davehayes.org

Just did a search and copy-and-pasted some headlines.

• 26 die as terror attacks rock Israel
• 30 Are Killed in Sinai as Bombs rock Egyptian Resort City
• 350 bombs rock across Bangladesh, 2 killed
• 37 killed as 9 bombs rock Iraqi capital
• 4 bombs rock Baghdad; US kills 5, captures 30 near Fallujah
• 5 Bombs rock Philippine Capital
• 5 Car Bombs rock Baghdad in Effort to Disrupt Elections
• 50 killed as bomb blasts rock Delhi — Police suspect Lashkar-e-Toiba
• 60 die as car bombs rock two cities in Iraq
• 7 bombs rock Haiti as vote nears; 1 killed
• 7 hurt as car bombs rock Spain ; Separatists strike during EU summit
• 7 killed as blasts rock Assam towns
• 80 dead as three bombs rock Baghdad market
• Army officer killed as car bombs rock Madrid
• At least 18 dead as bomb blasts rock New Delhi
• Attacks, suicide bomb rock Israel
• Blasts rock Baghdad before reconciliation talks
• Blasts rock Baghdad, at least 13 killed
• Blasts rock churches in 3 states, 2 injured
• Blasts rock Iraq, Israel ; Bus bomb in Jerusalem kills 18
• Blasts rock Jakarta hotels; 3rd bomb found
• Blasts rock north-west Pakistan
• Blasts rock restive Thai south
• Bomb attacks rock S Thailand
• Bomb Blasts rock Algerian Capital, Kill at Least 24
• Bomb blasts rock Bali, at least 25 dead
• Bomb blasts rock Bangladesh terminals, one hurt
• Bomb blasts rock Burmese capital
• Bomb blasts rock casinos
• Bomb blasts rock Colombian capital
• Bomb blasts rock Indian state
• Bomb blasts rock Iraqi churches
• Bomb blasts rock Mosul, Baghdad
• Bomb blasts rock Nepalese capital
• Bomb blasts rock Pakistan
• Bomb blasts rock southern Thailand
• Bomb blasts rock three Pak cities, 45 injured
• Bomb explosions rock Iran, killing at least 9
• Bomb-blasts rock India for second day
• Bombers rock Baghdad university
• Bombings rock 2 Turkish Cities
• Bombs rock ’safe’ heart of Baghdad
• Bombs rock Baghdad
• Bombs rock Baghdad and Iraq’s North
• Bombs rock Baghdad, Killing 70, as Unity Government Crumbles
• Bombs rock Buenos Aires’ banks
• Bombs rock central Athens police station
• Bombs rock Jerusalem as Arab summit convenes
• Bombs rock Jolo, Iligan
• Bombs rock pair of Indonesia churches
• Bombs rock Pakistan killing 20
• Bombs rock Taliban offices in Kabul
• Bombs, gun battle, rock Pakistan’s Peshawar
• Bombs, hostage-taking rock streets of Baghdad; 24 dead
• Bombs, Shelling rock Somali Capital
• Car bomb blasts rock Iraqi town
• Car Bombs rock Central Baghdad
• Car bombs rock Colombia’s city centres
• Car bombs rock Israeli town
• Car bombs rock Madrid
• Car bombs rock streets of Algeria for 2nd day, killing 11
• Church Massacre, Bomb rock Pakistan
• Coordinated bomb attacks rock 3 cities in northern India
• Deadly car bombs rock Baghdad
• Dozens Killed in Terror Attack Bomb Blasts rock Algerian Capital
• Dozens Killed in Terror Attack Bomb Blasts rock Algerian Capital
• Explosions rock Sri Lanka
• Fourteen die as suicide bombs rock Baghdad and Mosul
• Hamas bombers rock Jerusalem market
• Karzai Attack, Bomb rock Afghanistan
• Multiple bomb blasts rock India’s Assam state
• Multiple bombings rock Iraq
• Nine car bombs rock Iraq in one day
• Nine suicide bombs rock Baghdad
• Pakistan urged to focus on ‘internal enemies’ as bombs rock northwest
• Roadside bomb rock Kabul
• Serial blasts rock Bangalore; 2 killed, several injured
• Series of bombs rock Baghdad, dozens killed
• Series of loud explosions rock Baghdad
• Several Blasts rock Manila; 11 Reported Dead
• Suicide blasts rock Iraq
• Suicide blasts rock Quetta; seven killed
• Suicide bomb blasts rock Baghdad
• Suicide bomb blasts rock Tel Aviv
• Suicide bomb, missiles in Gaza rock Mideast
• Suicide bombers rock Baghdad
• Suicide bombers rock Israel
• Suicide bombers rock peace talks
• Suicide bombers rock Somalia during crisis talks
• Suicide Bombers rock Tel Aviv
• Suicide bombing, fierce fighting rock Baghdad
• Suicide car bombs rock the Baghdad Hotel, kill six
• Twin car bombs rock grieving city ; ‘It just doesn’t stop,’ Jerusalem…
• Two Bombs rock Tel Aviv Neighborhood, Killing at Least Six
• Two car bombs rock Iraq police stations, seven dead
• Two killed, 33 injured as eight bomb blasts rock Bangkok
• Up to 15,000 troops storm Fallujah, bombs rock Baghdad
• Violent attacks rock Afghanistan
• Wave of attacks rock Pakistan
• Waves of Bombs rock Baghdad

