Thinking - Robotic pleasantries

I  normally say please when I speak to google and ask it something.

I suspect this might be a good habit to get into because...

1. One day robots might get offended if you dont thank them, and punch you in the face.
2. If we get out of the habit of thanking stuff for doing stuff for us, we will start offending people making us coffee, because we will forget they are human.
3. If our kids get out of the habit of watching us thank stuff, the world will probably end in an enormous fireball, killing us all. 

Thank the floor for not letting you fall. Do it now. It deserves some credit. It's a thankless task, but a very important one.

120ThingsIn20Years Thinks it's probably worth thanking everything. 

Thinking - Pedestrian traffic self control

So... you know that thing where you are walking between someone close to some shelves or something and your turn your body sideways... to kind of... crab shuffle... past them?

I just discovered that I'm officially thicker than I am wide, so I should just barge past them front on from now on.

It's more polite, more efficient, and less disruptive.

You also have the added advantage of not needing to decide to go front facing, or butt facing when you brush past them.

120ThingsIn20Years asks...Thicker than you are wide?...

Just barge on through facing front!

Aquaponics - Seed raising in sphagnum moss

Anyone looking for a nice clean medium to sprout seeds for aquaponics should have a look at sphagnum moss. The seedlings come out with out any damage to roots, and perfectly clean.

You can even place a wad directly into your system and put the seeds into it. Then either leave the moss in place for ever (it doesn't rot, but springs back into life, even though you buy it dry and dead).

You could also just pick it out once the plant had become established.

Here are radishes, and some kind of leek or something growing on my kitchen window sill.




120 Things in 20 years grew something!

Cheese - Where are all the good bits?

The best bits of hard cheese are the white specks that sparkle on the tongue and make you ratchet up to the next price or age range, and give your cheese maker more of your money.

These tasty white specks on aged cheese are the result of enzymes and other interesting things acting on complex fats that are broken down into free fatty acids. Whatever "free fatty acids"are.

I'll let you know if they turn out to be important, but compared to how important cheese is, I'm guessing they rank a distant second at best, so this is probably the last you will hear of them from me.

The result is these little crystalline bursts of awesomeness that you can see distributed around in cheeses like parmesan.

They are delicious.

Go and open the fridge or climb down into your celler now and have a look.

Better yet dig out all the crystalline bits and eat them all, and see what I mean.

Nobody else in your house will mind.

I'll wait.

See how absurdly delicious they are?

So....

It turns out these crystals of goodness form over time as the cheese drys from the outside in. As a result, you should buy cheese from the outside of a round rather than the inside, as even though the entire cheese is the same age, the cheese on the inside hasn't "aged" as much.

Probably to do with it drying or it's exposure to air or something.

It doesn't matter. Buy the stuff nearest the rind, and nearest to the outside of the round.

But my question is...

Why dont they just make parmesan with a hole through the middle like a doughnut to allow the air into the centre?

120ThingsIn20Years is eating cheese, and thinks it should be even better.

Thinking - Lightning

I never realised just how far out of my way I'm willing to go to get struck by lightning.

I've called 000 (911) at least half a dozen times in my life.

Closer to ten times I think.

One of the times I called was to report a bushfire started by lightning. One of the other times was a house fire caused by the two %#@!*% running away from the fire they set in some guys house, and another time was a house fire caused by who knows what.

So three fires.

I'm getting worried that at some stage, the people who are authorities about such stuff will start to wonder why I'm always at the scene of such things. All I can do is proclaim vigilance.

Perhaps I'm setting fires but dont recall....

Either way, I think it's best I call the requisite authorities and have them come and put out the fires/or whatever else is required.

I'm pretty sure it isn't me.

If it was me, I'd have to doubt the first time I called the police by waving down a cop on a motorcycle, and set him off to chase the three big boys that pushed me down into the gravel and scratched my bike. I had a crazy sense of power as an eight year old boy.

Righteous, but crazy.

However it plays out, I'm of the opinion that people like fire fighters and cops are at my command.

I am a white, middle class, middle aged, male.

The world (sadly) is built for me.

Anyway...

I've called for a lot of fire fighters in my time, and they always respond quickly.

So today I find myself sitting in my driveway under some power lines enjoying a lightning storm, and wondering who would call the required medics on my behalf should I be struck by lightning.

After all, I'm the guy that does that. I'm not sure there is another guy in my street that does that.

I'm not even sure there is another human that does that.

I may well be the record holder for the most vigilant caller of emergency personnel on the planet for all I know. 

So...

Actually I've got nothing to say.

Next time there is lightning, take out a chair and a beer and with a little luck, it will make you happy.

Happy is good.

Enjoy nature's extremes.

If you get killed by being stuck by lightning, sue me if you're feeling mean.


120 Things in 20 years is still here