Later On

Moving to new location

Later On v. 2.0 is up and running using WordPress. I probably should have switched over long since, but I kept hoping that Blogger.com would implement categories. They haven't, and they've continued to have ever-more-frequent operational problems. So it's time to pack up and move.

Update your bookmark, and come and see me at the new place.

UPDATE: Thanks to The Son, for Father's Day I got a permanent URL for the blog: leisureguy.org. Isn't that cool? :)

Coming soon: airfare predictions

Check this out: a predictor of when airfares will be cheapest. Not yet available, but coming soon. Via Boing Boing.

How Zawodny lost 50 lbs.

Via Boing Boing. Zawodney is starting to document how he lost 50 lbs last year: 5 belt inches, 1 shirt size. An example:

After thinking about why I always ate a bit too much, I finally realized it was a problem with my physiological empty/full gauge. If I eat until I feel "full" I've probably eaten too much. And, worse yet, I end up feeling sluggish for an hour or so after eating. You know, the "food coma."
Habit #3 is about resetting your notion of when to eat (or stop eating). The easiest way to say it is "eat when you're hungry, stop when you're not." Notice that this says nothing about feeling full.
This is the single most difficult thing to do. If you're like me, it means breaking 30 years worth of training your body. But after the first few weeks, you'll start to find that the "not hungry and not full" feeling starts to seem normal. If you keep a running tally of your food intake during the day (habit #1), that'll make it a lot easier to know when you should stop.

Good checkout for Windows machines

Microsoft offers a complete checkout for your Windows machine. It must be run with Internet Explorer. It does virus check, registry check, disk fragmentation check, etc. Not bad, though it takes some hours to run to completion, depending on the size of your hard drive and whether you need to defragment it.

Big Senate debate on Marriage Amendment

The Senate has set aside a few days to debate whether gays should be allowed to marry in this country. The issue seems to be important because some people believe that, if gays marry, this will cause heterosexual couples to get divorces. The logic of this argument escapes me. Only one state currently has gay marriages: Massachusetts. It also has the lowest divorce rate in the nation.

Correlation is not causation, of course, but if people are wanting seriously to protect marriage, it might be worthwhile to allow gay marriages in one of the states with the highest divorce rate (those states are disproportionately Bible Belt states) and see what happens to the divorce rate. Let's try Oklahoma (divorce rate 3rd highest in the nation), for sentimental reasons (I'm from Oklahoma originally).

Computer profile software

A Columbus man and I were talking on Skype this morning, and got to wondering whether there was a software package that could print out all the hardware on one's computer. Indeed there is, and it's free. It also does a software inventory, security inventory, etc., and displays it all in your Web browser. (It doesn't send any of the info to the Web, just uses the browser for the display.) Very cool.

666: Number of the Beast

664: Neighbor of the Beast

Of molcajetes, tejolotes, and guacamole

I read this article in the LA Times, and I immediately ordered a molcajete and tejolote (mortar and pestle, Mexican style, chiseled from volcanic rock). I tried their recipe:

Guacamole
Total time: 10 minutes
Servings: Makes 2 cups

Note: Molcajetes, lava stone mortar and pestles, are widely available at Latino markets and selected cookware stores.

2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped white onion
3 serrano chiles, seeded and finely chopped
4 heaping tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro plus cilantro leaves with little stems for garnish
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
3 large avocados or 4 small avocados
4 ounces ripe tomatoes, finely chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

1. In a molcajete, grind together the onions, chiles, chopped cilantro and salt to a paste.

2. Cut the avocados into halves, remove the pits and spoon the flesh into the molcajete. Mash the avocado into the onion-chile mixture until it is a uniform texture, but not smooth (it should still have some lumps).

3. Stir in the tomatoes and lime juice, adjust the seasoning and top with the cilantro leaves.

Each tablespoon: 36 calories; 0 protein; 2 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 3 grams fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 57 mg. sodium.

Grinding the stuff to a paste (step 1) wasn't happening for me, so I used the food processor for that, then put it in the molcajete with the avocados and finished it up.

