And you are here why?

President Obama just announced that Mount McKinley was going to be "renamed" Denali. Why the quotes around renamed ? Well, it turns out that the whole Denali / McKinley thing has been controversial for quite a while. OK, to be really precise, its been controversial in (some parts) of Ohio where McKinley is from ( Tod from Ordinary Gentlemen explains this in gory detail). See, the thing is, everybody called the mountain Denali right up to the 1890s, when, as usual, politics intervened.  As part of the "Gold vs Silver" battle of the 1890s (the whole " crucify mankind on a cross of gold " bit by William Jennings Bryan), Denali was renamed McKinley to stick it to William Jennings Bryan, and only to do so. No other reason (Bryan's opponent in these wars? McKinley...)   In 1897 an Alaska-based gold miner named William Dickey penned an opinion piece for the New York Sun, saying that the federal government should rename Densmore to Mt. McKinley, a...

The key here is the combination of peanuts, sriracha, and mint - its stellar, and works wonders (btw, a peanut-butter / sriracha / mint sandwich is awesome ) Anyhow, get yourself 1 lb of Butternut Squash , already peeled and sliced into 1" chunks.  How? Either do it yourself, of if you're lucky, get it already in shape from the grocery :-) Put it in a large bowl, and drizzle with 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground pepper 2 tbsp olive oil   Mix this all up till the squash is well coated. Place the squash in a baking pan, and roast in an oven at 350°F for 30 minutes.  You know they're done when a fork penetrates easily, and the top is slightly (or more!) caramelized. Once done, remove the squash, and replace with 1 dozen cherry tomatoes (about 1" in size).  Toss these with 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp olive oil and roast at 350°F for 15 minutes.  The timing may vary - you want them to start sizzling/popping - take them out after the first 3 or 4 have popped (o...

In a medium-sized bowl, put the following 1 large tomato diced into 1/2" chunks 10 taggiasca olives cut in halves 1/2 medium jalapeno diced fine  1/2 cup sweet corn (i just defrost the frozen stuff. Works wonderfully well) 1/2 lemon - juice thereof Drain 1 can of chickpeas, and rinse the heck out of the beans to get rid of the "canned" taste. Mix it in to the above mis en place , and add salt to taste .  In a small sauce-pan (or ladle, or some such), add 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp cumin seeds 1/4 tsp ajwain seeds (Indian-food alert. Its also called bishop's weed seed , but dunno where else you can possibly get it) and heat on high till the seeds just start crackling.  (Yeah, this is kinda like what we call "voggarne" in south india) Add this to theabove, and mix well. Place a handful of baby spinach each into 4 bowls.   Divide the above mix on top of the spinach. Top with pearl mozzarella (or, if you can't get that, fresh mozar...

After taking over Capitalism, the Two Cows meme has its eyes set on Corporations, and the results are pretty classic. Some below, and a long (and ongoing) list at Bored Panda

Get yourself 1 lb of Butternut Squash , already peeled and sliced into 1" chunks.  How? Either do it yourself, of if you're lucky, get it already in shape from the grocery :-) Put it in a large bowl, and drizzle with 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground pepper 2 tbsp olive oil   Mix this all up till the squash is well coated. Place the squash in a baking pan, and roast in an oven at 350°F for 30 minutes While the squash is roasting do the mis en place thing, consisting of 1 large tomato diced into 1/2" chunks 20 taggiasca olives cut in halves 1/2 medium jalapeno diced fine large handful of basil shredded Drain 1 can of chickpeas, and rinse the heck out of the beans to get rid of the "canned" taste. Mix in the above mis en place , and add salt to taste .  In a small sauce-pan (or ladle, or some such), add 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp nigella seeds and heat on high till the seeds start crackling.  (Yeah, this is kinda like what we call "voggarn...

TL;DR --> Frequency and service duration disproportionately effect the value of mass transit, and cuts in them have tremendous network effects making the transit much less valuable .  Think of it this way, if you have to wait an hour for the next train, just take the car. If you can't get back by train, just take the car. Making it worse, if you make do during the week, but can't take the train on weekends, you'll definitely buy a car, and then you'll always have a reason to just take the car in the morning... All this from  an excellent article by Jarret Walker Frequency has three independent benefits for the customer, which helps to explain why high frequency is so critical to sustained high ridership: It reduces waiting, which is everyone’s least favorite part of a trip.  (No, a smartphone that tells you when the bus comes doesn’t solve the problem of waiting; we are still talking about time when you’re not where you want to be.)  The basic se...

This, apparently, happened in Russia somewhere, thus making it a classic example of a Russian Reversal :-)