My Brain on Pizza

Not sure exactly how I re-connected with Pizza. But heres what I think it went. I fondly remember being taken to Pepe's in New Haven during my inaugral trip to my Dad's homeland in 1969. I was 7 years old at the time, but already pretty darn good pizza eater. So I'm told. Since that epic experience, I had since been to Pepe's maybe once,( unmemorable), and to the spin offs, Bimontes and the other ones. Back to California where I spent my first 23 years of life, and where there was never any good pizza. No where but New Haven and the surrounding hamlets (Hamden, Branford, North Haven, etc.), is there any pizza worth a grain of semolina. That was and for the most part, still is a fact. If you were reared on New Haven style pizza of course.

But with the rise of the Boomers, and their decadent if not hedonistic search for up-man's-ship, and mulitude of ways to spend their new wealth, a new pizza 'movement' has settle in west. Pizzas have gotten better. Now a number some entrepeneur type people have gotten rich off pizza whether good or bad, for a long time. But pizza meets west coast tastes, meets the new millenium, and its a new ballgame. There are numous websites and pizza affecianados dedicated to this now.

Trying to duplicate a good tasting pizza at home for me, was a total waste of time. So I sought and ate the best pizza everywhere I've lived for the past 25 years. Until, my smart mother, sent me a DVD for Christmas: Secrets from Inside the Pizzeria by Beverly Collins. Took me awhile to even entertain this notion. You've got to know my mom though, and a lifetime of zany, eccentric, often totally useless gifts. But when it came to food and cooking, mom was usually spot on. My mom was a foodie, long before it was a word. When I finally did watch the DVD I was dumbfounded. It changed my life. Who'd a thought, that something as simple as getting a good flour, an exact hydration, and the real key to all this, a long cold ferementation could make or break what one could do in their kitchen. IT took even longer for me to actually try this though, still mabye having that back burner skepticism.

To do it right from the get go, I orderd this King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour a high gluten flour recommended by Beverly. I added the water, yeast, and kneaded the crap out of it for 12 minutes or so. Then I stuck it in the garage, where the temperature stays about 42-44 F all winter, for two days. I pulled it out, divided the dough up, pressed out some pizza shells, and stuck them in a 500 F pre-heated gas oven on top of a pizza stone I had received from my mom years before that I had hardly ever used. Holy shit, I discovered I can make pizza at home. Not only that, better than most things called pizza I can get at our local restaurants.

