The Frying Pan

Shortly I need to take the drugs I got from the dentist and go to bed. I have my appointment tomorrow. This is the beginning of round two of the project to have all the dental work done I should have done.

ElendilTheTall

either way, it's £2

Jolenealaska

denominationally

ElendilTheTall

Jolenealaska

Pretty!

ElendilTheTall

28.4mm, just over an inch across

the new pound coin will be bi-metallic as well

Jolenealaska

9:11 AM

a bit bigger than a quarter

the Susan B Anthony dollar failed partly (mostly?) because it felt like a quarter.

Well I can't say that, because we had another dollar coin that was an (octagon??)

ElendilTheTall

this will be the new one

Jolenealaska

apparently I'm already on drugs... We never had one.

It must've been some other country's coin.

ElendilTheTall

for bonus British points, identify the plants and their associated countries on the coin above!

@cindy hey there

Jolenealaska

I know 1

ElendilTheTall

2 should be easily deducible

Jolenealaska

9:17 AM

I can make a stab at which one represents which country.

ElendilTheTall

1 might be slightly trickier

@Jolenealaska stab away

Jolenealaska

2 could be one of many plants just from the picture...

I'm going to get the super easy one out of the way number 4 is Ireland.

ElendilTheTall

Northern Ireland, yes

Jolenealaska

3 looks like Scotland

ElendilTheTall

correct - a thistle

Jolenealaska

9:21 AM

for some reason I saw it and thought of a kilt.

1 looks like England, but the image I have is of royalty, which also brings to mind Wales

Cindy

@ElendilTheTall Hi.

Jolenealaska

I'm going to call it. 1 is England, so 2 is Wales.

if for no was the other reason than England would have to be first

1 is a rose, right?

ElendilTheTall

1 is the English Rose, yes

or rather, the Tudor Rose

Tudor rose

The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the Tudor dynasty. == Origins == When Henry VII took the crown of England from Richard III in battle (1485), he brought the end of the retrospectively-dubbed 'Wars of the Roses' between the House of Lancaster (one monarch of which had sometimes used the badge of a red or gold rose) and the House of York (which had lately used a white-rose badge). Henry's father was Edmund Tudor from the House of Richmond (maternally), and his mother was Margaret Beaufort from...

2 is a leek, the national plant of Wales

(yup, a leek)

Jolenealaska

I don't know why, but that cracks me up.

ElendilTheTall

why they don't use the national flower, the daffodil, is beyond me

Jolenealaska

9:29 AM

I actually have a real problem with Alaska's state flower.

the forget-me-not is boring and probably found in every state.

we have a flower that has a lot of symbolism and legend unique to this part of the world, and to this state.

Fireweed

it's everywhere here, but it is not treated as a weed except in areas that are very carefully groomed.

ElendilTheTall

looks like Foxgloves until you zoom in

Jolenealaska

It is called fireweed because it's the first thing to grow back after a big fire.

ElendilTheTall

do you have foxgloves over there?

@cindy just woken up?

Jolenealaska

not wild I don't think (foxgloves), or at least I haven't seen it in the wild.

It looks like something I've seen in gardens though.

ElendilTheTall

i've always liked the name

it's actually a corruption of Folk's Gloves, as in the fairy folk, which is quite sweet

they are also deadly poisonous, because they contain a strong muscle relaxant

it just makes your heart stop

it's actually used in cardiac medicine

Jolenealaska

9:37 AM

Much of the honey that is sold here is fireweed honey.

Cindy

@ElendilTheTall About an hour ago. Still groggy, though. And for a bonus, I woke up with a headache.

Jolenealaska

@ElendilTheTall That is neat, before or after knowing of Folk's gloves

do you know the name of the cardiac drug?

ElendilTheTall

the generic term is digitalin, I believe. the Latin name for the foxglove family is Digitalis

Jolenealaska

Aha, well I certainly know of digitalin

ElendilTheTall

@Cindy bleh. grinding your teeth in your sleep perhaps?

Cindy

9:41 AM

Cool. The Chincoteague pony swim is today.

Jolenealaska

it is said that fireweed grows every summer to the height that the snow will rise during the next winter.

Cindy

@ElendilTheTall No, I think I was laying with my head half off of the pillow. Seems to be coming from my neck.

