Rtersieva

[whoisjoel]

by DT

Russian photographer Alexander Dragunov's photos of Stockholm's metro have become an internet hit, and turned the train system into a tourist attraction.

"If Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it would have changed the history of music... and of aviation."

I have two goals on hot summer days: stay hydrated and eat as much fruit as I can. Agua frescas are the perfect solution to both goals. Lately I've been whipping up these fruit juice blends every week, and so far, this vanilla nectarine version has to be my favorite. It's the drink-child of fresh peach ice cream and takes about two minutes to make.

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Drop biscuits are incredibly easy and quick to whip up. [Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

A traditional drop biscuit requires just five ingredients, but with its buttery, salty flavor, and cloud-like bite, the final result tastes anything but ordinary. While simple, there are still nearly endless variations from one coveted family recipe to the next, each with intense loyalties and deep-seated tastes and opinions attached. With my hat off to your time-honored recipes and trustworthy techniques, I'm here today to present my own drop biscuit thoughts and recipe.

Fannie Farmer, of the famed Boston School of Cooking, called drop biscuits "Emergency Biscuits," which is incredibly appropriate considering that all you need to make them is about 25 minutes and a minimally stocked pantry. In fact, because of their speedy nature, they are a valued go-to item even for professional bakers and chefs.

To make them, I start by cutting the butter into lima bean-size pieces and reserving them in the refrigerator to keep them nice and cold. After mixing my dry ingredients together (flour, salt, and baking powder), I add the butter and work it quickly with my hands, rubbing the butter into the flour just enough: over-mix and the result is tough; under-mix and the result is dry, not tender.

[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

This step can also be done in a food processor, requiring just a few short pulses. Very similar to a scone (a scone is essentially a biscuit with more sugar and an egg), you want to keep pieces of solid, visible butter chucks in there to give you a tender, rather than dry or chewy, final texture. The food processor is a great option when you're working with really large batches of dough, or if you're working in a particularly warm environment. Otherwise, rubbing in the butter by hand gives you more control over the mixing. It also means fewer dishes, which is always a big plus in my world.

After that, I carefully mix in the liquid with a fork to create a dough that's shaggy and moist. The beauty in the drop biscuit is that is requires much less handling than its super-flaky cousin, so there's much less risk of overworking the dough and developing too much gluten. Some recipes call for buttermilk, others for milk; since I tend to have whole milk on hand more often, I stay in line with Fannie's "emergency biscuit" philosophy with a milk-based approach. After all, part of the advantage of these biscuits is how easy they are to throw together with ingredients that most of us have available all the time.

Egg produced drop biscuits that were too spongy and cake-like, while cream resulted in overly dense drop biscuits. Whole milk is the way to go! [Photograph: Marissa Sertich-Velie]

Unlike our flaky biscuit recipe, an egg is not included in these drop biscuits. Although I played around with a several variations using egg, the egg always seemed to make a drop biscuit that was overly spongy and cake-like, rather than soft and tender. I also experimented with different ratios of heavy cream to milk, but the higher fat content from the cream, although delicious, created a denser final product. In the end, the simple five ingredients—butter, flour, baking powder, salt and milk—yielded the best results.

Drop Biscuits, Step By Step

Step 1: Cut the butter

Using a knife or bench knife, chop the butter into lima bean-sized pieces. Transfer the butter to the refrigerator to keep it nice and cold before the mixing process.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. If you want to flavor your biscuits with herbs, or use them for a sweet application, this is the time to add things like rosemary, chili flakes, a tablespoon of sugar, cheese, or whatever else you desire.

Step 3: Incorporate the butter

[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

Toss the butter into the dry ingredients. Using your fingers (or a pastry blender) rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Do this quickly, so the heat of your hands doesn't melt the butter.

Step 4: Add wet to dry

[Photograph: Marissa Sertich-Velie]

Add the milk and stir with a fork until the mixture just comes together into a slightly sticky, shaggy dough.

[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

Step 5: Portion

[Photograph: Marissa Sertich-Velie]

Using a teaspoon (or small ice cream scoop), scoop walnut sized balls of dough onto a sheet pan. On the sheet pan, you can use parchment, or simply coat it lightly with cooking spray or butter to prevent the biscuits from sticking.

Step 6: Bake!

[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

Bake the little beauties at 400°F for about 15 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

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Researchers from King's College London just announced a new approach to fixing cavities that requires no injections, no drills, and no pain. It's just a little blast of electric current that encourages the tooth to self-repair. And they say it'll be on the market in three years.

