I'm gleam, I used to be very active in urban terror development, and I'm still something of a lurking presence in the qa/dev channels.
Cheating is a problem in urban terror, and perhaps moreso than in many other games (except maybe CS), but I don't think it's as huge a problem as most people think.
Noskill, the guy who writes the major q3 cheat, has a special version just for urban terror, made to take advantage of some of the features in q3ut like the minimap, grenades, smoke, flashes, etc. As a result, there are probably more cheaters in q3ut than other q3 games.
That being said, I still don't think it's a huge problem--especially not in competitive play. Although it may be seen more on pubs (I don't know, I don't pub much), matches are by and large cheat-free--or at least free of the obvious (and so likely most effective) cheats.
Of course, the more skill a cheater has the better they are at hiding the fact that they're cheating, so a member of a good clan may be able to get away with cheating, simply because they'll know how to make it look like they can't really see through walls/smoke/whatever.
Anyway. Cheating is bad, but it mostly only affects public servers. Matches are, I think, mostly clean. Yet another reason to play competitively.
It doesn't actually add 40 seconds to the minute, it represents the time as a portion of a minute, e.g. 0.9 minutes for windows and a little under 1.5 minutes for windows.
It was clear to me, but I do agree that it was a relatively ineffective graph. That being said, there's nothing wrong with the scale and it doesn't "portray" anything that isn't already there. The scale doesn't change. If it had been labeled:
0 18 36 54 72 90 instead of 0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5
would you really have been whining? The figures are the same, it's just a poorly labeled graph.
yeah, which is pretty much what I noticed too.. of course, spamassassin has a configurable threshold, and configurable weights, so maybe one particular configuration of spamassassin will mark it as junk..
but it looked like it would have made it to my inbox with no problems.
SPAM: This mail is probably spam. The original message has been altered SPAM: so you can recognise or block similar unwanted mail in future. SPAM: See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details. SPAM: SPAM: Content analysis details: (5.10 hits, 5 required) SPAM: FROM_MISSING (-0.0 points) Missing From: header SPAM: DATE_MISSING (0.8 points) Missing Date: header SPAM: SUBJ_MISSING (0.3 points) Subject: is empty or missing SPAM: OPT_IN (1.5 points) BODY: Talks about opting in SPAM: US_DOLLARS_4 (0.4 points) BODY: Nigerian scam key phrase ($NNN.N m/USDNNN.N m/US$NN.N m) SPAM: US_DOLLARS_2 (0.1 points) BODY: Nigerian scam key phrase ($NNN.N m/USDNNN.N m/US$NN.N m) SPAM: BALANCE_FOR_LONG_20K (-0.7 points) BODY: Message text is over 20K in size SPAM: BALANCE_FOR_LONG_40K (-0.1 points) BODY: Message text is over 40K in size SPAM: SPAM_PHRASE_01_02 (0.5 points) BODY: Spam phrases score is 01 to 02 (low) SPAM: [score: 1] SPAM: SUPERLONG_LINE (0.0 points) BODY: Contains a line >=199 characters long SPAM: NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP (1.3 points) URI: Uses a dotted-decimal IP address in URL SPAM: MISSING_HEADERS (1.0 points) Missing To: header
It's much more entertaining to see James Lipton (farrell) interview James Lipton (real). I can't remember where it was that they did it--in the actor's studio, or in rockefeller center.
In any case, it was, as Mr. T(ea) would put it, "A DELIGHT! HA HA HA HA!".
It was never a question for me.. he went to my high school, so when i got there (a number of years later) his picture was up on the wall. he's been spotted walking down the street a few times, too.
for what it's worth, that reality show, "high school reunion" is also all grads from my high school. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that, though.
for that matter, ernest hemingway was a graduate, and ray kroc (founder of mcdonalds corp) was a drop-out. Yay.
