Archive for July, 2007

I Made GongBaoJiDing!

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

I bought a bag of Sichuan peppercorns on a trip back to the US a few months ago, and last night I put them to the test.  We’ve been craving real GongBao JiDing since we left China, so it was time to give it a try.  I found a recipe online that looked promising and [...]

We’re off the edge of the map!

Friday, July 27th, 2007

Here be monsters!  Well, not monsters, but raving water-crazed post-apocalyptic cannibals.
Yesterday after work, we went over to Paul’s for Bad Movie Night, where we grilled hot dogs (because that’s what you do in Norway.  seriously.) and watched classicly terrible sci-fi films.  Our double feature included Ice Pirates and World Gone Wild, both aging sci-fi flicks about a future [...]

The Black Meat Market

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

You know Norway is expensive when…
Smugglers are caught trying to sneak meat over the border!
According to Aftenposten, the record for the single largest meat smuggling bust was broken recently.  I don’t know which is more surprising:  that there are actually criminal rings smuggling meat from our neighbors next door, or that someone managed to load 2.8 tons [...]

It’s a Slug Minefield!

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

One of the things I really appreciate about Norway is that it’s so pedestrian friendly.  Our office is about 10 minutes walk from two different train stations (Røa and Hovseter).  Between here and Hovseter is a small ravine with lots of preserved forest area and a charming little babbling creek.  When the weather is nice, it’s [...]

ContinentHell Airlines

Monday, July 16th, 2007

Back in Beijing, just about everyone knew the US flight schedules by heart. So few carriers connected Beijing with North America (preferring the more commercial Shanghai instead) that it was easy to keep track of the options. This has been changing lately as US airlines continuously petition for new Beijing routes (perhaps to cash in [...]

The most expensive iPhone on eBay

Monday, July 16th, 2007

…is in pieces!

Erin and I have long been in search of a truly fantastic blender, and the other day she sent me a link to “Will It Blend,” featuring a blender so cool it can blend just about anything.  Even an iPhone.  And they can prove it!
At first I was scandalized that anyone would be [...]

Web Security through Paranoia

Friday, July 13th, 2007

I read an article last year that all the built-in security features like “SiteKey” images and the little lock icons in Internet Explorer are virtually worthless, because no one bothers to check for them.  They did a study where they had people log in to their bank account websites multiple times, and they disabled some [...]