The Frying Pan

You could make a golden brown Mac with sesame seeds on top, then fill it with a dark chocolate ganache, a square of lemon jelly and a circle of red jelly and call it a Big Macaron

Jolenealaska

boo :)

ElendilTheTall

It would be awesome

Jolenealaska

Yes...I made "sushi" like that.

Helluva lot of work

ElendilTheTall

Perfect for when you only leave the house twice a week

:P

I have a recipe for savoury macs, with a minimum of sugar

Considering how much sugar mcd's put in their bread, you could probably make an actual minimac and it would work

Jolenealaska

It has probably been 2 years since I ate at McDonald's. I do like their fries.

And filet-o-fish

ElendilTheTall

7:34 AM

I've never had the fish

But they do have the best fries of the cheap chains

Though KFC have just changed theirs and they are virtually identical.

Jolenealaska

KFC is my guilty pleasure.

ElendilTheTall

Do you have Zinger Tower burgers over there?

Jolenealaska

Nope

ElendilTheTall

You poor thing

A spicy coated fillet, topped with cheese, a hash brown, mayo and salsa

Oh, and salad

Or rather lettuce

A-ma-zing

Jolenealaska

that makes it healthy

ElendilTheTall

7:39 AM

About 2 days of calories

Haven't had one in months

Jolenealaska

Is Zinger Tower a chain?

ElendilTheTall

No, it's a KFC burger, ya nut

Jolenealaska

<shrug> how would I know?

ElendilTheTall

Looking at the US site, you do seem to have a paucity of sandwiches

Jolenealaska

Oh for crying out loud...

ElendilTheTall

7:51 AM

Here there are probably a dozen or so

They're more popular than just pieces of chicken

Jolenealaska

I have been looking for something for 2 days

and it's right here in front of me

24 inches from my nose.

I like original recipe thighs.

ElendilTheTall

Don't we all

;)

Jolenealaska

That's it, that's all I ever get there, that and an occasional breast

ElendilTheTall

There is an appendix to Elendil's First Law that deals with bone in/dark meat chicken. Basically, avoid if possible

Jolenealaska

I hit enter before I saw what you said :)

ElendilTheTall

7:54 AM

I'm sure you could do better than whatever occasional breast hangs out at KFC ;)

Ha, hangs out

Jolenealaska

no doubt

ElendilTheTall

That works on so many levels

Jolenealaska

yes

Dark meat has to be very well done, white meat barely done.

That makes me a royal pain in the ass to cook for.

ElendilTheTall

Noted

I loathe dark pork. Bleuch

Pork has to be whiter than a A-lister's teeth as far as I'm concerned

Jolenealaska

Hmmm...what about pulled pork?

ElendilTheTall

8:01 AM

Meh

I can eat ribs, because the smoke and sauce alters the texture and taste

But generally, pork is not my first choice

I much prefer beef

Jolenealaska

I really like pork shoulder.

You'll like this:

ElendilTheTall

Heh

And it's metric!

Jolenealaska

Yes! Here it is 1/30 of an ounce.

Jolenealaska

8:24 AM

I'm itching! My skin is soo dry. I'm going to jump in the shower so I can slather on lotion. Back in a bit.

ElendilTheTall

O.o

ok

;)

Jolenealaska

8:59 AM

I knew I could count on you to say something to that effect!

I feel somewhat better now.

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska Got to keep my end up (that's what she said)

no doubt you are now sitting there glistening like a well-glazed ham

Jolenealaska

Yes, I'm slickery!

I need a humidifier.

I'm happy that it doesn't get humid here like it does in Iowa, but this is like the Sahara.

ElendilTheTall

poor little Goldilocks

;)

Jolenealaska

I like things just right dammit!

ElendilTheTall

I once went to Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands, about 100km off the west coast of Africa

normally the breeze comes off the Atlantic and it is hot but bearable - say 30C in the summer

one day, the wind swung around to blow off the Sahara - fuck. me.

stepping out the door was like opening the oven when you're baking bread, without the steam

you could feel your face drying out

it must have been 40C/105F

we stayed in and cranked the AC that day

Jolenealaska

9:16 AM

It gets that hot in Iowa (a couple of times a year), but with staggering humidity.

I'd rather itch than deal with that.

