Merlin Mann merlinmann

Sous Vide Cooking Times

Good?	FOOD	TIME	TEMP	COMMENT
CANON!	pork chops, MED	1:30	143°
CANON!	prime rib roast, MR	6:00	129.5	Works every time!
CANON!	pork chops SUPER thick	1:45	142°	solid MR+
YES	ribeye, frozen, R	1:30	126°	Awesome at low temp
YES	thick pork chops, MR	1:30	142°	SO good
XXX	filet mignon, MR	1:30	130°	XX

All the rage was the Scarlet Johansson-branded protective helmet. It's a colorful helmet, it is a planter with 11 specific draining holes, and it's an important crucible for ideas.

We met at a media event held at a junior high. Scarlet was polite, but perfunctory.

Then there was a very small hotel room with glass walls and doors. Stocked with Herbal Bourbons — ice machine didn't work. Scarlet said "No way am I drinking that shit." She was serious and smart. Might be Las Vegas.

Things That Need a Name

The Chicken Problem
The Photoshop Problem
- cf. Unix
- How do you know enough to know which five commands are twenty times more important than all the others?
- banner vs. cd
- "Posterize" vs. "Unsharp Mask"
The Kawaii Marriott Reaction

PET NAMES

🐑💩
Sprinkle
Noodles
Come Here!
Pancake (dog)
Mittens
Crackers
Scraps (dog)

When I…	…my intentionality is to…	…and not …	…so I will.
take a walk	look for the chimneys	not get absorbed in my usual bummer thoughts	gently incline myself back to the chimneys
foo	bar	baz	bat

Usage I Dislike

An Epicenter of Wordsmithing…for the Enterprise.

Words: Ugly, Dumb, or Overpriced

Better

Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.

These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.

Each, in its own way, contributes to the imperative that we constantly expand our portfolio of shallow but strongly-held opinions about nearly everything. Then we're supposed to post something about it. Somewhere.

From businesses we've never heard of, to countries we've never visited, to infants who've had the random misfortune to be born into a family that's on TV -- it's all grist for obvious jokes and shortsighted commentary that, for at least a few minutes, helps both the maker and the consumer feel a little less bored, a little less vulnerable, and a little less disconnected. For a minute, anyway, it makes us feel more alive. Does me, anyway.

The Harry Potter Trick

Here's a fast trick to knowing ages, time, and order. JK makes it super-simple for us:

Harry's age, the school year, the chronological year, the book number, and the movie number each end with the digit "1," then just increment up.

Book & Movie Number	Chron. Year	HP Age	Book	Movie Year	Pp.[^1]
1	1991	11	Stone	2001	233
2	1992	12	Chamber	2002	251

PASTA FOR MODERN MEN

“Pasta.” The Modern Man's Guide to Life, by Denis Boyles et al., Harper & Row, 1987, pp. 450–451.

How to cook pasta: Salted water boils faster, so put a teaspoonful of salt in a gallon or so of water and bring it to a rolling boil. At this point, you can add a little olive oil to the water if you want. It seems to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Break the spaghetti in half and let it fall gradually out of your hand and into the water. Try to allow the sticks to fall horizontally, and not in a big, lopsided pile. Give the water a stir and let it boil uncovered until it's cooked.

When's that? When it sticks to the wall it's done, at which time you pour the pasta into a colander, rinse it very briefly with cold water to stop the cooking process and return it to the pot.

Five Good Pasta Dishes:

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