Samosas are an Indian appetizer, commonly served in Indian
restaurants. They are fairly easy to make at home, although they can be
time consuming to assemble. To keep cooking time low, I recommend using
egg roll wrappers as a substitute for actual samosa pastry dough, which
is also time-consuming to prepare.
Vindaloo is an Indian dish, made with meat (chicken, pork, etc.) and
potatoes. It also includes a hefty amount of spices. If you like spicy
food, use this recipe as-is. If you prefer things a little less spicy,
cut back on the crushed red pepper. I call it Red Dwarf Vindaloo because
I got started eating Vindaloo after hearing the characters on the Red
Dwarf British TV series mention it.
I’ve watched Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” for longer than
Jon Stewart has been the host. I preferred Craig Kilborn to Jon
Stewart, but I’ve grown to appreciate Stewart’s sense of humor and the
excellent performances by the rest of The Daily Show cast. Lewis
Black, for example, is one of my favorite comedians. Since the
last presidential election, though, it seems to me that the show’s
material is more and more complimentary of the Democratic party and
increasingly venomous toward the Republican party, rather than taking
approximately equal jabs at both parties the way it initially did.
(And let’s face it, there are losers in all the political parties and
none of them is perfect, so I know there is plenty of material available
without focusing on any one party exclusively.)
Here is a recipe for Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs my dad sent along
today. I believe it comes from my uncle Ray. Dad says it
should be a very good spaghetti sauce recipe.
This past weekend my wife and I celebrated our anniversary at the
Glenlaurel Inn in Hocking Hills, Ohio. Glenlaurel attempts to
provide a Scottish country inn experience inside the United
States. Guests may rent cottages or “crofts” which are
self-contained residences on the Inn’s property. Each croft is
secluded from the others, providing both a private and a romantic
location inside the property.
We stayed in the
Drummond Croft, pictured below:
As you can see,
we had a very private location with our own parking space in front, much
like being in your own little home for the night.
Each week, musician Jonathan Coulton releases a single on his web
site. This week’s single is a cover of Sir Mix-a-lot’s song
“Baby Got Back” done in the style of a pop ballad.
As Coulton says on his blog: “In the proud
tradition of many white Americans who came before me I hereby steal and
white-ify this thick and juicy piece of black culture. Watch for my
album ‘Jonathan Coulton Sings Songs by Black People.’”
I
don’t think you can help but enjoy this one…
Here’s the
page: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/
And
the song: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/music/thingaweek/BabyGotBack.mp3
This past weekend I visited “The Wilds” with my wife,
step-children, and mother-in-law. If you’ve never heard of The
Wilds, that’s not too surprising to me because I hadn’t heard of it
until we received our Columbus
Zoo membership as a gift from my dad.
The Wilds is a 10,000
acre wildlife preserve located in southeastern Ohio. It’s home to
a variety of species from around the world, including zebras, rhinos,
giraffes, bison, and many other animals. The animals at The Wilds
are specifically chosen to be herbivores, so that if they escape they
pose little threat to humans or other animals in the vicinity of the
preserve.
I work in the IT Division of a major Columbus, Ohio, area non-profit
organization. We have about 1,200 employees and, due to the nature
of our business, most of them are computer users. Since we handle
the “front lines” of tech support (i.e., taking the phone
calls, desk-side repairs, new system deliveries, and the like), we end
up working with almost everyone eventually. Some of the things we
see are pretty amusing. Some are a bit sad. During a recent
meeting we were (I guess the right word is) “inspired” to
recall a few recent ones. Here they are…
For a while, I watched local television personality Mike Rowe on WSYX
doing the news. I kept thinking he reminded me of someone, but I
just couldn’t figure out who. Then one day, it hit me. He
looks like Jon Arbuckle of the Garfield comic strip. I couldn’t
find a great picture of either of them that makes them look as much
alike as I think they do, but this is close…
Jon Arbuckle (left)
and Mike Rowe of WSYX (right)
If
you feel the need to make your own comparisons, here’s a link to the official Garfield site, and another
to the WSYX television site.
(And just for the record, in case Mr. Rowe or the Garfield folks see
this, I mean no insult to either of them. Jon is a well-loved
cartoon character and Mr. Rowe is a much-respected local journalist and
anchorman.)
I’ve had friends and co-workers in the past ask me about
messages like the one I’m going to quote later in this article, asking
me if it could possibly be legitimate. The answer is a clear,
definitive, NO! But it’s important for me to share how I reach
that conclusion so that if you receive a message like this in the
future, you’ll know how to gauge its reality for yourself.
The
letter quoted below is that of a spamming scam artist. The scammer
is usually someone in a third-world country who doesn’t have a lot of
money but can get access to a computer on the Internet. They write
letters like these to every email address they can get, hoping that just
a few of the people receiving the letter will write back, so that they
can make a few bucks off them. Just how they’ll make the money
will be covered near the end of this article. First, let’s look at
the opening letter.