#thank you for your kindness and support and in general the awesome sauce you bring to our every interaction

[jamiesfootball]

Words feel free to ignore or use later:

scream(ing)

cry(ing)

throw(ing up)

goat

Scream

His dad didn't like his hair. He hadn't thought about it in years, but there had been that time, hadn't it, when he snuck Jamie away after practice and delivered him back to Mummy with his hair shorn down. Mummy had had a screaming fit when she saw it. His dad had raised his voice right back, calling her ungrateful--and after he'd spent his money doing something nice for his son. Saying it was his job, wasn't it, to make sure Jamie turned into a real man.

Crying

“‘The voice she was hearing was surely crying out for help. It must be. It had to be-’” “We can stop now, Uncle Roy.” Roy jerked back, startled into an awareness he'd lost somewhere between the words on the page. Beside him on the bed, Phoebe watched him with wide, guileless eyes that twinkled with concern under the fairy light. He swallowed. Cleared his throat. "Are you sure? We've still got ten minutes before bedtime." "Reading is supposed to be fun," she informed him. "If you're not enjoying it, then we can read something else."

Throw

He had half a mind to throw his copy of The Da Vinci Code at Jamie. Not because he thought it'd solve the problem, but because if Jamie was going to keep up a running commentary about any book in his hands, then Roy would rather be stuck listening about the Knights Templar.

Goat (yes, I had goat)

This may have been one of those Ted Things Roy would need time to get used to. In his day, you couldn’t wait to get away from your teammates for the few weeks a year you weren’t stuck with their ugly mugs. Not these little idiots. Whether it was all the team bonding exercises or Total Football that had finally driven them over the edge, the lads looked towards summer break as if it were a cruel exercise meant to break their spirits. The past month in locker room had been rife with the yipping excitement over calendars and travel plans as the team paired off in twos and threes. Richard was taking Jan back to his goat farm, for fuck’s sakes. And possibly an illicit party in an abandoned rail station, but the less Roy knew about that, the more deniability he had. Bumbercatch, with an intense expression and a faraway look in his eyes, had muttered worryingly about 'finally conquering the Alps.' Roy didn't want to know.

[heroscans]

just wanted to drop in and say that I think your team does a tremendous job of delivering super polished scanlations and they could easily pass as official english licensed adaptations! as a typesetter myself, I love paying attention to which fonts people decide to use and I was wondering if your typesetting team had any favorites? (such as fonts used for general dialogue, narration, exclamation, etc.) thank you for all your hard work!

Hello there! Thank you very much for saying so - we do put a lot of effort in to make our releases look as polished as possible, so it's lovely to hear that it doesn't go unnoticed! ☺️ ❤️

Let's see... as you probably noticed, we use a pretty wide range of fonts in our various series, so it's more a matter of narrowing down the favourites list!

For narration, I generally prefer something relatively neutral if the piece will support it - so fonts like Gill Sans Nova, Maiandra GD, Meriden, or Woodland ITC. If it needs a more 'comic' feel, then something like CC Samaritan Tall or One Stroke Script.

We use Stripwriter for thoughts a lot, as it's another useful, neutral font with a slight natural italic.

For handwritten asides... we use lots of different fonts, but super useful are Caveat, Andy std, 212 Phoenix sans, Zallord, Chewed Pen BB and Rabiohead. Cashew Apple Ale is our go-to for moaning talk during sex.

For exclamation or emphasis, that's where it gets difficult as we use so many different fonts depending on the series. I should really put our font lists on our website. Hanoded definitely wins in the 'really useful emphatic dialogue fonts' contest, but we use a fair amount from comicrazy and blambot too. Let's see - some current favourites would be CC Evil Schemes, Awesome Sauce, Shibby, DK Buttered Toast, DK Splinterhand, CC Marian Churchland, DK Framboisier, DK Cover up, Astounder Round/Squared BB, In House Edition, etc... Basically we will put anything to work for us if it suits a specific manga! 😁

Sfx, well, we use thousands of different fonts... it really depends on the piece. We try and match the character of the original sfx as much as possible, (because it bugs the hell out of me seeing blocky type when the original looks like a brush script), so what we use can vary quite dramatically. Hotaru wa Ashita Shinu, for example, has a very specific and expansive calligraphic style of sfx, so I used fonts like ErnestHuge, Oliver Notes, Ragland, and Raulina August (to name a few) to give the same kind of character. Gift has extremely vertical and angular sfx, which are often very light and almost scratchy... it's not the easiest style to match. Useful fonts there would be Kolkata Hotelroom, PWXtraThin, Malachai, Wounds, and Great Rebellion. Plus a lot of freehanding!

Each member of the team brings their own favourites to the table, and we discover new fonts and approaches from each other all the time. :). If any typesetter wants to know something specific about the fonts we use, feel free to ask in our discord, we're happy to answer. (A quick note: Some of the fonts listed are not available as free versions - I buy fonts that I use heavily or feel that I need for a particular manga.)

[letsbenditlikebennett]

Cheeseburger in Paradise || Ariana & Ricky

TIMING: A couple weeks ago PARTIES: @ricky-corderbro & @letsbenditlikebennett SUMMARY: Ariana responds to Ricky’s online invite for dinner company, but only if its cheeseburgers. Chatting and bonding ensues. 

As far as Ariana was concerned, anyone that was good in Winston’s book had to be good people. She’d talked to Ricky briefly in the past and had brought some venison by when he’d been in the hospital, but she was looking forward to actually hanging out with him. It’d only been a few days since they’d left their house behind and Ariana was already desperately missing her full closet. After talking about aesthetics, she kind of wanted to wear her favorite crop top which was still at their now abandoned house. Second favorite crop top would have to do the trick. This one had sunflowers which were her favorite because she could see them true to color and she loved that one Post Malone song. She happened to be humming that very song as she walked into Dell’s. She was quick to spot Ricky standing near one of the benches in place by the front door. “Hey,” she said with a smile, “Glad we’re actually getting to hang out. How are you feeling?” 

Ricky was sure he was going to start going insane if he stayed inside his house any longer. He’d done all he could about converting his studio to a bedroom for Rio, and after having reorganized his cookbooks and spice rack for the third time he was sure the walls were starting to talk to him. Which is why he’d been glad when Ariana had taken him up on his plea for some dinner company. Though she was a bit younger than he was, all the interactions he’d had with her so far (including trying her amazing cooking) had convinced him she was anything but a vapid daft teenager. He stood from the bench he’d been perched on, tapping out a text to Winston and Rio about grocery requests, and offered his fist for a pound, “Same shit different day. Everything hurts and I”m dying. But… I will say… everything hurts a little less every day. Thanks for taking pity on a broken old man and having dinner with me. Which is on me… by the way… as a thank you for the venison.” He held the door open and gestured inside, holding up two fingers to the hostess as she gathered up some menus for them, “How are you enjoying having the sun back?”

Ariana welcomed the fist bump with a smile and returned the gesture. Maybe going out to dinner with a friend wasn’t exactly laying low, but if she just spent her time holed up in Ulf’s house she’d probably lose her mind. She was sure Ricky felt the same with having to take it easy to recover from his injuries. She could hardly imagine having to play soccer or run for that long. Dinner was likely a welcome distraction to both of them. She laughed when Ricky called himself an old man. “Old man, right. I think you got a few more years before you can call yourself that. Glad it’s starting to hurt less though. You’ll be fully out and about again before you know it… and thanks. Wasn’t expecting that, but it’s appreciated.” She smiled as she walked through the open door and the hostess brought them over to their table. The fact it was a booth somewhat in the back was comforting. That had to be a little more low profile than up and center right? She focused back on the question at hand. Her head tilted slightly as she nodded and said, “Oh yeah, I’m actually able to sleep at night and don’t think I need a nap at like 10 in the morning anymore. You happy to have it back, too?” While the prospect of a 24-hour full moon had sounded nice, logistically it was probably better to be in wolf form less time. She looked over the different burger options on the menu, pretty sure she was going to go with the classic hangover option. She turned her attention back to Ricky and asked, “So, how did you and Winston meet? Did you guys know each other before you were roommates?” 

Following the waitress to the booth that she directed them to Ricky gingerly lowered himself into the seat, grabbing the laminated menu and fiddling with it, “I feel like I can hear my ribs grinding when I laugh or cough too much, I definitely feel like an old man now.” He placed his drink order and set the menu down, taking turns between glancing at it and focusing on what Ariana was saying. “Incredibly. It’s like you said, my whole rhythm and schedule was just…. Off balance. Like when you load the washer wrong and it spins off balance. That’s what it felt like. I’m happy to have the sun around to at least reinforce my schedule. You don’t realize how much you depend on that schedule for a feeling of normalcy until you aren’t able to follow it anymore.” When the waitress came around again he ordered his normal go to; mushroom and swiss burger, extra bacon, no bun, fries with a side of hot sauce, before passing off the menu to her and looking back at his new friend, “Winston?” He laughed a little, regathering curls that had started to escape the confines of his topknot and redoing them, “No. We didn’t. We actually met at a party like… a week and a half before they moved in. I went outside for a smoke and a bit of quiet on the porch and there was this dude there and we just started talking. Hit it off pretty immediately and then they mentioned that they were looking for a place and like hey, I’ve got a decent sized house so I had them over for a tour and we figured out pretty quick that we’d work real well as roommates. That was like five months ago and I’ve never looked back. Like, having Winston in the house has upped my level of general wellbeing and happiness like 300%. I fucking love them. What about you? How did you guys meet?” 

It sucked to see that Ricky was still in pain from his injuries. Ariana did her best to offer a sympathetic smile. Hopefully, he’d heal up pretty quickly and could be back to life as normal. “If it helps, you don’t look like an old man,” she said with a laugh. When the waitress came back by, Ariana asked for an iced tea and turned her attention back to Ricky. The never-ending night thing had been confusing. She’d never had any concept of what time it was and then it had to end right before the full moon. “It’s crazy how much a lack of sunshine can change your whole rhythm up. I kept going for runs in the middle of the night because I’d feel weirdly energetic at like midnight. My sister was not a fan of that.” The hangover burger had won out and she ordered it medium rare with fries. Though she’d never had a hangover, she fully supported sunny side eggs and bacon being added to a cheeseburger. She let her elbows rest down on the table and relaxed as Ricky told her about how he met Winston. That was super cool that they hit it off right away like that and living together was going well. From what she was able to gather based on their few conversations, Ricky seemed to balance out Winston nicely. It’s no wonder they worked so well together as roommates. “That’s awesome,” she said with a wide grin on her face, “To meet and just click like that. I know you’re super important to them and it seems like the timing on that was perfect. It’s like you two were meant to be best friends. Which sounds cheesy as hell, but whatever.” She grabbed a sip of her iced tea before answering his question, “Winston originally offered to help me with math, but I’d already found a tutor. I was still new to town though so I was like hey, I could still use friends if you wanna hit up that farmer’s market with me. So we went to the farmer’s market and accidentally bought vampire watermelons. Turns out having to smash carnivorous fruit really brings people together. They even dyed my hair for me when I was having a little bit of a meltdown.” She gave her freshly blonde hair a flip and added, “I think they did a pretty good job, but I’m colorblind, so if it looks awful, just lie to me.” 

“I’m an old man on the inside, which is where it matters I think. On the inside it’s just me shaking a cane at children and telling them to stay off my lawn. One advantage to living where I do, I guess. No kids are fucking up my landscaping.” Nodding energetically Ricky chewed on the end of his straw, “I totally feel that. Everything was so out of whack. I’d be like, wide awake and ready to do things at 3 in the morning and then in the middle of the afternoon my body would be begging for bed. It made running errands an absolute shitshow but somehow we all powered through it. By the seat of our pants sure, but we ultimately did.” He couldn’t help but smile when Ariana detailed exactly how she’d gotten entangled in Winston’s life, seemingly as randomly and serendipitously as he had. “I think it’s just something about them. They make it so easy to become friends with them that you feel like you’ve been friends for ages. I never thought I’d invite someone to live with me after only meeting them at a party but I was just so fucking convinced that we’d get along perfectly; and five months later I have absolutely zero regrets about it all.” His eyebrow did raise at the mention of vampiric fruit, “Why am I both surprised and not surprised that there are vampire watermelons. What a fucking disaster of a fruit waiting to happen. I’m glad you both survived though, I would have been so sad if my best friend got turned into a blood sucking fruit.” As their food arrived Ricky chewed thoughtfully on a french fry, “Well it looks fine to me, but I’m also color blind so it could look like a fucking mess and I’d never know.” He briefly wondered if this was indicative of Ariana being something inhuman, but quickly reminded himself that perfectly normal humans were colorblind without it meaning anything. “So you’re a senior, right? Any big plans since high school is coming abruptly to an end?” 

