Social Progress
Joy Beeson
Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
ShellyS
> Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
> given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
>
> --
If I get a meal served with bread, I get little packets of butter in a
dish. Sometimes, jelly or jam packets, too. No ice, and the butter is
wrapped, which is more sanitary. I imagine some places might still
serve butter with ice.
--Shelly
Michael R N Dolbear
On Dec 5, 11:19�am, Joy Beeson <jbee...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
> Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
> given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice? �
If I get a meal served with bread, I get little packets of butter in a
dish. Sometimes, jelly or jam packets, too. No ice, and the butter is
wrapped, which is more sanitary. I imagine some places might still
serve butter with ice.
I've had those little packets served on ice.
No little plastic boxes of Flora margarine on ice as yet.
--
Mike D
Gerry Quinn
21d4f2...@g23g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>, shel...@gmail.com says...
> On Dec 5, 11:19 am, Joy Beeson <jbee...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
> > Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
> > given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
>
> dish. Sometimes, jelly or jam packets, too. No ice, and the butter is
> wrapped, which is more sanitary. I imagine some places might still
> serve butter with ice.
I've never seen butter served in ice in Ireland - it comes either as a
small block, or wrapped (most usual), or occasionally - and my
preference - someone has used a scraping utensil of some kind to form
it into little 'scallops'.
- Gerry Quinn
Brian M. Scott
<jbe...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote in
<news:pt1lh5t2p62qvpv3l...@4ax.com> in
rec.arts.sf.composition:
> Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have
> restaurants given up serving pats of butter in a bed of
> ice?
I seem to recall that The Village Inn in Colorado Springs
was doing it in 1971, but I've not seen it in years.
Brian
Will in New Haven
> given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
At least as recently as last March a ridiculously expensive restaurant
in the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas served the butter like that. I have
been trying to forget the place, have succeeded in forgetting the
name, because I never want to eat there if _I_ am paying.
--
Will in New Haven
Eric Ammadon
>Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
>given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
If they also bring a miniature microwave to allow one to make it
spreadable, that might constitute "progress". They're more likely to
wrap it in unpierceable plastic and cool it to near absolute zero thus
making it completely useless rather than simply a good vehicle for
digging holes in bread.
--
arggh, is it priate day again?
Brenda Clough
There is also the whole sanitary issue. (Somewhere on the net is an
article about the ten things you need to know about restaurant food;
never let them put a lemon slice into your beverage!) Individually
packaged dabs of butter can be more safely handled and reused.
Brenda
Don Bruder
Brenda Clough <Brenda...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> (Somewhere on the net is an
> article about the ten things you need to know about restaurant food;
> never let them put a lemon slice into your beverage!)
OK, like a complete idiot, I'm gonna bite...
(Not that I particularly care for lemon in my beverages, unless the
beverage is lemonade, but...)
Why not let 'em put lemon wedges/slices in a beverage?
My logic:
Lemon = highly acidic - So acidic that it will literally eat the enamel
off your teeth if left in contact long enough (and "long enough" is
surprisingly short) So acidic that practically nothing in the way of
germs/bacteria will even consider it as a potential home/food source.
My conclusion:
I can see no realistic, logical reason why they could be bad news. Care
to enlighten me?
(Ignoring the possibility of "tampering", of course - or the insanity of
somebody fishing them out of the drain to be re-used...)
--
Email shown is deceased. If you would like to contact me by email, please
post something that makes it obvious in this or another group you see me
posting in with a "how to contact you" address, and I'll get back to you.
John F. Eldredge
> In article <hfgv3g$fka$2...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> Brenda Clough <Brenda...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> (Somewhere on the net is an
>> article about the ten things you need to know about restaurant food;
>> never let them put a lemon slice into your beverage!)
>
> OK, like a complete idiot, I'm gonna bite...
>
> (Not that I particularly care for lemon in my beverages, unless the
> beverage is lemonade, but...)
>
> Why not let 'em put lemon wedges/slices in a beverage?
>
> My logic:
> Lemon = highly acidic - So acidic that it will literally eat the enamel
> off your teeth if left in contact long enough (and "long enough" is
> surprisingly short) So acidic that practically nothing in the way of
> germs/bacteria will even consider it as a potential home/food source.
