Bread, Sans Gluten

I made some gluten-free bread today. I used garbanzo bean flour, brown rice flour, buckwheat (not related to wheat) flour and cornstarch, among other various things (xanthan gum, for one). It turned out pretty well. Dense, not crumbly. I used banana instead of egg, so it was vegan. I have some work to do to make it perfect, but it's pretty good.

Things I Saw Today After Sleeping Only Five Hours

Awning for American Artificial Limb Company

Moss near Madison Market (also known as Central Co-op)

More moss

I like moss

Sunchokes, Who Knew?

So, I have done this twice now. Sunchokes, AKA Jerusalem artichoke, AKA Helianthus tuberosus. It looks like if tumors and babies were combined, then dug up from the ground, but much more delicious. It is a tuber, a root. Specifically, it is the root of a certain species of sunflower. And, as the Israel-themed nomination indicates, it tastes like its above-ground namesake, the artichoke. If you like artichokes, but hate the dedicated defense system, I would defer to this ugly cousin (they are actually unrelated).

What do I do with it? Well, wash them first. Then slice them up a little and put them in a bowl. Olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic. And mix.

Put it all on a baking sheet and spread them out. We want to roast them, not steam them. If they are bunched up they will steam and not get crunchy and beautiful. Then, at 375 degrees, cook for some time. Maybe twenty minutes or longer. Check it every once in awhile and take them out when they look ready, soft and caramelized. 







What you end up with will be great. You can thank me later.

A New Website...

I found a new website. It is called typetrigger.

So, every six hours a new trigger word or phrase is given (say "dog collar" or "remaining nameless") and then you (or someone else) write up to 300 words from it. This can be shared with no-one, only members or everyone. You pick.

I have done two so far. It's nice to be able to just write a little, without any express impressive purpose. Try it out yourself or tell someone about it.

You Have To Watch This...

I just watched the short documentary Stress: Portrait of a Killer, and I loved it. Was supremely engaged. Best of all, it had to do with life as you live it and how it seriously affects your health. Seriously.

So, if you have Netflix, wonderful. Watch it here. If you don't, watch it on YouTube.

Motivation, Animated

This is an extremely interesting lecture about motivating creativity and innovation. It is animated and fun and the answer is not what you would expect.



Pretty cool.

Looking Back to Look Forward

Currently, like as I type, I am watching the film The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. It is engrossing and disturbing and illuminating. To understand the past you have to have a relatively trusty barometer of the present. Turn this around and it is equally true. Daniel Ellsberg with his release of the Pentagon Papers illustrates the incredible importance of governmental leaks. It is proof of the enduring moral spirit of humanity. We are not yet robots, though it seems more and more that this is the goal. The government -- as it is, as it was, as it will continue to be -- functions as a business does and would benefit greatly from the demoralization of those in their employ and those which would be in the position to point the big finger (namely the media). We, as thinking and feeling humans with a sense of right and wrong, should be proud, existentially, of those who leak. This should never be criminalized.

The Pentagon Papers was a top-secret study on the history of U.S.-Vietnamese relations, prepared by the Department of Defense. It was commissioned by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, seemingly in order to understand why it was that, opposite all public knowledge, things were going badly in Vietnam. The study was operated without the knowledge of President Lyndon Johnson or Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Daniel Ellsberg photocopied the 7,000 pages and in the middle of 1971 the New York Times began to publish. This was swiftly met by resistance on the part of the Nixon administration, who had continued the failing war despite his campaign pledges to find a way to end it. Many Nixon tapes are evidence of his extreme anger at the release, with conversations between the foul-mouthed president and Henry Kissinger (who had dubbed Ellsberg at the time, "the most dangerous man in America") or Alexander Haig. The government went to work prohibiting the papers from printing and Daniel Ellsberg being indicted under the Espionage Act of 1917. A precedent was set when the Supreme Court ruled that the leak and its publication were not illegal in the case of The United States vs. Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo (Russo being his fellow RAND employee, researcher and accomplice). Papers resumed publication and Ellsberg and Russo were freed from their possible 30 and 115 year stay in prison, respectively.

There are many facets of this historical event that could be discussed which I won't here. The leak, among many other things, illustrated that the U.S. was involved in a wrongful war for reasons divergent from their public statements and that these lies spread across three decades, being spewed from the mouths of five presidents (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon). Not even America's fallen golden boy, Kennedy, could be trusted on this front. That, in itself, should give pause to anyone who overly praises and trusts any politician or leader. This country was built on the idea of a questioning citizenry and that shouldn't be given over under any circumstance. The Supreme Court at that time set an important precedent for the exercise of the First Amendment. Yes, that one about free speech.

Now, 40 years later, that precedent must be respected. Wikileaks are in the frying pan now, just as was Ellsberg at that time. The U.S. government is as rabid as it was then, although they muffle it publicly just the same. They are again attempting to massage the Espionage Act into this issue. Beware. Our right to know and a leaker's right to bravely exercise his/her morality should be protected absolutely. The releases of the current leak, that of the diplomatic cables, are not being controlled by Wikileaks (i.e. redactions and editing) but rather by the publications they gave the responsibility. This is exactly the same as any type of leak, just on a much grander scale. Although many so-called "journalists" (a great deal of whom are from the American media and whose overlords gleefully collude with massive corporations and government) are happy to through Assange and Wikileaks under the bus on this, it says more about those journalists than it does about Wikileaks.

I have to say, repeat, that this is important, so very important. We can't lose our morals and ethics to programmed autonomy or ambivalence. We need to support, as Ellsberg himself is now doing, the actions of organizations like Wikileaks and all the others that are beginning to pop up. Truth is a worthy goal.

So, watch the movie. Get a perspective. Don't get your news from a single source. Shop around. Assume everyone is biased and figure it out yourself. And, your politicians are most likely lying to you.

An Unfortunate Journey

I am beginning a trial-run of a gluten-free diet today, to resume for three months' time. I am not very energetic about this. Nor do I enjoy the amount of research it is taking to do it right. If it is that I have Celiac's (which given my Irish and German roots, is a good genetic possibility) then, I am told, even a thimble-full of something containing that special protein would set me back 6-8 weeks. It is a sparse possibility in my case that I do have this, but a possibility all the same. I won't see a change for at least 4 to 8 weeks apparently, if there is no accidental hiccups in my ingestion schedule. Damnit.

If anyone has any tips, give them to me. I want them. I love bread and beer and they can't have me for at least three months. I am looking towards sake and wine for respite. Maybe brown rice pasta, corn and potato chips and corn tortillas. That's all I got for now. Thanks for your ear.

Seattle's Got A Superhero!

Up in the Northwest, along with the comic book nerds comes heroic vigilantism. I love it.



Yep.