The image of Ricky shaking his cane and yelling at children to get out of his yard was pretty amusing. As much made Ariana laugh as he spoke. Somehow, it was hard to imagine him being too grumpy, but she’d only just met him. “Glad to hear the landscape is safe,” she said grinning widely, “Thankfully we made it and things are back to normal… Well, I guess as normal as it gets here anyway. No one can say it’s boring here, that’s for damn sure.” She leaned into the back of the booth and felt happy to know that Winston had people who clearly adored them in their life. They deserved nothing less. In the short time they’d been friends, Winston had been nothing short of supportive and found ways to make her laugh when she was upset. “I think they’re just such a good person. It makes it easy to get along with and trust them. Sometimes when you meet people you just know, huh? Sounds like it worked out perfectly with you, too.” It was easy to laugh over the vampire watermelons now that she replaced her combat boots. She had been a little salty about that part at first. “Probably because it’s White Crest and nothing is too far-fetched. But yeah, I smashed the one that destroyed my fave combat boots and they blew one up. It was a bonding experience. Worth the loss of my shoes because we got to be upfront with each other about things we probably would’ve kept a secret.” Ariana had been picking at her fries when Ricky mentioned being colorblind. She instantly perked up and tried to subtly sniff to pick up on his scent. It definitely wasn’t wolfy, she would have noticed as much right away. He smelled more like the ocean. “Wait…,” she whispered, taking a look around them, “Colorblind? You don’t smell like a wolf. You smell more like the ocean. Are you…” She had trailed off before she realized that was probably way too blunt, “Ah, crap, sorry. I got a little weird there. I’m colorblind, too.” She tried to play it off and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, shifting back to what he had asked her. “But yeah, senior year. I just started up a carpentry apprenticeship so that’ll be post-graduation life for me. Don’t really feel into the whole college thing. What about you? Do you go to UMWC with Winston?” 

Ariana talked a million miles an hour and it was honestly somewhat comforting. Ricky enjoyed listening to the stories about her misadventures with Winston and vampire watermelons and the mishap that led to the destruction of her favorite pair of combat boots. It was something of a twist though, when she mentioned that Winston had blown one of them up and the twist got even twistier when she made a comment about the way he smelled. The first twist could have been, maybe, explained away. Winston was after all an at least tangential member of the Police Department. Blowing things up could have been in reference to some explosives they’d procured and not their innate magical ability. But the comments about his smell, particularly when coupled with her comment about how he didn’t smell wolfy, made him set his fork down and wipe burger off of his face, “Holy shit did I collect another werewolf friend?” His mouth quirked into half a smile as he leaned across the table, “Are there just a million of you around town?” He idly chewed a french fry and looked at the young woman across the table. “It’s funny. All of the rest of you I’ve met have said the same thing. That I smell like the ocean. Which makes sense I guess… it’s where I was born.” He resumed his burger, cutting off a piece and making sure it was properly laden with mushrooms and swiss cheese. “Carpentry apprenticeship though, that’s dope af. I’m a woodworker by trade. Who’re you apprenticing with? Maybe you can do an independent study with me. It’d be boring…. But…. I’d cook you a good lunch as part of it.” The burger disappeared rapidly, and then all Ricky was left with was a small mountain of fries, which he liberally covered in hot sauce. “Me? I’m about two months from graduating with my MFA, which was an entirely unnecessary degree, but then I’ll be done there. And to be perfectly honest with you; a lot of people look down their noses at apprenticeships and trade schools but there’s always going to be a need for skilled manual labor; and a lot of times those jobs pay a lot better than anything a Bachelor’s in Science is going to get you. If you know carpentry is something you’re into I fully support not pouring thousands upon thousands of dollars into a broken educational system and just doing an apprenticeship. People are always going to need carpenters.” 

Prior to mentioning it, there had been no doubt in Ariana’s mind that he’d known about the supernatural. After all, Winston had mentioned giant crabs that had a name she couldn’t remember destroying their living room, but it was still a relief that Ricky caught on to her drift quickly, albeit without answering all of her questions, but they’d get there. The fact he had multiple werewolf friends did pique her interest. She knew Ulfric, Lucas, and Simon. Plus, she knew of Miles. Still, it’d be nice to have some friends like her who were closer to her in age range. Her head tilted as she looked at him and said in a hushed tone, “Looks like you did! Wait,  you know other werewolves? I’ve only met a few in town so far.” She let out a hushed laugh before shoving a few more fries in her mouth. Her eyes were still kind of wide when she quietly added, “Must be true then. Goes with the whole beach bro aesthetic. You were born on the beach? Do you… I’m sorry if this is kind of blunt, but are you able to shift, too?” How she didn’t pick up on the subtle difference in his scent sooner was driving her crazy. Maybe her manners weren’t entirely intact, but her curiosity often got the better of her. As she polished off her burger, Ricky was talking about how he was a woodworker. It was official, Ricky was fucking awesome. “Wait, seriously? That’s so cool. How long have you been doing that? My apprenticeship is at Trusty Wood, but yeah, an independent study sounds great. I doubt I’d be bored. I find working with my hands to actually be kind of relaxing. Plus, the promise of a good lunch is hard to turn down,” she finished with a smirk. She wasn’t sure if it was a wolf thing or an athlete thing, but she was nearly always hungry. She picked at the rest of her french fries as he spoke about school. It was kind of nice to hear someone validate her choice to skip out on college, even if they went themselves. “That’s awesome. I guess it’s a bit early for a congratulations, but I’m gonna throw it out there anyway. A degree is a good thing to have so more power to you. The money thing is a factor, but honestly, I just really can’t imagine going through more school. I’m dyslexic and colorblind so schoolwork kind of makes my brain feel like it’s a melted pile of goo. I’d just rather dive right into something I know I actually enjoy. I will miss soccer though.” 

“You’re now the third one I’ve met. So I guess I don’t know a million of them. But; now more than a couple. Now I’ve got a neat little three of a kind in my social acquaintances.” It was always nice to meet another shifter; particularly as he’d found the werewolves he did know in town to all be excellent friends. “Not on the beach. In the ocean.” He chewed thoughtfully on another french fry as Ariana asked her question, shooting her a smile, “I am. Different than you. I’m an at will shifter, I don’t need the moon. I just need to have my true skin and I can change back into my true form. I’m a selkie. A seal shifter. We’re a little more rare in these parts than you and your kind are; most of the big clans are still over on the British Isles, but, I can shift indeed… and to simplify the every fucking complicated dance of not telling people things they shouldn’t know I”ll let you know right off the bat that Winston knows what I am. There was an awkward moment after we moved in together when he came home unexpectedly, I didn’t have my fake teeth in, and he caught sight of my fangs. Our teeth are always seal teeth even in our human bodies.” The conversation shifted tack yet again to her impending apprenticeship, “Well if you ever wanna hang out in the workshop for a day or two just clear it with your new boss and I’ll be happy to have you tag along and see the kind of work I do. I know at least for me personally as an artist I always love watching people work because I always learn at least one thing that I had no idea about before.” He shrugged broadly, “It’s fine. It’s definitely not something I needed. But I’ve got it now so it’s there to hang on the wall in my studio and look smug about or something. And that’s fair. I was lucky enough to get a whole heap of scholarships; but really I did not excel in college. I’m not that booksmart, as much as Winston likes to lecture me about various types of intelligences, and it was a fucking struggle. I’m certainly not graduating on the dean’s list. But i bet there’s a community soccer team you could be involved in. Or you could start one.” 

“Huh, that’s about how many I’ve met so far, too. I can definitely smell that there’s more. Which hopefully doesn’t sound totally creepy,” Ariana responded with a laugh. Navigating the world through smell seemed a lot less weird once someone knew you were a werewolf. After all, that’s how wolves in the wild worked. As Ricky explained what he was, Ariana stared at him completely fascinated. She’d never met a selkie before. She was pretty sure she’d heard them mentioned in one of Celeste’s books, but meeting one in person was totally different. She instinctively leaned forward on her elbows, taking in every word. “Wow,” she said completely in awe, “That’s pretty fucking cool. You’re the first selkie I’ve met. That must be pretty cool to have control of when you shift. I love the full moon. That’s actually where the venison I made came from. Apparently with practice, I can learn to shift outside the full moon, but haven’t really tried as much yet. Probably wouldn’t be the best idea right now anyway. Thanks for skipping that whole dance. Winston also knows what I am. They’re definitely really understanding for still being new to all of this.” She nodded along as Ricky explained about her being able to come watch him in his workshop. Learning new ways of doing things and see how he worked could definitely be helpful for her learning the trade and making it her own. “Totally,” she responded, “I’ll check with Shiloh and see if that’d be okay. I’d definitely love to see your work and how you do it.” It felt a little better to know school was tough for him, too. Everyone around her always seemed to have a much easier time with things, where as she needed an army of math tutors just to pass Algebra. “Even if it was tough, you still did it, so that’s amazing. Glad it’s not just me who struggles with the book learning thing. Winston’s right though, we’ve all got our things. You’re right, I’ll have to look into it more. I may be working a soccer camp for elementary school kids this summer.It’s not a full time thing and I figured it could help me stick with that hobby.”

“I mean I don’t know how much of this is fact and how much of this is me still drooling over the cast of Teen Wolf years later but don’t you guys have packs? Like we have clans? Makes sense that where there’s one there’d be more than a handful unless they’re taking the whole ‘lone wolf’ thing real seriously.” He polished off the last of his french fries and looked forlornly down at the empty plate before ordering another basket of them when the waitress came by the table to refill their drinks. “We’re not super common. But yeah. I’ve got to do it like once a week otherwise I’ll start to get sick, but, I can pretty much pick and choose when I do it. Downsides are I’m every vampire’s favorite treat. Oh! Since we’re no longer pretending to be human! It wasn’t a car accident that fucked me up like this. Winston and I got attacked by an asanbosam. Fugly ass West African tree vampire. Nasty fucking piece of work that one. It’s dead though, so, no worries.” The fries came and he pushed them to the center of the table so they could both snack on them, “Once I’m healed up and graduated I’ll pretty much be in there full time. But yeah. If Shiloh says it’s chill swing by the house and see me. You me and Winston can have lunch and we’ll get you hands on with some carpentry stuff the way I do it.” Listening carefully as she talked he couldn’t help but remember his own high school experience. It sounded remarkably similar to what Ariana had gone through “Maybe it’s a shifter thing” He laughed quietly, “We’re bad at school but good with our hands. But soccer camp sounds amazing. You could even look into like helping coach kids’ teams during the school year. I’m sure they need help year round wrangling a bunch of hopped-up-on-juice-and-sugar kids. There’re definitely a bunch of ways to keep you involved in the soccer after high school, you just gotta search them out a bit.” 

