The Frying Pan

"Please refrain from editing"?!? Once you have a few thousand reputation points you MIGHT be able to get away with that rarely. As it is, you're on thin ice as it is." (deleted before posted)

Jolenealaska

11:36 AM

How about "You're (a) guest(s) at this party. You don't get to make the rules."

Or , "Go away"?

SAJ14SAJ

12:42 PM

@Jolenealaska I edited one for C and F now just out of spite.

And I edited out the no-edit request ;-)

Jolenealaska

The no-edit request deserves some snarkiness.

I mean how dare you? you, you infant troll?

SAJ14SAJ

Muhahhahahahhhaahhahhahha

What should I give the furries for breakfast? Do you think they want Friskies?

Jolenealaska

Do they Friskies? Sasha couldn't stand the smell.

SAJ14SAJ

She was evidently traumatized by your dog.

But yes, they love Friskies. Every day.

Jolenealaska

My last kitty loved any veggie offered. He wouldn't touch shrimp. No dogs involved on this one.

SAJ14SAJ

12:52 PM

Off to feed the furries, hi ho, hi ho.

Jolenealaska

He'd turn up his nose every time. NOT INTERESTED

Jolenealaska

1:05 PM

Wow, Wayfaring Stranger is putting out interesting information today! (Unlike Mike & Ollie (s)he has earned some benefit of doubt)

Heehee, I just looked at the profile! His (her) top answer is near and dear to my heart!

God, that seems so long ago.

SAJ14SAJ

1:34 PM

For approximately the 4,700th time, the furry beasts have devoured their Friskies. Their enthusiasm never wanes.

SAJ14SAJ

5:17 PM

@rumtscho Hi

rumtscho

hi @SAJ14SAJ

how are you?

SAJ14SAJ

Pretty good., watching old tv episodes.

And its weekend!

rumtscho

no holidays in the USA?

SAJ14SAJ

Its a Christian holiday tomorrow. My grocery service wouldn't deliver.

rumtscho

Here, the friday before Easter and Easter monday are free days too

SAJ14SAJ

5:18 PM

Its not a government holiday, and my organization doesn't give days off for it.

rumtscho

businesses which are open Saturdays are still open today, but everybody else gets 4 days free

SAJ14SAJ

That is a lot.

ARe you cooking a holiday dinner?

rumtscho

just started a sponge for an Easter bread

SAJ14SAJ

The kind with whole eggs embedded?

rumtscho

will probably do a lot of stuff today, no mood for a good dinner. But tomorrow, there will be lots of good food

SAJ14SAJ

5:20 PM

Are you having guests?

rumtscho

no, the Bulgarian kind. Practically a very rich Brioche flavored with vanilla, lemon zest and raisins

SAJ14SAJ

That sounds nearly like cake.

rumtscho

no, no guests. I am accustomed to making celebration meals for me alone.

SAJ14SAJ

I understand. My way is to just skip them...

rumtscho

It isn't cake, it is a yeast bread. It is supposed to be kneaded so long that you can tear the gluten strands apart in the baked bread, despite having 80% butter

SAJ14SAJ

5:22 PM

I hope you have a machine for that.

rumtscho

Well, my philosophy is: if I have the occasion to spoil myself, why pass it? So I do all the cooking.

I will do it by hand

SAJ14SAJ

Wouldn't strudel be easier ;-)

rumtscho

much better results.

@SAJ14SAJ Possibly. But in Bulgaria, it is not made for Easter.

SAJ14SAJ

Are you feeling home sick?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I talked to my father yesterday, so not at all :)

SAJ14SAJ

5:23 PM

Was your Bulgarian rusty? :-)

rumtscho

No, I don't think it will ever rust

SAJ14SAJ

Tomorrow I will order chinese food. Here, that is the one type of business you can count on being open during all the christian holidays.

rumtscho

Ah yes, an Asian store saved me once when I waited with shopping until 2 PM on 24. December and everything else was closed for the next 3 days

SAJ14SAJ

I am pretty sure Kung Pao chicken is traditional for single guys on Easter.

rumtscho

I ate Chinese two days ago (something I never do in general - it was maybe the third or fourth time in an Asian restaurant in my life). They also had King Pao chicken, so I had to surreptitiously check Wikipedia to see what it is :) But the Wiki said it's spicy, so I had crispy duck with fruit and sweet-sour sauce instead.

