Andrea's Nana Bread

Combine dry ingredients:
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Beat the real sugar and butter on high until it is lightened in color and texture. Then add in the sugar and applesauce.
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of sugar (or Splenda)
1/2 cup of applesauce

Slowly add the dry ingredients until combined. Then add:
4 large eggs

Finally fold in just until combined (don't over mix the batter or it will get gummy):
2 cups mashed very ripe bananana (about 4-5)
1 cup of chopped pecans, walnuts, or mini chocolate chips (optional)

Grease 2 standard loaf pans or makes 4 mini-loaves. Bake for 45-60 mins. at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean

Tableau Vizes

Tableau has a great blog post showing 10 great visualizations. Make sure you follow the orange links and play with the visualizations--most of them are interactive.

Social Media Usage

Social media usage figures from the BBC.

Cajun Power

Site for ordering Cajun Power sauces and rubs. Haven't tried them yet, but they are recommended by a good source.

Sauces

Gumbo Pages has a good page on sauces, including a discussion of mother sauces. Here for reference.

Bonnaroo Youtube

Bonnaroo has a YouTube channel.

Everyone Hates Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are hardly ever done correctly, and I think if not, then they do more harm than good. Companies should simply abandon the practice, and perhaps focus on more regular feedback/guidance opportunities.

It's coming up on review time at my work, and I think it's time to cancel them, as this author suggests.

Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburgers with Texas Barbecue Sauce

Recipe online

Coffee rub:

1 tablespoon freshly ground coffee
2 teaspoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Burgers:
8 slices applewood-smoked bacon
1 pound ground chuck (preferably grass-fed)
1 pound ground sirloin (preferably grass-fed)
8 slices smoked provolone, smoked caciocavallo, or smoked Gouda cheese (about 8 ounces)
8 potato-bread hamburger

Buns:
8 slices red onion
8 slices tomato
Texas Barbecue Sauce

For coffee rub: Mix all ingredients in small bowl. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

For burgers: Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Break in half. Gently mix chuck and sirloin in large bowl. Form meat into 8 patties, each 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter and 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Using thumb, make slight indentation in center of each burger. DO AHEAD: Burgers and bacon can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover separately and chill.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Sprinkle 1 teaspoon coffee rub on top side of each burger. Place burgers, rub side down, on grill rack. Grill until slightly charred, about 4 minutes; turn.
Place 2 bacon slice halves atop each burger. Cook 3 minutes.
Top each with 1 cheese slice. Cover and cook until cheese melts, about 1 minute longer. Place burgers atop bottom halves of buns. Top with onion slices and tomato slices. Spoon dollop of Texas Barbecue Sauce over. Cover with bun tops and serve, passing additional sauce alongside.

Bon Appétit
July 2009
by Fred Thompson

Tailgates Up

If you drive a truck, leave your tailgate UP for better gas mileage.

Artisinal Cereal

Go to Me & Goji to make your own cereal. Looks really nutritious and yummy, if a little pricey.

Slate/WaPo Site for Interactive Graphics

Nice site/blog where they list the cool new graphics or data stores that they have developed. Some are whimsical, but many are very well done and encompass large sets of data.

Stop, Hippy Time!

Timeline of major events of the 60's and 70's. Because that's the only time that really matters.

Curses

Hornswaggle

Codswallup

Codswaddle

Barnacles

Blazes

Lick-spittle

Scalawag

Criminy

Tarnation

Seeds

A great interface for a collection of articles from 2009 by Seed Magazine.

The Easy Star All Stars

The Easy Star All Stars morph into the bands that they cover. Except that the reggae part, of course.

Beatles (2009): Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Dub Band

Radiohead (2007): Radiodread

Pink Floyd (2006): Dub Side of the Moon

Mountain Goats Discography

Here

This is not ironic

Jesus holding the constitution.

Economic Stress Index Visualization

This is a great visualization from the AP about economic stressors. Breaks it down geographically, over time, and for multple metrics. They go the extra step of including biographies, so that you can see "beyond the numbers."

The Baseball Chart

Ben Fry's chart built in Processing about baseball salaries versus the performance of the team.

Listen to your inner voice

The worst book review ever.

Interview with Maria

An interview with Maria Bamford, after the release of her new album, Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome.

Books on Presentations

Advanced Presentation by Design by Andrew Abela

Presentation Zen Design by Garr Reynolds (website)

Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte (blog)

And finally, a review of these books by Peter Stoyko.

h/t ES and MK

Indexed

A site that forces you to be creative in condensing your message onto a single index card.

1870 Census

MK:

I ran across the 1870 US Census and thought a number of people may find it interesting in terms of data/information visualization. Not all of the plates are great but from a historical perspective it's pretty fascinating.

Dude

Playright Adam Bertocci wrote a parody of The Big Lebowski as if by Shakespeare and calls it The Two Gentlemen of Lebowski.

BioFail II

An object lesson on the hubris of mankind and their notions that they can control nature.

Econ Books on the Great Recession

From Joseph Stiglitz, Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy. He discusses the book and the governments under-reaction to the Recession on Huffington Post.

From Yves Smith, ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism. Discussed in this review on FDL.

I plan to read Stiglitz for sure. No shortage of books on the topic, either.

Stand-Up Economist

Yoram Bauman does stand-up comedy about economics...and is pretty funny.

Cyanide and Happiness

Profits!

A comic strip that is actually funny. Going on the list.

