Random randomness

[LordMortis]

speaking as a guy who keeps a dish of bacon grease in the fridge.

:Envy: Everything on the stovetop is better in bacon grease. I haven't bought bacon in almost decade. I miss shredded potatoes fried in lard so much. Three strips of bacon were a side treat to grease used to cook every weekend breakfast.

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

The Monkees' only surviving group member, Micky Dolenz, has filed a lawsuit against the FBI for any records that may involve him, his late bandmates, or the band itself.

The Monkees were investigated by the FBI for alleged anti-Vietnam war activities in 1967 related to a concert in which they flashed pictures and messages in protest against the conflict, according to the complaint filed by Dolenz.

Dolenz and his late bandmates Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork were also investigated for another matter that has been redacted, the complaint states.

A portion of the FBI file on the band was released to the public a little over a decade ago, but, Dolenz, now 77, wants to see the complete case file.

"References to the band appear in two places in FBI files: a 1967 Los Angeles Field Office memorandum on anti-Vietnam war activities and a second document redacted entirely," the FBI website states.

A Freedom of Information Act request he filed in June failed to get a response from the FBI, according to the Dolenz complaint.

[jztemple2]

It shows my age that I have a box set of the entire Monkees repertoire on my 160GB hard drive iPod.

It also probably shows my age that I have a 160GB hard drive iPod

By the way, I'm mad at myself. I pride myself that as a retired engineer I'm conversant with the various systems of my house, like plumbing, wiring, etc. Today as I was reading in my office I noticed that it was getting rather warm. Damn, the A/C isn't running. I do my usual checks to the thermostat, the inside circuit breaker and the outside circuit breaker, but no joy. I called our A/C company but they were closed but they have an emergency mailbox number to leave a message for a technician .

So I leave a message and five minutes later I get a call from a tech. I describe the troubleshooting I did as I stand in front of the inside A/C box. And he asks me "Did I check the overflow line [this refers to the line that carries off condensation from the unit]". I didn't need to, I tell him, just this afternoon I was pouring water in there to flush out the line... and it hits me. There is a sensor in the line that has a float. If the drain backs up the water will raise the float and cut off power to the unit. When I was pouring water down the line I must have poured in enough to raise the float and it stuck in the raised position. I give it a little bump and click the A/C goes back on

I now have a large post-it with a red message stuck right above the sensor, reminding me to check it before making a fool of myself

[Max Peck]

It also probably shows my age that I have a 160GB hard drive iPod

As the owner of a 120GB Zune (which contains a hard drive itself), who am I to judge?

[Holman]

By the way, I'm mad at myself. I pride myself that as a retired engineer I'm conversant with the various systems of my house, like plumbing, wiring, etc. Today as I was reading in my office I noticed that it was getting rather warm. Damn, the A/C isn't running. I do my usual checks to the thermostat, the inside circuit breaker and the outside circuit breaker, but no joy. I called our A/C company but they were closed but they have an emergency mailbox number to leave a message for a technician .

So I leave a message and five minutes later I get a call from a tech. I describe the troubleshooting I did as I stand in front of the inside A/C box. And he asks me "Did I check the overflow line [this refers to the line that carries off condensation from the unit]". I didn't need to, I tell him, just this afternoon I was pouring water in there to flush out the line... and it hits me. There is a sensor in the line that has a float. If the drain backs up the water will raise the float and cut off power to the unit. When I was pouring water down the line I must have poured in enough to raise the float and it stuck in the raised position. I give it a little bump and click the A/C goes back on

I now have a large post-it with a red message stuck right above the sensor, reminding me to check it before making a fool of myself

You're more proficient than I am.

We've been enjoying 90+ degree days recently, and on Saturday afternoon our central-air unit stopped putting out cool air.

I checked around and noticed that the condenser fan in the outside box (I'm sure that's the technical term) had stopped turning even when the basement unit was pushing air through the vents. A Google search suggested that meaningful cooling was impossible with the condenser fan stopped.

We have a reasonably reliable HVAC guy, but this is a busy time since apparently AC's tend to fail when it's very hot. He promised to come as soon as he could.

He was eventually able to get here on Tuesday afternoon, and the repair was the work of just two or three hours. We're now back to enjoying 72 degrees indoors, which is perfectly fine for us.

