If you’ve met me, you’ll know that I’m fat. No, not just fat…obese. I have a definite problem with seeing food as a reward, something to be an emotional comfort, instead as a source of nutrition.  When I was commuting to work a few years ago, I would stop for two bagels with cream cheese on the way to work, and pick up two McDonald’s double cheeseburgers on the way home every day, but then I would have my normal meal with the family on top of it. Why?  It’s the same reason some folks have a drink after work, it made me feel better, allowed me to de-stress.

I went vegetarian because it sets up a strong and clear line for me and forces me to think about everything I shove into my face. It has eliminated any stopping at all at fast food places, because if I cannot get the fat and salt of the meat, there’s no real reward. At parties and gatherings, it helps me moderate my food intake because I need to think about what I want to eat, not just fall into the flow and grab whatever is in front of me. I’ll admit, I’ve fallen off the wagon, but when I have done so, I’ve come to regret it².

I’ve been reading about the science of food a lot over the last few months as well, about how different things foods cause our brains to feel comfort, happiness, even something similar to mini-orgasms with the right combination of chemicals.  This report from CNN was interesting:

This is not a pity party, and this is not an attempt to blame the food industry for my problem. It’s my personal responsibility to stand for myself again the tide, and I strongly believe that. However, I do find it interesting and disturbing just how the food industry, like the cigarette companies before them, use marketing and chemistry to create a social norm and provide an emotional experience regardless of consequence. Food can become the ultimate addiction, especially when specifically engineered to provide an emotional response. You can give up cigarettes, but how do you give up food? I think there is a discussion to be had there, and I think that’s fodder for a future essay.

I’m not telling you this so you can hear the strains of violins and weep for my unfortunate condition.. Far from it. I bring this up because I know there are lots of other people out there like me. I’m hoping that by talking about this, I can bring some of the issues out into the open. It’s one thing to sit in a theatre and watch Super Size Me, but it’s another to be sitting in the car, driving home, resisting the strong urge to stop and get something to eat  because it’s been a hard day, and by god, you deserve it.

Expect more from me on this topic. They say to write what you know, and food issues…well…yeah. I know those all too well.

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• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

1. God, I hate how fluffy that sounds. But I cannot find another way to put it. Bear with me.
2. Going to Schmidt’s while at Origins was not the brightest move.

Just before I left for Origins, the poster you see off to the right was delivered to my home. It’s an artistically-lettered print of a poem by Neil Gaiman, entitled “Before You Read This.”

It’s a wonderful poem, and I deeply appreciated getting it. But there was no note. I had no idea who sent it.

It took a little while, but I found it was my partner in crime, Kris Johnson. I wanted to thank him publicly for being such a swell guy, and for getting me something because, in his words, “I knew you’d like it.”

The great thing about the poem (which will be framed and placed over my desk in my office), is that it invokes more images than it describes. What I mean is, as you read it, it pulls ideas to the forefront of your mind, and so far, I’ve found that it jumpstarts my creative process. Like a meditation.

If you want to have a little fun, follow the link and read the poem from the end to the beginning. To twist things, read some of the stanzas as “Before You Write This.” It takes on whole new meanings.

Buy one for yourself from the talented Todd Klein.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

Links for this show:

• Pinax
• Origins 2009
• War, Season 5 of Heaven
• Fluxx and Family Fluxx
• Are You The Traitor?
• Necessary Evil
• The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

Names dropped: Kris Johnson, Jim Van Verth, Mur Lafferty, Ken Newquist, David Moore, Erin Moore, Natalie Metzger, Andy Steigle, John Cmar, Laura Burns

Download the show here.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

I’m not sure what to say. Honest.

(photo by Kimyo)

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

1. I am also jealous of his Wikipedia page.  Don’t you judge me.

To get Tweetdeck running on 64-bit, you’ll need to get the 32-bit compatibility libraries. The easiest way to do that is to do the following:

Download the getlibs-all.deb package. (This seems to move around a bit. If the link is broken, best to search it on Google.) Install it by running:

sudo dpkg -i getlibs-all.deb

If you get a corrupted package (which I did a few times), try another download location. The one I linked to above worked for me.

