Acetio | Blogma

Some details at Discover Magazine

Minimalist Disney Posters by Rowan Stocks-Moore

A ChoiceScript game I wrote in November 2010 has been ported to an app!

To get a taste of what it's about, play Zebulon online, or get the iPhone or Andriod app

iTunes customers have given it 4.5 stars!

"Brings back good memories!... Back before computers and video games were common place, these books were such a fun way to spend time. Decent writing and lots of fun choices to make, about to read it again and see how it ends this time."

"Fun adventure... Good story, a number of different choices with consequences, and a chance to name your own starship - goldfish not included. Thanks for creating a fun app!"

"Really good... I really enjoyed this adventure! It's absolutely one of the best choice games I've ever played! Really well written, good job all the way around."

More information at http://www.choiceofgames.com/2011/12/announcing-zebulon/

Or see the original entry from Nov. 2010:
http://acetio.com/node/422

Source:
http://php.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php?title=Bat_Development

Priggers and Palliards, Autem Morts and Doxies - great names for medieval miscreants

...
10. Fresh-water mariners or whipjacks (beggars pretending shipwreck)
11. Dummerers (sham deaf-mutes)
12. Drunken tinkers (thieves using the trade as a cover)
13. Swadders or peddlers (thieves pretending to be peddlers)
14. Jarkmen (forgers of licenses) or patricoes (hedge priests)
...

http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/23-types-of-vagabond.html

From The Star:
"A year ago, Michael Chrisman placed a pinhole camera in Toronto’s Port Lands and aimed it — as best one can aim such a camera — at the city skyline.

For 365 straight days and nights, light has crept through the pinhole, slowly building an exposure on a piece of photosensitive paper."

Full story:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1109339

We continue the struggle to get enough protein with a primarily vegetarian diet.

I found a recipe here for lentil meatballs http://www.theppk.com/2011/03/spaghetti-nos-with-mini-lentil-meatballs/ and modified it a bit. It's not very different from falafel except the tomato paste and yeast give it a meatier taste.

Part A
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp bread flour
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water
1 egg (this and the cheese make it non-vegan)
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese
---
Part B
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup flax meal

(Without thinking, I measured 1 1/2 cup dried lentils and now we have enough cooked lentils for a week.)

Chop and dump everything from part A into a blender and mix it up. I probably went overboard and got pure paste. I would have preferred a bit more texture. Take the results and mix in Part B to make a dough. Add more breadcrumbs until the dough is dry enough to handle.

Make a few dozen little balls and fry them enough to get a crust and then bake for about 20 minutes.

They can get dry so serve in a sauce

I made 4 more infusions, cilantro, fenugreek, nutmeg, and dill. None would have been my first choice, but I'm getting to the back of the spice cabinet, and thought there might be some surprises.

Cilantro:
- Attractive yellowish grass green color
- Unidentifiable smell - definitely not the smell of cilantro, but if anything it smelled like chicken soup - very odd
- Almost flavorless
- Ethanol flavor very present
* Not a contender

Fenugreek:
- Had to use ground
- Pale yellow color
- Strong maple smell. Adding water brought out a smokiness. It really smelled like breakfast at a diner
- Mild smoky taste. Not bad but not interesting
- Mild ethanol harshness
* Also not a contender, but both of these give me ideas for using them in cooking

Nutmeg:
- Had to use ground
- Cloudy orange color
- Pleasant nutmeg aroma
- Turbid when water added
- Harsh ethanol flavor
- Camphor taste reminiscent of the cardamom extraction
* Also not a contender, with confirmation that chai extraction is definitely out

Dill:
- Very deep green color
- Very clean aroma, slight dill, mostly just clean, a bit like thyme
- Slight dill flavor
- Alcohol harshness/heat cut significantly
* Should be added to mix based on color, clean aroma, and mellowing quality

So, the dill extraction was the only good one, and the biggest surprise. It could be good just on its own. Imagine a martini made with Hendricks gin and a dill-based liqueur. It would taste like a dill pickle.

My final recipe as of now is:
3 parts tarragon
2 parts coriander
2 parts dill
1 part laurel