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Recently I was given the opportunity to cook a nice meal for my mom on her birthday. Tonight I realized I haven’t blogged in a long time and decided it’d be nice to share with SamuraiBlog how to make this relatively simple meal that should impress relatives, significant others and your dog. I didn’t, unfortunately, have the chance to make this into a 5-10 minute cooking show, however I hope the simplicity of this recipe will be conducive to merely a blog post.

The amounts given in this recipe serve approximately 6 people. I was serving only 4 but, as you’ll see, the left-overs can be brilliantly used within a weeks time without any waste.

The meal consists of two main dishes. The combination of dishes, if Martha Stewert were here (and thank god for us all she isn’t), could be described as a great meal for spring as it consists entirely of fresh ingredients (actual logic flawed). The first dish is a Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad of a specific variety followed with a Special Shish Kabob (we’ll find out how special in a minute).

Prep (time 10-15 minutes)
First of all it’s ideal to work with entirely fresh ingredients.
For your salad:

1. Take your greens of choice. In my opinion this salad works best with spinach leaves and purple cabbage. This combination provides for a nice color and texture as well as taste to match the vinaigrette dressing, however not all people like the taste of spinach or cabbage and therefore it would be best to use perhaps regular iceberg lettuce and ranch (they get what they deserve).Anyway, chop the stems off off of about a bundle of spinach. Take 1/2 head of purple cabbage, core it, take the good parts (the tasty inner bits) and break it up. You want bite-size pieces as cabbage can be somewhat brittle.
2. Other ingredients can be added to your liking. I chose several handfuls of snow peas, avocado and bean sprouts. For this combination (which turned out really well) break the peas up and put aside for a moment; core, skin and chop your avocado.
3. The last step is just to make sure you have your favorite Raspberry Vinaigrette and (this one is important) Feta Cheese.

What you put on your Shish Kabobs is really up to you, but here is a great combination:

• Shrimp (1.5lb)
• Scallops (1lb)
• Red+Green+Yellow Peppers (chopped to the size of your shrimp) (2 each, cored)
• Red Onion (also chopped to same size as peppers) (1 whole, cored)
• Those sweat little tomatoes (a bundle or 2 large handfuls)
• Mushrooms (absolute must!) Get the better, darker-colored kind, preferably the size of the tomatoes (two bundles or 4 large handfuls)

Cooking (also 10-15 minutes)

One of the nice things about salads is they’re already cooked (actually no cooking involved, in most cases)! Simply make sure all the ingredients are clean and start assembling. Remember that those quantities serve 6 people. If you’re serving less but have the amounts I prescribed above, save it for later! Salads are extremely healthy and taste great!

Each salad should have:

• About 1/2 handful of cabbage
• About 1 handful of spinach
• 20ish halved snow peas
• A few fingers of sprouts

Put this combination on a plate and sprinkle liberal amounts of feta cheese on top, followed with the desired (everyone is different) amount of Raspberry Vinaigrette, (usually 3-4 tablespoons for a salad this size).

How to do Shish Kabobs the Right Way
I’ve been told all my life shish kabobs are to be put together rather conservatively. That there should be space between the bits is an absurd idea! Shish kabobs ideally combine all the flavors used and each ingredient should taste great together. With all of your ingredients (at the amounts outlined above) you should have nearly 10-15 packed shish kabobs. With your shish kabobs packed this way (and especially with such varying ingredients) you simply have to cook them slower and more carefully than normal shish kabobs.

To do this correctly, follow this directions:

1. Get your grille real hot. This can be any grille, I have a gas one.
2. Grease up the grille with Crisco or some other vegetable grease (I have store-brand kind). The idea is to just lube the rungs of the grille so your bare shish kabobs don’t get stuck.
3. Get your grille burning as low as it goes. We want to cook slow.
4. Place your shish kabobs on your grille. After this rotate 180 degrees approximately every 3-4 minutes for 4 times.
5. Add Old-Bay/Creole seasoning on either side (I used Old-bay on the first side, Creole on the second)
6. Between rotations (2nd and 3rd) melt some butter, a bit of salt, pepper and 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar in the microwave. There should be enough to cover everything once. Take a brush and brush this solution over everything, taking special attention to mushrooms and scallops.
7. When cooking both shrimp and scallops on the same shish kabob, we have to be very careful about cooking. The scallops will be done when they are almost ready to fall off the stick. Everything else, if cooked slowly enough, should be done at this point. Take everything off now!

Enjoy that shit!

BONUS: Most people will not be able to eat all the shish kabobs. There is a method to this, however. If you really want to score some points with your relatives, significant other, dog(?), make omelets the next morning using ingredients from your shish kabobs. The insides will already be cooked. For extra extra points pour a hollandaise sauce over top with some of your favorite, finely grated cheese.

