Y’know Jane and I have devolved, this spring, from diet to just ‘being pretty careful about what we eat’ —and going back on the diet any time we pile on a pound or two.
Well, the wedding was a wee bit indulgent. Wine, champagne—that’s ok: there’s a limit after which you’ll stop. [One hopes!] But cake, icing, tortillas and barbecue, roasted chicken, nachos, etc…especially the cake and tortillas…well, we overate. And outright refined sugar is as foreign to our diets as it was to, well, all of humanity until the 1700’s.
Buttercream icing. Raspberry filling in chocolate cake…
Oh, my.
So, well, I’ve had a very iffy tummy all day Sunday, Monday… Tuesday I declared I wanted to go to Hong Kong Express for lunch. This is a tiny restaurant, a lot resembling a doublewide trailer, that serves dim sum and the best Chinese menu in town, as we see it, probably the best I’ve ever had. The seating is about 10 benches and two long tables and wine service is a glass-doored fridge standing in the dining room. That sort of place.
I had a plateful of the all-you can eat, with iced tea—and was cured. Iffy tummy was happy. And remains so.
What was it in the balance achieved? I have no idea. But I feel a whole lot better!
“Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my!”
How odd. I can understand feeling out-of-sorts after all the unaccustomed sugar but Chinese fixed it? Love dim sum.
Funny how the body works things out !
Still delighted for you and Jane, you deserve some indulgences.
One should be allowed to overindulge at one’s own wedding.
BBQ and tortillas? Now that’s livin’! The cake, mmmm.
Hah, Chinese food today? That sounds awesome. 🙂 (I have not been around to find a new favorite Chinese restaurant.)
I think I know what I’m doing for supper tonight, then. Store-bought, but it’ll do.
Chinese food is typically “lighter” to me, or less “filling” through the day. Possibly eating carefully this way gave your body time to reset, and used up some of the over-supply of sugar, and therefore balanced out. However it did it, that sounds like a fine lunch!
Buttercream, chocolate with a perfectly decadent blend of raspberry filling? Oh, yeah I have no problem at all understanding a gluttinous response. That’s practically salacious. And totally acceptable for a wedding :D. Good to know about the Chinese food and the restaurant. We really like Chinese! And one of these days, we wanna head north.
OTW, could you ask Jane how much fabric she needs to make shirts and trousers for both boys?
Anyone need an actress to play Morgaine? Dichen Lachman played Anya, leader of the Grounders, in last week’s episode of The 100, and may return in the remaining three episodes of this season, next week through June 11th. It seems she has also had other SF&F genre roles in TV and movies, including on Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse and Being Human and Torchwood.
Ms. Lachman’s character Anya enters on horseback, a very haughty leader of a warrior clan, and in a subdued way, pulls this off well. She has high cheekbones and a long, narrow facial structure. For her Anya character, this was accentuated by eye makeup of a style influenced by punk, Asian, and other historical styles. Her IMDB info says she was raised in Kathmandu, Nepal and in Australia, the daughter of a Nepalese mother and Australian father.
The 100 airs Wednesday nights 9:00 Eastern, 8:00 Central. While I have mixed opinions about The 100, plot-wise (I have not yet read the book, I’ve only seen the TV series), Ms. Lachman’s character Anya made me think right away of Morgaine.
Just in case!
and she’s 5’7-1/2″ tall, which might be a bit short for Morgaine, and also who’s playing Vanye, but special effects can handle that, especially if they use mostly shots of her on horseback, or above the waist shots for close-ups, or have something of smaller scale next to her in a longer shot……perspective, perspective……hmmmmmm (BTW, her name is pronounced “Deechin” and depending on what she would let them do to her hair to match Morgaine’s…..
I searched Google Images for ( The 100 Anya ) and for ( Dichen Lachman ) and for the latter, found photos with black hair and blond hair, mostly straight hair, a few wavy perms. So she can carry off both really well. I’d guess her natural hair color is black / dark brown.
Hmm, height, yeah, that could be a problem. 5ft. 7 1/2in, huh? Hey, she’d be slightly taller than my mom was. … And she’s about half a head taller than Eliza Taylor, who plays Clarke, the lead character on The 100.
(BTW, while I am still watching and interested in The 100, and will watch next season too — I have a love/hate relationship going on with plot and logic holes, which IMHO abound in the story and backstory. Still, I’m enjoying the show. But I find myself wanting to rewrite for the plot misses. Worth a watch, though. Just know there are a few things that will make you wonder why none of the characters noticed this or that. This is a show I really want to like, the characters are engaging, the situations are interesting, but there are small things that make me go, “Wait, how come the other guys don’t already know and use those? Wait, where are the support ships?” And so on. So, a love/hate thing with the details. The show writers haven’t thought it through fully, IMHO. But I’m watching! Mostly liking it, too.)
