous
because it is extremely flammable, Mr. Nash said. Likewise,
nitrogen (N2) is a hazard because it is an asphyxiant without
odor or color.
Common plant sources for these hazards are bleeder drains as
well as manways or vents with inert purges.
On the other hand, there are several methods to mitigate the
potential danger, he explained. Those include the use of closed
venting systems as well as barricading, tagging and
communicating risk areas.
Operators also benefit from continuous oxygen (O2)
monitoring, including in the vicinity of inert confined spaces,
Mr. Nash said.
Finally, it is important to only use what you
need, he said. Often times, operators bring hazards into
play that may not even be necessary for the specific turnaround
A lot of us at this event have the ability to
influence those that may not know, said Mr. Nash.
We need to lead the way.
Nash made his comments as part of a panel discussion on time
savings for successful hydrocracker and ultra-low-sulfur-diesel
hydrotreater turnarounds.
Hydrotreating is becoming very important as refineries
become more integrated, said fellow panelist Pui-Nang Lin,
process advisor for the Flint Hills Resources refinery in Corpus Christi,
Theres not a lot of room for storage and
blending. Everyone wants to know, How long do these
turnarounds have to be?
They can be shorter with proper safety
All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.
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Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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Crown Prince chairs Cabinet session (9/24/12)
September 24, 2012
Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired the Cabinet session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah this afternoon. At the outset, he thanked God Almighty for the countless blessings being witnessed by the Kingdom, characterizing the unity of ranks, security and stability of Saudi Arabia as the culmination of its eagerness to implement the teachings of Islam since its unification by the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud.
On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and in his own name, Crown Prince Salman expressed his appreciation of the leaders of numerous friendly countries for their congratulations toward the Kingdom on the occasion of its 82nd National Day (according to the Hijra calendar). He also thanked Saudi citizens for their good wishes and prayed for the Kingdom's continued security and stability.
Afterwards, the Cabinet was briefed on a number of reports on the latest developments in the Arab, regional and international arenas. The ministers expressed hope that the deliberations of the 67th session of United Nations General Assembly will contribute to finding peaceful solutions to various conflicts and achieving world security and stability.
The Cabinet then discussed a number of issues in the domestic arena.
Addressing its weekly agenda, the Cabinet formed an ad hoc committee to consider the Saudization of jobs in the field of operation and maintenance in the governmental sector; approved two memoranda of understanding between the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Saudi Ministry of Interior and both the Polish General Inspectorate for Financial Information and the Financial Control Department of the Belorussian Control Commission for cooperation in the field of exchange of financial intelligence regarding money laundering and terror financing; approved a general agreement for cooperation with Mauritania; approved a memorandum of understanding regarding political consultations between the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Argentine Ministry of Foreign, International Trade and Cultural Relations; and authorized the Minister of Finance to sign a draft agreement with Luxembourg in the field of avoiding double taxation and income tax evasion.


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5 Hilariously Bad Ideas That Actually Solved Huge Problems
#2. Ukraine Keeps Statues Clean by Getting Pigeons Drunk
The Ridiculous Problem:
There is a Ukrainian city called Sumy that is famous for its statue of one Taras Shevchenko, a renaissance man who was essentially Ukraine's version of Leonardo da Vinci. The statue is extremely popular and features prominently in the city's annual founding day celebrations. There's only one problem: It's not popular with humans alone.
As is the fate of all statues everywhere, the Shevchenko one is constantly plagued by pigeons that see it as a handy meeting point/toilet combination. Sometimes, poor old Shevchenko can barely be seen under all the bird poop.
"Sounds about right. It happened pretty much nonstop when I was alive, too."
So, here's the situation: City Day is around the corner. You're the mayor of Sumy and you absolutely must stop those pesky winged rats from pooping all over your national hero. Shooting them seems like overkill, and everyone knows that bird wires and nets are for pussies. What would be the most insane way of solving this dilemma? Hiring the Pied Piper? Buying scarecrow costumes for everyone?
The Solution:
Ha, no! That's amateur stuff. You're a professional -- of course you want to get those birds drunk.
Just don't get drunk with those freeloading shitwagons.
Seriously, that's the mayor's suggestion. Pulling a page out of the Horrible Person's Dating Handbook, he wants to soak a bunch of bread in wine and feed it to the pigeons. According to this cunning plan, when the birds were somewhere between the fifth chorus of "The Wild Rover" and passing out, the town's officials would then collect them and relocate them to a place where they'd have serious trouble finding their way back. This would not only liberate Shevchenko's statue from a lifetime covering of crap, but also offer the birds valuable insight into what the average Friday night in Ukraine is like.
When confronted with the fact that his plan might be violating roughly all of the animal rights, the mayor countered by citing a story about a suspiciously unnamed monastery that has totally used the technique for hundreds of years without a problem.
"Will you just shut up and blindly follow my teachings already?"
Tragically, English-speaking history doesn't tell us whether the town ever actually followed through with the plan. We're forced to imagine that they did, and something went awry, and a couple of days later, an extremely hung-over mayor woke up in the middle of a forest with a flock of equally delirious pigeons, only to embark on a wacky adventure together.
Are you listening, Hollywood? We're giving you that one for free.
#1. Chinese Company Solves Horrible Working Conditions ... With Nets to Catch Suicide Jumpers
The Ridiculous Problem:
Imagine you're a factory worker in China. Chances are you can imagine a certain amount of job suckage from that sentence alone: crappy wages, ridiculously long working hours, sketchy safety precautions, etc. What you probably can't imagine, however, is the strain that all that's going to put on your mental health.