Healthy Fisheries is Extremely Important to Alaska

A standout year for local seafood
LAINE WELCH
FISHERIES
(01/01/11 21:19:55)
KODIAK -- Alaska's seafood industry worked hard in 2010 to ramp up its message to policy makers, especially those from the Railbelt region who tend to overlook the industry's economic significance.
How important is the seafood industry to Alaska and the nation? At a glance:
• 62 percent of all U.S. seafood landings come from Alaska.
• 96 percent of all wild-caught salmon comes from Alaska.
• Seafood is by far Alaska's No. 1 export, valued at nearly $2 billion (next in line: zinc and lead at $785 million).
• Alaska ranks ninth in the world in terms of global seafood production.
The seafood industry is second only to Big Oil in revenues it generates to the state government's general fund each year. The industry provides more Alaska jobs than oil and gas, mining, tourism and timber combined.
Here are some fishing notables from 2010, in no particular order:
The University of Alaska created a center devoted entirely to ocean acidification studies. Meanwhile, acid levels in the Gulf of Alaska and the Chukchi and Bering seas continued to increase faster and more severely than previously thought.
Catch-share programs became the preferred tool for managing U.S. fisheries. Federal managers budgeted $54 million as "incentive" for catch shares to catch on in fishing regions.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council approved sweeping changes to its fishery-observer program that will include all vessels longer than 40 feet.
Alaska's biggest fishery rebounded to accommodate a 2011 pollock catch of nearly 3 billion pounds, a 54 percent increase over the past two years -- but in line with the average catch for the past 30 years.
Kodiak and Sitka were the latest fishing towns to add some local catch to their school lunch menus, following Dillingham, Kenai, Fairbanks and Mat-Su.
Halibut prices seldom dipped below $5 a pound, boosting the value of the fishery to $193 million, an increase of $61 million over 2009.
Halibut catches continued a downward trend, and managers plan to trim the harvest again in 2011. Halibut catches in Southeast Alaska have dropped by more than 60 percent over the past five years.
Alaska salmon fishermen were paid an average of 66 cents a pound this year, a 16 percent increase over 2009.
The 2010 catch of 169 million salmon was the 11th largest on record. The dockside value of almost $534 million was an increase of nearly 30 percent and the best showing in 18 years.
Two areas, Bristol Bay and Prince William Sound, accounted for 55 percent of the value of the total Alaska commercial salmon catch.
Prince William Sound set a record with a total catch of 75.4 million -- nearly 45 percent of all salmon harvested in Alaska this year. The PWS harvest of 69 million humpies accounted for 66 percent of Alaska's total pink salmon catch.
Norton Sound fishermen saw some of the best chum salmon runs in 25 years. At Kotzebue, the chum catches tracked the best in 15 years. Upper Cook Inlet fishermen hauled in a huge 2.7 million sockeye harvest, almost a million more fish than expected. King salmon continued to decline on the Yukon River.
A surprise pink salmon fishery at Bristol Bay (Nushagak) attracted 60 boats and 35 setnetters who pulled in more than 1 million humpies plus 60,000 cohos. It's been so long since a pink and coho salmon fishery occurred, managers had no numbers to compare the catches to.
Peter Pan Seafoods and Bristol Bay fishermen were recognized by Alaska Head Start Association for providing local salmon to children and elders throughout Southwest Alaska.
After a decade of debate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed regulations to allow genetically modified animals for human consumption. First up: a salmon that grows up to 30 times faster than normal. Alaska senators said they will try to stop the fish from ever getting to market.
It turns out that the deadliest catch is the safest catch. A federal report showed that salmon fishing is Alaska's most dangerous fishery, with 39 fatalities over the past decade. That compares with a death toll of 12 Bering Sea crabbers during the same time.
For the 21st year in a row, Dutch Harbor ranked as the nation's No. 1 port for seafood landings. Kodiak ranked No. 4, up from the No. 5 spot. Eleven Alaska fishing towns made the list of top 50 U.S. ports.
Americans ate slightly less seafood --15.8 pounds per person, the lowest level since 2002. Beef is still what's for dinner: 108 pounds per capita, followed by 73 pounds of poultry.
Alaska king crab fetched some of the highest prices ever. Bering Sea crabbers got an advance of $6.25 a pound, compared with $4.76 last year.
Higher fish prices drove up both the demand and value for fishing permits and IFQs/catch shares in most regions of the state.
Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her information column appears every other Sunday. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your website or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.

FU Microsoft

I've been using computers since the late 70s. My first computer experience was on a 12-bit PDP 8 with teletype console terminal. I use a Radio Shack TRS 80, a Wang Word processor, then used DOS-based programs on a personal mico-computer. That was a big deal in the 80s. I've been through almost the whole entire evolution of computers and softeware, and have some experience (unfortunately not more) using Apple Products. Then, recently along comes Window 7, and Office 2007. I have to say, this is absolutely without a doubt, the most god aweful "advancement" of any computer product that I've experienced in my 30 plus years of using comptuers. Microsoft, you put the nail in your coffin for me using your products, you absolutely suck horseshit. MS Office 2007 and W7 are totally complete f'ing failures in computer usability. I really really have reached apoint where I just want to throw my whole GD computer and everything that goes with it out the f'ing window and go buy a farm, some chickens, a horse and maybe a cow. I just can't believe this, unbelievable BS from the company that dominates so much of our lives.

General Update

Greetings. Obviously, I have nearly abandoned this format for keeping track of my life. I'll still use this for various situations, but I've found Facebook to better suite my needs. One think I do need to know is how to consolidate my web presence into one site. I offer a lot of reviews on various products, places and other things, record my travels, post pictures, and keep in touch with friends and family. Why should it be so hard to have a one place do it all web site? I think Facebook is the closest thing to that, but it needs a LOT of improvements. The feature that allows you to tie in other applications has the most promise. Anyway, that's where you'll find me.

Traci Watson, USA Today - You R fired!

Economists raise doubts about alternative-energy spending, by Traci Watson, USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2008-12-04-greenjobs_N.htm This kind of stuff really really really pisses me off to no end. Its so completely taken out of context of the report. The mention of alternative energy in the report refers to the slowness at which economic stimulus occurs through funding of public works projects. In other words, forget the New Deal right now (all capital infrastructure projects, and that said a YEAR ago, before it got really bad). Alternative energy was used as example - a poor one - to represent Public Work projects. Here's the actual report http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8916/01-15-Econ_Stimulus.pdf Read it. Don't believe that spending on Alternative Energy is futile. It is n't. It is necessary. Don't become complacent because gas is back down to 2 buck chuck a gallon. It won't be forever. We still need find ways to ween ourselves off petro. Don't start writing letters to your congress saying "drill baby". We need to decrease our dependence on oil, period. Alternative Energy is a good thing (no not a panacea, and not every alternative is postive). But don't believe this article, it is a lie.

