What do you do when you are not on this Forum?

You thought it hurt when you passed that kidney stone... You're about to learn the true meaning of pain.

What I do when not here? = Stored in ROM

Doesn't being stored in ROM imply your memory's contents are static? Immutable? You didn't say Flash, or EPROM, so can we say you're a fairly predictable fellow?

Being long lived, the occasional beta decay does change some values, which adds spice to life

Whatever you do, you may wish to avoid Poland Spring bottled water, if it is available in your area. It contains radon which, in your case (as a ROM), will spice up your life aplenty. As an MIT undergrad, a friend of mine was cleaning geiger-counter tubes with Poland Spring water (out of the cooler, as the city water in Cambridge is a chemical cocktail) after doing some experiments with radioactive materials. The damn things chirped like a hoard of mad crickets, so he cleaned them again. They continued chirping like crazy. He finally realized that it was the water itself that probably contained dissolved radon gas. All of New England sits on top of very rich thorium deposits, which explains the abundance of radon in the aquifer that feeds Poland Springs. Poland Spring Water hails out of Maine, I believe.

The UK has recently gone Radon mad. It's common for house sales to be subject to Radon survey. In the few areas where a problem may exist , solutions are not difficult/expensive. There is more chance of health risk from a passing Seagull. Back to your caution , I don't rate this much.

Israel too. It began some ten years ago, and all of a sudden all kinda measuring technicians popped to offer their services, until the government came up with the genius "Ventilate your cellars adequately, and be blessed"

Best way to beat a radon survey crooks is to have a small clandestine exhaust fan running in a small section of dryer hose to the outside.

The Radon crooks know that if you seal any basement well, you can create a high reading in many areas, and thus provide a cause to knock $10,000 off the house price for 'remediation'. So they will want to close widows etc and start their machine running for 'x' hours

Vermin, you guys are just gnarly. All of you. Blowing things up, building up aeroplanes from scratch, rockets in the backyard, magic scrub gloves, Mr. Smith, cats with Uzis, the works. I have a feeling that some of you are going to make something happen. Something big. I'll be looking forward to it.

Cheers!

Jules

Nice conclusions, I think I'll join in with the cheering.

Cheers!!

Love is pain and pain is love vermin.Your babies will come to find Daddy. So many mini-vermins they are too numerous to stop - all they want is your time and love. Bless them each and every one.

Kris, I still think you're too big for that chair.

Hey - you're reading my mind or something ! I only just caught up this far. You may have a point. This may be more my style. On the other hand , this may be more suited. I was never impressed with Thomas.

S'pose Id better be on topic for one minute ;

I have a humongous big desk surface to fit .It's shaped for a corner with a neat curve for ergonomic swivelling ( and added fun of course). This weekend I need to knock up some legs for the thing and fit it to the wall. My current desk space is completely crazy. Stacks of unrelated projects spilling all over the place. I normally run two PCs at the same time , and one of them is all but buried. The time has come (this work surface has been propped against a wall for weeks waiting for me to do something with it). Putting it up shouldn't take long , but extending cables etc has to be done , and I don't even like to think what horrors hide on my current desk.

When it's done it will take me a week to get used to - Until I've had a couple of coffees I'll be staring at a blank wall wondering where the heck everything has gone!

<it's behind you Kris>

Are we going to get a blog with step-by-step photos???

I dunno. May not be much use to others. I'm still struggling with shaping straight lines and corners.

Why don't you call the guys from the "While you was not here" TV show (is that the right name?), and let them do the job for you: they even may do you a favor by throwing all the stuff you have piled on your desk away!

Wouldn't you like this much better?

It takes minutes of dedicated effort to collect as much junk as I have ! It just sort of appears - notes on the back of envelopes, addresses torn off letter headings,coffee stains. I will have to work flat out for ages to recreate that comfy feel.Well minutes maybe.

Hi you guys.

This has been the most interesting forum I have ever read, in any media. Now, I have a question for you all, and get your calculators out because you'll need them. Who among you has been taking notes on all the new ideas, theories, experiments, inventions and almost patents displayed on this forum?

Let me quantify my question: How many of you can tell me the *number* of new ideas, theories, experiments, inventions and almost patents displayed on this forum?

Hmmm? Just checking.

Jules

Single ideas, or all the spin-offs eagerly being worked on across the globe, even as you type?

Well, all the spin offs are important but the single ideas that are originally generated here number over 100 at the very least. There, you have my hint.

Jules

Is it bleen? It's bleen, isn't it!

Bleen is the secret number between six and seven that they don't teach you about.

