Die Wunderwaffe 303 v6

28 listopada 2009, sobota
TEKTURA, Wieniawska 15a
Start: 22:00
Wjazd: 10PLN

Po ostatniej udanej imprezie, czas na kolejny techno wstrząs tym razem w TEKTURZE! Już 28 listopada w sobotę tuż przed andrzejkami ekipa BREAK THE SYSTEM zaprasza Was na DIE WUNDERWAFFE 303 v6. To już szósta odsłona tego cyklu imprez techno w Lublinie po prawie 3 latach tradycji. Tym razem usłyszycie dużą dawkę bardzo energicznej muzyki. Królować będą dźwięki HARD HOUSE, HARD NRG, FREEFORM, nie zabraknie również prawdziwego i dobrego ACID TECHNO. Gościć będziemy dwie znane postacie polskiej sceny techno: Szami z ekipy Sambattack – Radomsko oraz Quard z trójmiejskiego 18BDP.

Scena Hard House / Hard NRG / Hard Techno / Acid Techno / Freeform:
Szami – SambAttack/unHoly Beats (Radomsko)
Quard – 18bdp (Sopot)
Prozak – 34Mation (Lublin)
Insekt – Holera (Lublin)
Mole – Break The System (Lublin)
Vinkiel – Break The System (Lublin)

ZAPRASZAMY!

Biografie:

Szami
Jedna z wielu ofiar wybuchu w województwie łódzkim i powiecie radomszczańskim pandemii wirusa londyńskiego, kwaśnego techno, i energetycznych dźwięków hardhouse/nrg. Te drugie w szczególności, przypasowały mu najbardziej . Klasyczny tragiczny przypadek – najpierw jeżdżenie po imprezach, później próby organizacji swoich parties, które pociągneły za sobą chęć stanięcia za dekami. Tak też się stało. Może i dobrze, naukowcem by raczej nie został, a w sporcie też jakoś nie szło…Aktualnie, od około dwóch lat, wraz z djem Zbirem oraz Camelem i Wykutym Mattem współodpowiedzialni za cykliczne imprezy unHoly Beats w częstochowskim klubie Galeria Teatr From Poland. Razem z Pure Underground i JahSound miał też swój wkład i czynny udział przy powstawaniu największego polskiego teknivalu – Centertek, oraz przy jego drugiej edycji. Sety głównie w klimatach hardhouse/nrg/trance. Zabierzcie młodsze siostry, najlepiej vege!

Quard
Przygodę z gramofonami zaczął pod koniec roku 2004. Karmiony ciężkimi londyńskimi brzmieniami acid i hard techno szybko odnalazł swój styl w graniu, który jednak nie ogranicza się tylko do wyżej wymienionych są to również cięższe rytmy takie jak schranz, hardcore czy frenchcore. Od 2005 roku w raz z grupą przyjaciół z Trójmiasta z powodzeniem organizuję eventy muzyczne na których można posłuchać zarówno wykonawców z Polski jak i z zagranicy. Był członkiem nieistniejących już formacji takich jak Disco Junkies i Techno Mafia. W połowie roku 2006 po wielkiej burzy mózgów powołał wraz z Pitem i Artificialem nową instytucję o tajemniczo brzmiącej nazwie 18bdp, która szybko przerodziła się w prężnie rozwijający się Sound System, podróżujący po całej Polsce i odwiedzający coraz to nowe miejsca promując swoja muzykę. Miał przyjemność grać z takimi osobistościami jak Chris Liberator, Dave The Drummer, DDR, Rhythm Technologies, Bad Boy Pete, Clodagh, Dynamic Intevention, I:gor, Keygen Kaotic czy Suburbass.

Infekt
REKTAL aka REKTOR aka INFEKT aka HOLERIK aka KWIATEK – prężny i aktywny członek HOLERY

Prozak
Prozak. Ofiara drugiej fali acid techno w Polsce, któremu pozostaje wierny już od 8 lat. Dalsza ewolucja pcha go w kierunku dźwięków hard nrg i freeform, o które bardzo lubi urozmaicać swoje sety. Zawiedziony (zniesmaczony?) faktem, że większość jego ulubionych wytwórni skupia się w coraz większym stopniu na cyfrowych wydaniach – których nie jest wielkim fanem – poszukuje inspiracji w coraz to odleglejszych czasowo klimatach. Ostatnia fascynacja old schoolem i happy hardcorem (nie mylić z UK hardcore!) na pewno będzie miała (ma…) duży wpływ na brzmienie jego miksów. Music is the key of life !

Mole
Za dekami od 2004 roku. Nie ukończył żadnej szkoły muzycznej, nie grał na pianinie ani na flecie. Członek i założyciel lubelskiego sound systemu Break The System (www.breakthesystem.pl), aktywny działacz Lubelskiego Forum Reggae (www.forumreggae.info). Organizator wielu eventów i tych mniejszych i tych większych na terenie Lublina i Poznania. Menedżer ds. artystycznych. Grał w wielu klubach i na wielu plenerach w licznych miejscach i miastach z różnymi artystami z poza granic Polski i z kraju. Preferuje różne gatunki muzyki: od roots reggae poprzez acid techno/nrg po hardcore (szczególnie frenchcore oraz old school gabba/artcore).

Vinkiel
Maca publicznie czarnulki od 2002r. Wbrew powszechnemu zjawisku nie interesował się muzyką od dzieciństwa. Kiedy już zaczął sprawa okazała się jednoznaczna. Popadł w rytm uk i acid techno. Z biegiem lat i wpływem ketaminy na polską publikę, zaczął pogrywać mocniejsze melodyjki, jak nrg, hardtek, hardkor, frenchcore aż po breakcore. Niezdrowe zainteresowanie angielskim techno pozostało jednak aż do dziś i ma się nadzwyczaj dobrze. Grał na większości polskich freeteków oraz w klubach, które tolerują patologiczną muzykę i nie mieszają browaru z wodą. Jest przeciwnikiem reggae, minimali i house (no chyba że hard house).