>
> My conclusion:
> I can see no realistic, logical reason why they could be bad news. Care
> to enlighten me?
>
> (Ignoring the possibility of "tampering", of course - or the insanity of
> somebody fishing them out of the drain to be re-used...)
If you are going to mistrust the lemon slices in a restaurant for
sanitation reasons, then you probably shouldn't trust any other food in
that restaurant, either.
--
John F. Eldredge -- jo...@jfeldredge.com
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
netcat
Brenda...@yahoo.com says...
> Eric Ammadon wrote:
> > Joy Beeson <jbe...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
> >> given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
> >
> > If they also bring a miniature microwave to allow one to make it
> > spreadable, that might constitute "progress". They're more likely to
> > wrap it in unpierceable plastic and cool it to near absolute zero thus
> > making it completely useless rather than simply a good vehicle for
> > digging holes in bread.
> >
>
>
> There is also the whole sanitary issue. (Somewhere on the net is an
> article about the ten things you need to know about restaurant food;
> never let them put a lemon slice into your beverage!)
See, that's why I always ask for a lime slice instead.
rgds,
netcat
Eric Ammadon
>Eric Ammadon wrote:
>> Joy Beeson <jbe...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
>>> given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
>>
>> If they also bring a miniature microwave to allow one to make it
>> spreadable, that might constitute "progress". They're more likely to
>> wrap it in unpierceable plastic and cool it to near absolute zero thus
>> making it completely useless rather than simply a good vehicle for
>> digging holes in bread.
>>
>
>
>There is also the whole sanitary issue. (Somewhere on the net is an
>article about the ten things you need to know about restaurant food;
>never let them put a lemon slice into your beverage!)
As if that's going to matter after the cook spat into the soup!
> Individually
>packaged dabs of butter can be more safely handled and reused.
I do have a serious desire for reused butter dabs... not.
Everybody's trying to maximize profit, they ought to bring pats of
real butter at just above room temperature on the side of the real
plate holding the real bread, and put the leftovers in the dumpster
out back. What the hell are street people supposed to eat if
everything's being reused? Refusal to waste is a sure sign of a
povertous society.
One of these days maybe I'll get around to writing that short story
about the fellow who managed to get locked in a grocery store and
starved for lack of the chainsaw needed to remove food from its
packaging.
What really gripes me is not food (we seldom eat out, cook-spittle
being high on our unappreciated-delicasies list) but the
non-perishable items they're selling in hardware and department
stores. They use transparent plastic with the consistency of steel
ostensibly to protect the product or prevent theft (and actually to
prevent close examination), then the product inside is so fragile and
cheaply made that by the time you've opened the package with an axe
you've destroyed the actual product. Of course now you can touch the
product and see that it's cheap junk and have no desire for another
dose and by the time your murderous rage cools to the point where you
could confront the store management they're in Rio with your money.
netcat
says...
I've so been there.
> What really gripes me is not food (we seldom eat out, cook-spittle
> being high on our unappreciated-delicasies list) but the
> non-perishable items they're selling in hardware and department
> stores. They use transparent plastic with the consistency of steel
> ostensibly to protect the product or prevent theft (and actually to
> prevent close examination)
And there too. I needed plate cutters to free a memory stick from it's
packaging, last time I bought one. Also destroyed a pair of ordinary
scissors in the process before that. The scissors cost more than the
flash stick did.
rgds,
netcat
rochrist
There are a number of ways they serve butter. I've seen little crocks
pots of butter nestled in ice, as well as the aforementioned pats in ice
or wrapped packets in ice or not in ice, etc etc. They all still get
used as far as I can tell, just depends on where you're eating.
Suzanne Blom
"Don Bruder" <dak...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:hfhob6$33h$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <hfgv3g$fka$2...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> Brenda Clough <Brenda...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> (Somewhere on the net is an
>> article about the ten things you need to know about restaurant food;
>> never let them put a lemon slice into your beverage!)
>
> OK, like a complete idiot, I'm gonna bite...
>
> (Not that I particularly care for lemon in my beverages, unless the
> beverage is lemonade, but...)
>
> Why not let 'em put lemon wedges/slices in a beverage?
>
> My logic:
> Lemon = highly acidic - So acidic that it will literally eat the enamel
> off your teeth if left in contact long enough (and "long enough" is
> surprisingly short) So acidic that practically nothing in the way of
> germs/bacteria will even consider it as a potential home/food source.
