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Sara Cammeresi

Middle Eastern food —

Last night was my first foray into the world of Middle Eastern food preparation. I tried my hand at a lamb tagine from the book Mediterranean Street Food which I recently bought. This was also the first time I have cooked lamb. It came out very well, for the meat tenderised nicely within 90 minutes, and it definitely qualified as Middle Eastern when administered the nose test. Lamb, tomatoes, potatoes, a bit of onion, spices, jasmine rice.

I looked for hummus at Schnucks, but I didn't find any, so I went to the neo-communist shop World Harvest. The clerk indicated that they stocked fresh hummus, canned hummus, and dehydrated hummus, so I departed with half a pound of the fresh variety, as he seemed to be quite proud of its quality.

I'm afraid I must also report that I visited Strawberry Fields, also run by neo-communists, to acquire pop because normal pop is rather sweet for my taste.

posted by Sid at 18.27 / 018     [ Comments: 0 ]

Communist Acronymia —

Also on the subject of Communism, I was doing some web surfing today, and I stumbled across the web page of a colocation service in the People's Republic of California. The name of the organisation was the California Community Colocation Project, abbreviated CCCP. Coincidence? I think not.

posted by Sid at 18.29 / 020     [ Comments: 1 ]

Body parts should be privately owned —

Body parts should be owned by the person in whose body they reside or to whose body they are attached. Unfortunately, the US does not recognise property rights as they extend to body parts, as it is illegal for one to sell his own body parts (cf. the Ebay auction for a ficticious kidney). To see the kind of injustice this causes, look no further than this UK footballer who, after drinking his first set of kidneys to their destruction, got the NHS to install a new set for him for free. One would think he'd exercise a bit more temperance after such an ordeal, but nope, he's still hitting the sauce as hard as ever, according to the BBC. It's simply the duty of UK taxpayers to pay for the effects of his self-destructive lifestyle.

posted by Sid at 18.37 / 025     [ Comments: 0 ]

Books —

I've finally got round to reading a few books. A few weeks ago, I finally read for the first time [lowers head] We the Living. There, I said it; I had indeed never read it until just a couple of weeks ago. Don't make fun of me, please.

The other book I've read recently was recommended in an issue of TIA or on HBL or something which I have been meaning to buy since. I finally bought it, and I read it over the course of two days, literally not being able to put it down. Written by a former NASA flight director, it chronicles the beginning of the US's effort to beat the Soviets in the space race, and its title could aptly serve as a summary of the book: Failure is not an Option. The book is quite gripping, although the latter third (after Apollo 11, the first lunar landing) is slightly duller than the former two-thirds.

I don't want to recount any of the best parts, so I'll leave you with this sample as an example of the dry wit contained within:

For years we had kidded the recovery team to stay away from the landing point or else we would hit the aircraft carrier. As the guidance system performance improved, this actually became a possibility. The Trench did such a good job for Apollo 8 that Bill Tindall dispatched a letter to the head of the Recovery Division: "Jerry, I've done a lot of joking about the spacecraft hitting the carrier, but the more I think about it the less I feel it is a joke. The visual reports of the landing indicated the spacecraft flew right over the carrier and landed only 4,572 meters away. This strikes me as too close. The consequences of hitting the carrier would be catastrophic. I seriously recommend that you relocate the recovery forces at least 8 to 16 kilometers from the target point."

posted by Sid at 19.32 / 064     [ Comments: 0 ]

Iran self-enquiry? —

CNN report that the government of Iran are launching an enquiry into the death of a journalist who was photographing things she shouldn't have been photographing. Apparently she was struck on her head and later died from a brain haemorrhage.

In Iran. Of all places. How shocking.

Does anyone else find it odd that the theocrats are investigating their own malfeasance? Does anyone other than the stooges working at Reuters expect them to report any kind of substantial finding?

posted by Sid at 12.51 / 785     [ Comments: 0 ]

Voting with my dollars —

I have just learnt that my favourite New York camera shop, B&H, have changed their shipping company from Fedex to UPS. I despise UPS and avoid dealing with them whenever possible. This change is not acceptable. Accordingly, I wrote a polite, but firmly worded e-mail to B&H explaining my displeasure and saying that I would probably not be giving them any more of my business.

In short order, I received a response that left me literally speechless from its rudeness and condescension. The B&H employee asked sarcastically whether I had dealt with B&H only due to their shipping via Fedex and not for their honesty, knowledge, prices, and the like, and he asked if I were `fickle.'

This went beyond unacceptable. This demanded a full retaliatory strike.

I therefore placed a telephone call to B&H and was connected to a manager. I explained what had transpired, and at his request, I forwarded the e-mail to him which he proceeded to read while muttering `oh boy' over and over. We had a conversation about UPS, Fedex, why they had made the switch, and about his personal preference for Fedex, etc. (i.e. ample time for him to look up my account and see exactly how much of my money I give them), and at length, he said that he would have a chat with the aforementioned employee, and we reached what I think may be an...amicable...solution.

posted by Sid at 17.13 / 967     [ Comments: 2 ]