You tell me.

I just did.

Oh, I get it. One of those answers. Okay, that works. We'll say bleen.

But can you quantify bleen? If bleen lies somewhere between six and seven, then there are INFINITE possibilities between one and 100.

Since I'm proposing that the number of near patents, new inventions and other wondrously marketable tidbits are now available to the reading public and that means anyone who wanders onto globalspec.com, can you tell me what lies between one, bleen and 100?

A hint, my friend. Just toss us a hint.

Jules

Bleen can be as large or as small as you want it to be. Though it's never mentioned by name, it is the value that explains most politically-driven economics.

The F-16s are now playing games over Moffet Field. How do I know? My windows are rattling like bleen times per second.

Speaking of original ideas, I usually have my moments of inspiration at the oddest times. For example, I just returned from Wal-Mart after buying some packing tape. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but here in Texas we have more than our share of corn-fed hefties. As I entered the store, before me waddled a whole gaggle of weight-waddling, spandex-bound muffin-tops, along with a number of their rotund children, all morbidly obese. Red beans and rice didn't miss 'em. Not a one. There were at least a dozen, all at least 50 pounds overweight. At least. This was not inspiring. What was inspiring was the sound of nylon rubbing together.

Surely this must be a source of uncomfortable friction; even worse for those not wearing nylons. It gets pretty hot down here, and right now it's pushing 100° F (about 38° C for our non-imperialist readership), and so I'd guess the friction ain't helpin' none. I'd even wager that if any of them tried moving a bit too fast, they might start a fire.

Hence my new product: ThighGlide. "When the goin' gets tough, the tough get ThighGlide." With Teflon®. Aerosol and roll-on.

I see this as a vast resource of wasted power, power I wish to capture and in so doing alleviate a portion of their weight problem.

There are several possible mechanisms.

1. compressible "roo-heels"® in high heeled shoes.

2. "penduboob"® reciprocating resonant energy translators, large size.

3. "thigh voltage"® viscoelastic thigh rollers.

I am sure there are others...

I've read somewhere that the energy required to produce, package, and deliver the excess food consumed by American over-eaters would power the East Coast from Boston to Baltimore. Wasted power indeed.

The thing is that humans evolved through long periods of lean times with short bursts of available food. The inevitable result was, so that two inherent traits are there to hinder with modern life abundance of food medicine and shelter from predators: constant appetite, irrelevant of availability of food, hunger constantly ravenous, and feeling satiation to appear some half an hour after feeding, regardless of the amount eaten.

The Israeli army teaches soldiers to start with an appetiser, wait for half an hour, and only then start eating their meal.

"The Israeli army teaches soldiers to start with an appetiser, wait for half an hour, and only then start eating their meal."

-----

Smart.

One study conducted not long ago found that people will attempt (and usually succeed) at eating everything on their plate - no matter how much - even past the point of feeling full. "Finish what's on your plate!" is something many parents intone after heaping their kids' plates with adult-sized servings. And then they wonder why their kids are overweight.

Duh.

FAT

Your butt is wide, well mine is too
Just watch your mouth or I'll sit on you
The word is out, better treat me right
'Cause I'm the king of cellulite
Ham on, ham on, ham on whole wheat, all right

My zippers bust, my buckles break
I'm too much man for you to take
The pavement cracks when I fall down
I've got more chins than Chinatown

Well, I've never used a phone booth
And I've never seen my toes
When I'm goin' to the movies
I take up seven rows

Because I'm fat, I'm fat, come on
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, come on you know
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
Don't you call me pudgy, portly or stout
Just now tell me once again who's fat

When I walk out to get my mail
It measures on the Richter scale
Down at the beach I'm a lucky man
I'm the only one who gets a tan
If I have one more pie a la mode
I'm gonna need my own zip code

When you're only having seconds
I'm having twenty-thirds
When I go to get my shoes shined
I gotta take their word

Because I'm fat, I'm fat, sha mone
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it you know
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
And my shadow weighs forty-two pounds
Lemme tell you once again who's fat

If you see me comin' your way
Better give me plenty space
If I tell you that I'm hungry
Then won't you feed my face

Because I'm fat, I'm fat, sha mone
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it, you know
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
Woo woo woo, when I sit around the house
I really sit around the house

You know I'm fat, I'm fat, come on
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it, you know it
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know, you know, you know, come on
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
And you know all by myself I'm a crowd
Lemme tell you once again

You know I'm huge, I'm fat, you know it
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, you know, hoo
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it, you know
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
And the whole world knows I'm fat and I'm proud
Just tell me once again who's fat

(Lyrics: "Weird Al" Yankovic. Parody of "Bad" by The Gloved One)

Saw the "Underground" movie clip. Special treat for Jacko-Fans.

