On using religion for evil

Speaking to the protagonist Robert of the ideas of his Satanic companion, Mr. Blanchard, "who was reckoned a worthy, pious divine" says,

It is incalculable what evil such a person as he may do, if so disposed. There is a sublimity in his ideas, with which there is to me a mixture of terror; and, when he talks of religion, he does it as one that rather dreads its truths than reverences them. He, indeed, pretends great strictness of orthodoxy regarding some of the points of doctrine embraced by the reformed church; but you do not seem to perceive that both you and he are carrying these points to a dangerous extremity. Religion is a sublime and glorious thing, the bonds of society on earth, and the connector of humanity with the Divine nature; but there is nothing so dangerous to man as the wresting of any of its principles, or forcing them beyond their due bounds: this is of all others the readiest way to destruction. Neither is there anything so easily done. There is not an error into which a man can fall which he may not press Scripture into his service as proof of the probity of, and though your boasted theologian shunned the full discussion of the subject before me, while you pressed it, I can easily see that both you and he are carrying your ideas of absolute predestination, and its concomitant appendages, to an extent that overthrows all religion and revelation together; or, at least, jumbles them into a chaos, out of which human capacity can never select what is good. Believe me, Mr. Robert, the less you associate with that illustrious stranger the better, for it appears to me that your creed and his carries damnation on the very front of it.

James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)

By the way, shortly after the above, Robert and his companion murder Mr. Blanchard.

An engineer's view of academics

After having received a college fellowship and then serving as a schoolmaster, Harry Clavering decides he wants to be a civil engineer to join the ranks of those who "to do most in the world". Yet when he takes up his training he feels disdainful of his fellow engineers, one of whom remarks to his wife of highly educated people like Harry Clavering:

“I know well what such men are, and I know the evil that is done to them by the cramming they endure. They learn many names of things—high-sounding names, and they come to understand a great deal about words. It is a knowledge that requires no experience and very little real thought. But it demands much memory; and when they have loaded themselves in this way, they think that they are instructed in all things. After all, what can they do that is of real use to mankind? What can they create?”

“I suppose they are of use.”

“I don’t know it. A man will tell you, or pretend to tell you—for the chances are ten to one that he is wrong—what sort of lingo was spoken in some particular island or province six hundred years before Christ. What good will that do any one, even if he were right?”

The Claverings, by Anthony Trollope (1866)

Chinese broccoli (kailan; 芥藍)

Soak in a large container, then rinse all the dirt off.Cut off the tough thick bottom "trunks" and discard.
Cut the large leaves off the "trunks", then cut the stems off those leaves, then cut the top leafy part off.

• Cut the bottom "trunks" at a 25°-30° angle, so pieces are about 1" long
• Cut the leaf stems about 1" long
• Cut the leaves into sections about 1" long

Pour a little oil in a frying pan, then put in the cut stems and "trunk" pieces and stir fry for about a minute. Add the chopped leaves, gently stir-frying for another three minutes or so. (It's important not to overcook the broccoli.) Sprinkle with salt.

I like it much more than broccoli.

Chicken with shiitake mushrooms

• 1 lb. boned chicken thighs 
• 1 T Chinese rice wine
• 1 T soy sauce
• 2-3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 T hot broad bean paste (辣豆瓣醬)
• 15-20 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, washed and drained
• salt to taste
• 1 t sesame oil

Remove the fat from boned chicken thighs, and cut into small ¼-½" pieces. Steep in a little Chinese rice wine and soy sauce for 1/2-1 hr.
Wash 15-20 mushrooms, cut off and discard stems, cube caps into ¼-½" pieces.
Heat oil in frying pan, drop in minced garlic cloves, then add hot broad bean paste, stir-fry briefly, then add chicken and stir-fry until nearly cooked through, then remove from pan, leaving the liquid.
Dump in mushrooms, stir, add a little water, then cover for a few minutes (they'll suck up the liquid at first, then soften), then add chicken and when almost done, sprinkle with salt and add cilantro and sesame oil.

Roast duck

I just got one at the Ranch 99 Supermarket. They all looked a little pale and sure enough, they hadn't been roasted until the skin was really crispy. What a disappointment. I'll take the rest and heat it up (or roast a little) in the toaster oven. I'll have the leftovers for Thanksgiving.

Tongho (茼蒿, aka Garland Chrysanthemum, Chop Suey Green)

She used her thumbnail to make sure the leaves or stems she pinched off were tender enough.
Stir-fry until they're wilted--they'll cook down a lot--add a little salt.

Shiitake mushrooms with mung bean sprouts

Wash 7 or 8 mushrooms, cut off and discard stems, cut caps into ¼ strips, stir-fry in oil about a minute then add the washed and drained sprouts (12 oz. package), continue frying, then add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt and stir fry for 7 or 8 minutes until the mushroom flesh is no longer white but the sprouts aren't soft.

A couple of things from Take A Girl Like You (Kingsley Amis).

It's set in the 1950s, and the narrator makes several references to his car as an old "110", and at one point he tells someone it's a "Sunbeam Talbot". An article from London Magazine claims that "the car referred to can only have been a 1935 Talbot". An author from Motor sport argues that it "by inference must be a very tatty 34-litre Roesch Talbot". Maybe so, but any kind of Talbot looks pretty snazzy now.

And what do the writers of Weeds think of the Obama Economy?

From Season 3 Episode 10:

Celia Hodes: I can't wait for money to come in. I need it now.

Nancy Botwin: Jesus. Why are you in such bad shape?

Celia: I've been spending on my cash on coke and man whores....Why the hell do you think? I work a middle-class job in the Bush economy.

I don't know whether this was Jenji Kohan, Victoria Morrow, or someone else, but it's so Hollywood.

