firehose

My wife Carla has been reading some excellent books in her book salon. One of them was Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, which I reviewed here. More recently, she handed me her copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple, and told me I was going to love it, and she was right! It's a tremendously entertaining work of social satire combined with a mystery that kept me wondering what would happen next right up to the end.

Bernadette Fox lives with her husband, Elgie, in Seattle. Twenty years ago, Elgie and Bernadette lived in Los Angeles. Elgie had been an animator and Bernadette had been an up-and-coming architect. But then two things happened: Elgie sold his company to Microsoft, and Bernadette suffered a terrible event. Now they live in a decrepit old house (that used to be a home for wayward girls) on a hill in Seattle with their daughter Bee, who attends Galer Street, an expensive private school filled with the kids of Microsoft's top managers.

Bernadette doesn't like the other Galer Street parents. In fact, she doesn't like anyone besides Bee and Manjula, her 75-cents-an-hour virtual assistant from India who performs all manner of tasks for the agoraphobic and antisocial Bernadette. In turn, the other parents despise Bernadette for her aloofness and refusal to volunteer at Bee's school. And Elgie offers little support: he's too busy heading a project that he thinks will change the world, and the fact that many other people think so (he gave the 4th most watched TED Talk in history about his creation, called Samantha 2), allows him to justify his 80-hour workweeks.

Author Maria Semple tells the story through email messages between school parents, emails from Bernadette to her assistant Manjula, psychiatric evaluations, and other Internet communications, interspersed with notes from Bee. There's a reason the story is presented this way, which readers discover near the end of the book. We also learn the terrible secret of what happened to Bernadette in Los Angeles, and why she suddenly disappeared the day before she was supposed to go on a vacation with Elgie and Bee to Antarctica.

One of my favorite things about Where'd You Go, Bernadette, besides the entertaining characters and takedown of private-school/TED/Microsoft culture, was the sheer unpredictability of the story. I had no idea what I was in store from one scene to the next. But everything tied together, and as a stickler for satisfying endings, Where'd You Go, Bernadette nailed it.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

“

Ms. Fiorentino came out to play bingo because “it feels old-timey” and to support Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, who owns the tea shop and in February created a monthly bingo night, led each time by a different local celebrity.

Mr. Corgan, the 46-year-old rock star, once famously dated Courtney Love and has sung about suicide and depression in a sometimes harsh, piercing voice. Despite all his rage, he’s a big fan of bingo balls bouncing in a cage.

“Our lives at this point are speeding up…..it’s so nice to just sit with people and go back to the way things used to be where it really is about being together for an hour and talking smack about stupid stuff,” says Mr. Corgan, who also owns a professional wrestling promotion company.

”

- How Do You Spell Hipster? It Could Be B-I-N-G-O - Yahoo! Finance

theodp writes "After languishing on the market, the price of Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's Lone Ranger expedition yacht was cut from $20,000,000 to a mere $14,000,000 (sales brochure). Still no takers for the vessel, so the former pride of the Schmidt Ocean Institute — which can travel an amazing 31,000 miles at 12 knots thanks to a fuel capacity of 1.3 million liters — will be auctioned "as is" on April 20th at the Antibes Yacht Show, with bid estimates ranging from EUR 3 million to EUR 10 million (auction brochure). 'Lone Ranger and her truly astonishing story will appeal to a new generation of luxury yacht owner,' the sales brochure notes. 'The yacht epitomizes low key luxury, but most importantly offers the ideal platform for anyone wanting to explore the farthest flung corners of the world with their family.' And you can buy it just in time for Earth Day gift giving!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mystakaphoros writes "An article in The Atlantic examines the effects sites like TaskRabbit, Fiverr, and Rev.com are having on employment and freelancing. (I would add Amazon's Mechanical Turk to the list as well.) As the article mentions, 'Work is being stripped down to the bone. It's as if we're eliminating the 'extraneous' parts of a worker's day — like lunch or bathroom breaks — and paying only for the minutes someone is actually in front of the computer or engaged in a task.' How many Slashdotters have used these sites, either to hire or work? What's been your experience?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Clement de Bruin

LEGO builder Iain Heath (aka “Ochre Jelly“) has created an incredible model out of LEGO bricks that displays a monstrous space kraken demolishing a Star Wars Super Star Detroyer. It was first introduced to the public at Emerald City Comicon this year and is now on display at Tableau Software in Seattle. You may remember when we previously posted about Iain Heath and his LEGO version of Tard the Grumpy Cat.