“Weirdly enough, I’ve never watched that show so I couldn’t tell you how true to form it is. Wolves do form packs though. I was really young when my parents died so I didn’t grow up around other wolves. Slowly starting to find a pack here so to speak. I think it’s more a matter of us finding each other than anything else. Which the nose helps with that one a lot. That’s cool you guys have clans. Sticking together is always smart,” Ariana responded in a low voice, still being sure to not attract any unwanted attention. Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t too busy and they were off towards the back. Last thing they needed was to tip some asshole hunter off. When he mentioned they weren’t common, it made sense she’d never met one previously. She had finished off her own plate and pushed it toward the side of the table with all her napkins and silverware stacked on it to make it a little easier for the server. “Well, it’s pretty fucking cool to meet a selkie. That kinda makes sense though, having to shift to avoid feeling sick. Cool to be able to pick and choose when. Oh jeez, that’s not the kind of snack you want to be. I remember Winston mentioning the tree vampire thing. That was how they got hurt, too, right? Hopefully there aren’t more of those roaming around because hard pass on all of that. Glad you survived that though.” The prospect of learning from Ricky was exciting and she hoped Shiloh would be cool with it. She wasn’t sure why she wouldn’t be. It’d only make her better at her job. Plus, Ricky was cool as hell and she really wanted to see him in action. “Yeah, I hope the healing thing happens for you sooner rather than later. I know not being able to get out as much can suck. There’s only so much entertainment streaming services can provide. I’m sure she’ll be cool with it though. That sounds like a great day to me.” She nodded along as he spoke and finished off her iced tea. When Ricky mentioned the shifter thing, she found herself laughing too. “It must be. Makes me feel a little better about the number of tutors I needed to pass Algebra. I’m pretty excited about the soccer camp. I’ve never really done anything like that before, but I love kids and soccer, so I think it’ll be a good time. That’s a really good idea though, I’ll have to look into that. I know you mentioned the Swim Team before, I imagine you have to keep up with swimming all things considered. Where here is actually safe to swim is what I’d like to know.”

“I hope it’s not really true to form because it makes packs seems like a weirdly queerbaity incestuous mess. But. Tyler Posey is hot and so I watched the whole thing. Don’t judge.” He smiled as they finished off the food and leaned back in the booth, crossing his arms carefully over his very sore chest, “I think they killed the only one. We’d be finding literal piles of human skin under trees if there were more lurking around and I haven’t heard anything about that so hopefully they’re gone for good. Because they’re some gross ass bitches.” It was nice to just sit and have a meal with someone without any expectation. They just sat and talked and it was the most relaxed Ricky had honestly felt since the whole asanbosam incident. “Doesn’t matter how many tutors it took. Just matters that you stuck with it long enough to actually pass. That’s the important thing. It was tough and it was hard but you weren’t a little bitch about it. That’s that good good character building shit right there.” It wasn’t any stretch of the imagination to think that Ariana would be a great soccer coach. Between her personable manner and her readily-apparent love of the game she’d probably crush it. “Fuck yeah. Go for it. There’s no reason you have to stop doing what you love because you’re graduating. You just turn it into an adult hobby and start charging people. Bing bang boom you’ve got some income and you’re a civic-minded resident of the town!” He couldn’t help but snort at her question about safe swimming, “An indoor pool. Don’t ever go swimming in Dark Score lake. You will die. Pretty immediately. The ocean is full of borderline upsetting shit too.” He pulled up the side of his shirt to show the very large bite mark on the side of his stomach, “Mermaids. You don’t wanna fuck with those bitches. They are mean.” 

“A little less like that. Given all the other wolves I know are men that are a fair deal older than me. I mean, I’m bi, but still don’t think it’s quite like that,” Ariana laughed as she mused on the similarities between some teen show and actual life as a werewolf. Somehow she had the feeling none of the shows were really spot on. It was good to hear that there was likely only one tree vampire in White Crest and it was dead. “Thank god, I’m tough, but I really didn’t want to run into one of those things. They sound vicious af and no thanks,” she leaned back a bit into the booth and added, “But like, totally glad you both live to tell the tale. Still, fuck that thing.” Her smile was wide as she listened to him basically pep her up. Getting to hang out with Ricky was pretty cool, not that she doubted Winston’s taste in friends, but he was just an all around good dude. Just the kind of positivity she needed in her life right about now. “Thanks, definitely wasn’t totally a little bitch about. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t some complaining though,” she said with a laugh, “But I do appreciate the hype.” As the waitress came back by and asked if they wanted dessert, she shook her head no and thanked her as she left the check. Turning back to Ricky, she found she was still as cheerful as ever. Man, he really was a super sweet person. His profile description of being thicc of heart and ass had been spot on. “You right, you right. I can still do something I love as a hobby and make some money off it. Plus, contributing to the community and working with kids is always a good time.” She crossed her arms and pouted slightly at the swimming advisory. White Crest was her kind of place, but she’d rather not become giant monster fish food, so she guessed she’d have to skip the swimming. “Well, damn, okay White Crest. Guess I gotta find a gym with an indoor pool then.” Her mouth dropped at the mark on the side of his stomach, “Jeez, a mermaid did that? So I’m guessing The Little Mermaid really isn’t accurate then.” 

Sliding his card across the table onto the bill that the waitress had left Ricky shot her a gleaming smile as she took the card and left, “I’m glad that actual pack dynamics aren’t the same as that show. That’d be….. Highly dysfunctional.” He couldn’t help but laugh a little as she talked about The Little Mermaid, “No. They’re more like….. Horrific nightmare angler fish. They have a lure that looks super convincingly like a human. They then use it to trick people into thinking someone’s drowning and then when they swim out to rescue them… boom. Eaten by a gross ass mermaid. I know the Rec Center out on Birch Lane has a pretty decent pool. If you’re fine with the sound of children screaming and some truly impressive levels of chlorine.” His card was returned and he signed the bottom of the receipt, leaving a large tip and ignoring the phone number scrawled at the bottom next to a smiley face, “If you need someone to sketch you uniform designs for your new kids’ soccer team I’m totally available for that. I can do some adorable fuckin’ cartoon designs that’ll make your team the envy of the surrounding area.” Gingerly sliding himself out of the booth he held an arm out to Ariana, “This was definitely the most fun I’ve had having cheeseburgers in a long time. Plus… I made another shifter friend! Best dinner date ever.”  

With a smile, Ariana thanked Ricky for dinner. Making a new friend, especially someone else who was a shifter, had been a great time. Though the description of mermaids was mildly terrifying. Ariel sounded way more fun to hang out with. “Big yikes,” she remarked, “That is definitely not what I imagined at all. I will keep my swimming to the Rec Center or out of White Crest entirely. Thankfully, I’m more of a runner than a swimmer. Not that there’s not things in the woods that would probably want to eat me, but I’m pretty scrappy.” She relaxed in the booth as Ricky signed the receipt and mentioned his drawing skills. “You’re just a man of many talents, huh? I’ll totally let you know if I need to design anything like that. I have a meeting soon with like, the full details on that.” She smiled easily getting up from the booth and taking Ricky’s arm. “Same here,” she said happily as they walked out, “Can’t beat cheeseburgers and new shifter friends. We’re definitely doing this again soon.”   

[stormboxx]

Final clip “Kjære Sana” (”Dear Sana”) - at 22:46, 24.06

Sana: He’s the one who bought the toilet rolls.

Eva: Really?

Vilde: Where did they go?

Sana’s friend: I just sold them to some friends at the mosque. Nothing more than that, really.

Eva: Oh, ok.

Eskild: Eid Mubarak!

Sana: Hi! Welcome!

Eskild: Hii! And I just want to say Eid Mubarak!

Sana: Eid Mubarak! You look so lovely!

Eskild: Thanks! I’m the one who’ve chosen our outfits tonight. I’ve been at Grønland and done some shopping.

Sana: Aha..! ..Hijab and everything.

Eskild: Hijab and everything. And I brought a gift, or, I’ve bought a gift for the hostess, and it’s two börek I bought at the Turkish place, in a nice box.

Sana: That’s so nice of you!

Eskild: You can put it on the table, for the guests.

Sana: Thank you.

Eskild: And I didn’t find an Eid Mubarak card, but I got a Merry Christmas one because it’s like the same.

Sana: Thank you so much.

Eskild: And you look really nice too-

Sana: Thanks!

Eskild: Much nicer than-..and you too, even though you didn’t dress up. In your way...because you haven’t chosen..original outfits. But you look very nice. I’m more, like, culture. Or, we’re more like culture. Are you gonna say anything..?

(Cut to Even and Isak. They’re eating and talking)

Isak: So you ate this a lot, a long time ago?

Even: We ate this every day after school!

Isak: You didn’t try to make it yourself?

Even: There’re so many different spices and herbs...

Isak: Expensive.

Even: No, not so expensive, but it’s just a completely different art of cuisine.

Isak: Can’t we just take an afternoon- or you take an afternoon and make lots of food for me, Moroccan food?

Even: Sure! It’s a date!

Isak: Date.

Even: And some delicious tea.

Isak: The potatoes were hella good, too!

Even: Can I taste?

Isak: It’s not Norwegian potatoes.

Even: Yum! Potato salad. A normal meatball?

Isak: No. Uh, it’s a pretty hot sauce.

Even: Hot sauce. Chilli?

Isak: Hot sauce, yeah.

Even: Alright.

Isak: Are we going for a vacation this summer?

Even: What do you wanna do?

Isak: I want to do stuff together with you. 

Even: But that we’ll do anyway.

Isak: Yeah, but..it would be awesome to go to another country, too.

Even: Yeah, but I’m so impulsive, I can’t plan stuff like that.

Isak: But I can do the planning. Check flight tickets to Morocco.

Even: Seriously?

Isak: Mhm! Wouldn’t that be nice? The two of us in Marrakesh?

Even: Sure!

Isak: Yeah?

Even: I’ve always wanted to go!

Isak: Then I’ll look at tickets.

Even: You mean it?

Isak: Dad sent me a lot of money for the summer actually, so..

Even: Chill!

Isak: Mhm!

Even: Plus all the tip I get at Kaffebrenneriet.

Isak: Exactly.

(Cut to William and Noora, who are whispering to each other)

William (whispering): Where?

Noora: ..hmm...Isn’t your car..?

William: The car?

Noora: Yeah?

William:...why not?

Noora: It’s not so far-

William: We haven’t done it in that car before, have we?

Noora (laughs): No. (Whispers) Let’s do it.

Eskild (off screen): Hii!

Noora: Hi!

Eskild: It’s just that..Linn wanted to say something.

Noora: Yeah?

Eskild: I’m not quite sure what she’s gonna say, but..she just wanted to talk a little.

Linn: We just wanted to say that we love you so much and that uh..if you decide to move in with William you have our support.

Noora: Oh..! Oh my God, you two are so sweet! But I’m not planning to- It’s so nice to have your support, makes me so happy, but I’m not gonna move.

Eskild: You’re not gonna move- You’re not moving in with William?

Noora: No.

Eskild: Y-You’re choosing us over William?

Noora: I’m not choosing anyone over anyone, I just..we’re just not gonna move in together yet.

Eskild: No, but you’re choosing us over William! That’s..that’s Oh my God, that’s Kollektivet! We’re Kollektivet! Always together! YEES KOLLEKTIVET! Jump and dance and be happy! Yeeees! Oh! I’ve got it, I’ve got it! You- William could move in with us, and then we’ll be four and it will be so much cheaper with toilet paper and Zalo and everything- it-it will be cheaper! And good! So if I just make a PowerPoint presentation now I can sell this a little better and then you...can make up your mind about it afterwards.

William: Sure..

Eskild: If you agree, Linn? Of course you agree. So...this is gonna be awesome! Like...a fashion collective!  And we can have..we can have (Eskild goes in for a hug) invite guests and such and Ohh! You smell amazing! 

William: Thanks. You too.

Noora: He does.

Eskild: Thanks. New cologne.

Noora: Eskild.

Eskild: Hm?

Noora: Here.

Eskild: Yeah..your man?

Noora: My man.

Eskild: Sure, but when we move in together in the collective we’ll be..sharing a lot of different stuff and-

Noora: Like him? No.

Eskild: Not him- Well, yes. That, too. Shampoo and William and..Zalo. And everything else...but uh..and we can do board game evenings on Sundays! We could play Ludo and stuff. 

Noora: Yeah, but we can do that with just the three of us, too.

Eskild: Yeah, but then we would only be three, not four. So boring to play...just with three people. 

William: Yeah?

Eskild: You can be blue..colour. Linn has green, and you have Auntie Red*, or...because of the lipstick, of course, not anything else!

Noora (laughs): Oh, ok!

(Cut to Sana and Isak, eating watermelon)

Isak: Delicious watermelon.

Sana: Yeah, well, you’ve eaten that before. This isn’t Moroccan. Or, it could be, but..

Isak: But Even fed me lots of delicious food just now. Really, really good.

Sana. Right, he’s had it before.