Informacje:
http://myspace.com/boombatek
http://www.myspace.com/unholybeats
http://www.myspace.com/molebts
http://electro.art.pl/
http://www.sapcio.fora.pl/
http://klubarchiwum.pl/
http://breakthesystem.pl/
http://hardkur.pl/
http://elektropunkz.net/

The naked mole rat (heterocephalus glaber) may look as if it were sculpted from someone’s scrotum, some pipe cleaners and a pair of tic-tacs; but beneath that wrinkly exterior lies a rodent superhero.

Hailing from East Africa, the naked mole rat earns a living by burrowing huge networks of tunnels deep beneath the sun-baked and predator-riddled surface. Pretty dull you say? Remember, even Spider-Man had a day job; the naked mole rat’s seemingly dull day-to-day activities are made much more interesting by their unique abilities.

Naked mole rats are highly resistant to cancer, they live longer than any other rodent (up to 28 years), their skin feels no pain (like the cheerleader from heroes except considerably less attractive) and they have absolutely gigantic incisors. That’s reasonably impressive on it’s own, but there’s more.

The chisel-like front teeth of the naked mole rat can be moved independently and—extraordinarily—they are located outside the creature’s mouth. Their lips close behind their front teeth, leaving them free to tunnel without getting a mouthful of dirt. Not that naked mole rats mind having a dirty mouth, as well as their preferred diet of roots and tubers, they regularly eat poo; their own and each other’s.

The naked mole rat’s incredible (if probably a little smelly) jaws have to be especially strong to cope with the constant mining for tasty roots. 25% of their muscle mass is dedicated to closing their jaws. Us humans only use 1% of our muscle mass to close our mouths, to match the naked mole rat we would have to have an entire leg’s-worth of muscle attached to our jaw.

However, as incredible as their physical attributes are, it is the social structure of the naked mole rat that sets them apart from almost all other mammals. They live in an eusocial hive-like society that is more like that of insects than mammals.

Each colony has a single queen who mates with a select few males. A combination of bullying and pheromones prevents all of the colony’s other females from becoming fertile. Despite the harshness of mole rat society, they are completely dependent on it, zoo specimens kept in isolation have invariably died.

When the queen dies a violent struggle erupts between remaining females struggling to seize the throne of their deceased sovereign. Only one other mammal (another species of mole rat) lives in this manner.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Jack VS Japan.

After watching a Thanksgiving episode of Fox News the animaltrash puppets decide to try eating one of their friends

An odd-looking tunneler, the star-nosed mole (condylura cristata) is a remarkable little semi-aquatic mammal from the wetlands of eastern North America. What makes this particular mole extra-special is an incredible hooter that is six times more sensitive to touch than the human hand.

Rarely growing longer than 20cm the star-nosed mole is covered in dark-coloured water-repellant fur, has a long thick tail and huge scaly feet with large strong claws. They live as many other moles do, digging shallow tunnels in search of worms , insects and—as they typically stay near water—crustaceans. This mole’s most distinctive feature however, is his fleshy, tentacle-ringed nose.

Covered in 25,000 tiny touch receptors known as Elmer’s organs, the nose of this odd-looking tunneler is capable of remarkable feats of olfactory excellence. Using nothing but the information gathered by their nasal stars (like most moles, the star-nosed is pretty much blind), our burrowing buddies can identify and devour food items in as little as 120 milliseconds. Even more incredibly, the mole can decide if an item is edible or not in just 8 milliseconds.

It is thought that this amazing feat taxes the mole’s neurons to their very limit. In short, it is not possible to identify food by smell any faster than a star-nosed mole can. They are currently listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the world’s fastest forager and can touch 13 separate areas of ground a second, locating and consuming eight prey items every two seconds.

The star-nosed mole can also smell edible morsels while underwater! A strong swimmer, the mole simply exhales a stream of air bubbles and then re-inhales the bubbles to carry scents back to its nose.

image source: http://home.ican.net

The mole on my face is made up of molecules of proteins. Such protein molecules are of certain number in one mole. But 1 mole (or 1 mol, as abbreviated unit) in chemistry is not as big as the mole on my face.

Fill a glass with 18.0 grams pure water (H₂O). The number of molecules of 18.0 g water you filled in is 1 mol. My friend inhaled 32.0 g of oxygen (O₂), exhaled 44.0 g of carbon dioxide (CO₂), added 342.0 g of table sugar (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁) to bake a cake and used 58.5 g of table salt (NaCl) to prepare bagoong. He dealt with amounts in grams that are all equivalent to one mole or 1 mol. Let’s make it even clearer below.

Substance	Formula	Amount (g)	Number of mol
Pure water	H2O	18.0	1
Oxygen	O2	32.0	1
Carbon dioxide	CO2	44.0	1
Table sugar	C12H22O11	342.0	1
Table salt	NaCl	58.5	1

Certainly, we have a list of different samples of substances above. What is something in common among them? Yes, they all contain 1 mole! What can you say about mole concept?

Lastly, how many particles are there in 1 mol? Amadeo Avogadro was the one who found out this number. He estimated that there are 602000000000000000000000 particles (molecules, atoms, or ions). That’s a lot huh! This can be written as 6.02 x 10²³ particles in scientific notation.

How many molecules would each 1 mol of the following samples contain?

1. Oxygen (O2)
2. Ammonia (NH3)
3. Methane (CH4)

Yes, all of them contain the same number of molecules = 6.02 x 10²³ particles, because each of the three substances above is 1 mol.

Still confused? Below is a presentation about mole concept that may help you understand better. (from www.sideshare.net)

You must be ready for a quiz now. Here’s another test to your KemiKalidad!

Quiz: On Mole Concept: True or False?

