A major security hole has been found in TWiki which allows anyone with access to the search function to execute arbitrary shell commands with the privilages of the web-server process. Anyone running TWiki should read here and upgrade and/or take countermeasures immediately.
Major TWiki Security Hole Read More »
Last weekend I threw a house-cooling party, and I figure what can be better to cool a house than liquid-nitrogen ice-cream? I made up a big batch of unflavored ice-cream base, got some lN2 and had people bring whatever flavorings they wanted to try mixing into a micro-batch of ice cream. Having learned from my mistakes the last two times I’ve made it, this stuff was some of the creamiest, best ice cream I’ve had.
A few lessons learned:
The winning flavor of the night, by my taste at least, was the orange-raspberry sorbet. In the interests of posterity (and so I can find it when I want it next time), here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
Mix sugar, water and orange zest together in a saucepan, stirring under low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring to a boil and and let boil until you have a syrup — roughly 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. When cool, stir in orange juice, lemon juice and raspberry lambic. This is your sorbet base. (You could put this in an ice-cream maker at this point, should you want to make it the old-fashioned way.)
Put base in a large bowl, and don safety glasses. If the bowl is metal, you’ll probably want those gloves as well. Slowly pour liquid nitrogen into center of bowl, mixing all the while with electric mixer. (We use a tough plastic mug with a handle to pour the lN2 — don’t use a metal cup.) Stop every few seconds to blow the fog away and to break up any solid ice-patches that have formed. Keep adding lN2 until sorbet is completely frozen. Sorbet will still be soft-serve, that’s OK.
I hear that for best results you should put the sorbet (or ice cream) into the freezer for about 15 minutes to even out the ice crystals and “set,” but I’ve never had the patience for that. Do make sure all the lN2 has boiled away though before putting any in your mouth, or else you might get a rude surprise.
Enjoy!
1 Ask your local lab-supply store or physics grad student for food- or medical-grade liquid nitrogen, or follow these three easy steps to make your own! 1) Collect about 1000 pints of air for every 1 pint lN2 desired. 2) Chill air until nitrogen condenses (around -320 degrees Fahrenheit). 3) Skim off liquid nitrogen and keep in insulated container. Should any liquid oxygen sublimate, save for making flambé!
Liquid-Nitrogen Ice Cream Read More »
There’s a good article in today’s NYTimes about Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita’s work in remapping human sensation — allowing the blind to “see” via tactile feedback on the tongue for example. Sounds like there have been some breakthroughs recently in terms of miniaturization and wearability (no surprise there), plus some good results in allowing people with damaged vestibular systems to regain normal balance unaided.
Remapping human sensation Read More »
Amtrack is now starting to perform random ID checks on their trains, “as part of a broader program to improve security.” As Bruce Schneier points out, “this works because, somehow, terrorists don’t have IDs.”
From the article: The security program is the result of a federal directive, issued in May, to protect rail passengers from terrorism. I wonder if this is an expansion of the same secret, need-to-know-basis directives that John Gilmore is suing over.
Papers please… part, oh, 52 Read More »
Maybe I just think in audio, but there’s something about poetry being read aloud that I’ve never gotten from text. I especially love the way former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Colins reads his work — take this audio of his reading of his poem Litany.
Litany (Billy Colins) Read More »
For locals, Doug Englebart is speaking tomorrow at the Bay Area Future Salon at SAP in Palo Alto. (Thanks Perlick!)
Doug Englebart talk tomorrow in Palo Alto Read More »
It’s 2008, a constitutional amendment has been passed to allow immigrants who have been US citiziens for more than 20 years to run for president, and in a surprise move Rupert Murdoch beats Arnold Schwarzenegger in the primaries and at age 77 becomes the nation’s oldest president.
I gotta stop eating rich foods right before bed…
(As a side note, that constitutional amendment makes a lot of sense to me in this day and age. I’ve been pretty impressed with Schwartzenegger this past year too, for that matter…)
Google’s got a new service for searching journals, conference proceedings and other scholarly writings called (appropriately enough) Google Scholar. Nice clean interface, and like Citeseer they’re pointing not just to the official pay-for-download sites like the ACM and IEEE portal sites but also the free-for-download versions that authors usually put on their own sites (often in violation of copyright, but the last thing professional orgs want to do is piss of their own community).
NPR just did a 5-month investigative report on how Homeland Security is jailing non-citiziens without trial for up to two years, where they’re being threatened or attacked & bitten by guard-dogs, beaten by guards and then eventually deported.
Guantanimo? No, New Jersey. It’s all in response to a Clinton-era law calling for the deportation of non-citiziens who have ever in the past been convicted of a crime — even people like Hemnauth Mohabir who had been fined $250 for carrying about $5 worth of drugs, had a steady honest job, is married to a US citizien and has a child with her.
Guantanimo in New Jersey? Read More »
Cuddos to Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT) for speaking out against the Republican repeal of their own Gingrich-Revolution-era rule that would require Tom DeLay to step down as Speaker if he’s indicted for violating state campaign finance laws.
“This is a mistake,” said Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut.
When the Republicans gained control of the House in the elections of 1994, “we were going to be different,” Mr. Shays said.
But “every time we start to water down what we did in ’94,” he said, “we are basically saying the revolution is losing its character.”
Salute to the Honorable Republican Of The Day Read More »