SAJ14SAJ

5:28 PM

It is not usually made very spicy. But it almost certainly originated over here in the US immigrant community. I am surprised to made it over to germany.

On the other hand, good duck is hard to beat.

rumtscho

Maybe export Chinese cuisine is standardized all over the world, like pizza?

SAJ14SAJ

I don't know. We eat chicken tikka masala here, and that is certainly British food, not indian, so its plausible.

And I don't even want to think about the horrible things that happen to innocent pizzas in Japan and the rest of asia.

rumtscho

You haven't seen what my mother's first attempt at pizza was

SAJ14SAJ

I read some articles on the evolution of pizza recipes here in the US in the 1920s to 1950s. They were horrible.

What did your mother do to the pizza? Was it made with strudel dough? Hmm... that could be good.

rumtscho

none of us had ever seen a real pizza. It was only a few years after the Wall fell, so there were almost no foreign restaurants in Bg, no industrially prepared food beyond canned vegetables, and not really much about pizza in the media.

SAJ14SAJ

5:33 PM

So you were very small.

I was 22 I think.

rumtscho

She made a normal bread dough (what's normal in Bulgaria: like soft French bread, light and little gluten), put it into a 24 inch pan (it was 4-5 cm thick). Took out our homemade tomato puree, smeared it thinly on top. Added a generous amount of summer savory as topping.

SAJ14SAJ

That sounds pretty close to a traditional pizza made in parts of new england here.

Except for the savory.

rumtscho

This was all. And then the whole family gathered and started badmouthing the Italians, for thinking that they have created something different and sooo good, but in fact having made nothing but a plain Tutmanik (this being a Bulgarian word for a similar bread).

Ok, the Tutmanik has no toppings, it has crumbles of feta mixed in the dough.

SAJ14SAJ

:-)

rumtscho

This "pizza" had never seen cheese. Just the little red smearing of tomato puree. No garlic, basil, oregano, oil, etc.

SAJ14SAJ

5:36 PM

Well, I am sure it cannot compete with big city pizzas, but....

rumtscho

I still say that it was not really a pizza. It was a good bread in its own right, but not really pizza like.

SAJ14SAJ

Sure.

rumtscho

I wonder if she has eaten a real pizza since.

SAJ14SAJ

But the new england style tomato pie isn't very pizza-like either.

You could make her one next time you go home to visit.

rumtscho

But she must have seen some on TV, at least.

@SAJ14SAJ She probably won't like it.

She generally hates, or laughs at, any new experience.

SAJ14SAJ

5:38 PM

@rumtscho Really?

Oh.

So you have to make her 30 pizzas, and she will like the last three :-)

rumtscho

She still tells fondly how she discovered that Germans are idiots: she had her honeymoon in Eastern Germany, and there, she ate some sauce which included bits of prune, accompanying meat.

For her, even the idea of eating a multi-component food (meat+side+sauce) is adventurous. But having "dessert" (read: fruit) in a savory dish: forbidden.

@SAJ14SAJ No, "new" is anything she didn't already know and like when she was 15.

SAJ14SAJ

I am not big on sweet and savory dishes, so I agree with her on that.

Ah, that is harder to compensate for.

Why would she try to make a pizza then?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Make? Certainly not. She doesn't like learning new recipes. She may be persuaded to try some, but I can tell already that she won't like it.

She is no fun to cook for :(

SAJ14SAJ

I meant when you were young.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I think she was less conservative back then.

SAJ14SAJ

5:42 PM

Ah.

rumtscho

Also, maybe her curiosity was strong enough in this one case to override her usual reaction.

SAJ14SAJ

I don't think you should make her a Hawaiian pizza, then :-) She could die of shock.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Ah no, she is very resilient. She would scold me for ruining the food, but will never consider bearing any negative consequences herself. Kind of a righteous anger mixed with a "I know you are weird, but I am magnanimous enough to forgive, because I am a good mother".

