Starry Wisdom

Talking to Paul at work today, he surmised that it might be that the encoding was off, and instead of the receiver thinking that the dialog should go to the central channel (in phase on L and R inputs) it should go to the rear channel (out of phase on L and R inputs). I guess that’s a bit simplified for how Prologic works, but the upshot of this talk is that I hooked up my surround speakers to see if the audio was going backwards. Well, no, now it is properly going to the CENTER CHANNEL. Which is great, it works now, but that means that netflix had a bug the other night.

I’m pretty annoyed right now. For reasons that I really don’t understand, This American Life Season 2, as seen by Netflix Watch Instantly on Xbox 360 Live was not working properly. The music was working fine, and some sound effects, but not the dialog.

Now, I think I should explain a bit how things are wired up. The component output goes into the TV, and the stereo audio outputs WERE going into the satellite inputs on my receiver. This has worked perfectly fine since I bought the 360 last fall - but not tonight. I tried two separate episodes of the series, and both “failed”. I tried some other instant watchable Netflix and it worked. I futzed around with the surround settings on the receiver, and occasionally was able to hear Ira Glass, sounding like he was at the bottom of a well. I turned off the 360 in disgust.

On a whim, I tried moving the audio outputs to the VCR inputs on the receiver, and lo-and-behold it just works. I really am not sure why the receiver input matters in this case, but there’s bound to be an explanation. Maybe one of me 5 readers knows. If not it will just be a mystery to me.

Much like my plum liqueur from last year, I’ve prepared a modified Umeshu.

This consists of 1kg of apricots (organically grown in Brentwood!), 750g of rock sugar and 1.5L of shochu (basically 50 proof grain alochol from Japan). It’ll be ready in 6 months to a year.

This recipe is for a savory variety of biscuits. You can easily make it a less savory biscuit simply by not adding the parmesan and rosemary. It’s a very simple recipe and pretty much makes serving biscuits out of a tube ridiculous!

Parmesan-Rosemary Biscuits
Courtesy Cook’s Illustrated, Issue 89

makes 12 biscuits

• 2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¾ teaspoon table salt
• ¾ cup (1½ oz) grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup cold buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 5 minutes, plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 475. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cheese and rosemary in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons butter in medium bow, stirring until butter forms small clumps.
2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from the side of the bowl. Using greased ¼ cup dry measure (or #16 disher) scoop level amounts of batter onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits 1½ inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Brush biscuit tops with reamining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.
4. To refresh day old biscuits, heat them in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes.

On Wednesday (May 27, 2009) I was lucky enough to be able to see a preview performance of the film Food, Inc. at the Metreon. It was actually a Yelp event, probably the best one I’ve been to. In addition to a preview of the movie, the filmmaker Robert Kenner, and Michael Pollan (well known for his food journalism as of late) were on hand for a Q and A after the screening.

Since I’ve been interested in the topic of this film for a long time (at least a decade if not more), and have read several major books on the subject (Pollan’s, as well as another contributor to the film, Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation), and I just saw Pollan speak at at a Long Now seminar just a few weeks prior, I didn’t really learn anything new during the movie. However, it was interesting to see things I already knew reinforced by the motion picture medium. The movie is a wonderful survey of the issues related to food health and safety that are in large part a product of the colossal agribusiness system in the United States. There are many origins for the problems we have now, including the “Farm Bill”, particularly how it evolved over the last few decades of the twentieth century; the “fast food” lifestyle of the population of the United States; and, most disturbingly, the vast curtain that’s been drawn across the populations eye’s by agribusiness and their friends in the government.

Time is ripe for change in many areas, and we shouldn’t overlook our ‘food’ policy. There is a draft food safety bill currently in congress which addresses many issues of food safety that are cause for concern, but it is far from perfect. Of particular concern to me is that it seems to favor big business by the yearly fee structure, as well as the traceability requirements (particularly the interoperability clause in the bill. Now, paper or an excel spreadsheet should be interoperable, but…). $1000 a year per facility is nothing for big business, but for a small operation it’s a lot of money. True, there is an exemption for farms that sell directly to consumers and restaurants, but there are plenty of small producers who would be adversely affected. I don’t have the full picture of the economics, and I know that funding any changes is important, but this method is particularly regressive. Some sort of sliding scale based on revenue would be a better idea (or perhaps a corporate tax increase? there’s always hoping). There is also a call out to put in a requirement for facilities to self-test for pathogens and report positive results, which seems like a good idea, but not a panacea.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know exactly what this bill should do or how it should be changed to be most effective and fair. I did read this interesting blog post that argues that smaller is better, and in a lot of ways that makes sense at many levels (except the top, but frankly, feck them). Now, a small food producer is not necessarily safer than a large food producer, BUT any negative outcome of their production would be contained. And smaller generally means more local, which means savings in carbon output (but, well, this is a complex issue since the majority of carbon used in farming is in the growing of the crops, not in the transportation - and anyway, exploiting the various seasons across the country makes sense. Just because I live in CA and can get fresh produce year round from local farms doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t export our food to the rest of the country).

We’re used to some things in this country. Super cheap junk food, cheap meat, and expensive vegetables. This leads to a particularly awful, unhealthy, and ecologically unsound diet. A little bit of change in the way americans eat (and the way our food is provided), could have vast implications in our health, and environment. It’s a very tangled web, and I could probably talk or write about this for hours and still be making almost no sense to anyone who is new to the issues. But the important thing I want to do is get people thinking, because thinking about these issues brings up some inconvenient truths. And I can’t see a better way to get this into the mainstream than Kenner’s movie. I urge everyone to see it, and to suggest it to everyone they know. I also urge you to contact your congresspeople and urge them to give us a useful and sane food safety bill - something that’s been needed for a long time.