Isak: So we’ll have to celebrate! Both of us getting a 6*!

Sana: Yeah..I got a 6 at least.

Isak: I got a 6, too.

Sana: Why are you lying?

Isak: I got a 6!

Sana: You did not get a 6! 

Isak: Huh?!

Sana: Hello, you didn’t know- I had to help you.

Isak: Yeah? And you helped me and I got a 6.

Sana: But I didn’t help you that well. 

Isak: You did. Ooh! You tried...teaching me a little, but not enough?

Sana: No, but I was thinking that like Wow you didn’t even know the basics..You can’t have gotten anything more than...maximum a 5.

Isak: But I got a 6.

Sana: You can tell me. You can tell me if you got a 5, it’s okay.

Isak: I’m just a little shy ‘cause you’re so pretty today!

Sana: Ooh, thank you!

Isak: You do look very good in general. But uh, no. (whispers) I got a 5.

Sana: Yeah, you got a 5? You got a 5.

Isak: I don’t dare to tell anyone.

Sana: Yeah, well, that’s okay. I got a 6. 

(Cut to Vilde, eating at the table, joined by Chris)

Chris: Hi girl.

Vilde: Hey!

Chris: Good food!

Vilde: Really good!

Chris: So good! I think I’m on my fourth plate now.

(Vilde laughs, and Chris looks nervous)

Chris: Alright. I need to say something.

Vilde: What?

Chris: I just want to say that if...if you need anyone to talk to, I’m here. Okay?

(Vilde smiles)

Chris: I can talk about hard stuff.

(Vilde smiles)

Vilde: Do you know why you’re my absolute best friend? 

(Chris shakes her head)

Vilde: It’s because no matter how hard my day is, you always find a way to make me laugh.

(Chris sheds a tear)

Vilde: It’s not like one always needs to talk. Sometimes it helps just to pretend that everything’s fine.

Chris: But it’s important that you have someone to talk to, right?

Vilde: I have.

(We see Magnus, Even and Isak are talking about the trip to Morocco and that maybe they should bring the boys. Magnus mouths to Vilde “Are you okay?” )

Noora: Hi. Everything okay? 

Vilde: Yeah.

Noora: Yeah?

Chris: Yeah.

Noora: That’s good. I was just wondering about who’s gonna hold the speech for Sana?

(Cut to Ingrid, Sara, Jamilla and some other friends of Sana)

Sara: Wow! Should we try?

Ingrid: I’ve tried a juice cleanse, but it didn’t really work so well.

Sara: But that’s just like drinking juice. You can’t drink either?

Sana’s friends: No.

Ingrid: You can’t drink? Not even water?

Sana’s friends and Jamila: No, not water.

Ingrid: So this is probably totally amazing, to end it with lots of food and..

(Cut to Penetrator-Chris and Eva)

PChris: I just took some salad earlier, I was just recommended to get it so-

Eva: But tomatoes. Ew! I don’t like that.

PChris: Why not?

Eva: Because like it’s so slimy and gross.

PChris: It’s delicious! You do eat Ketchup all the time?

Eva: Yeah, but-

PChris: That’s tomato!

Eva: No, it’s not. It’s what’s inside the tomato that’s gross.

PChris: Yeah but-

Eva: Like that mush.

PChris: So don’t just eat that, then. 

Eva: I can eat the stuff around, well, yeah, that actually is kind of good.

PChris: Okay. Alright, but you don’t have so much yummy stuff on your plate yourself, like what’s that purple stuff?

Eva: That’s...

PChris: Right.

Eva: It’s something..

PChris: You think it tastes better than tomato?

Eva: I haven’t tried it yet. (tries) Well, it was okay.

PChris: Seems delicious.

Eva: Well, it’s so much good food here! Did you try these?

PChris: No?

Eva: They were insanely good. You have to try them.

PChris: I didn’t even know they had them.

Eva: It’s meatballs. Like, the best ones I’ve ever tasted.

PChris: Mmm!

Eva: Right?? They’re there at the end of the table. In like a big pot. 

(PChris goes to get more food, sees Emma)

Both PC and Emma at the same time: Hi.

Emma: Who are you?

PChris: Chris. Your new boyfriend.

Emma: Hello my new boyfriend.

(Eva and Jonas looks at PChris and Emma with frowns on their faces)

Eva: What’s happening right now??

Jonas: I...think we’ve been dumped.

(Eva and Jonas looks at each other)

Jonas: You have a little..You’ve got something there.

Eva: Here?

Jonas: No, other side. 

Eva: Where? Here? Well, wipe it off then!

(He does, and they look each other deeply in the eyes..)

Vilde: Eva! Do you wanna hold the speech for Sana?

(Sana gets a text from Yousef)

Yousef: Hey girl, how’s the party?

Sana: Amazing.

(She sends a picture of her and the girls)

Yousef: WOW ❤️ I’ve been here today (He sends a picture of the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul)

Yousef: One day I’ll take you there.

(Jonas clinks a glass)

Jonas: It’s time for a speech.

Vilde: Speech! Speech! 

(Everyone joins in)

Jonas: Okay. ....I’m not the one who wrote it. Noora did.

Noora: And William! And Isak, a little bit.

Jonas: Dear Sana. This speech is for you.

(Screen turns black, and we only hear Jonas’ voice)

Jonas: And you get it because what you’re inviting us to today will bring American presidents down tomorrow.  We live in a chaotic world, where it’s hard to understand the rules. Because why are some people poor and some people rich? Why do some people need to flee, while others are safe? Why do people get spit at in the street? And why is it that sometimes when one is trying to do something good it is still met with hatred? It’s not strange that people give up. That we stop believing in good.  (Screen goes black again)

But thank you so much for not giving up, Sana.

(We see Sana onscreen, but it’s filmed through a computer screen)

Because even if it can sometimes feel that way, no people are standing alone. Each and every one of us is an important piece in the big chaos, and what you’re doing today will have an effect tomorrow. It can be hard to predict exactly what kind of effect, and one is usually not able to understand how it all fits together.  But the effect of your actions will always be there, somewhere in the chaos.  In a hundred years we might have machines that will be able to calculate the effect of every single action, but until then we can trust this:

(Shots of hate comments) 

Fear spreads.

But.

(Shots of SKAM fans’ comments about love)

Luckily, so does love.

I’m at a loss for words. But it was perfect.

I spent two hours translating this, but I know I’ve probably misheard or missed something.

*Auntie Red = old-fashioned slang for menstruation.

*6 = 6 is the highest possible mark/grade in high school - like an A.

All you need is love. Good night, lovelies <3

[componentplanet]

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Cosmos: Possible Worlds and the Future of Our Own

A monumental Tree of Life stands outside the 2039 New York World’s Fair. Carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, has been extracted from our atmosphere and converted into the mineral used to construct this new colossus. COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS premieres March 9, 2020 on National Geographic. (Cosmos Studios)

Cosmos: Possible Worlds debuts March 9th on National Geographic. The new 13-episode television series was created by Ann Druyan, who also co-created the original Cosmos with her late husband Carl Sagan. It covers the beginnings of the universe and life on Earth, with a brief refresher of the cosmic calendar that condenses all of this into one “year,” as seen in 2014’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. But then it quickly branches off into all-new material, including the latest discoveries of planets orbiting other stars and the wonders we might find one day if we ever made it to one. The show also tells poignant stories about the advances and setbacks scientists have faced throughout human history. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and host of the new show, spoke with us about Cosmos and the need for an understanding of science.

Thank you so much for doing the interview with ExtremeTech. Before we get started, when I was in New York, I used to go in the mid-2000s to the Hayden Planetarium to see the awesome “Frontiers” lectures you hosted.

Yeah, we still have them. Thanks for that support.

Oh, wonderful. I still remember after each guest lecturer finished, you used to step in and say, “host privilege” and ask the first question before we got to the audience questions.

[laughs] Yeah, my life got so busy, I don’t host most of them anymore. I cherish those memories where I’d just bust in and ask the first question.

That leads me to our own first question, which is watching these new shows, just like in 2014, I remember how you sounded at the Planetarium, and that’s exactly what you sound like in the shows.

Thank you for noticing that, because the part I’ve learned from others who are in show business is that people resonate with authenticity. If you know that that’s how I am and that’s what I’m doing, then it’s not an act. No, it’s really me. I really feel this way and I’m really wide-eyed when I talk about it and all that’s real, so thanks for noticing.

So that’s the idea, right? To take the viewer, not like with a cold science documentary, to instead take them on the ship with you.

Yeah, otherwise I’d just be lecturing. Right? That’s not communicating, so one of the taglines is, “come with me.”

Right.

We’re going to be there together. Here’s a little known fact, that back in 2014, where we were figuring out what I’d be wearing on the Ship of the Imagination, I made a suggestion. I said to Ann Druyan, who is the secret sauce throughout all of this, I said, why don’t I have a little emblem or something on the breast pocket or chevrons or something showing that I’m captain of this ship?

She said, no, she doesn’t want anything. I said, well, why? And she said, “because that puts distance between you and the audience.” I said, you’re absolutely right. Oh my gosh! Because then I’d be captain and you’re not, and I went to flight week school and you didn’t go. Did you go to the academy? No, but I did.

Whereas if you “come with me,” then we’d take this journey together and that is an important dimension of the show … right alongside, of course, the scripting and the visual effects and the music and the set design, is all a way to bring a comfort level to you so that it’s not just, you’re “here” and the science is “there.” It’s that you realize you are immersed in the science and you like it, and you might want to do something about your circumstances upon having been newly empowered by the show.

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson. Credit: Dan Smith/FOX

In the sixth episode, one of the sequences shows how years ago, different kinds of scientists like geologists, chemists, and physicists might have examined a meteorite in a backyard differently, and how biologists and astronomers of the time may well have walked right on by it. You show how we’ve learned to connect these things.

One of the DNA strands of Cosmos is how seamlessly it blends the brands of science that we otherwise think of as separate and distinct entities taking at different times of the day with different textbooks in different professors. Nature doesn’t think that way. We have biology thriving inside of rocks with chemical environments. This goes on and on and on, and we have to be nimble as we move across those fields. Otherwise, we’re stuck compartmentalizing knowledge that nature does not.

What was the goal of this new series? Obviously this time it’s about possible other worlds, but what else?

We need some hope given our current circumstances. This is the most hopeful of the three Cosmos. In fact, personally, I think it’s the best in every way. That sounds cliche because everybody always says that about their most recent project. I think if you watch enough of the episodes, I think you’ll agree. Just everyone brought their A-game. We’re talking about all the people who typically make high-budget cinema. We brought them on to lend their … Not lend, of course they were compensated, but to give of their talents. You combine the power of all of this, we are showing you not only worlds such as exoplanets, that’s the first and obvious interpretation of possible worlds from the subtitle, but also worlds within us. There’s the world of the mind, there’s the quantum, there’s the mycelium that’s a network of roots that communicates electrochemically between and among plant species…

And you say to yourself, whoa, that’s an internet that preceded our internet, but that’s a world. So, Cosmos opens people’s eyes to … or rather it broadens your concept of a cosmic perspective. What is your view of us now that you’ve been in space? What is your view of us now that you’ve learned that bees use mathematics to help each other locate the next destination for the hive? Or that plants use an internet? Or that … You just look around us and things that we had ignored so thoroughly because we are so narcissistic about human life and the tree of life, that we’ve lost track of or maybe never knew what role the rest of this life was playing in the biosphere.

The sequence with the bees is brilliant.

Isn’t it? I agree 100 percent.

How did these episodes come together this time? Was it any different than the last time with the way you worked with Ann?

Ann is the secret sauce of all three Cosmos: 1980, 2014, 2020. Her co-writer in 1980 was, of course, Carl Sagan, but also a guy named Steve Soder. Steve Soder reprised his co-authorship in 2014. For 2020, we have Brannon Braga who is one of the long-time writers, producers, and directors of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He knows television. He knows how to arc stories to fit between commercials. The original Cosmos didn’t have commercials because it was on PBS. Plus, he actually has a Hugo award for one of the science-fiction stories that he told for Star Talk, so he’s also a storyteller. These are all good people doing the right things in exactly the right places.