ElendilTheTall

oooo

4 day week this week and next week

good old Easter

I find the whole idea of millions of people worshipping what is essentially a human sacrifice no less starkly brutal than Aztecs ripping out hearts abhorrent, but damn, I appreciate the time off

Jolenealaska

You get Good Friday and the Monday after Easter off?

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall the good thing about easter is that they don't continue sacrificing people on the cross

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska yup

Good Friday and Easter Monday

one time when state religion is a good thing :)

rumtscho

@Jolenealaska europe has lots of holidays in addition to the lavish vacation

well, lavish by American standards. I could use more than we get :)

ElendilTheTall

9:27 AM

@rumtscho no, they just try and make everyone guilty for the first time they did it, even though they had nothing to do with it

Jolenealaska

Neither of those days are holidays here :(

ElendilTheTall

tut. You Americans need more religion, obviously

Jolenealaska

Oh noooooooooooooooooooo

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall I've never seen a Christian being guilt tripped for the crucification. Even though the Catholic church tries to guilt trip its members for just about anything. I think the usual view is that it was "they", the pagan Romans, who are the bad guys in that story

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho you haven't spent enough time in a Catholic church then

Jolenealaska

9:29 AM

@rumtscho Have you tasted the perfumed shortbread?

ElendilTheTall

the blame is not placed on the Romans

rumtscho

@Jolenealaska no, haven't eaten any sweets in the meantime

ElendilTheTall

you don't hear "Jesus died because the Romans and Jews conspired to kill him!", you hear "Jesus died for YOUR sins, sinner!"

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall I've always felt that part as a bit different

Jolenealaska

The cookies in the box are perfumed with the Thai scented candle...which I still haven't written up.

rumtscho

9:31 AM

I've always heard the "died for your sins" part as some kind of happy, positive thing. Nobody gets blamed there, he died for others' sins because he wanted to

while the actual cruel crucifiction part is blamed on Pilatus

ahhh how is this word written? Crucification?

Jolenealaska

But...I'm kind of unclear as to why the "Father" would want that.

rumtscho

We Bulgarians deal with it better, linguistically. Our word literally translates to "overstretched on a cross", usually shortened to "overstretched"

nobody has to learn words like "crucifixion"

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho crucifixion

Jolenealaska

Don't feel bad, at first Crucification looked OK to me.

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska crucifixication is even better

Jolenealaska

9:36 AM

It was only after I realized that it had an extra syllable that I questioned it.

Have you heard of the show, Californication?

rumtscho

crucifiction probably looks too mocking for religious people

@Jolenealaska no, I've only heard the song

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska yes

Jolenealaska

@ElendilTheTall Have you seen it?

I haven't seen it, but I recently saw on YouTube that Tim Minchin (sortof) plays Jesus. Now I want to see it.

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska no

Jolenealaska

LOL...crucifiction :)

I'm going to spell it like that from now on.

I'm not disrespectful, I'm just not very bright!

rumtscho

9:46 AM

@Jolenealaska I don't know. Of all the stories in Christianity, the crucifixion belongs to the most believable ones.

Jolenealaska

I think it probably happened

That part, not so much

ElendilTheTall

yeah, that whole sky darkening for 3 days then the guy rising from the dead along with all the other dead bodies in Jerusalem - totally believable

it's highly debatable whether Jesus even existed

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall I said the crucifixion is believable, not the resurrection

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho you did

rumtscho

i wasn't even aware that the sky is said to have darkened

ElendilTheTall

9:50 AM

the benefits of an Eastern Bloc religious education

rumtscho

yes, we never had religion at school

ElendilTheTall

and yet here you are, a successful, well rounded woman

how ever did you manage it?

rumtscho

my parents did get me a children's bible at some point

Jolenealaska

I think there is an even chance that a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived, that he was a charismatic preacher, and that he was crucified.

rumtscho

but my dad was an atheist when I was growing up, and that was the time when I believed every word he said, so I became an atheist too

funnily, he became religious later

Jolenealaska

9:53 AM

@rumtscho, Tall knows this, but you may not. I taught Sunday School for years.

rumtscho

not the churchgoing, "atone for your sins" kind of religious. But still, he now believes in god.

@Jolenealaska I think you've mentioned it.

Jolenealaska

Do you know what caused your dad to change his thinking?

rumtscho

No, not really. I think it was a gradual change.