The LEGO Super Star Destroyer has a bad rap as a big dull gray set. I decided to change that…

After the death of the Emperor Palpatine and Lord Vader, the Empire made a last ditch attempt to thwart their enemies by rushing to complete their fleet of Venator class super star destroyers. However, by the time these vessels could be deployed, the Rebel Alliance had already developed its own super weapon, designation KR-KN.

The Legend of the KR-KN: A rare species of Space Kraken, known to exist only in the vast Dreighton Nebula, were sought out using the the Jedi’s most powerful clairvoyants, and brought under the Alliance’s control by flying super-computers directly into their brains. Many brave Ewok pilots were unwillingly sacrificed to accomplish this difficult task. Far from being cruel to the Kraken, this arrangement was completely symbiotic, as the creatures had evolved to prey on starships, their diet being composed entirely of metals such as quadanium steel.

via The Brothers Brick

Google Street View Hyperlapse is a web app that lets anyone make motion control time-lapses using Google Street View imagery. The app was created as an experiment by Toronto-based digital studio Teehan+Lax. To demonstrate the app they created this globetrotting time-lapse video entirely out of Google Street View imagery.

via Jacob Bijani

Philadelphia-based high school math teacher Sean Sweeney gave his facial hair a prehistoric look with an epic dinosaur beard. It was the winning entry in his school’s beard competition. The left side of the hairy masterpiece is shaped like an Apatosaurus and the right one is shaped like a Velociraptor.

via reddit, Fashionably Geek

I followed the instructions and found myself in the in-box of a Gmail account that had not been checked since George W. Bush was serving his first term as President and “Thefacebook” was something available only to certain college kids. What I discovered was a treasure trove of bizarre and ridiculous e-mail messages.

Despite doomsday warnings, life continues as abnormal as ever in the capital.

As the housing market heats up, eager buyers are refusing to wait until the for-sale signs appear.

The ACLU has obtained internal IRS documents that say Americans enjoy "generally no privacy" in their e-mail messages, Facebook chats, and other electronic communications.

The Louvre was forced to close its doors as staff walked out in protest at the increasing problem of pickpockets working in the famous museum.

Toronto Star

Bin Laden raid member can be witness in Manning court-martial Washington Post A military judge ruled Wednesday that a member of the team that raided Osama bin Laden's compound would be allowed to testify at the court-martial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, part of the prosecution's attempt to link the slain al-Qaeda leader to material ... Evidence Al Qaeda 'Received' Information Published by WikiLeaks to Be ...Firedoglake all 49 news articles »

ABC News

Maine cottage owners relieved by hermit's capture Houston Chronicle ROME, Maine (AP) — Cottage owners on a central Maine lake are expressing relief that a so-called hermit is no longer at large. Law enforcement officials say 47-year-old Christopher Knight lived in the woods for 27 years and may be responsible for more ... Hermit of 27 Years ArrestedDaily Beast Christopher Knight, Maine's 'North Pond Hermit', Accused In More Than 1000 ...Huffington Post Maine's 'North Pond Hermit' arrested after 27 years at largeNew York Daily News Boston.com -Mirror.co.uk -Chicago Tribune all 90 news articles »

Berlin

Pizza.

Beware.

Christians usually marry only one person for life. This is called monotony.

by

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse and Restaurant
769 West 5th St.
Laplace, LA
985-652-9990

View Larger Map

At the bitter end of every trip I make back to Louisiana, I always head to LaPlace for a smoked meat care package to take back north. My stop on the last trip (two years ago, I know, bad blogger) was to Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse, not to be confused with Jacob’s Andouille which is also in LaPlace. (See my post on Jacob’s Andouille here).

Upon arriving at Wayne Jacob’s I was pleased to find out that they also run a restaurant with many of the items on the menu made with the smoked products that they produce!

