So You Wanna Be a Chef by Anthony Bourdain
I am frequently asked by aspiring chefs, dreamers young and old, attracted by the lure of slowly melting shallots and caramelizing pork belly, or delusions of Food Network stardom, if they should go to culinary school. I usually give a long, thoughtful, and qualified answer.
But the short answer is "no."
Let me save you some money. I was in the restaurant business for twenty-eight yearsamuch of that time as an employer. I am myself a graduate of the finest and most expensive culinary school in the country, the CIA, and am as well a frequent visitor and speaker at other culinary schools. Over the last nine years, I have met and heard from many culinary students on my travels, have watched them encounter triumphs and disappointments. I have seen the dream realized, anda more frequentlyaI have seen the dream die.
Posted: September 21st, 2010
at 11:56pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: grub,development
Comments: No comments
Revis Island covered in Irish Moss
For the record, I know my guys lost this one - and I’m well-aware that we might have provoked the Jets by saying we hated them (ahem Brady).A Butttt…. Have you ever seen somebody talk SO much trash and then get their ankles (or rather, their whole leg) broke.A Dude needs to learn to respect his elders.

And that’s what I call "old man strenf."
Posted: September 20th, 2010
at 10:48am by Black Ock
Tagged with football, moss, revis, revis island, patriots
Categories: myninjaplease,too good to be true,games,ninjas are everyehere
Comments: No comments
Who Got that Vocab?!
just-world phenomenon
The just-world phenomenon, also called the just-world theory, just-world fallacy, just-world effect, or just-world hypothesis, refers to the tendency for people to want to believe that the world is just so strongly that when they witness an otherwise inexplicable injustice they will rationalize it by searching for things that the victim might have done to deserve it. This deflects their anxiety, and lets them continue to believe the world is a just place, but often at the expense of blaming victims for things that were not, objectively, their fault.
Another theory entails the need to protect one’s own sense of invulnerability. This inspires people to believe that rape, for example, only happens to those who deserve or provoke the assault. This is a way of feeling safer. If the potential victim avoids the behaviors of the past victims then they themselves will remain safe and feel less vulnerable. (Wikipedia)
Posted: September 20th, 2010
at 8:42am by Black Ock
Tagged with just-world phenomenon
Categories: not ninja-worthy,who got that vocab?!,philosophy,ethics
Comments: No comments
How To Be Black Online
Following last week’s "How Black People Use Twitter"… this is a different take on the subject, a more visual take if you will.
Posted: September 20th, 2010
at 8:35am by Black Ock
Categories: #twitterisfothebirds
Comments: No comments
Muzak Video Sunday 9.19.10
Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence

La Coka Nostra - That’s Coke

House of Pain - Jump Around (Pete Rock Remix)

J.U.S.T.I.C.E. - DVNO

Run D.M.C. - Rockbox

Posted: September 19th, 2010
at 10:02am by Black Ock
Categories: muzak video sundays
Comments: No comments
The Veiling of Paris - Grafitti
Babelgum Metropolis exclusively presents Princess Hijab, a documentary following the artist bringing veils to the faces of Paris.
As the French Senate approve a ban on burqas, we profile the anonymous Parisian graffiti artist whose work ‘hijabizing’ adverts raises the question of why hiding a face behind a veil is considered to be more of a repressive act than hiding one behind airbrushing and media gloss. ##Link##
Posted: September 18th, 2010
at 8:26am by Black Ock
Categories: film,weaponry,contemporary
Comments: No comments
The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is an NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization studied in operations research and theoretical computer science. Given a list of cities and their pairwise distances, the task is to find a shortest possible tour that visits each city exactly once.
The problem was first formulated as a mathematical problem in 1930 and is one of the most intensively studied problems in optimization…
Posted: September 18th, 2010
at 8:20am by Black Ock
Categories: business,the column
Comments: No comments
Seabreacher X
The $100,000 Seabreacher X is a personal submersible watercraft that can reach speeds of 50mph on the surface and up to 25mph when submerged, it can also fly up to 12 feet in the air when breaching the surface. Complete with LCD screens, GPS, snorkel-mounted video camera and an iPod dock this may be the ultimate millionaire's toy.
The Happy Planet Index
Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation’s success by its productivity — instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn’t have to cost the earth). Which countries rank highest in the HPI? You might be surprised.