I don't know why the automotive industry didn't install turn signals on every vehicle they make. Whenever I get a vehicle inspected by the state they always check to see if my blinkers work, so how are they getting away with this??
I'm only assuming that they are factory options, of course. I mean, they must be since so many drivers aren't using them. You would have to be inconsiderate on a gallactic level to drive around without using them when they are right there next to your hand. Are people afraid that they will drop their cell phone if they signal while turning or something? Do we need to find a better place for the lever so it is easier for people?
I was driving with a friend in Dallas once and she was trying to merge onto the freeway. The traffic wouldn't let her in and she was going a little crazy with frustration. I told her that it might help if she used her signal so that people would know her intentions and she looked at me, quite seriously mind you, and said "We don't use our signals in Dallas." Wha?? So as a society it is ok and accepted that people are just going to cut in front of you or veer out of traffic without warning? Ok..... Now I know why traffic is so crazy in Dallas. Now I know why they have exit ramps on the left side of the freeway that just loop up and around only to dump you back on the same road but now in the right lane. You can't cut across 8 lanes of traffic without using your signals and since nobody uses them there they have to find other ways to get across the traffic.
Here is what I would like to do. I'd like to create bumper stickers that lower your insurance if you have one on your car. The bumper sticker would say something like "Use your freaking turn signals you jerk!" Nobody wearing a bumper sticker like that would survive two minutes if they weren't using their signals. You can't call out a behavior as being unacceptable and then proceed to follow the crowd in breaking the law. Better yet, here is one you can buy and use right now. All I'm asking is that people start using their signals. Is that too much?
Factory option turn signals DRIVE ME NUTS!!!
on Thursday, October 9, 2008The Science of Flavor
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008Have you ever wondered why certain things taste better than others? Take a cheeseburger for example. What makes a 
Burger King’s burger taste different than a Wendy’s burger? Sometimes it is in the ingredients, but seriously… how much different can you really make a burger. The ingredients are pretty much the same for all of them. Bread, meat, tomato, cheese, pickles, lettuce, and ketchup. Sure you can add bacon or mustard or some secret sauce and make it taste different, but if you took a burger from Wendy’s with the same junk on it as a burger from Burger King’s then my bet is that you would be able to easily tell which was which. So what are the differences?
The first thing I notice is the size of the ingredients. Wendy’s typically uses thicker buns and
often times thicker meat. They put more sauce on it and the lettuce is usually whole pieces instead of shredded. Those are significant differences to taste buds that thrive on quantity. See, the reason one tastes different from the other is because of the proportion of the ingredients and not necessarily the ingredients themselves. Proportion is where the science of flavor really lives.
I worked for this great little burger place growing up called the Soda Shoppe. I worked there after school for a little over a year. I started right before school got out my Junior year and I worked there till a couple weeks after I graduated and got the hell out of Dodge. Anyway, while I was there I was able to work every station in the place. I really liked working the front counter though. That was the station that got to make the shakes. Sometimes if it was really busy we would have someone up front taking orders and another person doing the drinks and working the drive through window. Either way, on slow days (which was expected any day where the weather wasn’t good or on Sundays) we would experiment with the food. Sometimes we would try to create a new sandwich and other times we would play with the shakes. I still remember the Camel Puke shake that we created… I’m sure it tasted just like the real thing.
On one particularly slow Sunday I started thinking about what life would be like if you had to drink all of your food through a straw. Would you have to swear off cheeseburgers, or was there a way to still eat them. There was only one way to find out. ;) I made one and threw it in the shake machine. I tasted it before I put it in there and it was delicious. When it came out it wasn’t. I don’t need to disgust you with the details, but my assumption that it would taste the same since all the ingredients are still the same was totally wrong. That was when I discovered that it wasn’t about the ingredients. It was about the proportion of those ingredients. When you equalize everything and get the same proportion in every bite it just doesn’t taste the same. The reason a cheeseburger tastes like it does is because of the amount of bread to meat to cheese to everything else. The reason a Burger King burger is different from a Wendy’s burger is because they are using different proportions. That thicker bun makes a difference. That lettuce changes things. The size and amount of the tomato and ketchup and pickles and everything makes a huge difference.