I decided it was more trouble than it was worth, but then today I decided to make another batch, using my own approach: minced 1/4 of a large sweet onion and 1 large Serrano pepper, put that in the molcajete along with 2 small avocados, smashed it up and added salt and lime juice. Excellent.

The molcajete and tejolote is really excellent for making guacamole: the rough stone surface keeps the avocados from sliding around, and the nice rock tejolote really smashes things well. I got mine here, but you can do your own Google search or even find them in a local store.

UPDATE: I see now what the problem was. (I made a second batch, it was so good.) The general problem was that I was trying to master a new gadget/technique on the first go--that's a mistake. Even with something so simple as a knife, it takes a while to really get a feel for that particular knife. The specific problem was that I was trying to make a paste of too many things at once.

Here's the technique I used for the second batch: put one peeled clove of garlic in the molcajete, and pound and scrape it with the tejolote until it's a paste. Doesn't take long at all. Add some salt, and pound and scrape a little bit. Then take a Serrano pepper, cut it lengthwise in half, then each half in half, and then chop across it so that it's minced. Add that and pound and scrape until that's pasted in with the garlic and salt. Mince some sweet onion, add that, and pound and scrape. Then add the avocado (peeled and pitted, natch) and pound and scrape a bit. Then a little lime juice, stir with rubber spatula and scrape out into a bowl. (I have a spoon-shaped silicone spatula that's just right for this.) Incredibly easy and wonderful. I wouldn't be without my molcajete and tejolote now.

Here's a molcajete and tejolote for $20

Democrats want leaders

A very interesting story on the split between rank-and-file Democrats and most Congressional Democrats--Feingold being a notable exception.

The fault line is evident as Democrats gather for spring and summer sessions filled with demands for bolder action by the congressional wing of their party, especially if they win control of the House or Senate in November.

In New Hampshire, the state that will kick off the party's 2008 presidential primary voting, activists gave thunderous ovations this weekend to Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., when he pressed his anti-war agenda, boasted that he alone among potential 2008 presidential candidates opposed the war from the start, and pushed for a censure of Bush.

In Maine Saturday, state Democrats passed a resolution urging impeachment.

In Ohio, the state that decided the last presidential election and is a pivotal battleground for this year's congressional elections, the state party chairman notes that the two top statewide candidates voted against the war and says 2008 candidates who did support it have some explaining to do.

And nationally, one poll shows that more than eight out of 10 Democrats now believe the United States should have stayed out of Iraq. The same poll for CBS News this spring showed that more than three out of five Democrats want U.S. troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, even if the country is not stable.

This comment in the story, though, leaves me puzzled: "But admitting a crucial mistake, not to mention coming out in direct opposition to the war, could scare politicians who fear that opposing even an unpopular war could be seen as being anti-military."

I just don't see that. Murtha has spoken out quite openly against the war--often alone, not backed by his Democratic colleagues. Yet he is obviously not anti-military. I think the "scared" politicians who fear opposing an unpopular war are not politicians we want representing us.

Late afternoon entertainment

I recall a New Yorker cartoon that shows two suits in a bar, with one saying to the other, "This is the time of the afternoon I like: too late to go back to work, too early to start home."

For those late afternoon moments, give this puzzle a try. Via MetaFilter.

Interesting take on DHS cuts for NYC and DC

Here's an interesting take on the process by which Homeland Security grants for New York City and DC were cut.

Excellent rant on Net Neutrality

Mike McCurry is a pathetic liar-for-hire.

Wow! Sounds like an excellent movie...

Take a look at this: The War Tapes, a movie edited from videos shot by the soldiers themselves. The embedded reporter, instead of going along with the unit, gave them 10 video cameras and had them do the shooting (as it were).

NOT a good sign

This will be the legacy of the Bush-Rumsfeld years? The establishment of torture as part of the American Way?

The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.

The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department officials acknowledged.

This severely undercuts the US position regarding human rights, and sets a bad example for other countries. What are these guys thinking?

There's more at the link. The bad guys are the usual suspects: "The move to restore U.S. adherence to Article 3 was opposed by officials from Vice President Dick Cheney's office and by the Pentagon's intelligence arm, government sources said. David S. Addington, Cheney's chief of staff, and Stephen A. Cambone, Defense undersecretary for intelligence, said it would restrict the United States' ability to question detainees." Addington is the guy who looks through new legislation, picking out things that the President will ignore, and thus creating the signing statements.

