The Frying Pan

Jolenealaska

3:11 PM

@FaheemMitha White corn is nutritionally no different from yellow corn as far as I know.

It is a grain, although we treat it like a vegetable.

I am from the sweet corn capital of the world (Iowa), so I am quite particular.

The best corn is the ear that is picked after the water comes to a boil.

ElendilTheTall

3:29 PM

Thus spakes the Iowan

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska Oh. I was just wondering what food category to put it in.

Jolenealaska

At the moment of perfect ripeness, corn can just burst with sweetness...

Unfortunately, buying corn in Anchorage is like buying salmon in Des Moines.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska Is it good for corn to be sweet?

@Jolenealaska so, far from home?

ElendilTheTall

It is for sweetcorn

Which Americans just call 'corn'

Jolenealaska

@FaheemMitha Some people say that Alaskan salmon is the very best in the world. Typically in a restaurant here, salmon on your plate was swimming yesterday.

Same with sweetcorn.

Arguably, Iowa grows the best corn in the world.

And you'll never find it fresher.

So Iowans are spoiled when it comes to corn; Alaskans are spoiled when it comes to salmon.

As Maine is to lobster and Georgia is to peaches.

ElendilTheTall

3:44 PM

Erm, sorry didn't see that. Watching now

Have you?

Jolenealaska

I thought so??

ElendilTheTall

Hmm

Faheem Mitha

4:02 PM

@Jolenealaska Wikipedia say this is the same thing as what is called maize. Is that correct?

Jolenealaska

Yes and no.

When an Iowan says maize, we are talking of a different type corn than the type we eat as "sweet corn". Most of the corn grown is a dry type that is milled into flour.

Sweet corn looks the same, but is very different. I imagine that it is rarely seen in much of the world.

iowacorn.org/en/corn_use_education/faq

"Most of the corn you see growing in fields across Iowa is field corn. Very little of it is Iowa sweet corn. According to the 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture, Iowa harvested 3,393 acres of sweet corn. Most of the sweet corn grown in Iowa is sold within the state at farmers’ markets and roadside stands."

"Iowa has produced the largest corn crop of any state for almost two decades. In an average year, Iowa produces more corn than most countries. For example, Iowa grows about 3 times as much corn as a country like Mexico."

Faheem Mitha

Well, I wonder what the stuff we eat here is. Would a photo help?

Jolenealaska

That is a variety called "peaches and cream" I think.

That looks exactly like the corn my family gets from a farm just north of town.

Some sweet corn is all yellow, some is all white, some is both...like that.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska Yes, the stuff here looks like that, except whitish.

Well, more in the white direction.

Jolenealaska

You can't tell sweet corn from field corn by looking.

Color is not the issue.

campsilos.org/mod3/students/c_history4.shtml

Faheem Mitha

4:26 PM

@Jolenealaska Oh. Then how can one tell?

Jolenealaska

By biting into it!

Sweet corn is sweet and juicy (if picked at ripeness and prepared correctly)

Corn in a can is sweet corn.

Sweet corn on the ear may be rare in parts of the world...I don't know.

I don't remember ever seeing it in Korea, for example, but on the other hand, I wasn't looking for it.

Sweet corn on the cob is in the produce section of grocery stores here in Alaska, but it always disappoints since I grew up on Iowa corn.

"corn on the cob" = "corn still on the ear"

If you can't get it very fresh, it's better to get it frozen or canned.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska And knowing how the different varieties taste, presumably.

Jolenealaska

not really. Sweet corn and field corn are completely different.

There are dozens or hundreds of varieties of each, but sweet corn is sweet corn, field corn (or anything but sweet corn) is entirely different - even though it looks the same.

Biting into field corn on the cob would not be pleasant.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska oh

ElendilTheTall

5:37 PM

@jolenealaska do all Iowans do Corn Studies in high school?

Jolenealaska

No need.

We are born knowing corn.

A picture that seemed so normal at 16, but would seem odd anyplace else:

I need to restart Dragon for this, it's a pretty good story.

