Monthly Archives: October 2013

NaNoWriMo 2013

I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month again this year. I’ve undertaken this challenge in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and I “won” twice – in 2011 and 2012 by writing 50,000 words each year. That novel is pretty close to being complete, but needs some major revisions and finishing work, and I’m pretty burned out on it. I’m hoping that if I work on something else, eventually the epiphany I need to wrap up this first book with a creative and satisfactory ending will present itself. When I re-read it, I really enjoy it and think it’s interesting and good, so I don’t want to give up on it. But I need to move to something else.

(I’ve also participated in Camp NaNo in the summer months several times but never really made any progress).

So, this year, I’m starting on a fresh new story idea. I’m not saying a whole lot about it, other than it fits in the urban fantasy/supernatural genre and is set in Indianapolis, because I’m too lazy to research other cities. My working title is The Leyden Jar although that might be silly; I haven’t decided. I mocked up a cover, although I think it needs some tweaking.

The Leyden Jar - Book Cover

I’ve got a bit of it plotted out, but I haven’t had a lot of time to focus. It will be interesting going this year, given that I have a lot more chores around the house this year. I’m going to need to cut out a lot (or all) television viewing if I want to get this done.

2013-Participant-Facebook-Cover

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Jamaican Jerk Pork Slow Cook

Borrowed from Complete Slow Cooker Cookbook, Carol Heding Munson

I’m trying this out today; first time I’ve made this.I’m going to serve this with brown rice and some steamed veggies.

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Medium Crockery Pot
Makes 4 Servings

2 cups (480 mL) fat-free beef broth
2 teaspoons dried minced onions
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
l teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
1 pound (455 g) pork tenderloin
3 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Pour the broth into the Crockery pot.

In a small bowl, combine the onions, thyme, garlic, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and cloves. Rub the spice mixture into all sides of the pork. Place the pork in the Crockery pot.

Cover and cook on LOW until the pork is cooked through and a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F or 7l degress C, 6 to 8 hours. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Remove to a platter, reserving the broth; keep the pork warm. Pour the broth into a saucepan.

In a small cup whisk together the cold water and cornstarch.

Stir into the broth, and cook, stirring, over medium heat until slightly thickened. Slice the pork and serve topped with the thickened broth.

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Skipping Ender’s Game

Geeks OUT wants you to Skip Ender’s Game, and they have some compelling reasons why. As I’ve noted here back in 2005, Orson Scott Card is a homophobic nut who has said some terrible and dangerous things about gay people. Geeks OUT compiles a larger, more complete list of how he had harmed gay people:

Ender’s Game author Orson Scott Card is more than an ‘opponent’ of marriage equality. As a writer, he has spread degrading lies about LGBT people, calling us sexual deviants and criminals. As an activist, he sat on the board of the National Organization for Marriage and campaigned against our civil rights. Now he’s a producer on the Ender’s Game movie. Do not let your box-office dollars fuel his anti-gay agenda. SKIP ENDER’S GAME.

Orson Scott Card, author of the 1985 novel Ender’s Game and a credited producer on Lionsgate’s upcoming film adaptation, has a long, ugly history as an anti-gay extremist. From 2009 to 2013 he was a board member of the National Organization for Marriage, lending his support to a group tied directly to Prop 8 in California and other anti-equality activism across the country and around the world. In 2008 he swore, “[r]egardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down.”

The LGBT community cannot afford to support bigotry and extremism like Orson Scott Card’s. We are calling upon queer geeks and our allies to skip Ender’s Game. As producer, Card enjoys profit participation on every movie ticket, every toy and tie-in, every DVD or VOD purchased. Do not let your money finance his anti-gay agenda.

In 1990, he advocated the criminalization of homosexuality, arguing, “those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.” He then demanded tolerance when public outcry over his lies and insults threatened his would-be blockbuster.

Orson Scott Card has every right to express his opinions, but absolutely no right to our money. If you do not share his views and his extreme agenda, do not support them by buying a ticket to Ender’s Game. It matters that we and our allies stand up as a community against a homophobe looking to profit from our geekiness while attacking our rights and degrading our humanity.

See also A collection of the most egregious quotes from homophobic author, Orson Scott Card. Compiled by GLAAD.

Geeks OUT is urging people to attend other events on the movies opening night, November 1, and in some cities, there are formal alternate events planned.

And another reason you should skip Ender’s Game – because I’ll keep track if I hear you went, and I won’t forget it.

Skip Ender's Game

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Potential Web Hosting Replacements for Media Temple

After yesterday’s announcement of GoDaddy buying Media Temple, (more about this on TechCrunch) I’ll need to move. But it’s going to be a couple months before I can do that, so these are some notes about hosts to research when I get some free time to make the switch. These were all recommended to me by friends or picked up from the TechCrunch comments as possible replacements.

Green Geeks

Rackspace Hosting

Digital Ocean

LiquidWeb

pair Networks

Solar VPS

SoftLayer

BlueHost

Datarealm Internet Services

I hope that some of these share screens of their control panels. Media Temple’s control panel interface was far more usable than any other host I’ve worked with, so I hate to take a step backwards.

table flip princess bubblegum 1

Sigh.