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – LaPlace, Louisiana

I was also pleased to see this sign propped up just off the road in front of the establishment:

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

Unlike Jacob’s Adouille, Wayne Jacob’s does not ship their products because that would mean that they would have to change the way that they produce their meats, that is, the way it has been produced there since 1950. Admirable.

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

The restaurant was very busy for the lunch rush when I arrived and a little short staffed to boot, but everyone was super friendly.

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

I ordered a few appetizers to check out some of the fine Charcuterie work that David Rauch does in the back of the house, and I was super pleased that I got to go into the back and say hello to David and get a few photos of him at work! I also got a few shots of the cracklins that were cooling on the back counter before being bagged up!

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

David Rauch filling the stuffer:

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

The Hog Cracklin, a thing of southern beauty!

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

Upon arriving back at my table I found my food waiting for me. Boudin Balls with a Remoulade style dipping sauce (my Boudin Recipe):

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

Andouille Chips, thinly sliced Andouille which is deep fried and served with Creole Mustard (my Creole Mustard Recipe):

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

Finally, a wonderfully simple, gelatinous Hogshead Cheese served with Saltine crackers:

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

After getting my to go package of Andouille and Tasso I went out back to get a shot of the smokehouses:

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

And of course, as always, a shot of the woodpile:

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

I stuffed my package into my luggage, and flew back to Detroit. As soon as I got home I tore open that package and sliced off a piece of what is, in my humble opinion, the best Andouille I’ve tasted:

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

Notice the course grind and the large size of the casing, expertly filled with no air gaps, and lastly perfectly smoked, not overpowering…just perfect.

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

The Tasso from Wayne Jacob’s (my Tasso Recipe):

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

From Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse – Laplace, Louisiana

I enjoy the Andouille that I produce (my Andouille Recipe) and I also enjoy the one at Jacob’s Andouille. But in my humble opinion, as Andouille goes, the product that David Rauch produces in LaPlace is by far the benchmark.

by

The post Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse – LaPlace, Louisiana appeared first on Nola Cuisine & Culture.

New submitter fritsd writes "Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders, a volunteer site which helps provide public domain books to Project Gutenberg, announced that their 100 000+ volunteers have reached the milestone of 25 000 books scanned, OCRed, and then meticulously proofread." The 25000th title is The Art and Practice of Silver Printing by Capt. Abney and H. P. Robinson.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

cheatsheet:

Choose your own aventure! (via)

rumregrets:

mrs-freebatchof221bbakerstreet:

cumberswag yeah

what is ON YOUR HEAD

the rest of this outfit, however - PHWOAR. I love that jacket So. Much it makes my stomach do little sommersaults

Attn petermorwood: BC has discovered the fedora. But needs a little advice on how to handle the brim. Note for later. :)

titanicrealtime:

Water-stained violin proven to be the one that played Nearer my God to Thee by Wallace Hartley as the Titanic sank is found. [x]

It is the instrument that he played as the ship went down in the Atlantic, and that he later used as a buoyancy aid once Titanic went down.

The violin was discovered only by chance when the son of an amateur musician found it in his attic. It was given to his mother by her violin teacher and was left gathering dust.

The discovery was almost too good to be true, prompting experts to have the relic forensically examined by some of the most revered scientific bodies in Britain.

Now, after seven years of testing at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds, the water-stained violin has been proven to be the one played by Hartley on the night of the tragedy.

These pictures show how incredibly well-preserved the rose wood violin is despite its age and it being exposed to the sea for 10 days after the sinking.

There are two long cracks on its body that are said to have been opened up by moisture damage.

The photos also show the corroded engraved silver plate screwed onto the base of the fiddle that provided scientists with they key proof of its authenticity.

The historic violin, said to be worth a six figure sum, will go on public display at the Belfast City Hall, where Titanic was built, at the end of March.

Negotiations are also under way to exhibit it in museums around the world including America. It is likely to be auctioned off in the future.

Titanic experts have described it as the most important artefact associated with the infamous liner to have come to light.

SWEET BUDDHA ON A POGO STICK.

Gatsby Covers

Don the Salesman

choogiggity:

Preliminary developmental footage of Mario Kart: Double Dash