I’ll add, you didn’t ask, but I’ll add, while my expertise is astrophysics, there’s science in it that’s not my expertise. So, fortunately, we have committees, we have panels of scientists that have expertise in every place we went and that ensured that the story was stitched together, and that it would have an authentic foundation on what was true.

One might think the show is just about astronomy at first glance, or something about space exploration. Then the more you watch, the more you realize it’s about all kinds of science and how that reflects what is within us as well as externally something that we study.

Right and I think that’s one of the important fingerprints of Cosmos as a series.

Why is this so important, especially today, in 2020?

Because it matters what’s true. This series will be an exercise in seeing what’s true and how much power that can bring you to enact change that can help not only preserve who and what we are on Earth, but enable us to thrive on Earth. It’s a mission statement, if you will, of the show so that by the time you’re done, you can feel compelled to create a society that your descendants would be proud of rather than one that your descendants will be embarrassed by.

You’re actually answering some of the questions I was going to ask, but I was going to say, what do you want viewers to come away with? Would that be a good summary?

Yes. By the way, you can’t always tell someone they’re wrong if they have dogmatic beliefs, what they think is right, but what you can do is show them other examples of people who wanted an objective truth, but there were dogmatic forces operating against them. So, one of the mediums of the storytelling is animation.

The animated stories tend to be, the historical ones, where you join the plight of someone who struggled to get the government or the society or the people in charge, to struggle to get them to listen and to heed the warning or to follow the advice. We’re in the middle of that with the coronavirus. Are people going to listen to scientists or not? If you do, the virus might just sort of wash over in a very light way and never to return. If you don’t listen to scientists, then something else is going to happen. This is the cost of inaction, relative to the cost of action.

I think about the times where people didn’t listen to scientists throughout history. I think the obvious one is with Copernicus and Galileo, where people clung to the belief that the Earth was at the center of the universe. The story you tell about Vavilov is heartbreaking.

Exactly. The Vavilov, that’s the one, you went straight to it. I tear up every time I see that and I think that’s going to be … I think that episode [the fourth one] is going to be written about just as a force operating on our own understanding of a modern society and what we need to do to have a habitable Earth as we go forward.

This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity. Stay tuned for a separate interview Monday with Cosmos creator Ann Druyan.

Now read:

Cosmos: Possible Worlds TV Review: The Unsung Heroes of Science and Exploration

Neil deGrasse Tyson says it’s ‘very likely’ the universe is a simulation

Curiosity Captures Incredible 1.8 Billion Pixel Panorama on Mars

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/internet/307124-neil-degrasse-tyson-on-cosmos-possible-worlds-and-the-future-of-our-own from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/03/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-cosmos-possible.html

[thiswasasuperterribleidea]

The day he left... & the next 47 psychotic days after...

Things get funny here I swear. I’m not here to tell you all of the extraordinary highs or rock bottom lows of my relationship. It was both very perfect and very horrible. We never had that middle ground… But he was my go to. He was my weakness and as soon as I was with him, every problem melted away and I felt at home.

For some reason this is the analogy I chose for the day he left… Every time I say it I get a weird look. I should probably stop using it and find another analogy. And by probably I mean definitely… It’s a little much…I said it to the therapist I talked to and even her eyes screamed “WOW YOU’RE DRAMATIC AND KINDA CRAZY…” And I literally pay her to tell me that I’m NOT crazy…so that must mean it’s a bad one. But here it goes again…

Do you remember what people said the day of September 11th? Well I was in the 1st fucking grade so I actually don’t… BUT, from every documentary I’ve ever watched I know that everyone said it was a beautiful day. Like it was an unusually perfect day... Skies were blue with no clouds in sight, good vibes all around. That’s how this day was. He left my condo that morning, (the condo that I moved out into solely to ease some tension off of our relationship …YIKES) So, we were not physically together but were texting and laughing. Now I know people say “lol” and have a straight face.. but I know I had him laughing at our conversation. It was a Sunday and my spoiled Italian ass was attempting to make meatballs for the first time alone because my mom has cooked for me my whole life. I had no idea what the hell I was doing or where to begin but I knew I needed STALE Italian bread for the bread crumbs. If you’re Italian you understand why they have to be stale… I just learned and I’m very excited about it! They have to be stale bread crumbs so that the meatballs are crunchy not soggy! DUH… So I called him to rant because apparently in this new shit town I moved to, NO ONE CARES ABOUT ITALIAN BREAD! They only sell weird kinds. No Appicella’s Italian Bread for milessss. I called Darren trying to explain. He had no idea why I was running from grocery store to grocery store for bread. Couldn’t understand why I couldn’t buy a box of bread crumbs for my meatballs. It was funny. I said some other funny things when I was back home making my sauce…and I know he was laughing at me.

The reason this was such a big deal and why it relates to the pre 9/11 plane crash perfect day is because this was rare for us. We rarely ever had good texting conversation we always fought when we were apart. It was what I would consider a perfect day. We were talking normal, he was going to come over and watch a movie that night, probably have some really great sex. Then he said my name. That was all it took. A text came in that read “Francesca” and I felt the mood switch so quick. From the playful conversation that I was so happy with …to seeing my own name on my phone … it was honestly worse than seeing the most feared “We need to talk…” He follows up with a serious “are we ever going to get better?” … Are we ever going to get better?!?!?! I’m over here thinking we’re having a pre 9/11 perfect day.. thinking this is how we’re supposed to be and he’s asking me if we’re going to get better? This is better to me.. this is what I want EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!!

So what do I do? Pretend to be a hardass obviously…  My instant reply “If you want to break up with me… just do it now.” Next thing I know, the phone rings… and BOOM he ends it. Juuuuust like that. Lmao. It’s actually kind of funny… Like who the fuck did I think I was? Did I think my vagina was THAT awesome or something? Did I actually think that he wouldn’t end it with that being my response? And that’s when my walls came crashing down and the analogy almost sort of comes together. (Maybe not…?) Well being a hardass clearly didn’t work… so I decided to move on to the next best option… DESPARATE AND PSYCHOTIC!!!

First he asked for space... In case I haven’t made it obvious enough yet. I don’t know what the word space means. Also, thank you to my saint of  a Nonny, (No sarcasm intended) ...I didn’t know what the word no meant either. This guy would straight out tell me he lost all feelings for me... and you know what I did??? I told him he was lying. Lmao. Legit said no, you do, you’re lying to make me go away. DOUBLE YIKES. He asked for space, and I didn’t want space. So do you think I gave him space? NoOoOoOo chance. I decided it would be better to blow up his phone with 50 texts and phone calls. You probably think I’m over exaggerating right? 50? No one has time or energy to call 50 times right? Wrong. I’m actually probably UNDER exaggerating. 50 is a low ball. Now this is a pretty much every day thing for a full month straight. But my psycho games were only just beginning...

The next two things I did are two things I will regret for the rest of my life whether Darren ever decides to forgive me for them or not. And... disclaimer ...I am sharing this part mostly because I want to pretend I am giving you all advice... but in reality I don’t think there is a single human being that needs to be advised to NOT do this because I feel like I am somehow the only bat shit crazy girl alive to ever think of this... So if you read this and let me put this crazy thought in your head and you don’t think it sounds like THAAAAT bad of an idea...  please slide into my DM’s and let me save you. First off. I went home one weekend. Just for the sole purpose of doing this by the way ... took my mother’s cell phone and sent Darren a sweet little text. And by sweet little text I mean...some restraining order worthy text where I impersonated my mother- someone who wanted nothing to do with Darren, and tried to convince him we had her blessing and to give me another shot and come over for Thanksgiving and Christmas because hey guess what everything can be perfect now!!!! ....yeah. That was my all time lowest point. Now I can say a lot of negative things about myself. Insecure, borderline crazy... the one thing I can’t say is that I’m a compulsive liar. Everything I said in those texts while impersonating my mother did come from her mouth. I am trying to make this blog light and funny...as a way to cope but this breakup was the absolute darkest time in my life aside from my Poppy passing away. I never felt anything like this. I showed up to work late every day for a month. When I was there I was barely working. I was negative and miserable all of the time. My parents didn’t know what to do with me. But they were there for me in every way they could be. See my parents were highschool sweethearts. My mom never had a broken heart. She had my dad. And she still has my dad. She never didn’t have him or someone. She never had  a broken heart. And that made it very hard for her to comfort me as my mother because she couldn’t relate. Whenever we would talk, she would say “Francesca, We’ll get through this... everyone goes through  a broken heart.” The thing was... NO MA YOU DIDNT!! AND I’M SUPER SALTY BECAUSE OF IT RIGHT NOW...One time she told me she did go through a broken heart because she had and I quote... “crushes” on people before my father... When I tell you I had to get up out of my chair on the back porch and walk myself inside to excuse myself from that stupidity... I just can’t even lol. She was trying, but she was clueless. But she did sit down with me a lot and not all our conversations were that useless. She did promise me that if God ever brought Darren back into my life that she would give me her support because seeing me go through this made her realize all she cares about is my happiness. So I wasn’t a total liar. Only sorta... But the problem was really what I was doing to Darren during this. I was literally hiding behind a cell phone screen trying to change his feelings off of something fake. Literally toying with his emotions. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if he fed into it. Our relationship would have been based on a lie... it makes me sick. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t found out it was actually me texting... which brings me to the second thing I will always regret which was impersonating my roommate still trying to fuck with Darren’s feelings. Cause I mean 1 person just wasn’t enough.. go big or go home right? 

The good news here is... my roommate isn’t that great of a friend in general. But right here in this instance. She was a great one. The real MVP. She threw me under the bus fuckin haaard. She told Darren it wasn’t her, it wasn’t my mom it was no one but me. I am so greatful for that. Well, I am now anyway. Actually as soon as she told me she let Darren know it was me impersonating everyone I literally cried so hard I had to leave work lmao. I was so mad. I honestly felt like she was being the shit friend that she had been before. Like she had some loyalty to Darren or something and not me. It was such a feeling of betrayal. I thought about it for the rest of the day and realized how great it was that she did that for me. Now don’t get me wrong. Darren isn’t stupid or weak and truthfully I always knew that whether he thought he was speaking to my mom or my roommate Danielle... he wasn’t changing his mind on me. But if there was ever a second of weakness for him. Where he changed his mind because of those conversations. Our new relationship would have been doomed before it even started. So I have to give her credit where credit is due and thank her for not giving me the chance to potentially build a relationship off of a lie and being a true friend. I bought her a caramel apple from edible arrangements to thank her... But then I ate it all. I had to go get her another one the next day. 

It got to the point where Darren blocked me. I sent him countless love letters expressing my feelings, tried talking casually, and also tried impersonating anyone I could lol. I tried making my manager Dwight reach out to him and pull for me because they are friends too. I did some crazy shit there too.  At the end of work I would follow Dwight to his car and ask him if he could try and get Darren to give me another chance. One night I even hopped in the passenger seat and begged him until I forced myself an emotional breakdown. I sat there in his car crying and when I tell you this guy looked like he saw a ghost... oh my god the look on his face now was priceless. The way he fake tried to comfort me, patting my shoulder it’s making me laugh just thinking about it now. I was so messy. The next night when we walked out together he made sure I locked the branch door and he deadass sprinted to his car to get away from me lmao. While I know he was for sure telling Darren about my crazy self.. he was a pretty solid friend to me during this. A lot better than some of my “real” friends. We had a lot of laughs and he talked me through a lot. Long story long the bad news is we’ve probably gotten a little to close over the past two months but I guess that’s just what happens when someone is helping someone through something.

The real good news is Darren blocking me was my come up and exactly what I needed.

[consulting-celiac-in-the-tardis]

Gluten Free Monthly Favorites: Paleo and Vegan Tortillas, Wonder Woman and More

New blog post!

This post is generously sponsored by Mikey's. 

You know what they say...time flies when you're working like crazy having fun! As usual, the last month went by in a blink, but I'm slowly getting into the grad school groove. Add in my 22cd birthday, some new friends and delicious food, and September was a memorable month!