"How long until our benefits kick in?"
Take Foxconn, the Chinese company that manufactures iPhones and other luxury gadgets for export. The work hours, fumes and constant interaction with hazardous materials proved less than healthy for many of their workers, to the point where they started spending their rare breaks doing something more productive than work: jumping off the roof of the factory building en masse.
Well, threatening to do so, anyway. In January 2012, a whopping 150 of the factory's workers decided that they'd had enough and climbed to the roof in protest of their horrible working conditions (and also some previous, actual suicides). They spent a full two days on the roof, drawing all sorts of national and international attention. Finally, Foxconn had no choice but to coax the workers down by promising that something would be done. Indeed, something was.
The Solution:
Nets. They put up nets. Fucking employee-catching goddamn nets.
Congratulations, Foxconn. looks like you really one-upped those silly humans.
In a massive, deliberate misunderstanding of everything about the whole situation, Foxconn gleefully went about their business as usual, with just one minor modification: They installed massive circus-acrobat-style safety nets on their facilities so that no one could pull a stunt like that on them again.
Sure, they also gave their employees a 20 percent raise (thus raising a 286-hours-a-month worker's daily wages to a hefty $1.20). Still, judging by their track record, presumably there's a clause that enables the supervisors to drop random employees into the nets and poke them with sticks.
You can follow Josh's shenanigans on Facebook or email him about writing at email@example.com.
For more insanity that might've just been a little sane, check out 6 Insane Last Resort Surgeries That Actually Worked and 5 Absurd Solutions to Huge Problems (That Actually Worked).
If you're pressed for time and just looking for a quick fix, then check out 3 Ways the 'War on Christmas' Is Way Older Than You Think.
And stop by LinkSTORMbecause the world is going to end anyway (we think).
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Back to Black
Fashion's Inky Security Blanket Can Help Save Christmas
I'm so over black. This is a great shame because I have a wardrobe full of it, and little else.
I stand by the magical, transformative powers of the Little Black Dress, but have become stultified by the overwhelmingly neutralizing effect of wearing black in an industry—and age bracket—that is chock-full of other women, and quite a few men, all doing the same.
Before I go on, I should note that black (for which read quasi-Goth) is very "in" this season. But then, black is very "in" every season. No matter how many rainbow-hued confections trip down the runway, there are some, nay, many designers who routinely trot out the B-word, which always sells. This week, one of my favorite designers, Alexander Wang, was announced as the new man at Balenciaga, a house that has come to personify fashion's chicer, more alternative, rock 'n' roll side. Wang works with a color palate that is principally—you've guessed it—gray, cream and black.
As far as I can tell (and remember), "fashion black" came into its own in the 1980s, thanks in part to punk. Designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons, Miuccia Prada and the Antwerp Six (including arch-deconstructionists Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, and Dries Van Noten) were all likely influenced to some extent by punk's all-black, safety-pinned and slashed antifashion approach. Up to that point, black had flirted with fashion in the form of Dior's New Look, Chanel's Little Black Dress and the Beatnik style of the 1950s and '60s ( Marks & Spencer MAKSY -0.94 % probably still has Andy Warhol to thank for ongoing sales of their black polo necks). In the brassy, color-popping, power-suited '80s, black was the last word in antifashion, which inevitably meant that it very quickly became fashion. Designers like Helmut Lang, Azzedine Alaïa and Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel began to spin out sexy black confections, and even Gianni Versace, the master of vibrant color, began to send black dresses down the runway on the backs of Linda, Christy et al.
But black's appeal runs deeper than just being fashionable. Unlike so many other colors, black has a great many things going for it, including the fact that it's easy to build a wardrobe from, so long as you stick to the aforementioned Wang color palate. An even bigger plus is the undeniable truth that wearing black has a fundamentally flattering effect on the body. I'm never sure if this is due to the clean lines it produces or the fact that in a sea of black clothing, one won't stand out. I suspect it's a little of both. Black is the panacea for lazy dressers (and I'm raising my hand here). When you aren't sure what to wear, it is inevitably the answer; not only that, but how bad could it be if it's in black?
Black is like a great lover whose attraction palls over time but for some reason one cannot quite shake. It is the sugar of the clothing world, sneaking into almost everything before you've even noticed it's in your shopping basket or around your waist. This is a shame because, frankly, there are so many other great colors out there. If you are an inveterate black-wearer, you will no doubt be familiar with the reaction from friends, colleagues or even, in my case, the woman in the paper shop, should you branch out into something a bit more outré, like a petrol-blue sweater or a sage-green coat. "Oooh," they will say, "that's very bright for you." At which point you immediately know that what you are wearing is wrong, and you will beetle home to change into your inky security blanket.
There's no going cold turkey with black either, unless you want to give away your entire wardrobe. While fashion commentators are always banging on about black's versatility, the truth is that not a whole lot goes with black—other than navy, gray, khaki and other neutrals. My approach has been to buy more of the colors that go with black and no more black. This has had the not-entirely-successful result of simply upping the navy quotient in my wardrobe, which in certain lights is mistaken for black in any case.
'The approaching holiday season is exactly the right time for the wearing of black in every derivation.'
There is good news, though, because the approaching holiday season is exactly the right time for the wearing of black in every derivation. I know that Christmas is traditionally associated with red and green but, really, who wants to wander about looking like an ornament? No, black will work at Christmas, for all my laments. At parties you will never look out of place or under- or overdressed—unless, of course, it's strapless.