4. Do the doo:

With some 3-D-boo:

That BenQ monitor...

...is reminiscent of a Squiddy:

Is it friendly?

Very. It is friendly to the point of being intimate with your deepest thoughts...

This kind of deep thought?

More like this kind

Seen this too. There was a brilliant parody of it

Seen this too.

I did - At the late night double feature picture show (by RKO)!

That was one of the best shows ever! The ad libs were hilarious!

Did you all notice elsewhere that europium went there back in the 70's. I'm not fibbing cos I saw him say it. He built a kit you know. He told everybody . It's true. Yes . Kris remembers these little details. I can spill more beans if you like. If you check my quote you'll see that I have practice with beans.I may tell more , but you have to ask nicely Kaffee.

You were probably the only squirrel on your block without your own interocitor, weren't you. Lay a fifteen lane highway and suck out all the peanuts from the passers-by at once.

I'm going to tell Mother what you said with nasty America TV references. And I'm going to spill the beans. Europium had an 8800. ner, ner. I have (rare ) moments of kindness and sometimes explain Brititude (m own word don't you know) and Briticulture. 15 lanes ? You got to be kidding me.

Oh my God! Not that mother?!

If you look , you will see that Father is confusing tooooo.

The Altair?

No-one really had an Altair, only revered them as an epoch-starter to spark the imagination with, because you'd have to get a Nobel prize just to be able to program the sucker to do the simplest of things.

It essentially was a CPU with both it's data-bus and address-bus hooked to external switch-board. Insane. Then a novelty, but insane.

Maybe some rich kids did buy it, to impress their friends with their new over-the-bed ornament, then called "A Micro Processor"

Four years later, I bought my first PC, Sinclair Z80, hooked to a TV and a cassette-recorder, to start fiddling with their unique one-keystroke-command type of BASIC.

Europium, did you really own an Altair?

I don't think this is europium in the picture , but his 8800 may be there (no 20 in the line drawing). Bet it would be worth top-dollar now ( 2-3 thousand maybe ?). Come on e , fess up or Yuval will have to use a search key. What happened to the joyous thing ? Do you still have it , did you trade in , did you blow it up .. These things mean a lot to us you know !

Did you have a memory module for it? And if so, did you ever have it drop out while it was running?

I recall (vaguelly ) the Z80 , but don't think it had any memory expansion socket did it ? I'm not sure what Yuval meands by one-keystroke-command either. It wasn't built to be used with some kind of assembly language , just vey plain vanilla BASIC.

OK so I have a rubbish memory as well , I know. My pocket calculator would probably beat up Z80 in a fight. Maybe the program Robot Wars could be adapted to a new format - Retro Computer Wars. Geeks have a set time to programme various challenges. The winners get to sledge-hammer the losers pooter.

Not the Z80, the Sinclair. The Z80 was the processor it used... I think.

Oh , you mean the Zilog thingy (?). You know I always miss the point. Was it welded in place , or did they just use a rivet gun ? Sinclair was very good at spotting a potential though (C5 excepted , for now) - he even looked the part. Respect ! Very uber-geek.

Kris, you probably remember this. It was Sinclair first attempt at a "Programmable Scienntific Calculator" as it was later called by Texas, then called "Hand-Held Computer".

The 4-Mhz Zilog CPU were the ZX80, ZX81, and Spectrum.

Thanx vermin, I forgot the X in the model name

"...not sure what Yuval means by one-keystroke-command..."

ZX80, 81 and the Spectrum had a very clever Programming Interface for their own version of BASIC Interpreter, etched on super-fast Mask-Rom:

Once in programming mode, pressing any key on the keyboard, would complete the correct spelling and expected syntax of a command, function or input type. Once keyed, the system would expect another stroke in a limited number of possible allowed commands functions etc, and once keyed, arrange the in the correct input format and syntax.

This was obviously done to wide-spread BASIC to the novice programmers, and relieve them from the burden of correct syntax examination. It worked beautifully, and you never had to worry, when a program crashed, that something was wrong with your syntax like it was on other such interpreter systems.

On, Sinclir, if your program crashed, you could be sure that it was a logical, algorithmic conflict, never syntax. And even in general, programs crashed much less on this system, for some reason, compared to other such systems, like, say CP/M BASIC interpreters of the time, which was great, because it encouraged people to program, as a prolific, satisfying/rewarding hobby.

