Emperor Palpatine for US Energy Secretary

Article on Death Star Firepower:

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tech/Beam/DeathStar.html

The article works out how much energy had to be in the beam that blew up Alderaan. Long story short, something in the range of 10^32 joules is necessary to blow apart a planet. A joule is one watt-second, so considering that the beam struck Alderaan for about one second in Episode IV, that means the Death Star superlaser had a an output of 10^32 watts.

The National Ignition Facility–which is using the world’s largest laser array to try and create a microsoecond of fusion–informs us that the entire United States has an electrical generating capacity of about 5 x 10^11 watts. Back-of-the-napkin math: It would take 10^21 United States-worth of generators–as in a billion trillion Americas–to generate the same amount of energy that the Death Star superlaser released in one second.

If anyone can find a way to solve the energy crisis it's Darth Sidious.

Recession - It's a Tarp

I Can, Yan Can, Can You?

Monday evening, right before bedtime, Mimi casually calls to tell me that Martin Yan was going to be teaching an extra class at the Cooking School Tuesday night and did I want to go? Was that a rhetorical question?! Of course I wanted to go.

I've been watching Yan Can Cook since I can't remember when, and the chance to meet the puckish culinary celebrity in person seemed almost too good to be true. I had to wait until the next morning to see if there was still an opening in the class. He had been stranded in San Antonio after Hurricane Ike took out the Houston classroom.

Yippee! There was still a seat available, so all I had to do was finish up work early and drive over to take part in his class! ACS Phase 2 was set to go live the next morning so I figured I could cut out after my meetings and actually get a benefit of working all those long hours!!!

We grabbed up seats and made sure we had a good view of Yan's every move. Yan made a dish called Crystal Wrap Chicken, which was impeccable. The colors and textures were amazing. It’s one of those dishes that make you reconsider ever eating at PF Chang’s cheap imitation of Chinese food ever again! Throughout the demonstration, Yan wowed us all with the deft dexterity of his signature cleaver, which he used to make some very impressive garnishes. He halved and quartered an English cucumber and made 70 small slices, enough to trim a dinner plate. He made roses out of tomatoes, fleur de lis out of veggies, and all with a single cleaver (which he cleverly was also selling, and I most definitely purchased) – too bad the knife doesn’t come with instant handling skills.. I guess I will just have to work on my chopping, slicing and dicing skills now with my new Martin Yan Custom Cleaver!

The highlight of the night, was watching Martin Yan completely debone a chicken in 14 seconds. It was awe inspiring.

He served a spicy garlic shrimp, with a sauce that was just to die for. A Mongolian style firecracker beef with the most amazing red chilies. (The chilies make me sneeze, but I devoured them all anyways). The crystal wrap chicken with Miso was fabulous, and the Yan fried rice was hands down the best fried rice I have ever had. The ingredients of duck, shrimp, ginger, mint and a few other secrets, are now my all time favorite. I plan to recreate this dish in my kitchen soon… Stay tuned for dinner party invites!

When the class ended, Mimi presented Yan with a moon cake. He was delighted and we all shared a bite. Mooncakes are a Chinese pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. This one has a thick filling made from lotus seed paste, surrounded by a relatively thin crust and a yolks from a salted duck egg to symbolize the full moon. The imprint on the top had the Chinese characters for "longevity" and an imprint of a woman on the moon. Mooncakes are expensive and considered a delicacy, and production is labor-intensive and few people make them at home. Despite the difficulties in making mooncakes, they are very delicious and should be fully enjoyed. It was a real treat!

We headed out to the main hall, where Martin Yan would be signing copies of his cookbooks. He was more than happy to autograph my copy of Martin Yan: China, on which he wrote: "To the gorgeous and very sexy beautiful woman who can cook!". I was flattered and thrilled. He also wrote in Chinese a proverb about living to enjoy life. He was genuinely a nice guy, a little flirtatious, but overall very warm and friendly! He had made so many wonderful dishes, I thought for sure I was done eating, but we decided to head over to StoneWorks in the Quarry for the 14Karat Cake and coffee. What a fun night!

I couldn’t help thinking of the movie Rice Rhapsody. In the film, Martin Yan plays Kim Chui, the owner of a Singapore restaurant, eclipsed by its more successful competitor down the street, a place owned by Jen, who makes the best Hainanese Chicken Rice in town, and who happens to be the object of Yan's affections. She has two openly gay sons, and fears that if her third boy veers in that direction, her hopes of ever having a grandchild will be dashed. A conspiracy ensues to propel her number three son into the arms of a pretty French exchange student, while competition between Jen and Kim Chui comes to a boil in a city-wide cooking contest for the best traditional Singaporean dish. If the character in the movie had made the fried rice I had last night, there would have been no competition!