-Sam

Digg has added a cool new podcast feature that allows it to digest podcast feeds and submit them all for people to digg.

SamuraiFilms on Digg!

-Sam

Every time I look at the code that comprises the mega-widespread blogging app, Wordpress, I can't help but wonder; if "code is poetry" (Auttomatic's slogan), then the Wordpress developers' must be a group of pre-pubescent emo girls, searching for themselves through poetry with barely a passing grade in English. Perhaps with bulimia and maybe a drug abuse problem.

And AIDS.

Now, before I get into examples, I need to point out that I don't have a single problem with the Wordpress developers themselves. They're obviously great people; their software is all open source, including their multi-user branch which powers the popular wordpress.com. That's GREAT; the only thing I could ask would be for more companies to follow in suit.

Wordpress is a web application that is built using PHP, MySQL (no SQLite or PostgreSQL) and Apache. It seems to work on any operating system that has, at minimum, those components. As for the app itself: the interface design is decent and the installation is easy. The code is horrible, though. Let me try to communicate how agonizing it is for someone who's used to beautifully architected programming languages and their frameworks to work with this code.

1. It's standard fare to see three (sometimes a lot more) global variables accessed at the top of any given function definition.
2. Use of object-orientation is out of place and inconsistent. classes.php
3. Code duplication is insane. template-loader.php
4. There is absolutely no separation of data and logic.
5. Theming, while supported, is inaccessible to anyone without a, at minimum, a passing knowledge of PHP unless you can accomplish your theme with simply modifying the CSS. Just take a look at this mess: comments.php or even, what should be the easiest to modify template, index.php.

All of these flaws compound into a pile of code that exemplifies why "serious" developers have a difficult time taking PHP as a language seriously. I've only scratched the surface and haven't even compared it to other apps. It seems that when the Wordpress developers started out, they were fairly new to programming and therefore are afforded many design flaws. I understand this because I still make these errors (everyone does!). Except, in Wordpress' case, they never reviewed, re-factored or even asked themselves, "does this make sense?" and kept using and building upon their first lines of code (kind of like Windows XP). It would do them good to pick up a design patterns book or take a CS course and re-write the entire thing.

The fact of the matter, though, is that Wordpress, for lazy people like me, is that it is simple and it is easy to use. It isn't easy to extend and isn't simple to theme. But who cares about that? I venture to guess that most people using a "one-click" install on their web host or who'r using wordpress.com don't really give a damn. And why should they? It works. Same goes for PHPbb or many other stale open source code-bases. Still, if I had enough motivation to write a competing blogging app using PHP 5 with excellent separation of logic, presentation and data, with a templating language, plugin support… the whole 10 (yes, 10) yards, I don't see it gaining any ground. Wordpress is here to stay, whether we like it or not.

-Sam

If you read this blog, you probably know that I get a little angry over political stuff every now-and-again. I might jab at an evangelist (perhaps tear them a residual new one) or question motives and true morals of political talking heads who run our country today. The reason I'm writing to this blog entry right now, however, is of a more introverted importance. I recently have realized that as I become busier in more business and personal aspects of life, politics and worldly matters occupy of my time, taking a back seat to what is arguably more interesting to engross yourself with. It is for this reason that I am ashamed.

The way I envision most American citizens political lives falls into three categories. A) Incumbently ignorant; trivial stuff occupies this persons mind throughout their life span. B) Sheeple; people who have a party line and vote it, they want people to think they care but never-the-less, they don't. C) Other; these are the activists, independents and other people who give a fuck. As you can imagine, and back to the introversion-themed entry, I fall into C. Note that I am not a political scientist and I have no certifications on the matter.

The reason I decided to write this entry tonight is because I felt my world-view blurring. I have been working very hard on a project for the past few weeks and no doubt, chronologically, updates for that project will surround this entry by two to three entries. When one involves themselves deeply in a project as I have, especially if it consumes every bit of free time, one's perception on reality begins to slip. It's not just politics either–social functions begin to deteriorate. I have found myself talking to people less, even though I've been around them in the same dosages as before. I recall reading somewhere confirming a condition people can develop by involving themselves in an all-consuming project or job. Reportedly people who leave work at Apple, Google and Microsoft develop symptoms of it and claim their past workplace an "addiction." It happens to grad students and post college students going into their first real job.

If these bright minds are susceptible to reacting this way… does this not leave the rest of the incumbently ignorant America to incredibly vulnerable to similar distractions. For example, many people are "addicted" to anime, MySpace or MMORPGs. They become consumed and separated from the rest of the world. Normal people can be consumed by their normal jobs. I think the most important issue here is balance. People tend to be terrible at balancing their lives. You *can* have too much social interaction, and you *can* have too little. You are *obligated* to be active in politics but unless it's your job, you *can* be too active. The same applies elsewhere.