(as are other stories that need to be told)

Jolenealaska

5:56 PM

Peak corn season in Iowa is only about three weeks long. Iowans wait all year for this. There are only four or five big farms that grow all the sweetcorn that is sold in Des Moines. Virtually all the rest of the corn grown in Iowa is field corn.

On the first day of the first real sweetcorn harvest, Dahl's grocery store (about 10 blocks from my childhood home) puts two ping-pong tables side-by-side in the middle of the store. They have to move aisles of groceries for this, but nobody cares about anything but corn for the next couple of weeks.

Dump trucks deliver the corn to these ping-pong tables.

The customers rip the husks off right there in the store and drop them on the floor...

the hunt is on for the best possible ear of corn.

It's every bit as nuts as the halibut derby in Alaska.

Don't let your hands get in the way, or you will lose them in the frenzy.

The piles of corn husks can get to be the size of small cars, and the dump trucks keep coming with the corn.

Hey rumi!! I haven't "talked" to you in ages!

rumtscho

hi @Jolenealaska

Jolenealaska

How are you?

rumtscho

indeed, my chat presence waxes and wanes somewhat of late, and the times I was in, you weren't

Very tired.

It's extremely hot here. My room is 36 Celsius as I type

and I haven't had a free day since last weekend and won't have one until next weekend

yesterday and today I had stuff to do from early till late

how are you? did you move?

Jolenealaska

6:12 PM

No, I'm in a very uncomfortable limbo.

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho is it still hot in Germany? It's cooled considerably here.

Jolenealaska

I should probably search the past several days of chat...

How is your hearing, rumi?

rumtscho

@Jolenealaska it used to be great and crashed suddenly to the old state. I hope it will go back to normal once the heat and/or busy time are over.

@ElendilTheTall It's still hot, and there is no cooling forecast for the foreseeable future

I am slowly considering going up into the forest to sleep for a night so I can get a full night of sleep

Jolenealaska

How common is air-conditioning there?

rumtscho

down here I have trouble falling asleep, then wake up in the middle of the night and watch the thermometer, hypnotising it to crawl under 31

@Jolenealaska not much. Nobody in my building has it.

My office doesn't have it too, but it's in the ground floor of a concrete building shadowed by other concrete buildings from all sides

but I live in the attic, facing south. My bed is under the roof slope

It's like living in an oven

Jolenealaska

6:20 PM

Ouch

rumtscho

when I open all windows, it's like living in a convection oven

I wish I could go somewhere else, but the stuff I need for work is on the desktop computer

so I sit here, in front of two large monitors, each of them burning 150 Watt

Today it was something else. A day at which all sport clubs in Heidelberg present themselves to the public

I spent 7 hours at that event

most of the time herding novices trying out a kayak for the first time

Jolenealaska

All sports clubs??

rumtscho

Yes, it took up a few kilometers along the river

I didn't look at them all though

At least none of my newbies fell into the water

but my last batch was a mother with two boys

one boy was alone in a whitewater kayak (which are slower) behind us

I was in a quick single tour kayak

and the mother with the other boy in a double kayak, the mother sitting behind (she is heavier, so she is the captain)

of course nobody of them could keep a straight line, that's normal for a first timer

but in this case, the boy in the front seat assumed that the mother is deliberately turning the kayak this way and that, despite our reassurances that she isn't

he kept yelling at her to stop

Jolenealaska

About how old was the kid?

rumtscho

8-11, I can't tell that well

before that, I had another family, with a father and his wheelchair bound son in the double, and a small girl in a single

the girl was the worst of all turners, she couldn't take two strokes without doing half a circle and ending up pointing in a direction she didn't want at all

she tried to heroically go on, but she was a bit upset

and then the motorboats started driving in the space where we were, making large waves

she was quite scared of the waves, they shake a small kayak a lot, especially when the driver is light

but her family wanted to stay and watch, and the boy even changed from the kayak into the motor boat

Jolenealaska

6:29 PM

how far was she from shore?

rumtscho

we somehow got her back and found out that we don't know where the motor boat is with her brother...

very close to the shore, 3-4 meters

ElendilTheTall

@jolenealaska home air conditioning is virtually non existent in Northern Europe. We mostly just hop in the shower...

rumtscho

although for the motor boats, we had to go more to the center of the river, because the boats stayed along the shore

luckily, the river is truly placid

it has 0.5 km/h flow on average, and today it was even a bit slower

ElendilTheTall

I have cruised that river

rumtscho

even the weakest children could paddle against the flow as easily as with the flow

ElendilTheTall

6:30 PM

Can confirm placidity

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall oh, you're better traveled than I thought! What places did you visit along our beautiful river?

