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Previously: 4 Gallon Kimchi Ferment

I took it out on the 26th, so about 15 days of fermentation.

This version of the recipe had just 25% of the crushed red pepper I normally use. The resulting taste was much milder, but still satisfying, and still tasted like kimchi rather than sauerkraut or something. You get a more noticeable ginger taste this way.

The biggest disappointment may have been the radishes. By becoming soggy, they lost the crisp crunchiness they had at the start. This should have been obvious but I wasn't thinking about it. They became less spicy, which may be a plus for some. There have been kimchis made primarily of radishes for centuries, so it's not coming out of left field as an ingredient. I cut my red (Cherry Belle?) radishes into thin circular slices rather than cube chunks as seen in the linked recipe.

Rather than the 4 gallons I was expecting, I made just over 3 gallons, filling about 12.5-13 quart jars. I used a slotted spoon to get the veggies in the jars, and then put each jar in the sink so I could pour liquid from the bucket into it. Some minor gas buildup was already evident when I sealed and opened some of the jars. I'd like for it to develop that tangy carbonation I got in the old storebought kimchi, so some of these will be sitting around in the fridge for a long while.

I didn't see any signs of bubbling in the airlock, maybe because the bucket was only just over half full, or because the lactobacillus fermentation process is much slower than say, yeast + beer. I think the airlock may have helped in getting a consistent flavor with less "funk". It also prevented the smell from escaping into the room, until I opened the bucket.

I didn't write down the cost of materials but it was probably in the neighborhood of $15, or $30 counting reusable supplies, to make the equivalent of maybe $150-300 worth of kimchi. It should be able to stay good in the fridge for up to 6 months, possibly longer. I'll agree with the AC that says it's a waste of time to make bread. You are competing with impeccably baked artisan loaves in the $1-3 range (less for clearance bread). Kimchi or sauerkraut? You can easily beat it on price. Time spent making it isn't too bad (worse for kimchi than sauerkraut since I had to cut up a lot of stuff and soaked cabbage for a while). Simplify the steps for saeurkraut and you can start some in under half an hour. And you can put it on your meat and potatoes.

If any of you decided to make some, or buy some, I'd like to hear how it turned out.

American Exorcism

Priests are fielding more requests than ever for help with demonic possession, and a centuries-old practice is finding new footing in the modern world.

As per this discussion, I am interested in making it easier to read posts and submissions that contain abbreviations and acronyms.

I suggested that a capability to illuminate such things be added to Soylent, which was met with somewhat of a yawn. Oh well. :)

But I thought I'd do it for my posts, and so I did.

It is a webapp that runs on a webserver, and you can use it as well if you like, presuming you have access to a webserver you can install it on.

Basically what it does is looks at all-caps and/or number sequences and looks them up, surrounds them with <abbr> tags, and pops the explanation into the title element of the tag.

It also provides a powerful macro engine you can use if you like. This can enhance the ability to post quite a bit, provide randomly selected signatures, etc. The limits there are pretty much set by your imagination. For instance, to produce <abbr>, I have this macro in the macro file:

[style tag <tt><b>&lt;[b]&gt;</b><tt>]

To use it in my post, I simply enter:

{tag abbr}

The project is located here.

So the next time you are thinking WTF when you read an acronym or abbreviation in my posts, you can just hover mouse pointer over it and be greeted with a short explanation.

I would be delighted to accept additions to the acronym file on Github, too. The more, the merrier.

And of course, if the coding gods at Soylent wanted to use the acronym file to implement this capability for use with TFS and perhaps even people's posts in general, that would be sweet.

Someone apparently hacked Drake’s Fortnite account and used racial slurs on a charity live-stream

Ninja plays Fortnite with fake Drake after Drake's account is hacked - hacker gets racist on stream

The account 'Duddus647' randomly joined Ninja's game while he was doing a charity livestream to raise money for the Ellen Fund, in collaboration with the Ellen show.

Believing that it was in fact Drake, Ninja attempted to text the rapper, saying "I'm not sure if Drake meant to invite me?" - before jumping into a game.

