RoboTastic

Forks are one of those things that you use every day with out thinking about. Really though they are very usaully. There first use is to poke large objects and pick them up. This makes it very easy to pick up large irregular shaped objects. The second function of Forks is to scoop up lots of small objects that would tough to poke and pickup individually.

The only area where a fork could be improved is its ability to pick up liquids. Anything more liquidy than a pudding is difficult to pickup. However trying improve this would reduce its ability to poke things.

Over the weekend I put a webcam near to bird feeder and set to start recording when ever there was motion. I found that the squerrils is eating lots and lots. I also got a movie of the woodpecker, Woody. So here is the first feature film for Robotastic:

Verdict: This oil has some personality.

In Mort Rosenblum’s book on olives, Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit, he gush about the Nunez Prado brothers and how they use traditional methods to produce olive oil. The do most of the work by hand, the weeding, pruning and picking. The olives are then pressed using the traditional method, with large granite stones.

Now I am not sure how much difference all of this makes in the end, but this is some tasty oil. I got the Early Harvest variety which has a bit more body to it, but I also tried the regular variety. Both have a strong distinct taste, with a bit of bite. It tastes great with bread, also good on salad. Probably good for things that need a flavor, like fresh mozarella.

Also I would try to pick up a bottle from Whole Foods. They have their own bottle and it is about half the price of other places.

Here is how things become trendy. There are a bunch of things with lots of potential to become… and thats the problem, there are lots of things. In order for of these things to become cool, they have to gain momentum and exsposure. Once a thing gets picked up it will start gaining in coolness at a variable rate.

If the rate of coolness increase is not enough the thing will simply fizzle. It will not attract enough interest maintain it’s coolness and perpetuate itself. People wil get interested in other things, like basket weaving, and it will simply fizzle.

However if the rate of coolness increase is too great, the thing will peak and start a coolness descent. There is usaully a distinct tipping point refered to as the coolness peak. This peak is usaully associated with too much exsposure or a sudden increase in accesibility.

In order for a thing to have maintainable coolness it needs a moderate increase of coolness that is just enough to allow it to slowly perpetuate. It helps to have a small core following that slowly expands. Once a thing has been cool for a long enough amount of time it is becomes embed in the culture of a group, it gains the much sought after iconic status.

(This guide is a living document and will be added… Also many useless graphs will be added to make it look more offical.)

Melanerpes carolinus

This guy has started to hang around the bird feeder quite a bit. He waits until there are a bunch of birds feeding, heads over to a nearby tree and the swoops down for a quick bit. Doesn’t stick around for too long. So far no females have come along…

A litte more info at the USGS site.

Another photo of him at the feeder here.

Fun < $20

Cast Iron cookware gets overlooked way too often. It browns nicely like a stainless steal pan, cleans up easy like a non-stick, you can use metal utensails and is dirt cheap!

It takes a little getting used to. Cast Iron is very dense and does not conduct heat very well. This means that it takes a while to heat and does not react very quickly to changes in heat. Once it gets hot, it stays hot. This is good for a lot of things though. It is great for searing stuff because it doesn’t cool right done when you throw something on it.

One of the best things about cast iron is that you can’t break it. Before you use any cast iron cookware you have to season the pan. You do this by coat the pan with oil or fat and baking it for an hour or so. This seals the pan, creating a non-stick surface and prevents rust. Things may stick a little but the won’t become stuck on. To maintain the season you can’t wash the pan with a strong soap, and should recoat it with a bit of oil every now and then. But if something should happen and the pan loses its seasoning or starts to rust, simply give it a good scrubbing and reseason it… viola, good as new!

Lodge is well known manufacturer of cast iron cookware. There website has recipes, a catalog and care insturctions. They have a new line of pans called Pro-Logic, that cost $2 more and look pretty sharp…

Amazon has tons of pans. And you can get free shipping, which is great because the pans can be pretty heavy. I think a 10″ pan is good for cooking for 2. A 12″ might be better for larger groups, but could be pretty heavy.

Final Advice: Buy from Lodge. Buy a pre-seasoned pan, they are ready to use. Buy from the Pro-Logic line of Skillets from Lodge.

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