ElendilTheTall

yuk

hard to get rid of

a good hot shower will help

Jolenealaska

Chincoteague Pony Swim 2014

►

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska sounds like experiment fodder!

Cindy

9:45 AM

@ElendilTheTall That is going to happen very soon. :)

ElendilTheTall

@Cindy good to know :D

Jolenealaska

Also oft told: "If the legend is true, winter will be upon us soon! Fireweed blooms in the late summer and early autumn. According to Alaska’s old-timers, when the fireweed reaches its full splendor, and pink blossoms ascend all the way to the top of the flower’s spire, winter will begin in six weeks"

seagrant.uaf.edu/news/01ASJ/07.13.01fireweed.html

ElendilTheTall

I have a book full of that kind of thing

how to read the weather and such

amazon.co.uk/Walkers-Guide-Outdoor-Clues-Signs/dp/1444780085

oh!

to go back to coins, our newest coins do something quite cool

when you put them together, they form the royal coat of arms

which is seen in its entirety on the £1

Jolenealaska

That is cool!

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska what's the story behind that?

Cindy

9:51 AM

Very cool!

Jolenealaska

chincoteague.com/articles/misty-of-chincoteague.html

ElendilTheTall

they tendered out the new designs as a competition

one guy came up with the idea

Jolenealaska

@ElendilTheTall that's how Alaska got its flag, a kid won the competition.

ElendilTheTall

the pony swim reminds me of how they used to drive cattle from the Isle of Skye to the mainland

at one point there is only a narrow channel between the two, so make the bastards swim!

Jolenealaska

I need to go to bed. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning.

I have drugs I'm supposed to take tonight that should put me out but good. I'm not sure exactly why I'm supposed to take it now, but it's the same drug that he will give me during the appointment.

Only its pills now IV tomorrow.

Cindy

9:59 AM

I'm off for a bit to get things started for the day. No phone call yesterday :( but hopefully today. :)

ElendilTheTall

noooooo

Jolenealaska

I almost asked, but I was afraid to!

ElendilTheTall

my ladies are leaving me

:D

Jolenealaska

I'm not leaving you quite yet

ElendilTheTall

i'm not happy unless I'm surrounded by at least two attractive women :D

Cindy

10:00 AM

@Jolenealaska Sleep well and good luck with your appointment.

Jolenealaska

soon, but as you know, I suck at bedtime.

Thanks Cindy. Good luck with.. well, you know.

ElendilTheTall

@Cindy good luck c-dizzle

Jolenealaska

your coins and the symbolic plants reminded me of something

Once upon a time the veterinary clinic I worked for had an amazingly cliche dumb-blonde receptionist.

I swear to all that is good, this is actually true:

I don't remember exactly how it started, but she was puzzled by something she had read in the newspaper or something...

She asked what the United Kingdom was. I refrained from asking how the hell she could not know what the United Kingdom was, instead I patiently explained as well as I could in 10 seconds or less.

She processed for a while, then she really looked puzzled.

"So what's Europe?"

Jolenealaska

10:27 AM

This is a pretty good answer to the slightly less shocking first question:

todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/01/…

BESW

So, this is the stuff I've been using more than almost anything else in my cooking lately:

Jolenealaska

(except for a rather offensive comment that was totally unnecessary)

I read the wiki for "salabat", is it just dried ginger? or does it have other ingredients?

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska (－‸ლ)

BESW

It's got a bit of sugar, lemon, and pepper.

ElendilTheTall

interesting

where's it from?

Jolenealaska

10:32 AM

I bet that would be a very interesting ingredient to have on hand

BESW

Philippines.

Jolenealaska

S@B

BESW

I use it in my cranberry lemonade, and stir-fries, sauces...

Jolenealaska

lemon and pepper would be complementary flavors to just about anything I could imagine putting ginger in.

BESW

(Specifically it's cayenne pepper.)

Obviously fresh ginger is superior, but this stuff's fast and easy and tastes great.

Jolenealaska

10:35 AM

there's a market fairly close that carries quite a bit of Philippine food, I'll look for that next time I'm there.

ElendilTheTall

is it dry or in oil/vinegar?

