Bread For Success

~For Christmas, I received from my parents (among other things) a bread making machine. I love bread, but frankly, I don't want to go through the bother of making it from scratch, so instead I have turned to modern technology to make life easier. Yesterday, I made my first attempt at bread baking:

^ The Machine: a Panasonic SD-YD250. And I thought Panasonic only made cameras...

^ The Ingredients: strong flour, sugar, salt, butter, active dry yeast, water, and powdered milk. I actually learned quite a bit about what exactly these ingredients are for in the baking process. For example:

• There are different kinds of flour: strong, weak, whole-wheat, all-purpose, and others, each of which creates a different kind of bread. For example, strong flour (used in all recipes for this bread machine) has a higher content of the protein necessary for the development of gluten; "weak" flour has less protein, and therefore creates bread with a lighter, crumbly texture (which is good for making cakes and pastries).

• Adding milk in baking adds to the flavor and nutritional content of the bread. You can use regular milk, but since baking takes time, it's best to use powdered dry milk to avoid spoilage (especially if you set the timer on the machine to make bread in, say, 12 hours from now).
  

• Salt strengthens the gluten structure, which makes the bread more stretchable. It does this by inhibiting yeast production. It's very important to use EXACT measurements for salt, even more so than with the other ingredients, because using too much or too little salt can easily result in "collapsed" bread with unpleasant texture.

• I was pleased to discover that I (mostly) remembered the chemical process that yeast creates when baking: it converts sugars to carbon dioxide (CO2) and alcohol (C2H6O). This gas production is what causes the bread to rise. The alcohol evaporates during baking, which is fortunate, otherwise humans would be drunk all the time on bread products.
  

^ The Result: a large preservatives-free loaf of soft, warm, delicious bread! If you listen hard enough while staring at this picture, you can hear the late Dr. Atkins screaming in his grave. But who cares what he thinks? It's time to break out the peanut butter!

What the...?!

~Here's more bizarre TV from the Land of the Rising Sun. In this video clip, a magician demonstrates magic tricks to a chimpanzee, who is utterly baffled by the seeming impossibility of the tricks:



^ Go ahead, laugh at the video. But remember: hundreds of years from now, when the monkeys have taken over, the chimp in this video will be regarded as the first great prophet, and stories of the miracles he witnessed from the "gods" of old -- the Vanishing Liquid, the Levitating Glass, the Disappearing Cup, and more -- will be handed down from generation to generation. In short, it will be the start of monkey religion.

"SheilaandJohn" now official

~Last weekend, I carpooled to Maryland for the wedding of two of my friends from college, John and Sheila. I'd met John even before school actually started, on an orientation camping trip where we shared a tent. We met Sheila later, when she was on the same floor of our residence hall and in the same living-learning program. They quickly became an item, and as I ended up living with or across from John for the next three years, I saw a lot of them.

[reminder: you can always click on the pictures for a larger view]

^ The bride and her three brothers, at her house before the wedding. There was a professional photographer there taking pictures; I was off to the side. I was a groomsman at the wedding, so I had a tuxedo just like the brothers (we nicknamed the tuxedos "bloody penguin suits").

^ The bride. Did you know that the tradition of the bride wearing a white wedding dress began in the late 1800's after Queen Victoria was married in a white dress? In fact, most modern wedding traditions -- diamond rings, "here comes the bride" music, honeymoon etc. -- are far more recent than most people believe them to be, and originate not from religion, but from industry marketing. Before the late 1800s, women wore whatever color they wanted (even black), and ceremonies tended to be quite simple. Also, cameras hadn't been invented, so there was no standing around for (seemingly) hours with a fixed smile on your face.

^ One of the buildings attached to the church where the wedding was held, St. Mary's Catholic Church in Rockville, Maryland. Incidentally, the grave of F. Scott Fitzgerald is in the cemetery just to the left of this building. Great Gatsby!

^ Some flowers outside of the church.

^ An "official" picture taken just after the wedding. The flower girl in the front was clearly sick of posing for pictures by this point.

^ Although it came out a bit blurry, this is my favorite picture from among those I took; it was taken just after the previous picture. I like the adoring expressions on the faces of the bride and groom, the relaxed postures of the bridegrooms, and the "zoned" look of the poor flower girl. To me, this picture illustrates the difference between posed and impromptu imagery; in my opinion, the "honest" expressions it captures are far more memorable than the stiff formality that pervades the vast majority of wedding pictures.

What's important in photography, in my opinion, is not simply creating an image to remember something, but rather creating an emotional connection to the image. A good picture doesn't just make you remember what something looked like, it makes you remember how you felt at the time.

^ I nicknamed this strange canopy "the pancake". I later asked the priest what it was supposed to be, and learned that it's supposed to look like a similar structure at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. What that pancake represents, I have no clue.

