The sound of one hand clapping

Archive for June, 2009

Habanero and lime cheesecake that can kill white people

June 21st, 2009

A friend told me about this recipe that immediately got my attention. Unusual and interesting, the way i like it.

I’ll give my (European) version of the recipe – some things were difficult to translate, and it took me 2 tries to get it more or less right. I say more or less, because i tried it on bunches of white people (me the whitest of them all), and nobody died.
Disclaimer: i used an other kind of pepper. Try to get the right one, it’s supposed to be wery, wery hhhot.
Check out the color combinations. Nifty, no ? The smells are even better.

But habanero peppers are actually supposed to look like this.

4 comments »

Posted in food

Tags: cheesecake cooking food

Biker chic

June 9th, 2009

I love biking, especially in this season. Wind through your hair, navigating the traffic flux, and kicking the hell out of those pedals. Your carbon footprint takes a serious hit, too.

However, there’s one aspect that is tough to live with: the look. I’m not a fashionista by anyone’s description, but there’s no denying that the whole biking kit makes you look, well, retarded.

Especially the helmet. In Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson describes (amongst many,many other things) the ARG: military issue glasses, also known as Anti-Rape Glasses. Glasses that are sure to repell any female interest. Well, biking means wearing the ARH (Anti-Rape Helmet). I defy Angelina Jolie to get a second look when wearing the ARH (wearing normal clothes. wearing full-body spandex would be cheating).

Well, there’s no other option. Biking in Brussels has its hasards. Having a specialist in neurological damage for a dad makes you very aware of the consequences of trauma to the head (mantra: better to look braindamaged than to be). So I wear the ARH. And the fluo jacket. And my bike impersonates a christmas tree, all year round.

(and today i impersonated a wet dog, but that’s another story. who bust a pipe up there ?)

9 comments »

Posted in environment, female

Tags: bike fashion

Evolution

June 2nd, 2009

The developed countries have mostly developed an environment where evolution is no longer happening for human beings – we all get a shot at survival and reproduction. And that’s a good thing: natural (or unnatural) selection is at the opposite end of the moral spectrum from human rights. We’re protecting our weak.

So this means that if this situation lasts (it’s rather an exception in the course of history), we’re not going to evolve one bit, and we might even nurture our minor defects. If we’re going to change at all, it’s going to be by artificial means: either by genetic manipulation, or by digital augmentation, or something we haven’t thought of yet.

The ironic thing is that we’re actually making an extremely harsh environment for all other species. Through changes in temperature, chemicals, disturbances in food chains, random genetic manipulation, we’re manufacturing an environment where only the most adaptable species can survive.

In fact the one thing that doesn’t move, and is plentiful in this environment, is our ever-expanding group. We’re becoming part of the environment. Consequently, we can expect the fastest adapters to adapt to us, in either symbiotic or parasitic relationships. Interesting thought.