Quick Roundup 442

More than You'd Ever Want to Know ...

... about pressure cookers.

I was in the process of simplifying this recipe for chicken pot pie recently when it occurred to me that a pressure cooker I unpacked earlier in the day could speed up cooking the chicken, if only I knew how to use it.

So I googled something like "how to use a pressure cooker" and stumbled upon Miss Vickie's site. There's a wealth of information there on how to use these devices, probably including how to blog with one if you were to look hard enough.

I was able, in pretty short order, to test mine and find a problem without ruining dinner. (See "beginner basics" at the top menu and proceed to "test drive" at the bottom of the left sidebar. If you've been reading for the past few days or know about my past professional background, you'll see why I am a big fan of testing gadgets before using them.)

Once I replace a defective overpressure relief on said cooker, I'll be back: The recipe came out really well, but I would really like to eliminate the twenty minute lull that came with having to boil the meat in a normal pot. Then, my total preparation time will clock in under an hour and I will be occupied throughout.

Leftists Never Kill Leftists?

Via HBL, I learned of a leftist blogger getting into a tizzy over a recent appearance of Harry Binswanger on the Glenn Beck Show. He concludes his post with, "Leftists hellbent on killing leftists--the Nazis were special that way."

Yeah. That never happens. And the national socialist variety of socialism is fundamentally, opposite-end-of-a-spectrum different from Communism, too.

Nor could it possibly ever happen. Wikipedia summarizes the approach of President Obama's mentor for achieving leftist goals as, "the most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired ends." How reassuring!

Or maybe Steve Rendall always agrees with Barack Obama, and thinks that anyone who disagrees with him is, ipso facto, not really a leftist.

Better Living through Blogging/Desktop Update

I have often had commenters here come through with helpful advice when I have found myself in some kind of bind, as was most recently the case with my computer.

Now, I've had a question I was pondering recently preemptively asked and answered by someone in the industry over at Rational Jenn's. I was leaning in the direction he indicated already, but learned through his answer of a way to save more money on a land line than I thought we could. (I'll file that idea away for now as it turns out that we have free basic phone service in our new place.)

As for the computer, the troubleshooting was not as straightforward as it could have been. But the advice I got both helped me do the troubleshooting and to think of other things I could look into, like BIOS beep codes. I was unable to determine the exact set of beep codes for my particular BIOS, but I am fairly sure the problem is probably with the motherboard or the power supply, as I'd feared. I'll start making phone calls about it this morning.

Oddly, with only a RAM stick, the hard drive, and the video card installed, I can get as far as the boot loader. Once. (I don't want to boot all the way until I fix this.) If I power off and try again, no boot loader at all. Without RAM, I get a continuous beep and nothing else. In any other case, I get one beep and either progress to the boot loader or no progress at all. There is the further option of buying a PC board diagnostic test card, but I don't think I'm going to learn anything new with one.

Objectivist Roundup

This week, Rule of Reason is hosting.

Obama Kills a Bug

No, he didn't bomb Iran overnight. He literally killed a bug about a month ago, and PETA is fulminating.

As Dismuke puts it, "What was considered a COMIC ABSURDITY in 1930 is now taken seriously."

The above clip, from a 1930's movie about the future, presents the song as funny even by the Anthem-like, every man's a number standards of its fictional society.

-- CAV