sundries

[rm]

I am home, but Patty doesn't get home until the weekend-ish, so all is not quite right with the world yet.

There will be some interesting, accessible to the public, outgrowth of the conference stuff available soon. Soon, of course, as regards academic timelines, which I find to be geologically slow. More about that from my own perspective later, but for now, soon there will be stuff for you, also I will still post my notes.

Also need to write about the Martin Carthy gig.

I have to say, Virgin Atlantic handled the gluten-free meal requests MUCH better than Delta. I did get a roll yesterday that contained "gluten-free wheat starch" that I was too scared to eat, because gluten-attack on an airplane? NO WAY IN HELL DO I WANT THAT EXPERIENCE. Do any of the other celiacs reading this have any insight into "gluten-free wheat starch"? Is it derived from clean oats (which I can't eat anyway) or is it some other bizarreo process?

Thank you to everyone who posted auction items to graduate_maria while I was away. I'll try to check up on and update tags and stuff tonight, and bidding will open in a few days. People who have asked me to post items for them or host pictures, I will also try to get that in order tonight. Sorry for the delay, things have been overwhelming.

George Steinbrener has died.

I cannot believe all this drama about the possibility of a mosque near the WTC site is still ongoing.

Oh, this kid again. Teen serial thief arrested.

Paperwork fuckery is preventing a team of lacross players from the Iriquois Confederacy traveling to an international competition in Manchester because the UK gov't is worried the US won't allow them back into the country with their tribal passports. The US won't guarantee that they will. WTF?

The Son of Sam, his image makeover and a bunch of evangelical Christians.

Geese removed (via death) from Prospect Park in response to flight that ditched into Hudson a year and a half ago. 1. Ugh. 2. You know the thing with birds? They'll make more. Killing park geese isn't going to stop them from flying into airplanes.

The Advocate has starting putting up the Day in Gay America photos.

Big DADT trial begins today, thanks to the Log Cabin Republicans.

That damn writing meme going around. It told me it thought "Because Men Once Went West" is written like Stephen King. That would be no.

Since I can tell it's going to be that type of morning, and I've other stuff to do: Yes, I've seen the purported Torchwood casting sheet; no, I don't have anything to say about it at this time.

Comments

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

Not a celiac but I am wondering if you and enzymically treat wheat to break down the gluten?

[dr-is-in.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the casting call sheet thats gone out for Torchwood? Tosh and Owen 2.0 and a pedophile.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Wow, if this is real, I am morbidly impressed by RTD's ongoing effort to suck out all the fun from Torchwood.

[dr-is-in.livejournal.com]

I'm just a posting fool this morning...lol....

About the gluten-free wheat starch....looked it up. Its listed as "questionable" for celiacs.

http://www.csaceliacs.org/gluten_grains.php#W

WHEAT starch: By-product of WHEAT processing in which the carbohydrates (starch) are separated from the gluten (protein) in wheat flour by means of a complex process of washing, agitating, sieving, centrifugation and use of hydrocyclone, then drying. Sometimes added to food items during processing to thicken and stabilize. WHEAT starch is not considered a risk-free choice; gluten content of WHEAT starch varies greatly. Both the Codex Alimentarious and the proposed FDA definitions for "gluten-free" allow the use of WHEAT starch and other ingredients "specially processed to remove gluten" in foods labeled "gluten-free" so long as the gluten level does not exceed 20 parts per million in total based on the food as sold or distributed to the consumer.

[atrophying]

I was about to post the same thing.

That said, "gluten-free wheat starch?" My knee jerk reaction is that I don't trust any company to actually get that process right, but apparently there's been a couple of small studies that say that a majority of celiacs can tolerate it just fine. I remain skeptical.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12622768
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10192194
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15191509

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

Speaking of gluten-free things, I have recently purchased a bottle of body wash that proclaims it is gluten-free. Is that really necessary?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yes. Many celiacs have skin-reaction to wheat contact. Additionally, trace amounts of gluten can remain on the hands and be ingested or get into the mouth during shampooing. Ingesting gluten doesn't just cause immediate, unpleasant digestive tract reactions but any amount ingested increases the odds of a celiac developing bowel cancer, epilepsy or a number of other diseases. All gluten is bad.

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

You made me google the Torchwood USA casting sheet, and now my face is stuck like this:

O.O

...surely he's taking the piss? He TOTALLY sounds like he's taking the piss. If not - that's quite ghastly, if not.

(I find myself unequal to the task of commenting upon the mosque or passport situations without moving into Hulk Smash mode.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's fake, I just don't feel like being the Internet epicenter on that fact.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Glad you're back with minimal travel misery. IMO Heathrow is only in the two-thirds horrible if you don't have to go through customs/immigration, but one of the most horrible in Europe if you're not an EU national or citizen. (I passed out in their passport line once from lack of oxygen and nearly got interrogated.)

I was just reading the Economist article on wheat rust and wondering whether celiacs were feeling a little ironic about wheat endangerment.

I look forward to the NAN vs. Homeland Security arguments, and hope like hell that the team gets to go play in good time. Normally I don't mess with the passport office people, but I am also a NAN partisan.

Goose deterrent is becoming a big business, and Canadas are a serious pest problem. I personally think they should get turned into food, but I have no idea if they are safe to eat. They're particularly drawn to grassy areas and water, which is an awful lot of airports, and they're big and fat. The darn birds have stopped migrating and settled into being full-time grass-eating hazards to indigenous wildlife as well as airplanes, and with a lack of predators of anything their size in most settled places, something's got to get done. (And anyone who thinks they're cute has never been attacked by a goose.)