Jolenealaska

I was about to ask, What river?

rumtscho

@Jolenealaska It's called Neckar. Strangely not that well known outside of Germany, even though it's quite large. Flows into the Rhine 25 km further downstream.

whw-hd.de/#csshighslide3

This is a live stream of the river

The camera is on top of our boatshouse, and it shows the park/beach where the event was

ElendilTheTall

The Rhine. At Heidelberg

Just a short trip. We also visited the confluence of the Rhine and... Some other major river.

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall No, it's in Mannheim.

Ah, I see. The Neckar is the river in Heidelberg, and its confluence with the Rhine is close, you probably visited that

Jolenealaska

6:36 PM

A bit different from:

rumtscho

Ah yes. Nobody does 7 hours of that. OK, there are some crazy expedition kayakers, but they don't count.

@Jolenealaska is this on the Matanuska?

Jolenealaska

Nope.

The Matanuska is pretty mild.

Six-mile creek is some of the "whitest" whitewater around.

It looks like a nice little float from the highway.

Then it turns around a bend, and all hell breaks loose.

A few years ago a father (who had lived in Alaska for over a decade) put his young (6 year old, maybe?) son into a canoe on the creek thinking it was an innocent, quiet little stream.

The kid almost drowned, and the father almost drowned saving him.

What. An. Idiot.

He spent the next year or so campaigning for warning signs everywhere there is danger to be found in Alaska.

rumtscho

Wouldn't it be easier to put signs where there is no danger?

Jolenealaska

If you could find such a place.

rumtscho

that's what I mean, easier because there are fewer places to put a sign in

Jolenealaska

6:47 PM

Yes..I was taking the concept to the extreme :)

rumtscho

My computer crashed for the second time in half an hour. I think I'll go follow for b today. I'm tired enough to go to bed soon anyway (at 20:50, that's a record even for the new regular sleeping me)

Jolenealaska

These are my friends from Chickaloon: novalaska.com

Goodnight. Think cool thoughts!

ElendilTheTall

7:03 PM

Like the Fonz

Jolenealaska

What a blast from the past.

I just looked him up. Henry Winkler was born in 1945.

Good grief.

ElendilTheTall

Ey!

Jolenealaska

Of course, Ron Howard has seen a few years too:

ElendilTheTall

His daughter, however, is something else

Jolenealaska

I'm not sure I know of his daughter??

ElendilTheTall

7:18 PM

Bryce Dallas Howard

Jolenealaska

oh my!

ElendilTheTall

Yeah, she's kinda the hottest woman on Earth actually

But then I am a fool for redheads

And blondes

And brunettes? Dayum!

Jolenealaska

And brunettes....

:-)

I just heard about Jurassic World.

The reviews on IMDb aren't awful.

I watched the preview though, that does not look like a very good movie.

She looks hot, but the movie does not.

Faheem Mitha

7:34 PM

@ElendilTheTall You must have met the approximately 3.5 billion women on Earth then. So maybe you're the Flash? :-)

ElendilTheTall

Yeah, it's not a patch on the original

It's much more of an action flick

Alright for a summer blockbuster.

Jolenealaska

Have you seen it?

ElendilTheTall

There's Bryce for the boys and Chris Pratt for the girls

Yes

Jolenealaska

I need a good movie right about now. Something not brand new so it's not expensive to stream from Amazon.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska Pitch Perfect.

If you haven't seen it already.

Another very light, very fun film is Fired Up.

Both are comedies, of course.

I also recommend the cancelled comedy Selfie. Also very light, very fun. All the best stuff gets cancelled.