This is more of a followup to my previous post “Who says there’s no good pizza in Seattle?” In that post, I basically called out people who claimed that they couldn’t find particular styles of food in a West Coast city the size of Seattle.

Since writing that, I have to admit I was starting to understand where this sentiment came from, at least in respect to Mexican food.

What made this so disturbing was that there is no shortage of restaurants serving food that looks and, even smells, like the Mexican food you get in California. (And yes, I realize the “Mexican” food you get in California only slightly resembles the “Mexican” food you get in Mexico, but you’re going to have to allow me this…)

Making matters doubly concerning was my willingness to think outside the mortar and beams. I had tried a handful of the city’s infamous taco trucks, uniformly to disappointing results.

The low point came about a week ago when I finally found an excuse to try Rancho Bravo Tacos, which is probably Seattle’s most acclaimed taco truck.  The pastor was nearly devoid of spice, the beans were pasty and the burrito (spare me the recriminations of not ordering a taco) was so poorly wrapped that I was actually embarrassed for the person who made it.

I was getting despondent. I was actually starting to wonder if the haters had a point.

Would I really be THAT guy? Was I going to start posting all over the Internet that “people in Seattle just don’t know what Mexican food IS?” Would I start using ALL-CAPS to make a point and using “as someone who” arguments in order to establish my bonafides?

After trying La Carta de Oaxaca, I’m relieved to report that my faith in Seattle’s Mexican cuisine has, in fact, been salvaged.

Sure, we had to wait 45 minutes (we did have a party of eight) on a cold, rainy Tuesday night in Ballard to get seated. Yes, as the online reviews say, the service can be a little on the testy side. No, it’s not the most affordable Mexican food you’ll ever eat.

But, god bless it, the food is awesome.

From the first taste of salsa, paired with the homemade chips, I knew that all my fears had been totally misplaced. I don’t mean to sound melodramatic, but I seriously felt like I had been transported back to one of my favorite taquerias in the Bay Area. The spice was just enough to feel that tingle in your nose without causing fullblown drippage. The taste made you excited to dip in for the next helping. I wanted to scream “That’s what I’m talking about!” but instead settled for an audible sigh.

For an entrée, I went with the pork Mole Negro Oaxaqueno. The chocolate gave the sauce a subtle sweetness that gave the pork a full, balanced flavor and texture. The portion was on the small side, but was enough to satisfy.

The wife went with Entomatadas, which was a carne asada dish, served with homemade tortillas covered in a tomatillo salsa and a crema fresca. Although not the most adventurous dish on the menu, it delivers from a soul food standpoint. The carne asada was grilled and seasoned perfectly. The tortillas held up well under the sauce, which itself was creamy and tangy.

This wasn’t my first enjoyable Mexican meal in Seattle, but it was the first that made me believe the food here could be just as good as I remember it being in the Bay Area.  I’ve never been to Oaxaca, so I won’t pretend to know how authentic it is in that sense, but it certainly proves that good recipes travel just fine.

The moist soil after some much needed rain in California, has brought out the moles and gophers in droves. There is sometimes confusion as to whether your garden has been invaded by gophers (a rodent that eats plants and roots) or by moles that tunnel along the surface, upsetting topsoil and toppling seedlings. It is essential identify the culprit when trying to rid your garden of these little pests.http://durak.org/px/golden-gate-gopher

Gophers tunnel deep in the earth, leaving mounds (usually “U” shaped) of fine, powdery soil at the surface. See picture above. Their nests and food chamber can be 6 feet deep. Gophers are herbivores, preferring herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. If a shrub dies overnight, it is usually a sign that a gopher has eaten the roots. Trapping and applying poison deep in the tunnel are the common methods of ridding your garden of gophers. A wire basket surrounding a newly planted tree or shrub will protect the roots from these pests. A ”pest note” with information on gophers and the treatment can be accessed at http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu./PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7433.html. or call your local Master Gardeners desk to have a hard copy sent to you.

Moles are insect-eating mammals that tunnel along the surface of the earth and leave round (not “U” shaped) mounds of soil as they excavate their tunnels. The soil in the mound of a mole has clumps of dirt in it rather than powdery soil as in the mound of the gopher. They sometimes eat the roots of tender plants but are most commonly a problem when they disrupt flower and vegetable beds and burrow through lawns. Mole traps can be used but keep in mind that mole traps differ from gopher traps. Check out the “Pest Note” at http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74115.html for information on mole control. The picture below is of a mole making an escape. The picture was originally uploaded by rightee on Flickr.

.

Well.

“24″ is great television. It’s ridiculous, contrived, right-leaning torture porn, but it is GREAT TELEVISION. I stand behind that.

But it can sometimes falter a bit. Often by utilizing the same hilarious cliches year after year, and occasionally by just completely missing the mark with a plotline, character, or totally weird “guh?” moment.

Today, I give you the Top Five 24 Cliches.

Tomorrow, tune in for the Five Worst 24 Moments.

It’s 48 hours of 24 madness. Better pack a lunch.

Also, some kind of anti-torture belt. Cuz Jack Bauer likes to torture.

A lot.

(Also, quick spoiler warning. This goes into quite a bit of detail if you haven’t seen the last seven seasons!)

Five: The traffic report for Los Angeles today is: CONVENIENT.

This is one of those things that I can kind of understand for pacing purposes, but it’s still ridiculous. I have never been to Los Angeles, and probably will never visit. Having said that, I do live in a city and understand that in large metropolitan areas traffic can be…well…

HORRENDOUS.

Not so in the “24″ universe…at least, not if the script dictates that it shouldn’t be. Like I said, I can totally understand the idea behind Jack driving across L.A. in a sixty-second commercial break. The show is in real-time, after all, and it would suck the excitement right out of the show if we had to watch Jack stuck in traffic, sipping his coffee and listening to talk radio for half an hour. It’s the inconsistency that bothers me. You want to cut out all the city driving to keep the pace moving at “24’s” regular break neck speed? Fine. But then don’t use L.A. traffic as an excuse when you need to fill time later on in the season.

