NASA, Mars and the US Government

Now, while I did say I wasn’t going to get political when writing in my blog, I’m going to break this rule this once. I made this rule not because I’m not political, I am, very political, I just find most political blogs tend to come off as preachy and normally very, VERY, ignorant. So I made that rule, and I am going to break it.

So, with NASA losing funding and announcing that they cannot go to Mars for at least a decade, here is my (quite possibly biased) opinion and rule-breaking post.

As an Engineer myself, I feel sorry for NASA, I really do, however, the problem lies with, as is so often the case, a lack of clear progression. In the early days it was clear, get into space (even though a certain amount was just to out-do the Russians), go around the Earth, go around the Moon, land on the Moon, job done. However, while NASA have been working hard in the background, their publicly notable acheivments recently are actually fairly slim on the ground. However much of this is caused by the lack of competition I don’t know, or maybe funding problems. Some have suggested micro-managment from the US Government is the problem. However, I think perhaps NASA has allowed for their goals to become to loose. Rather than concentrating on one thing (for instance to beat the Russians into space and then to the Moon) they just appear to be sticking their fingers in as many pies as they can find…

Perhaps it’s time to retire NASA and bring forth a more focused “Mars Expedition” team or something, or maybe create two teams and pit them against each other.

Turtle out…

Cooking with Turtle – Lesson 1

Ok, so here’s the First Lesson.

I will not go over a recipe today, instead I shall explain the idea behind your equipment and how important it is.

When you cook, you need to look at it from physical sense, what you are doing is applying enough heat energy to a steak to sear the outside, but not enough to dry out the centre, as an example. So this is the idea behind my methods. Rather than simply taking a recipe and following it straight out, analyse it, work out what is being done in that process, how it affects the food and see if there is a way you adapt it to other foods.

Equipment is just as important as the ingredients you use. While it is true that a bad workman blames his tools, having the tools most apropriate to your cooking style are imperitive. So, I recommend that you go out and by knives, pans, etc. that you feel comfortable. My Girlfriend hates using big knives, says she doesn’t feel comfortable using them, I personally find I have more control over a long chef’s knife, or a cleaver, than the little vegetable knife we have. Likewise I like to a wok with almost everything I cook as I find it’s quick heat transfer and the ability to throw things around inside the pan makes up for having very slow to heat up (and thus cool down) electric hot-plates, however my Mother always prefers to cook in large copper-bottom pots as it puts a bit of thermal capacity into the gas hob they have and allows her a more predictable progression to cooking. It’s all down to your personal style and requirements.

I will say when it comes to ovens, you will know a good oven from a bad oven pretty quickly. The more energy efficient it is, usually the better the oven itself, as keeping the heat inside (the most important part of oven efficiency) leads to more moist roast joints and slow cooked foods. Baring in mind your cooker-top and oven will probably last you over a decade and will be in use quite frequently, spending a bit more cash and getting better food (and smaller energy bills too) is normally a good investment.

Dealing with Knives, you ALWAYS observe safety when dealing with knives, there are many ways Chefs use to keep their fingers safe, but none of them say the obvious one. BE COMFORTABLE, that is don’t try to chop with the knife too quickly, instead make sure it’s accurate first. Speed will come later. It is very, VERY, important that your knives are sharp, as, and this seems counter-intuitive, a sharp knife is less likely to cause you an injury when using it. When a knife is not sharp enough, you use more force, using more force means you’re less in control. Buy a sharpener and keep your knives sharp, they’re not expensive and again they will last, but will also make your knives last too…

So, that more or less concludes this at this moment in time, look out for the next lesson which will include some cooking.

Cooking With Turtle (Introduction)

Ok, so, while I am unemployed, I am going to take some time to put down my love for cooking into some easy to follow lessons. Please do comment and ask questions.

This “side section” of my blog will fulfil two of my joys, cooking and telling people things (teaching if you will, but without all that strict structure and time restraints).

The aim of the lessons is to offer you knowledge in cooking, both from an ingredient point of view and from a process point of view, strong enough to allow you to make up your delicious dishes without following recipes. In every lesson I will try to give you two recipes, one will be a quick dish for those who have time constraints, the other will be one that goes a little deeper and allows for you to think things over more, and (hopefully) encourage thinking for yourself.

I am not a nutritionist, I am actually an Engineer, so I will not garuntee that every recipe is healthy or balanced. However, I will garuntee that my Guinea Pigs (friends and family) have all expressed enjoyment when eating this food.