>
> My conclusion:
> I can see no realistic, logical reason why they could be bad news. Care
> to enlighten me?
>
if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon slice out of my
drink and eat it all soggy.
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
>>
> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice, but, yes,
> if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon slice out of my
> drink and eat it all soggy.
Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
Brenda Clough
My furnace has died, so we have no heat. It is dipping down into the
20s tonight. To ameliorate this I have mulled a bottle of red wine,
which means that I am -just- able to type 'ameliorate' accurately. I
cannot find the article for you; you could google it. However: as I
recall it, this list of tips noted that lemons are handled by everybody
and not washed before being sliced. It's not the acid in the juice,
it's the surface germs on the skin.
As against it, I will point out that most of us who do lemon slices have
been doing them for years and years, with no ill effect. Whatever germs
there are, you have probably developed a working relationship with them.
So, carry on.
Brenda
JF
>
> Brenda
I raise a..glass or two... of.. hang on .. <noises off, a muffled
curse or two> Kumala red.
Buggrit.
JF
Ric Locke
It's just about freezing here... My heat's still on for the time being,
though the gauge on the propane tank is dropping and the electric
company is sending nasty notes. I've got most of it turned 'way down,
because my wife's in the hospital and I don't have to keep the place
really warm for her. And no wine in the house, dammit.
Regards,
Ric
Brenda Clough
The next time you have some, heat it with cinnamon sticks and a citrus
fruit. (You could wash the skin!)
Brenda
Eric Ammadon
It's currently 19f here, up from -11f night before last.
We're running low on propane and the truck won't be out until Thursday
(weather permitting), so after I read the rest of these here nosegrope
posts I'll start a fire in the woodstove. It's a much more
comfortable heat, but it does need to be tended.
The house batteries were low enough after a cloudy day yesterday that
I started the generator. The electric company wanted me to buy them a
$14k transformer for the privilege of receiving a perpetual bill from
them, so I told them to piss off.
Plenty of bourbon in the cupboard but since I just got up for the day
I'm drinking coffee.
Best wishes for your wife's speedy recovery and return, Ric.
Suzanne Blom
"Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
news:hfk1hb$5bk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>
>> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice, but,
>> yes, if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon slice out
>> of my drink and eat it all soggy.
>
> Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
>
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Oh. I got rid of my sense of embarrassment for the most part. All it
does is get in the way.
Suzanne Blom
> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>> news:hfk1hb$5bk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>
>>>> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice, but,
>>>> yes, if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon slice out
>>>> of my drink and eat it all soggy.
>>> Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
>>>
>> In some cases, I would like to die of embarrassment.
>
> Oh. I got rid of my sense of embarrassment for the most part. All it does
> is get in the way.
>
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
> news:hfm67c$lgt$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>>> news:hfk1hb$5bk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice, but,
>>>>> yes, if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon slice out
>>>>> of my drink and eat it all soggy.
>>>> Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
>>>>
>>> In some cases, I would like to die of embarrassment.
>> Oh. I got rid of my sense of embarrassment for the most part. All it does
>> is get in the way.
>>
> It's that "for the most part." Every now and then it comes after one.
>
>
Well, yes, but for me it's only for things like having discovered a
major inconsistency in something I've written. Eating? That's my food,
my way of eating. Hey, are you going to eat that?
Ric Locke
Oh, yes. But not until I'm ready for bed. Warm wine and soldering irons
do not play well together.
Regards,
Ric
Ric Locke
Thanks for the good wishes.
I don't have nearly enough solar panels up to do any good; I can run a
couple of 8-watt fluorescents for a couple of hours, and that's about
it. Running a generator costs more than buying power from TXU, but then
I don't have to buy a transformer.
Regards,
Ric
Eric Ammadon
>
>"Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>news:hfm67c$lgt$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>>> news:hfk1hb$5bk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice, but,
>>>>> yes, if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon slice out
>>>>> of my drink and eat it all soggy.
>>>> Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
>>>>
>>> In some cases, I would like to die of embarrassment.
>>
>> Oh. I got rid of my sense of embarrassment for the most part. All it does
>> is get in the way.