I remember that my dad told me once that the burgers I made didn’t taste the same as the ones that other people made at the Soda Shoppe. I couldn’t figure out why. I mean, I’m using the same ingredients and the same buns and everything. I thought about that and discovered that it was because I was putting things on a little differently. I would spiral the ketchup and mustard in from the outside instead of just zig zaging it across the meat. I put three pickles in a clover formation on the meat instead of just stacking them up on top of the lettuce. The reason that mine tasted different was because when you bit into it you got a different proportion of the ingredients. Odd how that works…
I’ll tell you a place that has proportion figured out and that is Blue Bell Creamery. If you haven’t
had Blue Bell ice cream then you haven’t lived. The stuff is beyond compare. My favorite flavor is Banana Split. I’ve tasted other ‘banana split’ flavor brands, but they don’t have it right. They are using banana flavored ice cream for one. Blech! Whoever heard of a banana split using banana flavored ice cream??? Sacrilege! The beauty of a banana split is the proportion of banana to ice cream to chocolate to whatever else. It isn’t something you can just blend up in a bucket. Similar to my cheeseburger experiment, if you blended up the ingredients of a banana split it would taste nothing like one. Blue Bell has captured the science of the flavor in a banana split and made it so when you spoon it out you actually get the right proportions. It is absolutely amazing! I’m probably only a fan because it has that unique flavor that you usually have to assemble yourself instead of buying in a bucket, but either way it is probably the best flavor ice cream I’ve ever had. MMMMMM!!!
Burger King’s burger taste different than a Wendy’s burger? Sometimes it is in the ingredients, but seriously… how much different can you really make a burger. The ingredients are pretty much the same for all of them. Bread, meat, tomato, cheese, pickles, lettuce, and ketchup. Sure you can add bacon or mustard or some secret sauce and make it taste different, but if you took a burger from Wendy’s with the same junk on it as a burger from Burger King’s then my bet is that you would be able to easily tell which was which. So what are the differences?The first thing I notice is the size of the ingredients. Wendy’s typically uses thicker buns and
often times thicker meat. They put more sauce on it and the lettuce is usually whole pieces instead of shredded. Those are significant differences to taste buds that thrive on quantity. See, the reason one tastes different from the other is because of the proportion of the ingredients and not necessarily the ingredients themselves. Proportion is where the science of flavor really lives.I worked for this great little burger place growing up called the Soda Shoppe. I worked there after school for a little over a year. I started right before school got out my Junior year and I worked there till a couple weeks after I graduated and got the hell out of Dodge. Anyway, while I was there I was able to work every station in the place. I really liked working the front counter though. That was the station that got to make the shakes. Sometimes if it was really busy we would have someone up front taking orders and another person doing the drinks and working the drive through window. Either way, on slow days (which was expected any day where the weather wasn’t good or on Sundays) we would experiment with the food. Sometimes we would try to create a new sandwich and other times we would play with the shakes. I still remember the Camel Puke shake that we created… I’m sure it tasted just like the real thing.
On one particularly slow Sunday I started thinking about what life would be like if you had to drink all of your food through a straw. Would you have to swear off cheeseburgers, or was there a way to still eat them. There was only one way to find out. ;) I made one and threw it in the shake machine. I tasted it before I put it in there and it was delicious. When it came out it wasn’t. I don’t need to disgust you with the details, but my assumption that it would taste the same since all the ingredients are still the same was totally wrong. That was when I discovered that it wasn’t about the ingredients. It was about the proportion of those ingredients. When you equalize everything and get the same proportion in every bite it just doesn’t taste the same. The reason a cheeseburger tastes like it does is because of the amount of bread to meat to cheese to everything else. The reason a Burger King burger is different from a Wendy’s burger is because they are using different proportions. That thicker bun makes a difference. That lettuce changes things. The size and amount of the tomato and ketchup and pickles and everything makes a huge difference.
I remember that my dad told me once that the burgers I made didn’t taste the same as the ones that other people made at the Soda Shoppe. I couldn’t figure out why. I mean, I’m using the same ingredients and the same buns and everything. I thought about that and discovered that it was because I was putting things on a little differently. I would spiral the ketchup and mustard in from the outside instead of just zig zaging it across the meat. I put three pickles in a clover formation on the meat instead of just stacking them up on top of the lettuce. The reason that mine tasted different was because when you bit into it you got a different proportion of the ingredients. Odd how that works…
I’ll tell you a place that has proportion figured out and that is Blue Bell Creamery. If you haven’t
had Blue Bell ice cream then you haven’t lived. The stuff is beyond compare. My favorite flavor is Banana Split. I’ve tasted other ‘banana split’ flavor brands, but they don’t have it right. They are using banana flavored ice cream for one. Blech! Whoever heard of a banana split using banana flavored ice cream??? Sacrilege! The beauty of a banana split is the proportion of banana to ice cream to chocolate to whatever else. It isn’t something you can just blend up in a bucket. Similar to my cheeseburger experiment, if you blended up the ingredients of a banana split it would taste nothing like one. Blue Bell has captured the science of the flavor in a banana split and made it so when you spoon it out you actually get the right proportions. It is absolutely amazing! I’m probably only a fan because it has that unique flavor that you usually have to assemble yourself instead of buying in a bucket, but either way it is probably the best flavor ice cream I’ve ever had. MMMMMM!!! Never believe anything you see...
