Content Blackout: Blogger Protest against New Zealand’s Section 92A

Edit (2.23.09): The Enactment of Section 92 has now been put off until March 27. If no agreement is made by then the law will be scuttled.

You may wonder: Why does a small-time U.S. food blogger care about New Zealand Law? The move is largely symbolic in my case.

• Although I am primarily a food/photography blogger, I am an Information Professional by trade. Information Policy is one of my interests.
• I am not a fan of the state copyright is in… in the U.S. and elsewhere. I care about balance in copyright.
• I believe in due process per the 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. A law like this, if applied here, would take that away in cases of alleged infringement.
• I wouldn’t put it past lobbyists to propose such a law in the U.S.; the RIAA/MPAA already wants ISPs to serve as content cops.

If you know any New Zealanders, feel free to pass this along with impunity, though…

Content will be back up (out of private post mode) before I sleep on Monday Night (US Eastern Time).

More Silliness with Bacon…

Just for fun: Click on this for “Shot the Bacon”…

After all, bacon makes everything better!

Hat Tip: Broke-Ass Gourmet

Interview with the Lemmonex

Rugelach: In honor of both of us being Jewish in spirit…
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I was hoping Lemmonex would interview me while I was still on Winter Semester break, but she wasn’t able to get her questions to me until a few days ago (understandable, since she had a lot of requests for interviews). I’ll be using this an an excuse to take a study break…

And away we go….

1. Name an event that has changed your life…big or small.

Mine was a pretty big one, actually. Almost five years ago, I underwent treatment for a brain tumor.

Lessons learned: learning to know my limits (well, for the most part), that my friends and family are indeed a treasure (I’m not saying they weren’t treasured, but crises like these drive points like this home), learning not to worry about little things nearly so much (though I still have my moments), that I don’t look good bald, that wigs are expensive and itchy, that I’m stronger than I’ve ever given myself credit for.

Almost five years out, I’ve had no recurrence. Thank goodness.

2. What do you love about working in a library?

• As a self-admitted info. junkie, I enjoy helping others find information.
• Certain types of transactions require a degree of detective work; it’s almost like work is CSI: Library!
• The relationships that I have built with coworkers and patrons alike. Their presence and support certainly counteract the more challenging people I run into.

3.If you could meet a famous chef, who would it be?

Easily Chef Duff (Goldman). Not only is he relatively local, he has a great combination of talent, wackiness, and a laid-back/down-to-earth personality.

He’s also a Jew who (ironically?) loves his pork… What’s not to love about him?

4. What is the worst meal you have ever cooked?

I attempted to make chicken and dumplings in the crock pot sometime last year. First of all, I filled the pot to the hilt. Since I didn’t have time to stay up, I put all the biscuit dough balls in with everything else. The biscuit dough expanded, causing lots of other things in the crock to fall out gradually overnight. The resulting mixture just tasted like… undercooked biscuit dough. It was edible, but barely.

I should have taken a shot of that for the bloopers reel, but I forgot to. Too focused on cleaning up the mess.

5. Coke or Pepsi?

Whatever is on sale in diet, generally. Diet Dr. Pepper rocks them all, though.

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I don’t expect many requests, but rules are rules…

If you’d like to be inteterviewed, just follow these steps:

1) Cut a hole in the … Oh, wait…

Here are the real steps:

1) Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2) I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3) You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be sure you link back to the original post.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Homemade “McMuffin” Swap

It’s been a while, I know… I had to take a bit of a hiatus at the end of the semester (and used the subsequent month to recover from it). Hopefully, I’ll be a little better with updating.
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In keeping with the resolution I made to myself last year to take a little better care of myself, I’ve been working out and watching what I eat.

During the workweek, I’ll take an English muffin and yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, but on weekends I like to indulge just a little. Even then, I’d feel a little guilty about whole-hog (pun not intended) on bacon and eggs, pancakes and sausage, or their ilk…

This morning, I had several “less-guilty” ingredients on hand, making a “guilt-free breakfast sandwich out of them.

Ingredients: My regular English muffins (Thomas’s Honey Wheat, double-fiber, 1), turkey bacon (2 strips), nonfat American cheese (1 slice), and egg whites (1 egg)*.

Under the hood…

Looking inside…

The verdict?: It wasn’t greasy, it made my taste buds happy, and I didn’t regret eating it…

Let’s just say I’m not gonna miss you, McDonald’s.
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* The flavor of the bacon and cheese balanced well with the egg whites, but if you prefer your eggs a bit yolkier, egg-beaters are a great egg substitute. 2% cheese will also work well if you prefer that to nonfat.