From the Back of the Box mailling list, I found this recipe for Apple Pumpkin Pie. I’m trying to be adventurous in foods and, though I didn’t used to like pumpkin pie as a kid, I think it's something that I’d like to give another chance.

I seem to be at the point where my taste buds are dying and some foods are tasting differently to me. So, I think I’ll be daring and have a slice of pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. At any rate, this Apple Pumpkin Pie recipe could be quite tasty, Thanksgiving or otherwise:

Prep: 15 min Cook: 60 min

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 cups Granny Smith apples, chopped and peeled
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Ground Cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

1. Combine sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl. With electric mixer, beat in pumpkin, egg, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Stir in apples gently with a spoon.
2. Pour mixture into pie crust. Cover edges with foil. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.
3. Combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix in softened butter using a fork. Sprinkle over pie. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes 8 servings

Nutritional Info Per Serving: Calories 340, Fat 12 g, Cholesterol 34 mg, Protein 4 g, Carbohydrates 54 g, Sodium 261 mg, Fiber 3 g

Via David Chess’ blog is this page featuring several long-exposure night photographs (around 16 seconds each). The lighting takes on a surreal quality and the results are almost creepy (yet fascinating). I think the second-from-the-top is my favorite.

According to a study at Duke University, the Atkins diet may be good for cholesterol:

After six months, participants on the Atkins diet had lost 31 pounds, had an 11 percent increase in HDL, the good cholesterol, and a 49 percent drop in tryglycerides. Step 1 dieters lost 20 pounds, showed no change in HDL, and their tryglycerides fell 22 percent. […]

I’m not on Atkins (my eating habits are most similar to The Zone), but this news was a bit surprising to me (a pleasant surprise, I suppose).

Update: Here’s another article on the Atkins diet study. This one focuses more on the teeth-gnashing that the study evoked from regular dietitians, while also noting that the study was financed in part by the Atkins Foundation.

A new study indicates that omega-3 fatty acids (from fish) may reduce the disk of heart disease.

“New trials have been reported that finally broke the camel’s back,” Harris says. “The last report showed that giving 0.85 grams of omega-3 fatty acids to people who survived heart attacks caused a 20 percent reduction in overall mortality over three-and-a-half years. One of the big contributors to that reduction was a 45 percent decrease in sudden cardiac deaths." […]

I had heard that fish oil could be healthy, but I had no idea of the extent.

As it’s a popular means of communications here at work, I’ve installed AIM. I’m reachable via AIM with Screen Name standardsfanatic or, as always, with 3812078 on ICQ.

In response to my post about Sirius Radio, Jon Chan asks “why did you pick sirius over xm?”. I was going to post a reply as a comment, but it got a bit long so I decided to post it here.

The choice was easy :).

Firstly, if I’m going to be paying for radio, the last thing I want is commercials interrupting my music. (XM has commercials while Sirius’ music channels are commercial-free)

Secondly, and most importantly, Clear Channel is a major investor in XM radio — and I want nothing to do with Clear Channel. In case you're not familiar with them, Clear Channel owns nearly 1,200 stations nationwide and they’ve virtually single-handedly responsible for ruining commercial radio.

In DFW alone, Clear Channel owns several stations. 92.5, 97.1, 102.1, 102.9 — all Clear Channel. Worst of all, Clear Channel supports pay-for-play where record companies simply bribe stations to play their songs. That’s one of the reasons why Britney Spears gets her songs plastered all over the airwaves but yet yourFavoriteLocalBand never gets heard.

Clear Channel is evil, and the less money I can send in their direction, the better.

Over the past two weekends, I’ve had my car audio reworked, including Sirius Radio. In all:

• Kenwood KDC-X859 head unit
• Kenwood KAC-X650D multichannel amplifier
• Kenwood KDC-CD89 10-disc changer
• MB Quart RSB-214 4” component loudspeakers (front)
• MB Quart DTC 169 6x9” loudspeakers (rear)
• Dual MB Quart PWD 254 10” woofers (enclosed in the trunk)
• And, of course, an alarm system to protect all of it (Clifford Intelligaurd 7000)

Though I’ve only had it for a day and a half, I’m very pleased with it so far. Of all the features, I’ve been most excited about Sirius Radio. For those not aware, Sirius Radio offers 100 radio channels, delivered by satellite, including 60 commercial-free music channels.

There’re all kinds of genres including classic rock, electronica, jazz, and decade-based channels such as 70s and 80s. In particular interest to me, there’s also a Metal channel. Initially, I didn’t have my hopes up, as their description made it seem a bit lame (Korn? bleh.).

However, in the past day-and-a-half I’ve already heard Hammerfall, Dark Tranquillity, and Meshuggah (!). All right, so Meshuggah is listed in the channel’s description, but Hammerfall and Dark Tranquillity are two bands that I thought I’d never hear other than on CD.

Sirius Radio’s tagline says “You’ll never want to leave your car”, and it’s true. I’m actually contemplating whether there might more longer and more scenic routes I could take to work (HHOS).

As mentioned on DealNews, DealExpress has the Palm V Portable Keyboard for $9. If you still have an ancient Palm V (like I do), you’re not going to find a much better price on the Palm Portable Keyboard.

Via the World Wide Words newsletter is this piece on clichés written by Roger Whitehead as part of a style guide for British civil servants. I would have provided an excerpt with a link to the full piece via the mailing list’s archives, but I couldn’t find any archives. Nonetheless, I rather enjoyed this well-worded parody:

“Although part and parcel of the warp and weft of the language of the man on the Clapham omnibus, clichés should be conspicuous by their absence. As and when you get down to the wire, rolling out a whole raft of tattered and torn expressions that have seen better days is going to have all the impact of a wet weekend in Wigan. Another downside, one that goes without saying, is that if you deploy clichés like they’re going out of fashion, especially on an ongoing basis, the message in whatever you write will to all intents and purposes be rendered null and void. Also, you'll end up looking wet behind the ears and with a mountain to climb, possibly with egg on your face, having let a golden opportunity go by like ships in the night. You need trials and tribulations like these like a hole in the head.

“First and foremost, the bottom line is that the difference between good and bad writing has to be like chalk and cheese — it’s a whole new ballgame. Bear in mind, though, that the way you seamlessly set out your stall is not a question of rules and regulations, more of custom and practice. If you are to write like an angel, your purple prose has to be to die for. It has to be cutting edge enough to establish an abiding presence in the hearts and minds not just of the serried ranks of the powers that be, including the great and the good and the movers and shakers, but with all and sundry at the grass roots level. Reading it has to be a real defining moment for people of every rank and station, as though you were talking to them one-on-one even though they may be spread far and wide. It’s got to make them hot to trot and ready to rumble and, even as we speak, give them a compelling reason to change.

“Last but not least, the fact of the matter is that details count. No matter how finely honed your style may or may not be, you have to make certain beyond peradventure that your spelling is spot on, your punctuation squeaky clean and your grammar above reproach. To err is human but you still need to make as certain as day that your mistakes are few and far between.

There, that’s done and dusted: I rest my case.”

From the Politech mailing list, random traffic stops begin in Michigan:

Federal agents will begin randomly stopping traffic today, looking for illegal immigrants, terrorists and drug or weapon smugglers.

Cars will be stopped at unannounced, rotating checkpoints within Michigan, including metro Detroit. U.S. Border Patrol agents at the checkpoints will ask passengers their citizenship and will have leeway to ask a host of follow-up questions. […]

Whoah, remind me not to visit Michigan.