>>
>It's that "for the most part." Every now and then it comes after one.
Embarassment is what people feel before they realize that the toilet
paper of him who scorns is not flushed clean and white.
"Would you like this booger, I see you are so pure as to have none of
your own", asked the reeking bum as he removed an index finger from
his nostril and returned to foraging in the trashcan, patting it
lovingly on the side because it did not judge his hunger as beneath
its dignity.
Instead of answering the obviously rhetorical question, the elegant
gentleman shuddered and continued through the alleyway to reach his
gleaming black Mercedes, which always comforted him through its
perfection, and found that it had been mercilessley scraped along the
entire left side with the corner of a brick; he knew it had been done
with the corner of a brick because he could see remnants of gleaming
black paint there on the corner of the brick, which rested inelegantly
on the white leather of the driver's seat, amid shards of glass.
Emotions confused, unsure whether he ought to feel shock that anyone
would despoil such perfection, or fear that they might return from the
shadows and hurt him, his anger rose until he was completely owned by
the impotent rage.
Little did he know that his scorn had condemned him to a series of
unfortunate incidents that could only be considered bad luck, and that
within the year he would recall the bum's question as he sought his
own dinner.
Eric Ammadon
Chances are good that you already have bought a transformer, or that
somebody has, and that it was rolled invisibly into the price of your
property.
All of which is irrelevant and unimportant, if you live in an average
house it would cost you much more than the price of a transformer to
set it up to run on solar.
People seem mostly unaware of how much electricity they use. At the
moment my entire house, including this computer I'm writing from, is
using less electricity than a single 100-watt light bulb. But then I
designed and built it to use a minimum of energy, and the whole
project was a lot of work.
If you ever decide to go offgrid let me know, maybe some of my
mistakes can be helpful. Do stay warm in the meantime (it's -4f
outside at the moment, hopefully it's warmer than that in Texas).
Suzanne Blom
> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>> news:hfm67c$lgt$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:hfk1hb$5bk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice,
>>>>>> but, yes, if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon
>>>>>> slice out of my drink and eat it all soggy.
>>>>> Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
>>>>>
>>>> In some cases, I would like to die of embarrassment.
>>> Oh. I got rid of my sense of embarrassment for the most part. All it
>>> does is get in the way.
>>>
>> It's that "for the most part." Every now and then it comes after one.
>
> Well, yes, but for me it's only for things like having discovered a major
> inconsistency in something I've written.
If it isn't published, that can be fixed before too many people notice. If
it has already been published, yeah, I'll probably be embarrassed, but other
people will have had a hand in it.
Eating? That's my food,
> my way of eating. Hey, are you going to eat that?
>
With fans, yeah. With fellow tax professionals, not always. With the
editor/publisher/agent I want to impress....
Ric Locke
Thanks. I have a better handle than most on my energy usage and
requirements; it was a matter of considerable interest some time ago,
and it is, after all, a matter of kitchen arithmetic. If I ever get the
chance to build my dream house it will have a number of energy saving
features, but it won't be green unless that's this weeks special on
house paint.
I have no burning desire to go off grid unless the grid goes off, and if
it does I'm sure there will be other problems to deal with.
27F this morning, which is the Ice Age down here. Jai the horse was
extremely frisky, dancing around the paddock when I came to feed him and
kicking up his heels. He was born in Michigan, so I suppose it makes
sense. Me, I was bundled to the ears and not enjoying it much.
Regards,
Ric
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
> news:hfmi6h$6oq$2...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>>> news:hfm67c$lgt$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:hfk1hb$5bk$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>>>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well, I'd rather have it on the side so I can eat my lemon slice,
>>>>>>> but, yes, if I think I can get away with it, I will fish the lemon
>>>>>>> slice out of my drink and eat it all soggy.
>>>>>> Why wouldn't you be able to get away with it?
>>>>>>
>>>>> In some cases, I would like to die of embarrassment.
>>>> Oh. I got rid of my sense of embarrassment for the most part. All it
>>>> does is get in the way.
>>>>
>>> It's that "for the most part." Every now and then it comes after one.
>> Well, yes, but for me it's only for things like having discovered a major
>> inconsistency in something I've written.
>
> If it isn't published, that can be fixed before too many people notice. If
> it has already been published, yeah, I'll probably be embarrassed, but other
> people will have had a hand in it.