Case in point:

Five minutes left in the episode, and Jack has to get across the city as fast as possible because he’s RUNNING OUT OF TIME. No problem. Traffic’s great. We’ll see you about thirty seconds before the end credits roll.

Half an hour left in the episode, and Jack needs to get across the city as fast as possible to ask some terrorist scum WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR but uh oh! Traffic is crazy Jack! Luckily CTU teams are all ready in position so we can hold him while you make your way to the airport to steal a helicopter but there might be some complications so I don’t know if you’ll make it there by episodes end, but at least that gives us something to do in the first half of next week’s episode, ok? SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.

I guess after a while, it gets a bit difficult to fill “24″ hours of television.

Four: The Counter Terrorist Unit enjoys countering terrorists by hiring them.

What the EFF, CTU? Is the job market so good in the “24″ universe that you can just hire ANYBODY to work in a highly secretive government agency whose sole purpose is national freaking defense?!? Is your benefits plan THAT BAD?!? Are all of the trustworthy, non-double agent government employees out getting jobs in marketing or teaching night classes? Do you have ANY sort of screening process in place at all? This isn’t McDonald’s or Barnes and Noble…it’s the COUNTER TERRORIST UNIT.

SO STOP HIRING TERRORISTS. It’s in your name, for god’s sake!

I mean, when Nina Meyers was revealed to be the mole inside CTU at the end of Season One – leaking out important information, killing Jack’s loved ones, etc – we were cool with it. Sure, she had a high position within the organization and was one of Jack’s best lovers friends, and sure she wasn’t the only mole working within CTU that season so we kind of thought we’d already gotten that nonsense out-of-the-way, and hey, sure, if you go back and rewatch Season One with the foreknowledge that Nina is in fact the mole from the very beginning, the entire season doesn’t make any  sense and her motivations throughout are patently ridiculous…but whatever. It was a nice little surprise, and we honestly didn’t see it coming.

Then they did it again. And again. And again. Almost every season there is at least one person working at CTU, leaking important information and creating general havoc with gleeful abandon and shifty glances around the office, while the heads of CTU bumble around unknowingly, content there couldn’t POSSIBLY be another mole within the agency, because the first question on the CTU job application totally asks whether or not the potential employee has been compromised, and besides, it’s not like this has ever happened before.

Or, you know, CONSTANTLY.

They even semi-sent it up in the fifth season with a CTU mole employee leaking information left, right and center but OH HO! to the White House this time! See, he thought he was doing good! He wasn’t a double agent for evil…he was a double agent for his COUNTRY! SEE WHAT THEY DID THERE?

Except by then the White House had been compromised, so he kind of was an agent for evil, albeit unknowingly.

Shortly after, the mole-riddled CTU was finally disbanded in favor of the F.B.I. in Season Seven

There was a mole there, too.

Three: You started off as kind of a dick, but now that you finally see things my way, I hope we can be friends and….OH SHIT YOU’RE DEAD NOW.

To be fair, this cliche isn’t entirely “24’s.” Honestly, you see this one a lot – though usually just in thriller/action shows/movies of this ilk/type. But “24″ seems to have claimed a monopoly on it, especially lately. So it TOTALLY COUNTS.

First things first. Jack Bauer is not what we would call a “people” person. He was married once, sure, but we all remember how that turned out. It’s not that Jack’s a bad guy per se (minus the killing and the yelling and the rampant torturing) it’s just that people who get close to him tend to end up…well, dead.

A disturbing trend, to be sure, but what’s more disturbing is the number of people who have seemingly figured this out, yet still fall victim to the Curse of Bauer.

These are the characters who hate Jack on sight – or, in some cases, after having worked with/been investigating his methods for quite some time. These usually aren’t “bad” people. Perhaps “bad” in Jack’s universe of RIGHT and WRONG and THAT GRAY AREA BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG that you sometimes have to cross into to get to RIGHT and WRONG.

No, they’re not evil men. They just have different morales and methods than Jack that usually put them at odds with him. Whether they’re to “professional” or to “by the book” or to “unwilling to endanger innocent lives all the time” they usually end up clashing with Jack at some point or another, yelling at him, firing him, or in one case, putting him on trial for torture or treason or breaking amendments or something. Jerks!

And, regardless of how many rules he’s broken or how many lives he’s endangered or how many partners he’s shot in the neck, we, the audience, always end up on Jack’s side. Sure, he may be breaking international laws – as well as the laws of common sense – by raiding an embassy, but he’s Jack Bauer, dammit! HE KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING. And no shady bureaucrat is going to stand in his way! Boo to you, guy who’s just doing his job within the confines of the constitution! JACK BAUER’S ALWAYS RIGHT.

And, usually he is. As unorthodox as he may be, Jack always gets the job done, and he (and we) truly believe he’s on the side of right. He doesn’t do what he does because he’s a violent madman (though I’m sure that helps); he does what he does because no one else has the balls to do it, and sometimes you gotta get your hands a little dirty to stop a nuclear apocalypse.

Inevitably, those that doubted Jack in the beginning at some point come around to his side when they realize that he’s the only chance they’ve got, and he’s making progress where their red tape and legal methods were not. George Mason, Ryan Chapelle, Larry Moss, even that senator played by Red Foreman from “That 70’s Show” all eventually stood behind Jack and even began to trust him.

Not long after that happens, they usually get gunned down in some horrific and shocking way, and we the audience feel sympathy and sadness for these characters who we initially hated and thought of as Jack Bauer hating douchebags. Way to manufacture emotions, writers of “24.”

And, in a REALLY  shocking twist that proves that a) you shouldn’t learn to like Jack Bauer and b) he really WILL do whatever it takes and maybe you should have tried to stick to your guns on that one a bit more, Bauer ended up killing Chappelle himself, execution style.

