And people wonder why we don't get along

Do you need some Iranian laundry detergent?

I've seen this stuff around the world several times, and always wanted to bring back a box or two or three, but I never seemed to be in a position to put a box of Iranian laundry detergent in my bag.

By the way, you can put it in your hair, too.

Thing's I've Et

This list seems to be making the rounds in the UCF via Jeri:

1. Venison
2. Nettle Tea (What? Is this thaumaturgy? I don't drink....poison)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (No bottom feeders for me, except farm-raised catfish).
9. Borscht Real BorscCH (Not the Borscht crap that comes in jars from Manischevitz, either. That stuff may have beets in it, but it’s not borshch)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari (Calamari is not adventurous. Whole, grilled squid on a stick from a Japanese street vendor is adventurous.)
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Strawberry, dandelion)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (mmmmm, head cheese)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (yuck, I don’t care what they’re supposed to do for your wang, they’re snot)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted Cream tea (I eat cottage cheese, I don't drink it).
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (and vodka watermelon)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (I’ve also drunk liquor with venomous wasps in it, sort of like the worm in tequila)
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (flying on company plastic, or rather, someone else’s company plastic – I prefer vodka)
46. Fugu (love, love looove Fugu)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV (Unfiltered, no less. To kill any bugs we mixed it with vodka. Yes, this was in the USSR, why?)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (OK, I just have to comment on this. Humans who wash and cook their food outevolved those who didn’t, over thousands of years. Why TF are these hippy dips regressing? I don’t care how “organic” this stuff is, one mistake in the “factory” and it’s roundworm and maggot city in your small intestine).
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (mmm, mmm chiltins!)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (A deer that someone just hit and wanted to share with us. If you can’t see the blood on the grill of the car that hit it, you are asking for trip to the clinic for a deworming).
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (I used to live on Pocky during business trips to southern Japan)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (Rose petal jelly on blini in Russia, geraniums and mums in the ROC)
89. Horse (Cooked horse being passed off for beef in the USSR, and raw horsemeat sushi in Japan)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (at Café Bofinger, the oldest Brasserie in Paris IIRC)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (It’s good coffee, but I still really don’t like coffee. If you only have about 4 cups per year, it might as well be the good stuff)
100. Snake
101. Stinky Tofu
102.Whale sushi
103.Tako Yaki (Or, as I call it, Tako Yucki)

Items I have eaten are bolded, items I would not eat (again) are struck through.

Anyone who has traveled in Asia will bold most of this list. Stinky tofu notwithstanding, I'm not a particularly adventurous eater (well, moderately adventurous), but I do eat what's in front of me out of respect for my hosts. Of the first 100 I have not eaten 8 items. Of those, Bagna Cauda I probably missed because I have only been to Italy in the summer.

Despite being a southerner, gravy fries do not appeal to me (fries should be crispy, not soggy, otherwise eat mashed potatoes), but I might try Poutine next time I'm in Quebec.

I have never been to Africa, and so missed the rose harissa, and not having been to India, I missed the lassi.

I'm not sure what the point was with this particular set. Is it food, or travel?

Ivins Case

My partner John left a comment a while back about the Bruce Ivins case, which motivated me to think a little more about it.

Initially my gut reaction, after the case against Dr. Ivins was announced and he committed suicide, was that the mystery was probably solved. It still believe that, mostly.

The more I read, however, the less I know what to believe.

Originally I actually wrote a much longer post on this subject, but as I wrote and researched it, I became less and less confident about anything I read, or thought I knew, or believed.

All I will say is this: I don't think this situation is compeletely resolved, and I suspect we will see bioterrorism again.

TS Fay Menaces FL Keys

I don't really have to make this stuff up:

Storm menaces Florida after deadly Caribbean passage

This story was written by my friend Michael Haskins, who is, among other things, a great mystery writer.

The part he didn't reveal was how the shadowy terrorist group G.R.O.U.T.* unsuccessfully employed their nefarious beer-powered hurricane-diverting machine to destroy the Adios Airways Southern HQ and the Adios Maritime Division Flagship S/V Flying Fish.

* The Group for Really Outrageously Unpleasant Terrorism, or something like that

TS Fay, Update 3, 18 Aug 1200L

Fay made a hard right turn overnight, in front of the high pressure ridge moving eastward in the Gulf, and now has the Adios Airways Southern HQ (formerly Intergalactic HQ) directly in the crosshairs.

It's only reporting 40 kts of wind at Sombrero Reef, however, about 20 miles from the Southern HQ, so it isn't all that threatening. Reports from our agents in the keys describe fairly benign conditions so far.

The National Hurricane Center is calling the initial intensity at 50 knots in the latest discussion. It probably isn't going to get any weaker before it gets to the west coast of Florida, probably around Ft Myers. It will probably intensify, but probably not explosively like we saw from Charlie in 2004.

I wish I were in a position to take some original satellite images of the storm - those are often very illustrative in situations like this - but I'm on the road and can't easily do it.

Also I have no idea what John is talking about :)

Headline Post

You know who you are. :)

TS Fay, Update 2, 17 Aug 1800L

The track guidance continues to nudge to the west, which probably means a worse storm for somebody on the Gulf Coast.

The NHC has moved the forecast track only slightly farther west, and has it going more or less directly over Key West. They admit that their forecast track is still east of the model guidance, and the situation is a function of a "lurch" the storm made to the west during the day today.



This track has the storm hitting Tampa as a hurricane on Tuesday, and apparently strengthening as it passes Key West.

The current visible satellite shot shows a fairly disorganized system, but one which appears to be gradually recurving in front of the high pressure ridge in the Gulf. Movement of that ridge to the east (which will happen) will tend to sharpen Fay's turn, which is undoubtedly why the NHC has the forecast track as far east as it is.

But it looks like Fay has been trying to tuck under that ridge all along, which is why she has come as far west as she has already.

Overall I think the NHC track is pretty good, with the storm passing just to the west of Key West.

Intensity, however, is kind of a crap shoot. While the storm presents as pretty disorganized right now, and will probably become more disorganized over Cuba, once she gets into the hot Gulf waters she can spin up pretty quick. We'll just have to see.