Monday cat blogging: Swiss Sophie, lolling about

Another photo of Sophie from Switzerland, the Turkish Van. She's lolling about, seemingly unworried about deadlines.

Inhaling helium is dangerous

Via MetaFilter, this story on accidental deaths from inhaling helium. Note:

Inhaling helium can cause brain damage and death, according to the Compressed Gas Association, which develops safety standards in the gas industry. When the lungs are filled with helium, oxygen is removed from the bloodstream. Depending on how much helium is inhaled, a person could lose consciousness quickly and die from lack of oxygen.

Article on US killing of civilians in Iraq

Via Daily Kos, this article in The Guardian. It begins:

American veterans of the war in Iraq have described a culture of casual violence, revenge and prejudice against Iraqi civilians that has made the killing of innocent bystanders a common occurrence.
The US military is now involved in at least three separate investigations into its own soldiers' conduct in Iraq that may illegally have led to the deaths of Iraqi civilians. It is widely expected that more incidents will be uncovered. The most serious is the alleged massacre of 24 civilians in the Sunni town of Haditha by a unit of marines. The victims included women and children who were shot after a roadside bomb hit a convoy and killed a US soldier.
Last week it was revealed that two more incidents have also been under investigation. The first is the death of 11 Iraqis during an American raid near Balad in March. The dead included five children. The second inquiry involves seven US marines and a sailor in the death of an Iraqi civilian near Baghdad in April. It is believed the man was dragged from his home and shot before an AK-47 and a shovel were placed next to his body to make it look like he was an insurgent.
Some American veterans have expressed little surprise at the latest revelations. 'I don't doubt for one moment that these things happened. They are widespread. This is the norm. These are not the exceptions,' said Camilo Mejia, a US infantry veteran who served briefly in the Haditha area in 2003.

An Inconvenient Truth

It's #9 in total gross, showing on 17 screens. (The #8 film is showing on 1,270 screens.) It's #1 in gross/screen: $17,298 per screen. The #2 in gross/screen is The Breakup, which just opened: $12,395 per screen. Via Atrios.

Joe Lieberman: Dishonest Jerk

Just read. Via Atrios.

Example of Plan B suppression

You'll recall that the FDA has ignored its scientific panel and continued to keep Plan B (the after-the-fact contraceptive) as prescription only. Here's an example of what then happens. The story begins:

The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn't want. Well, not literally, but let me explain.
I am a 42-year-old happily married mother of two elementary-schoolers. My husband and I both work, and like many couples, we're starved for time together. One Thursday evening this past March, we managed to snag some rare couple time and, in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm.
The next morning, after getting my kids off to school, I called my ob/gyn to get a prescription for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill that can prevent a pregnancy -- but only if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. As we're both in our forties, my husband and I had considered our family complete, and we weren't planning to have another child, which is why, as a rule, we use contraception. I wanted to make sure that our momentary lapse didn't result in a pregnancy.
The receptionist, however, informed me that my doctor did not prescribe Plan B. No reason given. Neither did my internist. The midwifery practice I had used could prescribe it, but not over the phone, and there were no more open appointments for the day. The weekend -- and the end of the 72-hour window -- was approaching.

Continue reading at the link.

ING Direct savings: 4.5% vs. BofA 0.1%

Yeah, that's right: ING Direct offers 4.5% interest on passbook savings. Bank of American in California pays 0.1% (1/10th of 1%) on passbook savings. 1/10th of 1%! You might as well keep the money under your mattress. No wonder they don't show the interest rate on their savings account anywhere on their Web site. ING Direct thus pays 45 times as much as BofA. I suppose we're lucky that BofA doesn't charge us interest on passbook savings. Jerks.

Good observation from Al Gore

From Atrios:

I recommend listening, but here's the transcript also. Gore seems to get just about everything these days. Here's a good b it:
GROSS: You got to see George W. Bush close-up when he was your opponent for the presidency. What surprises you most about how the Bush presidency has turned out?