SAJ14SAJ

I am sorry, Rumi.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ it's OK, I am accustomed to it and just discount her opinion :)

SAJ14SAJ

5:45 PM

You seem to have a number of mother issues.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, I do. My family is a bit weird in general. Or rather, completely normal for Eastern European standards.

But distance helps a lot.

SAJ14SAJ

I don't know anyone from eastern europe right now.

Other than, you know, virtual SA friends :-)

You know that I live in Maryland.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ It's a place where for several decades, you never knew if your neighbour, spouse or child was spying on you for the KGB.

SAJ14SAJ

What you may not know is that when I was 18, I was accepted to two colleges (I applied to two colleges). One was SUNY stony brook, which was 15 minutes from where we lived on Long Island. The other was UMCP, which was 250 miles away. I chose wisely.

KGB is Russian, no?

rumtscho

The people in charge were former shepherds with no idea of how to run a country. When given infinite power with no way to be held accountable, they let their whims and fears run amok.

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, but it had its equivalent in every satelite state.

SAJ14SAJ

5:50 PM

I cannot really imagine what that sort of culture must have been like. We are turning into a police state here, but it is one of electronic surveillance, not human.

rumtscho

So, maybe telling a political joke didn't get you straight to Siberia, but it could make sure that you are never allowed to buy a car.

SAJ14SAJ

But who would want to buy a Bulgarian car anyway? :-)

rumtscho

Or, if a coworker with better connections to the party wanted a promotion you were due for, you could lose your job just because they started a rumor that you are not undyingly loyal to the idea of socialism.

Besides this, we had very little religion. Bulgarians have never been big on churches, and during comunist times, it was also frowned upon by the state.

SAJ14SAJ

The constant fear and distrust must have caused a lot of mental illness.

rumtscho

And so there was nothing like Sunday school, or initiatives to help other parishers, or anything teaching moral or giving people an opportunity or a motivation to be good.

SAJ14SAJ

5:53 PM

parishioners :-)

I am a non-theist, but yeah, those aspects are important.

rumtscho

You were supposed to be a perfect Communist (no matter what you felt like), and lived in constant fear of being found less than perfect.

SAJ14SAJ

Weren't you a girl during this era?

If you are 30 now, you would have been born about 1980?

So most of this passed by the time you were 20?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I don't remember it personally, but I have read about it. Especially, there is one book written by a journalist who ran away and lived in London.

SAJ14SAJ

He must have had a yearning for chicken tikka masala :-)

rumtscho

He dared to write the truth, and they found him so dangerous that they assasinated him in the middle of London, with an umbrella.

SAJ14SAJ

5:55 PM

The infamous umbrella assassination

rumtscho

I mean, a gun hidden in an umbrella. Right out of some kind of Bond film.

SAJ14SAJ

Ah, not the one I am thinking of.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Do you really know it, or are you being sarcastic? Because it is really infamous in Bulgaria.

So, the result of all these years of mutual distrust and hate is a society of people where nobody trusts the other in general. As a human being.

SAJ14SAJ

There was a case where KGB assassinated someone with a small poison bead in the tip of an umbrella. But I don't remember any details without looking them up.

rumtscho

Everybody thinks "I know best", and is prepared to tell the others what they have to be like.

SAJ14SAJ

5:56 PM

@rumtscho This contributed to your desire to emigrate?

rumtscho

And hates them if they disagree. A mixture of contempt for being so obviously dumb for not wanting such superior advice, and resentment for daring to start a conflict.

SAJ14SAJ

If all the rats bite like that, everyone must have a lot of scars.

rumtscho

> Assassination

Agents of the Bulgarian secret police (Darzhavna Sigurnost; Bulgarian: Държавна сигурност, abbreviated ДС), assisted by the KGB, had previously made two failed attempts to kill Markov before a third attempt succeeded. On September 7, 1978 (the 67th birthday of Todor Zhivkov), Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge spanning the River Thames, and waited at a bus stop to take a bus to his job at the BBC. He felt a slight sharp pain, as a bug bite or sting, on the back of his right thigh. He looked behind him and saw a man picking up an umbrella off the ground. The man hurriedly …

This is the assasination story, it is probably the one you are thinking of. I have never heard of it being repeated.