I'm embarrassed even if NO ONE else has seen it, because consistency of
the universe is one of my primary bugaboos.
>
> Eating? That's my food,
>> my way of eating. Hey, are you going to eat that?
>>
> With fans, yeah. With fellow tax professionals, not always. With the
> editor/publisher/agent I want to impress....
>
>
I'm planning on impressing them with my writing. They have to put up
with that, they don't have to put up with my eating habits if that's
beyond their tolerance.
Then, I got published by flaming Eric Flint, so my approach may be
somewhat unusual.
Eric Ammadon
It mostly is, but you can't always trust what's on the labels. Some
kind of actual measurement can tell you a lot more than (and
occasionally something entirely different from) what the labels say.
I think though that even reading the labels will make it clear that
garage door openers, dishwashers, clothes washers/driers, and
forced-air heaters are high-cost devices.
>If I ever get the
>chance to build my dream house it will have a number of energy saving
>features, but it won't be green unless that's this weeks special on
>house paint.
Yah, I didn't design and build this place to be "green" (I'm not big
on political correctness), I designed and built it to be cheap to live
in.
>I have no burning desire to go off grid unless the grid goes off, and if
>it does I'm sure there will be other problems to deal with.
I don't see being offgrid as a political correctness badge, but I do
see the chances of the grid going off and staying off for a while as
higher than minimal. I'd rather do a little work and be comfortably
paranoid than be naive and (in this climate) frozen dead.
>27F this morning, which is the Ice Age down here. Jai the horse was
>extremely frisky, dancing around the paddock when I came to feed him and
>kicking up his heels. He was born in Michigan, so I suppose it makes
>sense. Me, I was bundled to the ears and not enjoying it much.
It would be very cool if human bodies worked with the same apparently
effortless grace as those of animals in terms of handling low
temperatures. Maybe they did originally but we civilized that
capability away, maybe we're just not up to spec.
I was out yesterday afternoon splitting some wood and shovelling some
snow, but the wind turbine was making free electricity and at 5f when
the wind turbine is working it's time to go inside.
Ric Locke
That's a matter of attitude and philosophy. If energy is cheap, it's not
a problem to use machines to do your work for you, especially if the
work is disagreeable (e.g., dishwashers and clothes washers and driers).
I prefer to use hand screwdrivers whenever possible, for instance, but
as I get older I find more and more uses for the 24V battery drill with
screwdriver bit.
If you prefer to split wood rather than paying the gas company for heat,
that's a preference, not a moral choice. I say "more power to you" right
up to the point where you want to send goons with guns to enforce the
choice while claiming it's a moral or ethical necessity.
>>If I ever get the
>>chance to build my dream house it will have a number of energy saving
>>features, but it won't be green unless that's this weeks special on
>>house paint.
>
> Yah, I didn't design and build this place to be "green" (I'm not big
> on political correctness), I designed and built it to be cheap to live
> in.
>
>>I have no burning desire to go off grid unless the grid goes off, and if
>>it does I'm sure there will be other problems to deal with.
>
> I don't see being offgrid as a political correctness badge, but I do
> see the chances of the grid going off and staying off for a while as
> higher than minimal. I'd rather do a little work and be comfortably
> paranoid than be naive and (in this climate) frozen dead.
Again, that's your choice, and I even encourage it. It's nice to think
that there'll be a few literate folks left after the Apochralypse (no, I
didn't misspell that) rather than just the masses of people who never
learned anything different. It's the proselyters for worship of the
Goddess Gaia I want to strangle. As James Donald points out elsewhere,
religion isn't dying, although Christianity is diminishing somewhat,
being replaced by a surface-secular belief in TRVTH that's more like the
snake-handlers and speakers in tongues than anything else, and I don't
care much for those folks whatever deity they worship.
>
>>27F this morning, which is the Ice Age down here. Jai the horse was
>>extremely frisky, dancing around the paddock when I came to feed him and
>>kicking up his heels. He was born in Michigan, so I suppose it makes
>>sense. Me, I was bundled to the ears and not enjoying it much.
>
> It would be very cool if human bodies worked with the same apparently
> effortless grace as those of animals in terms of handling low
> temperatures. Maybe they did originally but we civilized that
> capability away, maybe we're just not up to spec.