<A HREF="javascript:(function(){var x,i; x = document.forms; for (i = 0; i < x.length; ++i) x[i].method=%22post%22; alert(%22Changed %22 + x.length + %22 forms to use the POST method. After submitting a form from this page, you shoul d be able to bookmark the result.%22); })();" ADD_DATE="1035609001" LAST_CHARSET ="ISO-8859-1">frmPost</A>
Add the above link (yes I know it's not a link, but you know what to do) to your bookmarks. When you are at a page using GET forms and you want to change them to POST, simply click on this in your bookmarks list, and it will change all GETs to POSTs.
teamspeak now has both linux clients and servers, which would likely work on freebsd (via linux emulation) as well. i know for a fact the server does.
www.teamspeak.org
the main advantage of teamspeak over speakfreely is that, aside from having better quality low-bitrate codecs, it automatically mixes speech on the server.. speakfreely doesn't, it simply reflects everything, and teh clients do a horrible job of mixing the voice streams. if two people talk at once in speak freely, the third person can't understand either of them.
The higher ends of the predictions came from an astronomer at Adler Planetarium here in Chicago. He may very well have been exaggerating for effect, but it's hard to tell.
http://aio.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/1998.html
Check that for the ZHR for the overall US..
Quote: "Two Leonid storms are expected with rates higher than in 2001, when the Zenith Hourly Rate peaked at 1,300/hr for the USA peak. Beware: the next Leonid storms are not due until 2099!"
The great leonid flux estimator at http://aio.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/estimator.html offers a prediction of 3000/hr at the peak time of 4:20 am CST (for chicago, in the countryside, like at a state park or something)
so although I think 10,000/hr is definitely a very, very high estimate for a single area, it's well within the Asher predictions for ZHR at about 4:20AM CST
A side note, the Leonid Shower this year is actually a Storm.
North America, at about 4:30AM of the 19th is about the peak time to watch for it.
I've seen estimates ranging from 2,000 to 7,000 hits per hour, and some have even said 10,000 or (during the really high times) up to 1,000 per minute.
So we aren't talking a little tiny shower this year.
Next time we'll have a storm like this will be in about 36 years, so you should want to check it out when you have the chance.
It's a shame the moon is nearly full that night, though.
Anyway, even if you can't go too far out of the city, just standing in the shadow of a tall building will give you a decent view, given the sheer magnitude of the storm.
http://ffmpeg.org has free (as in GPL or maybe LGPL) encoding and decoding of divx 3/4/5, xvid, mp3, mpeg1,2,4, old realplayer files, etc.
There's no reason these decoding methods can't be used by some hardware or linux-based box.
I'm still waiting for a combination tivo/dvd player running linux. Something easily hackable to add whatever audio and video codecs you want, be they divx, ogg, whatever.
-gleam
Re:To the /. editors
on
Lego Segway
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
why not set up something like google's cache? they don't seem to need permission to archive previous copies of websites. Nor does anyone seem to be threatening to sue www.archive.org.
Perhaps make the "cache" portion of the submission perl script check robots.txt, so site admins can forbid slashdot to archive an article..
Why is mudslinging bad? Because it's often half-true, or with a massive spin. Find yourself a non-partisan group that digs up info on all the candidates, and then it'll be a bit better.
Besides, there's a fair amount of mudslinging that isn't even related to how effectively someone would serve in office...
In what mixed up crazy world are you assuming $1500-2000 for a t1 for a month? Good lord. Try more like $600-1000...
Also, a huge number of irc servers have their bandwidth and sometimes hardware provided by vendors, universities, ISPs, etc.. consider the following efnet servers, for example:
The average number of users per server (as I right this) on efnet is 1783. The server I'm on, irc.secsup.org, has 6264 users on irc right now. That's nearly all of OPN's user base.
Gimme a break, I really can't believe that they need that much money.
i can't speak about scrambled eggs, but regarding meat, here are two suggestions:
1) use a meat thermometer. seriously. or, even better, a probe thermometer that you can keep outside of your oven/grill/broiler
2) learn what a piece of meat cooked to your ideal temperature feels like to the touch.. cook a steak to medium rare and touch the top-center.. remember the way it feels, and then the next time you cook, just touch it every now and then until it "feels" right. It works wonders.
a few other things:
it's very difficult for a cookbook to give precise times involving meats, or anything else really, because there's so much variation. Your burger may be 7 ounces instead of 5, and 1" thick instead of 3/4" thick. All those possible variations lead to huge difficulties in setting a precise time.