Jolenealaska

I use granulated garlic sometimes, for the sake of convenience, but I really don't like powdered ginger. Do you know what powdered ginger taste like?

I'm wondering if that product tastes more like fresh ginger than powdered ginger does.

BESW

@Jolenealaska I'm not very familiar with powdered ginger; mostly I have it fresh or crystallized.

Jolenealaska

I like it crystallized. I keep meaning to make crystallized ginger according to Alton Brown's method, but I never have.

BESW

The local SDA store sells crystallised ginger in 5 pound bags.

Jolenealaska

10:40 AM

I keep fresh ginger in the freezer usually, so I generally have it, but not always.

BESW

Yeah, we do the same.

....although once my dad thought it was a frozen burrito and microwaved it.

And sometimes it's just easier to throw the powder into the food than to mess with grating the fresh and doing whatever is needed to prep it. Especially for sauces and the like.

Jolenealaska

@BESW :) HA!

I have really grown to love using a microplane with frozen ginger. superfast

(typos courtesy of Dragon)

BESW

Yeah, I've just got an ordinary old grater.

Jolenealaska

I make just as many typos without Dragon (probably more... actually certainly more) but I can blame Dragon's on Dragon.

A micro plane is a really nice thing to have if you're into gadgets at all.

BESW

I'm... not, really. I like having a small handful of simple broad-use tools.

Similar to my approach to stocking the cupboards: get the staples and use 'em in lots of different ways.

Tonight I had to make my dad a very bland, wet, fiber-y dinner, so it was brown rice with diced carrot and a side of apple slices.

The rice cooker burnt itself out halfway through, sadly.

Jolenealaska

10:48 AM

the micro plane would be on my top 10 list of little gadgets that I would bring with me to a desert isle.

BESW

Duly noted.

Is it easy to clean?

Jolenealaska

yes, I just run it under hot water with a little bit of soap on my finger.

Shake it, and leave it out to dry.

hard cheese, citrus zest, chocolate, frozen ginger, garlic...

BESW

I find that a lot of gadgets have awful joins between the different bits, and stuff crusts up.

Jolenealaska

This does not. It only has two parts, the grater and the handle.

BESW

yey!

Jolenealaska

10:55 AM

I think this is mine:

amazon.com/Microplane-40020-Classic-Zester-Grater/dp/B00004S7V8

BESW

Do the two parts come apart?

Jolenealaska

No

BESW

M'rr.

Jolenealaska

why would you want it to?

BESW

For the washing.

Jolenealaska

10:59 AM

the handle doesn't interfere with washing it in any way

BESW

I generally go for all-one-piece tools, or tools that can come apart so the joins don't build up crud.

It's a quirk. There are others like it, but this one is mine.

Jolenealaska

but it does allow you to hold it easily while washing it. It doesn't get cruddy at the handle because you don't put it in food. the handle never touches food.

Okay

BESW

That requires great confidence that it'll get used properly, and won't, say, get dumped into a washing pan full of grimey foody dishwater.

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska CSC

Jolenealaska

Do the handles on your knives come off?

BESW

11:02 AM

Nope. I gotta scrub 'em very carefully.

(Don't have a dishwasher; a lot of modern kitchen tools seem to assume that dishwashers are ubiquitous.)

ElendilTheTall

as it happens, I do use Globals which are all one piece :)

Jolenealaska

the handle on the micro plane is very much like a handle on a knife. I never put my knives or my microplane in the dishwasher.

BESW

Ah.

ElendilTheTall

but i don't put them in the dishwasher, because I don't want to ruin the edge

BESW

Heh. That boat sailed long ago.

These knives are older than I am.

Haven't been well-cared-for in at least as long.

ElendilTheTall

11:05 AM

are they sharp?

BESW

Hahahah.

Jolenealaska

I take it that's a no?

ElendilTheTall

dangerous, dangerous stuff

Jolenealaska

you may have heard but it is actually very very true...

ElendilTheTall

yup

it's why I hate self-catering kitchens on holiday

Jolenealaska

11:08 AM

Knife cuts in the kitchen ( as in cutting yourself) are almost always as a result of a dull knife.

ElendilTheTall

bastards always have crap knives

onions are the real killers. a dull knife will just slide right off and into your finger

Jolenealaska

Sharp knives go where you tell them to go

damn!