One of my favorite pastimes is watching movies or TV shows based on a military theme, and then pick apart all of the things that are wrong, from insignia, to ranks, to terminology, to specialties, etc.. A few friends of mine and I were discussing this on a FB thread, since we were all communicators in the Navy. “Roger, wilco!” is one that’s totally wrong. “Over and out!” is another that always gets me. “As you were” is misused at times, too. Then you look at insignia and wonder how those people got to where they are in such a short time, which has absolutely no bearing on the actual time it takes to achieve such status in the military. Ah, screenwriters sometimes listen to the technical experts, but then again, directors have their own ideas, too.
One thing I haven’t quite gathered about “out” is whether, in practice, the radio goes off immediately, you wait for the other party to agree, “Out,” or something else.
Confusion reigns in a lot of SF. While a great show, Babylon 5 had the odd major as a warship captain.
I would complain about ship designations, but the USN is pretty confused itself. Littoral Combat Ship? Really?
Do you have a link to the pictures? I’d love to see them.
And on a totally different subject, I just found out about CAMELOPARDALIDS meteor shower that is supposed to have 200 to 1000 showers during the hours of 2am to 4am EDT this coming Saturday, May 24. It’s said the best place to see is east of the Mississipi or in California and that it might not be so good in the Pacific Northwest due to precipitation. But NASA’s website will host a live chat from 11pm Friday thru 3am Saturday. I’m east of the Mississippi – I’ll be looking for it!
@Jane: Not registered at Harmonies, but isn’t that sky blue jacket on Wiishu a “cutaway” rather than a tuxedo?
I mean, I have to ask because I’m very much a blue-jeans sort of guy! As dressed-up as I can get is a navy Blazer. The suit I don’t know why I still have hasn’t been worn in several decades and I’m sure doesn’t fit.
Uhmmm… I believe that’s a tailcoat!
Yes, perhaps you’re right. A cutaway isn’t cut square across at the waist, as that appears to be.
Something for fun: the zero-g martini glass!
^ That is very Jetsons, very cool, and hmm, tell people there’s a watering hole in space, and they’ll find or make a way to go there! Haha, good idea!
Make the glass clear, maybe with fluorescent white, smoke, or color in the plastic / composite, similar to a clear fluorescent orange clipboard I have. Hard to lose track of that, and it looks cool.
Yet I also wonder, what if one upends, inverts the glass? Put the sphere on top, make it a bit larger or add a second cone there, use the wider cone as the base, and you have a different design that could still, with tweaking (make the base cone flatter) read as “martini glass.” …Martian martini glass?…
Liking the idea, though. But how do you get to the olive? Or other cocktail garnish? Hmm…. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Will is always into things. Fire at Will! (Poor Will.) Whip poor Will. Where there’s a Will there’s a way. … Will must be rather headstrong, yes? 😉 😛 😀
…Continuing with the “word association” silliness (yes, started by you, BCS!), Scottish municipal governments (at least Edinburgh’s) stencil “Post no Bills” on the temporary, plywood walls that get erected around huge pits and other construction projects. I always wanted to add “or Williams” and felt sorry for Bill, singled out so.
Happy Memorial Weekend observed, everyone in the States who have this Monday as a holiday. It’s cool and damp here in the Boston area, just right for a long day to be spent planting marigolds, coreopsis, bergena (“Pig’s Squeak”! bought because of the name), two camelia bushes and a related tea bush (!) and much more into the garden today. Hope I can find the room in the proper soil and exposure in our smallish yard. Enthusiasm at the garden center and when ordering on line always outstrips actual open space.
Speedwell by the mailbox and the cable inlet,moneywort by the doors, sweet honesty by the windows, thyme just about wherever it will grow; I understand the appeal of plant names and puns!
I’m trying to grow creeping thyme in a portion of the front yard as ground cover. To that end, I seeded a 10’x10′ patch last week, and filled in edges with a batch of Australian seeds and some catnip seeds for good measure. “If you set it, the cats will get it; if you sow it, the cats won’t know it” goes the folk saying about catnip, but the cats have already decided that the hoed and raked section of the yard is a nice alternative litterbox, so the seeds may have a bit of trouble either way. This is the section of yard where I tried to smother out the grass with tarps and trash bags, which only partly worked; even after hoeing up and yanking a multitude of dead and moribund grass clumps, I’m still getting shoots which I must vigilantly remove.
Creeping thyme does well in sunny, well-draining soil without a lot of other, esp. tall competition. I haven’t managed it in my place well, mostly because of the competition in what sunny areas I have in my narrow, East/West yard, but my Mom, whose soil is mostly sand, does it well in her open yard.
I’m taking a break right now from what has turned into a marathon session of scouting out little, open niches to put stuff and having some cold pizza for late lunch. Next up is the Pig’s Squeak and the Tea bush.
Don’t get too oink-cious about the Pig’s Squeak.
Ow, I think I strained something. Credulity, at least…. 😉
Nice to know I’m not the only one who’s noticed Bill or Will has a penchant for getting into trouble!
When I’m sick with anything dealing with the stomach, a good dose of Tex Mex cures me quickly. I have to watch the wheat and keep the corn carbs to a minimum now, but it still does the trick and kills the nasty bugs in my system.
