Knuttel Makes Beer, phase I

Above is the completed first phase of my first attempt at making beer.

Someone had given me a beer making kit, and I decided for some reason that it just didn't go far enough, so I improvised a second device to make more beer (take a wild guess which one it is).

I realize my equipment is far from professional, but fuck measuring.

Anyways, this first day was mostly cleaning and preparing -- boiling the wort, adding yeast, etc.  There really isn't anything special about these two (yet), so there really isn't anything to write, it's mostly stuff from that first beer making kit.

If these two batches turn out as planned, then I shall move on and begin making "real" beer, using like real grains and hops and shit, I hear theres a homebrew store in like Southhampton that should have the stuff I need (maybe even a real funnel!), and if not, I think there's one in Princeton.

Anyways, these lovelies will sit for like a week and a half to two weeks, and then I shall move ahead with the process, and more fully describe the knuttel-ness that is knuttel-brau.

-- Knuttel

Snowstorm Puns

So I was thinking about how weather channels can get out of hand with their descriptions of upcoming snow storms, and I saw the word "snowlocaust" written somewhere.  So it got me thinking, what other barely passable terms could we use for an upcoming winter storm?

child snowlestation
snowicide bombing
hirsnowshima and snowgasaki
vesnowvius
the armenian genosnowd (gesnowcide)
the snownguska event
snowbal warming
the snowdiac killer
the downfall of western snowciety
snowpartheid
the snowlden horde
the siege of constantisnowple
the fall of snowme
the communist revsnowlution
chersnowbyl
snowmageddon
snowpacolypse
snowkakke
snowxual assault
snownslaught
snowjob
rusty trumsnown
baltimore snowfish
9/snowleven

-- Knuttel
(thanks to petey for the brainstorm)

Sometimes the Setup is the Punchline

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-ultimate-collection-of-stupid-michele-bachmann

I could try correcting them, but that would remove the humor.  I know, I'm resisting every bit of my corrector-ness.

-- Knuttel


ps, thank you kevin for the link.  see, im definitely giving credit and all that jazz.

Extolling the Virtues of All Fiction

Sometimes I wonder why, in the literary world, science fiction and fantasy are often entirely ignored.  Some of the most important literary works are forebearers of the genres, if not the genres themselves -- Frankenstein IS about the effects of reanimating a piecemeal corpse, Dracula IS about vampires, 1984, Animal Farm, Faust, Dorian Gray, I mean the list goes on.

Fiction to me is comprised of two worlds, two possibilites -- that which has not happened, and that which can not happen.

And yes, I will admit that much of the works in Science Fiction are derivative and/or cliche, but can't the same be said for regular fiction?  The basic rule of thumb is 90% of EVERYTHING is crap, no exceptions -- 90% of my posts are probably crap.

"Oh, but we can't possibly take anything seriously about anything with elves, dragons, or spaceships"

Oh, well I can't possibly take anything seriously about how difficult it is to be European upper class, but then I'd have to ignore War and Peace.  You see, it can't be done.

"Oh, but Foundation is just about smart people trying to outsmart each other ... in space."  Aside from space, how is that different from Othello or Much Ado About Nothing?

Maybe I should clarify my argument -- I am not defending science fiction or fantasy, per se, but I am saying that genre is not equal to quality.  I think it's ridiculous that in order for a fantasy work to be taken seriously, it must be called "magic realism," or for a science fiction work to be taken seriously, it must be called "speculative fiction."  Every genre has its merits, and to ignore them entirely, or let them in on technicalities and exceptions, is pompous, arrogant, snobbish, and ignorant.

-- Knuttel

Extolling the Virtues of Midnight Ice Running

Midnight ice running came about as a necessity.

I was training at the time to go to Marine Corps OCS, something which now seems a further away dream than other somewhat preposterous goals of mine (but I intend on completing them anyway).  It was the winter of 09/10, a particularly wet and snowy winter, and i still needed to run regularly to both keep in shape and keep my 3 mile run time down.  Sidewalks were unreliably shoveled, and roads were too lined with snowbanks to share with cars during the day.

Now that I look back upon it, the first midnight ice run was actually before any snow came that winter.  I had the idea that running in the freezing cold would toughen me up, make me stronger in ways more than running itself could.  So I went out in the same kind of gear I would wear in the heat of the afternoon in summertime.  The skies were clear (which at nighttime actually makes it darker) and all the stars were shining prominently.  Anyways, I was freezing, not even the increased body heat of rigorous activity could keep me warm -- and then I guess about 2 miles in I noticed I tore my calf (again) and had to walk the rest of the way home, making me even colder.  But the initial run high coupled with the freezing temperatures (making a nice burning sensation in the lungs each breath) and the prominent stars -- it was a magic feeling.  And then as I was limping home I got pulled over by a cop, probably suspecting a dude running around in his shorts at 1am in 30 degree weather was tweaking.

