While On The Subject Of World Culture

This morning's breakfast, a globetrotting take on huevos rancheros:

Two eggs -- big, orange-yellow free-range eggs from Locally Grown Gardens -- very lightly scrambled and folded once after they've set, sprinkled with a little good curry powder right before flipping and topped with a bit of English Cheddar with Horseradish and Celery (pale yellow and softer than most cheddars), then served with a generous topping of warmed up Red Gold salsa and whatever hot sauce you favor and bacon on the side.

Tam, pretty much a bacon fanatic, inhaled the egg dish before even noticing the bacon. Yes, it's that good. (As ever, the bacon was peppered before cooking and a dab of that grease was used for the eggs. It makes a difference, the flavor's as close to cooking over an open wood fire as I can get.)

"What Is In The Box?"

Notes are in the box, as it happens, musical notes -- that is, if the box is a Shruti Box, a sort of preset background accordion. Looks a bit Subcontinental to me.

Having fallen over the site, I was going to make a snarky comment about it being an exotic, foreign musical instrument that even a clueless hipster could play; but after listening to the haunting little improvisation linked to at the site, I'm inclined to give it a break. It's pretty darned kewl -- and way better than handing the lead signer a tambourine.

PS: I was also intending to make some remark about the device's similarity to the drones of bagpipes still not being a serious threat to the Scottish dominance of that fearsome weapon of war; good thing I had second thoughts, since (of course) India has bagpipes of her own, with a long and ancient lineage.

This gives rise to another question: what odd quirk of English character is it that leads 'em to go ruling over nations of canny, thrifty bagpipers with a high degree of mechanical and mathematical aptitude and little inclination to surrender? "Oh the haggis is well enough but I'm minded to have a curry now...." Gads.

(Or is it all an elaborate, satirical warning of the dangers of stereotyping and over-generalization? Still, it's tempting to wonder if we owe the Industrial Revolution, seminal work on microwaves and huge swathes of mathematical physics to a desire for a more-varied diet and finding someone who could do something about the drains.)

Dr. Zarkhov, Hoosier-Style

When Buck Rogers needs a ray gun -- or a roadside EMP generator -- he need look no farther than Anderson, Indiana's XADS.

Kewl, hunh?

Super This

Lost amid the SuperB0wl hoopla, last Friday a perfectly enormous cargo airplane landed at Indianapolis International Airport for the first trip in a regular, weekly freight service, direct from Indy to the heart of Europe (or possibly the gallbladder, Luxembourg being small, often overlooked but nevertheless important).

This time next week, the professional football excitement will be all over except for cleaning up the mess -- but regular trade will still be here.

Mission Accomplished, I'd Say

Snapped this photo over a week ago and have been amused at the sign ever since:Yes, it says "LEAF REMOVAL." And look at how well they've done the job! I wonder if they plan to wait until April to put up the one offering to remove snow?

Still Not Dead

...Woke up way too early with a migraine and hypersensitive hearing. I tried to just ignore it and go back to sleep -- ended up under a blanket on the window seat, with earmuffs on, hating the buzzsaw wail of the furnace draft-inducer (which is no more than a low purr).

Ibuprofen eventually dulled the pain and roar and I dropped off for another couple of hours. Woke to discover Tam's cat had colonized the tented area beneath my bent knees and was objecting to my efforts to move. She eventually succumbed to the inevitable and here I am, only a little worse for the wear.

Products You Don't Know You Need

The Taxidermied Jimmy Hoffa Coat Rack: He's kind of crouched back with both hands up, so you can hang coats and hats on both hands and his head. C'mon, prove to me that wouldn't sell. (You know you want one.) Aha, so that's where he's got to!

(Also the scaled-down Empire State/King Kong/Fay Wray/Biplanes coat rack. Sure, it's difficult to dust -- but flip the switch and he roars and grabs at the airplanes!)

Tacktical Baseball Bat: For keeping by the door, in black, flat dark earth, Digicam and even a 3/4-weight one in Pepto-pink "for the l'il lady," with high-tech nubby rubber grips and plenty of rails for lights, pistol bayonet(s) and general ouchliness.