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

anyone who thinks they're cute has never been attacked by a goose

Can offer painful testimony here. My uncle owned a pair of Canada geese he called Mr & Mrs Vicious. Ne'er were fowl more aptly named.

[natf.livejournal.com]

I have eaten Canada Goose. A butchers near Rye, UK that does the best free range meat on the planet (IMO) had some. It is like tough game bird (e.g. pheasant) but quite yummy (and safe, of course).

[weirdquark]

We live on a lake which has a small flock of Canadian geese that the neighborhood association brought in with clipped wings, and another small flock of Canadian geese that showed up on their own and stay because people feed them (along with some ducks and a swan.)

Most of them are nervous enough around humans that they'll back off when they see you coming, but there's this one goose which we refer to as "The Goose That Hates The Earth" because it obviously does. This goose hisses at people, it hisses at the other geese, it hisses at the swan, which is bigger that it is and can kick its angry little goose butt. And you would think, okay, geese will fight over food and chase each other away to get at food, but this goose will hiss at you when you're feeding it, chase all of the other geese away, and then NOT EAT THE FOOD.

When I went to the last neighborhood meeting, someone suggested that we have a goose cook-off; the menfolk'll go hunting and then the womenfolk'll cook 'em. They were joking, but we may decide to go through with it eventually.

[sanat.livejournal.com]

You know I hadn't thought of it, but that makes a lot of sense, about changes wrought by human habitation affecting goose population. I just found out that poison ivy is more rampant than it ought to be for similar reasons.

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

Maybe someone knows, but does the US ever guarantee citizens will be able to enter the country? I thought not, but I couldn't turn up anything on google (only stuff about de facto refusals via the no fly list). Of course, if that were the case, the State Department could just say that, rather than mumbling about a rule change.

There's a book called Airport about JFK that has some stuff about bird control, but I've forgotten most of the details. But basically they end up killing birds because there isn't an across the board solution, including killing the birds.

Does the gluten free meal bear a suspicious resemblance to, say, the kosher meal or the vegetarian meal? I'm always amused that there are three or four vegetarian/vegan meal options on the website, but, in reality, there's only the one. (Of late, it seems that the Asian vegetarian meal, theoretically not available on flights between the US and Europe, was made vegan if it wasn't already and they've killed all the birds with one stone. On the plus side, I'd rather have the Asian meal.)

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

That's fucked up about that lacrosse team. And those geese. I have the angry now. >:|

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

While trying to read every webcomic ever, I stumbled across this strip and thought I would share. It has all the elements of absurdity that make it seem like a real TV show on ABC or something. Right down to that annoying phrase that probably sets off a laugh track.

An American Time Lord in Walmart

Also need to write about the Martin Carthy gig.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

You need to write about the Martin Carthy gig.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

That damn writing meme going around. It told me it thought "Because Men Once Went West" is written like Stephen King. That would be no.

houseboatonstyx did an experiment and posted the results (http://houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com/95712.html) over in his own journal, which I will now repeat for you here:

Jane Austen writes like Jane Austen
Henry James writes like Jane Austen
Nabokov writes like Nabokov
Norman Maclean writes like Defoe
Defoe writes like Shakespeare
Howard Kurtz writes like Stephen King (well, that could have been the content)
Sagan writes like Poe
Poe writes like Doyle
Doyle writes like Doyle

[rm.livejournal.com]

That is AWESOME.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I can help with the image hosting. Email me direct-like.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've got it, I just haven't the fuck done it yet. Thanks though!

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Re the mosque bit, I'm unsure how to feel about it. I read a comment at CNN that stated it was like opening a nuclear warfare research facility in Hiroshima, and that struck me as making a little sense. It just seems in poor taste.

I feel for the Islamic moderates who claim to want to show that the extremists do not represent all of Islam, and I appreciate that it's hard to represent Islam sanely while members are running around with "Death to America" signs. Ok, so build it, but not there.

The idea of building a "War Memorial" there sounded weird to me at first , but then it was an act of war. sometimes I forget that in the wash of how my life was thrown under the bus by things related to the attack. If it had not happened I would have never been forced to leave NYC and lose a somewhat good life I had built there, along with my personal losses. I am very angry at this, and for the most part my friends who practice Islam understand and respect that and I in turn respect and understand that they are not personally responsible, though the topic is a little dicey for all involved.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The only purpose of nuclear war is to commit war. The only purpose of Islam is a connection to a the diving and a community around such, regardless of what some criminals have done in its name.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Objectivists about the possible mosque. Short version: They don't like Islam, they're concerned about terrorism, but they're more concerned about arbitrary restrictions on the use of property-- mosque should be allowed.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

That's a good point that I had not considered. Arbitrary restrictions could be a slippery slope.

[riverrocks.livejournal.com]

gluten-free wheat starch reminds me of the time i was assured that additional food arrangements didn't need to be made for me because the bread bowl they were serving the soup in was made with white flour and thus contained no wheat.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaagh. Aaaaaaagh. Aaaaaaaaagh. Aaaaaaaaagh.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

*perks up*

Martin Carthy, you say?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I saw him play in London on Sunday night, yeah.

[bare-bear.livejournal.com]

academic timelines, which I find to be geologically slow

Imagine being an academic in geology! :D

Welcome home!