I found a link in Dana Carpender's LowCarbezine newsletter about a new food show on the Food Network called Low Carb & Lovin' It. I set the TiVO to tape all the shows and I'm watching the first one right now. It rocks; it's about low carb comfort foods.

By the way, you can see in the intro that this guy's family lost a combined five hundred and sixty pounds (yes, 560 lbs.) on his low carb cooking.

I think this is a show I'm going to watch a lot.

Oh--hey Josh, thanks for the heads up on the Asian grocery in Lancaster (for the Chinese Five Spice Powder). not sure if I'm up to the eye of bat, though.(!)

From TheOneRing.net, May 25, 2004 news, people in line for the DVD talking to a New Line rep:

"We also talked about the EE DVD, and he told us to expect a January release, or late December, but that was unlikely. He added that they were looking at first releasing the EE in theatres, and that a 'super-trilogy' Tuesday was under consideration, but not a definite, while mentioning that last year's EE releases were very lucrative for the studio."

I had hoped to get the "EE" DVD for ROTK (Mike will ridicule me mercilessly for the overuse ot TLAs) by Thanksgiving, but oh, well. The possible theater showings were a cool surprise, though. You may have your chance yet, Brad. But at 3.5 hours, 3.5 hours, and at least 4 hours, we're talking 12 hours of film including half hour breaks. Even I may not have the stamina for that.

My wife and I were talking on our cell phones today and we both happened to be tuned to NPR. I noticed that I heard her radio a split second after mine. She said hers was first though, and mine was later. Then I realized that the digital cell network was causing a delay between us. It happens all the time, but unless you notice a radio or something like I did, you'd never know it.

So the point is that on digital cell phones, a live conversation is an impossibility. I'm never talking live to my wife; I'm talking to a voice recording, a digital reproduction of her words a split second later. We never actually speak with each other directly.

A little weird if you think about it.

So I'm pushing low carb again. I'm desperate--I was over 250 again (254, to be exact) and I was feeling crappy, tired, just not energetic.

So I go on the diet again and a week later I'm 7 pounds lighter and feeling much, much better.

But.

Low carb eating requires variety if you want to make it a lifetime diet. That means you have to build thst variety into your foodstuffs and seasonings, which requires a bit of menu planning. I mean, I made a killer beef stew the other night with some leftover red peppers, onions, and mushrooms along with my chuck roast, but that doesn't happen that often (chop it all up and put in a pot on low for an hour and a half with some red wine, beef broth, worcestershire sauce, and steak seasoning , by the way--it turns tender and you can thicken up the juice by putting it through the blender with some sprinkled Xanthan gum).

So the two ingredients I can't find are "Chinese Five Spice Powder" and Asian "fish sauce." The five spice powder is supposedly available everywhere, but I haven't seen it anywhere in Pennsylvania Dutch country. I can widen my cuisine choices with this stuff, but I guess I have to hunt down a food store that has it (since I'm not into making it myself).

Then I have to find a steady supply of low carb tortillas, since no one around here has them. The quest continues...

Looks like MHz racing has reached the law of diminishing returns. Intel's newest chips are running so hot that they're actually slowing down. In fact, they're slowing down to the point that they're actually slower than the chips they replaced.

Intel has already started pushing in other directions--the Pentium M chip is lower MHz but better designed than other Pentiums. It's not just for laptops--it's a better chip strategy, and Intel is looking to expand the line. Oddly enough, the Pentium M didn't come from Intel's home office--it came from their Israeli branch.

I'm not sure why the failings of MHz are so difficult to explain. I mean, I can make a '69 VW Beetle engine run at 8,000 rpm, but it's still 53 horsepower (it would throw a rod inside of 30 seconds too, but that's beside the point). Wouldn't you rather have an engine that pulls 300 horsepower at 2,200 rpm?

Well, one reason I was so excited to get satellite dish service back last month was TechTV. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Comcast bought TechTV and is merging it with their own G4 gaming network. They have a webpage about the new "G4TechTV" network that explains a bit about the merger.

They say they're keeping The Screensavers, but they've given notice to everyone at TechTV. The only staff who get to stay are the ones who want to relocate from San Francisco to LA (and if you've never been to California, you might not know how far apart these two cities are).

Man.

Yes, Homestarrunner has a Wiki now (it's hard to describe a wiki--it's kind of a website encyclopedia with multiple authors--just check it out). The Secret Pages is a nice treat.

City of Heroes may be the answer for multiplayer suprehero games. I'm lousy at games, but I'd give it a spin. Maybe they'll take Freedom Force CDs as trade-ins...

But I find this site just too funny. Maybe it's even real.

Thanks again, Metafilter.

We went camping last week, and we had a lot of fun with our friends. Alyssa gathered up 18 seashells, even though we were just in the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay. How do I know that it was 18 seashells? Because I picked all 18 out of the washer later, along with 4 small rocks that Drew had collected.

To quote little Rob, check this out: Colin Powell's aide trying to chop off an interview with Tim Russert and Powell straightening her out ("Emily, get out of the way."). The first movie link has been disabled, but check the mirror sites lower down on the page I linked you to.

It's hard to hear the exchange, but you can hear the aide saying something about perhaps Russert asking questions he wasn't supposed to? And then Powell saying "but he's still asking questions." An audibly angry Powell told his aide to get out of the way and had the camera put back on him for the final question.

My only guess is that the aide didn't like Russert's question, or Russert asked an embargoed question and Powell answered too much. But to pull the camera off indicates some alarm or anger on the part of the aide with respect to the interview. Powell's answers do contradict testimony of Rumsfeld's aides in front of Congress, so perhaps that could have been a factor. A shame. Powell seems to have a lot of integrity--I think he's a man caught in political situations where he's been forced to unneccesarily break his code of ethics. Then he gets dinged for speaking the truth.

