“X-Files for X-Philes
daily photos, quotes, and musings”
I am enjoying the hell out of this.
Yearly Archives: 2009
The Complete Guide to Google Wave
Because I’ve struggled to explain (okay, or fully understand) what exactly Wave is:
Google Wave is a new online communications tool that enables groups of people to edit and discuss documents simultaneously on the web. The Google Wave team says Wave is “what email would look like if it were invented today.”
The premise is that email — having been developed 40-ish years ago and not evolving much since — perpetuates multiple electronic copies of stuff.
Wave is a way to create one centrally-located copy of a conversation and related files that the participants can all look at in real time, instead of sending the same stuff back and forth and experiencing the attendant delay.
50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology
The 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology is an annual roster of the 50 African-Americans making the most significant impact on the global technology scene as innovators, executives, educators or public policy drivers.
This year’s list is the 10th annual.
Hello Africa – Documentary on Mobile Penetration in Zanzibar
Synopsis from the filmmakers:
Hello Africa is the title of a documentary that illustrates cellphone culture in Africa. It shows images of contemporary Africa with focus on people’s lifestyles, popular culture, habits, activities and opinions in the context of mobile technology usage. The movie portraits individuals from all society: teachers, athletes, vendors, watchmen, musicians and many more. They all have in common that they are connected and have unique stories to tell. Contrasts, strong visuals and a cool soundtrack presents this theme and, in a broader sense, aims to raise the awareness of the ICT4D movement.
Portraits with Becca
We’ve been trying to figure out what to do about wedding photography. We’re leaning away from hiring a photographer for wedding day. But we also wanted some really nice photos of us that didn’t involve Missy holding the camera at arm’s length. So when our friend Becca Dilley mentioned that she was participating in the Portraits with a Heart fundraiser for the Leukeumia-Lymphoma Society, we jumped on that. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but we knew Becca would be fun to hang with and is a great photographer. And we were totally right.
We hemmed and hawed a bit on the matching vests. Are matching outfits too cheesy? Maybe a little, but I think it worked. That blue vest really brings out Missy’s eyes. And don’t down vests and jeans just scream autumn in Minnesota?
For the former and current Twin Citizens in the house, the location is on the Minnehaha Creek trail in the vicinity of the Lyndale Ave bridge. Minnehaha Creek is one of my favorite places in all of the Twin Cities. You’d never know you were smack in the middle of south Minneapolis.
See more of Becca’s photography on flickr, find out more about her services at beccadilley.com, and check out her blog for a running tally of recent projects (like ours).
Thanks, Becca!
New Tradition: Christmas Eve Breakfast
Dutch baby pancake with sauteed apples OH YEAH.
Originally uploaded by missymw.
See the set for the recipe. I had my first (and last) dutch baby pancake almost four years ago and it was memorable. This one lived up to the memory. Every Christmas Eve that we’re at home, this is breakfast.
Gingerbread Yogis!
Missy’s Christmas gift from my sister arrived in its own special box on Christmas Eve.
This guy is my favorite. Full-screen it to see what each pose is called.
These gingerbread yoga people are courtesy of Baked Ideas.
Barbara Ehrenreich points out that we have an “entire shame industry” set up to make you feel bad about losing your job, buying that house, or sleeping with that guy. One need only read the comments in one of Poverty in America’s most notorious posts on the foreclosure crisis to see not only a resounding lack of empathy, but also outright hostility towards former homeowners presumed to have made bad choices that we would obviously never make. Or this post that I wrote after only one month at Change.org: an attempt to shame the shamers who blamed undocumented workers for our economic exploitation.
As food stamp use grows, the stigma associated with their use is allegedly falling. As we continue to see widespread unemployment, foreclosures, and reliance on private and public assistance well into 2010, we must stick to the messaging that we are all in this together, that we have nothing to be ashamed of, and that we can only reshape and recapture the “American Dream” by reforming the political and economic causes that got us to this moment. Of course, without action, this is just a lot of empty rhetoric.
As posted at Poverty in America | Change.org. (via Jason’s tumblr)
“Godfather of the Public Option” Explains Why He Still Believes in the Healthcare Reform Bill
The public option was always a means to an end: real competition for insurers, an alternative for consumers to existing private plans that does not deny needed care or shift risks onto the vulnerable, the ability to provide affordable coverage over time. I thought it was the best means within our political grasp. It lay just beyond that grasp. Yet its demise–in this round–does not diminish the immediate necessity of those larger aims. And even without the public option, the bill that Congress passes and the President signs could move us substantially toward those goals.
As weak as it is in numerous areas, the Senate bill contains three vital reforms. First, it creates a new framework, the “exchange,” through which people who lack secure workplace coverage can obtain the same kind of group health insurance that workers in large companies take for granted. Second, it makes available hundreds of billions in federal help to allow people to buy coverage through the exchanges and through an expanded Medicaid program. Third, it places new regulations on private insurers that, if properly enforced, will reduce insurers’ ability to discriminate against the sick and to undermine the health security of Americans.
These are signal achievements, and they all would have been politically unthinkable just a few years ago.
The whole thing is worth a read. Jacob Hacker also addresses some chief criticisms from progressives. It all still feels pretty pie-in-the-sky to me. I’ll believe it when I see it and I’ll be grateful for the cheap health insurance I have in the mean time.
Crockpot Veggie Chili (with Turkey) Recipe
Every time I tweet about this, I get asked what our recipe is, so I thought I’d publish for posterity. I forget where we got it from, but it started out as a veggie chili recipe. After the first batch we decided it was a little too lean, so we added the turkey to it.
Ingredients:
1 package ground turkey
1 15 oz can black beans
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 head cauliflower or broccoli
2 potatoes or sweet potatoes
1 onion (white, yellow, sweet, whatever)
4-ish large carrots
whatever seasonings you like
Preparation:
- Brown up the turkey and season heavily. I usually use some combo of cayenne pepper or chili powder, garlic powder, basil, poultry seasoning, onion powder, stuff like that.
- Chop up all your vegetables.
- Put everything in the crockpot.
- Season again. I usually just add extra garlic powder and chili powder or cayenne pepper at this point. Stir.
- Set the crockpot on low for 6 hours.
- Season again partway through (if you happen to be home). Stir again.
- Eat!
Usually I do the meat browning and can opening while Missy does all the peeling and chopping. Takes us about 15-20 minutes.
You could substitute fresh tomatoes if you want. We definitely like the sweet potatoes over regular potatoes. They add a little more sweetness which is a nice contrast and also plays nicely with the heat of the cayenne or chili. And they’re healthier. It never had enough kick until I started adding a third round of seasoning partway through the cooking.
Obviously, if you left the turkey out or substituted soy crumbles it’d be vegetarian. Vegan, even (I think). If you’re accustomed to eating meat, this mix of vegetables – especially with broccoli or cauliflower – gives it a lot of texture. I don’t think you’ll miss the meat, necessarily. But, like I said, we found it to be a little too lean for our tastes.
What I like about it is it’s so lean. You can eat until you’re stuffed, but you won’t get that gross, I’m-full-of-meat feeling since you digest vegetables differently. I know some people have trouble feeling satisfied without meat or more fat, so a spoonful of sour cream in your bowl goes a long way, too.
If you have any genius ideas for modifications or substitutions, do share.
Enjoy!