Also remember that, unless you're using a gas grill/broiler/whatever, there's going to be some noticeable variation in the temperature of your cooker. If you use normal charcoal briqs, your grill will not burn anywhere near as hot as if you use hardwood charcoal.
One final pair of tips: cook your meat to about 5 degrees cooler than you actually want it, and let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes before you serve it. In those 5 minutes you'll achieve two things: the temperature of the meat will rise about one degree each minute, cooking it to perfection, and the juices inside the meat will have time to settle, so when you cut into the meat they won't pour out all over your plate. You'll end up with a perfect, juicy piece of beef, or lamb, or whatever.
the most common "chemically cooked" food is a seviche (or ceviche).. and to call something "chemically cooked" "cooked" is kind of walking on thin ice, personally..
quoting from: http://www.ochef.com/294.htm
Q. Many years ago I visited Mexico and had ceviche, which was fabulous. Can you tell me how to make it and what would be the best variety of fish to use. Would marinating overnight in lime make the fish the equivalent of actually being cooked? A. Ceviche, seviche, or cebiche -- your choice -- is almost a cuisine in its own right. Enormously popular in the western countries of South America as well as Mexico, the Caribbean, and other parts of Latin America, it has many variations, but is basically a simple blending of fish and citrus juice, with the addition of vegetables and spices.
The chemical process that occurs when the acid of the citrus comes in contact with the fish is similar what happens when the fish is cooked, and the flesh becomes opaque and firm. Indeed, many people refer to the juice as "cooking" the fish, although that is just plain wrong!
South American lemons are not as sweet as those in this country, and are often used for the ceviche. Further north, limes are the fruit of choice, although many people use a mix of lemon and lime.
Ceviche can include a mixture of saltwater fish, scallops or other shellfish, squid or octopus and onion, chili, tomato, pepper and/or cilantro, and is often served as an appetizer or light meal. In this country, red snapper, sole and pompano are the most popular choices. We have some fans of scallop ceviche in the office here, although shellfish is usually cooked briefly first (blanched) and oiled before going into the lime juice, as the acid tends to break down its texture if it is raw.
Many ceviche recipes ask you to marinate the fish for a good four hours to set the fish all the way through, although some call for much shorter marinating times. Keeping the fish in the juice longer (say, overnight) results in a lime taste that many people think overpowers the fish.
The one cardinal rule of preparing ceviche is that the fish must be absolutely fresh. There are quite a few ceviche recipes available online.
Me, I think the restaurant cook will have far more exposure to different cooking techniques and recipes than the grandmother, and so may have much more creativity in the dishes presented.
For example, you aren't likely to see wasabi mashed potatoes at your grandmother's house, but it's fairly common in a restaurant nowadays.
alton is going to be selling his own plunger measuring cup eventually, but until then you can buy a 2-cup version at www.kitchenetc.com, which also probably has your trippy wisks.
another thing to note is that you really should always go for fresh herbs whenever possible:) even if you just have a spare window ledge in your apartment, go to a nursery and buy some basil, rosemary, thyme, and whatever else you use fairly regularly.. the difference will be astounding, and the herbs are really easy to take care of.
I'm blessed by living near Chicago. I have a Penzey's about a mile away, and the Spice House is about a half hour away--Good deal.
Alton also admits that he is a huge fan of Cook's Illustrated, and draws much of his culinary and presentation style from them--make a recipe as foolproof as possible.
For the geeks out there, the cook's illustrated website is fairly cheap ($25/yr i think) and has every recipe/article/etc they've published.. the only problems are that the site is unbelievably slow, and the recipes are pretty terribly categorized.
Cecil Adams from the Straight Dope also addressed this issue. Naturally, the fastest boil came from water that had already been boiled once and allowed to cool.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_101c.htm l
Dear Cecil:
Which boils faster--hot (or very hot) water or cold water? --Jane H., formerly of Chicago, now of Washington, D.C.