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Finnish folk metallers FINNTROLL have just released a live album, "Natten Med De Levande Finntroll" (Night With The Living Finntroll), as a digital download. To give the fans a taste of what they can expect from this unforgettable live show, the band has released a video from this event, for the song "Trollhammaren". Check it out below. Since its inception in 1997, Helsinki's FINNTROLL has been one of the strangest and most original entities on the international folk/heathen metal scene. Drawing its subject matter from the Olden Days when the Southern plague called Christianity hadn't yet swept over every forest, nook and cranny of Scandinavia's troll-laden woodlands and telling tales about eradicating mankind (starting with the men of cloth), FINNTROLL's "trollish hoedown metal", a sort of — for lack of a better expression — death metal polka, has been a genre unto itself. A tireless touring act, the unquenchably thirsty trolls have wreaked damage on stages big and small in all the corners of the Earth. Yet until now there has never been an official FINNTROLL live recording available anywhere. Tuesday, June 17 will mark the uncaging of the live album "Natten Med De Levande Finntroll", the exhibit of what a cadre of alcohol-fueled trolls can do when leashed upon a live audience. This is FINNTROLL in full flight as witnessed onstage Amsterdam’s prestigious Melkweg concert hall on September 20, 2008. FINNTROLL's sixth album, "Blodsvept", was released in April 2013 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2010's "Nifelvind" was recorded at Sonic Pump Studios in Helsinki and was mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios. FINNTROLL's Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali and his bandmates produced the album themselves, while the CD cover artwork was handled by FINNTROLL guitar player Samuli "Skyrmer" Ponsimaa.

Got to hang out with these cool dudes today. #pixar #augdementedreality #sharpie #whiteout (at Pixar Animation Studios)

For many of us the daily commute is a necessary evil; not all that enjoyable but unavoidable if we want to keep our job. While it might not be your favorite part of the day, there are plenty of ways you can make the most of your time stuck in traffic or wedged between fellow passengers on the subway.

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mpicpp writes Starbucks baristas working through college are about to get an extra boost from their employer. The company announced it will offer both full and part-time employees a generous tuition reimbursement benefit that covers two full years of classes. The benefit is through a partnership with Arizona State University's online studies program. Employees can choose from any of more than 40 undergraduate degrees, and aren't limited to only business classes.

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You've almost certainly seen a histogram on your camera's display at some point, but if you don't take photography particularly seriously you might not know what it tells you. Well, you should—and this video explains very simply what you need to know.

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Bassist/vocalist Phil Rind of reactivated Arizona metallers SACRED REICH was interviewed by Rock Hard magazine at this year's Rock Hard Festival on June 7 at Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. You can now watch the chat below. Rind posted a message on SACRED REICH's Facebook page last October letting fans know that they should not expect a new studio album from the group. "I can confidently say we have no plans to record, no songs to record and no idea what SACRED REICH even would sound like [right now]," he wrote. "We appreciate the fact that any of you even care about hearing a new record. "We thank each and every one of you for supporting and continuing to support the band. We think it's amazing that after 25 years, and 16 years since a new record anyone still remembers who we are. So we thank you. "Enjoy the old records. That's what we can offer you. If we ever change our minds, you will be the first to know." SACRED REICH's "Live At Wacken" DVD+CD package was released in North America in November 2012 through Metal Blade. The set contains professionally filmed and recorded footage of the band's August 4, 2007 performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany in front of 60,000 heavy metal fans. In an interview with MetalRecusants.com, Rind was asked why the band hasn't made a new studio album after reuniting for sporadic live shows eight years ago. "Our lives are different now," he said. "I mean, it's funny… Our old drummer Dave's [McClain] in MACHINE HEAD and they're touring and doing great; they're very successful. And I said [to the other guys in SACRED REICH recently], I wouldn't even wanna [get back into a full recording and touring cycle]. I wouldn't wanna be gone from my family. I have four kids. As much as I like this, as much as I appreciate the fans, what's important — the family or playing live music? I mean, really?! What's important — being a dad to my kids? My kids need their dad more than the fans need a new SACRED REICH record. And that's really the bottom line. It's a choice. We have a choice to make. What do you wanna do? You have kids now. What are you gonna do — blow it off or are you gonna be their dad? The world will be a better place if I'm [my kids'] dad." The remastered edition of SACRED REICH's classic 1992 album "Independent" was released as a digipack and jewelbox on March 15, 2010 via Displeased Records. The first 2,500 copies contain a free SACRED REICH patch. Displeased Records' reissue of SACRED REICH's classic album "The American Way" came out in February 2009. With upgraded layout, to-the-point remastering plus unreleased pre-production demo bonus tracks and a video clip, this new and improved CD reissue is an essential addition to every thrash metal collection. "The American Way" was made available in a limited digipak version and standard jewel case version. The first 2,500 copies came with a free logo patch. Interview: Performance:

An anonymous reader writes "The newest major version of the Unicode Standard was released today, adding 2,834 new characters, including two new currency symbols and 250 emoji. The inclusion of 23 new scripts is the largest addition of writing systems to Unicode since version 1.0 was published with Unicode's original 24 scripts. Among the new scripts are Linear A, Grantha, Siddham, Mende Kikakui, and the first shorthand encoded in Unicode, Duployan."