Up to a point. Those who indulged in programming later on, to take upcoming compilers such as Pascal, and later Visual Basic, witnessed what was later quoted as the next Murphy-Fad "The most popular language programmers use, is profanity".

I even remember a serious article in a computer magazine back in the eighties, suggesting that prolonged work with pascal and other structured compilers such as C or versions of ALGOL, may lead one to serious mental disability (namely insanity...) because of it's weird subject-association when compared to more "natural" interpreters such as BASIC or FORTRAN

If I understand you , the thing had something a bit like predictive texting (except you couldn't string unrelated commands together). I could start a line by hitting 'n' and 'next would pop up , but it would refuse to accept a following 'f' because it's predictive texting wanted 'for' but it's logic said no ?? ie it would not allow a nonsense line such as.....

NEXT FOR

...to be typed . How would it allow a variable called 'f ' to be input after 'next' ?

I am a caveman and use Qbasic (it's true and I have no shame). I looked at Vbasic once and thought it was some kind of mutant. Programming equivalent of a tarts wardrobe. Should I move with the times ? All I do is doodle little maths routines , so I can't see any benefit.

Well, it was so cleverly designed, that it's command-base had to be limited to complement this prediction-system.

Pressing 'n' for 'Next', could only follow already typed 'For' (counter-loop) declaration. Following the 'Next' pop-up, you'd be allowed to enter the loop variable name, and if nonsense typed, your current line wouldn't be allowed to enter into the "list" (the 'then' name of the program source-code).

Here, have a look

Europium, having the glorious ZX81 you must remember.

All is now clear.

Somebody better start joking here , or have all those script kiddies bot-ified you into something serious. I want to know how the bot-roasters would warn me of anything.

Laugh all you want. "Frozen Shoulder" tendonitis of the hand usually holding the mouse? I had it once. Nightmare.

Yuval, why be so severe, so serious, it's Friday Night, and the disco fever is on.

Put on your dancing shoes and boogie.

- Your loving mother.

He is busy trying to express himself. I know this because he is glued to his mouse and keyboard.

I just never know if you are serious. Would balls or tablets help you ?

How would you know, when I never do?

As usual with you, excellent link. Gone straight to "Gadgets" folder

Because I know , when you never do.

I have to go know. You will have to play on your own. My services are required. No , not religeous ones.

That's today's smart-aleck question.

Back then (1976) it was a box, and the ads were telling folks it's a computer, and you can make it do amazing things for you, like... zilch.

Sure, there was some ridiculous solid-state RAM in those days, and for EEPROM, or HDD you used Cassette-Recorders (The pulse-train protocol was called Kansas something), to record programming sequences, or output results.

Here, look for yourself.

My first home computer was an Altair 8800 (with 256 bytes of RAM), my second was a Sinclair ZX-81.

I want one!

Hi photonicgirl,

Food preparation is really an ant form as well as being a science. The most important part of being really good at creating healthy and tasty food that is enjoyable to eat is getting to know how to manipulate different flavors so that you end up with something that has a balanced taste as well as nutritional content. Unfortunately I have no idea how to teach this nor even if it is possible to teach.

Human sensitivity to smell and taste varies dramatically from person to person over at least two orders of magnitude so something that tastes absolutely revolting and smells nauseating to me may not even be detectable by somebody else. The upshot is that unless you have extended taste and smell senses you have about as much chance of being able to balance the flavors and aromas in what you are cooking as a George W Bush has of getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is where many people fail trying to prepare a meal from a recipe. You can never get exactly the same ingredients as were used by the chef that developed the recipe and so you need to make minor adjustments with spices and the like to accommodate the variations. If you can't taste or smell the variations in the first place then you have no hope and might as well serve something made from cardboard dipped in you favorite sauce.

Nutritional balance is a different thing and with a little imagination it isn't hard to crate a nutritional balanced diet. Personally I combine French, Thai and Indian techniques with local ingredients to come up with dishes that are truly original. I have also found that it's a good idea to have at least one serve of something that is just for pleasure each day. Provided you keep the portions of the naughty dish small it will not do than much damage and it will satisfy your needs for goodies that should be off the menu.

Here are a few of the dishes that I have come up with that people seem to keep asking me to cook:

• Charred Barramundi: Barramundi fillets lightly dusted in a spiced flour and pan fried in a deep ridged pan in a sauce of lemon juice, butter fennel and brandy.
• Orange Duckling: Skinless duckling breasts served with an orange and brandy sauce.
• Snow Peas Flambé: Snow peas lightly sautéed in butter with orange juice and a dash of orange liqueur.
• Strawberries Suzette Flambé: Strawberries with orange lemon and brandy cooked in a way similar to crepes Suzette Flambé.

