Limited Curiosity

I thought I was reading this harmless little article about coral that makes it's own sunscreen. I chose it because all the news was so horrible--Jack the Ripper, natural disasters, war--I just wanted something interesting and mildly scientific.

Oh well.

Nerd Genius

Some of you may remember these, if you hung around with the right people this past June. Note the most background shoe:

Well, that pair of shoes has been transformed, and let me tell you, you're going to be very jealous that they don't belong to you. The very gifted artist is a good friend of Venom's...

Running Short on Ingredients

The task:

Make Banana Bread with just two bananas (why? You ask? Those two bananas were very very ripe, and the others were not ripe at all. Waiting for the unripe ones to ripen was impractical--basically, I have time to bake now, and not later, and I forgot to put one in Danjo's car to ripen while he's at work. Also, the ripe bananas won't wait another day. Their clear intention was to rot without being baked into something edible--I think they are not humble bananas, preferring decay over improvement by fiery furnace because bananas are dumb...wait...O.o).

...Anyway...

The problem: Two eggs and 1-1/4 cups of flour and 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp of salt are not easily reduced by 1/3 outside of a chemistry lab.

Baking soda: The 1 tsp baking soda doesn't SOUND so bad, but no measuring spoons have thirds marked on them. Also, they are shaped like spoons, so visualizing 2/3 full is difficult.

Salt? See baking soda.

Eggs:Big dilemma here, determining the quantity of egg required when you need 2/3 of two large eggs and all you have is 2 extra large eggs. In case you're wondering, failing the calculation, I tossed the egg yolks and just used the whites. Now the banana bread will be heart healthy (except for the 2/3 cube of butter--at least that was easy to eyeball--there's lines on the butter wrapper that correspond to the measurements I need).

Then there's the flour:

5/4c x 2/3 = 10/12c = 5/6c

Wonderful.

Just search your measuring cups for the line that says 5/6.

In short, this required more uncertainty than makes me happy, but the estimated 2/3 scale banana bread is in the oven, in a loaf pan that may or may not be 2/3 the size of a standard loaf pan. At least "stab with a toothpick to check for doneness" should still be operative in this 2/3 parallel baking universe. Sigh...

Next time I'll remember to leave the under-ripe bananas in Danjo's car

Untitled, With Subtitles

No Capes Necessary

Don't Blink

Still Life With Sunscreen and Pomegranate and Half an Onion, Among Other Things

Reflection on a Spoon

Something New and Unusual

Very Cool Website too...

Gulp

I just loved this! Thanks to my friend who posted it on Facebook and who also mentioned that the "making of" bit at the end is very much worth watching. FUN!! (and it's made by the Wallace and Grommit people, which makes it even better)

Semi-Urban Oddities

I was stopped at a major intersection today, car dealership on one side, community college on another, waiting for the light to change, when I saw the gopher crossing the road. He seemed somewhat out of place there, and not entirely comfortable. I waited as the light changed, for the little fellow to crawl under my car and out into the empty field on the other side. And I laughed, because it was so bizarre on so many levels.

And I wondered, as I continued on my way, Why DID the gopher cross the road?

It must have been important...or he'd had a little too much dandelion wine... I think it was important though. I'm pretty sure he was looking for Mrs. Frisbee, to warn her about the plow.

First Day of School

Owl

It may be shark week on Discovery Channel, but it's bird of prey week here, as the only sharks at the beach were the ones I drew in a picture. Believe me, I was looking for the real thing...

Anyway, I think the hawk got fed up with me and my camera and left, but last night, the sky looked cool, so I borrowed Dad's tripod and set up to get the twilight and the moon and the dead tree. Then a kind owl landed in the tree to made it that much better. Actually, now that I think about it, "kind" may not be the best word to describe the owl. Earlier in the evening, before the sky started looking cool, we found owl pellets under that same tree. The (masked and gloved) kids tore them apart and found a skull, and some other bones of smaller animals. Maybe ribs, or feet, definitely teeth.

In fact, after model owl was done posing for photos, he flew out of the tree and landed on the ground. Just guessing more pellets are on the way.

Balboa Park

We crossed Normal Street on our way to Balboa Park today. We visited a couple of museums--the Art Museum, and the Natural History Museum.

We saw lots of interesting things at the art museum (I didn't take photos) and one of them was this painting. Give your best guess as to the time period and title, and then click here for a bit more information.

Then, after an incredibly long wait for food, in a short line, we moved on to the natural history museum. We found getting in to be a bit confusing...
There was a gem and mineral exhibit.

I've always hated my birthstone--an ugly green thing called a peridot. Fortunately having it as one's birthstone does not mandate liking it. But today I learned that it is often found in meteorites. Still ugly and green, but now AWESOME!! If anyone ever buys me one, it had better be from a meteorite.
Young Adventurer thought this piece of jade was impressive in size and actually ASKED to have his photo taken alongside it.

Another personal favorite: Faberge ham...

Young Adventurer's favorites were the things hanging from the ceiling...