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Is the universe a simulation? Will the government stage a fake alien invasion? Does the future affect the present? Behold 10 of the most mind-blowing theories yet produced by the human race...

[tavalon]

Hi… Wait?! #9gag

These are perhaps the headphones of the future: earbuds which use Bluetooth to beam audio to your ears, with small rechargeable batteries to eliminate cables, in perhaps the smallest package of its type we've seen.

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It's as rich and creamy as you could ever hope for. READ MORE...

From Apartment Therapy → 10 Great, Cheap Cleaners

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F1 legend Michael Schumacher has left hospital in Grenoble and is no longer in a coma following his skiing accident, his family says.

Amazing extreme driving on two wheels by pilot Óscar Barroso and copilot David Míguez in a curve in San Pedro de Rocas, one of the cities part of the 47th edition of the Rallye de Ourense, celebrated this weekend in Galicia, Spain.

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Seldom few would utter the name GAMMA RAY in vain and if so, they'd be met with disdain twofold from the metal community. GAMMA RAY may slip here and there, but they've historically delivered with more professional consistency than the majority of their peers. Having recently suffered the loss of the band's Hammer Studios to fire while GAMMA RAY was on tour, the fact their eleventh album came about is a small miracle. That being said, "Empire of the Undead" means business and adversity turns into release. Everything GAMMA RAY fans expect of them turns up inside this well-inspired album that screams "Halle-freakin-luiah metal!" "Avalon" will delight purists with its patient yet heavy building modes, starting with a medium marching roll, allowing Kai Hansen to orate like a troubadour until the song steps up the pace midway and keeps gaining momentum. "Avalon" soon hits a full gallop as Hansen and Henjo Richter scatter guitar solo after guitar solo, bringing the cavalcade home with a stamped down reprise of the original melody. The juxtapositions of "Avalon" are terrific and well-worthy of a band holding the stature GAMMA RAY does. This is one of the few bands that can hit their audience with a nine-minute epic out the gate and make it feel like a grand opening instead of bloated overkill. Stand by for the gusting tornado of "Hellbent", a song as beautiful as it is fast. While the anthem-driven choruses of "Hellbent for metal!" are straight out of yesteryear and somewhat silly in more jaded times, it's sold with conviction, particularly with the blinding solos and perforating bass glides from resilient team player, Dirk Schlacter. Call it trad HELLOWEEN or trad GAMMA RAY, "Hellbent" is an instant classic for Hansen and his performers, who will not doubt enthrall their fans by whipping this one up live. Afterwards, "Pale Rider" keeps the pressure on with driving riffs, Michael Ehre's (who does a solid job in replacement of Dan Zimmerman) pounding beats and Kai Hansen leading the rowdy chorus of "Burn, motherfucker, time to feel the flame, listen to the whiplash crack your brain". Perhaps Clint Eastwood's preacher imposter lead felt the same way, at least in thought. "Born to Fly" indeed soars with its throttling loft and hum-along choruses, to which the synths add airborne intonations and the guitar solos breeze instead of slam. Tastefully executed from all stations, "Born to Fly" has "hit" ringing all about it. Afterwards, "Master of Confusion" keeps the tuneful strides going. Hansen has written this song numerous times as far back as HELLOWEEN's "I Want Out", but he knows his audience and "Master of Confusion" will hit the right chord, even by repeating old themes. The title track is a frying pan of popping shred and scorching thrash, like old school MEGADETH bearing a bit more synth washes. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the power ballad "Time for Deliverance" rings a hell of a lot of like QUEEN on the choruses. Nevertheless, lighters up, since "Time for Deliverance" is delved sharply, if holding back the trigger a little during the guitar solo, since the spot offers the entire band an opportunity to go full monty and they lay off instead. Kai Hansen's vocals are largely as spirited as his guitar work. Since taking over the mike after Ralf Scheepers' departure eons ago, Hansen's proven to have a tremendous work ethic in double duty. On occasion, his throat rebounds on him here, but Hansen's passion is inarguable and not many could keep up the lithe energy as he and GAMMA RAY do on "Empire of the Undead". Studio fires be damned, the band still sounds unstoppable, as if the trouncing parting number "I Will Return" isn't proof in the pudding.