But a terrorist who was holding a bunch of people hostage with some plot device nerve gas told him to, so it was totally okay.

WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Two: “WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?!?”

Once again I think I could probably chalk this one up to the writers having to fill twenty-four hours of programming, coupled with the difficulty of constantly trying to one-up each season over a period of SEVEN YEARS. Combine that with a seemingly last-minute and transparent attempt at some continuity in a series that wasn’t really big on season-to-season continuity, and you get the Russian Doll Bad Guy Syndrome, which is something I totally just made up now but think sounds really sweet.

Every season has Jack tracking down the main villain (or so he thinks!) only to dispatch him and find another antagonist waiting behind that one, the dude who’s really pulling the strings. It’s usually at least half a season’s worth of tearing apart a Russian Doll full of villains until he finally gets through all of the lackeys to the final “Big Bad.”

Season Five was a good example of that. The bad guys had just murdered ex-president David Palmer, and it was up to Jack to bring them to justice! He found the sniper, who was working for a dude in the white house, who was in cahoots with a Russian dude who was outsourced by a guy who secretly answered only to another guy, who was also the current President, who was only calling the shots as they were given to him by some other dude who was on a board of directors with some other guys, who all communicated with Bluetooth headsets and believed in chaos, or something.

Of course we find out in Season Seven that IT DIDN’T END THERE! There was another even SHADIER board of directors who communicated with computers and voice modulators, and who believed in patriotism, or something, and they had Jon Voight and, uh…

But that’s not where it ends! It CAN’T be where it ends! This conspiracy needs to go higher and higher, and deeper and deeper, until EVERYBODY is implicated in this grand conspiracy, the details of which have grown fuzzy and probably weren’t that important!

Everyone except Jack, of course.

We’ll need him to kill them.

One: Target: Los Angeles: AGAIN.

Again, I’ve never been to Los Angeles. But apparently, it’s the international hot spot for terrorism. Just ask Jack Bauer, and six seasons of impending doom.

It just seems awfully convenient that apparently all of the terror activity occurring in the USA just happens to occur in the city where the Counter Terrorism Unit is located.

I mean, it’s bad enough that half the “big bads” seem to know Jack personally from the past (you’d think that just knowing Jack personally, and knowing he resides in L.A., would be enough to keep you the hell out) but even the ones he didn’t at one time trust, are showing up on the Western coast.

Every year some dude shows up in California with a nuke, or a virus, or a nuke and a virus, and tries his luck at wiping Los Angeles off the face of the planet. And every time he fails MISERABLY.

Note to “24″ villains: You wanna succeed? I mean, you really, really wanna succeed? TRY BLOWING UP SOMETHING SOMEWHERE WHERE JACK BAUER ISN’T.

But even then, we all know he’d somehow stop you anyways.

Just thinking about Tuesday. I am going into get a mole removed from my face. Looking forward to it in one way and nervous in another. I seen my consultant on Thursday a nice man, down to earth and really nice and genuine man. His name is Mr. Tom O’ Reilly Plastic Surgeon and he practices in the Blackrock Clinic and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital.  A nice man and full of wit.  Great knowledge and he seems so down to earth. I am going in on Tuesday it should take about 15-30 minutes. I am looking forward to it. Will be blogging about it on Tuesday. Seen how they do the biopsy on youtube so I am intregued.

I should have known something was up when I obsessed about a 1/4 inch scar on my side, (left behind by a dubious dematologist who took out a mole), for 10 whole months. The obsession involved googling the dermatologist, fantasizing about a revenge visit, purchasing cesearean anti-scar cream and applying it religiously every day for weeks, and constantly going over in my mind how reckless and careless I was not to have sort a second opinion. I punished myself over this. Over and over and over again. I re-played the hospital visit. The procedure. I’m convinced she wore no surgical gloves and I’m convinced the scalpel never came out of a hot steaming oven. I then called the dermatologist’s office 8 months later demanding to see the lab results of the biopsy, convinced she never even sent it away for testing. Hoping to catch her out in this lie. Convinced she just hacked a piece out of me for the money. I’m still convinced this was the case. Hell,  her office called me repeatedly prior to the surgery to urge me to come in and get the the thing cut out. You would have sworn it was malignant the way they carried on. And as I write this I realise that I’m still obsessing about this mole removal. But now my obsessiveness is reaching hard-to-live with levels. My daughter purchased a pair of pants today at the GAP and they need shortening and of course it’s SUNDAY so there is no tailor working today. And yet I cannot shake this anxiety about those pants and when they will go in for shortening. I’m constantly trying to figure out the scenario of when my daughter will be able to go into the tailor to have them pinned. Which tailor ? When ? My son spilt coke on his laptop, and the keys were sticking as you pushed down on them. The computer was working fine and he didn’t seem at all concerned. I googled “coke on my laptop”, and read other people’s accounts of this kind of accident. ‘This became my obsession and I brought home cleaning supplies from the office to clean it, which I did unsuccessfully. Then I took the laptop into work and had our I.T guy take a look at it which he did unsuccessfully, and then per his suggestion I called the APPLE store, and made an appointment to take it in, and then I took a bus to the Regent’s Street store on a Saturday afternoon, with the laptop in hand, and waited on a bench at the GENIUS BAR for 30 minutes and finally, thankfully handed the laptop over for repair. And now I obsess about when I will collect it. My wife served cake to three children tonite with teaspoons. And I hated her deeply and seriously and intensely for serving the cake with teaspoons and not small forks. My son cut the cake all the way down the middle, effectively cutting the cake in half, and I got really angry about this. (It was his birthday cake.) I’m not sure how much longer my family are going to deal with me. These obsessive behaviours are causing me so much anxiety.  I def. need help. This cannot be healthy.

