Category: life

And never take the bus again!

Perhaps I merely want to justify my large purchase, but this year I am attempting to keep my bike running throughout the cold Wisconsin winter.  This isn’t all that difficult if you are dressed properly, but snow and ice makes running with slicks a bit perilous.  Luckily, while I was rummaging around in my parents’ basement over thanksgiving, I came across a set of mountain bike tires with sizable knobs.  The great thing about the Surly ‘Long Haul Trucker’ (my bike) is that it has smaller diameter tires (26″) than a typical road bike (the same size as a standard mountain bike) and , as it says on my bike’s chain stay, ‘fatties fit fine’, meaning that you can put tires on it that are far wider than standard road bike tires.  So, those knobs are keeping me quite safe through the winter.  You can’t do that with a Trek!

bike with knobs

Some bread

I have been trying to write a continuation of some of my thoughts I presented about ethics in a previous post.  But, I don’t want to throw anything online until the post doesn’t suck.  However, life goes on and we must eat, so maybe I’ll just share a really good wheat bread recipe that I found.  Yes, everyone is capable of making fresh bread!

The link is here, but I’ll just repeat it below:

  • 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 2/3 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons honey
  • 1-2/3 cups bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup and 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons butter, melted
  1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons honey. Add 1-2/3 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
  2. Mix in 1 tablespoons melted butter, 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons honey, and salt. Stir in 1 cup and 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky – just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
  3. Punch down, and form into loaf. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaf with 2 teaspoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.

The ingredient amounts are a little odd because the original recipe calls for 3 loaves, and the version above will give you 1.  Also you can substitute maple syrup for the honey.  Anyway, it was super easy and delicious!

I didn’t roll mine into a log completely so it had a bit of a ridge…..

dinosaur bread

I guess you could call it dinosaur bread…but it tasted great!  I think I’ll make another loaf tomorrow, and I’ll make sure not to deform that one.  This also brings to light the fact that I’ve acquired the use of a digital cameras during Christmas; so, maybe I’ll put more pictures on this blog when I get around to it.

Now go and learn how to make your own food; it is a far better skill than philosophizing!

I hope to post some potentially interesting things here….

This is my new blog and, although I don’t expect many to read it, I hope some find it interesting.  First it might be helpful to give you some information about myself…

Googling my name won’t help much.  Your more likely to come up with a rather prominent German pain researcher.  I have done some research in visual perception at UW-Madison but I’m pretty much at the beginning of my life/career therefore the web has little to say about my existence.  For the time being I’m an employee of the psychology department here in Madison, working in the visual perception laboratory of Prof. Rick Cai.  This means that I’m quite interested in the entire puzzle of perception.  However, the more work I’ve done in psychology, the more I’ve realized that I’ll probably end up doing PhD work in philosophy instead; it takes a certain attitude to do intensive studies in an empirical science…because getting data really is quite a pain.  So although I greatly appreciate those who do enjoy doing the empirical thing, I’m not sure it is something I would like to do for the rest of my life.

I will likely comment soon enough on some of my philosophical views, though they are mostly skeptical in nature.  I recognize that it is a bit cheap to mostly be a critic but it all sort of goes along with a general principal that I’ve favored lately; the world is a really strange and confusing place so if you think you have a theory about it, you are likely wrong.  This goes along with another general thought which I favor; don’t be a jerk about your views because you’re probably wrong.  I am by no means saying that we can know nothing, or that science is a waste of time; I simply think we should be humble with our views, lest we turn into….. well…. jerks.