sehrgut's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=sehrgut2008-10-22T20:36:53ZNo, we're not friends. (person)http://everything2.com/user/sehrgut/writeups/No%252C+we%2527re+not+friends.sehrguthttp://everything2.com/user/sehrgut2008-10-22T20:36:53Z2008-10-22T20:36:53Z<p>Friday, at 11:59 PM, I was awake, reading.</p>
<p>Weeks and months of <a href="/title/The+three+D%2527s+of+a+successful+relationship+-+Deny+Deny+Deny">making excuses for her</a>. It started small, with <a href="/title/murmured+apologies">murmured apologies</a>, regrets well in advance. After a while, it got to where she'd call — or worse, <a href="/title/text-message+relationships">text</a> — the night before or the day before or the hour before we were supposed to meet, always something'd come up.</p>
<p>Every individual excuse was perfectly legitimate. None of those "I have to wash my hair"-pitiful cop-outs. Individually, I'd've had to've been a cad to claim any excuse was really an avoidance. But in aggregate? No, <a href="/title/Realizations+in+relationships">in aggregate they couldn't be anything but intentional</a>. Like I said, I spent the time making excuses for her, but eventually it stopped working.</p>
<p>I think the moment it <a href="/title/Let+me+fall+until+I+believe%252C+you%2527re+more+than+the+leaves">completely stopped working</a>
was on the Friday evening as I watched the clock roll over<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Coffee breath (poetry)http://everything2.com/user/sehrgut/writeups/Coffee+breathsehrguthttp://everything2.com/user/sehrgut2008-09-15T17:55:27Z2008-09-15T17:55:27Z<p><small>(a <a href="/title/koans+of+the+caferati">koan</a>)</small></p>
<p>How can something <br />
<a href="/title/The+pleasures+and+pains+of+coffee">so lovely</a><br />
give rise to something <br />
<a href="/title/Starbucks+Coffee+Mints">so foul</a>?</p>Roasting your own coffee beans (how-to)http://everything2.com/user/sehrgut/writeups/Roasting+your+own+coffee+beanssehrguthttp://everything2.com/user/sehrgut2008-09-10T16:35:36Z2008-09-10T16:35:36Z<p>I started roasting for the <a href="/title/Any+sufficiently-involved+economization+is+indistinguishable+from+a+hobby">economy</a> of it. I mean, who can resist <a href="/title/Cup+of+Excellence">Cup of Excellence</a>-level coffees at five or ten bucks a pound?</p>
<p>Okay, I'm also a <a href="/title/coffee+snobs">control freak</a>.</p>
<p>My coffee must be roasted <em>my way</em>.</p>
<p>Grrrrr.</p>
<p>Of course, the most important thing to be gained from homeroasted coffee is not economy, or even control. It's <a href="/title/Immunity+from+caffeine+means+a+bedtime+double-cappa+instead+of+warm+milk">flavour</a>. Fortunately, economy need not be dropped as a consideration: you can go for cheap on both the roaster and the beans, and still have excellent coffee: green coffee, even the stuff in the top 5% of all coffee produced — which is what most homeroasters — get is not an expensive product.</p>
<p>An example I like to use is <a href="/title/kopi+luwak">kopi luwak</a>. No, you don't want it. You really don't. Honest. Don't even click on the hardlink.</p>
<p>But if you did, you could procure it<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…coffee snobs (essay)http://everything2.com/user/sehrgut/writeups/coffee+snobssehrguthttp://everything2.com/user/sehrgut2008-09-09T17:34:07Z2008-09-09T17:34:07Z<p>"I didn't know <a href="/title/Starbucks+isn%2527t+coffee">Starbucks</a> sold coffee," I murmur, appearing slightly intrigued. The impression I'm going for is one of minor, "gee-whiz" curiosity, as if you'd told me that <a href="/title/Lowes">Lowes</a> or <a href="/title/Home+Depot">Home Depot</a> sold coffee.</p>
<p>Those who know me attempt desperately to steer the conversation off the "coffee" track. They've heard the litany of <a href="/title/roast+and+grind+and+brew">roast and grind and brew</a> more times than you can shake two sticks at (though <a href="/title/you+shouldn%2527t+shake+sticks%253A+you+could+poke+someone%2527s+eye+out">you shouldn't shake sticks: you could poke someone's eye out</a>).</p>
<p>Starbucks Fan, though, has not, and is generally thrown entirely off-kilter.</p>
<p>"But— um... I mean, you <em>really</em> don't know Starbucks is a coffee shop?"</p>
<p>"It's not, that I'm aware of." Hooked. "Oh! You mean that swamp water they sell!" I generally don't tip my hand so quickly, but she looks like an easy mark.</p>
<p>"Well I like it."</p>
<p>"Of course you do! I used to like it, too." Listen, my child, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, roast,<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…The human body as proof for evolution (idea)http://everything2.com/user/sehrgut/writeups/The+human+body+as+proof+for+evolutionsehrguthttp://everything2.com/user/sehrgut2008-06-10T17:23:21Z2008-06-10T17:23:21Z<p>As a <a href="/title/The+Biologist%2527s+Valediction+to+His+Wife">biologist</a>, I feel compelled to point out that two of the organs offered as vestigial are not actually recognized as such today.</p>
<h3><a href="/title/Sacrum">Sacrum</a></h3>
<p>The sacrum serves at least two vital functions. First, the <a href="/title/sacral+nerves">sacral nerves</a> need to exit the <a href="/title/spine">spine</a> below the juncture of spine and <a href="/title/pelvis">pelvis</a> to <a href="/title/innervation">innervate</a> the <a href="/title/buttocks">buttocks</a>, legs, and other <a href="/title/genitalia">*ahem* important *ahem* organs</a>. Without the sacrum descending below the rest of the spine as protection, these nerves would be much more prone to damage and <a href="/title/paraplegia">paraplegia</a> would be correspondingly more common.</p>
<p>Further, the structure of the <a href="/title/perineum">perineum</a> necessitates an attachment point for muscles which might be regarded as "important" (<a href="/title/defecation">defecation</a> would be either impossible or "automatic" depending on which muscles were detached) and <a href="/title/vagina">*ahem* important *ahem*</a>. The <a href="/title/coccyx">coccyx</a>, which articulates with the <a href="/title/distal">distal</a> end of the sacrum, provides these anchorage points.</p>
<h3><!-- close unclosed tag --></h3>…argumentum ad nauseum (idea)http://everything2.com/user/sehrgut/writeups/argumentum+ad+nauseumsehrguthttp://everything2.com/user/sehrgut2008-05-31T00:58:54Z2008-05-31T00:58:54Z<p><em>Argumentum ad nauseam</em> (sometimes <em><a href="/title/argumentum+ad+infinitum">argumentum ad infinitum</a></em>) translates roughly as "argument from <a href="/title/nausea">nausea</a>": that is, a method of <a href="/title/formal+logic">proof</a> in which one attempts to batter down opposition by nauseating repetition of a point.</p>
<p>It is axiomatically <a href="/title/Logical+fallacy">fallacious</a>, since repetition of an idea has no bearing on the truth or falsehood of that idea. Unfortunately, it has great utility in the field of <a href="/title/the+neural+stigmata+of+demagogues">demagoguery</a> due to the eager willingness of the <a href="/title/sheeple">hoi</a> <a href="/title/Stupid+people">polloi</a> to believe <em><a href="/title/The+Big+Lie">The Big Lie</a></em>.</p>