Huh. That's the first time I've seen the word "butterfat" outside of a dairy farm context.

Really? I think butterfat content is discussed in baking quite often.

Really? I think butterfat content is discussed in baking quite often.

Huh. Well I don't do much baking....

Really? I think butterfat content is discussed in baking quite often.

I was about to post almost exactly this. I think of it as a culinary term, not a farming one. (It's really important to know butterfat percentages when you're dealing with recipes from other countries because heavy cream in the UK and heavy cream in the US mean *vastly* different things.)

JZ, how is matilda's sotto voce? She strikes me as thusly inclined at maybe a quick learner in the arts. Really.

Not JZ, but Matilda's got an excellently conspiratorial whisper.

Butterfat content is also used to determine Super Premium ice creams. Where in the classic American equation, more is more.

Cookie ish? It's all in the butter.

Kat, you rock for finding this! I suspected the butter was the reason this year's cookies weren't as structurally sound as last year's, but now I know why. Thanks!

Time's Man of the Year is (like you don't already know) Barack Obama. They also have a great collection of photos taken when he was a freshman at Occidental College.

I was disappointed when I found out this Obama quote was actually about his girls taking care of the new dog:

And then if they do their business if they got some poop, you gotta make sure that you're not just leaving it there.

It seems to apply equally to the outgoing administration...

[link]

Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 [link]

Huh. Add another point to the "LA is cool" column:

Muppets of Burlesque in L.A.

Monday night's "Muppet (of Burlesque) Show" in Los Angeles appears to be exactly what you'd imagine. Well, sort of. It apparently wasn't Muppets as burlesque dancers but rather burlesque dancers as Muppets. LA Weekly's Erin Broadley has a report, accompanied by a slideshow of photos by Shannon Cottrell. From LA Weekly:

Vixen Violette as Fozzie Bear stepped on stage wearing a brown, terrycloth hoop dress and matching knee-high boots, dancing to Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear"; Scarlett Letter as Sam the Eagle took to a podium to rant about the topic of nudity ("Outrageous!"); Anastasia Von Teaserhausen as the Swedish Chef hand-crafted a giant hamburger consisting of the various meats and cheeses that made up her skirt (plus the heads of lettuce she wore as a bra); Red Snapper did her best Elton John to "Crocodile Rock" and was attacked by a giant stuffed crocodile; a corseted and velvet gloved Vixen Magdalene gothed things up a bit with her Dr. Steel Show; Isabella Star as Miss Piggy auditioned to be an Opera star; Lux La Croix as Rizzo the Rat kicked off her heels, got gangster and bumped her tail to Dr. Dre's "Rat Tat Tat"; Jewel of Denial rocked out and stripped down to Emmet Otter's Riverbottom Nightmare Band; and Dizzy Von Damn! as Gonzo the Great closed out the night with excellent pasty twirling technique and a Muppet version of Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way."

The LA Weekly article: [link]

It's official; last night I saw my last burlesque show. Why the last? Well, because after enjoying a front row seat for a Muppets-themed striptease, nothing else compares. I'm talking an hour and a half of feisty, Botticelli-bodied women gussied up in glittered, Gonzo the Great glory. Produced by Lili VonSchtupp and Scarlett Letter, the weekly Monday Night Tease! at 3 of Clubs off Santa Monica and Vine is Los Angeles' longest running burlesque show and last night I saw why. The Muppet (of Burlesque) Show was everything good burlesque should be: an exaggerated and, at times, subtle and flirty seduction paired with a healthy dose of parody, flipping Jim Henson's classic Muppet Show head over heels over sequined, Fozzie Bear pasties.

that sounds so disturbing.