BESW

I know. I haven't had the opportunity to figure out what knives are available to me that'd be high quality and cost-effective.

Jolenealaska

I had not intended to so perfectly complete your sentence, Tall.

Can you order from Amazon?

BESW

Iffy.

Jolenealaska

11:10 AM

I can point you to a very inexpensive but high-quality knife.

BESW

I'll take the recommendation and see where I can actually order it!

ElendilTheTall

you can either buy a relatively expensive knife and keep it sharp, or just buy lots of cheap knives and keep throwing them out

that's what butchers do

Jolenealaska

IMO, the chef knife is the first knife I would spend money on.

BESW

(Amazon gets fussy about shipping to us, depending on the item and the seller.)

Jolenealaska

will I will show you a very inexpensive, high quality knife. brb

amazon.com/Zyliss-Chefs-Knife-7-1-2-Inch/dp/B00760ANEA/…

amazon.com/dp/B0110RSSEG?psc=1

a nice thing about knives that aren't expensive is that you can sharpen them easily with an inexpensive sharpener and not be afraid that you're going to ruin them. I'm scared to sharpen the few knives I have that were expensive. That being the case, I rarely use them.

Sam's Club, a big box store, sells knives like you would typically find in a commercial kitchen.

BESW

11:23 AM

Thanks.

Jolenealaska

They are very inexpensive, about on par with those two from Amazon.

BESW

I know Sam's Club from going to university in South Carolina.

Our only warehouse store is Cost-U-Less.

Jolenealaska

It's the Sam's Club knives that I use all the time. They're still going strong perhaps 10 years after purchasing them. I sharpen them when they don't seem as sharp as they should be, perhaps every month or so.

BESW

First I should probably just try sharpening the ones I've got.

Jolenealaska

...not 10 years, maybe 6

BESW

11:27 AM

(I don't have as much problem with slipping as I might, because they have serrations on the tip.)

Jolenealaska

if they've been really roughly treated for a long time, they're probably not worth sharpening. Particularly if they have any serration at all.

oh crap I just saw the time I have got to go to bed

I have a dental appointment in the morning.

Good night all!

BESW

ttfn

Jolenealaska

11:41 AM

this is the kind of luck I have.

I'm supposed to be at the dentist in six hours.

So, it's time to go to bed.

Before going to bed, I brush my teeth.

Just now my battery has died in my ultrasonic toothbrush. That's the only toothbrush I have in my apartment because everything is in storage. It has this little itty bitty tiny head.

it is simply not effective without batteries.

It could have died tomorrow, or yesterday and it wouldn't be an issue.

right now it is a royal PIA.

ElendilTheTall

Well, make do as best you can

Jolenealaska

That concludes my bedtime announcement

ElendilTheTall

It's not the size of the thing, it's what you do with it ;)

BESW

Toothpaste on finger?

If there's a woody plant you know is safe, a frizzled-ended stick is what many folks used for a lot of history.

Jolenealaska

That's probably about equally effective as trying to use this toothbrush without batteries. Any other night I would do that and not think twice about it.

anyway...good night again.

BESW

11:46 AM

And, well, dentists can tell the difference between "missed the last brushing" and "failed to brush for the last month."

ElendilTheTall

I fail to see how a small brush is a handicap in any other way other than it taking longer.

ElendilTheTall

12:20 PM

@Jolenealaska are you back?

your icon was very dark

oh well

I'll just sit here and pine

Jay

12:47 PM

@ElendilTheTall Be careful, thats how the first man turned into a pine treee

He was such a sap

ElendilTheTall

fnar fnar

user116848

Oi!

Jay

dont worry, some sap are good some times

they can be quite delicious when processed

I used to live near(~20minutes) a maple syrup factory

and they had a donut shop attached to it

and their maple donuts were to die for

user116848

So I am only able to come here when my internet is working.

user116848

Shucks!

Jay

12:58 PM

does your internet intermittently go down?

user116848

Yes it does.

user116848

A lot.

Jay

I finally switched over to Comcast yesterday and was doing a speed test

170mbps

So awesome

it was suppose to be up to 105mbps, so im not sure why it was so much higher

@Arrowfar Where d oyou live again?

