So, I said yes and was seated next to the apheresis machine and, after much whining and cowardice on the author’s part, I am now two red blood cell units down. Eep. All in all, not a bad experience for two reasons. One, I decided to use my right arm this time. Sure, it’s my dominant arm, so it’s annoying to be bandaged up right now, but it also has a beautiful vein.  The second reason was the amazing Ama (perhaps Amma?). She was my vampire today and she was patient with scaredy-cat Matt and just great all around. And, I got a cool sticker:

After that, did some errands, hit the library, and got some Ethiopian. Figured some lentils and collard greens would help restore some lost iron (which I need to do).

I woke up this morning at 5 am, got down to the Basin around 6:30 am…and it was crowded!  Looks like I wasn’t the only one thinking of this.  I finally left around 9:30 so I got in a good 3-hour, 5-mile walk.  Wow, 0.6 mph. BLISTERING SPEED!

Hmm…ya know, getting up voluntarily at 5 am on a Saturday…gee…why *am* I single?

Hall and Oates. “Private Eyes”

Why? Find out below the cut…

So, why is “Private Eyes” so dangerous? First have a listen…

Now, when they got to the chorus singing:

Private Eyes

They’re watching you

They see your every move

you tell me, when you were singing along (and you were, admit it), did you sing that or did you sing:

Private Eyes *CLAP*

They’re watching you *CLAP CLAP*

They see your every move

Yep. You clapped. Now, think about driving along the Capital Beltway at the speed limit (never more!) and that chorus comes along. It’s impossible not to clap!

Dangerous.

I hope everyone likes them…because they are staying! (Read, pricey.)

I know, I know, not that exciting, but, man, is it fascinating! The object of my focus this afternoon is the LA Public Library’s online Menu Collection. Just give it a whirl and I dare you not to be sucked in.  Marvel at what ten bucks would buy you 30 years ago compared to today.

I’m not the first to find this site, but I’m damn sure not going to be the last!

However, there is a bit of an issue with its integration, I believe. Namely: they give different answers!  I know this because I tried out an example in the first link up there, that of 2^2^2^2^2.  It turns out the answer to this is a bit vague, so differing solutions are not unexpected, but still…

Why? Exponentiation is not associative, unlike addition or multiplication (it might satisfy the Lie algebra equivalent of the Jacobi identity, I dunno), so the order matters. A lot.  Thus, while 2+(3+4) = (2+3)+4, and likewise for multiplication, 2^(3^4) !=  (2^3)^4. This being exponentiation, it really doesn’t. The latter is 4096, the former is 2417851639229258349412352. Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a bit different. So without parentheses, things are vague.

Now how about the example in the article? We’ll get to that. Let’s start with 3 2′s. (2^2)^2 = 16, 2^(2^2) = 16. Phew safe. So, 2^2^2 is fine.

2^2^2^2? Given that, Bing outputs the “bottom-up” answer: ((2^2)^2)^2 = 256. W|A outputs the “top-down”: 2^(2^(2^2)) = 65536. Ah ha.

The disparity is growing, but not bad. So adding one more ^2 shouldn’t be too horrible, right?

Wrong.

Exponentiation grows quickly so order reaaaaaallly matters.

2^2^2^2^2? As expected from above, Bing should do 256^2=65536 and it does. W|A? Well, it does 2^65536. This is a big number. How big? Well…

20035299304068464649790723515

602557504478254755697514192650

169737108940595563114530895061

308809333481010382343429072631

818229493821188126688695063647…

…8091458852699826141425030123391

That is a 19729 digit number. Big.

Therein lies the difference, but which is right? Hmm. Most mathematicians think of repeated exponentiation as “top-down”. So, my main question is why isn’t Bing using W|A as it says? Or is there some extra option I need to assemble?

Oh well. Just an odd thing I noticed.

My confusion is…why? Why couldn’t I just pour it into a half-filled tank and then fill the tank? It’s still one bottle of additive in one full tank.

