Mulligan stew goes by many names: irish stew, hotch-potch, hot pot, burgoo.  This recipe is believed to have first originated in the early 20th century in hobo camps.  The beauty of this recipe is that its not so much a recipe as it is a guideline.  If you’ve ever heard the story of stone soup, mulligan stew is the epitome of this idea.  The idea was that a bunch of hobos would get together and add whatever they could scrounge or scavenge together in a pot and cook it.

How to Make Mulligan Stew – The Armageddon Blog

If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you will have noticed that they are all focused around surviving in the wilderness.  There are plenty of websites that you can read with this type of article.  How to survive in the woods, how to live without the use of modern society, and other general survivalist topics.  That isn’t what I’m focusing on here.  I think this information is vital, but what I’m trying to provide is information on how to survive in a doomsday scenario.

Armageddon Blog? What’s so special about that? – The Armageddon Blog

For those that don’t know, I’ve been applying for jobs like mad for about 6 months now.  I’ve had some bites, and I’ve even gotten some interviews.  But, as I realized last night, it’s wrecking my ability to accomplish anything.  This self-realization (and a discussion with my girlfriend) has helped me conclude that I need to stop living in anticipation of “the next step” and try to make the most out of right now.

1. It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
2. Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-lot
3. Rappers Delight by The Sugarhill Gang
4. Wild Thing by Tone Loc
5. Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill
6. Jump by Kriss Kross
7. You be Illin’ by Run DMC
8. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough by Michael Jackson
9. I Need Love by LL Cool J
10. Tootsie Roll by 69 Boyz
11. It’s Tricky by Run DMC
12. Check Yo Self by Ice Cube
13. Intergalactic by The Beastie Boys
14. Rump Shaker by Wreckx-N-Effect
15. My Prerogative by New Edition
16. Do Me! by Bell Biv DeVoe
17. So What’cha Want by the Beastie Boys
18. Beat It by Michael Jackson
19. Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe
20. Now That We Found Love by Heavy D & The Boyz

In an end of the world/limited supplies situation, it can be a benefit to know how to make a torch.  A torch may be used as a long-lasting light source or a small heat source.  In an environment without electricity, a torch is an easy way to light an area.

You can read the full article at http://thearmageddonblog.com/how-to-make-a-torch/

I feel pretty strongly about copyright.  For me it started because of “free” software.  I’m cheap and I don’t like to pay for things if I don’t have to and I was always happy to try out a free piece of software (and open to figuring out how to use a not-so-free piece of software too).  This lead me to find open source software, which at first just meant “open source = free” to me.  As my understanding of the open source movement grew, so did my opinion on copyright.

You can read the rest at http://whatstherumpuspodcast.com/2010/06/30/open-source-ftw/

I recently discovered the website Ramenbox (http://www.ramenbox.com/), which is a site that sells packages of premium ramen.  This isn’t the ramen you bought in college to last until next payday (don’t deny it, you know you did it).  Compared to this stuff, that ramen is like boiling snot in saline solution and then eating it.  The interesting thing about Ramenbox is their sales model.  Instead of charging you per item, they charge you for the box and then allow you to fill the box with whatever types of ramen you  want.  You can get a regular box for $20 that has 20 slots (some items take more than 1 slot), or a large box for $35 that has 40 slots (basically 2 regular boxes).  If you’re new to the world of premium ramen, they also offer a variety pack, which is basically a regular box that is prefilled.  I looked over the site for a while trying to convince myself not to spend any money there, but it didn’t work.  I bought a large box with essentially every type of ramen the site had available.  I’ve been looking forward to receiving this since I purchased it last week and it finally came in today.

One thing that had been mentioned on the site (but that I’d forgotten about) was that they send along some “extras”.  These extras include several pairs of chop sticks and a few packets of chili sauce (and a sticker!).  Everything one needs to complete their ramen eating experience!  Stay tuned for some noodle slurping goodness (and maybe some reviews).

Chad started designing what he calls Project Jarvis a little over a year ago and it is forming into exactly what I set out to do a decade go.  In some cases it surpasses anything I had imagined being able to do at that time.  Essentially what he did was put together some code on a Mac Mini that is on IM, Twitter, email, etc. waiting for a command to be issued by Chad to which it will respond accordingly.  He can ask it the weather where he’s at or anywhere else, the time, what’s in his Netflix queue, he can set alarms, adjust the lighting in his house, have it email people for him, and the list goes on.  Its a very novel idea and it has inspired me to create Cortana, my very own “Digital Lifa Assistant” (a term coined by Chad in regards to his project).

A picture of Cortana from Halo 3

The name Jarvis comes from the AI construct designed by Tony Stark from the Iron Man movie (which is derived from the real life butler of Tony Stark in the comic books), so I figured my project needed to be equally aptly named.  I settled on the lovely and loquacious Cortana from the Halo video game series.  I still haven’t settled on her capabilities yet (I do have a few in mind), but that isn’t a very high priority just yet since I’m working on setting up the underlying framework before I proceed with any true functionality.  Cortana will be built in C++, not so much because I think its the best language for it (though if I come up with anything crazy for her to do it may work out that way), but instead because I wanted to brush up on my C++ skills and figured this would be a good test of my ability.

So far Cortana can tell me the current time but only in Eastern Standard Time, and I’m working on setting it up so she can track my location via Google Latitude.  I haven’t hooked her into any communication services yet, but I intend to have her talk via Twitter, Jabber, IRC, email, and eventually (possibly maybe) Skype.

One of the things I’d ultimately like to do is manage my Facebook account.  What I mean to say is, I get annoyed by the group invites and goofy application requests and the event invitations for events that take place too far away from me, I have no interest in attending, or both, for me to go to.  I’d love to be able to give Cortana the decision making process to reject all group and application requests outright, and then notify me of certain events, allowing me to decide on the spot whether I’ll be attending or not.

For more information on this project keep an eye here, or if you can’t stand the suspense – contact me!

Picture taken from http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/PADD

One of the web comics I read recently compared the iPad to the PADD (from Star Trek).  They point out that while, in form, the iPad moves closer and closer to the ideal that is the PADD, in function it is moving in the opposite direction.  For those of you who don’t know what the PADD is, it is essentially a touch screen tablet, no larger than a sheet of paper, that is an extended interface for the ship’s computer.  No matter where you are in the ship, this thing works as a full blown computer.  Put in terms of modern computing, it is a thin client that connects wirelessly to its terminal server.  I hadn’t really thought about the iPad from this perspective before, but it makes sense.  An Apple Tablet has been rumored for years, and when they finally come out with one, its basically an iPhone with a larger screen.  In my opinion, what this is doing to personal computing is dumbing it down.  While I understand that this is supposed to make computing and using the Internet more accessible for those who don’t already, is it necessary to make a device that can’t be used outside a very narrow band of scenarios tightly controlled by Apple?  Apple could have done such great things with this and just fell short.  My grand idea can be considered an extension of “target” mode in OSX.  With nearly every Mac, you can boot it into a mode where it acts as an external HD for another Mac called target mode.  Why not make an iPad target mode, where you boot your iPad up and it is just an extension of another computer on your network?  That way you can use a more powerful computer to do things, but with the mobility of the iPad.