The last one is the daily sinful dish and while it dose have a fair calorific value it still has fresh strawberries in it so you are getting nutritional value.

You may have noticed the alcohol in the dishes. This is not as bad as many would think as much of the alcohol either evaporates or is burn off during the flambé process. It is also important to the flavor of dishes as many flavors are not soluble in water so if you eat them as they are they are tasteless. However, if you add a small amount of alcohol many of these will dissolve in the alcohol which then becomes soluble in the saliva in you mouth releasing many of the hidden flavors.

I am not a professional chef but I have acted as a guest chef for special fund raising functions on several occasions and in my travels I have come across numerous chefs that are visiting Australia. They have all commented on the quality, variety, freshness and low prices that we pay for raw ingredients in Australia. The just can't, and for that matter neither can I, why people ever go to places like McDonalds in Australia. If you have any idea about cooking you can easily prepare and serve a meal from fresh ingredients at home faster and for less than you can get a Big Mac from the local McDonalds.

I think one of the problems is that people have become too lazy to get off their fat arse and go to the kitchen and prepare a nutritious and tasty meal. They would prefer to sit down and watch Opra crap on about what her personal chef is preparing so she doesn't turn into a something that resembles a blimp.

Hi masu,

I enjoy cooking as well.

As my wife does´nt, cooking is my main duty at home (which, by the way, I enjoy a lot!)

We have 3 teen agers at home, and their appetite is only comparable to a hungry shark´s. My main challenge is to divert them from junk-food by preparing tasty and well balanced meals.

I normally go to the supermarket once a week and buy fresh veggies and fruits twice a week.

Every now and then I shop for exotic or uncommon stuff.

Usually (even if we invite friends for supper) I cook on a very intuitive way: ´just start picking up things and combining them in different ways. The result not only surprises my guests, but also myself!

As my wife is very "by the book" she freaks out, when she asks what I´m cooking and my reply is: no idea!

Up until about 10 years ago when I got ill and was forced to retire from work I hosted and cookied for a dinner that was held around this time each year. It started of as a small dinner party of 4 guests plus my wife and myself but gre over the years with the last one endeding up as a 7 course dinner with choices for each course for 38 diners plus staff.

The menu for the dinners consisted of recipes I had developed myself and were not available in any other restaurant. Each year I would replace half the menu introducing a new dish with each course. That way people could have what they had last year or try the new dish. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and several of my recipes managed to find their way onto the menus at several of the classier restaurants in the area.

The way I did it was to start off with a rough idea of what I wanted something to taste like and then build if from there using some sort of base material. Basically the bulk of any dish is just filler and pretty devoid of taste so if you know what you are doing you can get meat to taste like vegetables and vegetables to taste like meat. Chicken has virtually not taste so its really easy to get it to taste like anything you want.

Once I had a sort of an idea of what I wanted the final product to taste like and what I was going to use as the prime ingredient it was just a matte of cooking it and experimenting with ingredients till the flavor balanced out. I don't know how but from a quick smell and taste I can usually figure out what's missing. Actually my mother gets really peeved when she is cooking and yell out from several rooms away that she hasn't used enough cumin or some other spice. She can't smell what is or isn't there while standing on top of it but it glares out at me like a neon sign rooms away.

I think the dish that took me the longest to balance was a savory soufflé that I was trying to get work out for one of the dinners. It was a smoked salmon soufflé and while I had no troubles getting them to rise and stay inflated the taste would just not balance out and there was this gaping hole in the taste. I eventually figured out that what was missing was a few drops of celery juice. The difference was really quiet spectacular and the addition of the celery made all the flavors so more complex and complete that you would hardly believe they were basically the same. A soufflé is probable one of the more difficult dishes to balance the flavor in as the flavors are so delicate and it is so easy to get one to overpower the others and destroy the whole effect.

While I was doing this we lived south of the city of Adelaide in the middle of a wine region and had some 20 wineries within a 15 minute drive. I got to know several of the wine makers and they would select what would go with the menu and then bring along the really best of their wines to the dinner. I managed to talk my way into working with one of the winemakers during a vintage and he let me make 200 liters that we kept aside to see how it would come out. Unbeknown to me he entered it in a competition and I was visiting the winery one day and he said do you remember that Cabernet Sauvignon you made back in 86? It turned out that it ended up getting a trophy at some wine show somewhere and he ended up producing a Cabernet Sauvignon along the same style for sale from then on.