P.S.: You must have seen this one coming!
Cecil replies:
I resigned myself to it long ago, buttercup. As any sane and decent person would expect, hot water out of the tap will boil faster than cold water out of the tap. However, water that has been boiled once and allowed to cool will boil faster than hot water out of the tap. That's because boiling gets rid of the dissolved oxygen usually found in water, making it easier for the water to boil the second time around. There's money in this somewhere, I'm sure of it.
--CECIL ADAMS
My favorite episode of good eats, I think, is "Scrapiron Chef"... seeing him smoke bacon in three lockers is really unbeatable.
Actually, at the navy pier imax near me they do show standard release films on the giant screen.. not sure how, they may just have a 35mm projector up there.
Anyways, I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Crouching Tigher, Hidden Dragon on that screen... CTHD was much more exciting to watch. Seeing that movie on a screen that massive was quite memorable, and I recommend it to anyone.
If you're in chicago, I recommend visiting the navy pier imax one weekend when they are showing a feature film.. Unfortunately, I don't think they do it that often.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm gleam, I used to be very active in urban terror development, and I'm still something of a lurking presence in the qa/dev channels.
Cheating is a problem in urban terror, and perhaps moreso than in many other games (except maybe CS), but I don't think it's as huge a problem as most people think.
Noskill, the guy who writes the major q3 cheat, has a special version just for urban terror, made to take advantage of some of the features in q3ut like the minimap, grenades, smoke, flashes, etc. As a result, there are probably more cheaters in q3ut than other q3 games.
That being said, I still don't think it's a huge problem--especially not in competitive play. Although it may be seen more on pubs (I don't know, I don't pub much), matches are by and large cheat-free--or at least free of the obvious (and so likely most effective) cheats.
Of course, the more skill a cheater has the better they are at hiding the fact that they're cheating, so a member of a good clan may be able to get away with cheating, simply because they'll know how to make it look like they can't really see through walls/smoke/whatever.
Anyway. Cheating is bad, but it mostly only affects public servers. Matches are, I think, mostly clean. Yet another reason to play competitively.
-gleam
It doesn't actually add 40 seconds to the minute, it represents the time as a portion of a minute, e.g. 0.9 minutes for windows and a little under 1.5 minutes for windows.
It was clear to me, but I do agree that it was a relatively ineffective graph. That being said, there's nothing wrong with the scale and it doesn't "portray" anything that isn't already there. The scale doesn't change. If it had been labeled:
0 18 36 54 72 90 instead of
0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5
would you really have been whining? The figures are the same, it's just a poorly labeled graph.
Get over it.
-gleam
http://www.mtechlaptops.com/
They have a fairly wide range of laptops, all the hardware is supported by linux, and they will install with or without windows.
i don't think you'll find much lighter/smaller than an ibook, though.
-gleam
yeah, which is pretty much what I noticed too.. of course, spamassassin has a configurable threshold, and configurable weights, so maybe one particular configuration of spamassassin will mark it as junk..
but it looked like it would have made it to my inbox with no problems.
-gleam
i ran the text of the newsletter through spamassassin, but not the actual email newsletter itself (i'm not subscribed).
A TE_MISSING,T _IN,D OLLARS_2,
as a result, it'll look different than someone subscribed to the list, since spamassassin does rely a bit on the headers, not just the text:
Oh, and as a side note, when i tried to paste this, unedited, slashdot spat the following at me:
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.
the irony is thick. as is, of course, the irony that i could completely bypass it by formatting my message as "code". Now, back to the show:
X-Spam-Status: Yes, hits=5.1 required=5.0
tests=BALANCE_FOR_LONG_20K,BALANCE_FOR_LONG_40K,D
FROM_MISSING,MISSING_HEADERS,NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP,OP
SPAM_PHRASE_01_02,SUBJ_MISSING,SUPERLONG_LINE,US_
US_DOLLARS_4
version=2.44
X-Spam-Flag: YES
X-Spam-Level: *****
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.44 (1.115.2.24-2003-01-30-exp)
SPAM: This mail is probably spam. The original message has been altered
SPAM: so you can recognise or block similar unwanted mail in future.