SAJ14SAJ

That sounds like the one I was thinking of.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ No, it had nothing to do with my desire to emigrate. It was very transparent to me back then, like water to fish.

SAJ14SAJ

5:59 PM

You must have really wanted some good schnitzel :-)

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I wanted to do what is expected of me. And it seemed to me that it is expected of me to come to Germany, so I did. It wasnt even a conscious decision.

SAJ14SAJ

Why were you expected to go to Germany?

And you don't seem that compliant :-)

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I probably wasn't.

I went to the German language highschool, because it was the one which had the highest acceptance bar.

All good pupils were expected to get into a good highschool. Kind of like Ivy League universities in the States.

So, I got into the best my grades could get me into, and this was the German language one.

SAJ14SAJ

That sounds nearly Japanese in terms of pressure on youth to excel.

rumtscho

Then, there was this special program within the school itself.

Out of 7 student "streams" (I forgot the name) per year, 2 were in the special program, where there was not just learning of German language, but all the other stuff like biology and maths was in German too.

I applied there because there was an entrance exam, so obviously you had to be good to get there.

SAJ14SAJ

6:04 PM

So you were in a german immersion program?

rumtscho

And the teachers plainly assumed that all the students in this program want to go to a German university.

It was probably true of some of the students there.

SAJ14SAJ

So you were a baby fish caught in a large German current?

rumtscho

The other part is that this was the whole reason of the program existing. The German ministry of education had created it, in several countries, in order to get smart young people into Germany.

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, something like that.

SAJ14SAJ

Germany was brain-stealing :-)

It sounds like the program did well by you.

rumtscho

Of course, I also realized that an education in a German university will be much better in quality than one in a Bulgarian university.

So I came here looking for great education, not with any long-term life strategy. I had no long-term life strategy at all.

In theory, I knew that there comes a part of life when a person is no longer learning, but I don't think I realized it for real until 3-4 years ago.

SAJ14SAJ

6:07 PM

Can you naturalize as a German citizen? or does it even matter?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Seems this way, yes.

@SAJ14SAJ I don't know. I don't intend to.

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho I am 47, and it hasn't happened to me yet.

rumtscho

With Bulgaria's EU membership, I am free to live and work here. The only difference is that I can't vote in German elections.

SAJ14SAJ

How can you not vote, and complain about all of the arabic immigrants?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Well, I don't mean that at some point I will completely stop learning, but I hadn't realized that there is a phase of life where applying what I've learned is more important than immersing myself in an easy learning process of material preselected for me by teachers.

@SAJ14SAJ When did I complain about them?

SAJ14SAJ

6:10 PM

@rumtscho The end of school :-)

@rumtscho I was making a joke. I understand many Germans are very against immigration, especially from that part of the world.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ The realization only hit me after 2 years of trying (and failing) to do university research on my own. This is why it took me so long to get to a point where I am actually doing something constructive for my thesis.

@SAJ14SAJ Such sentiments are very society-part dependent.

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho Do you mean class?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Yes, but a bit more specific than class

SAJ14SAJ

So as a new upwardly mobile german immigrant, what will you cook for yourself tomorrow in addition to the bread?

rumtscho

If I say "the lower classes" or "the worker classes" or similar, it will include many recent emigrants too. But it is those of them with German roots who are against immigration. Generally, they have lots of problems on their own with poverty, lack of perspective (because of lack of education), and the immigrants look like a convenient scapegoat, because they sometimes have jobs when the poor Germans don't.

SAJ14SAJ

6:15 PM

Sure, that sounds like a typical pattern.

rumtscho

Then there are the rich but very conservative people who want to keep the land the way it always was, without doener restaurants.

SAJ14SAJ

Doener?

rumtscho

A Turkish form of Gyros.

SAJ14SAJ

That sounds kind of delicious.

rumtscho

Yes it is. It is the only fast food I eat on a regular basis.

Speaking of delicious, I am having magret tomorrow.

with green asparagus for the side.

Still haven't decided on sauce, will be dairy based.