With the Drake account completely silent at first, Ninja began to play as normal, assuming that the star was maybe just setting up his microphone and audio.

Things seemed perfectly normal (if one of the most famous people in the world randomly joining your game of Fortnite can ever be considered 'normal'), and Ninja quickly got to taking out opponents.

Suddenly however, "Drake" broke his silence, except of course it wasn't Drake at all, but rather a hacker who had gained access to the account - and began saying the N-word repeatedly.

Drake (musician)

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) known mononymously as Drake, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. His rapping ability has been noted as "polarizing", and has contributed to him being named one of the most divisive rappers of his generation by multiple critics and media publications. Drake initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s.

[...] Drake holds several Billboard chart records. He has the most charted songs (186) among solo artists in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 songs in a single week (27), the most time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks) and the most Hot 100 debuts in a week (22). He also has the most number one singles on the Hot Rap Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Charts. Drake has also won three Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, and fifteen Billboard Music Awards. He is the RIAA's top certified digital singles artist and one of the world's best-selling music artists, with more than 95 million records sold globally.

Hillary Clinton calls on Europe to curb migration to halt populists

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling on European leaders to enact stricter immigration policies in order to counter the growing threat of right-wing populism on the continent.

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Clinton told The Guardian in an interview published Thursday, referring to the rise of anti-immigrant politicians across Europe.

“I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel," she said, "but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message — ‘we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support’ — because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.”

#HillaryGraduatedFromBeingAnNPCBoss :^)

American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

John Allen Chau had dreamed of returning to the Andaman Islands.

Mr. Chau, an American thought to be in his 20s, was fulfilling that dream last week when he set off by kayak for a remote island inhabited by a tribe whose members have killed outsiders for simply stepping on their shore.

Fishermen warned him not to go. Few outsiders had ever been there. And Indian government regulations clearly prohibited any interaction with people on the island, called North Sentinel.

But Mr. Chau pushed ahead in his kayak, which he had packed with a Bible. After that, it is a bit of a mystery what happened.

But the police say one thing is clear: Mr. Chau did not survive.

Also at NPR.

So I open Soylent this morning, and I'm greeted with a story where TFS started with:

ASUS Comments on Intel Shortages, U.S.-China Trade War

ASUS this week released its...

I'm thinking "WTF is ASUS???"

We're deluged with acronyms. It's difficult to know if one cares about something when TFS is more opaque than it really needs to be, unless you go digging deeper — and I generally don't go digging deeper unless I'm already interested.

So I thought it would be cool if there was a collapsed-by-default region at the bottom of the article that contained the apparent acronyms found in the article, if any were present. The detection would be simply catch all-caps "words" and look them up in a Soylent-local acronym dictionary.

One of the things in the article edit / update would be to catch any that exist, and list any that aren't in the dictionary with a place to define them when the article is submitted / edited /updated.

If the reader sees an acronym they aren't familiar with, they just open the collapsed-by-default region, learn what it means, and experience a "TIL" TFS instead of a "WTF" TFS.

It doesn't seem like it'd be that big of a pushup to code, and it would serve a reasonable purpose.

Example (faked with <spoiler>):

Or:

As a (poor) substitute, if the <spoiler> tag could have an optional text field, for example...

<spoiler "Acronyms">

...so that it wouldn't show as "spoiler" but instead as...

*Acronyms* (click to show)

...but perform the same function, then the author of the article or the editor could populate it on a per-TFS basis. It would result in considerable duplication of effort to constantly redefine such things (and that's why I suggested an automated process) but it would still provide a means to make TFSs (and comments) better, and it has the merit of probably being a lot easier to do, which would likely appeal to those who would have to implement it.

New York Parents Are Turning to Reiki Healers for Their Stressed Kids

Wikipedia: Reiki

4 green cabbages
4 lbs carrots
2 bunches of green onions (about 10-11 oz total)
1 lb radishes

Sauce contains:

8 tbsp soy sauce
8 tbsp sugar
1 cup canned crushed pineapple
12 tbsp ginger paste
3 heads garlic
2 onions
1/2 cup red pepper flakes
Some MSG

I'll put in some store bought kimchi to use as a starter.