If i remember correctly, you are pakistani?

ElendilTheTall

@Jay favouritism

Jay

@ElendilTheTall heh

considering im already getting the internet for free... i doubt that

@Cerberus Happn must not be that popular here in Philadelphia because I only got like 10 entries all weekend. And this is with both boys and girls combined.

And I had to walk/drive by some really really busy streets

ElendilTheTall

1:06 PM

10 entries sounds like a pretty damn good weekend to me :D

though perhaps we are using different senses of the 'entry'

Jay

lol

10 different people who also had the app popped up on my screen

basically the app works like this. You install app, you go about your daily life. Whenever you walk by, drive by someone else with the app, itll show their profile, and where you guys passed each other

and you get to send a crush, flirt, or ignore

if you both send crushes to each other you can message them

But a crush is secret if only you send them a crush. They wont actually know who the crush is from until they also send a crush to you

a flirt is public and lets you declare your interest to the other person

ignore is self explanatory

It seems like a fun app but if only a small amount of people have it, its kind of pointless

ElendilTheTall

indeed

Jay

oh cool, just checked and got a new entry

not bad looking.

sends flirt

Cerberus

1:35 PM

@ElendilTheTall Barbarian!

@Jay Hm odd.

My boyfriend said he never needed any credit or whatever to do anything.

Jay

@Cerberus it doesnt cost anything to send a crush

but guys needs to use 1 credit to send a flirt

Cerberus

What's the difference?

Perhaps he never flirted, then.

Jay

crush is a secret. and is only revealed when you both send each other crushes

Cerberus

Okay.

Jay

flirts lets the other person know who you are and that you are interested

Cerberus

1:37 PM

Ah OK, I didn't know that was possible.

I thought the whole thing was about not allowing that.

Jay

the account starts with 10 credit so im gonna mess with it until i run out of those 10. Dont plan on spending any money for this app lol

@Cerberus the main thing is you cant send a message unless you both sent each other crushes

or the person who got the flirt returns the flirt

at least that my understanding of it

and its has a cool serendipity sort of feel to the app which appeals to many

as opposed to just looking up profiles

Cerberus

@Jay Okay, so Tinder only has "crushes".

Which is kind of nice.

Jay

@Cerberus how do tinder match you up with people?

is it similar to happn where its people nearby?

Cerberus

You never know whether this person you "liked" was ever offered the chance to "like" your profile unless you both "like" each other.

Jay

or do they use a difference algorithm

Cerberus

1:43 PM

Tinder uses a radius, in which it matches you up with people at random. The profiles are presented to you in a row, no overview.

Jay

i see

Cerberus

So you open the app, you see one profile, which you have to like or dislike.

Jay

sounds like the quickmatch functionality in okcupid

ElendilTheTall

@Cerberus i can almost guarantee I have been involved in entering fewer people than you buddy boy!

Cerberus

Once you have liked or disliked it, a new one appears, etc.

@ElendilTheTall Oh, yes, can you?

I thought you entered users all the time, into databases.

Jay

1:45 PM

@ElendilTheTall just for clarity's sake, when we say enter, are we including other body parts aside from the male genitalia

Cerberus

Who are "we"?

Jay

we as in us in general when we count

ElendilTheTall

@Cerberus can't remember the last time I did that

Jay

doesnt change the fact that you have in the past entered a multitude of people consecutively

into the database

ElendilTheTall

@Jay it does if I've never done it

which I haven't

Jay

1:51 PM

lol ok, i dont actually know what your job is so i was just basing it on what Cerb said

Are you a DBA?

Cerberus

Cerb was just trying to be witty back at Lindy's witticisms.

ElendilTheTall

@Jay nope :)

Jay

@ElendilTheTall you've asked me about javascript in the past, so i assume you are some type of programmer or such

ElendilTheTall

only as a hobby

Jay

i see

ElendilTheTall

1:56 PM

you are now one step closer to knowing what I do for a living

you know I'm not a programmer

1 job down, 3x10^48 to go!

Jay

@Jolenealaska What favor would you like to ask for? I know you aren't currently online. But I'll be here for the next ~6hours

@ElendilTheTall i dont think there are THAT many different jobs out there lol

ill rule mathematician out also

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