SPAM: See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details.
SPAM:
SPAM: Content analysis details: (5.10 hits, 5 required)
SPAM: FROM_MISSING (-0.0 points) Missing From: header
SPAM: DATE_MISSING (0.8 points) Missing Date: header
SPAM: SUBJ_MISSING (0.3 points) Subject: is empty or missing
SPAM: OPT_IN (1.5 points) BODY: Talks about opting in
SPAM: US_DOLLARS_4 (0.4 points) BODY: Nigerian scam key phrase ($NNN.N m/USDNNN.N m/US$NN.N m)
SPAM: US_DOLLARS_2 (0.1 points) BODY: Nigerian scam key phrase ($NNN.N m/USDNNN.N m/US$NN.N m)
SPAM: BALANCE_FOR_LONG_20K (-0.7 points) BODY: Message text is over 20K in size
SPAM: BALANCE_FOR_LONG_40K (-0.1 points) BODY: Message text is over 40K in size
SPAM: SPAM_PHRASE_01_02 (0.5 points) BODY: Spam phrases score is 01 to 02 (low)
SPAM: [score: 1]
SPAM: SUPERLONG_LINE (0.0 points) BODY: Contains a line >=199 characters long
SPAM: NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP (1.3 points) URI: Uses a dotted-decimal IP address in URL
SPAM: MISSING_HEADERS (1.0 points) Missing To: header
hope this helps,
gleam
It's much more entertaining to see James Lipton (farrell) interview James Lipton (real). I can't remember where it was that they did it--in the actor's studio, or in rockefeller center.
In any case, it was, as Mr. T(ea) would put it, "A DELIGHT! HA HA HA HA!".
-gleam
It was never a question for me.. he went to my high school, so when i got there (a number of years later) his picture was up on the wall. he's been spotted walking down the street a few times, too.
for what it's worth, that reality show, "high school reunion" is also all grads from my high school. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that, though.
for that matter, ernest hemingway was a graduate, and ray kroc (founder of mcdonalds corp) was a drop-out. Yay.
-gleam
Add the above link (yes I know it's not a link, but you know what to do) to your bookmarks. When you are at a page using GET forms and you want to change them to POST, simply click on this in your bookmarks list, and it will change all GETs to POSTs.
Modified from a base at Jesse's Bookmarklet's
It should work in all versions of mozilla and MSIE 4 (or maybe 5)+
Hope this helps,
gleam
teamspeak now has both linux clients and servers, which would likely work on freebsd (via linux emulation) as well. i know for a fact the server does.
www.teamspeak.org
the main advantage of teamspeak over speakfreely is that, aside from having better quality low-bitrate codecs, it automatically mixes speech on the server.. speakfreely doesn't, it simply reflects everything, and teh clients do a horrible job of mixing the voice streams. if two people talk at once in speak freely, the third person can't understand either of them.
-gleam
The higher ends of the predictions came from an astronomer at Adler Planetarium here in Chicago. He may very well have been exaggerating for effect, but it's hard to tell.
/hr for the USA peak. Beware: the next Leonid storms are not due until 2099!"
http://aio.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/1998.html
Check that for the ZHR for the overall US..
Quote: "Two Leonid storms are expected with rates higher than in 2001, when the Zenith Hourly Rate peaked at 1,300
The great leonid flux estimator at http://aio.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/estimator.html offers a prediction of 3000/hr at the peak time of 4:20 am CST (for chicago, in the countryside, like at a state park or something)
so although I think 10,000/hr is definitely a very, very high estimate for a single area, it's well within the Asher predictions for ZHR at about 4:20AM CST
-gleam
A side note, the Leonid Shower this year is actually a Storm.
North America, at about 4:30AM of the 19th is about the peak time to watch for it.
I've seen estimates ranging from 2,000 to 7,000 hits per hour, and some have even said 10,000 or (during the really high times) up to 1,000 per minute.