And blueberry frozen yogurt for dessert.

I also bought colored eggs.

Then there is a good steak for Monday, hopefully there will be leftover asparagus.

And speaking of cooking, my sponge is probably creeping out of the bowl by now.

SAJ14SAJ

6:18 PM

Magret?

I don't think frozen yogurt sounds celebratory.

rumtscho

Duck meat.

SAJ14SAJ

Watch out for killer bigas.

rumtscho

I love all kinds of ice cream.

SAJ14SAJ

Duck... yum....

I love ice cream. Frozen yogurt is not a subset :-)

rumtscho

And I am almost through with my last batch of ice cream, so I need a new one anyway.

I have never tried homemade frozen yogurt

but I like the purchased one just as much as purchased ice cream.

OK, sponge has gone way up. Time to do the most serious kneading of the year. See you later.

SAJ14SAJ

6:20 PM

I have mint ice cream with chocolate cookies in it in the freezer.

Au revoir.

rumtscho

8:28 PM

Oh my arms...

and my back...

The workout-kneading is over for this year!

derobert

Sounds like you need a stand mixer :-P

rumtscho

@derobert I have one, my gift to myself for Christmas

but my kozunak gets kneaded by hand!

The stand mixer doesn't give a good ropey alignment of the gluten

Remember this question?

14

Q: How to get threads in a yeast dough?

I think I may make some traditional food for Easter this year. What I love most is a type of rich sweet bread called kozunak. The perfect kozunak is defined by many qualities, but what I find hardest is the texture. First, it should be really tender. Second, it must be very airy. Third, it should...

I have gone over to using Reinhart's Rich man brioche, substituting more egg yolk (only 2 whole eggs) and a tad more milk

derobert

Ah, I see. I'm way too lazy to hand-knead...

rumtscho

I knead the dough without the fat until the gluten is really developed

and because it is such a tight dough, I get very few movements per minute

so it goes for about an hour

and then, I incorporate 90% fat into it

and knead further, until the fat is really disappeared inside.

But because of the good kneading before, all the existing gluten stays.

derobert

and then collapse from all the work?

rumtscho

8:36 PM

I'd like to

but I have to clean the house too

OK, I'm already half through with cleaning, started earlier today

but still, there is stuff to do

derobert

I just have to finish a webapp soon. No physical labor involved. Just boredom and cursing at Catalyst modules.

Jefromi

does anyone in here know about bourbon?

derobert

Would probably make the web app more exciting.

I've had it before, can't really say I know much about it

SAJ14SAJ

@Jefromi Only that some people think it has vanilla notes, from the vanillin in the roasted barels used to age it.,

@derobert I think I am getting old. I looked at what is involved in creating Android apps, and I have absolutely zero interest in dealing with all that. XML my shiny metal @$@$.

Jefromi

mm, ok, I was maybe going to do maple bourbon bread pudding (had some and it was really good) and just trying to figure out what to look for!

rumtscho

8:39 PM

Serious eats had this guide to bourbon some time ago

derobert

sounds tasty

SAJ14SAJ

@Jefromi As a non-drinker, what I do to get liqueur to cook with is ask the people at the store for a recommendation. They usually are happy to help.

Jefromi

@rumtscho I knew I could count on y'all!

rumtscho

they describe a few brands too.

SAJ14SAJ

How is the bread dough, Rumination?

rumtscho

8:40 PM

@Jefromi well, it is not like we knew it :(

@SAJ14SAJ just started first rise

my shoulder joints feel strangely light and airy

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho :-) Can you still lift your arms?

rumtscho

I wonder if this is a bad symptom, or means that they are non-stiff for the first time in months, after all the work

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho Excersie induced endorphin high?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ no, it's a local feeling.

I doubt that the overall workout was sufficient to produce endorphines. Don't they start after the tenth kilometer of jogging or something like that?

SAJ14SAJ

I don't know.

rumtscho

8:43 PM

Separately, I got some endorphines from listening to good music all the time, and knead-dancing to it. But this is not the feeling I was refering to when I mentioned the shoulder joints.

