Monthly Archives: August 2009

Catharsis Is Not Enough

  • Reading time:2 mins read

by [name redacted]

Originally published in, I believe, the October issue of Play Magazine.

A new study of gamer health, conducted by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory and Andrews Universities and published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, observes a correlation between extensive videogame use, obesity, and depression.

The expectation going in was that gamers would tend to have a higher body mass index, and “a greater number of poor mental health days” than non-gamers; after studying 552 adults in and around Seattle, that assumption looks pretty much true.

Tea Bread

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Do this.

3 cups flour, 1 cup warm water, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/8 cup oil, about 2-1/4 tsp yeast (one packet, if that’s your style), dash of salt, spritz of molasses.

Dissolve the sugar in the water, and add the yeast. Let it bloom and fizz, then mix in the salt and oil. After that, add one cup of flour at a time until you’ve got a nice clump of bread dough. Then proceed as usual: get out a floured board, knead until it’s kneaded, stick it in an oiled bowl with a cloth for an hour. Then pull it out and beat it up some more (it’s got a great, fleshy texture by now), shape it into a rough rectangle, and flump it into an oiled bread pan. Try to make sure any folds are hidden underneath. Let that sit until it has risen impressively enough above the rim, use a knife to cut a slit down the center, drizzle a miserly line of molasses down the cut, and stick it in a 350-degree oven for half an hour.

Serve toasted, with boysenberry jam.

Not complex, but it’s a winner!

The Numbers Game

  • Reading time:1 mins read

My problem with math is always the arithmetic. I don’t have the short-term memory for it. I have the calculator here, and I think, “one and a quarter.” By the time that message gets to my fingers it has morphed to “one and a half.” Which in this case makes six inches of difference.