Broccoli and/or Brussels Sprout Tacos

Dr.W

Brussels Sprout Taco

By popular demand, I am posting my copyrighted, trademarked, and patented recipe for Broccoli and/or Brussels Sprout Tacos. These are pretty terrible, so don’t even bother trying to steal the recipe. (I have an automated alert setup with my lawyer, Saul, to sue you if you cook these.)

I don’t have specific quantities as I tend to wing it when cooking. Maybe that’s why they don’t always taste the same. They usually make less than you think though since they cook down. Tonight the broccoli was 5oz (frozen) for 1 taco, and the brussels sprouts were also 5oz (frozen) for 1 taco (plus about 1/2 extra). In the past I’ve used fresh, but wanted to try frozen to see if I could always have these on hand. I’d say the broccoli was good frozen, but the sprouts are way better fresh. May as well go fresh then if you can. Duh.

The basics are:

  • Cut up the Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts (maybe try mixing them too!!)
  • Mix with Olive Oil
  • Bake until they start to have black edges. You probably have to mix them around every 10-20min or so so they cook evenly. It can take maybe 35-60min baking. (The sprouts take longer than the broccoli)
  • Salt when done.
  • Coat a (warm) soft tortilla w/ (warm) refried beans and put a hard taco in the center of it
  • Fill the hard taco shell with your veggies … fold up the soft tortilla!
  • Add some sort of mexican cheese on top (optional).. Queso Blanco is a great choice, or standard Kraft Mexican blend.

It’s great just like that..

However if you want to get fancy like me, you can mix-in more stuff before baking.. Tonight’s mix-ins were:

  • Corn
  • Chopped onions
  • Potbelly’s Hot Peppers

That was all great tonight, especially in the Broccoli one. I think the Brussels Sprouts didn’t get as much of the mix-ins and was a bit overcooked since it had to cook longer than the Broccoli.

Also, previously I have tried adding jalapeños (good) and tomatillos (bland).

There you go and good luck!!

Backup your Delicious Bookmarks!

Dr.W

[UPDATED 2012.07.05 : Apparently Delicious changed their API to automatically limit to 1000 entries if you don’t specify via the “results” URL argument.  Updated the script below, but you should customize to your own limit. ]

If you’re not paying attention, (Yahoo and) social bookmarking service Delicious is in trouble. Although no one can know for sure what will happen, you can bet Delicious will never be the same, one way or another.  So while we’re all looking for alternatives (so far nothing awesome found), you should think about backing up your bookmarks just in case the worst happens.

So you’ve got plenty of options for backing up your cloud’d bookmarks. You can import your bookmarks into another service, you can copy/backup (or export/edit) the ybookmarks.sqlite file in your Library/Application\ Support/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/BLAH dir. Here’s your other 2 options:

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Quick Note: sshblack updates for OSX 10.6 and China

Dr.W

chinese flag

chinese flag by Herr_Bert

If you’ve got sshd (or anything else) running on your computer that is open to the internet, i recommend installing some extra security measures to help ensure you don’t get hacked. I’m not going to go into all those details right now, but i recommend setting up sshblack which will watch your logs and blacklist multiple attempts to break into your system.  I’ve got sshblack running on OSX (basic Mac config instructions here), and since i recently updated to Snow Leopard, I had noticed some extra network activity.   After checking my logs, I could tell that someone bad in China was trying to brute force their way in to my machine with a list of random user names. (Obviously you should disable ssh access for all common usernames like root.)

So after reading the logs, it turns out that the ssh error messages have changed in 10.6, so you need to update your sshblack to look for these new errors. Or maybe this is just a new type of attack, but it did coincide with my Snow Leopard update. Regardless, I had to add “Invalid user” to my sshblack.pl :

my($REASONS) = '(Failed password|Failed none|Invalid user )';

And then just restart your sshblack.  So there you go, my system is now back to blocking China.  I guess Michael Scott was right.

MicroReview: Syncplicity

Dr.W

(The first in hopefully many “MicroReviews” – small reviews geared to quickly get the bottom line info to you. No fluff!)