Most of the small wineries will keep that one baroque that comes out just perfect for themselves and hide it in their private stash that they use to swap with other wine makers. If you get to know some winemakers then they will often give you access to their private cellars and boy are there some fantastic mind blowing wines that never hit the market hidden in private cellars.

A very close friend that was a winemaker I have know for 25 years passed away from cancer about 7 weeks ago. He and his wife, who also died from cancer 5 years ago, were instrumental in introducing me to wine and fine food. The always attended my annual dinners and were the life of the party. They will be sorely missed and it is an even greater tragedy as he was at the peak of his winemaking career with one of his wines being judged best in the district for 2004 and 2006. I think it may be time to resurrect my annual dinners in their memory, I'm sure they would appreciate it.

I think it may be time to resurrect my annual dinners in their memory, I'm sure they would appreciate it.

I really agree with you! You must start planning your annual meal right now!

On the other hand: who knows... perhaps inspiration blesses you with the best dish you have ever cooked; and you name it after your friends!

Would´nt tht be the best way of remembering them?

Hi r&ddoc,

"perhaps inspiration blesses you with the best dish you have ever cooked; and you name it after your friends!"

Now were talking, you have got me thinking about some really delicate yet exquisitely complex flavor and aroma that nobody has yet tasted or smelt.

The wine making tradition continues as their son is a winemaker in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney which is where we now reside. I have been looking for an excuse to visit the wineries there for some time and I can't think of a batter reason.

On the subject of vermin's statement,

"You wouldn't say that if you saw my kitchen. The county coroner uses it as an overflow facility, and even he gripes about it!"

The house that we lived own and lived in, in Adelaide until recently, was built in the 1960 and had a pantry cupboard in the kitchen. The kitchen was getting pretty tired as it had been there since new so I decided to gut it and start from scratch. The first thing I managed to get hold of was an old electric oven and range top from a commercial kitchen. I kept the to electric ovens but ditched all the electric elements and replaced them with 8 gas burners of varying size from 50 mm up to multi ring wok burners. Having that sort of cooking power was absolutely mind blowing, but, if you had everything going the kitchen got hot very quickly.

Since the over and range top took up a fair amount of space I decided to completely rethink how to lay out a kitchen. The first thing I did was to build a work bench/table that had all the spices, hand tools cutlery etcetera in it, but, rather than having it fixed I put it on industrial strength castors so you could move it to wherever you needed it. The second thing was to rip out all the shelves in the pantry cupboard and ditch the door filling the whole pantry area with draws from bottom to top. The lower half were normal draws while the middle ones were put on their side and the upper ones which were upside down and had things like glasses, mugs and cups hanging fro hooks or rails. Next I built a frame that ran along the entire length of one of the walls that carried all the pots, pans and cooking utensils for the stove and ovens. Finally there was a shelf that had all those electrical goodies like blenders, food processors, toaster ovens with a row of power outlets so there was at least one outlet per appliance with all the power outlet on a separate earth leakage circuit breaker ELCB that can be reset from within the kitchen. I don't know if you can get them outside Australia but we have a power outlet that has an ELCB built in but it can also be used to detect an earth leakage in any outlet that is down circuit from it. Provided you wire it so that it is the first outlet on the circuit it protects all the others and you can reset it without needing to go to the switch board.

The final addition was a fire extinguisher and fire blanket. Not many people in Australia bother about this but it only took 6 months before the extinguisher was used when my wife managed to set fire to the toaster oven. Having the extinguisher and everything on and ELCB meant the only damage was the toaster oven and some fire extinguisher gunk that was easily cleaned up.

The whole thing was designed around one very simple engineering rule:

Any ingredient, utensil, implement or appliance must be accessible without having to move anything else in order to reach or gain access to the item you need!

Put simply it was designed to completely eliminate double handling and it worked brilliantly with everybody that saw it commenting on how easy it was to do anything. It even surprised me when I realized that it was taking only around half as long to prepare and cook meals as it had before. The elimination of the double and triple handling is a massive time and effort saver and by having everything at hand made life so much easier both when cooking and putting things away afterwards.

Which reminds me of the other little gismo that I added. Over the sink I added a high velocity hand gun on a short length of flexible hose. To clean anything all you needed to do was squirt it down in the sink. This was extremely helpful with things like food processor bowls as by washing them with a high velocity stream of hot water immediately after use meant they did not require washing and could be left to drain then put back ready for further use.