Jolenealaska

7:42 PM

Hmmm... I didn't realize it until just now, but I'm actually in the mood for something a bit deeper.

For some reason, comedy doesn't strike the right chord just now.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska Movies don't get deep, typically. At least HW one don't.

You probably want British then.

There was a good one starring Nicole Kidman I saw a few years ago.

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl is a 2001 British-American drama and crime film directed by Jez Butterworth. The plot focuses on English bank clerk John Buckingham who orders a Russian mail-order bride, Nadia. It becomes clear upon her arrival that Nadia cannot speak English, and early into her stay, two mysterious men come to the house claiming to be her cousin and cousin's friend. The film features Nicole Kidman, Ben Chaplin, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Vincent Cassel. English and Russian are spoken interchangeably in the film. == Plot == John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin), a lonely St Albans bank clerk, orders a mail-order...

That's a fairly good film. The British are just better at film making, imo. Especially the more serious stuff.

And Kidman is very good.

Chaplin is good too. It's a fairly intense drama, I'd say.

Jolenealaska

Interestingly mixed reviews, on Amazon and on IMDb.

Looking at that movie led me to look at this one:

amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q53ADM/ref=pd_sim__3

The reviews on that one are excellent on Amazon, but it rates a 6.3 on IMDb. Weird.

Faheem Mitha

7:59 PM

Kidman tends to be worth watching, even when she is in not very good things.

@Jolenealaska if you don't like that one, I could come up with other suggestions.

ElendilTheTall

Heat

Jolenealaska

Kidman makes me think of The Accused, which makes me think of Silence of the Lambs.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska If you haven't watched "Brazil" for example, you should.

Of course, I don't know much about your taste, so this is just shots in the dark.

ElendilTheTall

Heat

Jolenealaska

I have seen Brazil (long ago)

I hear you, Tall...

Faheem Mitha

8:02 PM

@Jolenealaska Kidman is not in The Accused.

Jolenealaska

Isn't she the lawyer in The Accused?

ElendilTheTall

Heat

;D

Jolenealaska

You've convinced me Tall!

ElendilTheTall

Al Pacino and Robert Deniro in one film. Nuff said.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska no

Gangster films. Not my cup of tea.

Jolenealaska

8:04 PM

Ah...Kelly McGillis...see, I can never get the pink piece.

Faheem Mitha

pink piece?

Jolenealaska

A Trivial Pursuit reference.

Pop culture.

Faheem Mitha

ok

Jolenealaska

The pie piece I can never get.

ElendilTheTall

Open Range, if you want a western

absolutely superb

Jolenealaska

8:06 PM

You've convinced me with Heat.

Faheem Mitha

The French FIlm - Three Colors Red is pretty famous.

If you haven't see it already.

Jolenealaska

I saw Red in the theater.

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska Ah, ok

Jolenealaska

Ok...I'm going to make a couple of obligatory phone calls, then I am going to settle in with Heat.

I appreciate all the suggestions, but that's the one that feels right just now.

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha haha, suck it! ;)

Brazil. <snort>

Faheem Mitha

8:14 PM

@ElendilTheTall ??!!

@ElendilTheTall What's wrong with Brazil?

ElendilTheTall

nothing, I was just pulling your leg

Jolenealaska

Brazil was a bit weird for me.

Faheem Mitha

I think it's a very good film. But I'm squarely in Gilliam's target audience, I think.

Jolenealaska

Although I haven't seen it since it was new, and I think I only saw it that one time...so...I'll give it another chance some day.

Faheem Mitha

Random question: does anyone know of any show in English (tv or film) that depicts the advertising industry in a realistic way?

ElendilTheTall

8:21 PM

Mad Men?

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall Oh. Is that recent? And is it realistic?

Jolenealaska

imdb.com/title/tt0804503

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha it's a series, it's been going for a few years but is now finished

I have no idea how realistic it is

it is excellent in any case

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall ok

Jolenealaska

I have only seen it once, but what little I saw rang very true.

