water's New Writeups

the thing is is that (idea)

2008-10-18T19:27:40Z

This phrase drives me crazy!

Example:

The thing is is that people sound so silly when they begin a sentence this way that I have a hard time focusing on their actual point.

Beginning an utterance with "The thing is is that" (sic) is common, at least regionally¹, in spoken American English. Although I avoid nurturing pet peeves, I find it impossible to ignore this particular one in conversation. When a sentence begins this way, the speaker comes across as one who does not think about what he says, or more to the point, one who expects her meaning to be discerned in spite of her words, rather than through them.

What is it supposed to mean?

A likely explanation is the accidental mingling of two common sentence beginnings: "The thing is that ____" and "What it is is that ____". While not especially great ways to start a sentence, they are grammatically OK. "The thing is is that ____"…

Walking Onions (thing)

2008-09-27T02:53:52Z

Allium cepa var. proliferum

Walking Onions are like ordinary onions, but with an entertaining (if slow) form of inter-generational vegetative locomotion. At the end of the reproductive cycle, the typical allium cepa drops seeds from its fertilized flower. The walking onion, rather, retains its seeds in the flower. The seeds germinate in place with the next rainstorm, and begin to grow into new onion bulbs right there at the top of their parent's stalk. Eventually the young onions become heavy enough to bend the stalk to the ground. Thereafter, roots are grown into the soil and the young plants continue the cycle as a successful new generation. Whether there is a slope involved or not, this tends to disperse the plants across an area over time.

Walking onions taste and cook similarly to the common onion, with a range from sweeter to sharper depending on exact…

The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (thing)

2008-08-31T05:31:44Z

A television series produced by Jim Henson Television, originally run from 1996 through 1998. As the name implies, it was based on a selection of characters from the books of Dr. Seuss.

There is more to the particular word, "wubbulous", than just an amusing and alliterative alternative to "wonderful". The word is introduced to the Seussian dialect in the good doctor's underappreciated 1965 classic, I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew. The protagonist, facing a difficult journey through a dangerous land in uncertain weather, hitches a ride with a chap driving a fantastic one-wheeled contraption known as a wubble, drawn over hill and dale by a most forlorn-looking camel. Following this,

the wubble wubbed on in a wubbulous way...

salsadilla (recipe)

2008-01-06T02:23:05Z

A quick, cheap, energy-conserving hot snack.

A salsadilla is a quick homemade food item named after the quesadilla, but simplified to the basic ingredients of tortilla and salsa. This may sound plain, but it's a mighty efficient snack — no dishes, no cleanup! — that can be prepared in under one minute, and with the right supplies it's delicious.

Needed:

good quality tortillas
excellent salsa
gas stove
countertop

Directions

light a burner on the stove.
place a tortilla directly on the grate over the burner.
turn and rotate the tortilla every 2 seconds to avoid burning.
remove tortilla from flame after air bubbles form, but while still flexible.
extinguish the burner, or turn it all the way down.
administer a small splash of salsa to the tortilla.
roll or fold the

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TRAIN WON'T STOP (event)

2007-12-31T07:32:29Z

TRAIN WON'T STOP

( ...in flashing red letters, 10" high)

In the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway system, sometimes a train that is heading out of system for maintenance will have to pass right through a station without stopping to pick up passengers. The choice of electronic signage that accompanies this event is mildly to moderately hilarious, depending on the audience.

So I'm walking down the stairs in the Ashby station tonight, and I hear muffled laughter beginning to break out into guffaws. Every 40 feet along the train platform the automated electronic signs hanging from the ceiling are flashing TRAIN WON'T STOP with what one could easily believe is a sense of urgency. It's a simple utilitarian fact being reported, really; best not to have riders believing that the train might stop when…

Asafetida (recipe)

2007-12-19T09:22:24Z

If you love deep green leafy vegetables*, try this!

*for example, collard greens, kale, or chard.

This I was taught by my vegetarian elder s years ago:

Prepare greens by washing, shaking dry, and chopping or tearing into strips.
Prepare a tall, heavy-bodied cookpot by heating a small pool (~ 1 Tbsp) of oil in it, until just short of smoking.
Prepare yourself with heat-resistant stirring implement of choice.
Add one small pinch of asafoetida to the hot oil.
Watch as it turns brown (a few seconds), but wait no longer!
Dump the entire pile of greens in the cookpot and stir, stir, stir.
As the volume of greens reduces,

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