As usual, I'm here to share my favorite eats and activities from September - plus my plans (for life and the blog) for October. What new grain free, soy free, non-GMO, and vegan tortilla will become your latest addiction? How did I celebrate the big 2-2? And what can you expect from Casey the College Celiac next month?

Keep reading to find out! 

What I'm Eating

Way too much popcorn. Remember when I used to make fun of my college roommates for their addiction to popcorn? Well, the joke's now on me, 'cause it's been a regular popcorn party lately. Ever since I figured out I could pop my own popcorn in my sauce pan (which has a handy steam lid!), popcorn made with just a lil' coconut oil has been my favorite night snack. Usually on top of banana ice cream, let's be honest! 

Mikey's new paleo and vegan tortillas! Although Mikey's is known for its paleo English muffins and pizza crust, they recently introduced their first vegan product: a tortilla. One of my favorite parts about Mikey's tortilla is that it only has seven ingredients: water, cassava flour, coconut flour, high oleic sunflower oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and xantham gum. Since these tortillas aren't heavily spiced, you can easily incorporate them into a sweet or a savory meal. They're also free of the funky aftertaste found in many gluten free products, and when dethawed, Mikey's vegan tortillas are softer and more pliable than most of the GF tortillas I've ever tried.

If you're craving some "healthier" allergy friendly chips, you can also pan-fry your Mikey's tortilla on medium-high heat for a couple minutes, flipping throughout. You don't even need any oil or water; just throw the tortilla in a pan and get cookin'. Compared to other gluten free tortillas on the market, Mikey's tortillas are on the smaller side. I also thought that they felt a bit oily. However, finding a gluten free (not to mention paleo and vegan) tortilla that tastes like a "real" flour tortilla is no easy feat, and Mikey's tortillas definitely make gluten free Taco Tuesdays a whole lot tastier.

All the purple potatoes! Although I'm still majorly missing my local Sprout's Farmers Market, I have enjoyed discovering some new local produce. One of my fave finds? Cheap purple sweet potatoes! If you've never tried them, they're a lot denser and drier than regular sweet potatoes. They have the same slightly sweet flavor, though, and taste heavenly with some creamy avocado.

What I'm Doing

Trucking along with grad school and teaching. If I'm being honest, grad school and teaching are a thousand times harder than I thought they would be. Many days, I feel like I'm just working nonstop, whether on class materials, meetings with students, my own writing or on fun stuff like blogging and socializing. At the end of the day, though, a kind comment from a student or a fun night out with friends definitely helps make all the work worth it.

Like this post? Then tweet me some love by clicking here: "In this month's monthly faves, learn about @mikeysmuffins new #paleo & #vegan tortillas, my #glutenfree b-day & more! http://bit.ly/2xUvjVQ"

Feeling 22! Early on in September, I celebrated my 22cd birthday. I didn't do anything too crazy to celebrate since my birthday fell on one of my busiest days of the week. However, I did see Wonder Woman with a bunch of gal pals the following night, and it was epic! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend. I also highly recommend making my chocolate lava mug cake to celebrate anything awesome in your life recently. 'Cause, really, when isn't it a good time for (gluten free, vegan and paleo) cake!?!

Experimenting with other forms of cardio. Ever since I re-strained my IT band (and messed up several other leg muscles in the process, 'cause I'm an overachiever like that), I've had to slowly reincorporate any leg exercises, from walking more than a few thousands of steps each day to workout machines. Even though the slow progress is driving me crazy and my legs still hurt now and then, the elliptical and I are becoming besties, so that helps. To any exercise lovers dealing with injuries right now - I feel ya! 

What I'm Planning

Bracing myself for my first Minnesota winter! I'll be honest. As soon as fall weather did hit Mankato (after several days in the 90's!), it slapped some major fear into me. 60 degrees in Minnesota is not the same thing as 60 degrees in San Diego! Wish me luck finding some (affordable) winter boots and surviving my first "real" winter.

Bringing fall to the blog! Expect several more pumpkin and fall-flavored recipes. (Hint: if you love pancakes and pumpkin spice, watch out for my recipe next week!). Besides the gluten free recipes I share on the blog, you can see more of my daily eats on my Instagram and Insta Stories. 

Focusing on balance - with exercise and rest, work and fun, social adventures and alone time...basically, everything! And if that balance involves a few more gluten free goodies than typical, well, it's going to be a yummy October!

Like this post? Then tweet me some love by clicking here: "In this month's monthly faves, learn about @mikeysmuffins new #paleo & #vegan tortillas, my #glutenfree b-day & more! http://bit.ly/2xUvjVQ"

Thanks to Facebook, I now know that there are less than 100 days until Christmas...which means these next few months (the last of my first semester of grad school!) will definitely fly by just as quickly as September. What exactly happens in those months, of course, is still undetermined. All I can say is that I hope your October - and mine - is full of more treats than tricks! 

*I received samples of Mikey's tortillas free of charge in exhange for an honest review. However, all opinions, pictures and recipes are my own. Thank you for supporting what supports Casey the College Celiac!* What were some of your favorite eats and activities from September? What are you planning to get up to during October? Tell me in the comments!

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[gordanladdskitchen]

Popcorn 101: What Is Hulless Popcorn? (And Why Regular Popcorn Is Bad For Braces)

Popcorn is a delicious snack enjoyed by a majority of people. The popularity of popcorn dates back to 1800s when it was known as a cash crop. The variety of popcorn people are generally familiar with has large kernels that leave back hard and big hull when popped. But have you heard about the hulless popcorn? What is hulless popcorn? Want to know more? Keep on reading.

Toggle for Table of Contents

Quick Navigation

A Brief History of Popcorn

But Americans Were Not The First

Reinvent

The Popcorn Hull

What is Hulless Popcorn?

Can I eat Popcorn With Braces?

Why is Popcorn Bad for Braces?

Know Some Corny Facts

Recipe Time

Parmesan and Brown Butter Popcorn

Movie Theater Popcorn

Caramel Popcorn

Let’s Pop Some Corns

A Brief History of Popcorn

No other food can be called purely American food than the well-known popcorn. Whether we talk about the buttered, salted or caramelized popcorn at a movie theater or kettle corn at a party, Americans devour the stuff. Still, they are far from the world’s first people known to be popcorn fans. According to archeologists, they have found popcorn traces in 1000 years old Peruvian tombs.

Eager to know more about the history of popcorn? Ok, let’s dive right into it.

Popcorn was part of the first Thanksgiving feast organized in Plymouth Colony in the year 1621. According to a well-known myth, Squanto was responsible for teaching the Pilgrims how to raise and harvest the corn crop and further pop the kernels to enjoy a delicious snack.

While the Plymouth early settlers did grow the crop, they raise Northern Flint variety which was unsuitable for popping. However, no reference was made to eating or making the popcorn in that particular area appear until 1889, when a frictional work was published.

But Americans Were Not The First

Now the question rises was that if Americans weren’t the first to eat popcorn at Thanksgiving, when did it happen?

Some published work has been found that describes Iroquois popping tough corn kernels with the help of heated sand in pottery jars. As the Iroquois nation spread across the Great Lakes region, it is likely that Vermont, New York, and Quebec settlers were the earliest popcorn makers.

While popcorn was eaten by the mid-1800s, their popularity didn’t take off until 1892. During this time, the first popcorn popping machine was built by a Chicago entrepreneur named Charles Cretors. Charles was a candy store owner who wanted to offer freshly roasted nuts to his customers. For this, he purchased a peanut roaster. However, he was not happy with the end result.

Reinvent

Cretors designed an entirely new machine a few years down the line which was powered by steam. It could easily roast nuts and pop corns. Moreover, the steam ensured that the popcorn kernels and nuts are heated evenly. The users can pop the kernels in the desired seasonings directly.

By the year 1990, Cretors was able to design a horse-drawn popcorn wagon and this was the time when popcorn gains extreme popularity.

While popping the corns from a microwave is in trend now and not from a horse and a buggy, a patent was issued in 1981 for a microwave popcorn bag. In today’s time, Americans alone eat a large quantity of popcorn worth a million pounds.

Before we proceed ahead with the post, I would like to define the popcorn hull and what is the meaning of hulless?

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The Popcorn Hull

The popcorn hull is defined as the kernel or the seed which pops under pressure.

Upon heating, as the steam begins to build up inside the hull, the tender portion of the kernel expands. This results in the popping of the popcorn, and the end result is the inside out version of the unpopped kernels.

Moreover, as the popcorn kernels are large in size, therefore the brown and crunchy part of the kernel that stays nestled inside the fluffy part is known as the hull.

While this article is about “what is hulless popcorn” but I would also like to recommend you learn more about where do popcorn kernels come from by reading this post.

What is Hulless Popcorn?

The name hulless popcorn is a misnomer as there is no such variety of popcorn. All popcorn have hull as the hull is the seed without which popcorn cannot pop. However, in the hulless variety, the kernels are small. Thus, with smaller kernels, the hulls are tender, smaller and less visible.

There is another kind of variety available in the market known as virtually hulless popcorn. This popcorn once popped has very few hard shell-like pieces and thus are considered as virtually hulless. Hulless popcorn is the most preferred choice for popcorn lovers who wear braces or want to avoid the popcorn hull altogether.

Can I eat Popcorn With Braces?

Do you love popcorn but have got braces recently?If so, you may be wondering whether it is safe to eat popcorn or not? Well, the answer to the most commonly asked question, “Can I eat popcorn with braces?” is no.

Instead of indulging in that salty kernelled treat, you can choose alternative snacks that are great for your teeth and braces.

Why is Popcorn Bad for Braces?

Popcorn and braces are considered as an extremely bad combination. Every year, dentists receive a large number of cases of broken orthodontic appliances, brackets and wires due to popcorn. Moreover, while eating popcorn, thin husk can get stuck between the teeth and braces which are difficult to remove.

Moreover, popcorn can lead to abscess or infection if you are not careful or do not take proper care. Popcorn is also known to damage the teeth as the unpopped kernels present at the bottom of the bag are known for breaking teeth.

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Know Some Corny Facts

Americans consume approximately 14 billion quarts of popcorn, which is considered as a good and low-calorie treat.

There are 4 kinds of corns which are harvested – Sweet corn, flint corn, pop corn and field corn, but only popcorn pops.

Popcorn differs from its counterparts as it has a thicker hull that is responsible for popping of the kernels.

A popcorn kernel can pop as high as 3 feet into the air.

Air popped kernels have only 30 calories per cup while the oil popped variety has 35 calories per cup.

In order to pop, the kernels need to have approximately 13.5% to 14% moisture in them.

Hulless popcorn does not exist as popcorn needs to have a hull to pop. However, there are some varieties that have been specially bred to shatter the hull upon popping and thus the end result appears virtually hulless.

When popped, popcorn usually gain one of the two shaped – snowflake or mushroom. While the snowflake is used in ballparks and movie theater because of their bigger size, the mushroom variety is used for candy confection as it does not crumble with little pressure.

Recipe Time

Now that you got answers to a majority of the questions, why not indulge in some delicious popcorn recipes?

Brown Butter Popcorn with Parmesan

Kosher salt

1 - 1.5 cup of popcorn kernels

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Start by popping the hulless popcorn in a microwave according to the packet instructions. Next, brown the butter as browning the butter helps bring out its nutty flavor.

Start by melting the butter in a pan over medium heat and stir it till it starts to foam. Remove the butter as soon as it turns golden brown and smells nutty.

Drizzle the butter over the popcorn and sprinkle parmesan along with ¼ teaspoon salt. The parmesan adds a cheesy bite to the popcorn. Toss well.

Movie Theater Popcorn

1/2 - 1 cup popcorn kernels

Flavacol (1 teaspoon per 1/2 cup un-popped kernels)

3 tablespoon Coconut oil

Start by measuring out the popcorn. Next, measure out Flavacol according to the recipe, you can even adjust the Flavacol according to your popper and taste. Add some popcorn oil to the pan and heat on medium heat. Further, add Flavacol and popcorn to the pan, and cover it. Let it pop as usual and enjoy delicious movie theater styled popcorn. Read more about theater style popcorn recipe here. Also, find out which are the best popcorn machine for home theater.

Caramel Popcorn

Cooking spray

3 tablespoon cooking oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

Heat the oven to 300°F and spray the baking sheet with the cooking spray.

