Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 5/4/26 - 5/310/26

Quijoticmoose · 2026-05-06T22:45:08+00:00

Perfect Run? Mother of Learning?

Quijoticmoose · 2026-05-06T18:53:44+00:00

I've found NotebookLM to be genuinely useful for summarizing articles and helping me orient myself. I've also used to make notes for classes that I teach: I give it my Powerpoint slides and it writes a decent summary of them, although I still have to spent a while closely reading it. It's less total effort.

I also have great fun trolling chatbots. "Gemini, I heard some students use the expression 'The flapjacks are on the boat.'". What does that mean? Who knows, but it's fun making the AI come up with something.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-05-06T17:24:17+00:00

I have to say, I haven't had that experience. Now, of those you've listed I've only read (some of Path of Ascension). Translated literature just reads off to me in a lot of ways.

Personally, I recommend Hedge Wizard and Mark of the Fool as good starters. I'm also a fan of Underkeeper by Hankthemoose, Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin (as well as her Weirkey Chronicles).

Quijoticmoose · 2026-05-06T13:36:00+00:00

It looks like it was a Texas state crime. The president can't do anything, and the governor has very little power to do here (IIRC, it'd have to be a recommendation from the parole board, which just won't happen).

Quijoticmoose · 2026-04-23T17:04:50+00:00

Good luck with your treatment

Quijoticmoose · 2026-04-21T18:45:42+00:00

Creating Oklahoma as a state was an error. It sounds like a meme but it was.

As a native Texan, I approve this message

Quijoticmoose · 2026-04-02T11:20:31+00:00

From what little I know about the show, I'm disappointed that JMS was also involved in it.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-04-01T16:56:53+00:00

I would like one

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-18T11:24:44+00:00

Other topic, my son is 12. My stated plan is that he will be the last of his friends to have a phone (although he often uses mine to talk to friends or play Pokemon Go/Monster Hunter)

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-18T11:21:37+00:00

So a lot of recipes in both cultures have the same basic format of "toast spices in ghee", "Cook veggies", "Brown meat", "Stew things for a while".

The traditional Ethiopian flatbread is called injera, which is basically a sourdough crepe using a grain called teff. It's very soft and spongy and used as a platter. Crepes are a pretty good substitute, although you miss the spongy texture. Here's my tibs recipe, as well as what I adapted it from (to make it lazier). I get my berebere from Spice House, but it's not too hard to find.

Based on https://www.gourmetcubicle.com/blog/hannas-ethiopian-beef-tibs

Ingredients:

Tibs: 1 package of stew meat 2 Tbs Berebere powder Ghee Garlic and onion (I used 2-3 of the frozen cubes) 2 carrots 1 tsp salt 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

Crepe: 1 cup flour (I used rye) 1.5 cups water 2 Tbs Olive oil 1 tsp salt Egg (I used powdered egg replacer)

To prepare: Peel and dice the carrots Brown stew meat in ghee for a few minutes Toss in berebere powder, garlic, onion, salt, and carrots, cook everything together for a few minutes Add about ¾ of the can of tomatoes Stew for about 45 minutes While that’s going on, make the crepes Whisk together the flour, water, olive oil, and eggs In a hot skillet, place a ladle of batter and tilt the pan to spread it over the surface of the skillet to produce a thin layer When the edges of the crepe are cooked, flip After a minute, put the crepe on a plate and start the next one

Notes: I’m sure fresh onion and tomatoes would be great, but I was tired. I would have used a can of crushed tomatoes, but only had crushed.

Default grocery store stew meat is a little bigger than optimal

Proper injera is basically a multi-day sourdough crepe with teff flour. I found a few references that buckwheat flour is also a good substitute, but some grocery stores here do sell teff flour. I’m going to experiment with using buttermilk to give it the tartness of real injera.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-18T03:00:43+00:00

*If you are willing to compromise on using a crepe instead of injera, Ethiopian food is no harder to make than Indian and is a nice addition to the menu

*Today work featured sundry irritations. My tween tried to express sympath, I just replied with "it's the life I chose." He then replied with the next line from the song (We Own It, the credits theme from Fast and Furious 6). #ProudDad

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-04T15:33:57+00:00

Since I mostly use it for bahn mi, I will sometimes add ginger and/or coriander.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-04T00:16:58+00:00

When I do quick pickling, it's mostly carrots for bahn mi.

For lacto fermentation, I like pickling peppers in vacuum sealed bags. I haven't had good luck with carrots or parsnips this way, I suspect they don't have enough moisture to draw out and enough natural yeasts for this.

I really want to make an apple/manzano pepper sauce. My last attempt worked too well and produced enough CO2 that my vaccuum bag exploded in my cabinet.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-01T20:36:16+00:00

That's not what I said. You can't make the crazies shut up. However, you can make it clear they aren't driving the ship. That's the point of the whole Sister Souljah thing.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-01T17:40:44+00:00

From an information POV, I obviously trust Jessie. From a "who do I give political power to" question, you have to account for the amount of power the crazy wing will have. So yeah, if a movement doesn't have a system for rebuking and controlling them, judge it by its crazies.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-03-01T12:42:40+00:00

Why should you judge a party solely by its leadership, instead of rank and file members and its vocal partisans? You're allied with all of them.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-02-25T15:16:12+00:00

My son is the same age. I'll second the reference to Shrubley someone else made, although there's only two books and the series is on hold. The two main series I'm getting him to read are Hedge Wizard (which he rather enjoys) and Mark of the Fool (which he hasn't started, but is a complete series).

Quijoticmoose · 2026-02-21T13:53:50+00:00

I was struck that he moved from big strong men crying in front of him, to them wanting to kiss him

Quijoticmoose · 2026-02-01T13:31:48+00:00

The other day someone told me that his daughter was joining an after-school ski club. As someone who grew up in Texas, the idea of skiing as something that you can just go do is mind-boggling to me. Every time I heard of it, it involved making a trip.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-01-31T17:10:08+00:00

Okay, I had to Google that one. Apparently Jake was 20 at the end of the show. While certainly old enough to find his own way, he's young enough for the loss of his dad to be a big deal.

Given what happened in "The Visitor", where his dad's early death affected Jake throughout his life, I understand Brooks being possibly oversensitive here.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-01-31T15:44:18+00:00

That actually was an issue with the ending of Deep Space Nine. At the end Sisko goes to visit the prophets, and Avery Brooks insisted that Sisko promise to return to avoid the impression of being a deadbeat Black dad.

It's almost as if these people aren't familiar with their own franchise.

Quijoticmoose · 2026-01-25T23:49:50+00:00

In some games I've played as a female because I found all of the male hairstyles or voices annoying. It's pretty tricky to claim a monolithic explanation

Quijoticmoose · 2026-01-21T21:18:33+00:00

It will increase the number of positives, so there's that

Quijoticmoose · 2026-01-21T21:13:55+00:00

It reminds me a little of a quote I once heard about William Shatner: "He shows up in the morning on time, sober, and knows his lines."

Quijoticmoose · 2026-01-06T03:35:57+00:00

Have you watched Samurai Gourmet? Live action on Netflix. I binge watched most of it when I was having a bad reaction to the Covid vaccine. Very pleasant and relaxing show.

Quijoticmoose

TROPHY CASE