Does anybody know where I can get decent wild rice on the cheap? I bought a bag of mixed wild rice and brown rice for $2.50, and it was delicious. I haven’t enjoyed rice-by-itself since, like, EVER. This actually had FLAVOR. And, butter and salt aside, I suspect it was good for me.
The problem is that there’s only about 8 servings’ worth in that bag. I want a 25lb bag of brown rice, and a 10lb bag of wild rice (I can blend ’em myself, thanks) for food storage and stapling. I can’t afford to be spending 25 cents per bowl of rice these days. I need to get the cost per serving down around, well, a nickel if possible.
I’m thinking about going upstairs and cooking the rest of the bag RIGHT NOW. It was THAT GOOD.
Upshot: A blogger has been credentialled to attend the daily briefings in the White House press room. Hurray for progress!
My Take: CNN’s article screwed up the link to the bloggers’ site. The link to http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc was correctly written in HTML, but their style pages assume that ANY link must be a link to something on CNN.com. The result was “http://www.cnn.com/http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/” In short, CNN is epitomizing mainstream media’s take on the blogosphere by screwing up their reporting of it.
See, the way it’s SUPPOSED to work is that you link to sources so that interested readers can go learn more than just what you’re reporting. Mainstream Media doesn’t like to do that, and when CNN tried to do it, their own page templates screwed it up INSTITUTIONALLY.
My last LiveJournal entry (the one about Beetles and t-bone collisions) raised an interesting discussion about Smart cars. There are folks saying they’ll never play in the US, and there are folks pointing out how immensely popular they are.
To the safety concerns, I’d like to point out that a Smart car is safer than a motorcycle. Is this a fair comparison? Yes, because the Smart has what is essentially a motorcycle engine, and gets mileage comparable to a motorcycle. Why is it safer? Well… other cars can SEE you. Motorcycles often fall into a psychological “blind spot” for drivers, who will pull out in front of them, sideswipe them, or otherwise pretend they’re not there. Smart cars look enough like cars that this won’t happen.
Re: popularity… I’d love to have one. I saw them all over in Nuremburg and in Holland, and they’re too cool for words. I don’t live in a big city, and I don’t commute anymore, but I still think they’re REALLY neato. If I DID live in a big city (it’ll never happen, but let’s pretend) then I’d pine for one unhealthily. I would obsess.
Upshot: The New Beetle from Volkswagen got a “poor” rating on side-impact tests. This means the accident they simulate (31 mph side impact from a pickup truck) would result in serious, life-threatening injury.
My Take: I kind of figured as much when I bought the car. It’s a compact, after all. There’s little enough crumple-zone in a front or rear collision. From the side, though? If my car door were any closer to me, I’d be sitting outside the car. My solution, therefore, is to spend as little time as possible in front of cross-traffic — especially when running stop signs, red-lights, or cutting across the freeway. In these situations I just go as fast as possible, in the hope that if there’s a collision, it’s ME hitting THEM.