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska an even chance based on absolutely 0 contemporary evidence? you're more generous than I am

rumtscho

People do go through hard times when they need to turn back to their moral values and forge them a bit if they are not sufficient for the situation. I think in my father's case, the forging went into the direction of "there is a god".

so he derived the values he needed from that premisse when he needed values

and afterwards, he continued to believe even when there was no pressing need to take some special decisions according to explicit values

ElendilTheTall

9:57 AM

@rumtscho you didn't 'become' an atheist - atheism is the human default

rumtscho

my grandfather became very religious in late years too, but with him I know the cause - don't laugh, but it was a blow to the head

ElendilTheTall

you have to be told all the poppycock you then come to believe in

Jolenealaska

@ElendilTheTall I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that there is some bit of "real" evidence, but I don't remember enough to say what the nature of that evidence might be.

rumtscho

he was a strong man at 63, still working, and he fell from a roof and got a subdural haematom

Jolenealaska

Sorry...I'm laughing :)

rumtscho

9:59 AM

I think this is the point where he became truly aware of his own mortality and needed some beliefs to come to terms with it

and he chose to turn back to the early beliefs his mother had taught him, even though he had rejected them as an adult

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska no, there really isn't

Jolenealaska

I think that's the basis of all of it.

It stems from fear.

rumtscho

he became a Seventh day adventist, just like his mother had been. They have very few members in Bulgaria.

ElendilTheTall

fear, and the fact that humans are excellent pattern-matchers living in a giant Skinner Box

Jolenealaska

I'm scared that I'm going to die, so I'll believe in this myth.

ElendilTheTall

10:01 AM

then it just relies on the fact that we are genetically predisposed to listen to our parents in early life

rumtscho

And he went all in, with fervor. Spending his whole Saturdays listening to religious lectures, buying them on tape. Eating kosher. Leafing through my history textbook and getting mad at them telling the children that the Thrakes used to live on our territory before the Slavs came.

Jolenealaska

we are also predisposed to rebel (eventually)

rumtscho

The funniest thing is that the textbook meant a time about 2000 years ago, not before Christian creation times. But he didn't notice that

@Jolenealaska I've seen many, many reasons to be religious

fear of death is one of the common ones, but not the only one.

For example, one Good Christian Girl turned Hippie then turned Muslim was quite honest about it

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho converts are often more zealous than those born into a religion

rumtscho

She said that if there is no god, then it means that there is no justice in the universe, and all the child molesters who don't get found out by the police don't get punished for it in the afterlife

and that she can't accept that, so there must be a god, obviously

ElendilTheTall

10:06 AM

@rumtscho (－‸ლ)

the argument from personal incredulity

rumtscho

I don't think she's aware that the Just World Belief is a known fallacy of people of all religions as well as atheists

ElendilTheTall

always a doozie

rumtscho

but the point about fallacies is that they continue even if you are aware that they are fallacies

Jolenealaska

Yes, how can it be that Hitler gets the same "afterlife" as Ghandi?

rumtscho

so if you deeply believe that the world is just, as strongly as you believe that you are standing right side up, and trying to convince yourself that the world is not just is as hard as trying to convince yourself that the sky is below your feet, then then is nothing you can do about it

and if the existance of a god is the one hypothesis which best explains this belief, then you accept it

but now it's time for lunch

Jolenealaska

10:10 AM

CYA!

ElendilTheTall

toodles rumi

what amazes me the most is the level of cognitive dissonance that goes on

intelligent, otherwise rational people going about believing that some guy had magic golden tablets that only he could read, behind a curtain, that he couldn't replicate when his wife threw out the transcriptions

or whatever <insert patently ludicrous story here>

Jolenealaska

My aunt and uncle are mindblowing.

She's an ultra-devout Catholic.

ElendilTheTall

you would think if they believe <patently ludicrous story> they would believe anything, but no - they can exercise their rationality when it comes to other ludicrous stories - they just hit a mental blind spot when it comes to the one their mom and dad told them about

Jolenealaska

He is my dad's brother, raised without religion in the home.

He fell in love with her, so he became a Catholic so he could marry her.

It seems to have stuck.

He seems to really believe it now.

ElendilTheTall

love does funny things to people

Jolenealaska

10:21 AM

I might "walk the walk" to keep someone I loved, but I'd be faking it.

ElendilTheTall

10:32 AM

@Jolenealaska good to know ;) Can I tell you about the Great Lord Zorthon?