So we aren't talking a little tiny shower this year.
Next time we'll have a storm like this will be in about 36 years, so you should want to check it out when you have the chance.
It's a shame the moon is nearly full that night, though.
Anyway, even if you can't go too far out of the city, just standing in the shadow of a tall building will give you a decent view, given the sheer magnitude of the storm.
-gleam
http://ffmpeg.org has free (as in GPL or maybe LGPL) encoding and decoding of divx 3/4/5, xvid, mp3, mpeg1,2,4, old realplayer files, etc.
There's no reason these decoding methods can't be used by some hardware or linux-based box.
I'm still waiting for a combination tivo/dvd player running linux. Something easily hackable to add whatever audio and video codecs you want, be they divx, ogg, whatever.
-gleam
why not set up something like google's cache? they don't seem to need permission to archive previous copies of websites. Nor does anyone seem to be threatening to sue www.archive.org.
Perhaps make the "cache" portion of the submission perl script check robots.txt, so site admins can forbid slashdot to archive an article..
-gleam
No, LISP is the language that would say "there ith no thpoon."
-gleam
sure, it's a troll, but it's also wrong.
L L
:)
http://attrition.org/mirror/attrition/os.html#A
Sure, the MacOS/MacOSX defacements only represent 0.8% of total defacements, but they're still there
-gleam
Why is mudslinging bad? Because it's often half-true, or with a massive spin. Find yourself a non-partisan group that digs up info on all the candidates, and then it'll be a bit better.
Besides, there's a fair amount of mudslinging that isn't even related to how effectively someone would serve in office...
-gleam
Yep, one of my professors said at the beginning of the course, "If you leave the room to answer a cell phone call, don't come back."
-gleam
In what mixed up crazy world are you assuming $1500-2000 for a t1 for a month? Good lord. Try more like $600-1000...
Also, a huge number of irc servers have their bandwidth and sometimes hardware provided by vendors, universities, ISPs, etc.. consider the following efnet servers, for example:
irc.easynews.com, irc.mindspring.com, irc.qeast.net, efnet.demon.co.uk, irc.umn.edu
The average number of users per server (as I right this) on efnet is 1783. The server I'm on, irc.secsup.org, has 6264 users on irc right now. That's nearly all of OPN's user base.
Gimme a break, I really can't believe that they need that much money.
-gleam
i can't speak about scrambled eggs, but regarding meat, here are two suggestions:
1) use a meat thermometer. seriously. or, even better, a probe thermometer that you can keep outside of your oven/grill/broiler
2) learn what a piece of meat cooked to your ideal temperature feels like to the touch.. cook a steak to medium rare and touch the top-center.. remember the way it feels, and then the next time you cook, just touch it every now and then until it "feels" right. It works wonders.
a few other things:
it's very difficult for a cookbook to give precise times involving meats, or anything else really, because there's so much variation. Your burger may be 7 ounces instead of 5, and 1" thick instead of 3/4" thick. All those possible variations lead to huge difficulties in setting a precise time.
Also remember that, unless you're using a gas grill/broiler/whatever, there's going to be some noticeable variation in the temperature of your cooker. If you use normal charcoal briqs, your grill will not burn anywhere near as hot as if you use hardwood charcoal.
One final pair of tips: cook your meat to about 5 degrees cooler than you actually want it, and let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes before you serve it. In those 5 minutes you'll achieve two things: the temperature of the meat will rise about one degree each minute, cooking it to perfection, and the juices inside the meat will have time to settle, so when you cut into the meat they won't pour out all over your plate. You'll end up with a perfect, juicy piece of beef, or lamb, or whatever.
-gleam
the most common "chemically cooked" food is a seviche (or ceviche).. and to call something "chemically cooked" "cooked" is kind of walking on thin ice, personally..
quoting from: http://www.ochef.com/294.htm
Q. Many years ago I visited Mexico and had ceviche, which was fabulous. Can you tell me how to make it and what would be the best variety of fish to use. Would marinating overnight in lime make the fish the equivalent of actually being cooked?