Mini Provolone Popovers

I look for any excuse to use the mini muffin tin...these popovers just might become a favorite.

Recipe:

1 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/3 cup finely chopped provolone

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped chives

Equipment: a 24-cup mini-muffin pan

Whisk together milk, eggs, flour, 1 tablespoon butter, salt, and pepper until smooth, then stir in cheeses and chives. Chill 1 hour to allow batter to rest.

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in upper third.

Butter muffin pan with remaining tablespoon butter, then heat in oven until butter sizzles, about 2 minutes.

Gently stir batter, then divide among muffin cups (they will be about two-thirds full). Bake until puffed and golden-brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Cooks' note:

Batter can be made 1 day ahead and chilled.

Electric Vehicles

I am very excited about the prospect for electric vehicles. The nice thing about electricity is that it can be produced from a variety of local sources. For example, you could have a windmill on your farm, or a solar panel on your roof. This makes them adaptable to local power production, saving on power transportation costs.

They can also rely on the current power grid which is at least partially developed for power distribution for cars. Electricity is nearly everywhere, even at current gas stations. All that is needed is a plug and a payment mechanism to make it work.

For these reasons, electric cars represent, I think, one key to a paradigm shift in thinking about energy.

Socially, electric cars have a wimpy image, which is ironic given how much torque an electric motor delivers. Many of the electric car designs are made small to conserve energy because the battery technology is not there yet to hold a relatively large amount of electricity. Electric vehicles are powerful enough to run locomotives and they power some very fast and powerful cars like the Tesla Roadster.

Dave McCandless Interview

A nice article/interview with Dave McCandless, InfoGraphic Maestro...

Cajun Pot Pies

Delicious shrimp and andouille pot pies. Yum.

I usually get my andouille at the Soulard Farmer's Market. If you have a better place to get it, please leave it in the comments.

Belligerent is as belligerent does

Senator McCain might be reminded that he gets belligerent at times, too.

Fixing Bad Graphics

Stephen Few and his company Perceptual Edge have a nice set of examples of charts they have fixed.

Crazy

You're the only one who can hear the voices in your head, and no one else cares what they say.

- Me

GDP During the Great Depression

For future reference:

Obama Meets with Business Roundtable

Obama meets with the Business Roundtable, March 12th, 2009.

Video courtesy of C-Span.

Greenwald Quote

"The reason that Americans voted overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats in the last two elections and overwhelmingly against Republicans is because they want Democratic policies and not Republican policies. They drove Republicans out of office in massive numbers because they don't want Republicans and their policies governing the country...The political establishment has never come to terms with, and the media establishment just refuses to acknowledge, how deeply unpopular and discredited the GOP is among most Americans in the wake of the eight-year Bush disaster."

- Glen Greenwald

Paraprosdokian

Take my blog post, please. Paraprosdokian sentences make some of the best jokes.

A few of my favorites:

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out." — Bill Hicks

"I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." — Mitch Hedberg

"I like going to the park and watching the children run and jump around, because you see, they don't know I'm using blanks." — Emo Philips

Massive Attack

Great video effects for this Massive Attack video.

You know them from their song Angel.

Radiohead for Haiti

Sun is Shining

Mountain Goats - Cemetery Gates

Pitchfork TV shows a series of videos by The Mountain Goats, mostly from their album The Life of the World to Come (all but Love Love Love).

What is interesting is how they wrote the songs on the album. Each refers to a bible verse, but is not a direct interpretation. They use the same idea, but have modern references and settings. John Darnielle, the writer and lead singer, is a poet first and uses his music to showcase his verse. I think he is one of the best lyricists working today.

For example, Psalm 40:2 from the King James version of the Bible:

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

And the lyrics to the corresponding Mountain Goats song, Psalm 40:2:

Pulled off the highway in Missouri and low our hearts were heavy laid

Made for the chapel with some spray paint for all the things we'd held in secret

Lord lift up these lifeless bones

Light cascading through the windows

all the rainbow's heavy tones

He has fixed his sign in the sky

He has raised me from the pit and set me high

Left that place in ruin, drunk on the Spirit and high on fumes

Checked into a Red Roof in stayed up for several hours and then slept like infants

In the burning fuselage of my days

Let me mouth be ever fresh with praise

He has fixed his sign in the sky

He has raised me from the pit and set me high

Each morning new

Each day shot through

With all the sharps small shards of shrapnel

that seem to burst of me and you

Head down towards Kansas

We will get there when we get there don't you worry

Feel bad about the things we do along the way

But not really that bad

We inhaled the frozen air

Lord send me a mechanic if I'm not beyond repair

He has fixed his sign in the sky

He has raised from the pit and he will set me high

Quiche Lorraine

OK, it doesn't look the greatest, but it tasted awesome. Much easier than I thought, too. I think I'll be making more of quiches on weekends and such. The pre-made pie crust makes them very quick, too. Just make sure to brown the crust a little before adding the quiche mixture. You can find the recipe anywhere.

Mmmmm...

Also a great B-52s song.

Frank Rich on the FCIC

The Other Plot To Wreck America, by Frank Rich

The financial crash precipitated by the failure of Lehman Brothers was the banking industry's 9/11. Without reform, another massive attack on our economic security is guaranteed.

A link to the FCIC, the commision that is investigating the crash.

The Website Is Down

Web Classic

Stewart Does Beck

This is so funny, I almost had an acccident: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911060002

Scientist Turned Comedian

Tim Lee does stand-up using scientific topics as jumping-off points.