jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

You can consider my Del.icio.us links an extension to my blog, as are my LifeTango goals and my other to-do items. My to-buy list is also public, but only for sharing any useful ideas that might be there; I'm not requesting charity, neither do I offer it.

You can find me easily in google searches, as jcomeau, jcomeau_ictx, or jcomeauictx. There are lots of other jcomeaus, but AFAIK I'm the only jcomeau_ictx out there so far.

If you want to comment on anything you see here, try the new Facebook comments, reachable by clicking the "[comment]" link at the end of each post. If for some reason that isn't working, go ahead and email me, jc.unternet.net. You know what to do with the first dot. Make the 'subject' line something reasonably intelligent-looking or it goes plunk! into the spambasket unread.

This RSS feed may or may not work. Haven't fiddled with it in forever. RSS Feed


2022-02-27-1613Z

In my dream this morning, I was looking at a book, and the bottom of the page started scrolling up with text from the following page. I suddenly realized that that happening would indicate that the observer was in a dream. However, I stupidly didn't make the obvious connection, that I myself was in a dream, and thus didn't achieve lucid dreaming. Dummy. [comment]

2022-02-27-0007Z

Made pan-fried chicken for the first successful time today, based off a couple of skimmed webpages. First, made a rub out of corn meal, salt, black pepper, and ground ginger. Rubbed it well into the skin, both sides, of two imported chicken quarters, about 20 pesos (a dollar). Put about 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil into my skillet, and laid the quarters in opposite directions into the skillet so that they just fit. Cooked over low heat for about 30 minutes per side. It appears to have cooked all the way through, and it is juicy and delicious. The skin was nice and crisp on the 2nd side; on the first, not so much. Guess I should have turned up the heat, or cooked it longer. Keeping the cover on may have softened it again after turning, too.

And made another small batch of English muffins: 2 of my approximately 6 ounce measuring cups of flour, about 1/2 tsp salt, 1 or 2 tsp yeast, mixed. Heat 1 part butter to 2 parts water until butter is melted, add it slowly until a stiff but sticky dough forms. Turn it out on a cornmealed surface, and flatten to about a half inch, and let it rise for an hour or so. Cut it with the same cup into circles, and turned them over to dust the top with cornmeal as well. Cooked over medium-low heat about 3 minutes each side. First side of first batch a little longer, maybe 5 minutes, because it takes the pan a while to heat up. [comment]

2022-02-25-0216Z

I've got to stop buying no-stick pots and pans. I just ruined one tonight by using it with my new stove, which put too much heat on one spot and bubbled the coating, which I then managed to break into many small pieces as I used my bamboo spatula to scrape what I thought were burned parts of my food. I ended up eating a lot of that toxic shit, as I didn't want to throw out my dinner. [comment]

2022-02-20-1950Z

After making my English muffins the other day, I tried to turn the rest of the liter of milk into yogurt by adding a little kraut juice and heating to 130 degrees, using my finger-stir method (when it's too hot to stir for 3 seconds, time's up). But it wouldn't gel, even after 4 tries over a 24-hour period. So I added rice to it and cooked, so as not to waste the protein. It didn't turn out well; the rice wasn't cooked all the way through. But I ate half of it anyway last night, and the other half just now, after frying in bacon grease. That's how far I go to avoid food waste. Just hope I didn't get hit with Bacillus cereus toxins. [comment]

2022-02-12-0540Z

It's 1", 20TPI, according to https://www.amazon.com/Joywayus-Oxygen-Regulator-Disposable-Fitting/dp/B07Q5X8BMD. [comment]

2022-02-12-0531Z

So the humidifier bottle attaches to the oxygen regulator with a G1/4" thread. Goddamn, that information is hard to come by. I first found the G series thread descriptions and finding that for G1/4 matched the 1.3mm pitch I measured yesterday with less than 14mm outer diameter. Then googled "oxygen humidifier g1/4" and got some results. But I still don't know the size and pitch of the disposable oxygen bottles, which I'll need to find out if there are adapters available. [comment]

2022-02-07-2028Z

Lower back pain combined with "sandal foot" (right foot) for the last 3 days or so. Still managed to get out and exercise a little. [comment]

2022-02-06-0525Z

I ran out of dental floss a few days ago. Dreaded spending 60-something pesos on a new spool, so decided to try using thread from my sewing kit. It works! Not perfectly, it barely fits through a few of my teeth, and breaks off when I pull it back out. But I have plenty, and it will get me through until next payday. [comment]

2022-02-06-0153Z

It probably wasn't the lentils. At least some of my brine ferments are moldy, which means I got a good dose of mycotoxins when I added a bunch to my lentils that last night.

Realized again that a lemon, after squeezing for juice, can be used to clean plates. What can't be loosened by the wet side can maybe be finished off by the d-Limonene in the skin. [comment]

2022-02-03-2325Z

Gastrointestinal system still isn't back to normal, but it's better today than yesterday, and was better yesterday than the day before. Don't know what caused the weirdness, but am going to avoid lentils for a while. [comment]

2022-02-01-2219Z

No more meatless Monday attempts. I've felt weird all day. Bloated and no appetite yet feeling empty in my stomach. Burping a lot. Not at all pleasant. [comment]

2022-02-01-0331Z

Wanted to try a meatless Monday, but Nature had other plans: a bunch of flies laid eggs in my lentils after I poured off the soak water. I thought they might gross me out, but after cooking I didn't even notice them. Only about a tenth of a gram, I estimate, but a vegan wouldn't likely give me a pass on that. And anyway, I had eggs at breakfast. [comment]

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