03 Feb 2022
Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the subtleties of braising, but I frequently run across people who are confused about what, exactly, braising is – and for many years, so was I. What is the common description of braising? “meat cooked slow in liquid”. But what does that mean? Is cooking meat in liquid slow in a pot on the oven braising? (spoiler: no) Is slow-cooking meat in liquid in a pot in the oven braising? (spoiler: also no, mostly). A quick explanation of my understanding of what braising is, why you should do it, and how it’s superior to some other methods. If you want the quick tl;dr: braising is only braising when there’s convection involved. Explanation below:
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23 Oct 2021
Intro
This is just a quick list off the top of my head of various tips, tricks, opinions, hot takes, and light trolling. This isn’t a comprehensive list or anything, just things I’ve encountered along the years that help me out with the stuff I tend to cook. There’s nothing in here that will be a shock to even a noob home chef, but you never know. I still run across things that blow my mind like “omg why have I not been doing this all these years???”
I figured I need a place to dump this stuff and can add to it as I think of things. I might update it with links, but probably not. You can just google anything I’m saying to see if I’m being a lying liar or not. Enjoy!
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30 Jun 2020
Intro
Disclaimer: I am not a project manager. I’m a devops/SRE/security type guy. I could barely explain to you the difference between “agile” and “waterfall” (in practice, anyway). These opinions come from someone that has spent 20 some odd years using every manner of PM tool under the sun in some capacity – whether as a manager, a developer, an engineer, or all of the above. This is not a solution or a manifesto (I think). It’s ungenerous, a complaint, an airing of grievances and a summary of my PTJD (Post Traumatic Jira Disorder). So, let’s get into it:
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02 May 2019
A few years ago, I ran across an ad for a product: a “speed booster” lens adapter that promised to increase the ‘speed’ (effective light-gathering normally associated with the maximum aperture of the lens) by up to 1 full stop. A popular example is the Metabones adapter for various cameras/lenses. It sounded, at first, like a scam. “How can you change the fundamental limits of a lens to be .. better? You can’t, it makes no sense.” I blew it off and moved on. It wasn’t till I got into astrophotography that I started hearing talk of similar devices: “focal reducers”, which increased the effective field-of-view (of a lens or telescope) and also gave a similar “speed” boost. Again, I was confused – how is this possible? I couldn’t blow it off this time (turns out they are fairly important for astrophotography), so I did some learnin’ – turns out it’s not a scam! It’s a real thing, and here’s how it works:
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23 Jun 2017
I see that healthcare reform is in the news again! How exciting.
A few months ago I joked that there were two articles that were required reading before I discussed healthcare in the united states with anyone. I thought I’d flesh that out a little bit:
- A good succinct no-frills timeline of how we got here. Do we have a government system? A private system? Why is the responsibility for healthcare placed on employers? Why is it called insurance when it covers not-unexpected things? If you don’t know the answer to any of these questions, read this.
- This recent econtalk episode is a good, lengthier discussion of the above process. Christy Ford Chapin’s book is worth reading as well.
- This summary of medical pricing and the AMA helps explain where and how costs are set in our current system. “Why is our healthcare so expensive?” is a difficult question, but this is one glaring part of the answer. (tl;dr: it’s a profiteering racket)
- If you’ll allow some self-indulgence, this post by me, opining on obamacare (my optimism has since greatly diminished in the intervening 7 years), but in particular pointing out the difference between “health care” and “health insurance”, and lamenting the fact that in public debate, no one even bothers to make this lexical distinction.
- Buy Health, Not Healthcare - a good framing of the situation by Robin Hanson in 1994.
- A good thorough analysis of healthcare costs and the ramifications of various single-payer proposals by Megan McArdle.
- Econtalk’s fascinating episode with Kevin Smith on the Surgery Center of Oklahoma and how most of the industry currently bills for procedures. (You might need to sit down for this one, parts of it are maddening).