We're in Pennsylvania, but it makes me think of how unlivable the future South (where I'm from) will become if electricity and AC ever becomes routinely unreliable.

[jztemple2]

It also probably shows my age that I have a 160GB hard drive iPod

As the owner of a 120GB Zune (which contains a hard drive itself), who am I to judge?

Before I got my iPod I was seriously considering getting a Zune. Does it still work? My iPod works but the iTunes software will no longer talk to it so I'm stuck with the tunes I have on it, which frankly isn't much of an issue since I quit listening to new music after Steely Dan released their last two albums.

[Max Peck]

The Zune itself still works, but it's been a couple of years since I used it. Unfortunately the Windows software suite that supported it no longer works at all.

[Daehawk]

My sister's ac had a condenser problem or something. She got the part and installed it herself.

[jztemple2]

We're in Pennsylvania, but it makes me think of how unlivable the future South (where I'm from) will become if electricity and AC ever becomes routinely unreliable.

Baring complete economic collapse, I figure that we folks in Florida are probably better off than folks in the Northeast because home central unit air conditioning is so completely prevalent (99+% in Central Florida homes I seem to remember) that there are lots of A/C companies and they have a pretty robust supply chain. It's the folks up north where A/C repair businesses are less common and suffer from months of no calls. I suspect a lot of business there would also work with furnaces and that kind of stuff. The folks I work with here have offices in five counties and a fleet of trucks and they only do A/C work, nothing else.

If electricity and AC becomes routinely unreliable my wife knows I'm moving to the mountains of Wyoming

[LordMortis]

In the north, AC and Heating are a single thing. They use the same duct work and blower and filters etc... I assume it's that way in the south as well, HVAC just have a different emphasis.

[jztemple2]

In the north, AC and Heating are a single thing. They use the same duct work and blower and filters etc... I assume it's that way in the south as well, HVAC just have a different emphasis.

Our fraternity house in Daytona Beach was an actual home, built in the 1950s and has a furnace with floor registers. Central air was added later with ceiling ducts and registers. I kind of thought that's how current houses up north are still configured

My current house has an A/C unit that contains heating elements too. We don't really need a lot of heat in the winter here.

[Daehawk]

I can say here in the TN that most houses built in the 1970s or around that have central heating and air but also have heating in the ceilings of each room. most everyone Ive ever known and my own family used the ceiling heat in winter because it was cheaper and you didn''t heat the entire house that way. Even closing floor vents heat still seeped out of them and in the underhouse duct work.

[Kraken]

When our house was built, cooling was provided by shade trees, large windows, and fans. It only got over 90 degrees a few days a year and that was all people needed. All of the old houses have big oaks or maples or beeches shading their southern exposure. Or I should say, "had." Sunny yards are fashionable now and most of the old giants are gone. Of course, shade/windows/fans stopped being adequate 10-15 years ago as heat waves became more frequent. When young people buy old houses now, the first thing they do is install central AC and chop down the trees. Home AC is still not common in the Northeast but it's growing steadily.

[Daehawk]

You're almost in Canada though My sister kept telling me how in Germany they dont use AC and all this and that. I finally looked it up and they are as far north as Canada on the Latitudes.

[Blackhawk]

One tablespoon of lard, for example, has 5g saturated fat, 5.8g monounsaturated fats, and 1.4g polyunsaturated fats.
One tablespoon of butter, in comparison, has 7.2g saturated fat, 3g monounsaturated fat, and 0.4g polyunsaturated fat.
Olive oil, on the other hand, has 1.9g saturated fat, 9.9g monounsaturated fat, and 1.4g polyunsaturated fat per tablespoon.

Which is why most stores carry very little lard or butter. You seem to be arguing in favor olive oil there.

[Daehawk]

Yuck no..dont like it at all. Stinky bad tasting oil.

[Blackhawk]

Not the point. Lots of really nasty, toxic, unhealthy stuff tastes great.

I mean, I hear that antifreeze tastes really good. That doesn't mean that I'd choose it over something that didn't taste as great.

[Unagi]

Yuck no..dont like it at all. Stinky bad tasting oil.