on Monday, October 6, 2008You've heard that you shouldn't believe everything you read, right? Don't forget that you can't believe anything you see in photos either.
Case in point... It is fall and I love taking pictures of my kids in the leaves from the big tree in our front yard. This tree turns from green to yellow in about a two week time frame and all of the leaves are gone within three weeks from the time the first one fell. This creates some really pretty colors on my lawn and great photo opportunities. I've taken my kids' pictures in these leaves each fall since they were born. We moved here shortly before Erik turned 1 and I haven't missed a fall yet. The pictures I get in these leaves are some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of my kids.
Well, this year I had loaned my camera to my in-laws who had an event they were attending. So I had to borrow one from a neighbor on short notice and went right to work taking pictures. There is a particular time of day that I take all the pictures in and this causes them all to have similar qualities. Call it an OCD thing, but I have to have the pictures look the same in the backgrounds so they will work best in the collage I have planned someday in the future when I have a dozen or so of these pictures taken. I just think it will be cool to have a photographic record of them in the leaves. If we stay in this house forever (which I honestly wouldn't mind) then perhaps someday they will be able to bring their kids to take pictures in the leaves too. If I could have one wish then it would be that. Here are a few examples from years past.
Case in point... It is fall and I love taking pictures of my kids in the leaves from the big tree in our front yard. This tree turns from green to yellow in about a two week time frame and all of the leaves are gone within three weeks from the time the first one fell. This creates some really pretty colors on my lawn and great photo opportunities. I've taken my kids' pictures in these leaves each fall since they were born. We moved here shortly before Erik turned 1 and I haven't missed a fall yet. The pictures I get in these leaves are some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of my kids.
Well, this year I had loaned my camera to my in-laws who had an event they were attending. So I had to borrow one from a neighbor on short notice and went right to work taking pictures. There is a particular time of day that I take all the pictures in and this causes them all to have similar qualities. Call it an OCD thing, but I have to have the pictures look the same in the backgrounds so they will work best in the collage I have planned someday in the future when I have a dozen or so of these pictures taken. I just think it will be cool to have a photographic record of them in the leaves. If we stay in this house forever (which I honestly wouldn't mind) then perhaps someday they will be able to bring their kids to take pictures in the leaves too. If I could have one wish then it would be that. Here are a few examples from years past.
2004
2005
2006
2007
This year I tried to get all three kids in a picture, but Adrienne doesn't always like to smile and Parker didn't like the leaves and Erik was too distracted... The list of reasons that it wasn't working out perfectly goes on and on. So I figured I'd just get as many pictures as I could and then I'd create the perfect picture later.
The first attempt with all three kids didn't go very well. I couldn't get them to look at me and Parker certianly didn't like the leaves.
Yeah, not exactly what I had in mind. So I took the eyes off some other pictures and a face from Parker that I liked better and started playing around. I didn't really finish this picture because Jennifer had a better idea that turned out better. You get the idea of where it was going though.
Ok, so not bad, but they aren't smiling very big. I wanted a better smile on Adrienne's face for one, but I wouldn't mind all three of them looking happy. So I decided to take this picture...
...and add another little body in it. :) I kept the face enhancements on Parker and just cut the rest of the body out and slapped it on this picture. Not too shabby. I still need to finish the coloring on the lower part of Parker's face, but honestly... If you didn't know he wasn't supposed to be in that picture, could you tell that this was a photoshop job?
2008
So there is your reason not to trust anything that you see in photography. I won't say that it is exactly easy to do that kind of thing, but it certianly isn't hard. If you have the right tools and you know what you are doing then it is really quite simple. We'll have to have a discussion on the difference between 'easy' and 'simple' sometime in the future, but for now I just wanted to give you those examples and show off my cute little leaf bugs. :)
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