The other real eye opener was the amount of wasted storage space there is in most kitchens. Cupboards are hopelessly inefficient at storing things and if you look at the volume that is actually used as storage you will find that your are lucky to use 25% of the volume. The other hassle is that you can only get to what is at the front and on top. By filling the pantry cupboard with draws I managed to fit everything that was in the original pantry plus 8 separate cupboards plus a microwave oven and still have room for more. Using draws also meant that you could get to the items at the back without un-stacking everything that was in front or on top of them. It also meant that everything was hidden from view and didn't collect dust and dirt. The only minor draw back was that most things don't have labels on the top but this was easily remedied with an indelible making pen.

We don't live in that house any more but we still own it and are renting it out. The kitchen was a real selling point and we actually ended up with people trying to outbid each other by offering us more than we were asking for the rent.

I really miss that kitchen, I guess that I am just going to have to build the new improved Mk II version.

PS I think I have an idea for the next dish. How about something along the lines of a combination of a chocolate mouse and the Strawberries Suzette Flambé? A rich chocolate mouse with a dash of orange liqueur with the strawberries and sauce on top.

The first thing I did was to....

WOW Men, that is what I call a kitchen!!!!

I have got an industrial oven with 5 large gas burners on top... but this seems to be just kiddy play when compared to what you manged to build up!

A friend of mine just built a new weekend house in an island close to Buenos Aires. As she is a professional chef, she had a "dream kitchen" built, to use it as a research ground. Should I be invited to the island this weekend, I´ll take some pic´s and send them to you by mail!

In regard to your recipe: my mom taught me her "secret" (please don´t tell anyone please!) to enhance flavor and taste of chocolate. She adds just a little bit of instant (powder) coffee, or some drops of very concentrated coffee to the chocolate whilst preparing the mouse. She also adds a bit of salt to sweet foods, and sugar to salty meals (sort of Yin-Yang, I guess)

My kitchen is rather small but I have still managed to entirely fill one cupboard with car parts, paint & oils etc. The kitchen also has to house a roll-cab full of mechanics tools plus a 3 ton trolley jack. The work tops show evidence of drilling & cutting where the kitchen doubles as a workshop. My current project is building a workshop in the garden (hence the cement mixer currently sitting in the living room).

I suspect we are unwittingly in the same house. All this time I'd thought I was just forgetting what chaos I had left in which room. What on earth were you doing with a socket set in the loft anyway ? I guess you left that bag of plaster to go off in the bathroom as well. There's enough combustible stuff in the stair cupboard to worry people in France - it needs sorting NOW. Please stop putting more in.

"What on earth were you doing with a socket set in the loft anyway ? I guess you left that bag of plaster to go off in the bathroom as well. There's enough combustible stuff in the stair cupboard to worry people in France - it needs sorting NOW. Please stop putting more in."

My other half has the habit of trying to tidy thing up and putting them in, and I quote "A safe place". Some time ago she put one of my crimping tools away in one of those safe places but she just couldn't remember which "safe place" it was in. A search of every logical and then illogical place revealed no sign of the missing crimping tool.

I eventually purchased another crimping tool and as usual the day after I purchased the new one the old one turned up.

The "safe place" turned out to be a really safe place. We have a small fire proof and security safe that is used to store critical documents, a backup removable hard disk drive for the computers and some other dangerous controlled substances. For some reason my wife had decided that the crimping tool was important enough to be stored in the safe so she promptly place it there, scrambled the tumblers and then equally promptly, forgot she had put it there.

This has to be one of the all time "I don't remember where it is but I know it's in a safe place" clichés.

I only have 3 (main) places for tools: the tool crib in a basement locker, my utility trailer/workshop, and the back seat (I think there's a back seat in there!) of my car.

Even though I have my tools divided into tool boxes and places by particular use (plumbing, mechanical, carpentry, electrical, etc. etc.), I'm working on duplicates of duplicates of tools. Of course, it never hurts to have a duplicate (or two or three) around, because I always need a tool NOW, when I need it; and if it isn't where I can lay my hands on it, I just get another one, because that's quicker than looking for it til I remember where I put it back the last time I used it, and then running all the way back to the tool crib, or hooking up the trailer to pull it far enough out of its parking spot to get into the back door, etc.

Mark

My dad would have you guys for lunch! He was a mechanic for over fifty years, and each time he performed maintenance on a car it was like an operation. Every tool was laid out in order and every removed part was laid out in its proper order. When finished, all tools were cleaned, then put back into the tool chest exactly where they came from. All this and he was warned that if he didn't start working slower, he'd get fired... Those were union days, by the way.