Teeth n all

[hitbyambulance]

But really its a false thing to think lard is terrible.

lard is terrible because it's made from empathetic, intelligent animals. my opinion.

[Kraken]

Yuck no..dont like it at all. Stinky bad tasting oil.

Teeth n all

I go through a quart of olive oil every couple of months. Tonight's conchiglione with zucchini and cherry tomatoes used 1/4 cup. (Along with 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs...who says Mediterranean cooking has to be healthy?) In fact I keep both robust and light EVOO on hand, each one having its advantages. Unfortunately I'm also a big fan of butter, in its proper places. Lard? See: bacon grease.

[Unagi]

I'm right there with you. I've starred to keep ghee next to my olive oil. (need not be refridgerated) for now.

[Daehawk]

Can only imagine how horrible fries cooked in olive oil would be.

[LordMortis]

In the north, AC and Heating are a single thing. They use the same duct work and blower and filters etc... I assume it's that way in the south as well, HVAC just have a different emphasis.

Our fraternity house in Daytona Beach was an actual home, built in the 1950s and has a furnace with floor registers. Central air was added later with ceiling ducts and registers. I kind of thought that's how current houses up north are still configured

My current house has an A/C unit that contains heating elements too. We don't really need a lot of heat in the winter here.

I'm not sure. I think modern houses blow cold air from ceiling and heat from the floors, even while using the same ducts and registers but I don't pay attention. My house blows cold air from the floor but my house was built in the 50s and central air was added ???. The AC unit is outside and the condenser/pan is attached to the furnace with a run off to a drain, which is the standard, I think but I am not an HVAC expert.

When I look up HVAC I see exactly what I have as the picture on the google front page

[Kraken]

Fries aren't cooked in olive oil. Peanut oil is best IMO, but you usually get vegetable oil or lard.

[Unagi]

Can only imagine how horrible fries cooked in olive oil would be.

Why bother imagining when you could just watch a reaction video,

[LordMortis]

I go through a quart of olive oil every couple of months. Tonight's conchiglione with zucchini and cherry tomatoes used 1/4 cup. (Along with 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs...who says Mediterranean cooking has to be healthy?) In fact I keep both robust and light EVOO on hand, each one having its advantages. Unfortunately I'm also a big fan of butter, in its proper places. Lard? See: bacon grease.

Mom had switched to coconut oil, which I did not much care for and now has moved on to avacado oil, which is fine but crazy expensive IMO.

[Isgrimnur]

Not the point. Lots of really nasty, toxic, unhealthy stuff tastes great.

I mean, I hear that antifreeze tastes really good. That doesn't mean that I'd choose it over something that didn't taste as great.

You’re a bit out of date since the Antifreeze Bittering Act of 2009.

[jztemple2]

But really its a false thing to think lard is terrible.

lard is terrible because it's made from empathetic, intelligent animals. my opinion.

I was just watching an episode of "How It's Made" with a segment about traditional British pork pies. They showed and described how they are prepared at the factory. It starts off with "Put the lard into a cooking pot". And we are talking pounds and pounds of lard . The lard is mixed with water and flour to make the outside shell of the pie. I've embedded the video:

[Isgrimnur]

I'm right there with you. I've starred to keep ghee next to my olive oil. (need not be refridgerated) for now.

Thanks for clarifying.

[jztemple2]

I'm right there with you. I've starred to keep ghee next to my olive oil. (need not be refridgerated) for now.

Thanks for clarifying.

[Isgrimnur]

I go through a quart of olive oil every couple of months. Tonight's conchiglione with zucchini and cherry tomatoes used 1/4 cup. (Along with 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs...who says Mediterranean cooking has to be healthy?) In fact I keep both robust and light EVOO on hand, each one having its advantages. Unfortunately I'm also a big fan of butter, in its proper places. Lard? See: bacon grease.

Mom had switched to coconut oil, which I did not much care for and now has moved on to avacado oil, which is fine but crazy expensive IMO.

Hopefully it’s more trustworthy than two years ago.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/study ... other-oils

[jztemple2]

When I look up HVAC I see exactly what I have as the picture on the google front page

That's about what we have, except that since we don't have a basement the inside A/C unit sits in the laundry room with the air intake drawing from the hallway and the plenum routes up through ducts between the ceiling and the roof.