On Christmas Day, you will be able to down as much pudding as you like, safe in the knowledge that you are wearing fashion's equivalent of an airbrush. And should you wish to up the ante at any point, you could add a pair of sparkly earrings and some heels, or conversely throw a cozy black cashmere sweater over the top for a dog walk or a TV-watching marathon.
There is another reason to wear black over the holidays: for those of us who look upon the approach of the festive season with the same level of doom-laden reserve that we would normally muster for a root canal, black seems entirely appropriate.
—Email Tina Gaudoin at email@example.com or follow her on Twitter: @tinagaudoin.


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mkiker2089 wrote:Ugly- no there isn't one. To me Legend isn't ugly. It is what it's meant to be, a hallucinogenic variant of the fantasy epic. That makes it niche viewing and I think therefore exempt from ugly status. Just like you shouldn't give poor marks to country music even though it sucks, you just aren't the intended audience. Does that make any sense?
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We have several Desktop PCs that have Fedora 14 installed, but we need a Linux distro that doesn't need a reinstall every half year (no, dist-upgrade is not an option). We found Scientific-Linux, and according to the roadmap we have two options:
We install 6.1 with GNOME, and use it for desktop purposes, we will have updates until 2017-11-11 -- more then 6 years!
We install the "rolling release".
I haven't used any "rolling release" based Linux distros, so I don't know what that exactly means. Does it mean that if I install it once, we never need to re-install again because of a version upgrade? For example, Scientific-Linux 7 comes out, and I don't need to do a dist-upgrade?


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The City of Bowling Green is holding a surplus auction online.
Items like bikes, jewelry, silver coins, office equipment and supplies, furniture, tools, refrigerators, and more are up for bid.
The online auction continues through March 18th.
And if you want to browse, you can visit the link below for photographs of all the items.
"It's kind of a win-win situation. It makes it easy for the buyer and easy for us, the seller as well," says Kim Lancaster, Public Information Officer for the City of Bowling Green.
To get started on bidding visit the link below and register.


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Possible Duplicate:
Need a library that generates WAVE from Midi
I'm building a system that creates MIDI files using information retrieved from a database. Then MIDI is converted into .wav file and the .wav file is send to a web client.
I'm able to create MIDI files, but I can not synthesize them into wav. I'm able to send .wav files and use in client (front) side.
Can anyone help me with part of synthesizing a MIDI in .wav file. Any library, toolkit or api based in .net?
ps: i'm using pcm uncompressed to wav format.


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The Saudi economy is expected to grow steadily despite the current turmoil in global markets, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) Hamad Al-Sayyari said in a press conference yesterday. SAMA released its 44th annual report earlier this week.
Al-Sayyari said that SAMA has taken steps to address key challenges facing the Saudi economy, in particular curbing inflation. Inflation in the Kingdom was down in August, decreasing to 10.9 percent from 11.1 percent in July.
He noted that the private and non-oil sectors in Saudi Arabia have shown healthy growth. In addition, SAMA records indicate a strong growth in loans, money supply, additional deposits and no scarcity in liquidity in the Kingdom, he said.
Al-Sayyari characterized the Bush administration's steps to address the current financial problems in the United States as bold, and added that he expects the crisis to have a limited impact on the Saudi economy and banks, as SAMA's foreign investments are very conservative.


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You may be aware that neuro-imagers have become much cheaper and many are available with a SDK. I think this will open up a huge gateway for much more intimate human interfaces. However, I am stumped at the practical uses and whether the human controlled interfaces will be much better to the user. A mind controlled TV remote (for hospital patients) came as an idea, but once again, I don't think it has much practical use. Could any point me to any practical uses of this device? I am sorry if I am posting in the wrong section or this is a very opened-ended question. Thanks for any input.
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closed as not a real question by Jeff, Artem Kaznatcheev♦, zergylord, Chuck Sherrington, H.Muster Mar 27 '13 at 7:34
It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, visit the help center.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
In the context of this question, neuroimager refers to a commercial grade EEG/EMG device. For example the emotiv epoch (considered a high end of what is commercially available) had 3 or 6 electrodes. The output of these electrodes is available to a developer through a software interface created by the manufacturer.
I believe that Jsn is seeking ideas of what can be done using this technology. I have completed a small iPhone app for another commercial grade EEG device - there is way too many artifacts from motion, muscle activity and poor device placement.
Practically speaking, it's a fun "toy" to play with, and it is very mobile, compared to a hundred electrode arrays.


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When I save a screenshot I want to be able to specify any name I want (and maybe destination directory). Sharpshooter for mac does this, but it's a ridiculous $15. Cheaper alternatives?
Changing the prefix part of the names
Changing the format of the names
To something like
(The default format is currently something like
Changing the default location
Using custom scripts
I've disabled the default shortcuts and have assigned shortcuts to scripts like
Skitch lets you do this, as well as online sharing, annotation, and drawing, and it's free.
A much easier way than Laurie's answer is to use a free application called Deeper. It is really easy to use. Just enter in the name of that you want in the screenshot name field (under the General tab):
Click "Apply" and you are done. A nice feature of Deeper is the ability to restore all the default settings. If you've made a change to the settings that is causing your system to act up, no problem! At the bottom of each tab is a button that says "Restore Defaults". Deeper will fix up all your settings. I highly recommend this app, as it is free and adds a great deal of customization that OS X doesn't provide.
LittleSnapper does this and more. It's $40, but worth every penny.


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Little Girls Easter Dresses
Shop your favorite brands of girls Easter dresses for little girls size 4-6X at Sophia's Style. Find beautiful Easter dresses for girls at the great discount prices you have come to expect. Pair her Easter dress with lovely Girls Dress Shoes and Hair Accessories and enjoy the day!