A. Ceviche, seviche, or cebiche -- your choice -- is almost a cuisine in its own right. Enormously popular in the western countries of South America as well as Mexico, the Caribbean, and other parts of Latin America, it has many variations, but is basically a simple blending of fish and citrus juice, with the addition of vegetables and spices.
The chemical process that occurs when the acid of the citrus comes in contact with the fish is similar what happens when the fish is cooked, and the flesh becomes opaque and firm. Indeed, many people refer to the juice as "cooking" the fish, although that is just plain wrong!
South American lemons are not as sweet as those in this country, and are often used for the ceviche. Further north, limes are the fruit of choice, although many people use a mix of lemon and lime.
Ceviche can include a mixture of saltwater fish, scallops or other shellfish, squid or octopus and onion, chili, tomato, pepper and/or cilantro, and is often served as an appetizer or light meal. In this country, red snapper, sole and pompano are the most popular choices. We have some fans of scallop ceviche in the office here, although shellfish is usually cooked briefly first (blanched) and oiled before going into the lime juice, as the acid tends to break down its texture if it is raw.
Many ceviche recipes ask you to marinate the fish for a good four hours to set the fish all the way through, although some call for much shorter marinating times. Keeping the fish in the juice longer (say, overnight) results in a lime taste that many people think overpowers the fish.
The one cardinal rule of preparing ceviche is that the fish must be absolutely fresh. There are quite a few ceviche recipes available online.
-gleam
Me, I think the restaurant cook will have far more exposure to different cooking techniques and recipes than the grandmother, and so may have much more creativity in the dishes presented.
For example, you aren't likely to see wasabi mashed potatoes at your grandmother's house, but it's fairly common in a restaurant nowadays.
-gleam
alton is going to be selling his own plunger measuring cup eventually, but until then you can buy a 2-cup version at www.kitchenetc.com, which also probably has your trippy wisks.
-gleam
another thing to note is that you really should always go for fresh herbs whenever possible :) even if you just have a spare window ledge in your apartment, go to a nursery and buy some basil, rosemary, thyme, and whatever else you use fairly regularly.. the difference will be astounding, and the herbs are really easy to take care of.
I'm blessed by living near Chicago. I have a Penzey's about a mile away, and the Spice House is about a half hour away--Good deal.
-gleam
Alton also admits that he is a huge fan of Cook's Illustrated, and draws much of his culinary and presentation style from them--make a recipe as foolproof as possible.
m l
For the geeks out there, the cook's illustrated website is fairly cheap ($25/yr i think) and has every recipe/article/etc they've published.. the only problems are that the site is unbelievably slow, and the recipes are pretty terribly categorized.
Cecil Adams from the Straight Dope also addressed this issue. Naturally, the fastest boil came from water that had already been boiled once and allowed to cool.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_101c.ht
Dear Cecil:
Which boils faster--hot (or very hot) water or cold water? --Jane H., formerly of Chicago, now of Washington, D.C.
P.S.: You must have seen this one coming!
Cecil replies:
I resigned myself to it long ago, buttercup. As any sane and decent person would expect, hot water out of the tap will boil faster than cold water out of the tap. However, water that has been boiled once and allowed to cool will boil faster than hot water out of the tap. That's because boiling gets rid of the dissolved oxygen usually found in water, making it easier for the water to boil the second time around. There's money in this somewhere, I'm sure of it.
--CECIL ADAMS
My favorite episode of good eats, I think, is "Scrapiron Chef"... seeing him smoke bacon in three lockers is really unbeatable.
-gleam
Actually, at the navy pier imax near me they do show standard release films on the giant screen.. not sure how, they may just have a 35mm projector up there.
Anyways, I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Crouching Tigher, Hidden Dragon on that screen... CTHD was much more exciting to watch. Seeing that movie on a screen that massive was quite memorable, and I recommend it to anyone.
If you're in chicago, I recommend visiting the navy pier imax one weekend when they are showing a feature film.. Unfortunately, I don't think they do it that often.
-gleam