[Unagi]

I'm right there with you. I've starred to keep ghee next to my olive oil. (need not be refridgerated) for now.

Thanks for clarifying.

very good

[jztemple2]

speaking as a guy who keeps a dish of bacon grease in the fridge.

:Envy: Everything on the stovetop is better in bacon grease. I haven't bought bacon in almost decade. I miss shredded potatoes fried in lard so much. Three strips of bacon were a side treat to grease used to cook every weekend breakfast.

Both my and my wife's parents used to keep bacon grease in the fridge to use for when lard was needed for cooking. My wife is more health conscience, she cooks the bacon in the oven up on little racks, then after taking them out puts the slices on paper towels and dabs the slices with more paper towels.

[LordMortis]

I go through a quart of olive oil every couple of months. Tonight's conchiglione with zucchini and cherry tomatoes used 1/4 cup. (Along with 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs...who says Mediterranean cooking has to be healthy?) In fact I keep both robust and light EVOO on hand, each one having its advantages. Unfortunately I'm also a big fan of butter, in its proper places. Lard? See: bacon grease.

Mom had switched to coconut oil, which I did not much care for and now has moved on to avacado oil, which is fine but crazy expensive IMO.

Hopefully it’s more trustworthy than two years ago.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/study ... other-oils

Mom would know if it's rancid. She mostly buys from Costco. I won't say that Costco aren't trustworthy (lord knows their vitamin section is 10% of the store and they always have salesmen selling some sort of snake oil) but they have a reputation to uphold, so the odds are in her favor with regard to the oil being a mix of oils.

[Unagi]

Obviously, there is no way to cook bacon without producing lard/fat/grease. You can use paper towels to collect it - but that's not entirely cool.

-Microwaving bacon entirely hinges on paper towels.
-Frying bacon has no call for paper towels until you want to soak the bacon free of grease, but you could skip that and just place them on the end-plate.
-Baking bacon (this is what we do) in a baking pan will also generate a backlog of grease (for a jar in your pantry/fridge/eventual garbage) - but cook way more than a pan.

[jztemple2]

Of no relevance to the whole lard discussion, but my wife has been on a house refurbishment kick and one of her goals was to replace our pool deck which was more than 30 years old. It was Chattahoochee River Rock that had been patched and re-epoxied over and over and was getting pretty sad. So she had the old rock taken up (the company used something that looked like a motorized spatulas) and a new surface laid. What doesn't show up in the photo is that the new rock has embedded in it tiny pieces of quartz so that it sparkles in the sun. It came out rather well, at least the pool toys have no objections.

[Unagi]

Of no relevance to the whole lard discussion, but my wife has been on a house refurbishment kick and one of her goals was to replace our pool deck which was more than 30 years old. It was Chattahoochee River Rock that had been patched and re-epoxied over and over and was getting pretty sad. So she had the old rock taken up (the company used something that looked like a motorized spatula) and a new surface laid. What doesn't show up in the photo is that the new rock has embedded in it tiny pieces of quartz so that it sparkles in the sun. It came out rather well, at least the pool toys have no objections.

It looks gorgeous.
I assume you are both welcome to self invited families/ guests?

[Daehawk]

I was so calm and centered and felt so great for a few weeks. then i found out my $1200 well pump install is not helping because now the lines are clogged and need a $600 cleaning.

I am now mad all day at the world. I cant enjoy my games because I get mad, alt f4 them and yell and punch stuff and storm through the house. Like the old days of the last few years. I miss being calm and happy.

[Kraken]

speaking as a guy who keeps a dish of bacon grease in the fridge.

:Envy: Everything on the stovetop is better in bacon grease. I haven't bought bacon in almost decade. I miss shredded potatoes fried in lard so much. Three strips of bacon were a side treat to grease used to cook every weekend breakfast.

Both my and my wife's parents used to keep bacon grease in the fridge to use for when lard was needed for cooking. My wife is more health conscience, she cooks the bacon in the oven up on little racks, then after taking them out puts the slices on paper towels and dabs the slices with more paper towels.

#SadBacon

Bacon grease beats either butter or sour cream on baked potatoes and makes the most excellent home fries.