Jolenealaska

You're probably trying to make the point that I would be unlikely to fall in love with a religious person, right?

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska no, I'm trying to determine whether you love me or not <runs away sobbing>

Jolenealaska

:)

I could fall for a religious person (I think), but not for someone who would hold not being religious against me.

ElendilTheTall

ooo, tricky

what about the kids?

what about food? would you cook 2 meals every day, one for you, one for a guy who couldn't eat pork?

moreover, what about the aforementioned cognitive dissonance

it would drive me crazy

Jolenealaska

If he were religious enough to keep Kosher, then that wouldn't work.

ElendilTheTall

10:39 AM

I can deal with it in John Q. Religiousbloke because it doesn't directly affect me, but if I cared about the person? it would drive me crazy

@Jolenealaska then you're not really talking about a religious person

Jolenealaska

You're right.

ElendilTheTall

just someone who's never really thought about it but kinda believes in a higher power

Jolenealaska

But I could go to church with a partner. My dad went to church regularly with each of his first three wives. Different denominations! It made no difference to him, since he didn't believe in any of it anyway:)

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska jeez, I wouldn't. If mrs the tall found religion and wanted to go, she can go, but I'm not going with her, and neither are the kids until they're old enough to make their own mind up about it

for my part I would object purely on it being a total waste of my time

Jolenealaska

10:54 AM

I'd go If my partner really wanted my company if there was no hellfire and damnation involved.

ElendilTheTall

I got married in a church for the same reason as your dad went to church with his wives: it made no difference to me where it happened. mrs the tall wasn't that fussed, she just wanted a nice building

Jolenealaska

I would totally draw the line there.

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska lol, I'm sensing this other person's religion would need to be very low key

just serious enough to go to church on Sunday, but not serious enough to affect diet or behaviour :)

Jolenealaska

Exactly :)

Plus, I wouldn't be dishonest about it.

ElendilTheTall

I would struggle to restrain myself from coughing bollocks at choice intervals

Jolenealaska

10:57 AM

He would know full well that I was just there to give him the pleasure of my company.

ElendilTheTall

company while you sit and listen to someone else?

Jolenealaska

Well, I didn't say it made sense.

ElendilTheTall

this reminds me of a thing I heard on the radio a while back.

they were in Sierra Leone, in a village struck by ebola

a man's wife and daughter had it, and he had been told to stay in the house to prevent it spreading

but then they found him at the mosque

they asked him what he was doing - "I came to pray"

"why didn't you pray at home?"

"I don't know how to pray by myself"

(－‸ლ)

in other words, "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing or saying, I just mumble along with everyone else like I've done since I was a child"

oh yeah guys, sorry about the ebola <cough cough>

Jolenealaska

I'd like to understand how people mature from "I'm doing this 'cause this is how I was taught" to "I really believe this".

I was 11 or 12 when my aunt explained to me that the communion wafer really becomes the body of Christ after you swallow it.

I really thought she was joking.

ElendilTheTall

yes, I actually, involuntarily, laughed out loud when the teacher spelled out transubstantiation

Jolenealaska

11:09 AM

To this day I think, "Wow, that's really gross".

ElendilTheTall

everyone else (I was one of about 3 non-Catholics at a Catholic school) was nodding sagely, and I just went 'bwahaah...oh, you're serious'

Jolenealaska

Vampirism!

ElendilTheTall

Catholic school contributed a lot to my atheism :)

Cannibalism

it's like some fictional pagan cult. Eating god.

I WILL EAT HIM AND TAKE ON HIS POWERS!

Jolenealaska

and a partridge in a pear tree.

ElendilTheTall

that shit's fucked up yo

Jolenealaska

11:13 AM

It's fucked up enough when it's figurative!

ElendilTheTall

Exactly

A guy sends a text to his next-door neighbor:

"Bob, I'm sorry. I've been riddled with guilt and I have to confess: I have been helping myself to your wife when you're not around, probably more than you. I know it's no excuse but I don't get it at home. I can't live with the guilt any longer. I hope you'll accept my sincerest apology. It won't happen again."

Feeling outraged and betrayed, Bob grabs his gun, goes into the bedroom, and without a word, shoots his wife.

Moments later Bob gets a second text: "Really should use spell check! That should be "wifi"."

