Is a weblog by Emma Humphries
If you didn't start a blog during the lockdown, don't worry, you still can
Andy Bellâs made his course on the 11ty static site generator free.
Glitch has an 11ty starter project.
Go blog!
Title because I was earwormed by Brian David Gilbert.
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The first American woman in space was queer. You canât take that from us. You can try and lie and hide it, but we know itâs true.
Happy Pride. Space is queer.
Bonus link: Sally Rideâs oral history of her time in the Astronaut Corps for the Johnson Space Center.
You can make a better chicken sandwich than Chick-fill-a at home, and you should learn to cook anyway.
Itâs Pride and somehow the âclosed on Sundaysâ chicken joint always comes up.
You can make a better chicken sandwich than Chick-fill-a at home, and you should learn to cook anyway.
Brine boneless thighs in buttermilk and pickle juice. Bread with a buttermilk/egg mixture and a flour dredge with paprika and cayenne. Fry in peanut oil at 350F. Serve on a brioche bun with pickle slices.
Save chicken backs for stock. Buy chicken feet for when you make stock. Spatchcocking a chicken » roasting whole. Thighs » breasts. Keep legs on hand to grill.
You can find big packs of chicken drumsticks for cheap at the store. Especially places like Smart and Final. Keep one in the freezer for when you need to feed a crew. 2-3 make a good portion.
Pick a marinade
Yogurt, lime juice, grated ginger, grated garlic, pinch salt
Olive oil, shallot pepper (dried shallots, black pepper, salt)
Use a 1/2 cup of oil or yogurt per pound of legs.
Toss legs in plastic bag with marinade and leave in fridge for two hours.
Cook covered on the hot part of a two-zone fire for five minutes, turning once.
Two zone fires are easy: light one set of burners or move coals under half of grill. Cover and wait for it to come up to 500F. Once the grill is hot, scrape the rack with a wire brush then go over it with a paper towel soaked in cooking oil held in a pair of tongs.
After that spell on the hot side, move the legs to to cool part of fire and cover for 10-15 minutes. Check temp with a quick read thermometer. Donât worry about overcooking, legs are forgiving.
Remove from grill, and rest 5 minutes. Serve with sides.
If you want sandwiches, use boneless thighs with the skin on instead of legs. You can brine them with buttermilk and pickle juice instead of a marinade.
If you need a grill, look for one on Craigslist or similar. New Weber grills are expensive. Most hardware stores will carry replacement parts if you need them.
Happy grilling, happy Pride, and the Devil can take Chick-fil-a.
Photographing the Super Blood Moon Eclipse of 2021
I did not trust myself to set up my camera, lens, and tripod in the early morning (Iâve dropped telescopes while wide-awake.) I set them up in the bedroom the night before.
When the alarm went off at 4, I took my rig outside and saw this amazing view to the South towards West Oakland BART. Karl the Fog must have decided to watch the eclipse from the Farallons instead of the Bay.
This was imaged using a Canon Rebel SLR with a 600mm Sigma lens.
The stars to the right of the Moon are Omega 1 & 2 Scorpii. Thanks to Sky and Telescope for that bit of information.
WisCon can be a more effective agent for structural change if it takes direction from Black scifi fans and creators
WisCon and its parent org, SF3, are doing work this weekend, which is normally WisCon weekend, on their accountability to BIPOC in the wake of a history of centering white feminism to the detriment of Black people.
If youâre attending the virtual sessions on this, I invite you to consider that future WisCons follow the Showing Up for Racial Justice model.
In that model activists, who are predominantly white, implement events, advocacy, and interactions with authority at the direction of Black-led accountability partners (which in the case of WisCon might be groups like the Carl Brandon Society and Fiyah Magazine.)
This strategy puts the onus on white people with good intentions to hold themselves accountable to implement the work needed as determined by people most affected by white supremacy.
That part is key, because as white people, we donât experience or know what needs correction and redress, Black people do, and we need to follow their direction on this.
The structures of white supremacy wonât fall unless white people help push -not decide where to push- but listen for where we need to push, and recruit more white people to help push.
As white SciFi fans, we have more time and resources to put towards transformation. Instead of trying to second-guess what we should do to make a more just world, we can follow the lead of those most affected by our unjust systems.