I had people over yesterday, and one of the things I provided to eat was hummus. In general, I think it’s a great party food because almost everyone likes it (and I don’t think I want anyone who doesn’t like it at my place!), it’s healthy, and it’s actually pretty easy to make. Here is the recipe I used, which I think I grabbed from Cook’s Illustrated, but I am too lazy to go look that up, and I already had it pasted in to my email for some reason.

Note: this can easily be doubled

Restaurant Style Hummus

3 tablespoons juice from 1 to 2 lemons
1/4 cup water
6 tablespoons tahini stirred well
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
plus extra for drizzling
1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained or rinsed
1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch cayenne
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro or parsley leaves

1. Combine lemon juice and water in small bowl or measuring cup. Whisk together tahini and 2 tablespoons oil in second small bowl or measuring cup. Set aside 2 tablespoons chickpeas for garnish.
2. Process remaining chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin, and cayenne in food processor until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running add lemon juice-water mixture in a steady stream through feed tube. Scrape down bowl and continue to process for 1 minute. With machine running, add oil-tahini mixture in steady stream through feed tube; continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds. Scrape down bowl as needed.
3. Transfer hummus to serving bowl, sprinkle reserved chickpeas and cilantro/parsley over surface, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand until flavors meld, at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

I saw Star Trek (2009) twice - once with my parents while I was in Chicago (on IMAX), and then again when I got back to San Francisco with Mackenzie (35mm). It was worth seeing twice, honestly. Which means I’m already saying I like the movie before I start talking about it.

So, without any spoilers, I will just say that J.J. Abrams hit a home run with this movie. It’s far from perfect - if you spend enough time thinking about the story, you’ll get a bit disgruntled, but then again, it’s Star Trek - meaning it’s supposed to be entertaining and one hopes that any literary deficiencies in the movie would not get in the way of that. And this movie succeeds in spades in that regard. The casting is quite good, with the actors capturing the essence and feeling of the roles they are replaying - oh and the villain is good too. And cool special effects.

Yes, I liked it. 7 out of 8.1 rabbit turds.

So, I failed in my quest to babble about all six ballot props, but you can rest assured that 1E was as misguided as the rest of them. I guess the populace wasn’t really hearing it either, since the results of the election were pretty pathetic (source: Secretary of State’s Web Site):

The only thing that passed is the “useless anyway you look at it” Proposition 1F. But really as a whole, you can see this election as a referendum on the Legislature. They aren’t doing what we are electing them to do, and I hope that people remember this at the next general election and vote them out. In the meanwhile, maybe they’ll do their job. This goes double for the GOP members who have to learn that occasionally one must “disagree and commit”.

This proposition is pretty much everything I abhor about the proposition system. 10 years ago, Proposition 10 was passed, which created a tobacco tax to fund early childhood development programs. Now, only a bit more than 10 years later, the legislature is telling the electorate it wants to raid this fund, clearing out the current savings, as well as using current revenue for general fund purposes. Of course, it is claimed that the money will be used to help fund children;

Proposition 1D Protects Children’s Services Funding. Helps Balance State Budget
Temporarily provides greater flexibility in funding to preserve health and human services for young children while helping balance the state budget in a difficult economy.

But if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

The budget is broken, and it needs to be fixed, but robbing Peter to pay Paul isn’t the way to do it. The state needs new sources of revenue (not just new ways of shifting spending), and this can only be accomplished with new taxes - oh which the legislature is doing, but underhandedly, since they don’t require voter approval, but imposed in a very unfair way. With income and sales taxes as the most profitable revenue sources, the budget is going to always be doomed to follow whatever fate consumers are feeling. Without a strong corporate and in particular corporate real estate tax base, there is no real solution.

Until I see a real effort of compromise from the state GOP, I’m not going to take anything of this sort seriously.

I’m going to go out of order here and post about 1F before doing 1D and 1E in the next day or two.

Here is the text of 1F from the ballot:

Proposition 1F. Elected Officials’ Salaries. Prevents Pay Increases During Budget Deficit Years — State of California (Legislative Constitutional Amendment - Majority Approval Required)
Encourages balanced state budgets by preventing elected Members of the Legislature and statewide constitutional officers, including the Governor, from receiving pay raises in years when the state is running a deficit. Directs the Director of Finance to determine whether a given year is a deficit year. Prevents the Citizens Compensation Commission from increasing elected officials’ salaries in years when the state Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties is in the negative by an amount equal to or greater than one percent of the General Fund. Fiscal Impact: Minor state savings related to elected state officials’ salaries in some cases when the state is expected to end the year with a budget deficit.

I guess I can’t really argue with this in substance. There is nothing wrong with the Legislature not getting raises in deficit years, but this is also a brain dead amendment which we shouldn’t need. Putting this on the ballot is to let the electorate pat themselves son the back and make them feel like they did something good - although, as Chris Rock says, you don’t give people credit for not doing what their not supposed to do.

It seems that there is a pretty good chance that this is the only measure that will pass. And well, I don’t really care either way on it. It’s not going to really fix anything, but it won’t hurt either. So yea, let’s all feel-good!