It's Robert A. Heinlein's Future...

     We're just remixing it.  Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos?  D. D. Harriman.  Nehemiah Scudder?  Take your pick; there are plenty of candidates.

     And wouldn't you rather live in Heinlein's future than William L. Shirer's past?

Bipartisanship

     Indiana Democrat Senator Joe Donnelly and challenger Mike Braun agree on one thing: at last night's debate, they ignored Libertarian candidate Lucy Brenton.  She was making good points, but she might as well have not been in the room as Mr. Braun and Sen. Donnelly rehashed their campaign ads at one another.  Repeatedly asked by the moderator to stay on topic, they never strayed from their talking points.

     Remember Dems saying, "Listen to the women?"  Ms. Brenton might as well have been hollering down a well.  And while the GOP likes to claim they embody old-fashioned, chivalrous politeness, that didn't appear to apply to listening and responding to points made in a debate.  She said it best: "These two gentlemen are part of the problem," she remarked during the debate.

      I'm not impressed by either man.

      And I'm still voting for Lucy Brenton.

Another Week, Another Hurricane

     Didn't we -- and by "we," I mostly mean the southeastern U.S. -- already go through this just the week before last?

     Yes, we kind of did -- and now there's another one bearing down.  It's one right after another!  --Not exactly.  Florence blew in from the Atlantic in mid-September and now Michael has ducked by Cuba and is headed in from the Gulf towards north Florida.  In between them, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk and Leslie all whirled up and earned names.  Most of them never quite made hurricane status and the ones that did didn't hit the United States.  The dates are overlapping; the storms keep on brewing up.  It's not one thing after another, it's one thing on top of another.  The sea is vast and storm tracks are unpredictable. 

     Keep the areas on Hurricane Michael's path in your thoughts.  It could be ugly.

The Lasso Of...Truth?

     What doe s a "lie detector" detect?  Wired took a look at them and the answer is...maybe not a lot.

     I'd like to see a run-off between a polygraph and a good police detective.  People are pretty good lie detectors.  On the other hand, some people are extraordinarily good liars -- and the same coolness and "method acting" that lets such a person lie successfully to others would show nice, truthful responses on the machine.

     It's disappointing.  Who wouldn't like a reliable way to know when someone is lying?  And think of what it would do the political debates....  

Blogiversary

     Today is the eleventh anniversary of this blog!  

Rain? Heat? Humidity?

     We usually have toadstools and puffballs here and there.  This year, there's shelf fungus growing on one of the trees, that's how hot and humid it is.  Photos to follow, as soon as I get them from the camera.

     That will be after lawnmowing.

So Far Apart?

     Maybe.  And maybe not.  The politicians have certainly drawn up lines.  Regular people?  Perhaps not so much as it seems.

     An interesting take on our division from a writer at the Atlantic sheds, for once, more light than heat.

So...How About That Weather?

     Writing something about the Kavanaugh vote is tempting, but you know what?  It's essentially partisan.  Democrats are not going to vote to confirm him.  Republicans will.  A handful of politicians will dither, possibly sincerely, but most of the votes will have little if anything to do with the facts of his judicial or academic record.  As for the allegations concerning his behavior, to the extent that there are any hard facts to be found, they are filtered through partisan viewpoints, exacerbated by mutual rancor and Mr. Trump's inability to keep his mouth shut even when it would best serve him to do so.

     "Dumpster fire" is too kind a metaphor.

     The Senate will vote and move on to the next mess, the Press baying at their heels.

Superglued

     Yesterday, I pointed at a piece of equipment at work...and stuck a finger past the screen on an oversized "muffin fan" and into the blades.  Sliced across the tip of my left ring finger pretty good and it would not stop bleeding.

     So I had to go off to our company immediate-care provider, expecting stitches.  What I got instead was medical-grade superglue and a bandage for padding. 

     Off to see how it survives that shower now.

