Category: General

The roster of Antarctic blogs continues to grow: sandwichgirl.com, Polar Cafe, The Seventh Continent, and Sarah Kaye’s letters.

Soon they’ll be writing New York Times articles about the phenomenon.

The New Rosetta Stone — parody or a serious challenge to Dave Sim for the misogyny crown? I honestly can’t tell.

My theory is simple and is, essentially, an analogy. By projecting the characteristics of “woman” onto a character which is more straightforward and more readily understood by the general population, I wish to make the behavior of “woman” comprehensible. I offer to you Spider Man as the best model for “woman.” My argument is sixfold:

1. Spider Man wears tights.
2. Spider Man wears a mask.
3. Spider Man weaves webs.
4. Spider Man has a sixth sense.
5. Spider Man shoots strings.
6. Spider Man can climb walls.

Beth Bartel’s iceblog! comes to us straight from Antarctica, and how cool is that? See also Antarctica 2003 (which has wrapped up) and Life on the ice (which has not). Felix Salmon’s sister, Rhian, is still blogging from down there — here’s a quick link to just her entries — and I found 75 Degrees South via Rhian.

Plus Shackleton diaries. Man, Antarctica is a hotbed of blogging. (Props to Metafilter.)

This David Eyre’s Pancakes recipe is ripped whole from the pages of Kids Are Natural Cooks, a cookbook I remember fondly from my childhood. Despite the fact that my name is clearly written in ink on the inside front cover, the cookbook itself is lodged firmly in the hands of my mother. Well, it’s Christmas time, so I shaln’t steal it back. But I will transcribe the recipe.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Melt 4 tablespoons butter into a 10-12” skillet, and put the pan in the oven until the butter melts.
3. In a bowl, combine:
   1. 1/2 cup flour
   2. 1 pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, but Mom doesn’t use either
   3. 1/2 cup milk
   4. 2 eggs
4. Stir until flour is mixed in, but leave some lumps in the batter.
5. If you want, you can stir in some fruit, such as blueberries or chopped apples.
6. When the butter has melted, pour the batter into the pan.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
8. Take the pan out, and sprinkle on 3 teaspoons sugar.
9. Bake for another 5 minutes.
10. Squeeze the juice out of one lemon, take the pancake out of the oven, and pour the lemon juice over the top.

This serves in theory four people, but Mom uses three times the above amounts to cook for four, so you be the judge. I think you’re going to want more than 1 wedge per person, myself.

Mom adds, reading over my shoulder, “Did you say it was best made in a cast iron frying pan? Because I think that’s important.”

Speaking of maps, holy shit. That’s a lot of map links. (Via Making Light.)

Chris Corrigan’s Maps and Territories is a translucently simple blog. Each entry contains a map, along with a bit of literature that relates to the map. Evocative and, for a map lover like me, irresistable.

I have a strict quota on links to Flash animations. This year, the coveted slot goes to The Elements, by Tom Lehrer. (Via Rick Jones.)

Because when it comes to terrifying home exercise marketing material, nothing beats the Gazelle Power Plus. I don’t even know where to start with that picture, other than observing that it caused me to break my self-imposed restrictions on low humor.

“You’ll believe a man can fly!”

If one feels so strongly about premature comments, perhaps one should write one’s blog offline and only push it live at 10 PM? Just a thought.

Also from Phil Carter, we have a blog dedicated to the DC sniper trial. It’s sponsored by the Virginian-Pilot. A little bit gawkerish, perhaps, but it’s news and there’s something to be said for opening up the courts.

In any case, it’s important for what it represents. Journalists have better access than the rest of us; it’s always nice to see them using blogs and the rapid update paradigm to bring us that news.