^ After the wedding ceremony and interminable picture-taking, it was time to head off to the reception. The idea was that the bride and groom would ride off in a limousine, and the wedding party (of which I was a part), would follow them in a larger, truck-sized limo. Unfortunately, the latter never showed up, and it was starting to rain. The "solution" was to pile everyone -- bride, groom, bridesmaids, groomsman, best man, and maid of honor -- into the smaller limo.

Yes, the girl on the left is sitting on the floor.

^ One of the groomsman came up with a strategy for coping with the cramped conditions. Most of us quickly followed his example.

The reception was a lot of fun. Conveniently, it was in the hotel where I was staying (along with many other wedding guests), so I didn't have to worry about driving anywhere after imbibing some potent potables. Of course, there was also music, and although I only dance once a year (last year was in Prague), when I do, I really cut loose!

That's it for my pictures. In the near future, there will probably be an online gallery of (much higher-quality) pictures posted elsewhere by the photography company, so I'll put a link up for that when it appears.

Flaunting Danger

~Here's another one of jandrew's Star Trek edits. It made me laugh so hard I got hiccups and probably woke up my neighbors. For the full effect, make sure you turn your sound up:



^ Remember, Captain: practice makes perfect.

Arlington: The Rap

~After moving to dangerous, crime-infested, run-down 'hood of...Arlington, Virginia, this guy decided to make a rap about life there:



You better step back punk,
that's your final warning!
You gonna punch me?
Nah, son, the doors are closing!

And having lived outside of Washington D.C., I completely understand about not wanting to take the Green Line...

Vacation!

~I recently returned from a week-long vacation at the beach with my parents and some family friends. We stayed at a beach house in Duck, a town on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Here are some pictures that I took while there:

^ A fine day...to relax!

^ Speaking of relaxation, Dad seems to be enjoying his new iPod...

^ A research pier operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and home of the infamous Tripod.

^ Sangria on the deck.

^ This wedding took place on the beach near where I was sitting. I can only hope that the groomsmen's attire for an upcoming wedding I will attend will be so comfortable.

^ The happy couple.

^ After the wedding, professional photographers took a large number of humorous pictures.

^ The evening sky was beautiful over the sound, between the Outer Banks and the mainland.

^ A panoramic image of the sunset beyond the boardwalk shopping area; click on the image for a better view. It came out a bit crooked, but the colors are impressive.

Why I Am Happy

~While talking to my grandfather over the phone today (Happy 78, grandpa!), he asked me that generic question that all humans, or at least all Americans, ask each other in virtually every conversation: "How are you?" I answered that I was very happy. Only later did I take the time to consider my response. Am I, in general, currently happy, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims I have the inalienable right to pursue? The answer is yes: I'm fortunate to be at a stage in my life where I am quite happy.

I'm a graduate student, currently between classes, working an easy part-time job and an internship that I love. I don't have much money, but between my job and savings from previous jobs I have enough to get by. Besides, I firmly believe that the best things in life really are free. I live in a comfortable apartment in a beautiful area near a lake and a bus stop, and I have a car and a bicycle if I want to go anywhere else. I enjoy simple but delicious food and have plenty to eat and drink. I can play music and have more games (from my good, generous friend Inter Net O'Nonymous) and books (I am a library student) than I could enjoy in a lifetime. And of course, I'm in good health. And you know what they say about health:



I am blessed with wonderful parents whom I get to see frequently. Its the former, I think, that I am truly fortunate in; I have friends who can't stand their family and would prefer to see them as little as possible. I don't get to see the rest of my family as much as I'd like to, but as they say, Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (or, in some cases, Go Yonder). Speaking of which, I've also had the good fortune to travel around the world more than most Americans; while I would certainly like to travel to other places, I have great memories of time spent in England, Japan, and the Czech Republic.

I have good friends that live in the area and that I can hang out with occasionally (being mostly introverted, I prefer my own company most of the time). A few years ago, all of them (or at least, it feels like all of them) started to get married, but the truth is that I'm happy for them.

While I know my current situation won't last forever, I hope that it won't change all that much. Seriously, what more do I really need? Not much. A girlfriend? Hmm...I'll burn that bridge when I cross it, or something like that. More money? Maybe...but what would I buy? There's just not much in the way of possessions that I want. A house? A boat? An island fortress?

"Happiness"...that ever-elusive goal that all human strive for. However things might change in the future (and change they will: I'm not really looking forward to the stress of writing a Masters Paper this fall), for now, I'm enjoying life immensely.

Save the Carrboro Branch Library!

~The Orange County manager has recommended that Carrboro Branch Library, where I interned last year, be closed in the annual budget to be passed in June. For the past few weeks, I've been working with the Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library to see that this closure does not happen. Our chief target is the six-member Orange County Board of Commissioners.