Oh, sure. Humans don't have body hair, so we can't adapt to cold as well
as furry and feathered critters do, but it's largely a matter of comfort
rather than necessity. Indians wandered all latitudes of North America
protected from the cold by a layer of grease (plus whatever dirt adhered
to that), and their metabolisms weren't any different from yours or
mine.
>
> I was out yesterday afternoon splitting some wood and shovelling some
> snow, but the wind turbine was making free electricity and at 5f when
> the wind turbine is working it's time to go inside.
One of the reasons I like the Celsius/centigrade scale is that it
matches my comfort levels in 5 degree increments:
40 -- too damn hot
35 -- a little too hot
30 -- about right
25 -- pleasantly cool
20 -- a little too cool
15 -- starting to get cold
10 -- too damn cold
anything below 10 -- "ditto"
Regards,
Ric
Suzanne Blom
don't quite match up. Revisions are to make the world work. --I'm an
evolutionary god and I need more than seven days.
>>
>> Eating? That's my food,
>>> my way of eating. Hey, are you going to eat that?
>>>
>> With fans, yeah. With fellow tax professionals, not always. With the
>> editor/publisher/agent I want to impress....
>
> I'm planning on impressing them with my writing. They have to put up with
> that, they don't have to put up with my eating habits if that's beyond
> their tolerance.
>
> Then, I got published by flaming Eric Flint, so my approach may be
> somewhat unusual.
>
Eric Ammadon
Ric, I offered the possibility of some informational assistance should
you think it might be useful. Your choices are entirely your own.
The offer stands.
>>>If I ever get the
>>>chance to build my dream house it will have a number of energy saving
>>>features, but it won't be green unless that's this weeks special on
>>>house paint.
>>
>> Yah, I didn't design and build this place to be "green" (I'm not big
>> on political correctness), I designed and built it to be cheap to live
>> in.
>>
>>>I have no burning desire to go off grid unless the grid goes off, and if
>>>it does I'm sure there will be other problems to deal with.
>>
>> I don't see being offgrid as a political correctness badge, but I do
>> see the chances of the grid going off and staying off for a while as
>> higher than minimal. I'd rather do a little work and be comfortably
>> paranoid than be naive and (in this climate) frozen dead.
>
>Again, that's your choice, and I even encourage it. It's nice to think
>that there'll be a few literate folks left after the Apochralypse (no, I
>didn't misspell that) rather than just the masses of people who never
>learned anything different. It's the proselyters for worship of the
>Goddess Gaia I want to strangle. As James Donald points out elsewhere,
>religion isn't dying, although Christianity is diminishing somewhat,
>being replaced by a surface-secular belief in TRVTH that's more like the
>snake-handlers and speakers in tongues than anything else, and I don't
>care much for those folks whatever deity they worship.
"Let me say this about that, and let me be clear". <g> Fuck 'em.
>>>27F this morning, which is the Ice Age down here. Jai the horse was
>>>extremely frisky, dancing around the paddock when I came to feed him and
>>>kicking up his heels. He was born in Michigan, so I suppose it makes
>>>sense. Me, I was bundled to the ears and not enjoying it much.
>>
>> It would be very cool if human bodies worked with the same apparently
>> effortless grace as those of animals in terms of handling low
>> temperatures. Maybe they did originally but we civilized that
>> capability away, maybe we're just not up to spec.
>
>Oh, sure. Humans don't have body hair, so we can't adapt to cold as well
>as furry and feathered critters do, but it's largely a matter of comfort
>rather than necessity. Indians wandered all latitudes of North America
>protected from the cold by a layer of grease (plus whatever dirt adhered
>to that), and their metabolisms weren't any different from yours or
>mine.
Your metabolism maybe. Individual metabolisms vary a good deal, and
they also take time to adjust. I've been living here for the better
part of a decade and still acclimatizing. Though I spent a few
winters in the northern midwest as a kid, for most of my life my body
has needed to learn how not to overheat, and standing it on its head
from there takes time. I'm better able to deal with it now that when
we first moved here, but nowhere near ready to go running nekkid into
the woods. Those indians you mention grew up with the same world
they'd live in, the ones who survived to grow up -- there's probably a
reason they measured age in "winters".