Update: the NYT has more.

Check out these two studies on low carb diets. Good info, and the part about low carb cutting bad cholesterol and triglycerides is nice to see in print. When I had blood tests before and after low carb dieting, my cholesterol went from way high risk down to normal on my diet.

I'm back on the diet, after being off it for a couple of months. I hope to really peel back the pounds again. I've been toying with the idea of posting my weight daily on the site here, but I don't know if I want to make it that kind of site. I'm 249 today, though--lost 5 lbs. since last Wednesday. I need to get to the 180s (or at least 190s) and stay there like Brad.

Drew: Daddy, what does Knee-Whomba mean?

Me: What does what mean? Drew, did you make that word up?

Drew: No, Daddy, Knee-Whomba--the special word.

Me: Oh. The sacred word. Um, that's just a made up word, Drew. The knights just made it up to be silly.

I've got to stop expsong my kids to snippets of Weird Al Yankovic and Monty Python.

For any of you who don't get to Josh's site (that would be the three readers who know me but not Brad or Josh), check out this revamp of The Matrix:Reloaded fight as performed by Super Mario Brothers.

Josh's site is a good read, by the way. It's hard to believe that this guy came from that den of iniquity known as Glenolden. Bet he misses good hoagies and cheese steaks over here in Fasnacht-land.

Alyssa: You better watch out Drew, or I'll put evil on your hiney!

Me: (choking) What?

Alyssa: You know, Daddy! Put evil on your hiney!

Me: What are you talking about? Where did you get that from?

Alyssa: Daddy, you remember! That song we heard. A long time ago.

Me: Alyssa, that was Weird Al Yankovic, and it was "I'm gonna get medieval on your hiney."

Alyssa: Right. That's what I said.

Me: Well, don't say it anymore. Denise, stop laughing. Drew, it's not funny. Ok--everyone...oh, forget it.

This article from an American professor in Central Asia is interesting. I wish more of this discussion would go around the world. From the blog:

"In Bosnia and Somalia, we were supporting Muslims," I said. "And in the war against Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait, we were supporting Muslims who were attacked by other Muslims."

A stony silence, more of bewilderment than hostility, enveloped the room, as if I'd just announced to a group of American students that the earth wasn't round, or that Utah was just a cartographer's fantasy. It was the first of many retreats in the face of an unaccustomed challenge to official truths.

This site is a good read as well--it's about the new Iraq by Iraqis. Here's an excerpt from a Iraqi family discussion about Americans in Iraq:

"Then why do you hate the Americans you son of a b***h!? I couldn't get you a bicycle a year ago, I could hardly feed you and your brothers and sisters. You didn't know what an apple or a banana tasted like, I couldn't buy you a damned Pepsi bottle except in occasions, and now you can have all that you wish, and a car of your own! Who do you think made that possible!?" My cousin's face turned red and didn't answer as we laughed and I said "What do you think Ibrahim?" He said, "Well it's true but it's our money. They are not giving us a charity" and I said "Of course it's our money, so let's forget the Billions of dollars they are giving to rebuild Iraq and the efforts they are making to cut down our debts and lets talk about our money. Why didn't your father, I, my brothers and all the Iraqis have anything worth mentioning before the Americans came?" He said, "Because Saddam used it to buy weapons and build palaces". "There you have it Ibrahim, but Americans are not touching our money. Can you tell me who's better; the "occupiers" who are helping us or the "patriot" who did all that you know to us?

The fact that it makes us the bad guys.

I know it's more complex than that, but when you take it down to brass tacks that's the gut feeling I have. When I read about the scandal, I feel like we're the bad guys, the bullies that the insurgents say we are.

It makes it worse that the guards seem to have been encouraged by intelligence personnel.

It really puts a black eye on the face of America, and makes it that much harder for us to earn trust and respect elsewhere.

The soldiers who did this should be made an example of. They're not US soldiers; they're thugs, and deserve to be treated like the criminals that they are.

Visit the Khaaaannnn!! site for some simple sound bite hokeyness. It's a one trick pony, but it made me laugh.

I must begin to fill the blog, since it's emptying itself out (it only displays the last ten days of posts).

Well, at least I'm beginning to feel human again. Lots going on in the last few weeks, but nothing earth-shaking.

Denise and I must be the only ones who aren't riveted to the Friends series finale (or American Idol, but that's another matter). It's not that I never watched the series. It was funny for the first two episodes, but then it got boring. I've seen a couple of funny episodes this past two years, but the last episode is on right now and I find myself yawning and tuning to another show. Yes, even for me, TV isn't everything.

Now music or movies, that's another story.

I let the kids see their first Star Trek tonight, the original series (The TOS episode The Squire of Gothos with Trelane, for any fellow geeks). They watched it all, and they seemed to like it. I asked them a few questions which they answered politely, until Drew (he turns five on Sunday) stopped me and said "Daddy--it was just kind of weird, OK?"

I guess I deserved it, but this from the kid who thrives on PowerRangers: Dino Thunder?

It was nice to zip down to Media to see the premiere of The Pet I Deserve, filmed by an art group that Kevin works with. Kevin underrates his direction and editing, especially the sequence at the genetics institute.

It was also great to see friends like Stan and Nora, Jinny and Rich, John and Trish, Sam and Ellen (and Max), and of course the folks from South Avenue. It's a shame though that I was virtually exhausted; talking to everyone was a real effort, and as you know that's extremely unusual for me. I made it home in time to sleep through Saturday Night Live, but at least I didn't start having real problems staying awake until I was past Lancaster on 283.

Well worth it, though. Good flick in good company.