Find beautiful girls Easter dresses at Sophia's Style and count on our fast, efficient check out, reliable shipping and outstanding customer service for a fun and easy shopping experience. Best of all, our Easter dresses for girls are priced to save you money. Add Girls Dress Shoes and Hair Accessories to complete her spring time look.


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by Melissa Brunner
We are heading into the prime time of year for giving - and studies suggest most of you reading this are all too willing to give!
I heard the figures during a luncheon this week celebrating National Philanthropy Day. Robert Swanson shared the interesting facts. Last year, $298 billion was given to charitable causes across the nation. Of that amount, 80 percent came from individuals as opposed to businesses and organizations.
Kansans are a big part of the giving. Swanson cited research that Kansans give 4.8 percent of their discretionary income to charity. That works out to about $2300 per household.
The figures actually went up from 2010 to 2011, which is a good thing because needs continue to grow as well. It seems those can afford to do so are doing more, much to the gratitude of those who never thought they'd need to ask for help, but now find themselves in a tough spot.
On behalf of so many deserving organizations doing such fine work in our community, thanks in advance for being so willing to give of your resources to help others.


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I have problems with reading mathematical equations in which there are parentheses; could anybody help me?
For example:
- (x−a) (x+b) = 5
- (x−a) + 2 (a+10) = z
- 2 + (10−a) d = 7
- y = a/b (7c+11)
How should I read this kind of equations?
I have problems with reading mathematical equations in which there are parentheses; could anybody help me?
For example:
How should I read this kind of equations?
closed as off topic by J.R., kiamlaluno, Colin Fine, MετάEd, Mahnax Sep 18 '12 at 5:38
Questions on English Language & Usage Stack Exchange are expected to relate to English language and usage within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
The primary way of communicating mathematics is not oral.
If absolutely necessary, you can usually get around major problems with tone of voice, pausing and speed of pronunciation. You can sometimes add in little linguistic clues, e.g. "x minus a, all multiplied by x plus b", or "two, plus d lots of ten minus a", but most of the work is done by making sure you pronounce those commas very carefully. If you don't, you might get questions back like "wait, was that x-minus-a ... multiplied by ... x-plus-b, or x ... minus... a lots of ... x-plus-b?".
You could also go for the more literal approach of pronouncing the brackets: I've heard mathematicians say things like "bracket x minus a close bracket times bracket x plus b close bracket", but this is pretty extreme. When (the going gets tough and) the formulas get long, just write it down, say something like "x minus a times x plus b", and point. That's what everyone else does.
I have heard a few variants when it comes to reading aloud mathematical expressions involving parentheses. These include terms such as:
I do believe that the term quantity is what is used by screen-readers which are MathML compatible. The use of this term is supported to an extent in this paper (PDF). An American educational organisation also prescribes it in addition to the others:
As mentioned by Billy, pauses, speed and intonation greatly assist in avoiding confusion.
Here's how I would read the examples aloud. Commas/pauses are important to seperate the different parts.
In my university experience so far, I haven't heard math teachers read aloud the start and close parenthesis, since you usually write it down while reading it.
If you have trouble with the Maths, remember BEDMAS — Brackets, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction. Brackets and Exponents always go one and two. Division and Multiplication are left to right so sometimes it is BEMDAS; and Adding and Subtracting are Left to Right as well so you can have BEDMSA or BEMDSA etc.
If by reading you mean reading out loud then you would say "Open brackets, x − a, close brackets. Open brackets, x + b, close brackets, equals, 5."
It is assumed that the person listening will either write it down or make a mental picture of it, so you don't have to say multiply the two sets together. That would be assumed. However, if you were reading to an inexperienced maths person you would say at the end "Remember you will need to multiply the two sets."


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All Hands on Deck
In an essay defending the "vulgar" custom of talking about the weather, G. K. Chesterton argued that there was both an element of worship in the practice ("the sky must be invoked") and a welcome recognition of human equality. "In the mere observation 'a fine day,''' he wrote, "there is the whole great human idea of comradeship."
[This article is part of a reading list on Catholicism and the environment.]
If only that were true of the current American political debate about the increasingly obvious and dire consequences of climate change. Earlier this month, the White House released the most recent National Climate Assessment, a report compiled by scientists as well as experts from private industry and the government. According to the report, the pace of global warming has accelerated, and its deleterious effects are already being felt in weather patterns and rising sea levels. Low-lying areas of this country such as South Florida are battling the encroaching sea. Drought across the Southwest and California will intensify, endangering basic water supplies. Severe storms and rising sea levels, caused in large part by the melting of the polar ice caps, threaten much of coastal New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Sea levels are estimated to rise from three to six feet in this century. Average temperatures in Alaska have increased dramatically over the past decade, ensuring vast ecological damage. The report makes clear that the emission of carbon gases, mostly from automobiles and coal-burning power plants, is causing climate change—this is not a hypothesis, but a scientific fact. Unless we take steps now to reduce emissions, the problem will only get worse.