I was looking for a way to backup/sync my Google Docs locally, and Syncplicity seemed to be one of the only (free) currently working options (now that Google Gears has been disabled). Overall, it is a very simple/slick interface, with some benefits over DropBox (ie: you can “sync” any folder on your system). Importantly it uses Google Docs API, and doesn’t require your password.  It will sync Docs down and convert to MS Doc, XLS, and PPT format so you can edit locally in your native MS Office. Unfortunately that’s all it does, and doesn’t support any other file types on Google Docs. And unfortunately there seems to be a bit of lag before you notice changes in the Google Docs sync.  What’s worse is that if you “move” a doc on your computer to a subfolder, it only does a “copy” leaving a duplicate behind. And the new “copy” loses all sharing you previously had. Bottom line, this is a no-go for now.

Current alternatives: SMEStorage (Sorry, there was no way I was giving them my Google password), and Insync (I’m still waiting for an invite), or someday Google will release its new “offline” HTML5 stuff.

Review: Automatic Photo Scanner

Dr.W

Epson Perfection 2480Well, its been YEARS since I’ve taken good old analog pictures, and i’ve had it on my wishlist to scan in all my old photos. There are various services out there that will scan in your photos for you, but i always like to see what’s possible to do yourself. I didn’t do a ton of research, but some basic checks seemed to be around $150 for a service to scan a box of photos the size i have (around a large shoebox).  So I’ve been looking around to see if i can do it cheaper myself.  Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a huge market for consumer priced photo scanners with auto feeders (too bad!). If you’re looking for a new all-in-one printer/scanner, you can find many from $100-200 that have automatic document feeders, but most these feeders are made for 8×11 paper, not photos. Given the price of toner/ink these days, i was at a decision point on my old printer. A few deals popped up, and i researched a few options, but couldn’t find anything that definitively said it could handle photos in the feeder.

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Sneak Peak: Secretariat

Dr.W

Well, Assoc Prof W and I caught a sneak peak of the new Disney movie, Secretariat last week. I was extremely excited about this movie, but not quite sure what the Disney label would do to it. And of course this movie was obviously going to be compared to Seabiscuit, so I had high expectations.  I can’t say I can write a very thorough review, but here goes nothing.  Spoiler Alert!

The Morning Line

Secretariat is the title character of this story, and the 1973 Triple Crown winner with the current KY Derby and Belmont records for Speed (1:59.40 & 2:24.00 respectively) and Largest Winning Margin (31 lengths) in the Belmont.  But this movie isn’t about Secretariat. This movie is a story about Sec’s owner, Penny Chenery/Tweedy. Penny inherits the farm from her father, brings in ridiculously (awesome) dressed trainer Lucien Laurin, and pushes everyone to win the Triple Crown.  Obviously intended to be a story of a strong woman overcoming adversity, there are a few great scenes with the Ponies as well.  And then throw in a few cameo’s by Entourage’s Kevin Connolly as a reporter with a ridiculous moustache, and I guess that completes any story.

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Fall TV Preview

Dr.W

Well, after a relatively slow summer of TV, I’m getting excited for the new Fall Shows.  I was extremely disappointed at most TV sites’ coverage which only included the major networks. TV is shifting quickly to cable, and the internet ain’t moving with it so fast.  It was tough to track down all the non-network gems. And I’ll tell you, SyFy sure makes it extra hard to track down their coming season, so I hope i didn’t miss any here. Here’s my take for now:

The Old Favorites

Mondays: How I Met Your Mother, Chuck
Tuesdays: NCIS, Glee (I keep giving JC McNamara the benefit of the doubt, but this one’s spotty), Will these guys syrvive the move from Fryday: Stargate Universe, Caprica (Oct 5), Sons Of Anarchy (10pm FX)
Wednesday: Modern Family
Thursday: Community, 30 Rock, The Office, Fringe
Friday:  Sanctuary (Oct 15 – What else will be on the standard Fryday Nyght Syfy? I couldn’t tell.)
Saturday: Zippie!
Sunday: The Amazing Race, The Simpsons (Is this thing still on?), Eastbound & Down,  Bored to Death (Yes, it is)

