sehrgut's New Writeups

No, we're not friends. (person)

2008-10-22T20:36:53Z

Friday, at 11:59 PM, I was awake, reading.

Weeks and months of making excuses for her. It started small, with murmured apologies, regrets well in advance. After a while, it got to where she'd call — or worse, text — the night before or the day before or the hour before we were supposed to meet, always something'd come up.

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, in aggregate they couldn't be anything but intentional. Like I said, I spent the time making excuses for her, but eventually it stopped working.

I think the moment it completely stopped working was on the Friday evening as I watched the clock roll over…

Roasting your own coffee beans (how-to)

2008-09-10T16:35:36Z

I started roasting for the economy of it. I mean, who can resist Cup of Excellence-level coffees at five or ten bucks a pound?

Okay, I'm also a control freak.

My coffee must be roasted my way.

Grrrrr.

Of course, the most important thing to be gained from homeroasted coffee is not economy, or even control. It's flavour. 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.

An example I like to use is kopi luwak. No, you don't want it. You really don't. Honest. Don't even click on the hardlink.

But if you did, you could procure it…

coffee snobs (essay)

2008-09-09T17:34:07Z

"I didn't know Starbucks 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 Lowes or Home Depot sold coffee.

Those who know me attempt desperately to steer the conversation off the "coffee" track. They've heard the litany of roast and grind and brew more times than you can shake two sticks at (though you shouldn't shake sticks: you could poke someone's eye out).

Starbucks Fan, though, has not, and is generally thrown entirely off-kilter.

"But— um... I mean, you really don't know Starbucks is a coffee shop?"

"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.

"Well I like it."

"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,…

The human body as proof for evolution (idea)

2008-06-10T17:23:21Z

As a biologist, I feel compelled to point out that two of the organs offered as vestigial are not actually recognized as such today.

Sacrum

The sacrum serves at least two vital functions. First, the sacral nerves need to exit the spine below the juncture of spine and pelvis to innervate the buttocks, legs, and other *ahem* important *ahem* organs. Without the sacrum descending below the rest of the spine as protection, these nerves would be much more prone to damage and paraplegia would be correspondingly more common.

Further, the structure of the perineum necessitates an attachment point for muscles which might be regarded as "important" (defecation would be either impossible or "automatic" depending on which muscles were detached) and *ahem* important *ahem*. The coccyx, which articulates with the distal end of the sacrum, provides these anchorage points.

…

argumentum ad nauseum (idea)

2008-05-31T00:58:54Z

Argumentum ad nauseam (sometimes argumentum ad infinitum) translates roughly as "argument from nausea": that is, a method of proof in which one attempts to batter down opposition by nauseating repetition of a point.

It is axiomatically fallacious, 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 demagoguery due to the eager willingness of the hoi polloi to believe The Big Lie.