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I saw a Lowe’s video about winterizing your home the other day and gasped, “No! Not winter already!” It seems like fall just arrived and we’re already thinking about winter. It’s not difficult with so many stores already depicting winter scenes in their displays, either. In fact, I’ve already bought a couple of gifts and stowed them away for Wood Sprite (hey, that Halloween duct tape was on sale for a buck!).
Like many of the Bad Crafts I have featured here, this is a craft that I call "bad" with tongue very much in cheek.
Since we're on the topic of pork chops (and I'm in the middle of my "I Bought An Extreme Value Pack And Now It's Pork Chops For Dinner All Week" week), let's talk about pork. How should you cook it? What do all those cuts mean? And is "the other white meat" a completely meaningless phrase?
It's easy to get caught up in complicated recipes and innovative new procedures. But you know what works great for pork chops? Just put them in a 9x13 pan, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and bake them at 350 until they are done.
I cook my chops to a full 165 degrees, even though the USDA recently dropped its recommendation to 145 degrees.
There are three versions of this article.
Regular, "premium" and "turbo-premium."
Obviously, this is an experiment.
The intent would be that the "regular" spectometer site would be free, and probably also copied here, so long as there is an SSI and it's OK, but the "preumium" and "turbo-premium" would require a subscription.
Anyway, here's a first draft of what it would be like.
Every year around Halloween, some people get squeamish about the idea of handing out giant buckets of candy to other people's children. As someone who has completely reformed their diet in the last ten months, I totally get it. Sugar is really bad, and frankly I've come around to the theory that it's an addictive substance not unlike caffeine or alcohol.
But you know what? Those kids who knock at the door, they're not your kids. You're not designing a school lunch program, you're handing out candy one night a year.
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Q. Wouldn't SSI prefer an offseason that improved the hitting?
A. SSI would prefer an offseason in which the Mariners were sold to somebody who cared. Preferably the guy who owns the Angels, or the other guy who owns the Rangers. Then we could go get Stanton, Ellsbury AND Choo and ... baseball would be the new football.
Failing such an offseason, it would be a lot of fun to see a David Price press conference in Seattle, even if his career SLG is a Brendan Ryan-like .083.
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Q. Is Seattle linked to Price?
A. More than they were linked to that Cuban guy who signed with the White Sox. I succeeded in forgetting his name.
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Q. When was the last team to do good with a great rotation and a dubious offense?
A. They weren't the last team to do good with only pitching, but the 2012 Tampa Rays are an example:
Also, the 2012 Oakland A's had a 99 offense and won the AL West. The 2012 A's had one (1) full time player, that being Josh Reddick. He hit .240 with a .305 OBP and gap power.
Yes, you could find mucho beisbol equipos with dubious offenses, great pitching, and mucho success. The Royals, this year, had an 89 offense (!) and yet won 86 games, contending for a lot of the season.
Texas' offense was only 99 this year. (You do realize that the Mariners' offense was 98, right.) Baltimore's offense was 98 last year, 2012, when they went to the playoffs. When the Angels won 100 games in 2008, their offense was 95 OPS+.
The point is, yeah, we're all sick to the gut of boring offenses. But you don't need a plus offense to contend.
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Q. What would Price cost, in trade talent?
There are a lot of things that crafting has taught me. One of the biggest is the concept of "retail mark-up." Clearly the world of big box retail craft stores like Joann's and Michaels operate on at least a 40% mark-up, because there is no time at which you can't get a coupon for 40% off anything in the store.
Mark Bittman is an amazing food writer, but he tends to go a little overboard in his editorial pieces. So it is with his latest missive, which is designed to convince you to give up chicken altogether. In this case, it's not for the reason you expect. Although Bittman strongly advocates eating less meat, and is a passionate inventer and supporter of the "Vegetarian Mondays" and "Vegetarian Before 6" programs, in this case it's because of salmonella.
October 17 was Spirit Day, a time for people of all ages to stand in solidarity with children and teens who are bullied because of their sexual orientation. This was the third annual Spirit Day, and to celebrate, thousands of people wore wear purple to show that you stand with all youths of all sexual orientations. There are so many other activities you can do in honor of Spirit Day not just in October but every day, too.