Republicans in Congress resolutely deny that global warming is man-made, and this head-in-the-sand stance has become an article of faith in some GOP primaries. Facing congressional stalemate on the issue, President Barack Obama has shifted his focus to regulatory measures, such as requiring greater energy efficiency in federal buildings. In June the administration will announce tougher E.P.A. standards on greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. Obama has also taken to the bully pulpit to engage the public on an issue that remains near the bottom of the average citizen's list of pressing concerns. To some extent, public apathy about climate change is understandable. It is easy to confuse "climate" and "weather" by focusing on immediate conditions rather than obvious trends. The threat seems far off and the most apparent effects erratic and contradictory. At the same time, even those who believe the claims made by scientists and environmentalists are often overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem. What can an individual, a community, or even one country do that could conceivably alter what seems to be inevitable at this point? If the international community cannot come together to end the slaughter of innocents, what is the chance it will agree to enforce higher gas-mileage standards or a switch to low-carbon energy sources? Finally, concerted efforts by industry and conservative groups to question the scientific consensus and dismiss the danger of global warming have often turned the debate into a ritualistic denunciation of so-called elite opinion.
Yet as the National Climate Assessment took pains to point out, there is still much that can be done to ameliorate, if not forestall, the effects of climate change. Although the assessment made no specific legislative suggestions, the way forward is as obvious as it is politically difficult. Per capita carbon emissions in the United States remain among the highest in the world, so reductions here can have a disproportionate effect on global warming. Yes, China and India must also rein in their automobile and coal-plant emissions, but they have already started doing this because of the health effects of their notoriously polluted air. There is no reason—other than scientific obscurantism and political cynicism on the part of Republicans—for the United States not to take the lead in this environmental and health crisis. Imposing a carbon tax on all goods and services seems the fastest and most effective way to bring emissions under control. Once the cost of climate change becomes evident in every consumer purchase, the demand for alternative energy sources will propel both behavioral and technological change. Revenue from the tax might be used to reduce the deficit and rebuild the nation's infrastructure. Americans, the objection goes, are allergic to taxes. Yet we also know that Americans are not indifferent to the suffering and cost of floods, drought, and severe storms. If the chance of enacting a carbon tax is slim, so is the chance that these calamities can be avoided unless the industrialized world stops pumping carbon into the atmosphere.
In his essay Chesterton reminds us that we are "all under the same cosmic conditions. We are all in the same boat." That boat is listing badly, and as Chesterton suggests, we will all sink or swim together. It is time to take up the vulgar business of talking about the climate as well as the weather—and doing something about it.
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I am 70 years of age and a product of Dominican education (grammar school and college). I remember the days when the good Sisters at St. Raymond's would run drills so we could be prepared if the Soviets decided to Nuke Providence. We'd hide under our wooden desks. I have since wondered what an advanced civilization would think about those carbonized shapes under the desks that would obviously be fused together by a nuclear blast.
As it turned out, we had nothing to worry about sinbce the globally accepted principal of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) prevented even the most insane of nations from launching such an attack. Unfortunately, though, climate change or global warming is a real threat. I genuinely fear for the future of my 4 young grandsons (and perhaps their parents as well). I'll be long gone by the time the devastation of inaction hits, but I wonder how my generation will explain to our Savior why we allowed Planet Earth to die while we squabbled about conservative versus liberal views on the subject.
Living in norherm Michigan (just above the 45th parallel), it is currently, after this last wiinter -- the most severe I've experienced up here in the past 33 years -- it is a tough sell to persuade anyone hereabouts that global warming is a real threat. However, up here we do have an unwelcome ally in the effort. It is the slow invasion of woodticks that has occurred here over the past decade, increasing in intensity each year. I had hoped those days of sub-zero temperatures last winter would kill them off, but in a few hours of spring mushroom hunting last week my neighbor collected no mushrooms but five ticks! I suspect now that lurned northward by the precious decade or so of mild winters and increasingly hot summers, the ticks have mutated to survive the occasional cold-snap. All this and the 14 tick bites I suffered last summer are another reminder that overall climate and seasonal weather are two very different things.
For my money, responding fairly and effectively to climate change is by far the most important difficult moral and political task that faces he world today and for the foreseaable future. There is no time for recriminations or free riding or engaging in gamesmanship.
The title of this editorial, "All Hands on Deck" is right on target. Every competent citizen has a responsibiliity to inform himself or herself as well as possible about the issues and their consequences, to speak out about this issue, to be prepared to work with all sorts of people they would otherwise find difficult to cooperate with, etc. So far as I can see, this requires a full scale "conversion" in both our attitudes and in our willingness to change our ways of living.
Because of the scope and difficulty of this problem we may not be able to escape dire consequences. But that is no reason to abstain from trying with all our might and ingenuity.
For my money, responding fairly and effectively to climate change is by far the most important difficult moral and political task that faces he world today and for the foreseaable future. There is no time for recriminations or free riding or engaging in gamesmanship.
The title of this editorial, "All Hands on Deck" is right on target. Every competent citizen has a responsibiliity to inform himself or herself as well as possible about the issues and their consequences, to speak out about this issue, to be prepared to work with all sorts of people they would otherwise find difficult to cooperate with, etc. So far as I can see, this requires a full scale "conversion" in both our attitudes and in our willingness to change our ways of living.
Because of the scope and difficulty of this problem we may not be able to escape dire consequences. But that is no reason to abstain from trying with all our might and ingenuity.
May 14, 2014
I was seriously thinking of not renewing my subscription coming up soon. I've been working on my people and planet project for about 40 years give or take. Finally Commonweal steps up to the ball. Rejoice! I especially liked and repeat for emphasis Bernard Dauenhauer's:
"For my money, responding fairly and effectively to climate change is by far the most important difficult moral and political task that faces the world today and for the foreseaable future. There is no time for recriminations or free riding or engaging in gamesmanship.