Cat Handcuffs: Sure, they're wrong, but I could use 'em. Huck nearly pitched me face-first into a wok of breakfasty goodness (fried wild rice & quinoa, with cabbage, onion, celery, carrot, radish, spicy black & green olives, Emmentaler and plenty of bacon and eggs) as he and Rannie were underfooting this morning, her in hopes of a dab of bacon grease and him just 'cos the other cat was there. (Yes, Huck spurns bacon grease. Where oh where have we gone wrong?)

Chainsaw Bayonet Bayonet: Take it to the next next level! Sure, you got your Sharkhop XV Anti-zombie M4gery with a real chainsaw on it -- but what if you run outta ammo and gasoline before running out of Zeds? Add a blade to that thing! (Also good for splatter-free poking at stuff you don't wanna get all that close to.)

Glargh?

I have been uncommonly fatigued of late, ever since my recovery from probably-Norovirus. This morning it manifested itself by being unable to stay awake for very long until I had slept for twelve hours.

The TV went off and I struggled awake to discover Tam seated on the foot of my bed, channel-hopping from local news to Fox to Rachael Maddow; even that didn't keep me awake. Annoyed, yes, but I did the usual morning things, took a swig of water, made dyspeptic, disparaging comments about the commercials[1] and such,[2] and was soon back in a dreamland fully as immersive and bizarre as Little Nemo's, from which I emerged, still muzzy, only minutes ago.

I'm gonna go make brekky. If I can remember how to operate the stove.
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1. Rule One: "If they offer two of them, it's useless junk." Rule Two: "The flashier the commercial and the simpler the product, the more likely it is to be overpriced and cheaply made." There's a short list of items, all of them (how 'bout that!) mail-order/phone-order that I will never purchase.

2. Tam did not like my theory about what Ron Paul was going to do with the delegates he has amassed, to the puzzlement of The Maddow: "Barbecue!" Feed 'em or cook 'em, flip a coin: it's as useful either way 'cos you know the GOP, which I believe to be as incapable of learning as the vile ijits across the aisle, will ice him out of the nomination. The GOP's redeeming features are that they will talk of budgetary restraint and a lot of the things they make laws about, one can dodge if necessary. Not so for the other guys.

Hoosier Presidential Candidates?

I was wondering who (if anyone) has made it onto Indiana's 2012 Presidential primary ballot already. A little Google work* brought me to Indiana's official page for that information, where I saw this:Yeah. Useful.

I am not a violent person and I think political violence should be a very, very, very last resort. But there's a level of sheer FAIL that, in a just universe, really ought to result in some kind of trouncing. Maybe the State could just pull their Internet connection -- 'cos clearly, they are not using it for anything (except possibly pr0n and WoW?), at least since early Autumn of 2010.
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* Yes, on actual Google. Like Hebrew National all-beef franks, there's only one best choice. Wish I knew what it was for searches.

The Dentist

That's where I'm headed, bright and early this morning. Week before last, they found something they didn't like, something small. My early working years were, among other things, a time when dentistry was an unaffordable luxury,* so I have learned the hard way the importance of resolving such issues when they are still small.

Update: Survived the experience once again. --Also, I am more impressed with modern dental technology every time I encounter it. In just the last 20 years, they've gone from glopping in mushy metal to UV-cured miracle plastics that perfectly match one's teeth, pre-coatings that improve adhesion, desensitize and kill bacteria, and caries-detecting chemicals. Holy cow -- I remember when the best they had was purple dye to check how well you brushed your teeth!
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* No, really -- when I was 23, my parents gave me an unusual birthday gift: removal of my wisdom teeth (the uppers had come in in splinters!) and a whole lot of fillings. One of the best presents I've ever received; it had been five years between times.

Wha'cher Parents Listened To

Or maybe even you?

Ah, those were the daze. Er, "days." Or somefink.

Update

...Right-to-work was voted in by the House; Indiana's Senate already passed their version. So, all over, right?

Nope. They still have to match 'em up. The state's AFL-CIO boss says she has something up her sleeve, too.

And it's still all heat, no light.

Aw, heck, in Anarchtopia, they'd have to work it out one-by-one at the bargaining table. And/or with pickets and brickbats -- it'd either be louder or quieter and, IMO, better either way. As is, if only metaphor were real, the state would be incredibly rich in organic fertilizer.