Category Archives: No/Low-tech

Just finished three days at the San Francisco Fancy Food Show, and I hope (pray) that I’m done with conferences for the year.  The show went great for Cocoa Designs (my wife’s chocolate business), and I had a couple of friendly drop-bys (no hop-ons though).  It’s actually a very fun show, especially in the last hour when virtually every booth is either giving away their supplies, or trading for other wares.  I walked away with oodles of oils, vinegars, jams (and jellies), crackers, chips, and a nice bottle of port. 

Funny coincidence #1: John Dvorak (yes, of PC Magazine fame) was walking the show with his camera.  We talked a little chocolate, but mostly tech.

Funny coincidence #2: I saw a guy walk by with the CES press bag and we chatted for a moment.  He informed me that rather than leave my bag (which I didn’t much care for – two zippers jammed during the show) in my hotel room, I could’ve sold it for upwards of $200!  Oops!

Funny coincidence #3: A woman staffing the booth next to ours actually spends much of her time in tech, working with a consumer electronics distributor.  We talked tech.

Funny coincidence #4: My CES tips were pretty valid for this show.  Ironically, I caught a cold.

Updated: first post said 2006.  that is how out of it I was!

Sorry for the lack of posts past few days, been traveling and prepping for the most important day of the year: Thanksgiving 2006, or “the one where Jeremy smokes a whole turkey (and doesn’t get high).”  My beloved wife bought me a BBQ smoker for my birthday this past year, and I’m putting it to work tomorrow for gobble gobble time.I’ve read a few turkey smoking recipes although at the end of the day it comes down to these simple steps:

1. Brine the turkey (I generally go for a very simple brine myself – while I am certain that brining matters, I am uncertain that different brines have a major impact on the flavor) overnight.  I’d prefer a full 24 hours, but since my time machine is still on the fritz, I’m going with about 14.
2. Air-dry the turkey.  Again, this would ideally be almost a full day just resting in the fridge, but it’ll probably be a pat-down and about 2 hours at the most.
3. Rub the turkey.  Don’t be filthy people. I’m going to use roughly the same recipe I do for chickens, which is a spice mix combined with enough olive oil to give a paste-like consistency.  For my devoted readers, I happily provide JT’s Super-Mega-Awesome Chicken Rub Mix freely here:
   1 part Paprika
   1 part Chili powder
   1.5 parts Salt (I like to use both fine and coarse salts)
   1 part freshly ground Black pepper
   1 part cumin
   1 part dried oregano (can be substituted for another dry herb as you’d like)
   1/2 part sugar (or brown sugar)
   1/2 part onion powder
4. Smoke the sucker.  I’m using apple wood chunks.  I’ve read that about 25-35 minutes per pound is appropriate, so our bird should be good in about 5-6 hours.
5. Eat.
6. Drink.
7. Be Merry.
8. Fall asleep.

Click here for pictures from my cousin and I cooking a 25-pound bird a few years ago. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Last week I saw and reviewed Borat, and mused on which scenes were real or staged.  Turns out this is a fairly popular topic out there, and I’ve got a few quick updates:

• Pam Anderson scene: Probably staged (although not definitive).
• The prostitute: staged and is a known actress.
• Frat boys: real, and they are suing.  Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, boys.
• Rodeo scene: frighteningly real.  This article (from Salon) has a ton of in-depth commentary on the “is Borat staged?” topic, and was a great read.
• Dinner party. real, chock full o Southern hospitality, ‘Bama-style.
• Etiquette lesson. real, although apparently the teacher had her doubts.

Incidentally, for the least useful source of material on the topic, head on over to Yahoo! Answers.

Tomorrow, I’ll go to my local balloting place which is conveniently located 2 blocks from my apartment.  I’ll walk there with the “prep” ballot I’ve already put together, which I’ll carry mostly due to an increasingly poor short term memory (yes on 87).  And there I’ll likely meander through lines, fill out some form incorrectly, then eventually find a place to fill out my ballot.  I have a lot of confidence that I won’t accidentally follow the wrong dotted line, and I predict no hanging chads.

But that’s just our civic responsibility.  That’s what we’re supposed to do.  David Cohn over at NewAssignment (a new web site dedicated to citizen journalism) put together a list of how we can go above and beyond our basic responsibilities, and actually participate in the process.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

• Video The Vote is an organized effort, using camera phones and video, to cover any mishaps voters encounter this Tuesday.
• The The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism to capture, post and share photographs of democracy in action by documenting the local voting experience. NewAssignment.Net consulted on the project.
• Along with independent live blogging networks news organizations like the BBC, CNN and others are relying on citizen journalists to get full coverage of this years election. They can’t be everywhere, but we already are.

I’m bringing along my digital camera, and I look forward to doing my job as a citizen.  For newer readers, I only became a US citizen earlier this year, and I’m glad to have my chance to fulfill the commitment I made.  I hope you do as well.

Take a look at David’s list – it’s even in an easy-to-consume “Top 9” format!

UPDATE: if you are one of the, say 95% of the mobile phone owners in this country whose phone is capable of storing or sharing video, take a look at the “Veek the Vote” service.  Read the comments below by Kemble and Rodger for more info, or skip that and just go check out the site.  Just be sure to vote tomorrow!

Along with about 10 million college kids, I saw Borat tonight with some friends.  Despite trying to buy tickets on the Interwebs in the middle of the day, the best we could do was the 9:55 show in Daly City!  Here’s my spoiler-free review:

What is the movie?
It’s funny.  Laugh-out-loud funny.  Kinda almost nauseating funny.  Occasionally very squeamish funny.  A wee bit disturbing/disgusting funny. Often uncomfortably funny.  Completely politically incorrect funny.  Overall, it’s just plain funny. 

What isn’t the movie?
Clever, witty, deep, sensitive, brilliant, hysterical, thoughtful, or hygienic (according to IMDB, “The suit Sacha Baron Cohen wears when playing Borat has deliberately never been cleaned.”). 

But it might just have you fall out of your seat laughing.  If you just want to have a good time, and you can deal with 90-odd minutes of silly, then go see it.  It’s just that simple.

Mini-spoilers follow from this point (nothing to ruin a scene, but I will mention some scenes by name/location).

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Well, I’m no Thomas Hawk or anything, but I thought I did a decent job with a few pics…