The title of this editorial, "All Hands on Deck" is right on target. Every competent citizen has a responsibiliity to inform himself or herself as well as possible about the issues and their consequences, to speak out about this issue, to be prepared to work with all sorts of people they would otherwise find difficult to cooperate with, etc. So far as I can see, this requires a full scale "conversion" in both our attitudes and in our willingness to change our ways of living.
Because of the scope and difficulty of this problem we may not be able to escape dire consequences. But that is no reason to abstain from trying with all our might and ingenuity."
Spoken like an angel, a saint, a prophet, a true scientist, a philosopher, and a person of incredible understanding of the scope of our endeavor -- Bernard. Thank you!
This is doable. It will take extreme organization, cooperation, work, and time. 'Conversion' is key. When we see necessary and sufficient organization, cooperation, work, and time we know conversion is happening. We know that we are taking back our planet Earth.
Let's keep this right on the front burner from issue to issue of Commonweal.
Hopefully Commonweal will be willing to be our communication source to message until we have a coherent plan.
Australia just repealed its carbon tax.
In a competitive global economy, I fear the only solution is a true breakthrough in green energy technology.
I do like all hands on deck. The average person can at least conserve.
I just saw in NYTimes on-line today's 5/15 Opinion blog called "Dot Earth" a fine piece titled "Hefty Global Goals from a Vatican Meeting." I strongly recommend it. Sorry, I don't know how to do links.
Bernard - this may be the link to the Dot Earth piece. Very thought-provoking.
Jim, thanks much.
5-19-14 It's the inhabitants of the earth, not the Pope that need to bring adequate change. When we are closer to the spiral of extinction than we are right now we may come to realize this. Will it be too late? MSR.
Reading suggestion 5-19-14 A copy of a comment I submitted.
Marie Rottschaefer March 11, 2014 at 8:50 pm · Reply 3-11-14 I have been working on my 'people and planet' project for about 40 years. The planet is so depleted that a resource-based economy will take creativity and hard work. For example, there is the issue of growing crops in a 'climate change' environment. Vegetation evolved in a different climate. Even seed banks can be as useful as the soil and environment they are placed in. Here is a comment I sent recently to The Atlantic Cities. _Climate change makes it imperative that food and water are immediate priorities. Agricultural engineering and related subjects should be many students' choice to go to a community college and begin a career. Building protective habitat from cold, heat, storms, drought, floods, pollution, predators, and working with groups already designing new systems for crops and other vegetation, domestic animals and wildlife protection is vital. Weird weather will be with us for eons. Taking care of life could then lead to rebuilding a depleted planet. No shortage of jobs here. The younger generations may simply have to step up and replace the older generations obsolete plans in a convincing way that brings necessary change._ I wish you well. But it won't be easy; nevertheless, it will be necessary. ___
At breakfast this morning with friends in Savannah, a city that will truly be affected by rising waters, our host brought up the subject of "Science: benevolent or malevolent" -- you do earn your eggs when breakfasting here! After some speculation on a sort of metaphysical level, climate change came up. His position, as mine, is that science is never 100% certain of much, but, the evidence for climate change, change in the direction of global warming, and the very probable role human activity is playing in this likely "malevolent" trend is strong enough that just common sense would point us to taking action. This is sicence that some on the right have chosen to ignore, as they are ignoring common sense. Marco Rubio also pointed to science that those on the left have chosen to ignore,in fact to censor from the public, that virtually all scientists believe human life begins at conception. Does the general public believe this? Common sense should tell us that we must take action on climate change, as common sense should tell all of us we must take stronger action to prevent abortions, which certainly is the killing of humans.
Let's keep climate change right on the front burner from issue to issue of Commonweal .
Marie Rottschaefer March 13, 2014 at 9:23 pm · Reply A mathematical model that provides a more effective basis for biodiversity conservation than existing frameworks has been developed by a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The complexity of ecological systems, expressed in the large variation in morphology, physiology and behavior of individuals of different species, individuals of the same species, or even the same individual in different environments, makes the understanding of the mechanisms affecting the diversity of ecological communities extremely difficult. As a consequence, most theories of biodiversity are either limited to a single mechanism, or rely on highly simplified and possibly unrealistic assumptions. Thus, after more than a century of intensive research on species diversity, the world still lacks a solid, theoretical foundation that can effectively guide decision makers. What enables different species to coexist in nature? Why do some areas, such as the tropics, host huge numbers of species, while others can accommodate only a few? How is climate change expected to affect the diversity of natural ecosystems? What level of habitat destruction can ecological communities suffer, and according to what rules should we design nature reserves? Taking into account that preserving biological diversity (biodiversity) is crucial for the health of the environment, answering such questions is now recognized as one of the greatest challenges for the 21st century. In his Ph.D. thesis in the Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology at the Hebrew University, Omri Allouche developed, under the supervision of Prof. Ronen Kadmon, a new theory of species diversity that attempts to provide a more effective basis for biodiversity conservation. The heart of the theory is a mathematical model that predicts the number of species expected in an ecological community from properties of the species (e.g., rates of birth, death, and migration) and the environment (e.g., resource availability, habitat loss, frequency of disturbances). The generality of the model and its flexibility make it a highly effective tool for guiding conservation managers and policy makers. Interestingly, analyses of the model provide novel insights that often differ from common notions of conservationists. For example, in contrast to the intuition that improving habitat quality (e.g. by resource enrichment) should promote biodiversity, Allouche's theory predicts that resource enrichment can actually reduce biodiversity, a result supported by empirical studies. Another example is the response of ecological communities to habitat loss, which is recognized as the largest threat to biodiversity. Often the response of an ecosystem to mild habitat loss is used to forecast expected responses to large-scale habitat loss. The theory predicts that such forecasts may be misleading, and that ecological communities may show a sudden biodiversity collapse prior to some critical level of habitat loss. One aspect of particular importance for conservation planning is the prediction of biodiversity responses to global climate change. Most current models of biodiversity responses to climate change make the assumption that dispersal ability of species is unlimited. In his work — which has earned him a Barenholz Prize at the Hebrew University — Allouche shows that this assumption significantly reduces the predictive power of such models and can therefore lead to misleading conclusions. Allouche believes that his contributions can improve the ability of conservation managers and policy makers to assess potential risks to biodiversity, to efficiently design nature reserves, to effectively identify and protect endangered species, and thus, to better conserve the diversity of ecological communities. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Cite This Page: • MLA_APA_Chicago Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "New model provides more effective basis for biodiversity conservation." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 September 2010. . Share This While this is not yesterday's news, it is encouraging news that world researchers are working on the science and mathematics of the serious ecological dilemma future people and planet inhabitants and the planet itself face. World cooperation hopefully will bring solution.
