Rubber-Suit Monsters Fade. Tiny Tokyos Relax.

Rubber-Suit Monsters Fade. Tiny Tokyos Relax.

“Ultraman Ginga” is a rarity, made without digital graphics. More Photos »
By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: September 1, 2013

CHOFU, Japan — Daisuke Terai plays one of the best-known characters in the history of science fiction, but few fans have ever seen the actor’s face. That is because Mr. Terai puts on a bright silver and red rubber suit before stepping onto a set made of miniature trees and buildings to do battle as the cosmic superhero Ultraman. Moar

Behind the Scenes of 'Ultraman Ginga'

Love for Labor Lost

Love for Labor Lost
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 1, 2013

It wasn’t always about the hot dogs. Originally, believe it or not, Labor Day actually had something to do with showing respect for labor. Moar

Land o' the Free! -- The Hemisphere Project

Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.’s
By SCOTT SHANE and COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: September 1, 2013

For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls — parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency’s hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. Moar

My tweets

• Sun, 17:06: RT @GrandOldParody1: How many Republicans would be upset if the Dixie Chicks came out against Obama's Syria decision? My guess is none.
• Sun, 17:08: RT @TheHugoAwards: Hugo Awards Ceremony Tonight http://t.co/oCjYAMUaPM
• Sun, 19:30: RT @TheHugoAwards: Doors are open for the #HugoAwards ceremony
• Sun, 20:11: RT @JohnFugelsang: Last year I wanted to dress up as Obama's Jobs Bill for Halloween, so I never made it out of the House.
• Sun, 22:51: RT @tordotcom: Announcing the 2013 Hugo Award winners. A full list of nominees and winners: http://t.co/TczvKTg1af #HugoAwards
• Sun, 23:10: RT @TheHugoAwards: Please note that issues with live streaming feed were due to technical issues at the San Antonio end, not Ustream.
• Mon, 06:12: RT @dduane: "#DragonCon: The birth and growing pangs of a nerd pilgrimage": http://t.co/iauEojTEsJ
• Mon, 06:19: RT @rezendi: I had a really great time at Burning Man but it's hard to shake the sense that the event is not scaling well.
• Mon, 07:13: Rubber-Suit Monsters Fade. Tiny Tokyos Relax. http://t.co/JlpIedanIO
• Mon, 07:14: Love for Labor Lost http://t.co/pQL4cWBzEj

( Read more... )

Saturday - Farmer's Market

I made it Saturday to the farmer's market. I bought roma beans, mixed beans (green, purple, and waxed), radishes, dill, Japanese mustard, rocket, baby romaine, and one seedless black diamond watermelon (long since gone). I got a lot of it at an Asian (I think) stand that sells lettuce by the bunch for a dollar a bunch. They also had heaping trays of roma beans. For three bucks I got a big bag o' greens that I hope last the week.

I stemmed the mixed beans the other day, but just cooked them today in a big pot o' boiling water. The romas came out really tender, although I'd expected the bigger ones to be tough, so I sorted them when I took off the stems and put them in first. I was watching for the color to change, which apparently isn't as good an indicator as I thought.