Heat oil in a saucepan and add popcorn. Cover the pan and let the kernels pop. Transfer the popped kernels in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine butter, corn syrup and sugar.

Stir over medium heat, till the mixture begins to bubble. Stir in vanilla and salt. Switch off the heat when the mixture begins to change its color.

Pour the mixture over the popped corns and toss it to coat the corns gently. Spread the mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, tossing in between. Remove from oven and let it cool.

You can easily prepare this delicious delight a week ahead and store it in an airtight container to keep it fresh.

Let’s Pop Some Corns

There you have it. I hope this article has helped you get an answer for, “What is hulless popcorn?” A lot of confusion prevails over different varieties of popcorn kernels. But when it comes to popcorn, the taste conquers it all. Let’s start popping some corns!

The post Popcorn 101: What Is Hulless Popcorn? (And Why Regular Popcorn Is Bad For Braces) appeared first on Gordan Ladd's Kitchen.

[igotthatfireapp-blog]

Review – Mad Anthony’s Hot Sauces, BBQ Sauces, and Fiery Hot Mustard

The Mad Anthony product lineup, 2017, from left to right: Fiery Hot Mustard Sauce, Original Style BBQ Sauce, Original Hot Sauce, and XXXtra Private Reserve Hot Sauce. As a few of you chileheads know, I was a huge Van Halen fan in a “past life.” I won’t bore you with how much I ate, breathed and slept the band (thankfully, not slept with the band) during my younger and leaner days. I will state, though, that even though my fanaticism for the mighty Van Halen has waned quite a bit as I’ve approached middle-age-hood, I’ve still carried over a bit of the “5150” spirit because of former VH bassist Michael Anthony‘s involvement in the hot sauce world. I interviewed Mike (or “Mad Anthony” as he is sometimes referred to) a while back, and he revealed that his passion for fiery foods started off around the age of 17 or 18 when he first started dating his now long-time wife Sue, and he saw his future father-in-law douse his eggs in hot sauce. Mike splashed a little liquid fire on his own food, and before long, he was carrying around bottles of Tabasco everywhere he went. Fast forward to the early ’00s when Michael Anthony teamed up with my friend Michael Greening of Mike & Diane’s Gourmet Kitchen, (the producer of one of Mr. Anthony’s favorite hot sauce lines, Ring of Fire) to concoct his own spicy condiment. Through Greening’s genius kitchen skills and Anthony’s astute palette, the two were able to develop a world class condiment in the original Mad Anthony’s Hot Sauce. Since then, an XXXtra Private Reserve Hot Sauce, a Fiery Mustard and two BBQ Sauces (one regular and one Extra Hot) were added to the Mad Anthony lineup. Since then, Michael Anthony has switched from Mike & Diane’s Gourmet Kitchen to another co-packer to meet production demands. As VanHalenStore.com touts, these sauces are “new and improved.” Since this implies reformulation of some kind, I wanted to give these a fresh and honest review for 2017 and see if the quintet of sauces fare better or worse in my mind than how I’d previously remembered them. A huge thanks goes to Jeff Hausman of the Van Halen News Desk and VanHalenStore.com for hooking me up with these products! Mad Anthony’s Hot Sauce Ingredients: Pimientos, Vinegar, Red Pepper Puree, Habanero Chiles, Garlic, Tomato Sauce, Spices, Salt, and Sugar. Aroma: 3.5 out of 5. A recondite and heavy aroma of garlic, spices, chiles, and a hint of onions and tomatoes. Appearance and Texture: 4.5 out of 5. Thick, meaty and has rich red hues, this original hot sauce has wonderful body and heft to it. Similar to the aforementioned Ring of Fire sauces, it’s nicely clumpy (with only minor separation between the watery ingredients and more solid components), this sauce has top-notch stickability on which any food you pour. Taste Straight Up: 4 out of 5.  There’s a deep, playful dance that the various chile peppers, tomatoes and herbs & garlic are performing with each other. It seems worlds away from where the popular “pepper-colored vinegar” sauces the TABASCOs and Frank’s RedHot of the world are entrenched. While describing this as a sort of spicy tomato sauce or marinara sauce is a gross over-exaggeration, it does hint of being influenced by Italian flavors throughout the complex web of pepper puree, dark pimientos, habaneros and black pepper. Taste on Food: 4.5 out of 5. That previous description may make Mad Anthony Original Hot Sauce sound like it would be home primarily on lasagna, but I actually think it’s awesome on Mexican! Try this on burritos, chiles rellenos, tacos, and more. Oh, and this condiment is outstanding on burgers and as a dipping sauce for fries! If you splash this on eggs, it will elevate your breakfast to strange new euphoric levels of which you’ve never dreamed! There are a few things that it’s not best suited for: chicken tenders, plus most Asian food. You can’t win ’em all, but if you use Mad Anthony Original Hot Sauce on the above items that do work, you’ll be making out like a champ. Heat: 2.5 out of 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the hottest. Michael Anthony does love his heat, and this “regular” version of his sauce packs some decent spiciness that will please most general chilehead tongues. Final Thoughts:  Mad Anthony Original Hot Sauce is a complex, peppery and spicy product that would be a good “table sauce” for most heat fans. Mad Anthony’s XXXTRA HOT Private Reserve Hot Sauce Ingredients: Pimientos, Vinegar, Red Pepper Puree, Habanero Chiles, Garlic, Serrano Chiles, Tomato Sauce, Spices, Salt, Chile Pepper Extract, Sugar. Aroma: 3.5 out of 5. Very similar to the above Mad Anthony Original Hot Sauce, but with a little more brightness and noticeable pungency from the increased proportion of chile peppers. Appearance and Texture: 5 out of 5. With less separation than the Original Hot Sauce, this XXXTRA HOT Private Reserve Hot Sauce hit a winning bulls-eye in thick consistency and viscosity when pouring. Scotty here is very pleased! Taste Straight Up: 3.5 out of 5. It’s interesting what a fresh perspective has on something. Eight years ago, I was nuts about the initial taste of XXXTRA HOT Private Reserve Hot Sauce. Now? The presence of chile pepper extract (with a weird chemical-like tone running through it) has turned me off of this slightly. While it is by no means dominant, this bit of “off taste” brings this otherwise killer brew of spices and flavors down a few notches. There ares still the admirable intricacies in XXXTRA HOT Private Reserve Hot Sauce that are found in the Original Hot Sauce: the swirling morass of tomatoes, pimentos, chiles, and hints of garlic punch. At its base, it’s still a good product, only with amped-up notes of habaneros that bring up both the heat and taste. Taste on Food: 4 out of 5. Being based on the Original Hot Sauce, this hotter version does about the same job on similar foods. Luckily, the slightly irritating presence of chile extract is diminished more, bringing the overall flavor of the XXXTRA HOT back up a notch. Heat: 4 out of 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the hottest. NOW WE’RE TALKIN’! If you’re craving moderate fire, then stick with Mad Anthony’s Original Hot Sauce. XXXTRA HOT Private Reserve Hot Sauce is an elixir that appeals to the hardcore heat freak who want a taste to match the burn. The fire takes a second or three to build, but when it does, there’s a mighty good fire going on wherever it hits. Yes, there are much hotter sauces, but this will not disappoint. Final Thoughts:  This sauce has dropped a bit from the hollowed heights I once held it at. Yet it still remains a solid product through and through. Mad Anthony’s Original Style BBQ Sauce Ingredients: Ketchup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Distilled Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Less than 2 percent Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavors, Molasses, Cider Vinegar, Fig Concentrate, Dehydrated Onion, Distilled Vinegar, Spices, Salt, and Natural Hickory Seasoning. Aroma: 3 out of 5. Smoky and sweet, this smells like a good, standard barbecue sauce. Appearance and Texture: 3.5 out of 5. Mad Anthony’s Original Style BBQ Sauce is a darker brown tonic with medium pourability and a good, puréed feel to it. Taste Straight Up: 3.5 out of 5. This BBQ sauce lies on the side of flavor spectrum that favors bolder, richer, sweeter notes; definitely a Kansas City style topping! There is nothing exotic about this BBQ topper, just a good, straightforward sauce. If the hot sauces weren’t enough of an indication (and we would expect them to be fiery), Mr. Anthony is indeed a chilehead of the highest order, as this barbecue sauce is very much away from the milder side of the heat spectrum. Taste on Food: 3.5 out of 5. Versatility rules the day with Mad Anthony’s Original Style BBQ Sauce, as anything I threw at it did admirably well with the sauce. Some barbeque products excel in being a product for the masses, while others benefit from being a more specialty product. This is more the former, tasting favorable on grilled wings, chicken thighs, burgers and pulled pork from my Weber Smokey Mountain. Heat: 2.5 out of 5. If you don’t care for your regular BBQ sauce to contain a good deal of heat to it, then stay away from this one. But I enjoyed the low flash of chile pepper fire lurking beneath the rich amalgam of flavors. Thoughts:  Because a flavor expert (Mike & Diane’s Gourmet Kitchen’s Michael Greening, mentioned above) helmed the creation of Mad Anthony’s Original Style BBQ Sauce, it would have had a ridiculously slender chance of failing. This succeeds at being an enjoyable and satisfactory sauce for the masses. Mad Anthony’s Xtra Hot BBQ Sauce Ingredients: Ingredients: Ketchup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Distilled Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Less than 2 percent Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavors, Molasses, Cider Vinegar, Fig Concentrate, Dehydrated Onion, Distilled Vinegar, Spices, Salt, and Natural Hickory Seasoning Aroma: 3 out of 5. Much like the Mad Anthony’s Original Style BBQ Sauce, with only a hint more of a pungency. Appearance and Texture: 3.5 out of 5. No noticeable difference between this and the Original variety: a deep brown liquid that tells you it’s going to have that darker and sweeter sugar and molasses punch. Taste Straight Up: 3.5 out of 5. A sweet, smokey blend of lots of the perfect hints from all the main and supporting players…tomato from the ketchup…sweetness from the HFCS…and lots of savory notes from onion, garlic and other spices. And, the fire! No, this won’t compare to some of the ghost pepper, trinidad scorpion and carolina reaper BBQ products out there in the market, but this is a formidable spicy sauce that would be too hot for non-chileheads. Taste on Food: 4 out of 5. Ah…this stuff improves slightly while on food! I cant exactly put my finger on it, but the additional heat in conjunction with the deliciously complex flavor profile make this a winner on all your grilled and smoked meats. Heat: 3.5 out of 5. Mad Anthony’s Xtra Hot BBQ Sauce boasts some serious wallup with serious burn. Michael Anthony wanted real heat with his Xtra Hot BBQ Sauce, and that’s certainly what you’ll find here. If normal, milder levels of chile-laden fire are more your speed, then go for his Original BBQ Sauce. Thoughts:  My favorite out of the two barbeque offerings from Mad Anthony. A killer, all-purpose, Kansas City Style dipper and topper for all your outdoor cooked meats. Mad Anthony’s Fiery Mustard Sauce Ingredients: Organic Yellow Mustard (Organic Grain Vinegar, Water, Organic Mustard Seed, Salt, Organic Turmeric, Organic Paprika, Organic Spices), Mad Anthony’s Hot Sauce (Pimentos, Distilled Vinegar, Sweet Red Bell Peppers, Habanero Chili Pepper, Roasted Garlic, Tomato Puree, Sea Salt, Ancho Chili Pepper, Crushed Red Chili Pepper, Black Pepper, Cane Sugar, Spices, Onion Powder), Distilled Vinegar, Spices, Sugar, Salt. Aroma: 4 out of 5. Mustards in general are some of the last things I would ever offer up as being pleasant smelling. Yet this was pleasing to the nostrils with sweet and savory notes twirling about with some standard prepared yellow mustard scents. Appearance and Texture: 3.5 out of 5. Mad Anthony’s Fiery Mustard is super-duper thick – perhaps too thick to get out of the glass bottle (maybe it would be a bit easier to extract of it came in a classic plastic squeeze bottle). It’s a darker yellow tinted condiment speckled with finely-crushed pepper fragments and spices. Taste Straight Up: 4 out of 5. Let me tell you right away that I have particular preferences when it comes to mustards. I love spicy mustards with loads of flavor with a base of smoothness and sweetness of honey. I also like your good ol’ basic yellow ballpark mustards. Most others…well, it really depends. I’m not a fan of horseradish, nor am I a lover of pure, pungent mustard seed (which has a powerful, nasal-blasting flavor similar to horseradish ), and I don’t care for mustards heavy in harsh vinegar or ones that have an eggy, mayonnaise base. Yeah, I’m picky, so it had better be in my preference zone. Mad Anthony’s Fiery Hot Mustard Sauce is luckily within those confines of my taste palette.  A glance at the ingredients list shows that it’s a combination of organic yellow mustard and Mad Anthony’s Original Hot Sauce. I don’t know what proportions of each are included in this, but whatever amounts exist of the mustard and the hot sauce, they just flat-out work. There is the bright, vinegary bluster that hits you immediately, with rich peppery elements popping on your tongue a few seconds later. Although I would have loved Mad Anthony’s Fiery Mustard to be a tough sweeter, it’s still delightfully complicated and tasty enough to do the trick. I couldn’t wait to try this on food! Taste on Food: 4.5 out of 5. It gets even better on food! Hot dogs, smoked sausages, ham sandwiches and soft pretzel bites all benefit greatly from this condiment. It’s already one of my favorite mustards, and plan to keep it in my rotating arsenal of mustards that I use. Heat: 2.5 out of 5. This possesses a nice, comfortable, medium heat that doesn’t disappoint, just as long as you’re not looking for a brush fire in your mouth. Thoughts:  With a slight amount of tweaking, this could be the perfect mustard.

