Day: June 8, 2005

Now that Jean Fraud sKerry’s Yale record has been partially released, Ann Althouse has a movie suggestion for folks who were impressed by his brilliance…

Now that’s just piling on. Go, Ann!

(Actually, this is “piling on.” heh)

Found at Guppyman’s Rant Zone (no, really, I swear that’s the name!)

That frog. Yep, that one…

Several months ago, Neal Boortz floated three questions he’d like to see as voter qualifiers…

As a means of correcting the sad, sad situation of voters too stupid to be able to mark their ballots correctly, I’m all for Neal Boortz’ idea of asking three qualifying questions before allowing a person to vote in a national election. Legitimate questions like

“Who is the vice president?”
“Who is your congressman?” and
“Who are your two senators?”

Would seem appropriate. Folks who could not answer all three would still be allowed, under Boortz’ proposal, to “vote” but they’d be directed to machines that sent their votes directly to a trash bin.

Oh, I’d like to have a few other questions thrown in, like

“Is there a transfinite number between that of a denumerable set and the numbers of the continuum? If so, provide two examples.”

or

“Construct generalizations of the reciprocity theorem of number theory. Show your work.”

…but those sorts of questions should only be asked of the inhabitants of Smartland, who all arrogantly assert they are infinitely smarter than those of us in Flyover Jesusland…

Oops. Beginning to feel the ole curmudgeonly mood creep in. Backing away slowly…

(Yeh, I’m having a hard time turning up the original Boortz article where he made the suggestion. It’ll come to me—or one of you guys’ll give me the link in comments.)

THANKS, Diane! That was the article I was thinking of! (I’ve updated the post above to reflect the link Diane thoughtfully provided.)

Cao did me the very good turn of linking to Crosses aCross America—Thanks, Cao!

Take up the torch. Hold high the flame of your faith. Clearly and unapologetically proclaim your religious beliefs, regardless of pressures from LLMB and MMPA to remove all such expressions from public view. Put crosses on your lawn or home. Stars of David. Whatever symbol proclaims your true faith.

OK, for some of you that will be a picture of Franklin on a $100 bill. That’s fine, as long as it is honest. (We’ll talk later. 🙂 It’s your right to do so.

Oh, and while you are at it—putting up symbols—better make darn sure your lifestyle affirms what those symbols stand for…

Here comes another one… gee, gals, leave some room in the blogosphere for us dimwitted bubbas, would ya? 🙂

Get ’em while they’re hot!

Google… Stealth
Originally uploaded by mnmus.

This satellite photo from Google maps shows a stealth bomber. (I’ve circled the bomber in yellow.)

This actually began being circulated, as far as i can now tell, Monday last week, but I just saw it linked to by a correspondant over at Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos manor in Perspective’s Current Mail.

BTW, in comments, Woody notes an “… index of interesting features found on the Google satelite map images…” and lists this URL:

http://perljam.net/notes/interesting-google-satellite-maps/

I used a trial of Keyhole, the software Google Satellite/Maps is drawn from, for a while and was almost persuaded to buy it just for the cool factor. Check some of the indexed satellite maps out for some fun in all your copious spare time. When you’re not reading my blog, that is. heh

And DO be sure to visit Woody’s News & Views. Some good stuff going on there. The post yesterday on dolphins as toolusers is a pretty cool example.

I called it that cos of the prepackaged seasoning I used, and it stuck.

Thanks, Romeocat, for (unintentionally, I’m sure 🙂 reminding me to submit this. (Your Really easy “Mexican” chicken looks great, too. 🙂 This is one really, really easy recipe… or not. Depends on how you prepare it, really. Here’s the easy way, and I’ll give you some hints on mucking around to make it the hard way.

Now, usually I don’t much care for prepackaged seasonings mixed according to someone else’s idea of what tastes good. but McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning is one of those very rare cases where a pepackaged product is just about perfect for some foods. Here’s how it goes:

Ingredients:

four to six frozen, boned skinless chicken breasts
one cup rice
one cup water
one cup your fav spaghetti sauce (heavy on the oregano, though)
liberal amounts of McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F
Place the rice in 9X12 baking dish
Place the chicken breasts on the rice
Mix water and spaghetti sauce and pour the mixture over the rice and chicken
Sprinkle LIBERALLY with McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning
Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. bake for about 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 5 or so. Oven temps may vary, so you may have to adjust the times. The frozen chicken will thoroughly cook and the rice will absorb the moisture and cook well, too.

Now, if you want to make your own seasoning mix, you can do so and this dish can actually taste better balancing things to your own taste. McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning is pretty much a mixture of dried, crushed chilis, cumin, coriander and dried onion and garlic. If you use fresh garlic and onion and grind/crush your own spices, the flavors will have more punch. (I’d at least sautee the onions and garlic–or “microwave sautee” them—before adding to the baking dish, if it were me.) You’ll just have to experiment with balancing amounts and go through all the prep work.

This is great with some freshly-made flour tortillas and beans, but I’ll get into that recipe another time (especially for the one who’s asked for the tortilla recipe—you know who you are. :-).