Protocol for Chemical Hazard Classification

That's not even English, is the thing.

Years ago I read the theory that cultivation began so folks would have a ready supply of the ingredients for beer.

Sumerian goddess of beer: [link]

More about the theory: [link]

The main arguments are that many of the early grains, like barley, were better suited to beer than bread; waiting for something to ferment meant permanent settlements; and beer!

Speaking of grains, I saw a package at the grocery store a few days ago labeled "Kosher for Passover only for those who eat kitniyot."

I always wondered how the rabbis sat down and dealt with which New World foods would be kosher. "I have studied and studied and I see nothing in the Torah about corn. Didn't G*d know about North America?"

Speaking of grains, I saw a package at the grocery store a few days ago labeled "Kosher for Passover only for those who eat kitniyot."

This makes me SO VERY HAPPY. (Umm, not that I've ever managed to actually keep passover properly myself, but still -- go team recognition that we are not the only Jews in the world!)

Huh. Alternate surgery incursion sites. Why not? At first I thought they meant you grew your own kidney in your....whatever and they cut it out of you and then transplanted it. Into whoever needed it.

Tonight I think I shall try the vegetable stock recipe with all the roasting. And maybe toss pearl barley into some of it for dinner with veggies in, and separate the rest and freeze soup for later. And of course make sure I have something reasonably healty for lunch tomorrow--the "Oops! I forgot my lunch!" things I have most available to me are not that healthy. Not without more research.

I did not know MTV.com was posting song lyrics. That I discovered when I tried to find the singer/title of this (not rickrolling, I swear--not even audio) earworm. They have a whole copyright agreement and everything.

You may use lyrics ("Lyrics") supplied by Gracenote, Inc. of Emeryville, California ("Gracenote") only for search and display. You agree that you will use Lyrics only for your own personal non-commercial use. You agree not to assign, copy, transfer or transmit any Lyrics to any third party. YOU AGREE NOT TO USE OR EXPLOIT LYRICS EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PERMITTED HEREIN.

You agree that your license to search and display Lyrics will terminate if you violate any of these restrictions. If your license terminates, you agree to cease any and all use of Lyrics. Gracenote and its suppliers reserve all rights in Lyrics, including all ownership rights. You agree that Gracenote, Inc. may enforce its rights under this Agreement against you directly in its own name.

YOU AGREE TO NOT TO USE ANY COPYRIGHTED WORKS SUPPLIED OTHER THAN AS LICENSED. YOU AGREE NOT TO DEFEAT, EVADE OR CIRCUMVENT ANY SYSTEM DESIGNED TO PROTECT LYRICS FROM UNAUTHORIZED USES.

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Huh. That means I can copy and paste them not for profit, right?

And then they link to a video--all they need is a link to buy the MP3, and voila! Great usefulness to having lyrics easily available on the web.

I always wondered how the rabbis sat down and dealt with which New World foods would be kosher. "I have studied and studied and I see nothing in the Torah about corn. Didn't G*d know about North America?"

For grains, it's complicated. Most of the things that aren't specifically mentioned as not-for-Passover but are considered not-for-Passover by Eastern European Jews are things that used to be ground or processed or stored in such a way that it was pretty much impossible for them to not get mixed with some stuff that was definitely not-for-Passover. (Like, back then, in that part of Europe, the usual way to eat beans was to grind them into a flour, using the same mill that may have just been used to grind wheat, so there was no way to get the beans without some wheat in them.) In Span and Italy and the middle East and North Africa, the food was processed differently, and there were different rabbis considering the question, so Jews from there will eat rice and beans and corn on Passover.

(For most non-Passover questions of kashrut, there isn't so much of an issue, because for what mammals and fish you can eat, it describes specific physical characteristics that the animal has to have, rather than naming specific ones, so if you get to a new continent and there are some new animals wandering around, you'd just got to look at their feet and their stomachs and figure out if they fit the rules or not. So bison are kosher, deer are not.)

Cool bike. They need to make a robotic one.

I just had a huge banana split. I feel like a python that's just swallowed a pig - like I need to just lay about digesting for a week or two....

Ooh, that sounds good! I had a well-balanced dinner, in stages, that ended up being one thing too many:

1) small bowl of chili
2) small tortilla with cheese
3) brocolli with ranch dressing
4) thin mints

"I have studied and studied and I see nothing in the Torah about corn.

I like the part (explained to me only recently) where, because meat and milk aren't to be eaten together, and meat is the main course of a meal, and chicken is also a main course, to be on the safe side you should not have chicken with milk. Even though chickens are not mammals and thus could not be said to be cooked "in its mother's milk."

I like that somebody sat down (eons ago) and had to think that through. It pleases me, the same way that discussions about whether mittens count as gloves, and vice versa, please me.

I've just been brushing my cat for ten or fifteen minutes straight. There is nothing she loves as much as being brushed. Which is good, as being a long-haired cat, she needs to be brushed regularly.

Sometimes I ask her why she has so much fur. "You can't possible need that much fur," I tell her. She just looks at me like the question's absurd.