A Couple of Old "Lost" Blogs

 http://summer-views.blogspot.com/

http://mountainpeeks.blogspot.com/

Tuna Casserole

Censorship and Narrative Control

 

AI-generated characters

I've been experimenting with NightCafe, a web-based AI image generation site.

Here is my collection of characters (link below).

https://creator.nightcafe.studio/collection/RYFHfop8E43KBkHh0DPp

Perhaps these characters will appear in a story I'm working on. 

Thanks to "Bake with Jack" for the Two Sourdough Principles

 The two sourdough principles:

Multiplication of yeast - the starter gets revved up, and then when it's all excited you give it a new home which is your dough for you loaf of bread!

Structure - without this built structure and strength the loaf will not be able to hold the gas bubbles, there is a stretching and folding method. Three to four stretch and folds is the average, with a couple of hours between each step. However, the time schedule for the structure building is very flexible.

When the structure and the fermentation of the yeast are complete, it's time to shape and "final proof".

Two loaves:

200 g starter

625 g water

Cut up the starter into the water

900 g flour 

16 g salt

Mix it. Mix it good!

Spritz the mixture, then REST for half an hour.

First fold, ten to twelve stretch/folds

REST for two hours.

Second stretch/fold (five times, spray when done, back into bowl)

REST two more hours.

Third stretch/fold. (same as before)

REST one final hour. 

PRE-SHAPE, as follows...

Use flour now (not water).

Dough comes out upside down - divide into two equal parts.

Stretch/fold, then tuck into nice ball. Sticky part goes inside. Floury part is now outside.

Leave for an HOUR.

Final shape time begins!

Flip the ball, sticky side goes to top.

Press down gently with fingertips; then four folds - two on each side.

Press into elongated loaf. Prepare bannotons and loaf goes in seam side up.

Into fridge OVERNIGHT!

In the morning transfer to thin floured board, then into preheated oven.

Water is in lower tray already boiling from kettle.

BAKE 15 minutes at 450F

BAKE 20 minutes more at 375F

Cool it down and slice!!!

Reflections on the Truman Show

Brilliant Quote from Caitlin Johnson

"People would be faster to abandon the false hope of space colonization if they weren't perceiving life through egoic consciousness which creates the illusion of separateness. We can send food and water into space, we can imitate gravity, but we can't replicate the earth element in human anatomy. Without the separation illusion it's clear that the biosphere is an energetic field, not a collection of separate things, and that snipping human organisms out of that field and putting them in space makes as much sense as taking a ripple from a pond and putting it in a fishbowl."

Here's the source page

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-us-government-hates-americans/comments

A Simple Quote from an article about the Trucker Convoy of Jan-Feb 2022

"We don’t control them,” Wilson said. “We don’t even know who they are. No one signed up. It’s not a curling bonspiel, it’s not a golf tournament. We can’t say ‘Oh no, sorry, this is your tee time sir. You can’t tee off from here now.’

~ Lawyer Keith Wilson, representing Convoy leaders as they were being asked by police to try to remove trucks that were blocking streets

May the 4th be with you in 2022

 Star Wars day is what they call today.

Anyway, in November this year I will celebrate 8 years of retirement from teaching.

Damn, time flies.

May the Fourth be with you all.

Grant Writing: Signed the Contract

This is exciting. 

I'm taking over from Elinor as the part-time grant writer for C.Y.O.  We met last Tuesday and I signed the contract for one year starting June 1st. 

There are dozens of opportunities to support the mission of the organization as it fulfills its mission to help children and youth grow and learn in outdoor education, team sports and life skills.

The are hundreds of employment opportunities for young adults through the grant funding from the Canadian and Provincial governments. Not to mention, there is money available for construction projects of new facilities, upkeep of old equipment, replacement of worn equipment and so on.

On Saturday April 30 I drove up to Camp Brebeuf to meet Katie Moncrieffe, the camp director. She showed me around the facility which is about 80 years old. Some of the cabins are original structures and they are worn out. Things like old windows, torn screens, broken or missing interior finish, seventeen layers of paint that don't match, poor or non-existent insulation or heating system for the cooler months... the list of needs is huge. The opportunities to support the camp could easily overwhelm but it will just need to be one thing at a time.

I'm looking forward to giving a very good effort at this opportunity to help. 

Niagara Escarpment Geology Videos

Niagara Escarpment Geology

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=niagara+escarpment+geology&t=ipad&ia=videos&iax=videos

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=niagara+escarpment+geology&t=ipad&ia=videos&iax=videos