Thousands and thousands of people prefer to use natural remedies and would never go for operation. This is why skin mole removal becomes more and more popular nowadays. Without the fear of getting a scar you will be able to get rid of those black and brown spots. In case you mole does not harm your look you can leave it.

You should visit a doctor to make sure that the moles on your face and skin are harmless. If your moles are normal you can get rid of them naturally. The mole removal methods from this article are proven to work by thousands of people. It is time for you to take advantage of these techniques.

One of the simplest techniques to try is application of apple cider vinegar to the moles twice a day. You should dilute the vinegar to suit your skin. If apple vinegar is very strong you will feel pain. Try this simple technique for a couple of weeks and you will soon see positive results.

If you have moles that bleed and are ugly to look then you can try a potent paste made by grinding cumin seeds. Cumin powder is mixed with water to make the paste. Than you will only need to apply the paste on your moles a few times per day. Try to use this technique for about a month and you will see positive results.
There are several other techniques for mole removal at home. Some methods may not work, that is why you can try several methods. All people are different, that is why we all need different mole removal methods. Do some experiments before you find an ideal solution. I hope you find the methods from the article of use.

Foto by Totino - GF La Mole

“Il bavero rialzato , le mani in tasca . Si lasciarono andare all’ordine straziante di quella città in cui tutto era allineato , come in attesa di un rompete le righe mai arrivato. Camminavano lenti , respirando la nebbia . Con la malinconia che è il regalo ultimo del vino.”

(Questa storia – Alessandro Baricco)

Nebbia .

Fredda , composta , silenziosa . Nebbia della mia gente , nebbia dei miei luoghi , nebbia che ci ha cresciuti , che ci ha visti piangere , nebbia negli occhi , nelle orecchie , nelle mani , sotto i piedi … nebbia che è un pezzo di noi!

Ho pensato tante volte a quanto poco mi sentissi appartenente alla mia terra . Io , così poco torinese nonostante le mie “pure” origini , io che me ne sono sempre andata , io che qui “non ci sto dentro” , io che non riesco ad essere “in riga” come le strade della mia città , io che ogni due o tre isolati regolari ho bisogno di curve e svolte casuali , io … e la mia città sempre e costantemente in lite!

Un giorno poi la vita mi porta via , dall’altra parte del paese , dove le strade sono un groviglio , i palazzi buttati a caso , anarchia di vivere  palesata sotto i miei occhi , il sole che splende , il vento caldo che soffoca , urla di strada , odori che assalgono le narici  ad ogni passo !

E improvvisamente comprendo …

Non appartengo alla mia terra e non le apparterrò mai completamente . Il mio istinto , la mia essenza, il mio cuore ,  mi portano altrove , perchè ho bisogno di una vita più simile a quello che sono .

Ma una parte di me resterà qui per sempre . E’ la parte di me che resta immobile in mezzo alla nebbia . Quella che respira l’aria gelida a pieni polmoni , che lascia lacrimare gli occhi per il freddo , che si tocca il naso congelato per controllare che ci sia ancora , che abbraccia il nulla e si lascia abbracciare , quella che trema di fronte ai confini confusi del mondo immerso in una crema densa e grigia che inesorabile lo nasconde agli occhi meno attenti.

E’ la parte nostalgica di me . Quella incancellabile che ogni torinese porta con se per sempre . E’ quel nodo alla gola che inspiegabilmente ci strozza sotto un portico vuoto , con le sagome appena abbozzate della gente che cammnina . E’ la punta della Mole che spunta appena a ricordarci che è lì , a farci da stella , perchè noi , spesso , le stelle non le vediamo.

E’ Superga , che vista da qui , sembra sospesa nel nulla , come noi che a volte camminiamo nel grigio e non capiamo se sia cielo o asfalto .

E’ una città in bianco e nero a basso contrasto , la parte di me che per sempre apparterrà a questa terra !

Io e la mia parte gelida e nostalgica apparteniamo a Torino e ai suoi mesi freddi . (anche io e il mio snowboard apparterremo per sempre a questa terra …eh eh )

Oggi è nebbia fitta . E’ qui per ricordarmi che sono sospesa tra due mondi , ma che QUESTO mondo non potrò mai cancellarlo da ciò che sono … e allora le dò ragione , le regalo un sorriso e mi incanto a guardare questo spettacolo surreale che ancora per qualche ora mi riempirà gli occhi !

ps x Totino nel caso passasse di qua : nel sito dove ho preso la foto non mi è stato possibile lasciarti un messaggio . Spero non ti dispiaccia se la prendo in prestito . LASCIO QUI IL LINK ALLA PAGINA : CLICCATE QUI

From the “Only in China” file, we have the six-year old Li Xiaoyuan, who started off with just a small birthmark, but has since gained a large coat of furry hide on her lower back. Dermatologists are working to discover just what genetic defect is causing the mole to grow out of control.

Perhaps they could harness such DNA information and figure out how to give furries some actual fur.

(from The Sun)

Caller plays the Beetlejuice Mismatch game! Same caller almost get’s Ronnie Mund to reveal the rat or leak in Howard’s crew. In my opinion, if the caller or Howard mentioned that the entire week Howard Stern talked to his psychiatrist about this issue, Ronnie would have folded under questioning. Eddie, the caller, was brilliant! From the October 29, 2009 broadcast. To sign up for the Howard Stern show, visit http://howardstern.com.

Ok, so, I wasn’t going to write this PG-13 post for a few reasons.

Firstly, anyone (including my parents…oops..) can find this blog if they search for the post that was published on venere.com.