Vice Pres. GORE: I guess what surprises me most is his incuriosity. That's a real mystery to me because he's clearly a smart man. He has a different kind of intelligence, as everybody does. There's so many varieties of intelligence. He's clearly a smart man, but it is a puzzle that he would ask no questions about important matters. When his first secretary of the Treasury came in for their first meeting and spoke for an hour about economic policies of the new administration, he asked not a single question. When he received the briefing in August of 2001 that Osama bin Laden was planning a major attack soon, you know, on the United States, he did not ask a single question. When he was briefed several days before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the weather service people were saying it may mark a return to medieval conditions, he asked not a single question. And that same incuriosity seems to be a factor when he just accepts hook, line and sinker the ExxonMobil view that global warming is not a problem, in no way related to the massive volumes of pollution we're putting into the Earth's atmosphere every hour of every day.

When they tell him that the scientific community is wrong and that they're just lying because they're greedy for more research dollars, he doesn't apparently look under the rug. He doesn't ask questions. And in the American system, the president of the United States is the only person who is charged with representing all of the people in every state in every district and looking after the welfare of the people as a whole. And if the special interest has one view, at least you should ask questions about how the public interest is affected, and I really do not know why he is so incurious.

Maybe playing on DragonGoServer helps

I've been playing Go on DragonGoServer.net for a while. It's a turn-based server: you make a move and submit it, then check back later to see whether your opponent has replied. Quite a few players make one move a day or every few days; some make several moves a day. Thus most people play multiple games--I'm currently engaged in 19 games.

My strength has been improving, and I wonder whether part of that isn't from playing on DragonGoServer. The reason: when it's your turn to move, you have more or less lost track of what you were thinking, but you do see your opponent's most recent move--and you can, if you want, track through all the moves thus far. But what I do--and what I think most people do--is to look over the board, figure out the purpose of this most recent move, and make what you think is the best reply.

The result: the habit of looking over the whole board. Developing whole-board awareness is key to playing strong Go, and my teacher said that most people don't develop this until they reach single-digit kyu rank. But by playing on DragonGoServer, I think I'm increasing my whole-board awareness.

Just a thought. YMMV.

Another example of why DoD lacks credibility

The DoD report on the situation in Iraq gets an F. Click the link to see why.

Rhythm method kills more embryos than condums

From the New Scientist:

"IF YOU'RE concerned about embryonic death, you've got to be consistent here and give up the rhythm method," says Luc Bovens of the London School of Economics.

People who practise this form of birth control, the only form condoned by the Catholic church, try to avoid pregnancy by abstaining from sex during a woman's fertile period. But Bovens says it leads to more embryo deaths than other contraceptive methods.

Bovens estimates that if the rhythm method is 90 per cent effective, and if conceptions outside the fertile period are about twice as likely to fail as to survive, then "millions of rhythm method cycles per year globally depend for their success on massive embryonic death".

If he's right,couples using the rhythm method for religious reasons may want to think again. "Even a policy of practising condom usage and having an abortion in case of failure would cause less embryonic deaths than the rhythm method," Bovens writes (Journal of Medical Ethics, vol 32, p 355).

Roger Gosden at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility in New York says the suggestion is reasonable.

"It's quite plausible that more abnormal embryos are conceived at the limits of sperm and especially egg viability," he says, "and that these are more frequent in women practising rhythm contraception than those having unprotected intercourse at random stages of the menstrual cycle."

I wonder how the Catholic Church will rule on this.

Fiddleheads redux

Maybe I was right about fiddleheads being Big Agribusiness now. I found them at Trader Joe's, too: 12 oz bag for $5, from Canada--$6.67/lb, compared to $8/lb at Whole foods.

Security for discarded documents

The low-tech way. (Scroll down, too.) Via Boing Boing.

Trial humor

Safavian's testimony elicits mirth. He really shouldn't lie while testifying--makes him look bad. And if he is going to lie, he shouldn't be telling lies that are transparent to the average third-grader.

UPDATE: On a somewhat brighter note, perhaps his ineptitude is a sign that he's not accustomed to lying--unusual for a Republican, but I suppose it's possible.

