Molly Ivins passed away after battling cancer. Like many people, my first exposure to Ivins was with Bushwhacked which is a great book. I’d highly recommend checking out it and some of her others, as well. She had a great heart and great humor.
Archives for 2007
Un-Conference: LexThink
Over at LexThink they are undergoing some changes, with an updated logo (that still leaves _a lot_ to be desired, in my never humble opinion) and a new tag line, “the legal unconference company.”
One of the LexThink principals, Dennis Kennedy has a nice roundup of un-conference posts and I wanted to throw in my two cents.
I’ve only had the pleasure of attending one LexThink event, Blawgthink 2005, but it was one of the single best and most productive conferences I’ve been to. There are some different opinions on what an “unconference” is or should be, but I think that LexThink does a tremendous job with their implementation/interpretation.
I think is important to realize that an “unconference” does not mean “unstructured”. Instead, the structure is organic and comes from the desires and goals of the attendees, not a mandated structure from the conference organizers. The result is that you learn far more in an unconference session (generally)–at least I do.
That isn’t to say that every session is a hit. It takes the right presenter to be fluid enough to work well in an environment that isn’t rigid and pre-planned. That’s one of the LexThink strengths–finding the right people. It also takes an open mind and a willingness of the attendees to take charge of their own agenda and not to settle for being spoon fed information. Sometimes, one or the other isn’t there and the result is a lack-luster session.
But surprisingly often, the attendees are excited about having some input and step up, and the presenters are excited about the interest from their audience. The excitement is contagious, a feedback loop of sorts. When everything comes together, the result can be a fantastic, interesting, and *productive* session where more information flows in all directions and learning abounds.
I know I sound a bit like an evangelist, but seriously, give an unconference a try sometime, it’s worth the risk. It won’t cost you anything but time and chances are you’ve wasted plenty of that in traditional conferences already.
Disposable Printers
My wife and I have a Samsung ML-2510 laser printer at home. It’s a nice little printer–definitely not high volume, but for the limited printing we do at home, it’s been great.
Well, recently, the toner has started to fade. No big deal, it just needs a new cartridge. So I go on-line to order a new cartridge, and I discover this deal to purchase a new printer for $59.99. How much for a new toner? $77.
Bears vs. Colts
I’ve come down with a cold (which really sucks, since classes start again tomorrow). So pretty much all I’ve done all day long is watch football, which is very out of character for me.
That said, as a Hoosier by birth and a Chicagoan by choice, this is going to be an awesome Superbowl!!!
Munster
Munster is a washed rind, raw cow’s milk cheese, which hails from the Alsace region in France. Real Munster enjoys AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) protection, which means if you don’t see “AOC” on the label, it’s not the real deal.
Munster should also not be confused with Muenster, which is an American cheese, and really bears no resemblance to actual Munster.
Real Munster is not a cheese for the weak of nose or those who don’t enjoy a strong cheese. I bought a fresh piece, cut right before my eyes from a whole round. My wife thought it smelled like old sweat socks and made me put it in it’s own grocery bag, least it contaminate everything. It has a beautiful, red rind and a straw colored, semi-soft interior, which has some small air bubbles in it.
Like many washed rind cheeses, the flavor of Munster is on par with the smell. If you are not a strong cheese fan, then you may want to proceed with caution. The cheese has a strong barnyard taste, with a hint of vegetation and slight tangy/astringent aftertaste. Because it’s a washed rind cheese, it’s also slightly salty–I think it would go pretty well with beer.
If you are a strong cheese lover, you owe it to yourself to taste a real Munster, it’s delicious. However, if you don’t have the nose or palette for a strong cheese, start with some milder raw milk offerings before you jump in with this one.
Delicious Library
I’ve been meaning to check out Delicious Library for a while, even more so after I went to the Evening at Adler last year.
Well, as usual, I kept putting it off. And then along came the MacHeist bundle which included Delicious Libary, and so I didn’t have any excuses anymore.
Holy crap. What a fantastic application. Wow. This application is exactly why I went back to using Macs (after quite a long hiatus). The concept is simple: catalog your CDs, DVDs, Books, and video games. It’s the execution that is brilliant.
What makes it brilliant is the leverage of the iSight. You see, there’s no typing in titles, song tracks, descriptions, and all that. You just fire up the iSight, and you get a video window “scanner” (complete with red laser lines across the window). Just hold up the bar code on the item and *blip* Delicious Library scans it, looks up the info for the item and imports it into your library.
All the info you could ask for is right there… title, tracks, descriptions, ratings (from Amazon, etc. You can add your own ratings, locations, notes. And best of all, it’s a great, straightfoward interface that takes virtually no time to learn.
Amazing.
This is the kind of application that makes computing a joy. My only regret is that I didn’t play around with it sooner. Now I’m going to go on a rampage, importing everything I own.
Morbier
Happy New Year!
What better way to ring in the New Year, than with some cheese! Today, I came across some Morbier, and it’s been a while since I’ve done a cow’s milk cheese, so I thought, “Why not?!”
Morbier is a French cheese, made from raw (unpasteurized) cow’s milk. It has a pungent aroma, but a milder taste that it’s odor might suggest. Morbier also enjoys AOC (Appellation d’origine contrôlée) protection, which means if you see Morbier on-sale with a label that says “AOC” and”au lait cru” you are getting the real deal.
Morbier started off as a left-over cheese that cheesemakers basically made for themselves. Cheesemakers who were making Comté (another wonderful cheese–but that’s another review) would save the left-over curd and make a pale straw colored, semi-soft cheese for their own personal enjoyment. Because Morbier was made from leftovers, they would cover the morning curds in ash to prevent them from forming a rind, and then add the afternoon milk on top. The result was a cheese with two halves and a distinctive line of ash in the middle.
I’ve seen various sites today that say this morning/afternoon tradition is carried out, and others that say the ash is now ornamental. The later seems more likely to me, and I couldn’t taste the difference between the two halves on this round.
If you’re like many people, the idea of a stinky cheese isn’t your thing. I will caution that Morbier does have a distinct, strong odor. To me, it smells very earthy and farm-like. You can definitely smell “yeast” as well. However, I think the flavor is much more mild than the smell.
Texture wise, it’s a softer cheese, but not runny. It’s kind of squishy, in a good way. It melts in your mouth, with caramel notes and a slight nuttiness, and a distinctive “hay” or “straw” taste. It really does taste like a cheese you would be served at a farmhouse after coming in for lunch from the field.
If you see this one at your local cheese shop or grocery, I recommend picking it up as a good sampling of a raw cow milk that comes on a little strong, but lands you softly in the hay.