Oxtails stewed in red wine

• oxtails (2-3 lbs.)
• olive oil (enough to sauté the onions )
• 2-3 large onions, chopped
• 2-3 large tomatoes, chopped
• 3 slices of ginger
• other vegetables as you wish (carrots, mushrooms, etc.)
• hot pepper (if you like it spicy)
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• red wine

Place oxtails in pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Discard the water, rinse the oxtails, and set aside.
In the stewpot, pour in a little olive oil, and sauté the ginger and onions until soft
Add tomatoes, continue to sauté for 1-2 minutes
Add the oxtails and any other vegetables
Pour in enough red wine to cover everything
Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer
Continue simmering for at least 3 hours, until the meat is almost falling off the bones
At this point, you can remove the meat from the bones, or leave it on for the diners

It's now ready to serve, but you can also refrigerate it and serve it the next day or the day after and it will taste even better.

Serve over pasta (rotini) or rice

Baby bok choy (上海白菜、青江菜)

Break the leaves off and soak in a large container, then rinse all the dirt off.
Cut the leaves from the stems, then cut the larger stems in half, then chop into sections about ⅓ of an inch wide. Cut the leaves into strips about the same size.

Pour a little oil in a frying pan, then put in the cut stems and stir fry for about a minute.
Add the chopped leaves, gently stir-frying for another three minutes or so. (It's important not to overcook the choy.) Sprinkle with salt.

Edamame, carrot, and potato

• 2 cups edamame (毛豆; green soybeans out of the pod; available frozen in asian grocery stores)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1 medium potato
• oil for frying
• salt to taste

Cut the carrots and potato into small cubes no large than ¼ inch.
Pour a little oil into a frying pan, dump in the cubed carrots and potato, then add the edamame/soybeans. Cover, stirring occasionally (the potatoes may stick to the pan), and cook for 15 minutes or so. Salt to taste.

Tomatoes with tofu

• 1 tomato (not really "tomatoes", is it?)
• 1 lb. medium tofu
• 1 scallion
• oil for frying
• soy sauce to taste
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste

Cut tofu into ¼ inch cubes, chop tomato into small pieces. Cut scallion into thin slices.
Pour a little oil into skillet, add the tomato and tofu and a splash of soy sauce, then cover, stirring occasionally (make sure tofu doesn't stick).
After 10-15 minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then drop in the scallion, mix together, then shut off the heat and leave covered for a few minutes.
 

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Waffles

Sift before measuring:
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
resift with:
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
add:
2 cups whole-wheat flour
(I haven't tried but maybe also 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and one teaspoon vanilla)?

Beat:
3 egg yolks
To the yolks add:
2⅓ cups buttermilk (or the equivalent in powdered buttermilk, which comes to 9¼ Tablespoons of powder and the same amount of water)
½ cup oil + one Tablespoon
1 Tablespoon honey

Mix the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients

Beat until stiff:
3 egg whites
Fold into the batter

Cook on the waffle iron

Serve with syrup, fruit, etc.

inspirational books

The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Howard C. Carter, M.D.
Books by Robert Fulghum
Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are or Full Catastrophe Living
Pema Chodron's When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living, The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
Burned: A Memoir by Louise Nayer
Unbroken: A WWII story of of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Open to Hope: Inspirational Stories of Healing After Loss by Gloria and Heidi Horsley
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

The whole idea of Tehachapi is a bad joke

California state laws require Southern California Edison to provide at least 33% of its power service from renewable sources by 2020. Southern California Edison developed the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project to build high-voltage transmission lines for transmission of electricity from wind farms and other generating units, at one point running through Chino Hills, which got some of the residents up in arms.

There's no question in my mind that Hope for the Hills is little more than another NIMBY group. As far as I can tell, their ire is not directed at the state of California, but at Southern California Edison. They're apparently not opposed to "renewable energy"; they just don't want to see high voltage transmission lines strung through their neighborhood. They claim that there are "health concerns" (see here), but I'm skeptical based on what I've read. Still, there's no question that real estate values would be negatively affected.

But I'm skeptical that wind power is all it's cracked up to be. See, for instance Mungowitz's posts on wind power.

The whole idea of Tehachapi is a bad joke.

Something deeply significant

Something deeply significant is going on, if only we could grasp what precisely it is

Discussions of literature aside--

As a child, I felt that something deeply significant was going on in the world, if only I could grasp what precisely it was. Now what I perceive of the world makes sense to me only in isolated bits and pieces, and even then any meaning appears to have been imposed by fallible fellow humans, and may change at any time.

True elegance

"A gentleman should always be so well dressed that his dress shall never be observed at all. Does this sound like an enigma? It is not meant for one. It only implies that perfect simplicity is perfect elegance, and that the true test of taste in the toilette of a gentleman is its entire harmony, unobtrusiveness and becomingness."

--Gazette of Fashion, 1872 (via Ask the Past)

Actually, I just like being anonymous.

Results of crackdown on "price gouging"

A crackdown on "price gouging":

• encourages precautionary hoarding after disaster strikes
• discourages consumer conservation of goods in most demand
• discourages suppliers from acquiring precautionary inventories of goods useful after disasters
• discourages consumers from being prepared in advance for disasters
• lack of rising prices will not attract more resources from surrounding areas.

based on Peter McCaffrey via Knowledge Problem

A preparation for something that never happens

“It is not that I have accomplished too few of my plans, for I am not ambitious; but when I think of all the books I have read, and of the wise words I have heard spoken, and of the anxiety I have given to parents and grandparents, and of the hopes that I have had, all life weighed in the scales of my own life seems to me a preparation for something that never happens.”
– Yeats, Reveries Over Childhood and Youth, 1914 (He was 49 that year)