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Yes, but As You Know Bob...er, Suzanne, I am a "write once, I'm done"
writer. For years I thought this "first draft" thing was makework
bullcrap our teachers invented to keep us busy writing the same thing
three or four times. So an inconsistency in my stuff is
AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHH!!!! (in the Charlie Brown sense; it occurs to
me that that particular scream of Charlie's was a close relative of
Homer Simpson's "D'OH!")
Ric Locke
[snip old thread]
[Eric]
> Ric, I offered the possibility of some informational assistance should
> you think it might be useful. Your choices are entirely your own.
> The offer stands.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
[snip]
>
> "Let me say this about that, and let me be clear". <g> Fuck 'em.
Yay. I agree.
> Those indians you mention grew up with the same world
> they'd live in, the ones who survived to grow up -- there's probably a
> reason they measured age in "winters".
Got it in one. That's why I sent Texas Utilities $270 this morning.
Regards,
Ric
Eric Ammadon
>Got it in one. That's why I sent Texas Utilities $270 this morning.
Oddly enough that's the same dollar amount that I paid this morning
for a six-month supply of propane.
Suzanne Blom
Your habits are so different than mine that they keep sliding out of my
brain, which says impossible!
Eric Ammadon
> Then, I got published by flaming Eric Flint, so my approach may be
>somewhat unusual.
Crap isn't published because of a few flames. You may have gotten
some attention by flaming, but if nobody thought your crap was
publishable non-crap, it would never have made it out of the pile.
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
It's a good thing your brain isn't a villain, because it would have
just sealed its doom!
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
True to an extent, but the publishing industry is like the proverbial
mule. "First, you have to get its attention..."
Suzanne Blom
>>> Yes, but As You Know Bob...er, Suzanne, I am a "write once, I'm done"
>>> writer. For years I thought this "first draft" thing was makework
>>> bullcrap our teachers invented to keep us busy writing the same thing
>>> three or four times. So an inconsistency in my stuff is
>>> AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!
>>>
>> Ah, yes. Work habits. In fact, I had temporarily (temporally?)
>> forgotten. Your habits are so different than mine that they keep sliding
>> out of my brain, which says impossible!
> It's a good thing your brain isn't a villain, because it would have just
> sealed its doom!
>
the first person to go stark raving mad loses.
Bob Throllop
> Is it just that I don't get around much any more, or have restaurants
> given up serving pats of butter in a bed of ice?
Beats me. I don't get around much any more either. I missed the
Saturday dance too. (I might have gone, but what for?)
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
>>> Ah, yes. Work habits. In fact, I had temporarily (temporally?)
>>> forgotten. Your habits are so different than mine that they keep sliding
>>> out of my brain, which says impossible!
>> It's a good thing your brain isn't a villain, because it would have just
>> sealed its doom!
>>
> Well, I was thinking yesterday that we could write something together, and
> the first person to go stark raving mad loses.
I think that'd be a guaranteed loss for you, because I'd just say I was
done when you were getting started. :)
Well, or a guaranteed win, since some think I'm crazy already. But I'll
show them! I'll show them ALL!
Suzanne Blom
I would write, & you'd no doubt go mad(der) waiting for me to finish those
parts.
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
> news:hg18cf$ldc$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Suzanne Blom wrote:
>>> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in message
>>> news:hfu450$etq$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>>> Ah, yes. Work habits. In fact, I had temporarily (temporally?)
>>>>> forgotten. Your habits are so different than mine that they keep
>>>>> sliding out of my brain, which says impossible!
>>>> It's a good thing your brain isn't a villain, because it would have just
>>>> sealed its doom!
>>>>
>>> Well, I was thinking yesterday that we could write something together,
>>> and the first person to go stark raving mad loses.
>> I think that'd be a guaranteed loss for you, because I'd just say I was
>> done when you were getting started. :)
>>
>> Well, or a guaranteed win, since some think I'm crazy already. But I'll
>> show them! I'll show them ALL!
>>
> Ah, but, if we're writing it together, then some of it has to be stuff that
> I would write, & you'd no doubt go mad(der) waiting for me to finish those
> parts.
>
>
Nah. Just send me the first draft. I'll incorporate it into what I'm
writing. We're done!
Suzanne Blom
be my sig line.