Is it real or Memorex?

From Yahoo:
Dow tumbles 514 on earnings forecast worries
By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Tim Paradis, Ap Business Writer – 29 mins ago

Once again I am completely baffled. You mean yesterday, no one actually thought that that amid all this financial crisis, looming recession, Bernanke's comments on the economy, that earning would decline? Absolutely got to be kidding me. If investors actually thought that earnings WOULDN"T decline when taking account all that has happened in the last year, it just makes we wonder if anybody is sane. Really.

PalinGate and More....

AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids' travel

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081022/ap_on_el_pr/palin_family_travel

I have to respond to this because it opens up some many more questions for me, a Alaska State employee, than it answers. For, how on Earth was Sarah able to much less did, charge the travel expenses for her kids. There are several check and balance systems in place that should have prevented this in the first place. Maybe there's some executive priveleges I am not aware of (if there are executive priveleges, why are wasting tons of our money trying to indict Ted Stevens, another story.)

Steps to travel for an employee of Alaska's Executive Branch:
Request travel permission from supervisor, if request is for out of state travel, then a regional supervisor must approve, then it gets forwarded to headquarters where an agency Commissioner's designee must approve. The travel request must state dates, destination, estimated costs, and justification of why this travel is needed. Sarah doesn't have a supervisor so gets a free one here. Too bad, that's an important check that should be in place to prevent new articles.

Next:
Travel arrangements MUST be made through the State Travel Office or STO. Now the STO is the last vestige of Frank Murkowski's infamy. This is a corrupt private institution that all state employees must patronize to travel. The STO charges the state for EACH transaction. Meaning every airline reservation has a fee, every hotel reservation has a fee, every rental car reservation has a fee. The Travel agency is making some huge bucks on this, but does anybody investigate this SCAM?! The process has been relaxed somewhat in that the employee can now make their own hotel and rental car reservations. They can make their own airline reservations but are not allowed to purchase the ticket themselves, STO must do that. The STO uses State Procurement protocols to process your request, which is done online. They will not proceed with your reservation unless you've certified by email that you have approval to travel from your supervisor. Some employees, such as myself, have a Purchase Credit Card number on file to charge the airline ticket too. You can make arrangements for other people through the STO, but because I've never done this, I don't know how exactly this works, but the STO has to operate under the State's procurement code.

How Palin was able to charge the tickets for her kids is beyond me. Were they employees? Were they hired on as volunteers? An employee can't just start making reservations willy nilly for people USING the STO! If Palin doesn't have to use the STO, then I'm really mad, because the rest of us do, and we are forced to pay a private company to make our reservations for us. Which would be fine if it were 1980. But its 2008, and making flight reservations and getting them exactly how you want them on the internet takes a minute or two. For me, STO rarely gets it right even if I tell them I have to leave on Monday, they'll book me on Tuesday. Rarely have they got it right and it costs more of my time to use this stupid ass STO.

Once travel is over, I along with all other state employees, but maybe the governor doesn't, have to complete the paper work -No job is ever complete until the paperwork is done! All expenses have to be accounted for and JUSTIFIED. For meals, I typically get $60 per day divided by various amounts for breakfast lunch and dinner, and I don't know of any limits on Hotels. A 700 dollar a night hotel in New York is nothing really, try getting one in Manhattan for less. I dare you. So 60 bucks is good money for meals, it should cover you, but I'll tell you that is getting harder and harder to do. If I go to a conference I have to submit a conference agenda so the approvers of this form can determine if I was provided any of the meals at the conference thus preventing me from walking away with that meal's allowance. This form has to bee approved by the nearest Adminstrative Manager, THEN it gets sent to Headquarters (Juneau staff) for approval. Interestingly, the supervisor does not have to approve, mainly because a supervisor has already approved the travel, and the estimated cost. Headquarters must approve these travel expenses otherwise the employee is responsible. So How did Sarah get her travel expenses approved!?!! Highly unlikely she did her own paperwork, so someone wasn't doing their job, or someone did their job and did too well, and got caught and Sarah gets blamed, it is her responsibility. But really can you blame them. Who is going to tell the governor they are redhanded wrong? You don't get very far in government telling your boss, much less the governor, they are wrong - isn't that right Walt?!