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GoDaddy buys Media Temple and I lose my mind

I was checking my email this afternoon, all unsuspecting, and suddenly this crap bomb appeared in my inbox from my web hosting provider Media Temple:

I am proud to share some momentous news with you today. GoDaddy, the Internet’s largest platform for small businesses, has acquired (mt) Media Temple. We will continue operating as an independent and autonomous company and our mission will remain unchanged. However, new investments from GoDaddy will provide us the necessary resources to strengthen our focus on web professionals and will help accelerate our plans to expand internationally.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you surely have seen GoDaddy’s incredibly sexist ad campaigns. But here’s a nice refresher course for you, just the same:

Ms. Magazine: Top Five Sexist Super Bowl Ads, 2013

The Moderate Voice: GoDaddy: Poster Child For Silicon Valley Sexism

Geek Feminism Wiki: Go Daddy’s advertising

Miss Representation: #NotBuyingIt: Go Daddy Disappoints, Again

GoDaddy has also been critiqued for really terrible user interfaces and “dark patterns” – a user interface designed to trick you into doing something or buying something that you didn’t want or intend. Read more about some GoDaddy’s dark patterns tricks.

I actually had 12 domains registered with GoDaddy from really early on. I never hosted files on their servers, but when their domains were $3 and $5 a year, I registered quite a few of them. This was before all the horrible sexist advertising and before the dark patterns took over their interfaces. Once they started their terrible ad campaigns, I began moving my domain registrations, but unfortunately it wasn’t as easy to do as I had hoped. I had purchased some of my domain names under an email address I no longer had. When I changed emails, I updated all of my contact addresses for each individual URL. But unbeknownst to me – this is an example of one of their dark patterns – those changes didn’t also apply to the privacy settings on those URLs. So when that address when away, I couldn’t turn off the privacy settings in order to move the domains to a new domain provider. I finally found the log in numbers to the privacy accounts by searching on an ancient backup drive I put in the closet 6 years ago, and was able to update my privacy information in order to move, but it took me months to get it sorted out. So I was GoDaddy-free, finally!

I hate you fucking people.

Annnnnd now I’m back. I host 12 sites on Media Temple architecture. I’m going to be moving them sometime this spring, unfortunately. So far, Dreamhost, Digital Ocean and Pair.com are front-runners for new hosting providers. We shall see.

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Grilled Flank Steak with Onions

From Weight Watchers

Prep time: 10min
Cook time: 25min
Serves: 6
Value: 5 PointsPlus® Value

Ingredients

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 1/2 pound(s) uncooked lean flank steak
3/4 tsp table salt, divided
1 large uncooked red onion(s), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 spray(s) cooking spray

Instructions

In a shallow glass dish (or sealable food storage bag), mix vinegar, oil, oregano, garlic and pepper. Add steak; turn to coat, making sure steak is coated with vinegar mixture. Cover dish (or seal bag); marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Heat outdoor grill.

Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Coat onions with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Grill steak, turning once, until medium rare, about 15 minutes, or longer for desired degree of doneness. Let steak rest for 10 minutes.

While steak is resting, grill onions, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and tender, about 7 to 9 minutes.

To serve, thinly slice steak against the grain and place on a serving platter; scatter onions over top. Yields about 3 1/2 ounces steak and 1/3 cup onions per serving.

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Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs

From Alton Brown on the Food Network.

Ingredients
4 ounces stale bread, cut or torn into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Place all of the ingredients into a blender carafe, cover and pulse until coarse crumbs form, about 2 minutes. Spread the crumbs evenly on 2 half sheet pans and bake until the crumbs just begin to brown and are crisp, about 5 minutes. Cool the crumbs on the pans for 15 to 20 minutes, and then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Total Time: 35 min
Prep: 15 min
Inactive: 15 min
Cook: 5 min
Yield: 3 to 4 cups
Level: Easy

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Stephanie’s Apple Crisp

Stephanie makes this from a recipe she picked up online in 2004. I can’t find the original online anymore, so I guess this one now officially belongs to Stephanie.

Fruit Mixture

  • 4 cups sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 1 1/3rd pounds or 3 to 4 medium)
  • 3 tablespoons apple juice

Crumb Mixture

  • 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup quick oats (not instant or old fashioned)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

For fruit, toss apples with apple juice. Spoon into 8-inch square glass baking dish. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

For crumb mixture, combine brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Combine milk and vanilla. Drizzle over crumbs while tossing with a fork. Sprinkle over apples.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until fruit is tender, center is bubbly and crumbs are browned. Serve warm with cream, whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Peach or Pear Crisp: Follow above recipe using peaches or pears and substituting 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for the apple juice.

Blueberry Crisp: Follow above recipe using 3 cups blueberries and substituting 1 tablespoon lemon juice for the apple juice.

Continue ReadingStephanie’s Apple Crisp

Classic Baked Acorn Squash

Stephanie has made this recipe several times in the past, so I know it’s good. I’m going to try it out with the acorn squash I bought yesterday.

From Simply Recipes

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 2 to 4, depending on how much squash you like to eat.

Ingredients
1 Acorn squash
1 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Maple Syrup
Dash of Salt

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 400°F.

2 Using a strong chef’s knife, and perhaps a rubber mallet to help, cut the acorn squash in half, lengthwise, from stem to end. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff in the center of each half. Score the insides of each half several times with a sharp knife. Place each half in a baking pan, cut side up. Add about a 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the baking pan so that the skins don’t burn and the squash doesn’t get dried out.

3 Coat the inside of each half with 1/2 a Tbsp of butter. Add a dash of salt if you are using unsalted butter. Add a Tbsp of brown sugar to the cavity of each half. Dribble on a teaspoon of maple syrup to each half.

4 Bake in the oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the squash is very soft and the tops are browned. Do not undercook. When finished, remove from oven and let cool a little before serving. Spoon any buttery sugar sauce that has not already been absorbed by the squash over the exposed areas.

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