If this is Father Kropf of Stellamaris, I'm a fan of your writings. I wonder what Teilhard would have said about the catastophism evident in the earth's record. In the present, a novel life form capable of reflective consciousness and hacking the world is changing the atmosphere. Analogously, as I see it, 2.65B years ago, a novel life form called cyanobacteria did the same, oxidizing the methane and bringing on a snowball earth. Life survived to do better things. Will humankind survive to do better things.
Dotcommonweal All Hands on Deck May 13, 2014
Time to Act on Climate Change
May 27, 2014
The Fukushima disaster has influenced my mind and willpower to go in to a moratorium mode. To act or not to act that is the question. Prayer may be the best action at this time. Radiation is the ultimate change.
"Experts tell House panel climate change science isn't settled"
One hopes that Pope Francis and his science advisers take the opportunity to review the testimony of the experts and seek their advise and counsel before making pronouncements based on biased pseudo-science.
"The House Science, Space and Technology Committee heard from scientists who poked holes in the prevailing catastrophic theory of man-made climate change and said researchers are under pressure to support more alarming scenarios."
"The science is not settled, no," said Roger Pielke Sr., professor emeritus in meteorology at Colorado State University.
University of Sussex economist Richard Tol told the lawmakers, "Science is, of course, never settled."
"Some things are more or less settled, some things are not," said Princeton University geoscientist Michael Oppenheimer. "The question of whether carbon dioxide is 30 to 40 percent above pre-industrial times, that's settled. The question of exactly how warm the Earth will become as a result, that's not."
Daniel Botkin, professor emeritus in biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said the U.N. panel's 2014 report and the White House National Climate Assessment are "scientific-sounding," but also present "speculative, and sometimes incomplete, conclusions embedded in language that gives them more scientific heft than they deserve."
"I want to state upfront that we have been living through a warming trend driven by a variety of influences," said Mr. Botkin. "However, it is my view that this is not unusual, and contrary to the characterizations by the IPCC and the National Climate Assessment, these environmental changes are not apocalyptic nor irreversible."
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/29/unsettling-house-panel-hears-debate-on-climate-cha/#ixzz33KHnkUtj


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I'm assuming there isn't a word that contains every letter in the alphabet, so which word contains the most?
antidisestablishmentarianism - 12
psychotherapy - 12
handcraftsmanship - 13
I'm assuming there isn't a word that contains every letter in the alphabet, so which word contains the most?
antidisestablishmentarianism - 12
Among words in a certain word list I found:
It has ten words with 16, including:
There are several dozen with 15, including:
and several hundred with 14 (including a few 14-letter words like 'pseudomythical', 'hydropneumatic' and 'ambidextrously').
In case anyone cares, this was done with Python, something like:
A better word list (one that includes subdermatoglyphic, for instance!) may give longer words. And you didn't ask about two words, but just for reference: this says "Ralph Beaman proposes formaldehydesulphoxylic ventriloquizing as a two-word combination having 22 different letters which should be difficult to beat"; I haven't checked this.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch clocks in at 18 distinct characters, but arguably a near-infinite number of 25-character answers exist, since organic chemistry nomenclature allows one to build valid hypothetical compound names of essentially arbitrary length, and the full alphabet less only J appears on the periodic table (though this does require one to refer to rutherfordium by its old placeholder name unnilquadium or arrogate a placeholder name for a transuranic element with an atomic number ending in 4 that hasn't been named yet, so it may only get us to 24 characters).
Uncopyrightable is supposedly the longest word in the English language with no repeated letters, which makes it a logical starting point. That sets the bar at 15 unique letters.
Subdermatoglyphic = 17 (longest one seen so far).
Thank you for your interest in this question.
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Prove that the change of Entropy in a cycle with two isochoric and two adiabatic processes is 0. How can I prove that? Thanks!
closed as too localized by David Z♦ Mar 3 '12 at 19:29
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We don't give full solutions here. But here is a hint: Write $dS=\frac{q}{T}$ and apply first law.
Or just say: Entropy is a state function, so it does not change in a cyclic process.
Entropy is a state function, so if your system ends up in the same state as it started and there has been no net heat flow the entropy change must be zero.
Are you allowed to assume it's an ideal gas? If so draw a PV diagram of the cycle. The two isochoric stages are vertical lines, and the two adiabatic stages are the usual curves of PV = nRT. Using this relation you can show the temperature change in the two isochoric stages is the same, and therefore that the $\Delta Q$ is the same (assuming $C_v$ is constant). This means the net entropy change in the cycle is zero. To do the calculation start at one point ($P_1$, $V_1$) and work your way round the cycle using PV = nRT to calculate the pressure at the remain three points.
