Paul Krugman gets it

But that’s scarcely news: he’s gotten it from the first. Only now it’s becoming evident to others that Krugman’s been right. From Friday’s column:

The nature of the right-wing attack on The New York Times — an attack not on the newspaper’s judgment, but on its motives — seems to have startled many people in the news media. After an editorial in The Wall Street Journal declared that The Times has what amount to treasonous intentions — that it “has as a major goal not winning the war on terror but obstructing it” — The Journal’s own political editor pronounced himself “shocked,” saying that “I don’t know anybody on the news staff of The Wall Street Journal that believes that.”

Great Firefox extension: Session Manager

Great idea:

When was the last time you lost all the data you entered on a form because your browser/computer crashed or something went wrong? And how many times have you spent 10 minutes relocating a crucial (or hilarious) web page because you closed the wrong window? Entering data into a form is work. [Not if you use Roboform. – LG] Navigating through the petabytes of information on the internet is work. One wrong move, one brownout, and poof! There goes your data, your history, and that web page.

Enter Session Manager, a plug-in for Mozilla Firefox. Since I installed it, I’ve lost my fear of closing windows and tabs. Although Session Manager offers a lot of features, I find I only use two: “session saving”, and “undo close window/tab”.

Clever idea for collaborative writing

Via MetaFilter, this clever idea of how to do mark-up using a plain text editor. Basic idea:

First pair of square brackets encloses a deletion (or nothing, if no deletion)

Second (adjacent) pair of square brackets encloses an addition (or nothing, if no addition)

Third (adjacent) pair of square brackets encloses a comment.

The third pair is never empty: if you don’t have a comment, you simply don’t use the third pair. Here are some examples:

They[‘re] – means delete ‘re — no second pair (nothing to add) or third pair (no comment).

They[][‘re] – means add ‘re — no deletion, no comment

They[‘re][][You already have a verb] – means delete ‘re, no addition, and a comment.

They[][‘re][You need a verb] – means no deletion, add ‘re, and a comment

They [][][Who? Specify] – means no deletion, no addition, just a comment.

The link suggestions thinking of a number line, proceeding from negative (deletion) to positive (addition), along with the comment in third place (if used).

As he says, you quickly get used to the notation and can readily read it.

Perfect chicken-burgers

From The Eldest:

I have never been able to make a truly tasty chicken or turkey burger…until now! Here is the perfected recipe:

Chicken burgers

2 slices whole wheat bread (I used “health nut” bread)
1 1/4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast
3 TBSP mayonnaise
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning (I used Old Bay, because I couldn’t find my Cajun seasoning)
2 large egg whites
2 TBSP canola oil

Place bread in a food processor; pulse until they turn into coarse crumbs. Put breadcrumbs into a large bowl. Place chicken in food processor; pulse until ground. Combine chicken, mayonnaise, seasoning, and egg whites with the breadcrumbs and mix well (mixture will be wet). Divide mixture into 4 equal portions. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add patties, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 7 minutes on each side, covering for part of the time on each side to ensure thorough cooking. Makes 4 burgers.

You could probably adjust the seasonings by adding Dijon mustard, using curry powder, jerk spices, etc. Makes a moist, flavorful, nicely textured burger.

I bet the nuts in the bread added to the flavor. I would try putting a small handful of, e.g., pecans in with the bread before I processed it, just to see what effect it would have.

Avoid Tylenol

It looks as though even the recommended dosage can cause liver damage. The Wife and I never have acetaminophen (which is what Tylenol is) in the house. We take ibuprofen  (e.g., Advil) or aspirin.