Jolenealaska

ha!

damn autocorrect

ElendilTheTall

Yeah, spell check is the wrong technology to refer to really

But it's a good modern twist on the old 'make sure he's dead' joke

Jolenealaska

Yep

ElendilTheTall

11:35 AM

@cindy how do

Cindy

Hi @ElendilTheTall. Having trouble waking up this morning.

Jolenealaska

Hi Cindy...and G'night to both of you. Cya tomorrow!

ElendilTheTall

night hon, sleep tight

Cindy

Hi

ElendilTheTall

don't forget to say your prayers

Cindy

11:42 AM

Sleep tight!

ElendilTheTall

@cindy so how goes it? any news on a job?

Cindy

No luck on the job front. I look every day and apply to almost anything that seems worth the time.

What I mean by that is I have seen a few that pay about $7/hour for 6 or so hours per week. By the time taxes come out and I pay for gas I would be losing money. So jobs like that I haven't bothered with.

ElendilTheTall

:(

well, naturally

no point in working for the sake of it

Cindy

Something has to come across eventually. I hope.

ElendilTheTall

i'm sure it will

the economy is slowly recovering

we have a couple of jobs going here if you want to move to Sunny Great Britain!

Cindy

11:52 AM

Wish I could. :) It's 'sunny' here today. Gray sun.

I wish our weather would level out. It goes back and forth. 75° to 80° and then two days later snow flurries.

ElendilTheTall

yes, ours is yet to settle

it was warm last week, then it rained all weekend, now it's cold again

I am going to Spain soon, where it is an equanimous 20-25 degrees from now until October

(Centigrade, that is, naturally)

Cindy

We're to get more rain today. Our yard is like mush.

Spain sounds nice. I wish we could travel more. Seems like when we have the money we have no time and vice versa.

Where in Spain are you going?

ElendilTheTall

Andalucia

the south coast

Cindy

Yes. Nice. I'm sure you will enjoy.

How are you traveling?

ElendilTheTall

12:08 PM

Burro

I jest, of course: plane, naturally

it's only a couple of hours

the propensity for passenger aircraft to crash/blow up/otherwise not reach their destination in one piece these days is somewhat worrying

Cindy

Swimming burros. Sweet :) I thought you may be flying to another locale and traveling part of the way by train or something.

ElendilTheTall

The trains in Spain stay mainly on the plain

Whereas the planes in Spain are mainly not a pain

It will be plane -> car

I will have to get used to a left-hand drive vee-hickle

Cindy

That should be interesting.

ElendilTheTall

I've driven sur la Continent before, in my own car

it's not that bad

keep an eye out for lunatics, remember to look left at roundabouts rather than right

however, Andalucian drivers are notoriously aggressive

it is a point of honour to prevent people merging

they will ignore red lights if they think they can get away with it

and to top it all, this is a country where they think it's a good idea to have bars in service stations

Cindy

I hate roundabouts. Period. They're insane!

ElendilTheTall

12:13 PM

still, one must face death now and then to truly know one is alive

Cindy

Bars in service stations?

ElendilTheTall

@Cindy no, you just aren't taught to use them properly

here, they are part of daily life, so everyone knows what they are doing and things usually go smoothly

there are what, 4 roundabouts in the entire US?

so everyone just goes for it and a clusterfuck ensues

@Cindy honest to goodness bars

el vino makes long trips go so much quicker

Cindy

The ones with traffic lights are okay. (But we call those traffic circles.) It's the ones with no lights or signs that just drive me nuts.

I think most here have been removed. They knew we couldn't handle it.

We went to Florida one time and saw drive thru liquor stores. The funny thing was that they also sold the cups, ice, and soft drinks.

Of course no one would fix a drink in their car. ;)

ElendilTheTall

you just have to give way to the left

if someone is approaching from the left, let them go

unless someone is coming from straight ahead and going past you, blocking the guy approaching from the left, in which case, you too can go

Cindy

It's a quite easy concept. It's just that here most don't play by the rules. Driving here has gotten quite insane.

It's almost like speed limits and traffic lights are suggestions.

People have gotten quite aggressive and there are more and more reports of serious road rage. But I guess that happens everywhere.

Nice to see you but I'm off for a bit to get breakfast and search new job listings. Mondays I usually don't find too much but take the time to look anyway. You never know. :)

ElendilTheTall

12:37 PM

@Cindy yes, I imagine that does make things trickier

@Cindy you too, good luck

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