1 cabbage makes about a gallon, so I'm using a 5 gallon food grade bucket. I bought these silicone grommets. Drilled a 9/16" hole in the bucket lid, popped it in. Airlock fits great. I'll put some vodka in it to ward off bugs (they probably won't get in, but could drown in the airlock).

It's an old cliché, right? And, you don't talk about it in mixed company, or polite company, amirite? It's just something we all live with. Ehhhh - keep reading, maybe you'll learn something, as I did. Dude has done the research for us, and compares 8 different brands of men's underwear, highlighting their strengths, and shortcomings.

https://snarkynomad.com/the-best-mens-underwear-for-every-guy-out-there/

The best men’s underwear for every guy out there
December 12, 2016 - by SnarkyNomad
Welcome, friends and loved ones, to what is going to be the most detailed discussion I have ever produced. And that’s saying something.

I’ve written about men’s underwear before, specifically regarding how incredibly difficult it is finding something that works. So many designs out there are total garbage that most guys don’t bother sifting through the selection to find something good, and end up just living with whatever’s cheap, because the fancy ones don’t work either. Add to this the fact that underwear is incredibly polarizing, with some people liking a loose boxer fit, while others prefer a boxer brief, along with all kinds of other preferences that are more divisive than a heated political debate. And I think I finally know why.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen––but mostly gentlemen––I think I’ve actually figured out why some people like one design instead of another, and I also think I can articulate this problem without resorting to obscene diagrams. It’s all going to start making perfect sense, and by the end of all this, I think you’ll be able to find something that’ll work for you, without having to spend $30 on something that fits horribly and gets thrown in the garbage by the end of the day.

So go ahead and get comfortable, because this is going to be as thorough as a nuclear submarine technical manual.

How men’s underwear discussions tend to miss the point
I will begin by saying that everything you’ve been told about men’s underwear is wrong.

Everyone talks about “support,” claiming that one pair of underwear has good “support,” while another does not. But this doesn’t make any sense. “Support” is what happens when you’re lifted up from underneath. But what good is that?

The constant readjustment problem that plagues every guy all day long has nothing to do with a lack of “support.” It has to do with a lack of containment. Walking around for a while will dislodge whatever you intend to hold in place up front, and it’ll start migrating into various positions and start chafing against the leg and ruin your whole day. This is why underwear with good “support” isn’t going to do you any good.

As I say, he did all the research, and he notes within his blog that these brands start at about $5.00 per pair, and get very pricey from there. I don't suppose that many of us can justify a $50 pair of undies - I know that I can't. I started with the lowest price available, and experimented.

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men/innerwear-and-socks/boxers-and-boxer-briefs

People, you won't believe it until you try it. Some of those higher priced garments could possibly be better, but I don't know how. The ONLY thing that I don't really like, is the fabric. I've spent a lifetime wearing 100% cotton, in the thickness and texture found in Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, and other common brands. Very thin, smooth, moisture wicking cotton - certainly not silk, but it does have some silky qualities. My initial impression of the fabric was, "These are kind of effeminate, aren't they?" But - I've gotten used to them.

Blurb here about that cotton: https://authenticity50.com/pages/supima-cotton

WHAT IS SUPIMA COTTON?
"Extra-long staple Supima cotton is the crème de la crème in the cotton world" -GEAR PATROL

There’s a reason the American-grown Supima® cotton we use costs more than 2x the price of regular cotton, and it shows in the product. It's finer and more expensive than Egyptian Cotton and traditional Pima cotton. Its extra-long staples allows us to spin an extremely fine yet durable single-ply thread, which results in a softer, more breathable, and longer lasting bed sheet.

EXTRA-LONG STAPLE
In fact, Supima® is 35% longer than regular cotton, which makes the fiber 45% stronger and considerably softer. Supima® accounts for less than 3% of the cotton grown in the United States, and comes fully certified by the Supima® association.

Imagine that - high tech underwear, that doesn't even plug into a computer!! All you need is a connection to milennia old Pima Indian cultivated cotton!