It is seriously getting to be popcorn time

Read this. I haven't had this much fun since the Judiciary Committee hearings leading up to impeaching Nixon (though they never quite got there, since he got out of town).

BTW, I still enjoy one of the jokes I heard from a Texas Democrat on the panel. The panel had to hear from two witnesses, one explosive and one not so much. They scheduled the explosive one for prime time, leading the Republicans to howl with protest. The guy (whose name I cannot immediately recall) told the story of a young man who got two neckties from his mom for his birthday. The next morning he came down wearing one of the ties, and she said, "Awww. You don't like the other tie."

First victories against Big Brother's spying

Go read, if you're interested.

Good line from Ted Kennedy

Americans aren't looking for big government or small government, liberal government or conservative government. They're looking most of all for competent government.

Via TalkLeft. He also said his best vote in the Senate was his vote against the war in Iraq.

Embarrassing self-revelation

In what I believe is typical guy thinking, I've discovered that there's no need ever to unbutton my pyjama top: I can take it off and put it on over my head, thus saving much valuable time. So: never unbutton. Last night I put on clean pyjamas, and, while blogging this morning, I made the embarrassing discovery that my pyjama top is inside out. Efficiency does come with some costs, I guess.

The military denies the story

I blogged about the earlier massacre in Iraq. Now the military is denying it. Unfortunately, after so many lies (Pat Tillman, anyone?), the military has squandered their credibility.

How we got an air-traffic control system

It's the usual story:

The spectacular midair collision was the worst commercial aviation accident at that point in the country's history. And for the flying public, it revealed a dangerously antiquated air traffic system. Advances in aircraft instrumentation after World War II allowed more pilots to fly in bad weather, even as bureaucrats struggled to figure out how to keep track of a burgeoning number of planes moving faster and carrying more passengers.

At the dawn of the jet age, aviation experts had repeatedly warned lawmakers that a midair collision between two large, fully-loaded commercial aircraft was inevitable due to increasingly crowded skies and traffic control procedures that relied largely on radio communication rather than radar. After a plane left the airspace encircling a large city airport, radar tracking stopped; its crew was left to watch for other planes by looking out the windows.

Sometimes it seems that we, as a species, are not "homo sapiens" but "homo semi-sapiens." The same storyline as above can be followed regarding: levees in New Orleans, global warming, what will happen if we invade Iraq, and on and on and on: nothing is done based on evidence. Action occurs only after catastrophe. With global warming, we are facing a catastrophe from which we will not recover...

Are our lawmakers especially stupid? -- Yeah, I know. But they are elected, so that means that the electorate are in a similar situation. Homo semi-sapiens, as I said.

UPDATE: It just occurred to me that it might help if one of the lawmakers would make the decision explicit: "I suggest and recommend that we take no action until two commercial flights collide in mid-air. All in favor signify by saying 'Aye'."

"I suggest and recommend that we take no action on global warming until we are past the point of no return. All in favor signify by saying 'Aye'."

The neighborhood

From Alert Reader:

Hopeful development on Net Neutrality

eBay has weighed in on the side of Net Neutrality by involving their members.

Interesting comment on RFK jr's article

Here's an interesting comment about Robert Kennedy, Jr's article on how the 2004 election was stolen by the GOP. The comment addresses the entire context, and suggests some solutions.

And here's an interesting addendum.

UPDATE: Here's a rebuttal to Kennedy's article, published in Salon.com.

Quite good science fiction: Accelerando

Just finished Accelerando, by Charles Stross. Quite good science-fiction, a cyber-punk exploration of Vinge's idea of the Singularity. Recommended if you like science fiction.

US now supporting criminal warlords in Somalia

Some of the same groups who attacked US troops as told in Black Hawk Down. What have we come to? And if the Bush Administration has an internal critic, s/he is immediately silenced.

The oops list

Via Boing Boing. You may have to click some links twice--apparently they're getting a lot of traffic from the Boing Boing listing.

Seeing some of these certainly kills one's desire to be a military pilot.

Praying woman struck by lightning

Wonder what fundamentalists will make of this.

The Katharine Harris campaign video

that they didn't use. Via Huffington Post.