-Sam

As I often do, regardless, before I check out any movie, I am sure to head over to christiananswers.net and check out their "Spotlight" movie review section. I was reading on some past movies, such as The Matrix, Jackass: The Movie and Eyes Wide Shut with mostly the expected ratings. I was, however, very surprised at how little they actually tried to understand Eyes Wide Shut, and convey an immediate impression of absolute disgust toward the film. I was appalled at how uneven the review was, for example:

The story throughout varies from the murky and vague art house film to downright simplistic and bad filmmaking.

Outrageous! Eyes Wide Shut was about sex. It's a movie that was meant to make the viewer question their perception about human sexuality. What is CLEAR? What is CLEAR, foe-movie-buff, is that you reviewed a movie with a pre-determined opinion. Your implanted morals and peers do not allow you to enjoy a very deep movie, had you understood it in the first place.

On a whim, I thought I'd check out movies that would be absolutely harmless. For example, the first movie I checked out was The Little Mermaid, an absolutely harmless movie that carries all sorts of good vibes for kids. Yes, it's a Disney Corp movie, but of the better, less commercialized kind. It shows kids many good qualities to have such as sharing and tolerance. I expected Christian Answers to give this movie a flawless review, and it was, for the most part, acceptable. Their moral scale, however gave it an "Average." Average!? (there's three levels above, and two below) It doesn't get much better than The Little Mermaid. Reading the review reveals this:

However, there is a hint of sexuality in Ariel. She is only sixteen, yet darts about in a skimpy seashell bra, and at one point when she is changed into a human she is wearing no pants (although the audience cannot see anything). Fortunately, the chance of a child getting a wrong impression from this movie is miniscule. On the plus side, this film does promote marriage and monogamy.

The author of this review is clearly grasping for something to find wrong with this movie. I started to notice something, though. Note the last sentence, marked in bold.

A Sex Symbol of our Modern Times

Another purely random pick: Shrek 2.

There are practical lessons about how when you marry someone, you actually “marry” that person’s entire family.

How about Mulan:

After watching Mulan, parents should be prepared to explain to their children about Chinese religion and spiritual thought. The Ancestors are deceased members of the Fu family that, in a ghost like form, still have very real connections with the living world. In fact, Mulan's father prays to them. The Bible rejects this belief system (Exodus 20:3, Hebrews 9:27).

or The Incredibles:

What I love about this movie is the fact that it supports the Christian family model (one man, one woman). This is a relief considering most cartoon movies are starting to support the twisted definitions of masculinity, femininity, and marriage.

I have only one thing left to say. Perhaps if parents refused to batter their children with shit after they finish enjoying their kiddie movie, they could actually look forward to a film without having to worry about you and your peer censors blocking it despite it possibly being a very good kid movie. For a recent publicized example, look no further than the outrage over Harry Potter.

-Sam

EXTRA BONUS MATERIAL!

Movies to keep your children believing!
The Amazing Book A captivating look at the Bible!
The God Rocks Series Rock out with God!
And for those old enough to handle it (18+)
Pamela's Prayer A trying look at sexuality in our society.

You can find it here.

Here's the text:

I know what you mean. Reading the article, I was laughing when I realized he hadn't frobnozled the prepalpitator scripts with the correct USE -octaroon -dingo flags. I just knew that would come back to bite him on the ass latter. Simply follow the directions, people! Perfectly easy, my grandmother has severe alzheimer's and she managed to get gentoo installed from source in under 15 seconds.

Seriously, it's not just incredibly tedious, it's also complicated unless you are doing a stock vanilla install with exactly and nothing but the recommended options. But I was doing stuff like that with Linux before there was even a gentoo, just for fun. It is fun, for a certain type of person. But, like masturbation, it's a very personal kind of fun that doesn't contribute anything very useful to society at large. And most normal people really, really don't want to hear the gory details about how you did it and how much fun it was.

-Sam

Christian Fundamentalism is destroying society and culture.

Such as:

• Abortion
  Abortion of all things is often a large political issue when electing candidates into office. Abortion should be a non-issue and is a freedom provided to us under the United States Constitution. It shouldn't be a problem, even if it contradicts some religion because the church and state are two separate things.
• Prostitution — Gone
  When prostitution, like drugs, became illegal, the scum of the Earth stepped in to control it. Regulation and safety are no concern for Christian Fundamentalists because who cares, right? Prostitution is illegal therefore only outlaws are prostitutes and we can't afford them health care, right?
• Mind-altering substances — Gone (except the one's they can make loads of money on)
  Tobacco and Alcohol are in, everything else is out. Despite having the ability to rake in just as much cash on substances such as cocaine and marijuana, moral crusaders are told by God that this is not the right thing to do. War on Drugs: Prohibition 2.
• Freedom of Speech
  Shit, piss, cocksucker, fuck, cum, asshole, motherfucker, cunt, nigger, bitch, and tits would not be such a problem, had they not been made illegal. How harmful must a word be to be made illegal? See below.
• Pornography — Thriving
  One word: tubes. Television has hit a threshold for sexuality. Christian Fundamentalists both in the FCC/FTC and board members of the companies themselves have reached critical mass for sexuality/profitability. Individuals on the Internet, however, are not held back by lobbied federal restraints. This one is a win for us, and will continue to be.
• Sexuality and the Family
  Homosexuals, sodomy, same-sex-marriage and your personal life in general is under question when it comes to Christian Fundamentalists. It also tends to be another question brought up in offence to candidates for public office, "do you support gay marriage?" Again, why should it matter? This is yet another freedom that is afforded us by the United States Constitution.
• Science — A Loosing Battle
  Most recently the debacle is over stem cell research, which could one day save your life. Christian Fundamentalists in the government use their power to cut funding for many projects in the scientific community, terminating with public statements such as, "I am pro-life." Sure, the Benjamin-lined pockets of our officials can afford to jump to the head of the kidney-donor line. Consequently, you and I might have just missed out. Just missed out? We're talking about the lives of people here!
• Education
  Education is becoming increasingly Christian as of late. Christian Fundamentalists seem to think creation can be taught in schools. Again, should be a non-issue. Creation is BLATANTLY RELIGIOUS and therefore should not be an issue when it comes to government-funded education. Books remain banned in schools with anti-religious/anti-establishment tones. It's unfair to inundate CHILDREN with Christian propaganda by the very people they look up to, the parents, the educators and the politicians.
• Religious Freedom
  Christian Fundamentalists believe to their core that the Gospel and Jesus Christ is the One True Way (TM). Those with money spend billions of dollars per year on fear-mongering and public ad campaigns, those without (much) use their products. Ten Commandments signs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, prime time TV ads, entire TV channels, websites, website advertising and email, forum, and blog spam is only a start to the massive list of media their message spans. What might be the truth becomes buried deeper and deeper.

What else?

I have opened a thread in the forums for discussion. You can leave one liners and stuff in the comments here, real discussion should be carried out through the forums.

-Sam

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – President of Iran. He is often misquoted as a conspirator, that the Holocaust didn't take place. In actuality, he questions: IF the Holocaust took place, WHY should the Palestinians have to pay for the atrocities with their land, lives and countless wars. Why should they continue to pay for the holocaust, to this day. Why, on the pretext of the Holocaust, have they occupied Palestine. Why did they need to occupy a place at all, and of all places, why his homeland and not a chunk of Germany? In his shoes, I understand his reasoning completely. With what seems the entire world out to get the middle east, wouldn't YOU get a little suspicious, or maybe a little fucking pissed off?

Let me pose this question:

I live next to my neighbor.
My neighbor's house gets blown to pieces, their children die.
Some other person did this, it's a terrible thing, but what can I do?
Should I be forced, at gunpoint to become a refugee to my own land for something that I played no hand in?

Ok, so the entire American, British, Canadian, (western) media seem to slip on this crucial point and mislead our people. Why? Religion, of course. What a more perfect opportunity for Christian fundamentalists to gain an even more solid footing of control in the west? Fuck, you've never known the whole story all this time, thanks to them. They've made up our minds for us. An OVERWHELMING majority in the US have uneasy feelings about Islam. Why? A massive, 70 year propaganda campaign that many people don't know they're in the middle of and don't even know exists.

What the spokesman for Palestine, Hezbollah and that region in general is saying is, "America, get the fuck out, we'll deal with it. Stop giving them weapons, we want free elections. It can still be called Israel, its just that you won't be in control anymore." I can't help but agree with them. What perhaps the Iranians are most up in arms about is that WE (back to the topic at hand) are providing, for FREE, weapons to Israel when Israel has been nothing but bad news for them. I'd be pissed off at Brittan and the US, too. Ahmadinejad says, "Hezbollah is defending their land, and their land has been occupied." Under the United Nations Charter, he thought they should be supporting Palestine, not Israel, and he's pissed and finds no shame in supporting Hezbollah with whatever weapons he can afford.

Ahmaninejad values the idea of Martyrdom. We give it this sick name, "suicide bombing." When, this is not suicide to them. This _anything_but_ suicide. We are made, through the media to believe they are committing suicide simply to kill people. They support Martyrdom because it is honorable to give your life for your land and your people. Sounds familiar. Again, religion plays a role. Suicide is a mortal sin to Christians, funny it should find its way in to such a cornerstone keyword of their propaganda machine.

What is America becoming? What has America become? We are blind supporters of Israel, for one. We are blind destroyers of Middle East cultures (not talking about Iraq, here). When the most powerful man in the world can not see this, we are ducks.

-Sam