Text 16469, 110 rader
Skriven 2008-11-16 11:06:08 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: CELSIUS 214  81116
==========================
 -=> Quoting Michael Loo to Glen Jamieson <=-

 GJ> What is good in a system which uses different portions of a dead
 GJ> king's anatomy as measurement standards?
 ML> Why is this different from some arcane multiple of some
 ML> wavelength of some energy emission, or some arbitrary
 ML> percentage of the circumference of the earth? Anyhow,

The wavelength of a monochromatic light is an exact standard which can
be replicated anywhere in the world, so aeroplane bits made in
Australia will fit perfectly onto other bits made in France.

 ML> generations past, who were arguably not brainier than we,
 ML> coped with the odd mix of duodecimal, octal, and so on
 ML> measurements without great difficulty.

Many isolated communities still use their own achaic units of
measurement, which is fine within their own borders, but when they try
to inter-act with other communities using different standards, troubles
occur, and their Mars landers crash.

 DS> It would cost average Joes millions of dollars, because the bastards
 DS> would round everything up.
 GJ> The way around that, which works, is to round totals to the nearest 5
 GJ> cents.  The cash register does it automagically.
 ML> I can see NCR or the Diebold Company getting a rake on
 ML> average of about a nickel on every transaction.

Perhaps you could buy the same cash registers as have been used in
Australia for many years - probably made in China or Malaysia.
 
 GJ> In the Philippines, when 1 centavo coins were being phased out of
 GJ> circulation, as the cost of aluminium to make them was greater than
 GJ> 1c, the banks still used them, giving them in change to customer who
 GJ> were changing foreign money.  On the counter, near the tellers, a
 GJ> charity collection box was placed, where the otherwise useless coins
 GJ> could be left and fed back to the bank in exchange for useful stuff. 

 ML> That's pretty silly. Why didn't people just hoard them until they
 ML> had a saleable quantity, then truck them to the used metal dealer?

That wouldn't fit in with the Filipino psyche.  The bank customers
preferred to display their generosity by ostentatiously tossing (almost
worthless) coins into the box, rather than taking the few coins home.

 GJ>   The local potters make olive
 GJ> bowls, which are shallow bowls, pear shaped in plan, with a division
 GJ> between the smaller end and the larger part, so that the two
 GJ> compartments are in the ratio 4:1.  Their application is immediately
 GJ> obvious, as olives are put in the larger section, and the stones put
 GJ> back in the small part.  In an olive-eating society, that solves the
 GJ> problem of what to do with your stones.

 ML> The Portuguinea restaurants here in the east have had them for
 ML> as long as I've frequented them, i.e., 35-40 years. By now, the
 ML> reason for the design has become obscure some places, with the
 ML> result that the big parts are filled with olives and the little
 ML> ones with pearl onions or something, the result being that you
 ML> have to eat onions that you may not want before being able to
 ML> eat the olives without causing a mess.

The alternative is to feed people pitted olives, which is often done
here, although I think there is a loss of flavour eating olives that
way. At present I am minus a couple of front teeth, which is a serious
disadvantage when attempting to eat olives.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
 
      Title: An Authentic Central Italian Cacciatore
 Categories: Italian, Rabbit, Chicken
      Yield: 4 servings
 
  1 1/2 kg Jointed poultry, rabbit or
           Any game
      2 tb Oil
      1 lg Onion, finely chopped
      1    Clove of garlic
    1/2 c  Dry white wine
      1 tb Fresh basil
      1 ts Sugar
  1 1/2 tb White wine vinegar
      1 cn Peeled plum tomatoes,
           Sieved
      3    Anchovy fillets
     60 g  Whole black olives (pitted
           If preferred)
      1 tb Fresh Italian parsley,
           Chopped
 
  Fry the meat in the oil until golden all over, and place the fried
  meat in an ovenproof dish. Pour off most of the pan juices, leaving a
  tablespoon or so. Add the finely-chopped onion and crushed garlic and
  cook gently until onion is transparent. Add the wine and the vinegar
  and boil to reduce by half. Add the sieved tomatoes, basil and sugar
  and cook a minute. Pour tomato mixture over meat and put into a
  moderate oven for an hour. Meanwhile, soak the anchovy fillets five
  minutes and drain. Remove meat from oven after cooking, and remove
  meat joints to the serving dish. Pour tomato mixture into saucepan,
  boil and add chopped anchovy and olives, plus chopped Italian
  parsley. Pour sauce over meat joints, then serve with chunks of bread.
  
  From: Wideangle
 
MMMMM
 

___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

--- FLAME v2.0/b
 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)