You might think that this library closure is for financial reasons related to the current economic climate, but you'd only be partially right. The truth is more complex, and frankly, a bit sinister. It seems that a brand-new library has just been completed in the town of Hillsborough (the county seat), but the Board of Commissioners neglected to allocate sufficient funds to actually staff it properly. As a result, the county manager wants to close two outlying county-operated libraries (Carrboro Branch and Cedar Grove libraries) and re-assign their permanent staff to the Hillsborough library.

I find this decision to be unacceptable. As a Carrboro resident, I am forced to pay property taxes and fees to Orange County, in exchange for which I am entitled to certain services, library access being one of them. But with the closure of outlying library branches, I am effectively being deprived of such service -- service that I and other Carrboro residents have paid for. Hillsborough is nearly a half-hour away by car, and in addition there is no public transportation from my area to there. This recommendation to close my local library and move staff to the more distant library amounts to a theft of taxpayer resources from an outlying area.

It gets weirder. The proposal to build the new library was rammed through the Board of Commissioners last year in just a few days, without public input or any sort of library advisory recommendations. As a result, not only do we have this financial mess, we have what seems to be a poorly-designed library, with two stories and a workroom in the middle of the first floor, which apparently means that more staff than usual will be required to adequately keep it running. Obviously, no librarian was consulted on how a library ought to be designed. I'm very disappointed at how this worked out, and I think it's unfair that other areas of the county pay the price for an administrative bungle.

The closest other library to me (aside from the small, computer-oriented Cybrary) is the Chapel Hill Public Library, which is a municipal facility operated not by Orange County (although it receives county funds), but by the town of Chapel Hill. Right now, I can get a library card from them at no cost, but they have threatened to start charging non-Chapel Hill residents if use increases much (as it certainly would if Carrboro Branch were closed), to the tune of $100-$200 per year. This is an unfair burden to place on poorer citizens who use the library, especially people who have already paid county taxes.

^The Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library and I have attended three Commissioners' meetings so far, and we've spoken out during the "public comments" section of each meeting. I've also whipped up some signs that we can hold while we glare at the commissioners:

^"Don't STEAL from Carrboro taxpayers! Keep Carrboro Branch open!"

^ "We ♥ and USE our library! Don't close Carrboro Branch!"

Money is tight, of course, but I hope the Board doesn't overcorrect their management error by shutting down a well-used library. In hard times, libraries are more important than ever. While I was working there, quite a few people came in to use the computers and other library resources in their job-seeking efforts. I vividly recall helping out several seniors who had been forced to re-enter the job market due to a loss of their post-retirement income. These people had barely (or never) used a computer, but they were soon logging on to their own email accounts and making resumes with word-processing software. The library also has many immigrant users who use library resources to help them learn English or acquire materials in their native languages. And of course, the library is a great asset to McDougle Middle and Elementary schools, with which it shares space.

All of these factors and more demonstrate how important a library is for the community during a recession. It's comparatively inexpensive (the entire library system consumes a mere 1% of Orange County's budget), and is an economic and educational engine that studies have shown returns more to the community than it costs.

In addition to attending and speaking at the commissioners' meetings, I've also emailed all of the commissioners and set up a Facebook petition. If you live in Orange County and care at all about the library and/or proper allocation of your tax dollars, please take a moment to email the commissioners expressing your support for the library, and also sign the online petition. If you're feeling really ambitious, the next commissioners' meeting is on Tuesday, May 26th.

A World of Music

~Some of my happiest memories of elementary school are of my time in music class, at a time when I (and everyone else my age) was too young to be embarrassed about singing in public. Starting in 5th grade, I started playing the trumpet, mainly because I didn't have a real instrumental preference, and my Dad had played the trumpet, so I figured...why not try it? So off my parents went to Burt's Music to rent me a trumpet.

I enjoyed playing the trumpet, despite the irritation of having to haul it around all the time. The high point of my musical career was probably 7th grade, when I played music almost every day in Dr. Gardner's band class. That was a lot of fun -- I had friends who were also in band class, and we went to play in concerts and perform at school.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse the next year, when I was once again in Dr. Gardner's class. I got braces welded to my teeth, which I quickly discovered had a detrimental effect on my ability to play the trumpet. Aside from the irritation of metal digging painfully into my mouth whenever I pressed my lips against the trumpet mouthpiece, I found that I could no longer hit the high notes as easily as before, and some of the highest notes were out of my range entirely. I was "demoted" down the row of trumpet players, relegated to playing accompaniments rather than solos. After-school practice became difficult, and was no longer fun.