Due to the injury incurred (a fatigue injury, not an accidental), that was my last run for a while, but they quickly became a fixture in that winter, for the aforementioned reasons.  I adapted better to the colder running environs of nighttime, getting warmer running clothes and the like, but the mystical quality of that first one never really faded.

I was still mostly alone on those roads, no outside noises, just my thoughts and my music were with me.  I could run through schools too, as there were no students upon which to trespass.

Physically, in addition to the regular benefits of regular running, midnight ice running worked more muscles in the leg (having to always be on one's toes, shifting quickly laterally, hopping and jumping around ice patches, running through and over snow patches and banks) and eyesight and mental discipline (always looking for ice patches, which can come into the field of vision at the last second, and other obstacles, most efficient routes to get around everything).

If running on a treadmill is a too perfect form of running, midnight ice running makes regular road running look like running on a track.

-- Knuttel

The Deadpool Cometh

Coming to the conclusion that I am ignorant of whatever Marvel is doing with Deadpool nowadays, I decided to find out.

The story begins with rocking an all you can eat sushi lunch special for 5 rolls at like 10 bucks.  Dice, I know.

Moving on, the local comic shop is like right next to this sushi place, so I go in and check it out.  I had forgotten how messy and unkempt these places can be, but that's exactly how they want them.  Gotta keep out the outsiders, you know "hey, I just saw spiderman 3, can you show me some spiderman stuff, I like that venom guy, his face peels back when he talks, that is neat."  Anyways, local businesses equal awesome businesses, usually (still gotta keep out the riff raff), and I'd rather support the community than some corporate headquarters in East St. Louis.

So I check out the Deadpool titles (yes, they are plural, they are legion).

Trouble in Tuscon

So possibly this could be the first (and maybe) last time I write about Tuscon.

So everyone knows what happened by now.  I don't need to get into the deets.

So let's get straight into fallout.

200!!

Yay, so I got to like 200 posts somehow.

This just doesn't feel like a huge milestone.

anyways, I've decided to put some more "experimental" (sometimes, at least) writings (meaning prolly mostly fictions) on a different blog -- http://natemwinters.blogspot.com

check it out, it's hella dice.

-- knuttel

Meh, Linkdup

Again I have accrued a backlog.

Why do I feel the need to keep doing things in linkform?  whatevs, here goes.

HYPOCRISY
-- two faced sunbitches they are.

more hypocrisy?
-- not really, I think he's genuinely coming from the heart most of the time.  That or he just hates America.

ah, baby boomers
-- they never cease to amaze.  is it all about me now?  huh?

new chief of staff
-- 'bout time some moderates are put in the spotlight.

thats good enough for now.  the rest i can coherently put into larger articles (at least currently in my head).

-- Knuttel

The New Congress

So the new Congressional session opens up sometime this week, so I thought I'd share the following article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122103054.html?hpid=topnews

Arlen Specter, departing longtime Senator of Pennsylvania offered up those thoughts about a month ago, alongside other departing congressmen.  Some of the speeches were lightly attended, some not at all, regardless of how long or reputable their public service had been.

Ideologies are threatening to doom our political process.

This is America -- we do not elect parties into power; we elect people.  A person, a single congressman has the ability to vote whichever way he (or she) decides to on any given piece of legislation.

This has not been the case as of late, especially within the Senate, where unless 60 people can agree (insert topic) is to be discussed, there will be a filibuster, regardless of whether it's needed or any of that.

Discourse and dialogue have left the arena, to be replaced by party pandering and extremism.

This is the reason Arlen Specter originally left the Republican party (I believe the quote was something along the lines of the Democrats more willing to have someone who agrees with them 30% of the time than the Republicans are to someone who disagrees 70%).  Of course that was all rhetoric, and Specter was voted out of his new parties primary.  I guess he just didn't agree with them enough.  How sad and pathetic is it that a moderate state like Pennsylvania can't even elect a moderate Senator anymore?  If Specter had stayed in the Republican party he would've gotten voted out in their primary by Toomey, regardless of anything involving healthcare, the stimulus, or TARP.

The sad part is the change has to come from within.  It has to happen in Washington, because switching to another system simply would be finding a way to hand power over to a far more formal party system.

Like I said before, this is America, we elect people, not parties.

Or at least that's the way it ought to be.

-- Knuttel