Month: September 2014

Just another random moment in Switzerland

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A photo showing Swiss President Didier Burkhalter waiting for a train at Neuchâtel station, alone and without bodyguards, made waves on Twitter on Thursday, receiving 800 retweets around the world.

The photograph was taken by a journalist from newspaper Le Temps, Serge Jubin, and posted on Facebook with an accompanying comment that suggested an innate Swissness in Burkhalter’s ability to act like any other member of the public when out and about.

“Switzerland: marvellous country where the president of the Confederation can cheerfully tap away on his smartphone on the platform at Neuchâtel station amongst other train users…”

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[Recipe] The perfect scotch egg(*)

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Makes 4

6 eggs
200g plain sausagemeat
200g pork mince
3 tbsp chopped mixed herbs (I like chives, sage, parsley and thyme)
A pinch of ground mace
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Splash of milk
50g flour
100g panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, to cook

1. Put four of the eggs into a pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for five minutes, then put straight into a large bowl of iced water for at least 10 minutes.

2. Put the meat, herbs, mace and mustard into a bowl, season and mix well with your hands. Divide into four.

3. Carefully peel the eggs. Beat the two raw eggs together in a bowl with a splash of milk. Put the flour in a second bowl and season, then tip the breadcrumbs into a third bowl. Arrange in an assembly line.

4. Put a square of clingfilm on the worksurface, and flour lightly. Put one of the meatballs in the centre, and flour lightly, then put another square of cling film on top. Roll out the meat until large enough to encase an egg and remove the top sheet of clingfilm.

5. To assemble the egg, roll one peeled egg in flour, then put in the centre of the meat. Bring up the sides of the film to encase it, and smooth it into an egg shape with your hands. Dip each egg in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, then egg and then breadcrumbs.

6. Fill a large pan a third full of vegetable oil, and heat to 170C (or when a crumb of bread sizzles and turns golden, but does not burn, when dropped in it). Cook the eggs a couple at a time, for seven minutes, until crisp and golden, then drain on kitchen paper before serving.

(*) According to the Guardian

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NIH Finds Old Ricin, Other Forgotten Germs in Labs

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The National Institutes of Health said it has uncovered a nearly century-old container of ricin and a handful of other forgotten samples of dangerous pathogens as it combs its laboratories for improperly stored hazardous materials. The agency began an intensive investigation of all its facilities after a scientist in July found vials of smallpox dating from the 1950s, along with other contagious viruses and bacteria that had been stored and forgotten in one lab on the NIH’s campus.

Friday, the NIH said in different facilities, it found small amounts of five improperly stored “select agents,” pathogens that must be registered and kept only in certain highly regulated laboratories. All were found in sealed and intact containers, with no evidence that they posed a safety risk to anyone in the labs or surrounding areas, the agency said in a memo to employees. All have been destroyed.

They included a bottle of ricin, a highly poisonous toxin, found in a box with microbes dating from 1914 and thought to be 85 to 100 years old, the memo said. The bottle was labeled as originally containing 5 grams, although NIH doesn’t know how much was left. Also discovered were samples listing pathogens that cause botulism, plague, tularemia and a rare tropical infection called melioidosis. These samples were in different labs, mostly in historical collections that scientists once routinely kept in the backs of freezers or on dusty shelves but that today require special handling.

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Alarm systems are to Switzerland what double glazing is to the UK

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I get home a few nights ago and Katy tells me that a security consultant came to see her – as part of seeing everyone in the building today – about installing a free alarm system. O.o Just that same day, the whole principle of TANSTAAFL came up at least 3 times while I was at work, so I was a bit dubious to start with. As Katy was telling more of the story, more and more red flags came up. The guy insinuated, without actually saying, that they’d been contacted by the Régie who administers the building about a rise in burglaries (THEY TRIPLED IN THE LAST YEAR!) and how the visit was without obligation, and they’d already been around to all of the neighbours, and the only thing they wanted was for us to put stickers on our mailbox, and how they only had a limited number of free systems to give away…. you get the picture. Katy had Ben (literally) hanging off of her, and the guy was talking in French, so she told the guy to come back one evening next week when I was in.

Cue me doing a bit of internet snooping, to find that most of the elements that came up in his pitch have been reported by others as part of pressure sales tactics, and that, from asking the Concierge, no official (or even officious) referral was given from the Régie. You might get a “free” system, but you had to sign up for a multi-year monitoring contact.

Even their website is rather dubious. Look at these 2 screencaps:

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and contrast them with the Protectron website, which I used when I was living in Montreal:

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Slight difference in tone.

Hell, even their facebook page only has 3 likes (compared to the 4000+ for Protectron).

I was pretty much convinced that this wasn’t for us, but the clincher came when I tried to cancel the appointment. Classic pressure-sales tactics. “But we’ve already talked to all of your neighbours”, “we only have a limited number of free systems”, “the crime rate has tripled” yada yada yada. I took me 4 tries to cancel the appointment, and at each time there was “but go see apartments 28 A,B,C,D and E!”, “if not this week, can we arrange a meeting for next week?”. In the end, I told him in no uncertain terms that I had his details, and I would talk with my multiple neighbours, and if I was interested I’d call him back and take my chances if all the “free” systems were given away.

A coworker who was sitting next to me almost pissed herself throughout the whole phone call.

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The tao of Zappa

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Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.

If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.

Definition of rock journalism: People who can’t write, doing interviews with people who can’t think, in order to prepare articles for people who can’t read.

A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.

Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you’ve got any guts. Some of you like Pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read.

It’s better to have something to remember than anything to regret.

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.

Take the Kama Sutra. How many people died from the Kama Sutra as opposed to the Bible? Who wins?

The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced.

There is no such thing as a dirty word. Nor is there a word so powerful, that it’s going to send the listener to the lake of fire upon hearing it.

You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer.

Tobacco is my favorite vegetable.

Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned–I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture, or necrodestination.

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.

The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own

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