Late Night

     When the phone rings after ten p.m., it's probably not good news.  I had to go into work -- the North Campus -- late last night.  A power hit had managed to trip a breaker on a critical piece of equipment.  Going in, all I knew was that one of the important widgets had shut down and wasn't responding to remote-control restart. 

     It could have been any of several very bad things.  I'm glad it wasn't.  Sure hope this isn't a trend; in twenty-two years of power hits, that particular circuit breaker has not tripped -- and it was in one of seven identical high-power sub-widgets, three running and four spares.  It might be time to find out if the manufacturer's got any replacement breakers in stock.

Salmon Patties, Low Carb

     Salmon patties are a treat from my youth.  Mom added a generous dollop of Worcestershire sauce to the mix, which went well with the flavor of the salmon.  There are other good things in them, too: egg, vegetables (nearly always onions, at least), a little lemon or lime juice and seasonings, often a little Parmesan cheese--

     The problem is that one of the other major components is a generous amount of carbohydrates.  It was crushed saltines in Mom's version, Depression cooking at its finest; upscale versions use breadcrumbs.  Panko is said to work well.  Tasty...and not at all suited to a low-carb diet.

     Yesterday, nostalgia and idle curiosity had me web-searching "low-carb salmon patties" after the end of my work day and yes, there is such a thing.  In fact, there are lots of recipes.  The usual replacement for the carbs is smashed pork rinds!  It makes perfect sense.  Some sources suggest freezing them after smashing, to mute the flavor; others just throw them in.  Jalapeno or other hot peppers often replace or augment the Worcestershire or hot sauce and there are plenty of suggestions for sauces, many of them avocado-based.

     It looked good and I decided to try it.  Alas, our corner grocer had nothing so downscale as pork rinds.  The cracker aisle turned up some low-carb "cheese straws;" a quarter-cup would have 2.25 grams of carbs, and divided four ways between patties leaves just over a half-gram each.  They were made with Parmesan and aged cheddar, so there's that component as well.

     A mild Poblano pepper seemed like a safe bet, though hot Fresno and cherry peppers tempted me. Maybe next time. I did yield to the temptation of a dark red onion (and cried cutting it later, too).  And I forgot to get a lemon, lime or some concentrated juice.

     Back home, the cheese straws proved savory and nice.  Smashed a scant quarter cup of them, diced the veggies (chop them up fine. A generous tablespoon of onion and about as much of the pepper is sufficient; I may have doubled that) and added some black pepper, garlic powder, dried celery flakes, some Worcestershire, a dash of hot sauce, a little basil, and only then realized I had no tangy citrus.  But I do keep a little sumac on the shelf (it's nice on melon), and it very much has a lemony flavor; with a quick shake or two of that, a well-beaten egg and twelve ounces of well-drained canned salmon, it was ready to be mixed.  Stir it up well in a mixing bowl.  You want a fairly sticky mixture -- I fell just short of that this time.

     The patties were almost too wet to hold together. I could have drained the salmon better.  A full quarter-cup of crumbs and maybe even another egg would have helped.  With care, three of the four held up well enough to cook and turn intact..  I browned both sides (four minutes or more) in a little oil and served the patties with green salad.  Tam liked them and so did I.

     The pork rind version would be zero-carb.  This version was pretty low-carb.  Taste and mouthfeel were just as I remembered -- almost as good as Mom's. 

Chicago Exports

     There was gunplay at the Walmart in Hobart, Indiana last night.  Hobart would be a smallish town -- except it is embedded in the densely-packed cluster of cities and towns at the edge of Chicago.  It's far enough away that the shooting stands out from the background level of Greater Chicago's violence.

     The point I find of particular notability is not the shooting itself or the possible reasons for it, but the response: store employees had recently received active shooter training and acted on what they had learned, leading store patrons away from the danger.

     Violence happens; while some people decry the need for such training, it is one of the few things that definitely makes a difference.  Knowing what to do, even just thinking about what might happen before it happens, helps people make a better response to a terrible situation.

     There have been no fatalities reported from the shooting so far.