Needless to say, my brother and I were scared s*%tless to go anywhere near his tool box.

Your dads approach is the way it should be , especially for maintenance. Sometimes though , you have to do something real fast and looking after the tools is a minor detail. If a particular piece of kit has no more use then chuck it out the way and grab the next. I'm talking pretty drastic situations , but it happens. I've seen entire support vehicles trashed because it's easier to roll them and get the next one in quick. I do concede on hand tools , but big time drama is real fun .

In most car maintenance bays, about the most dramatic thing that happens is some dork drops a tranny on his foot. Not much "real life" action there.

That sounds like some hideous punishment for forgetting a birthday or something.

There was a TV advert for the Yaris - You see a guy looking on as his girl has a go with his new R/C plane. She crashes the thing as he looks on dismayed. The Ad cuts to the previous day , where you see her expression as he uses a foot to nudge the door closed on her Yaris. Recalling that you enjoy Gliding , I would suggest copious bundles of flowers every time you plan on flying (call it part of the pre-flight check).

Having said that , the things that migrate (apparently of their own accord ) in my house are truly staggering. I suspect that lifting all the floorboards would be a rewarding experience , if I can avoid loosing the boards themselves.

This is too spooky, I have a couple of socket sets in the loft as well as some bags of plaster and a box of fuses used in my spare time job of setting up firework displays. I'm just going round the house checking all of the rooms.

I just new it. All that noise as well. And the funny smells emanating from various dark corners of the house.

Sorry about the smells, I must improve my diet.

...and I will admonish the cat for peeing in your boots !

We have a cat?

OMG , you don't , you don't think that 'Spot' is , is well ,well you know ? I nailed the floorboards back pretty good. That noise , it sounded just like fireworks honest.

"In regard to your recipe: my mom taught me her "secret" (please don´t tell anyone please!) to enhance flavor and taste of chocolate. She adds just a little bit of instant (powder) coffee, or some drops of very concentrated coffee to the chocolate whilst preparing the mouse."

Bugger, now you've done it, that was supposed to be the best kept secret since the Manhattan project. Now I am going to have to administer a brain enema to everybody at CR4 to cover it up.

Actually I have found Kahula is pretty good in a mouse but Tia Maria is even better. You don't need a lot, a teaspoon of the Kahula or a dissert spoon of the Tia Maria is enough. If you want to use a real coffee then the one I have found the ultimate for disserts like this is one that comes from the highlands of Papua New Guinea. It comes from a place called Garoka and you can sometimes get hold of the beans under the name Garoka Gold. It's quiet a mild coffee and by itself is like a coffee chocolate blend and has this very subtle added complexity to the depth of its flavor and aroma. You can get Garoka Gold from specialist coffee suppliers in Australia but I have no idea if it is available elsewhere, but, if you do have a coffee specialist near you it is definitely worth asking if they can get it.

I did find this on eBay for green Garoka coffee beans so they are obviously getting to the USA.

However, since you are in South America r&ddoc you will probably have better access to really good coffee than me and I know bugger all about South American coffee so I have no idea of which one would be best.

Wow! A brain enema! Actually sounds quite southing. Do you think while you're at it you could wipe out the four most awful years I spent in high school... It doesn't matter anyway, I didn't start learning until after that horror show.

"the four most awful years I spent in high school..."

Was that a religious school?

Not fair, I know and apologise, fighting simultaneously on 2 different threads.

No need to apologise. Actually, I think that was a pretty good return!

Anyway, no, just a regular school, but still a small form of hell.

Anyway, I'll let you in on a secret: I'm 3rd generation atheist with a special dislike for monotheistic religions.

Woof!!! That's quite a heritage! How did that play in grade school?

"Oh, look! Here comes that little boy who's doomed to burn in hell."

If masu were to actually perform this service on you , I think he would adapt a more traditional Coffee-enema. Using all orifices (or is that orifi ?) the result would be spectacular. euuugh. Coffee will never taste the same again.

"Would you like to go get a cup of coffee?"

"No! Don't hurt me!!!"

What did you ask for?

Note the resemblance to high school, the oysters are the juniors, Walrus et al are upperclassmen.

http://search.able2know.com/About/3950.html

Worst part about that pic: the lady's a dude.

err , but , like how do you know europium ? Please tell me it's just because you were involved in setting vermin up. One of those 'dial-a-enema' type things maybe. vermin always seems to be scoffing Pizza and probably wouldn't think to check small details. How much did you pay the guy ? With a client like vermin he'd want some serious danger money.

"err , but , like how do you know europium ?"

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Crocodile Dundee said so.