Author / zbicyclist

by zbicyclist

Penny Arcade (bad language warning)

Christian sends in this comic, which is a new one for me. “Y’all need submissions… and I like visiting, so here’s a webcomic that I frequently enjoy even when I have little clue as to what any of it is about…. and the paragraphs of commentary that accompany each comic often don’t help… not because the jokes are flawed (although sometimes they are … and sometimes on purpose…?) … but because these comics are usually about video game culture/industry/playing… and the last time I was able to be not awful at a video game was when the controls were up, down, let, right, shoot.”

This one is a vocabulary lesson.

“Friendslop is a slang word, used to describe a subgenre of cooperative indie games oriented around a low barrier of entry and social interaction, emphasizing gameplay in social groups … Common elements of friendslop games include a low entry difficulty, frequently described in relation to Bushnell’s Law, that allows people of any gaming skill to participate, and a focus on social interaction. Usually these games will feature a team working towards a common goal, such as climbing a mountain in Peak“ (Wikipedia)

by zbicyclist

Another Vocabulary Lesson

Noosignatures were proposed to fill the gap between biosignatures (chemical signs of life) and technosignatures (detectable advanced technology like radio signals). They indicate intelligent activity that is not necessarily technological. Examples include:

  • Stone tools (e.g., Acheulean hand axes) 
  • Architecture or carvings
  • Undeciphered writing systems (e.g., Indus Valley script) 
  • Complex cultural products such as bread, used as a thought experiment for measurable complexity 

Chemical signs of possible life go back billions of years on earth. Production of radio waves, a bit over a hundred. Noosignatures on earth would go back maybe 3 million years or so. Exactly how you could detect these from earth is unclear.

by zbicyclist

Remembering Don Martin

When I saw this comic from Dan Collins, I was immediately reminded of Don Martin.

(I’ve blacked out a word in the comic, because Collins is making a political point, and we want to keep CIDU a politics-free zone.)

That’s different than Collins’ normal style, e.g.

It does provide an excuse to remember (fondly) the great Mad Magazine cartoonist Don Martin (1931-2000) whose cartoons were a regular delight in Mad from 1956 to 1988.

by zbicyclist

Velvet

Jack Applin sends this in: “In the final panel, Maria implies an incongruence between Ms. Velvet’s name and her rocking the color green. I would understand if her name were “Scarlett” or “Violet”, because those colors are not green. However, what’s the conflict between velvet and green? Is the cloth velvet associated with a particular color? Some cultural thing that I’m missing?”

And, if Ms. Velvet had a daughter born in 2010, would the daughter be Ms. Velveteen?

by zbicyclist

Chewing Twice

Mitch4 sends this in: “I figured it must be an idiomatic expression, and a lookup confirmed it. But I had never before run across it in the wild.”

Your editor hasn’t heard this one, either. Mayor McGuffey’s name doesn’t sound German, so I guess we can’t call him a sour kraut.

There’s a suggestion here that this is a combination of two sayings: “I don’t chew my cabbage twice – Response when someone asks you to repeat what you just said. This phrase is probably a combination of: I don’t chew my baccer (tobacco) twice and I don’t boil my cabbage twice.“

I have no doubt that chewing tobacco twice would be unpleasant. Chewing tobacco at all sounds unpleasant. But what about boiling cabbage twice?

What Happens if You Boil Cabbage Twice

Boiling cabbage twice — or overboiling it — can significantly affect its texture, flavor, and nutritional value.

Texture and flavor changes
The first boiling softens cabbage, but a second boiling (or extended cooking) makes it mushy, limp, and less appetizing. Overcooked cabbage can also develop an unpleasant odor and lose its natural sweetness and crunch voyoeats.com+1.

Nutrient loss
Cabbage contains heat- and water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C and B vitamins, which are sensitive to prolonged cooking. Boiling it for more than 5–7 minutes can deplete up to 75% of vitamin C and reduce sulforaphane precursors by over 50% thelivinglook.com. A second boiling compounds this loss, reducing the health benefits.

Health considerations
Overboiling can also break down compounds that may interfere with thyroid function, especially in people with hypothyroidism eatandgeek.com. While this is more relevant to raw cabbage, repeated boiling increases exposure to these compounds.

How to avoid the problem

  • Limit cooking time: For shredded cabbage, 5 minutes; for wedges, up to 10 minutes