In Conclusion

Mad Anthony’s five sauces prove that they simply aren’t just pedestrian or novelty sauces with a celebrity’s name slapped on them. Thanks to the initial collaboration between Mike Greening and Michael Anthony, they made sure they came up with a stable of aces in these. If you’re interested in the Mad Anthony lineup and get your taste buds soaring, you can pick up the whole set at http://www.vanhalenstore.com/page/VH/CTGY/Mad. Related Posts Review – Mad Anthony’s Hot Sauces, BBQ Sauces, and Fiery Hot Mustard Share this: Click to Post

[lenaglittleus]

Orange Coconut Baked Tofu

The sweet and tangy taste of orange pairs perfectly with coconut in this orange coconut baked tofu recipe. Pair with rice and veggies for a vegetarian meal full of flavor and nutrition with no sugar added!

Last weekend C was travelling so I had the house all to myself. He actually travels a lot for work, so it’s nothing I’m not used to, but I usually take advantage of this time to hang out with my girlfriends and occasionally (though not normally) get some work done. But this past weekend I decided to give myself a weekend of ME. After an amazing hike through Lands End on Friday and some drinks on Ocean Beach, I decided to embrace my solo weekend and decided not to schedule any plans.

It’s probably been years since I’ve done something like this, and definitely not since moving. I’ve been overcompensating even for my usual social self to ensure I’m building a solid community here. It’s been wonderful getting to meet so many new people and also hang with my crew already here, but girlfriend needs a little alone time every now and then, so I took my opportunity and ran with it.

Whenever C travels I indulge myself by watching all the weird and niche Netflix documentaries that I know he would never want to watch. The latest in my string was “Sustainable”, which I highly recommend watching if you haven’t. It’s an eye-opening look at how agriculture is run in North America and the problems that have come of it. But it also serves as an important reminder of WHERE our food comes from, even if at times it feels like it comes from the grocery store.

By far, one of the most valuable pieces I’ve taken from running THM is how much of the food industry I’ve gotten to see and experience with my own eyes. Whether it be exploring the avocado farms of Mexico or the Orange Groves of Florida, this space has afforded me some incredible opportunities that I wish all of you could experience.

It’s allowed me to see first hand where our food comes from and make more educated decisions when I’m picking up my groceries. I think it also makes a huge difference when you’re meeting the farmers and getting a better understand of who you’re supporting when you purchase a product.

Take, for example this Orange Coconut Baked Tofu. After my trip to Florida, I go out of my way to support Florida orange farmers. Perhaps its because I feel a connection to them, or maybe it’s because I have a great understanding of their health benefits, but I know I reach for a glass of Florida orange juice when it comes to making OJ choices. Side note- did you know that florida oranges produce way more juice, which is why they’re often used for orange juice?! 

I think it’s so important that we educate ourselves, but also future generations about the roots (literally) of our food. I know that I have incredible privilege to be able to fly to Florida to see the orange groves myself, but it can also be as simple as visiting a farmer’s market or reaching out to a local farmer. Ask them where it’s grown. Ask them about the health benefits of that specific product. Get to know what produce your region is known for.

Florida is known for its citrus and honestly, once you try it, you get why. Artichoke season is ramping up in California and Ontario makes some of the best peaches I’ve ever tasted (sorry Georgia!). And then get creative with your food. Take OJ – of course it’s delicious with breakfast, but it also makes an awesome savory addition to meals. Even if you’re not drinking it, it’s still a great source of vitamin C, potassium and folate. P.S. You can learn more about the health benefits of oranges HERE.

Maybe I’ve just spent the last few days alone, but food is so freaking cool. Whether its getting to know its origins or seeing how the sweetness of oranges pairs with a savory dish, food and the ingredients that encompass our meals contain so much depth and history.

Alright, I’m done geeking out on this stuff. Back to civilization…

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Orange Coconut Baked Tofu

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  35 mins

Total time:  45 mins

Serving size: 4

Ingredients

1 16 oz block of firm or extra firm tofu

1 tsp coconut oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 inch knob ginger, peeled and minced

1 cup Florida Orange Juice

1 1/2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup warm water

3 tsp tapioca starch (arrowroot or cornstarch works too)

salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup unsweetened, dried coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut up tofu into bite-sized blocks and place on a baking sheet.

Bake for 25 mins.

Meanwhile add coconut oil to a large pan over medium heat.

Add in garlic and ginger and cook for 2 mins.

Top with orange juice, tamari, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and raise heat to high.

Bring mixture to a boil.

Add tapioca starch to warm water and stir to form a slurry.

Add slurry to orange mixture and bring to a boil before stirring vigorously. Repeat this process 3-4 times or until mixture has reduced to half.

Add in tofu and stir to coat with mixture.

Lay dried coconut on a large plate and add tofu 3-4 pieces at a time. Use a fork to toss in coconut until coated.

Serve immediately with rice and veggies.

3.5.3226

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Florida OJ. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make THM possible! Follow them on Facebook to stay up to date on when things are in season!

Are you a food geek too? What kind of food is your region know for?

The post Orange Coconut Baked Tofu appeared first on The Healthy Maven.

from News About Health http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHealthyMaven/~3/OUdDvQQKujE/orange-coconut-baked-tofu.html

[bigdatajoe]

The Evolution of Big Data Joe

Wow, a lot has changed since my last post back in September 2015. Both in Big Data and personally. I am no longer on the dark side (aka Sales/Consulting ) :-) .. I am now at Western Digital as the Global Sr. Director, Big Data Platform and Analytics and I am loving it! I have an amazing team spread across the world and we are doing some awesome things.

My perspective has changed a lot when it comes to Big Data since moving to a company to fully implement their Big Data vision. Some of the things I’ve learned are ..

Hadoop is not Big Data. I fell into the same trap as many others that Hadoop could do it all when it came to “Big Data” .. which isn’t the case. Hadoop does enable you to “Think Big” but there is an ecosystem of platform technologies that has to be in your Big Data Platform.

Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) is needed. MPP (AWS Redshift, Teradata, Netezza, etc) is essential to providing a last mile for relational data transformed in Hadoop. While you shouldn’t put all of your data there as it is pricier then storing your data in Hadoop, think of it as a transformation repository for Gigabytes to Terabytes of data and/or months worth of ad-hoc, performant data. Keep the Petabytes and years worth of data in Hadoop. While I know anyone that has read something about MPP-like technologies sitting on top of Hadoop; Cloudera Impala, Presto, Apache HAWQ .. they still aren’t truly MPP. While they are catching up, they still don’t have same core features that MPP technologies have had for years, like something as fundamental as full SQL compliance.

NoSQL (Not Only SQL) should be considered. For the data that doesn’t have to have a relational model, like key-value pairs, and will be accessed by front-end applications that will make sense of data, then NoSQL technologies should be considered. There are a lot of big players in this space; MongoDB, Cassandra, Riak; picking the right one depends on your use case. Right tool, right fit.

Some hardcore Hadoop'ers will bring up HBase for this type of workload. If it’s a small implementation, then go ahead give it a try. Personally, I have found that it’s better to separate the NoSQL workload from the Hadoop cluster. The NoSQL players out there do a better job of resource management.

Here’s a good overview of NoSQL technologies: https://kkovacs.eu/cassandra-vs-mongodb-vs-couchdb-vs-redis (It’s not always up to date, but it gives you a great understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.)

Data Science means nothing without context, get the talent you need by training internally. There are a ton of individuals on LinkedIn calling themselves a “Data Scientist”. (Nearly 27,000 as I write this and that’s only 1st and 2nd level connections for me.) The problem with this, is a Data Scientist is not a general title. A position like Systems Engineer/Administrator can jump between different business verticals and be valuable individual contributor quickly. A Data Scientist can’t do the same .. they need the context of the data. A Data Scientist working in retail or social media will have a very long ramp up period to be valuable to a manufacturing company. They need to be intimate with the data and understand the story the business data is trying to tell.

I have found that it’s much better to train exceptional internal talent that understands the story of the data and has the hunger to want to learn the skills necessary. You don’t want them to necessarily become a “Data Scientist” but a “Data Hacker”. A “Data Hacker” is someone that combines the context of the data with the skills necessary to put their theories into something tangible. Give this “Data Hacker” access to the data with tools available like; Scala/Spark, Python/R on Hadoop and magic can happen.

A specialized and dedicated IT team should be assigned to Big Data/Clustered Technologies. The saying “It Takes A Village” definitely applies when it comes to Big Data and Clustered Technologies. Typically companies will throw Hadoop, MPP and NoSQL into a general IT group that is used to supporting legacy RDBMS technologies. Then Big Data/Clustered technologies get lumped in the same place where data is stored and SQL queries are ran against it for reporting purposes.

If you want to truly get the benefits out of your investment you need to have a team that can help the business move from a “raw data > information” model to “raw > data > information > insights > impact” model. Helping the business get the value out of the data so it’s not just about “reactive reporting” but moving to “proactive tuning”.

Also, having this dedicated team helps enable business build that valuable “Data Hacker” I mentioned above. Combining the business subject matter expert with a developer from IT can expedite the process of taking an idea and putting it into production. Pairing those 2 types and combining that with training and knowledge transfer can be a great way to start your internal training program.

A specialized and dedicated IT Big Data/Clustered technologies team has talent from all spectrums of IT. Development, Operations, and Support. Also, the team should be cross-functional in a “DevOps”-type model. By having everyone invested in the product you are trying to deliver into the business, quality goes up exponentially. Eliminating Developers just throwing code over the wall to Operations and having everyone ownership is critical.

Hadoop can exist in the Cloud successfully. 4+ years ago, I would have never even considered a cloud based Hadoop deployment; too much latency, too much sharing, not enough horsepower, too many compromises. 3 years ago, I would have warned against it, but mostly because it was too expensive. Today, I wouldn’t deploy it any other way; agility, scalability, cost are in-line with on-premise deployments, easier to support with a globally distributed team. Something to note, this is still using the cloud service providers as an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) provider. There is still a lot we can do to optimize our environment to utilize cloud SaaS (Software as a Service) services, but I am still waiting for a lot of that to shake out before placing any long term bets.

There is a lot more I have learned and changed my stance on, but I can’t put it in writing. It’s top secret, magic sauce kind of things. :-)

The thing I love most about Big Data is there is so much going on and the landscape is still growing and forming after all this time.

To all my Big Data folks, what are some of the things that you have changed your mindset on over the years? Also, feel free to disagree with my points .. I love a spirited debate! :-)

Please feel free to leave comments and questions below.

Thanks for reading.

-Big Data Joe