Secondly, it’s moderately embarrassing, because the last time I did something this risky or dirty was at Mary’s somewhere around someone’s 21st birthday…

But, I decided it was just too good, and since I’m now an aspiring erotic novelist, I might as well practice…so:

The Russian and the Mole

After “the Polish incident,” I thought that I would relegate myself to perusing and pursuing only Italians. I tried to remain adhere hard and fast (pun intended) to this rule, to the point where I’ve turned down another Polish guy, a Brazilian (not the hot kind), two Germans, a Mexican (I think), and a couple of Malaysians (a bit too “ladyboy” for me). Well… I was ridiculously horny yesterday morning thanks to a recent dry spell, and was feeling quite a bit less xenophobic…

“Ruslan” sent me a message on my most useful of websites:

“Ciao usi msn?”

Now, normally, I would have ignored this for a few reasons. I’m very clear in my profile that I am still learning Italian and can’t speak it well. Also, this guy skipped right over the usual script that every single online user uses:

An Italian &
Me

ciao
ciao
come va
bene, tu?
bene
cerchi?
sesso, amici….
anch’io!
ok!
zona?
vicino gran madre
bella zona!
si, mi piace

Invariably, at this point the Italian will write some long paragraph message (in Italian) about something…either asking for sex details, hobbies, what I’m doing tonight, etc. Google Translator will fail me completely in its attempt to translate it, and I’ll have to resort to:

Mi dispiace, sono americano. parlo un’po’ italiano…
Oh! Sei americano?
[or some other question, STILL in ITALIAN, usually along the lines of "why on earth are you here in Turin, how long are you staying, have you had sex with many italians, etc." To which, I always answer back in English, because I'm usually annoyed that they ignored my prior explanation.]

hai msn?

["hai msn" usually means, "ok, i'm satisfied with your answers, so now we can speak using MSN messenger, where I will try to convince you to turn you webcam on so I can see what i'm workin' with"]

SI…

So, Ruslan was skipping over some steps. However, one look at his profile stats (22, 6′3″, 165lbs,…um..XL “endowment”..) and a subsequent photo of “Mr. XL” as I called it, allowed a deviation or two form the normal routine. And, it’s also much easier to cut and copy things to be translated from MSN, which makes my head hurt less from translating.

Over the course of chatting, it was determined that Ruslan was: Russian, living with his mother, able to speak 4 languages but barely any English, horny as well, and bored…

In my defense, I was already planning on going to the cinema museum at the Mole Antonelliana, as it was also having a temporary exhibition of historical Japaneses Anime.   So, when I suggested that we could still just hang out (Sex at either of our homes was out of the question since he lives with his mom and I live with a roommate who can spot a short and curly from a mile away), and perhaps go to the museum, I was being serious, and not planning on what would eventually happen.

Ok, so rarely am I attracted to anyone more than a couple of years younger than me [not a peep mr. "G.Love"], but upon meeting him in front of the building, I quickly determined that Ruslan was HOT.  And hot in a very specific type of tall-skinny-dark-haired-green-eyed-italian-russian kind of deliciousness way.  Apparently he must have thought the same of the American, or he was just “accidentally” brushing up against me with Mr. XL as we were viewing the exhibits.

[Side-note, the museum is very well designed, and there's even a "movie magic" area where you can be filmed riding the bicycle from  "E.T."  You should go to it.]

So I started “brushing” back, and got crazy horny.  *sigh*

I’ve been to the museum several times, and knew exactly where the bathroom on the topmost floor was — the bathroom that had three separate (and lockable) rooms, one for each gender and one for the disabled.  I also knew that the museum wasn’t busy on a Thursday, and that the chance of someone else entering the bathroom was pretty slim.  I also knew that I had to see Ruslan naked like NOW, or I might just explode within full view of the Great Glass Elevator rising through the center of the Mole.  I didn’t know how to translate “wink, wink, nudge, nudge, let’s fuck in the bathroom” into Italian, and Ruslan seemed perfectly content to wait for me outside the bathroom, so I had to literally drag him inside under protest.  The protests ended when I started making out with him… and reached my hand down the back of  his pants.

In my oh-so-subtle way, I backed him up against the handicapped door (since I also knew that the handicapped bathroom of course has oh-so-conveniently-placed handles along the walls ), and in one swift move, deftly swung it inward, spun us around, shut the door and locked it behind him.  Within seconds, I was live and up close and personal with Mr. XL, which I’m quite sure was the biggest I’ve ever seen.  I can’t imagine who on earth would be able to take that thing in.  Luckily,  I wasn’t in the position to do so…

I had been planning on getting some action (but didn’t)  from Michele after our date the past Sunday, and still had some “supplies” in my bag that would do the trick.  So, I made sure that Ruslan made full use of the convenient hand rails— that really do keep you from slipping and falling.  Only once did the main door open and we had to pause in the act for a minute, but that was it.

It was a good pounding…and I learned much about the fascinating world of anime.

Just to continue on the nose path from yesterday, here’s today’s Creative Something of the Day:

Aromatic Recognition

On Monday night I was invited to come and try some delicious authentic Mexican dishes for Mestizo’s Mole Festival and see their elaborate decorations for the dia del muerto (day of the dead). 

Mestizo is one of London’s nine authentic Mexican restaurants and judging by the aroma of spices and sizzling meat, I could tell that the meal was going to top my somewhat ’creative’ Old El Paso concoctions.

We started by ordering some Margaritas (£7.50)  - I went for a smooth frozen one with just the right balance of sweet and sour while Steven’s ‘on the rocks’ version had one hell of a kick to it.

The mirrored bar has an encyclopedic range of over 125 different brands of tequila from dry blanco to limited-edition premium, which you can rarely find out of Mexico. The tequila used in the Margaritas is casco viejo reposado, a wood toned tequila that has been rested in oak barrels for between 60 days and 11 months – perfect for margaritas.

Marysol, the co-owner of Mestizo, recommended that on our first visit, we should try the tamales filled with pollo con mole, followed by the Molcajete ‘Mestizo’.

Mole is very time-consuming to make and every Mexican family has their own special recipe, using anything from 20 to 50 ingredients.  It is prepared all day and dished out for weddings, religious holiday, birthdays and funerals.  There is even an old joke that a newly-wed couple’s first argument will be over mole – ‘my mother’s is better than your mother’s’.