SAJ14SAJ

Knead dancing? There is a video to put on your OnCupid page to attract all the guys! :-) :-)

derobert

@rumtscho maybe that means the grease has warmed up, and is now less viscous?

SAJ14SAJ

@derobert She is alive!

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I don't want to know how the guys there will react to it

SAJ14SAJ

Well, unless you suspect the robot claim is true.

@rumtscho Yeah, but you only like the guys who like it :-) Its a perfect win. Any guy who doesn't get into knead dancing will never understand you!

derobert

8:47 PM

@SAJ14SAJ Well, considering my mushroom claim, its not like I'm in any position to doubt the robot claim.

rumtscho

I discovered that the best way to stretch-and-fold this strange waxy dough is to start with an oblong, then stretch it to a rope

SAJ14SAJ

@derobert And still I have trouble getting people to believe in my humanity :-)

rumtscho

and to stroke that rope into a longer shape

then fold a few times, repeat

it might attract some very strange people

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho That sounds quite odd.

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ By "people", I think you mean Cerberus. And he's a dog. But maybe he gets three votes, not sure.

SAJ14SAJ

8:48 PM

@rumtscho Maybe don't make a video of that particular technique.

@derobert Don't say his name out loud!

derobert

It's OK, without the @ he probably won't notice.

SAJ14SAJ

Is that a risk you are willing to take?

rumtscho

Oh, and while my hands were doing this, I was jumping around in tact to Haematom's song Schutt und asche

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ I can always occupy him with economics :-)

;-)

8:50 PM

I do not have your super power.

What is that, Rum?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ one of the songs I danced to

with a rope of dough in hand

derobert

Ok, you must post videos of this. This sounds interesting...

SAJ14SAJ

I think we have to call you Ropey now :-)

derobert

MPEGs, dang it, I demand MPEGs!

rumtscho

8:51 PM

A good thing I didn't film it

with the interest it caused here, it would have come back to ruin me the day I run for prime minister

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho Science girls never get to be prime minister, sorry. Especially when they are not interested in citizenship.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Angela Merkel has a Ph. D. in physics

SAJ14SAJ

I have no idea who that is.

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ wow, that is an amazing ability to ignore the news.

@SAJ14SAJ have you heard of this guy by the name of Obama?

SAJ14SAJ

Yeah, but not by choice.

The lead on Wiki The All Knowing says this Angela Merkel person is head of the Christian something party. I don't think she is a real scientist.

derobert

8:54 PM

@rumtscho We'll see. The famous "got so drunk I may have done crack" dude stands a chance..

Surely, dancing while kneading bread has nothing on that.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ She has also been the head of the German government for the past ten years or so

derobert

(Well, maybe it'd threaten then gluten-is-evil health nut vote, but...)

SAJ14SAJ

Yes, but since she isn't a scientist girl, my statement remains true :-)

rumtscho

She used to be

SAJ14SAJ

Christian Scientist is an oxymoron.

;-) ;-)

rumtscho

8:57 PM

> After being awarded a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) for her thesis on quantum chemistry,[22] she worked as a researcher and published several papers.

SAJ14SAJ

Then she must have gone insane.

rumtscho

so sorry, she studied physics, but got the doctorate in chemistry. I obviously don't know that much about her.

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ errrrr... I don't think Merkel has any involvement with those folks.

SAJ14SAJ

@derobert But in context, it was just too funny not to say!

derobert

True. When someone comes up with the Dawkins-ecoin, you'll be owed one.

SAJ14SAJ

9:00 PM

@derobert I don't know what that means. How is the bitcoin crisis going?

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ Err... anyone who bought at $2k/btc is now out on the streets starving, I guess?

Or anyone with money at MtGox.

SAJ14SAJ

My lack of faith in bitcoins is amply rewarded :-)

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ Dawkins is one of the largest religious zealots of our time... only his faith is atheism.

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho I am not sure that makes any sense.

That is why I call myself a non-theist.

I am not reacting against any particular theism.

Well, I guess that was a way to kill a chat room.

derobert

Hah

SAJ14SAJ

9:08 PM

@derobert Have you tried the induction chargers? Evidnetly, my nexus toy is built to use one.