My first thought is that maybe the additive isn’t very miscible, so it needs the physical action of the fueling to help mix? But, really, a fuel additive that isn’t miscible in fuel?

I suppose the real answer is that some yahoo had some overfilled gas tank and then added a bunch of flammable hydrocarbons to it and boom or something.

I dunno. Just irked me. Feel like they could just put “add to one full tank of gas”. But, well, we are the culture that came up with “Careful: Contents Are Hot” on a cup of coffee and all.

But the main event: cookie making! Specifically, a recipe my grandma used to make back in the day for Christmas. There is a Don Rockwell picnic tomorrow and this is my contribution. Now, to the picto-recipe after the cut!

First things first, this is a messy recipe, so have an apron standing by. I imagine it’s also a great recipe for kids. Up until the end, it’s just mixing messy, gooey ingredients and forming messy, gooey balls. I imagine some kids would just love that.

First, 16 oz of Marshmallow Fluff (or other marshmallow cream):

Then, 16 oz (2 cups) of chunky peanut butter:

Finally, 4 cups of Rice Krispies (or equivalent puffed rice cereal):

Yep. Those are the three main ingredients before coating. Now you mix them…and don’t even think about using a spoon. Use your hand(s) and go to town. It’s gooey and all that, but it’s by far the best way:

After you’ve mixed it all thoroughly, it’s time to roll them into balls, say the size of small walnuts.  You’ll be rolling a lot of balls, around 70-80 depending on the size. Here you see two of three sheet pans with the balls.

Also note the wax paper.  It just makes life easier because we are now going to coat the cookies with a confectionery coating.  The type I use, because my grandma used it, is the semi-ubiquitous Candiquik which is also known as Almond Bark and many other things. In NoVA, Walmart’s about the only place I’ve seen it and at mine it’s called “Almond Bark, Vanilla Flavor“. It’s essentially Candiquik (bad-for-you shelf-stable fat with sugar and flavor), both are made by Log House Foods and they have the same directions.

Now I know, I know, I should be using real white chocolate or some such. Screw that. Candiquik is easy to use and, dammit, it’s what my grandma used. The artificial vanilla taste is part of the memory. (It also means you don’t use the “chocolate” Candiquik either).

Following the directions, melt the coating and then coat the balls.  Yes, melt which means small kids really shouldn’t be around for this. If you follow the directions, the coating really won’t be that hot, but if you overheat it, well, molten sugar and kids DO NOT MIX.

Back to the recipe, I melted my coating the microwave and then used two forks to help coat it. You could use your fingers if you have asbestos fingers, but it’s also less messy to use the forks:

I suppose you could use chopsticks if you are agile enough with them. I am not.

Finally, when all is said and done, you end up with 70-80 coated balls of peanut butter-marshmallowy-krispie goodness:

Let them rest until hard, then refrigerate them. You don’t really have to cool them in the fridge, but I find they can still start to melt by finger-heat if you leave them in a 75-80 degree room.

Of course, there is all the cleaning involved as well. Boo! In all, it takes about 1-1.5 hours of not-very-difficult work. But the end result is well worth it!

Yours in cookies,

Matt

Okay, that’s redundant.

Sometimes, when I’m in my apartment…

…

…

…I make car noises as I walk around.

Vroooooom! as I move forward.

Vreeeewww! as I turn a corner.

Skreeeeee! as I stop.

Sometimes I sound like an F1 car, sometimes a Cup car, sometimes a World Rally Car.

Yup.

See what you are missing, ladies?!

Yours in you know you do it too,

Matt

Okay, yeah, it was an easy puzzle.

Okay, a really easy one.

Yes, I am doing the Jumble next. The really hard Jumble!

Shut up.

Hugs,
Matt

ETA: Completed the crossword in ten minutes as well. Woo! Gotta love Tuesday puzzle easiness! (Easiosity?)

ETA2: Found the 12 differences! And it was an advanced puzzle as well!