Of course, even if I hadn't had braces, I still would have likely stopped playing, as I had very little interest in being part of a high school marching band after 8th grade. Playing in class was fun, and going to concerts was fun, too, but I had no desire to play at school football games and pep rallies. So the trumpet was returned to the rental shop, and, occupied by other concerns, I mostly forgot about playing music...until recently.

One Christmas, my siblings and I received a Yamaha PSR-77 keyboard, which was mostly used by my younger sister during a time when she practiced playing the piano. After that, it lay mostly unused in a closet. Recently, on a whim, I decided to re-learn how to read music, and took the keyboard with me to my apartment. Then I went to the excellent music library at UNC and checked out two books on how to play keyboards, and another book on the fundamentals of music.

I've learned to play a few very easy pieces, and can once again read and recognize musical notes. In addition, I find playing music -- without any stress, grades, deadlines, etc. -- to be great stress relief. When you're playing a song, your concentration is completely absorbed by the activity, which shunts aside all other concerns. It's also fun to compose your own music, even if it's simple and rough. Another great thing about the electronic keyboard is that it is a very versatile and powerful instrument, capable of synthesizing over a hundred different instruments and background accompaniments. I can even play my old trumpet music, without earning the wrath of my neighbors.

This is what I love about libraries. As I wrote above, I'm learning fundamentals of music and how to play the keyboard based on books I checked out from the music library. One of the most satisfying things in life, in my opinion, is the freedom to learn and develop skill in whatever interests you, without the pressures imposed by academia. So ask yourself: what's something you've always wanted to be able to do? Assuming you're not in school anymore, your time outside of work is your own. So look it up on the Internet or read about it in a book. You may surprise yourself.

T.E.D. Sixth Sense Technology

~This came up in one of my classes, and it's the coolest thing I've seen in a some time: a cellular-based projector & motion sensor that gives its wearer a sort of "sixth sense" and unparalleled access to information at any time:




^ Neat, isn't it? What impresses me the most is the low cost of the materials - she claims they cost only $350 (although there must also be Internet access charges for the cell phone). I'm sure the components could be further miniaturized to make them less obtrusive. Perhaps the projector could be replaced with a high-tech set of glasses that project images onto the lenses, so only the wearer sees the projections...the applications are endless.

Space Lightning!

~No, this isn't about a new science fiction movie or novel. Space lightning (or "upper-atmosphere lightning") is a very real meteorological phenomenon, and a very impressive one. For many years, observational reports of upper-atmosphere lightning were dismissed, often because airline pilots who observed it were reluctant to speak for fear of ridicule. Not until 1989 were pictures taken by scientists from the University of Minnesota, and its existence was not confirmed until 1994.

^ If you look at the above chart, you'll notice several distinct categories of atmospheric phenomena. Aside from the familiar lightning storm at the bottom, there are also blue jets, sprites, and elves (no, as Dave Barry would say, I Am Not Making This Up). Notice how the "sprites" and "elves" extend well beyond 50 miles (80 km) above sea level, making them technically in outer space (hence "space lightning").

Sprites (named after Ariel from The Tempest) are essentially gigantic sparks caused by powerful lightning discharges in the lower atmosphere; if the discharges are powerful enough, they temporarily increase the strength of the electrical field above the storm, resulting in a sprite. As you can see from the image, it's a huge reddish flash, sometimes nearly 50 miles high, tens of miles across, and potentially occupying thousands of cubic miles.

That may sound impressive, but a sprite is an extremely short-lived event, usually lasting for only 1/100th of a second. Still, that's more than enough for the human eye and brain to perceive them. Don't believe me? See for yourself:



^ This video was recorded by an aircraft flying at ~45,000 feet over a storm in the area of Texas & Arkansas in 1994. It shows the first color images taken of sprites and blue jets.

"Elves", also seen on the chart, are electromagnetic pulse (EMP) shockwaves caused by the electrical discharge that creates sprites. Unlike sprites, however, elves last only ~1/1000th of a second, and are therefore generally too quick for humans to perceive. The term "elves" refers not only to the mysterious, elusive nature of this phenomenon, but is also a mostly-frivolous acronym for "Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations from Electromagnetic Pulse Sources".

Blue jets are not a sports team, but rather cone-shaped blasts of energy that project 25-30 miles from the tops of cumulonimbus (i.e., storm) clouds. Like sprites, the precise cause of blue jets is unknown, but is thought to have less to do with lightning activity and more with intense hail activity in the storms that form them. Blue jets are extremely elusive and very few images have been obtained.




Meteorology discoveries like this remind me of reading the Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena (a bit dated, but most of its entries are still very mysterious to modern science). So the next time you're in the middle of a roaring thunderstorm, take a moment to wonder what's going on above the storm. Who knows...perhaps gigantic energy discharges are blasting unfathomable amounts of electricity out into space! I wonder what other mysteries our atmosphere holds for humans to discover and be awed by.