Media Watch

Last week I tried my hand at fettuccine after watching Jamie Oliver teach a class how it's done. It all looked so easy! I failed. My dough was too dry, and therefore too tough to knead properly. I also didn't own a pasta machine, so my handcrafted results were thick, rubbery noodles. Enter the Marcato Atlas 150 and another attempt at the dough and... Ah ha! Fettuccine is perfected! 100g AP flour 1 lg egg + olive oil = 60 ml + 1 T water to 74 ml Mixing this almost killed my $20, 10-year-old food processor, I managed it and it made the kneading fast & easy! Still, I'm putting the Cuisinart on my Christmas list. Now the one-minute sauce: diced tomatoes (Fareway hydroponics, even), olive oil, butter, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt & pepper, cayenne. I tossed a handful of fettuccine in boiling salted water. Then I added the oil & garlic to a hot pan. Next the diced tomatoes and seasoning by the seat of my pants. After cooking for what couldn't h

We've discussed the relative safety of being a cop as a backdrop to the constitutionality of cops in general, using the narrative of Roger Roots' piece Are Cops Constitutional? from the nineties. Here's a more recent piece by Huffington Post: 9 Things You Need to Know About the Dangers of Being a Cop .

Does "radical Islam" refer only to an extremist faction of Islam, or are we talking about all who identify with the Islamic faith? If there's any debate whether it means the latter, then I think it lacks diplomacy and tact and maturity, and a person occupying the Oval Office is justified in avoiding such inflammatory labels. Context does matter. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) says the president should use the words , but Manchin himself isn't generalizing; he's speaking of acts of ISIS and some who evoke the extremist group, not the whole of the Muslim community. Regardless of whether Islamic doctrine calls for violence, there are those within the community who strongly believe Islam is inherently a peaceful belief system. It'll be a fruitless endeavor to school people on their own beliefs, and in attempting to do so will undoubtedly ensure nothing useful is achieved in the campaign to end violence.

Holy moly, when did Bill Maher turn into an apologist for RIAA, the healthcare complex and the entire edu-capitalist-rats? Look, Napster didn't become the music industry's poster child equivalent of dining-and-dashing, but it did an effective job of revealing what an antiquated music distribution system we had. And it showed how to build one that made it easy for music fans to get what they want. And then Apple capitalized on it in a way that got artists paid for their works. Free college? It doesn't have to be free, but how about NOT locking all the formally accredited knowledge of the universe behind a gigantic paywall? We're still waiting for Khan Academy to disrupt the corrupt university scams and show how inexpensive and efficient a 21st education can be. Finally, healthcare cost, in case you've been living in a rich-man's bubble, is consuming the earnings of the working man … BEFORE HE EVEN GETS SICK! So while we're holding out for a Steve Jo

Well, they're at it again. We've watched our local Fox affiliate and Mediacom struggle during contract negotiations, and now we see Tribune Broadcasting (owners of Channel 13/Des Moines and WGN-9/Chicago) doing battle. While the two sides negotiate carriage fees, the public posturing has gotten ugly and painful to watch. It’s hard for the typical viewer to unpack what’s really going on and we’re left to wonder. Is Dish really being a bully and threatening to unfairly yank Channel 13 off its system? Or is Tribune Media using its news anchors and commercial inventory (and coaxing viewers to make demands on its behalf) to extort more money from Dish subscribers for programming that anyone can get free over the air? In either case, this is the first time I can remember seeing members of our local community and news media -- actual TV news anchors -- being drawn into a fight between multi-billion-dollar corporations in this way. As a 35-year broadcaster it's unsettling to wa

YouTuber 'superrick568' posted this video. We presume he is the unseen individual being dressed down by the officer in this video. Officer "Let me see your ID!" Lentz is an outstanding ambassador for the city of Milwaukee and his department ... with his combative and adversarial tone, saying nothing of his demands for ID and veiled threats. And Sergeant "That's just him!" Carpenter is fine example of a police supervisor ... with her dismissive attitude toward a citizen complaint. I enjoyed that deflating moment at around 3:15 when Lentz realized he'd been beaten. All he had for you after that point was schoolyard sarcasm. "On 03/05/16 the Milwaukee police went on a ticket writing bonanza. I filmed this guy and his partner three times in less than an hour. There were so many stops within a 2 mile radius that I couldn't keep up. The third time got to him and he demanded my I.D. ." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S01EvBA0Y3U Pe

For me, living a sous vide life means to...  - Buy in bulk  - Vacuum pack meal courses  - cook-chill/cook-freeze  - Cook foods gently and thoroughly, to the desired doneness, at precisely controlled temperatures Benefits...  - Volume priced food  - Fast, no-fuss meal prep  - Non-critical cook times  - Meals are consistently delicious  - No waste  - Less cleanup  - Cost savings  - Better food safety  - Refrigerator is less cluttered  - It's healthier (portioning helps me to keep an eye on my calorie intake) I buy fresh chicken, beef, pork and frozen vegetables at sale prices, portion for meals, vacuum package it, pre-cook/pasteurize, then store in the refrigerator or chest freezer. In the morning I cut open lunch courses and put them in a microwavable container for work. I can drop dinner courses in the sous vide bath either before or after work. I've spent $960 on gear & gadgets to facilitate my new life (so far), but I think it saves even more than that