Quick and easy DIY mosquito trap

Mosquitoes in the US are now dangerous, spreading West Nile virus (slogan: "Not as bad as Lyme disease"). Because mosquitoes don't travel far, if you kill enough around your yard, you'll cause a population crash and greatly decrease chances of a mosquito bite. This clever trap, made from a plastic 2-liter soda-pop bottle, looks as though it will really work. (Scroll down to see full construction instructions.)

It's very easy to make, essentially free, and one could put out several of them. (Note suggestions on good locations.) Via Boing Boing.

UPDATE: The Eldest pointed out that this is a great project for kids--which is actually where it originated.

Friday cat blogging: Megs sunning herself

Megs likes a bit of sun. The Wife's former cat Stella liked to lie with just her paws in the sun. We called this "playing hot paws," a relatively simple game, but one she seemed to enjoy.

Looks like the previous massacre of civilians was also real

I blogged earlier about another reported massacre of civilians:

Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said.
A U.S. military spokesman, Major Tim Keefe, said that the U.S. military has no information to support the allegations and that he had not heard of them before a reporter brought them to his attention Sunday.
"We're concerned to hear accusations like that, but it's also highly unlikely that they're true," he said. He added that U.S. forces "take every precaution to keep civilians out of harms' way. The loss of innocent life, especially children, is regrettable."

Now additional evidence of the truth of it has turned up.:

The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians.

The video appears to challenge the US military's account of events that took place in the town of Ishaqi in March.

The US said at the time four people died during a military operation, but Iraqi police claimed that US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people.

A spokesman for US forces in Iraq told the BBC an inquiry was under way.
...
The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.

The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces.

It has been cross-checked with other images taken at the time of events and is believed to be genuine, the BBC's Ian Pannell in Baghdad says.

Via Kevin Drum at Political Animal. Here's the video.

Hard-to-find foods

One mark of a foodie is having a list of foods still to try. I finally am able to check off one such food: today our Whole Foods had fresh fiddleheads, which I've been wanting to try since I first read about them in high school. At last!

Bitter melon can now be found almost every day at Whole Foods, and I continue to enjoy it as a part of a stir fry.

I did finally have smut (best Googled as "corn smut," BTW). It's a Mexican delicacy and tastes like mushrooms--naturally enough. I had it at a Mexican restaurant in Baltimore.

Some foods on the list have long since been sampled, though in high school (when the list started, I guess) they seemed way out of reach: caviar, for example.

On the meat side, once rare foods are fairly common now: buffalo (I picked up a pound today for chili), goat, ostrich, and so on. Some once common foods are now forbidden (beef and calf brains) or are now hard to find ("mountain oysters", sweetbreads). I still want (and probably will never find) marrow gut (a key component of Son-of-a-Bitch Stew). And it would be nice to try bear paw once, though often in restaurants what is sold as bear paw is a fake. (I still remember the beginning of the recipe in a French cookbook: "Wrap the paw in clean mud...")

Some foods I'm not sure I want to try. When the Forth Interest Group toured China some while back, they were served whole baby birds in a sauce. I'm not sure of the Chinese name, but the Forth guys called them "sparrows rancheros."

But tonight, I will have--at last--fresh fiddleheads. (I've had canned, but not the same thing, I'm sure.)

UPDATE: They were delicious. They have a distinctive taste, just as (say) asparagus does, but they don't (of course) taste like asparagus. I boiled them for 10 minutes, drained them, and ate them with butter and salt. Yummy.

UPDATE 2: The Eldest just called me from the Whole Foods in Baltimore. She was shopping, and what did she spy? Fiddleheads! They've become an agri-business crop, I guess. (I see unending acres of fiddleheads peeking above the soil, with giant combine-like machines rumbling along harvesting them. Songs spring up: "The fiddleheads are as high as a gopher's knee, ...", dramas are made about fights over the family fiddlehead farm, ...)

Castles for sale

Here are some castles for sale, worldwide. Some are bargains. Via Boing Boing. (Let me know if you buy.)

Crashing the wiretapper's ball

Wired sends a reporter to a wiretapper's conference. Very interesting. (Scroll down at the link to get to the story.)