All I can say is, with so much positive energy and generous goodwill it’s no wonder Martin Yan is such a global success. Must be the mint leaves and jalapeño in the fried rice...

Girls Gone Geek

Asked and Answered…

1) Why do geek girls find geek guys attractive? Does it go beyond the ill-fitting clothes, the recent stench of stale pizza and spilled mountain dew, and the CRT radiation-burned eyeballs? It’s all in the brains... and weird obsessive behavior is often a plus. You know, like the need to play the same level in a video game over and over until they've killed every creature. I think for me that means he might be distracted enough to pay attention to ME until I'm happy. Please note that the guys will have a hard time deciding between video games and a girl at times. A strategic outfit will help sway his opinion... but you playing a video game in that outfit will be even better ;)

2) What can a geek guy do to get a geek girl to notice him? Speak to her like she's an equal:) Be funny. Ask her opinion on geeky stuff (computer games, video game platforms, computer stuff as a whole). Then VALUE her opinion. We know our stuff!

3) Does a geek girl judge a geek guy on the technology that he surrounds himself with? Yes. I don't necessarily expect him to have the best and newest... But I do notice if he isn't knowledgeable on the latest stuff.

4) True/False: Geek girls are more affectionate than non-geek girls. Why? I can only speak of myself... and for me at least I think I am. Why? *shrugs* I don't know. I know that I work around guys all day long and sit in front of the computer all day long. And I really miss that "human touch" element. Women tend to touch each other when talking and such, working around guys I don't get that:) I am just touchy feely – it’s a girl thing.

5) What is the one conversation topic that a geek girl can't resist? A topic I can't resist?!? Honestly it doesn't matter what the subject is. Just ask questions and listen to what I say. Be genuine about showing your interest in the stuff that interests me.

6) Have you ever used your girl geekiness to sway the outcome of an event that a geek boy controlled? Say, for example, your ability to acquire an Xbox 360 on the day of release? Hell yes. Cleavage, eye batting, sweet talking=getting what I would like. Any girl that says she doesn't use her b00bs to get stuff is lying:) Works for guitar collecting too!

7) Do geek boys make better longterm relationship partners that non-geeks? Why? Yes they do... but not because geek girls or guys are better. But it’s because most geeky guys aren't really social, so their chances of meeting someone "new" or "better" aren't great. They don't go to bars to meet girls usually. Plus a geek girls have more in common with geek boys then non geek girls. :)

8) True/False: Geek girls are impressed by geek boys that continuously show them how much smarter they are. If you're always trying to show off how smart you are, I'm likely going to prove that you AREN'T "so much smarter" and that is kinda fun. Just don’t be an ass about it.

9) Amongst the members of the tribe 'geek', sexism does not exist. All geeks are created equal, therefore all are paid equal. Is this true in your experience? No. This is not true. Sexism does exist. I think that geeky guys tend to think that other geeky guys are better than geeky girls. Geeky girls have to prove themselves more than the geeky guys.

10) What is the worst pick up line that a geek boy has used on you? All of them… I have yet to hear a good pick up line.

I have so much love to give you'll have to pipe it through more.

Did you make a Google Bomb? Whatever I search for, it's you I find.

Do you work for a TelCom? Because I bet you'd be good at pulling cable.

I was hoping you wouldn't block my pop-up.

Would you like to play Scrabble with me? I am tired of playing with myself.

You compute me.

Girl, I wish I was your differential, because then I'd be touching all your curves.

But enough about me, let's talk about mu.

Be my queen and mate me with your knight moves.

You've stolen the ASCII to my heart.

You must've been made by Intel to be that hot!

Tell me of this thing you humans call *dramatic pause* love.

They don't call me Bones because I'm a doctor.

Your name is Leslie? Look, I can spell your name on my calculator!

You must be Windows 95 because you gots me so unstable.

My 'up-time' is better than BSD.

I can tell by your emoticons that you're looking for some company.

Is that an iPod mini in your pocket or are you just happy to see me.

Want to see my Red Hat?

If you won't let me buy you a drink, at least let me fix your laptop.

Star Wars - rodent style

I couldn’t resist.

McCain can't use email?

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1789003018

How important is it these days that the president of the united states to know how to use a computer/email?