My mom's cooking (she's from Tunisia, in North Africa) and that of a person from, say, Europe, are so completely different, and are both traditional Jewish, in their own ways. And the way they mix - and will continue to mix - is fascinating.

This [link] is another of my favorite cookbooks. The author grew up in Egypt, so the food she writes about with the most emotion is (I'm guessing) very much like your mom's, but she's searched out food traditions from Jewish communities everywhere -- not just the major strands of Ashkenazi and Sephardi cuisine, but Africa, China, India, and so on. On the other hand, there isn't much sense of the modern Israeli mix there -- I imagine because it's so new and she's so focused on finding the old foods that risk getting lost.

I'm asking because there are lots of research done these days regarding the structure, stability, flow, optimization and so forth of communication networks. Usually changing something that already exists is so much harder than implementing something new in the first place, you know?

I think that they are trying to learn from, but be separate from the existing internet. I know that you work on this complex systems stuff, and I think that it is a very exciting place to be right now. People are applying the same methods and theories to global networks, disease vectors, small networks of people in the workplace, neural organization in a single individual, and colonies of micro-organisms. In science it's very unusual to have a set of tools that can address so many levels of organization, and the systems types are acting like kids in a candy store. I'm very jealous of the complex systems people right now.

ita, the diaper free thing sounds wack to me. But I'm not an attachment-parent type. Neither do I have the time or energy to pay that close attention to my baby's bodily functions.

Hell, I don't have the time to pay attention to MY bodily functions half the time.

The author grew up in Egypt, so the food she writes about with the most emotion is (I'm guessing) very much like your mom's

I guess some of it is similar, and some is really different. The variety is amazing. Even between places which were even closer than Tunisia and Egypt, like Tunisia and Algiria.

she's searched out food traditions from Jewish communities everywhere

That book looks amazing. I've just spent the last few minutes reading its table-of-contents, and it covered so much!

[Edit: have you tried preparing recipes from it?]

there isn't much sense of the modern Israeli mix there

It's like the "where we came from" that has to be had before the "where do we go from here".

The simplest example I can think about regarding that mix comes from the ingredients available. Where my mom grew up, they practically never tasted any dairy products, and of course never used them for cooking. In Israel (and after quite an adjustment period), they start adding to familiar dishes unfamiliar spices of ingredients, like dairy products, for example. The results are really interesting, and so much fun to play with!

In science it's very unusual to have a set of tools that can address so many levels of organization

I absolutely love that. Both the way things organize themselves, spontaneously, nearly regardless of the order of magnitude we're talking about, in similar ways, and that we can talk about so many things together.

I'm very jealous of the complex systems people right now.

Oh, come over, then! Um, I mean, if it's OK to ask, what is your field?

Timelies,

Skip=2000 or so.

Driving into work this morning I was thinking "Okay, we have snow, we have bitter cold. We can call this Winter thing over with and move on to Spring." Normally I don't have these sort of thoughts until late January, but this year it feels like we went from nice, comfortable fall weather to stupid cold overnight.

I wonder if they'll run seasons 1 & 2 together on BBCA?

Probably not, though I'm hoping they'll run them closely enough that I don't bust a fuse. Of course, they could just slip something else silly in there so I can develop another indefensible attachment. Man, I'm ship-happy.

Marco looked kinda familiar to me too, but it turns out I'd not seen him in anything. That's happening a lot (cf Ada, Bleak House) to me. I think it must be age.

Rick, will that be the Internet, or will it be another global network?

Oh, come over, then! Um, I mean, if it's OK to ask, what is your field?

I'm a psychologist, but the parts of my work that have to do with genetic epidemiology and cognitive science sometimes border on your systems stuff. When they do, I get a headache. I like my nice, simple, deterministic models. I don't look forward to the effort of learning a whole new way of thinking, but that's where things are going, so I suppose I will have to.

"Okay, we have snow, we have bitter cold. We can call this Winter thing over with and move on to Spring."

It's those Canadians with their coldon particle emitters again.

I was actually thinking about coldon particles the other day. A coldon particle would have to be the same as a photon of heat energy, but with negative heat. So you'd fire your coldon particle emitter, and you'd instantly gain heat as the coldon particles left. Then when the coldons hit their target, the target would lose heat energy as the coldons were absorbed.

And, if you assume that a physical object cannot have negative heat energy, and if the target was already at absolute zero, then the coldon particle emitter wouldn't work. (eta: assuming that they can't bounce off and go hit something else.) So, say you fire your CPE at a planet that's one light-hour away. You would instantly gain heat, and one hour later the target planet would lose heat. Exept, if the beings on the target planet would put up a shield of absolute zero matter, then when you fire the CPE you'd instantly know that one hour later your attack would fail. So your CPE would be able to detect an event in the future.

The cool thing is that a coldon particle would behave exactly like a regular photon of heat energy that was traveling backwards in time.

Hey Rick, my whole family is whack. You want em?

For research purposes of course.

So you'd fire your coldon particle emitter, and you'd instantly gain heat as the coldon particles left. Then when the coldons hit their target, the target would lose heat energy as the coldons were absorbed.

And we'd be able to use it to explain multiplication of negatives by negatives!

a shield of absolute zero matter

I've always thought absolute zero would be like ice-nine. Don't you think?