Science Experiments In Your Refrigerator?

While everyone else in the blogosphere and the traditional news media is in Las Vegas, either extolling the wonders of or observing the phenomenon of the one who is named Kos, I thought I would pass on something useful.

ABC News: Is the Food in Your Fridge Safe to Eat?: "He recommends keeping deli meats a maximum of four days.

'Buying meats at the deli counter can sometimes be a bit riskier than if you were to buy meats that are already prepackaged by a processor, because the processor will, in the process, heat-treat the meats and treat them in such a way that the bacterial counts are very, very low,' Doyle said.

Spoilage Can Be Deceiving

The Staniscis' expired eggs, on the other hand, were fine. Doyle said that commercially-sold eggs are treated with a disinfectant that keeps bacteria counts low.

Pasteurized milk is also resistant to bacteria. It might start to taste bad after a week or two, Doyle said, but it won't harm you.

Mayonnaise is made with bacteria-killing vinegar, so it's safe in the fridge for a year — same with ketchup.

{...}

Contrary to popular belief, Doyle said, items like plastic wrap, aluminum foil and Tupperware may make your foods taste fresher but they won't extend their shelf life. And when it comes to mold, if you find it on a brick of cheese, just cut that chunk off. But if you find it on a slice of bread, the whole loaf has to be thrown out because invisible mold may have spread to the other slices."

For an easy to read chart of expiration suggestions (yes, I'm a geek), I like this site. It's easy to read and print for future reference.

I can't believe Modo wasted a whole column on the Vegas event, with very little of the biting sarcasm that I appreciate so much.

Markos Moulitsas, the 34-year-old provocateur from Berkeley who runs America's most popular and influential political blog, Daily Kos, said in a keynote speech that "the old media are no longer the gatekeepers" and that "Republicans have failed us because they can't govern; Democrats have failed us because they can't get elected."

Despite being labeled failures, Democratic presidential hopefuls and lesser pols lined up to kiss the Polo-sneaker-clad feet of Mr. Moulitsas and his fellow Blogfather, Jerome Armstrong. Hillary was not there. Triangulation makes you a troll, in the argot of this crowd. "Oh my God," Mr. Moulitsas said when asked about her. "No way!"

But Mark Warner, Wes Clark and Jack Carter — Jimmy Carter's son, who is running for the Senate in Nevada — are holding blog bashes. Tom Vilsack, Barbara Boxer and Howard Dean were there. Bill Richardson, wearing a white T-shirt under a blue jacket, jeans and silver jewelry, flew in for a breakfast with the Kossacks in a Riviera skybox.

"We should be the party of space," the governor of New Mexico said, trying to sound futuristic. "I'm for space." Told that Mark Warner was there, Mr. Richardson said, smiling a bit: "Warner, is he here? I don't care."

John Laesch, who is running to unseat Denny Hastert in Illinois, was ubiquitous, even kneeling before one blogger in the hall, seeking a "Netroots" endorsement.

Technology has enabled the not-meek to inherit the earth, and Democrats and others who refuse to drink the cyber-Kool-Aid will, Mr. Moulitsas said, go into the old "dustbin of history."

The fast-talking former Army artillery scout with the boyish demeanor and dark brown buggy eyes is no one to take lightly. Some may think the Internet messiah who put Mr. Dean on the map in 2003 is "a fame hound, a loudmouthed nerd at the back of the room," as The Washington Monthly wrote. But others, including adoring conventioneers who called the scene at the debut YearlyKos gathering "magic" and "a rock concert," see him the way Ana Marie Cox, née Wonkette, described him this week in Time.com: "He's the left's own Kurt Cobain and Che Guevara rolled into one."

Gag me, he isn't the second coming, though I liked the buggy eyes snark. While I am glad that bloggers are getting together and that we are being appreciated in some fashion instead of being dismissed, this is taking on aspects of an Amway convention.

The smoke and mirrors continues.

A total of six people died when the house was destroyed by two 500-pound bombs on Wednesday. An Iraqi army officer said they included two women and an eight-year-old girl.

The U.S. military said on Friday the wounded al-Zarqawi was still alive when U.S. troops reached the site after the bombing.

{...}

Bulldozers cleared some of the site and filled a 40-foot wide crater left by the air strikes, U.S. officers said.

Considering that our troops are dying from much smaller IEDs and they were wearing battle armor, I have a hard time believing that he survived and was conscious enough to comprehend what was going on. Or we actually killed Superman.

Propaganda is a wonderful thing, isn't it? So, how's that search for Osama going? Dead or alive, isn't that what Bush promised four and a half years ago? His actions suggest that Osama is as important a priority as rebuilding the Gulf Coast or protecting New York from terrorism.

Which is to say, not.

Tags: Bush, Maureen Dowd, Zarqawi, food spoilage, terrorism