The tamales (£5.40) consisted of dense corn husks, steamed in their skin and filled with pollo con mole.  They had a hearty, dense texture and the chicken mole was deliciously slow-cooked and soft.  They were also served with a pot of sour cream on the side, which helped lighten them up.

Almost every table in the restaurant had ordered the same main course as us and we then understood why – it was the house speciality and was the most impressive-looking dish on the menu.

The Molcajete ‘Mestizo’ is a pot filled with chicken, beef or a mix of both (£14 per person, minimum of 2) with cheese, chorizo, spring onions, cilantro, avocado and mole, served bubbling hot in a stone bowl that looked like a volcanic cauldron.

It came with a selection of flour and corn tortillas, wrapped in a colourful handmade pouch, which you fill with meat, cheese and sauce, roll up and eat like a taco.  The sauce was rich and fiery with strong tomato, chorizo and chilli flavours, as well as subtly blended spices, seeds and nuts, topped off stringy melted cheese and large chunks of vegetables.  We were struggling towards the end, as the pot was just so big, but we polished off all the tortillas, leaving just enough room for dessert.

We always end up ordering the same things, perhaps to avoid food envy, but this time we just had to try out two desserts.  Steven went for the Flan Caresro, a Mexican version of crème caramel  with a light cinnamon sauce and strawberries, and I tried the Buñuelos, a large dough fritter with sugar cane syrup and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The Flan Caresro cool and light but less creamy and vanilla-flavoured than crème caramel  and the Buñuelos was crisp and golden, with the sugar cane syrup providing most of the flavour. We both had our eyes on each other’s desserts, so we swapped plates, much to the amusement of the beyond ‘eccentric’ couple sitting next to us.

Feeling full to the brim and perked up from all the chilli, we met Bryan, the restaurant Manager, who showed us the downstairs lounge bar and all the decorations for the day of the dead.

Marysol told me that the alter is dedicated to her husband’s friend who passed away and on the table is a photo of him as well as all of his favourite things.  There are bottles of tequila, beer, toys, marigolds, a skeleton mariachi band and sugar skulls, shipped in from Mexico.

On the day of the dead, families have a big fiesta with plenty of the deceased’s favourite food and drink, so they know they have returned ‘home’.  Children give each other sugar skulls and the day ends with music and fireworks. 

Mestizo are also hosting their first Mole Festival, where you can try one of 12 different varieties each evening.  Mole Poblano is the most well-known, but you can also taste others like Mole Coloradito (a reddish one originaly from Oaxaca), Mole de Tamarindo (a sweet and sour version) and Mole Negro, which is the most difficult to prepare.

You can see many of the ingredients that go into the mole displayed on artisan Mexican plates by the door and there is even a small gourmet section where you can buy authentic Mexican products, in case you fancy testing your own mole mixing skills.

Mestizo’s Mole Festival is an absolute must if you want to try something other than the usual bland Tex Mex-style burritos and fajitas.  The food is outstanding and there are plenty of exciting dishes and specialities on the menu, if you’re already familiar with real Mexican food.  Plus, if you’re a fan of tequila, which I certainly am, then Mestizo is like the holy grail

The staff are warm and friendly and really like to make their own personal recommendations.  You can tell that the owners, Marysol and Adrianna are really proud of their restaurant, and with good reason too!

Mestizo’s Mole Festival is on now until 2 November.  Visit Mestizomx.com for more details.

Mestizo, 103 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 3EL.  T: (020) 7387 4064

You just want to stare,
but no matter how hard
you try you can’t help
Looking.
Surely it’d be
More polite to comment
Or the birth mark or
disfigurement.
Complementing on it’s
Unique angle. Or inspired
Use of colour.
But they know,
it’s not as if you
are the first to stare.

aux States, c’est la journée nationale des taupes!
ah euh non pardon, c’est la journée du Mole… hem.

Additional Videos on the Mole:
Click Here for Video : The Mole and Avogadro
Click Here for Video: Junior Chemistry: The Mole 1
Click Here for Video: Junior Chemistry: The Mole 2
Click Here for Video: Junior Chemistry: The Mole 3

The Mole:

1 mole = 602 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

- 6.02 x 10²³

- Avogadro’s Number

-Ex. Hydrogen Bomb Equation

- 2 H₂ + O₂ = 2 H₂O

- 12.04 x 10²³ of H₂ molecules + 6.02 x 10²³ of O₂ molecules = 12.04 x 10²³ molecules of water

- 2 mol of H₂ + 1 mol of O₂ = 2 mol of water

How Gases Combine:

- John Dalton

- looked @ masses of gases

- found no pattern

- Joseph Gay-Lussac

- combined gases based on volume

- 1L of H₂ reacts w/ 1L of Cl₂ -> 2L of HCl

- 1L of N₂ reacts w/ 3L of H₂ -> 2L of NH₃

- 2L of CO reacts w/ 1L of O₂ -> 2L of CO₂

- Gases combine in simple whole number ratios

Avogadro’s Hypothesis

- Equal volumes of any gas @ a constant temp. & pressure contain equal number of molecules

Atomic Mass:

- Mass of 1 mole of atoms in an element

- The mass of 1.0 mol of ‘C’ atoms is 12.0g

-ex. Mass of Calcium = 40.1g

- 40.1g = the mass of ONE MOLE of Ca

]]> http://trimmtrabb.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/auguri/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:58:18 +0000 trimmtrabb http://trimmtrabb.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/auguri/

BUON CAPS LOCK DAY A TUTTI!!!!
DOMANI INVECE È IL GIORNO DELLA MOLE! (6,02 · 10²³)
AUGURI ANCHE A TUTTI I CHIMICI E A CHI SA COSA È UNA MOLE!