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Movie Review: Alienator

Dr.W

AlienatorWell, its a lazy sunday and while surfing through my on-demand menu, i stumbled across this gem: Alienator [ IMDB , Trailer ]. Obviously, the name drew me in at once.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but turns out this is a terrible 80’s scifi action movie. The kind where the bad guys are wearing headbands over their mullets, the good guys are wearing space-uniforms with baseball caps, the doors are all outlandish shapes, and the soundtrack is 100% synthesizer.  So far so good, I love me a cheesy 80’s flick.  The cheesier the better.  Simple plot: a prisoner escapes a space-jail and The Alienator hunts him down on earth.

Unfortunately, this movie is about as SciFi as dirt. The first ten minutes are some pretty good ridiculous space scenes on the spaceship (just a made-over industrial warehouse) where all the computers are just blinking lights. But within 10 minutes the action shifts down to Earth, and the movie gets overrun with hillbilly’s and trailer trash chugging their Bud while driving down the road in their campers.  And the biggest disappointment of all is there is no Aliens!  What kind of movie do you call Alienator without Aliens!

Well, ok, I guess the Alienator was supposed to be an Alien. Turns out he was just some sort of David Bowie Action Hero she-male-robot hybrid decked out with a white hair-band wig, silver KISS make-up, and a cybernetic bra.

I have to say that after sitting through this entire horrible movie, the climax made it all totally worth it.  Now if only they would cut out all the back-woods scenes/actors, we’d have a good 15min of cheesy SciFi flick.  If you’ve got a spare 20 min, watch the first 10 and the last 10 and you’ll be good.

So if you’re the type of person that loves terrible movies (like I am), this is the terriblest!

Netflix for iPhone

mg5v

I have been messing around with the new Netflix iPhone app for about a week now. My initial impressions are below.

Why Do I Care:
I don’t typically watch much video on my iPhone unless I am traveling. Since Netflix requires a network connection, I figured this service wouldn’t fill the important “bored on an airplane” need, and consequently be of little use. With that in mind, I was a bit curious to see if I would actually use the app. As it turns out, it’s been great.

I share a TV with my wife and young daughter. My viewing preferences often conflict with theirs. Last night while my wife was watching cooking shows, I watched a documentary on the Rolling Stones. I could have done this on my computer of course, but I sit in front of a computer all day at work, and don’t really care to be desk-bound at home. I took my documentary outside and watched by the pool. Later, I watched Black Adder in bed, then in the bathroom, then outside while walking the dogs (OK, I was just listening to it at that point). I’ve never had this kind mobility before!

It’s also been nice to have a huge library available instantly, wherever I am. A friend sent me a few Big Lebowski quotes at work the other day. 90 seconds later I was watching the film on my iPhone. (Netflix is blocked on my work network). I could get used to this.

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Quick Thoughts: New Apple Stuff

Dr.W

Apple TV 2010 ($99)Well, we got a slew of new Apple announcements/products today, and here’s my quick run-down.  Of course, everything is awesome, but i always like to point out a few flaws.  Here’s my quick run-down.

Apple TV ($99)

This is definitely the most interesting of the announcements for me.  Unfortunately, its awesome size wasn’t enough to sell me. Although at $99, this is mighty tempting.  The price point is clearly the big winner here. This thing will do all the standard Apple/iTunes stuff, plus Netflix (!) and a few other not-so interesting web stuff (YouTube, Flickr, etc).

Unfortunately for me, the big drawback is the 720p max resolution. That’s not too bad, but I’m an HD snob, and 720p is just not HD for me.  Especially on my world’s largest 52″ Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR6 in glorious 1080p.  Granted, Netflix is only streaming 720p max so far these days, and my RIDICULOUSLY SLOW (and therefore over-priced) Comcast connection seems to stutter even in 720p, despite speed tests always showing over 20Mbps.

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