@Walt, when I use a radio (KC6NLX), the term “Over” means, ‘I’m done talking and it’s your turn.’ If I say, “Out”, then I’m done talking and you do not need to reply. If I say, “Roger”, it means ‘I understand’. If I say, “Wilco”, it means ‘I understand and I will comply.’ So saying “Over and out” means ‘I’m done talking and it’s your turn, but there’s no need for your reply, especially if you’ve asked a question, or require a reply. With “roger wilco”, you’re just repeating yourself. “Roger” is an acknowledgement, either to an order, or can be used as an “affirmative” response. “Wilco” means you’re acknowledging and obeying an order given to you. The words are used alone, not together.
Babylon 5 had one scene where Captain Sheridan walked onto the hangar bay deck where the pilots were all shooting the breeze. Someone shouted “Attention on deck”, and he said, “As you were.” They all lined up at attention in front of their Starfuries. Um, “As you were” is used when you give an order but either determine that the order is not necessary, or is in error, or you’ve told someone to turn left when you meant to say right, things like that. Had Sheridan said, “At ease”, they would have still been in front of their Starfuries, but wouldn’t have had to be in that very uncomfortable posture of attention.
Littoral combat ship, shallow drafts, multi-purpose weapon platforms, designed to get in close to shore and provide gunfire support to troops. In previous wars, that job was done by destroyers, which are now much larger than their predecessors, have drafts nearly 30 feet, and usually only one gun mounted on the forecastle. The LCS fills that gap, as well as the gap vacated by the guided missile frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry class. The LCS is also fast enough to pursue smaller boats, such as pirates, and the odd belligerent country on the eastern shore of the Persian Gulf might use.
As for the ranks on Babylon 5, I can’t help you there. I’m not sure that Straczynski knew himself. Too many screenwriters think they know enough about the military to get their show past the viewers……NCIS strikes me as one of those shows…Navy JAG was another.
Sorry, one quick answer that I skipped. When I say “Out”, it’s either that the radio is being turned off, or I’m tuning to another frequency and wouldn’t hear what the other person said anyway. This way, it’s clear to the other person that they would be talking to dead air if they responded, so don’t bother, I’m not listening…;)
Thank you, Joe. “Out” seems a bit abrupt is all. Am I correct that “over” indicates you expect a reply while the other prowords do not?
Roger Wilco has been a tongue in cheek fictional character. Maybe that’s why it keeps rising from the dead.
Re: LCS, I just don’t see the point in goofing up the hull class system that everyone’s used to.
In some respects, such as where you’ve been given an order, at least as far as the military is concerned, such as being told to make for a particular station, you’d say, “Roger. Out.”, meaning that you have understood. The idea for military radio circuits is brevity, clarity, security. It’s not really abrupt, it just means you’ve got nothing else to add to the conversation. Military circuits don’t get turned off, you’re still required to monitor that circuit in case the officer in command has further orders, or there is a relevant circumstance that requires you to use that circuit again. I guess the closest parallel would be “See you later”, whereas “Over” might be similar to “Get it?”.
As for the LCS, there are a LOT of retired sailors who would agree with you……;) There have been problems with the Freedom and Independence, and they’re not built the same. One has a different mission than the other, and different capabilities. I still think the best multi-purpose platform the Navy has is the destroyer. Guns, missiles, torpedoes, depth charges, and the AEGIS destroyers have capabilities that none of my ships ever had, even though I served onboard two cruisers, and rode a couple of destroyers, a frigate, and an aircraft carrier.
Your WP account can be easily hacked if you logon wirelessly.
That’s the recent discovery revealed by Yan Zhu, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who works on the HTTPS Everywhere and Privacy Badger extensions. Writing on her personal blog (and first reported by Ars Technica), Zhu noticed that WordPress.com was sending a login confirmation cookie to the user’s browser unencrypted.
The cookie, called “wordpress_logged_in,” is what WordPress.com uses to determine whether a user is logged in or not. If the cookie is set, then WordPress won’t bother to ask you for your login credentials again until the cookie expires.
It’s a common feature that almost every major online service uses so that you don’t have to constantly enter your username and password every time you return to a site. But because WordPress.com sends the cookie in plain text, it can be easily grabbed by a hacker if you login over an open Wi-Fi network.
Once a hacker has the login confirmation cookie, the bad actor can hijack a user’s account to publish blog posts, create new blog sites, view private posts and blog stats, and even post comments to other blogs as the hijacked user.
You know, that sounds like lots of bother for not much fun to me. I suppose I must just lack whatever emotion makes folks want to do that.
Hacking hasn’t been for fun in at least a decade, maybe two. It’s been with criminal intent, and that’s why the public needs to combat it.
Traditionally, hacking is programming for fun. The word has been misused more than used correctly in the media.
I remember back in the early 90s reading about that in one or two of the computer magazines….the media took the term “hacking” and used it when the actual term that was applicable to those people who try to disrupt computer systems is “cracking”.
Hackers were known for trying to make programs on their own without having the formal training that most programmers would have gotten in Computer Science……