Looking for Heat, I came across The Heat too.

amazon.com/Heat-Sandra-Bullock/dp/B00F4YKCFA/…

ElendilTheTall

8:29 PM

ha

slightly different

Jolenealaska

In another mood, that could fit the bill.

Sandra Bullock is terrific fun to watch.

For absolutely mindless fun, I loved Miss Congeniality.

Never mind that New Jersey had to have had a runner-up...Disengage brain and just enjoy Sandra. I could watch her pissed off at her broken microwave on a continuous loop.

ElendilTheTall

lol

Jolenealaska

I read somewhere that her high school class voted her "most likely to brighten your day"

ElendilTheTall

bless her cotton socks

Jolenealaska

Reading something so nice makes her all the more fun to watch.

ElendilTheTall

8:42 PM

mrs the tall is watching Long Lost Family

they reunite family: kids who were given up for adoption as newborns meeting their parents or siblings for the first time

WHO'S CHOPPING ONIONS IN THE GODDAMN LIVING ROOM?!

Jolenealaska

That would hit a bit close to home

ElendilTheTall

it's the definition of bittersweet

Jolenealaska

I've never seen it, and as far as I know there isn't an "American version" yet...

ElendilTheTall

so many young women forced to give up their kids just because their parents were afraid of what the fucking neighbours would think

Jolenealaska

I met my natural father for the first (only) time when I was a teenager.

For a brief shining moment I hoped he would save me from Jeene.

That fantasy died within seconds of actually meeting him.

ElendilTheTall

8:48 PM

:/

Jolenealaska

There are full episodes on YouTube, I'll check it out later.

ElendilTheTall

bring tissues

that reminds me, I must check my e-mail

Jolenealaska

Looking at Long Lost Family led to another British show I'd probably like.

ElendilTheTall

yeah, waiting for some correspondence

long story

oh?

what's that?

Jolenealaska

Yep, but I like true-crime stories. I seem to remember that you don't enjoy those.

ElendilTheTall

8:58 PM

meh, there's enough true crime about on the news

Jolenealaska

Tru nuff...I don't know myself why I enjoy true crime, but I always have.

ElendilTheTall

gives you ideas probably

Jolenealaska

For a while after Stacey's death I couldn't stand that kind of story, but slowly I went back to my old macabre ways.

Ann Rule, that's who I was thinking of...

barnesandnoble.com/blog/9-books-for-the-true-crime-obsessed

I just watched the trailer for The Heat. That looks really awful! :)

ElendilTheTall

9:15 PM

lol

Jolenealaska

On the other hand...

I just bought Heat.

ElendilTheTall

good choice

it's a toss up between who's better in it

Pacino or De Niro

I think it might be Pacino

'Who? Who? What are you, a fucking owl?'

Jolenealaska

The names on the opening credits make me wonder where the hell I was when this movie came out.

hmm...

1995

Laurel, Maryland.

ElendilTheTall

I know it well

Jolenealaska

Do you really?

OK Mr Trivia whiz...What is the mall in town famous for??

ElendilTheTall

9:32 PM

lol, I was joking... just penning an e-mail before I go to bed

Jolenealaska

It is a good piece of trivia, nonetheless.

Wow...it really is that late!

ElendilTheTall

yeah. g'night hon, catch you tomorrow

Jolenealaska

The Laurel Mall is where George Wallace was shot

ElendilTheTall

no idea who that is

I shall sleep in blissful ignorance, amongst other things

g'night!

Jolenealaska

g'night and I'll CYA later.

In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. - George Wallace

George Wallace

George Corley Wallace, Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Alabama, having served two nonconsecutive terms and two consecutive terms as a Democrat: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. Wallace has the third longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,848 days. After four runs for U.S. President (three as a Democrat and one on the American Independent Party ticket), he earned the title "the most influential loser" in 20th century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher. A 1972...

Jolenealaska

10:21 PM

Hmmm Being an LA homicide detective would probably be hard on a marriage. I recognized Ashley Judd from her very first word.

She was the only reason to watch The Game

My otherwise least favorite TNG episode.

The PSA between Tasha and Wesley was vomit inducing.

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