If you're not allowed to assume it's an ideal gas I'd have to think about it because you can no longer use PV = nRT.


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The 6 Most Pretentious Dishes Rich People Pay Money For
When professional chefs get good and/or famous enough, they sometimes get the urge to experiment. And this isn't "Let's try hot sauce on the macaroni" shit here -- weird chemicals and gases creep into their recipes, which run the risk of becoming so complicated that the dishes are less like food and more like some weird, perverted form of modern art. It gets to the point where you need an instruction manual and a careful lecture from the waiter just to figure out what you're looking at, let alone how to eat things like ...
#6. The Edible Balloon
There are certain foods everyone knows to never order on a first date because you just look ridiculous eating them. You probably want to avoid any kind of noodle-based dish, for instance, or anything on a stick. And if you find yourself at Alinea, a restaurant in Chicago, you might want to avoid ordering their edible goddamn balloon. Here's what you look like eating one:
Mark N./Yelp
Ridiculous. Or, if not ridiculous, sure to make your date jealous.
Of course, this "dish" couldn't be brought into a three-Michelin-star environment without slight modifications. Edible balloons are made from a viscous mix of green apples and sugar, which is carefully inflated into a balloon shape. The string of the balloon is dehydrated apple. The helium is still helium.
There are two ways you can eat the edible balloon, and neither offers a single chance of retaining your dignity. The first is to use the pin that comes with the balloon to pop it, after which you presumably spend the remainder of your dinner scooping up its sad remains from all over the table (and your face). The second is slightly less messy, but no less ridiculous: You press your face hole in the side of the balloon and suck it up, along with all the helium inside. This has the benefit of both making you look like a moron and giving you the helium voice.
We're betting that the second after you finish the edible balloon, the waiters come asking you complicated questions just for the hell of it.
#5. The Zen Garden
Many high-concept dishes are not about the taste so much as they are about the experience. In other words, people eat them because they're expensive and have some neat gimmick. In a refreshingly honest move, Moto restaurant in Chicago actually seems to admit this with their signature zen garden dish, which is custom designed for playing with your food rather than, you know, eating it.
The zen garden is a cheese plate consisting of Camembert, spices, chocolate, and frozen, blended fruit. It has been painstakingly shaped into the form of a Japanese zen rock garden, complete with a little meditation rake you can use for arranging the elements in the garden for some contemplative peace and quiet.
Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images
As with real zen gardens, this provides much relief to those who have no actual problems.
Of course, the nature of the dish is somewhat undermined by the fact that the zen garden is just one plate in a tasting menu of over a dozen courses. You'll probably have to choose whether you want to actually eat it or just absent-mindedly doodle dicks in it until the next course arrives. Or maybe they wheel it out when it seems like a customer is too anxious. "Shh, it's all right, calm down. The zen garden is coming. Everything is going to be fine. Rake your cheese."
#4. The Octopop
Molecular gastronomy is an umbrella term for various types of experimental cooking, known by most fans of ordinary food as "that pretentious horseshit with foams and gels." Although it doesn't actually involve any Molecule Man-style alterations of the food's biochemical structure (you can easily do that shit yourself by forgetting your leftover Chinese in the fridge for a week), it is all about radically altering the ingredients' shape and consistency. You know, like if you were to make lollipops out of octopus.
Madrid Lab
First came the name. Then they wrote the screenplay. Then then scrapped that and made it a dish.
The terrifyingly named octopop was conceived by Australian chef Adam Melonas at Dubai's Burj al-Arab hotel, presumably after he read the Necronomicon and mistook it for a confectionery handbook. Its basic idea is actually pretty simple: It's a piece of roast octopus on a stick.
However, in true mad scientist fashion, Melonas has added to the process until the end result barely resembles octopus or, for that matter, food. The waxy sheen and structure of the octopop are achieved by vacuum-cooking the octopus for 12 hours, then using a knife and an enzyme called transglutaminase (a substance commonly used to glue bits of meat together) to turn the perished cephalopod into a pretty, flower-like construct. The end result is dipped in spiced gel and stuck on a stick with some dill for you to try and figure out what the hell you're chewing on.
Madrid Lab
When you figure it out, handing these out from your van to kids suddenly seems creepy.
Because the dish is not quite complicated enough by itself, it is sometimes served with dill Pellegrino: San Pellegrino water that has been turned into a cold gas and infused with, yes, dill.
Since its conception, the octopop has become Melonas' signature dish. This, along with his other creations, has somehow scored him a lucrative deal as a meal designer for IKEA.


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Home > Food > Recipes > Artichoke and Fennel Dip
Artichoke and Fennel Dip
Categories: Entertaining, Low-fat, Party Snacks, Quick to fix, Vegetarian
Type: Appetizers and Snacks
Type: Appetizers and Snacks
Tahini gives this artichoke and fennel dip a deliciously distinct flavor.
Prep Time: 20M
Serves: Serves 8
- 1 × 14oz (400g) can artichoke hearts, drained
- one 14oz (400g) fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
- 2 tbsp tahini (see Cook's Notes)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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- Combine the artichokes, fennel, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and oil in a food processor. Process until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with grilled Turkish flat bread, pita bread, or over a fresh tomato and parsley salad.
- Tahini is a ground sesame seed paste-you'll find it in large supermarkets or health food stores. It has a rich, nutty flavor, and is used throughout the Middle East.
excerpted from:
Excerpted from The Illustrated Quick Cook.
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley Limited.
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