Next, put these commands in a bash script:

sudo getlibs -l libnss3.so.1d;
sudo getlibs -l libnssutil3.so.1d;
sudo getlibs -l libsmime3.so.1d;
sudo getlibs -l libssl3.so.1d;
sudo getlibs -l libnspr4.so.0d;
sudo getlibs -l libplc4.so.0d;
sudo getlibs -l libplds4.so.0d;
sudo getlibs -l libgnome-keyring.so;
sudo getlibs -l libgnome-keyring.so.0;
sudo getlibs -l libgnome-keyring.so.0.1.1

Make it executable, then run it:

chmod +x getlibs.sh; sudo sh getlibs.sh;


Update all the library links¹:

sudo ldconfig

If you don’t already have Adobe AIR installed, go download the file, then execute it:

chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin; sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Finally, go to the Tweetdeck site and click to install Tweetdeck.

Sources: http://blog.ddiction.com/?p=3023, , http://linux.die.net/man/8/ldconfig

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

1. ldconfig creates the necessary links and cache (for use by the run-time linker, ld.so) to the most recent shared libraries found in the directories specified on the command line, in the file /etc/ld.so.conf, and in the trusted directories (/usr/lib and /lib). ldconfig checks the header and file names of the libraries it encounters when determining which versions should have their links updated.

About Bibliotech: The Evolution of Digital Publishing: Authors are podcasting MP3 novels. Publishers are inserting real-time ads into ebooks. And readers are discovering and communicating directly with authors on Twitter, Goodreads and other sites. Host Mark Jeffrey (@markjeffrey) interviews authors, technologists and publishing professionals about how digital media is changing their world.

Check out the first episode below, and visit bibliotechshow.com for future episodes.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

The recipe is pretty freeform, and is very forgiving. Here’s how we make it in our house.

1 lb of dry kidney beans, preferably Camilla kidney beans
1 medium-large sized smoked ham hock
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
3 cups of rice (white is traditional, but I use brown or jasmine)
3 bay leaves
1 tsp  ground black pepper

Take the kidney beans, rinse, and put into the crockpot with 6-8 cups of water (enough to cover by about 1 inch), one good sized smoked ham hock and the bay leaves. While that starts to cook, slice and dice the onion, garlic, and celery, sauté in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add to the crockpot. Cook on high for 6-8 hours. Every hour or so, stir and mash the beans to thicken the sauce.  Salt to taste.

By then end, the sauce should be like a gravy, with enough solid beans for texture. Don’t mash ALL the beans, or you’ll get mush, which no one will eat.

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the bag or package.  To serve,  place a scoop of rice on the plate, then cover with a ladleful of the beans from the crockpot. Serve with warm french (or other crusty) bread.

In the past, I’ve added andouille sausage or smoked kielbasa for some added meat. When serving, this is amazing if you add Tabasco or yellow pepper rings on top. It’s also fabulous as leftovers.

Important note: When using beans other than the Camilla beans, you may need to let them soak overnight before cooking. I made this with black beans once, and it became a two day prep. Today, I’m trying azuki beans, and I prepped for it last night by soaking them. I’ll update with post with the results.

I’m going to work on a vegetarian and vegan version of this. I’ll let you know how that goes, when I finish it.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

Cooling, fresh from the oven.

I tweeted about the Irish Soda Bread I was making this morning, and folks wanted the recipe. I’m only too happy to oblige.

This is a quick one…total prep time is around 15-20 minutes. Baking time is 45-60 minutes, depending on your oven and your altitude.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
1 pint sour cream
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup plumped raisins*

Start by plumping the raisins. Put them in pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit in covered pan for 5 minutes. Drain. (Note: You can also put them in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with water by about 1/2 inch, then cook for 5 minutes. Works just as well for me.)

Mix all ingredients in the order above.  Bake in two ten inch round cake pans for 45-60 minutes at 350 F. Knife should come out clean of center when done.

I like to serve this with honey butter or fruit preserves. Apple butter is especially good with it.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.