Tag Archives: influences

Mellodrama

The flutes that open “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Stairway to Heaven,” the strings in”Nights in White Satin” — these are sounds you know by heart. What you may not know is that they were played on a keyboard instrument called … Continue reading

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Alton and Me

When it’s time to prepare the family Thanksgiving meal this year, I’ll start by thawing the frozen bird in cold running water the morning before. I’ll let the turkey sit in a big cooler full of a spiced brine and … Continue reading

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Get Better

Merlin Mann is one of my favorite bloggers. He had me hooked years ago with 43 Folders, when I was obsessed (along with the rest of my geek circle) with Getting Things Done. Today, I found this talk  — How … Continue reading

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Whip It

Jell-O® put me through college. I wasn’t a door-to-door Jell-O® salesman, but I was the son of a General Foods (GF) employee – Dad programed IBM 370 mainframes for the warehouse inventory systems in assembly language – which made me … Continue reading

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In Which I Confess to Being the Last Food Blogger in the U.S. to See Julie and Julia

I feel like a traitor. I have declared here that Julia Child is the reason I can cook today, but I waited more than two months to see Julie and Julia. Part of the delay can be attributed to finding … Continue reading

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Mahlon Hoagland: 1921-2009

He worked with James Watson and Francis Crick. He discovered transfer RNA and amino acid activation. He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. His name was Mahlon Hoagland, he passed away last week, and you have never heard of … Continue reading

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Meet a Real Scientist

Before my career path diverged toward web design, multimedia, and other computer-related geekery, I was a biologist. It was something I knew I wanted to be from an early age. When I read about the discovery of the genetic code … Continue reading

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With the Beatles

That’s how I’ve spent the last three days, with the Beatles. (I didn’t Meet the Beatles, that was a Capitol records construct.) I mentioned back in July that I had pre-ordered The Beatles Rock Band; it finally arrived on Wednesday. … Continue reading

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Galileo’s Telescope

I didn’t need to see the Google home page to remember that today is the 400th anniversary of Galileo constructing his first telescope. That date has been burned into my brain since the fifth grade, and, like many things remembered … Continue reading

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St. Julia’s Day, Part 2: Mousseline au Chocolat

If you’re serving coq au vin for dinner on St. Julia’s Day, then it follows that you should serve chocolate mousse for dessert. The recipe in Mastering is the second chocolate mousse recipe I learned; the first was taught to … Continue reading

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