Turtle…

Welcome 2010

Well, after a nightmarish couple of days (I do believe I my drink was spiked on New Years Eve, by whom, I am not sure), I have finally got around to updating after the holidays.

Still no job as of yet, damn the banking systems, destroying us in the way that they have.

Christmas was good, I thoroughly enjoyed it, not least because word from home (England) informed me of the violent family reunion I was unable to attend. Instead we went to Bunny’s parents and passed out, after far too much food, wine and brandy, watching British situational comedy.

New Years, not so good, although I did enjoy the snow we had as we brought the new year in. However, it is the first time I have ever lost a day in my life, and I have been told that I just suddenly got drunk, very suddenly, and very ill.I have also been informed that someone walked off with the hostess’ camera.

But anyway, onwards and upwards. Bunny is just heading to bed atm… but the insomnia is back so I might just sit down and have a cup of tea, maybe read something or else do some MORE blogging. Not sure yet.

However, possible good news on the job front, but just between us, one of the companies I have applied to are apparently VERY impressed with my CV. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to not say no anything that comes along…

So I shall depart for now… I may double post this evening/morning.

Moved In

Ok, actually this is a little late, as we’ve been moved in a while, and have actually been quite organised and even installed an internet connection.

Still no luck on the job front, but we do have a Christmas Tree, which Bunny has named Billy, and she has asked me to say he’s beautiful and classy and has multicoloured lights…

We’ve comfortably moved in now, although we’ve not actually tidied up since we did move in a couple of weeks back, our only free space is the bed and the sofa, every other surface has something  on it… The clothes will make the wardrobe the second we have enough hangers, it’s quite a novelty to have a wardrobe for Bunny, who has been storing clothes on shelves forever…

Things still to do:

Find a Job

Buy a car

Get a driving license

Collect stuff from England

O Insomnia!

So, I am basically starting this blog to help me wind down from my insomnia, something I’ve battled with since I lost my Job in February. Basically for the last 8 months I have been sleeping for no more than 4 hours a night… or at least until recently… I feel now it’s wearing off, but in thr wrong direction, rather than falling asleep at 6am and sleeping through til 9-10am I am now sleeping through to midday. This is not fun, but there’s not much that can be done with that until I find a new job and force my back into proper diurnal* hours.

I have left my girlfriend (herein known as Bunny, which happens to be my pet name for her) sleeping in her single bed, the one we have both been sharing for the last 2 weeks. I don’t want to complain, as it’s much more comfortable than the one I left in England, seeing as hers is missing the massive craters and the stray spring, that had worked it’s way free of the mattress itself, that constantly poked and stabbed me whenever I moved. However, it is a single bed, in that it is made for one person, and we don’t quite fit without either touching the actually quite cold wall, or hanging over the edge.

But we hope to rectify that tomorrow (or at least go some distance in rectifying it) with our flat/househunting.

So I am currently staring at the screen, as she occasionally wakes and asks me what I’m doing, drinking a can of lager that my Father-In-Law-To-Be-If-Things-Go-Right has been trying to get me to drink since I got here two weeks ago (I normally cannot drink lager, but I thought it best to both remind myself why I don’t like it and have a drink that is cold). Bunny’s parents are cool, and I really like them, however, I am aware that I have been here in their house for 2 weeks with my only contribution being a Roast Dinner I cooked on sunday, and even then I had three people helping me cook a dinner for four people, whereas at home I would be left to cook one for ten people. (I am aware of my mixing my number types, but… MEH!)

My list of things to do still;-

Find work

Find a place to live

Buy a car

(re)Take my driving test and apply for an Irish License

Collect the rest of my stuff from England

Once these have been done I can concentrate on the next stage of things. I am really hoping to get all of these done by Christmas, but seeing as November is VERY rapidly running out, my birthday in February might be more realistic.

Anyway, Bunny is glaring at me through very heavy half-closed eyes, so I must depart.

*Diurnal: Awake during daylight hours and sleeping at night, in essence the opposite of nocturnal, which is my current sleep situation.

New me!

So, a brief intro…

I’m English, in that I am from England, however was lucky enough to find the most fantastic woman ever, who just happens to be from Dublin. So I moved there… I say moved, I took very little with me and shacked up at her parents place.

Now, almost 2 weeks later, I’ve decided that I want to put it down on a blog.

I thought Dublin’s Angle was quite a clever play on words… what with Angle being an adjective for a single English person.

So, here it is…