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ yeah, I have a couple Anker ones I use.

SAJ14SAJ

Do you like them?

rumtscho

Uff, this dough is a slow riser. I am so tempted to give it five minutes in a warmish oven.

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho You expected that, no, with such an enriched dough?

rumtscho

But Corriher had this scary tale of fat melting straight out of her brioche dough

so I guess I will wait, even if it takes half the night to get it baked

SAJ14SAJ

9:10 PM

Why not give it a slow ferment and bake it in the morning?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ No, it will take too long to get to temp and then bake

besides, I don't want it developing too much fermentey taste

SAJ14SAJ

Why, take it out when you get up, eat breakfast, it will be ready....

Fermenty is good?

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ it will be the breakfast

SAJ14SAJ

Ah, that would be tricky then.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ no, it is part of a certain type of bread

this is not this type

SAJ14SAJ

9:12 PM

Are you going to chat with us until 3 in the morning then?

Its only 5ish here, I am good for a while....

rumtscho

I don't know if I'll chat or do something else. I'll see.

Luckily, I have done today's scheduled dissertation time already (this is why I started the dough so late)

but I may be even motivated to do some more of it

derobert

@SAJ14SAJ Yeah, they're reasonably good. I have mostly the older ones with a dedicated adapter (not a USB one)

SAJ14SAJ

Dissertation time on a Saturday?

rumtscho

or, who knows, just read a good book

SAJ14SAJ

That is devotion.

derobert

9:13 PM

There are cheaper ones out now, though, I think... some for around $20. They're probably just as good.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I actually get more done on weekends, because I am fresher

SAJ14SAJ

I have bought about half a dozen kindle books in the last couple of days.

There is a new one from Seanan Mcguire.

rumtscho

well, I invest the same amount of time, but I do better quality work when I haven't just returned from 5 hours of straight programming

SAJ14SAJ

And I discovered Carol O'Connor did not end the Mallory series.

rumtscho

Oh, recommending books is dangerous!

derobert

9:14 PM

@rumtscho Dissertation or house cleaning, a tough choice of which to avoid more...

rumtscho

I am still reading the Wool series rfusca suggested

derobert

I fear chat.SE will win.

rumtscho

it is really captivating

SAJ14SAJ

Sorry, my books are approximately 10000 times less fun than doing your dissertation.

@rumtscho I must have missed that.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ hmm. It sounds you could be motivated to do some dissertation work for me...

SAJ14SAJ

9:15 PM

@rumtscho I may have lied to you.

rumtscho

Apr 13 at 1:40, by rfusca

Dan Simmons - Hyperion series, Hugh Howey - Wool , anything by Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi - The Old Man's War, Emporer's Edge (steampunk genre) - Lindsey Buroker

SAJ14SAJ

Scalzi, I have read.

Dan Simmons, I tried. It is unreadable for me.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ my lack in trust in your statement is amply rewarded :)

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho I was trying to keep you on track for your disesertation.

If I wasn't, I would turn you on to Stephen Brust, and the only assassin you will ever love.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I got captured into the first part of the hyperion series, but it got more sensationalist with the next parts. I didn't finish the series.

SAJ14SAJ

9:17 PM

And I would never mention David Brin to you.

rumtscho

@SAJ14SAJ I'm not that much of a Stephen Brust fan.

SAJ14SAJ

@rumtscho gasp

rumtscho

And actually, I was thinking of reading a Marquez, rememberance wise.

SAJ14SAJ

I don't know that name.

But you really like obscure articles in German journals, I am sure of it.,

rumtscho

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Has a Nobel price for literature. Died last Friday. Very popular author. One of my favorites.

SAJ14SAJ

9:19 PM

Oh, the magical realism guy. I couldn't get into that.

rumtscho

I loved it before I knew it exists. Or that it is different from other books.

I found A chronicle of a death foretold in my grandmas bookcase, and read it all at once. I've been in love with his writing ever since.

SAJ14SAJ

:-)

You might like Guy Gavriel Kay then, although he wasn't to my taste.

rumtscho

I've read Tigana. Found it OK, but not great.

SAJ14SAJ