Every day I become more convinced that journalism is a haven for mentally defective people.

Now that the wonderful Fall weather is finally starting to set in, the orchard near to my parents’ house is stocked with their delicious raw apple cider. In celebration, I thought I’d share the recipe for my favorite adult beverage that makes use of the stuff. This is perfect for Halloween parties because the recipe makes a rather large amount, and it’s always a hit.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon apple cider
• 1/2 gallon apple juice
• 750mL Everclear
• 750mL Captain Morgan’s
• 3 cups regular sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 8 cinnamon sticks

Instructions

Heat the apple juice and cinnamon sticks in a large pot until almost boiling and then stir in the sugar until it’s all dissolved. Then mix everything together, leaving the cinnamon sticks in. Chill and serve over ice. Awesome.

Notes

You can use all regular sugar if you want, I don’t think it will make a difference. It might be worth it to check with a couple of local orchards and see if you can get good apple cider. If so, I’d just use all apple cider and no apple juice. If you’re going for authenticity, the kids from Alabama that gave me the recipe were serving the stuff out of a gas can…

Finding $8 in the pocket of a jacket you haven’t worn since March, and using that $8 to buy apple cider.

Seems like every day after lunch, I can barely keep myself awake. I’m sitting here staring at a spreadsheet in Gnumeric and I keep pulling that whole bobble-head maneuver over and over again. Surely there is some way to keep this from happening every stinking day… then again, maybe the Mexicans have it right with that whole siesta thing. Somehow, though, I don’t think my boss would go for that.

The other night, after being confronted with a refrigerator full of nothing but beer and condiments, I was trying to plan a trip to the grocery store. For me, this is typically a very haphazard thing and occurs in one of about three distinct situations. Usually, I’m either:

• Broke and trying to save money by eating frozen burritos and oatmeal for a week
• Shopping for a specific recipe (my Christmas Cheeseball of Awesomeness, for example)
• Or I have some type of craving.

But recently I’ve become somewhat interested in keeping a stocked kitchen. This happened for a variety of reasons, which I won’t detail here, but there was a problem. I knew the limited subset of items I liked to have around, but past that… I had no idea what a well stocked kitchen could contain. Enter my mother, who in her infinite wisdom and forethought gave me a (very complete and thorough) Betty Crocker cookbook when I moved out of her house. The specific cookbook I own details the items that should be present in a well stocked kitchen (it is by no means exhaustive, but it is pretty thorough, as you’ll see).

Using this as a basis, I dragged Jon to the grocery store to help me fill out the list. It was quite a lot, if I’m honest. Probably $150 worth of food which I subsequently had trouble cramming into the meager cabinet space of my apartment. This was great… I had things around and could make whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted without having to leave the apartment. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.

I had reached a point where the things I had left weren’t really usable without something else. Rather than make a trip to the grocery store, I’d usually just go pick something up from a local restaurant or even do without on occasion. For whatever reason, the other night, I decided it was time to restock. Remembering what a chore it was to copy down the entire shopping list from my cookbook, I decided to make an electronic copy so that I could print one out whenever needed, cross off what I already have and head to the store to get the rest.

This, as you may guess, was slightly tedious and time consuming. But, I did it and I think it’s pretty useful so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s just a generic list of things you’d likely want to keep around, and I hope you find it useful. There’s both a 3 column PDF that’s perfect for printing out and carrying with you to the store and a plain html list (after the break, hit the “read” link down there) that you can copy and paste into whatever you intend to use.

Dave’s Butt-kicking Grocery Shopping List (PDF)

(more…)