corn syrup

I had a friend in 4th grade who claimed to be allergic to corn syrup. She was from the South (Alabama maybe?) and had an accent. I even remember her name. Lets call her AC.

So, AC told me she was allergic to corn syrup, and then excitedly mentions that because of her allergy there is only one kind of ice cream she can have--the best (as she called it)--Dryers. I have never had Dryers before and have never checked the ingredients to double check that it does not contain corn syrup. Because as we all know, nothing is for sure unless I confirm it. Ahem.

I have often thought back on this conversation between myself and AC. Why should I retain such seemingly mundane and useless knowledge 15 years later? I know not. But whenever I read the ingredients on a box of cereal and see "corn syrup" listed, I think of her. AC. She may not even be AC anymore. She might be AZ or AF or--who knows, even FA. Most recently when I read on the box of cereal "corn syrup" and thought of good old AC, I wondered HOW she could possibly discover she was allergic to corn syrup. Everything has corn syrup, practically. How could she have isolated this single ingredient and figured out it was the one thing preventing her from meal time bliss? And by age 10?

I can only think of two possible explanations:
1) she ate corn syrup plain and had a reaction. (I dislike this idea. Who would eat corn syrup alone?)
2)Her mom made pecan pie and experimented replacing the corn syrup with honey at the advice of a cooking friend(as my lovely french friend told me to do). After witnessing the two reactions of AC to the seemingly similar pies, the verdict was out. AC must be allergic to corn syrup.

I put my money on #2.

Ratatouille

I have made Ratatouille three times now.

1) Pre-movie. At least 4 years ago. I did not like it..and I don't recollect where I got the recipe.

2) Post-movie. 1 year ago. I used the Cooking for Engineers version. There is some debate that the "real" way to make Ratatouille involves cooking each vegetable by itself to preserve the individual flavors (as done in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1) before combining at the end. The Engineers recipe is not done this way. But I still recommend it. It was most delicious. DH thought so too.

3) Post-movie. 4 days ago. This time I tried Julia Child's version. It turned out really well. I can't remember how the one last year tasted in comparison, but DH claims that he does and that the French version is better. So, there you have it.

Event Horizon: Do Not Cross

Beware of falling into black holes. Some critics say this is a dangerous pastime, since "what goes into a black hole, stays in a black hole."

Cern will be turning on the "Large Hadron Collider" tomorrow. But by the time you read this, it will have already happened. And you might just be reading this from inside a black hole.

Or not.

PS. My take on this matter, is that we should worry as much about being eaten up by a black hole as we should worry that the Yellowstone Caldera Supervolcano will erupt. And if any of you saw that movie, yeah. I don't think so.

Social Security & DMV

I officially changed my name. Yes, lr=lrh. This occurred one sunny day in July after waiting for an hour in the downtown San Jose social security office. While unusual for me to be in San Jose, it was even more unusual for me to find myself waiting at social security. I found out too late that you can make appointments. Alas. At least I had a book:) While I attempted to read I was distracted by a family that sat behind me. Every time a new number was called they would excitedly count how many numbers were left until their number. "C65! Our number is C95, that's only 30 more people!" They did this over and over...Meanwhile at least 25 numbers were called and none of them were even close to my number: B214. As time passed by, I began to worry and wondered why there were no other B numbers called. Finally they called my number, just before C95. I'd arrived before them, after all. Changing your name takes a whole 3 minutes. Make an appointment.

PS: The DMV is too horrifying to mention.

used book sale

Once a month my local library (Palo Alto City) has a book sale. Today was the first time I'd gone in several months. It is a huge operation--tons of volunteers help out. It's like going to an full size library and everything is for sale and extremely cheap. There are so many people that go that you have to wait in line so they can keep the number of people within fire code limits. The volunteers are always book enthusiasts who have pert opinions on where books should be categorized. For this reason I'm always excited to find a book in the wrong category. The mistakes are caused because of the misleading titles--which unless you've read it, you would never know. Today I found "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!" in the humor section. Lots of books are funny, but that doesn't put it in the humor section. This book is an autobiography of a physicist. I've also found romance novels in the cookbook section--something similar to the title, "Cooking Up a Storm." That one didn't have a single recipe! Hrmph.

The punchline is, today while looking in the cookbook section (again! I have far too many cookbooks) I overheard a volunteer call out, "The person who put Flora and Fauna Designs in the cookbook section should know I am very angry! Someone might have been looking for this book and could not find it because it is in the wrong section!" Then I hid my nose in the cookbook I was looking in (the recipe on the page was for suckling pig..hmm) and tried to look nonchalant.

translation to: a mathematical love story

It seems as though I was a bit obscure. Thus I will provide a line by line translation.

Firstly, one must understand that my husbands initials are DRH, but usually just goes by DH, dropping middle initial. My initials are now LRH, but I have hitherto been known as LR. Thus H is husbands last name.

Secondly, (<3) is a heart (in parentheses)! Gchat has taught us these essential techniques for expressing one's self.

---if(dh + lr = <3, lr=lrh, lr=lr); ---
If statement: DH plus LR equals love. If true, then LR becomes redefined as LRH. If false, LR remains LR. (LR representing the hitherto single entity). This is the IF format used in EXCEL.

---elseif(dh +lr =2*(<3), dh=dr,dh=dh);---
If statement: DH plus LR equals twice love. If true, then DH changes name to DR (takes LR’s last name), If false, DH remains DH. ELSEIF is a command in matlab I think, but it is pointless in my opinion because IF does the same job.

---dh=drh;---
DH redefined to be DRH. This is just to create the new variable DRH for future use. Also note the semicolon at the end of the lines to this point. MATLAB and MAPLE lines end in this, though MAPLE also uses a colon.

---factor(drh + lrh) = (d + l)rh---
LRH has been created as a variable because the initial IF statement turned out to be true. Thus now there is both DRH and LRH variables in the workspace. Now I take the twisted turn of ignoring previously defined variables and assuming d,r,h,and l are all unique variables as though in an algebraic equation. I factor the common RH out of the equation. FACTOR is something I used to use in MAPLE and MATHEMATICA. I stopped using semicolons to terminate the lines at this point because I'm now looking at it as an algebraic equation and not a statement.

---(d+l)rh=(<3)---
Returning to the original IF statement, since LR became LRH, DH plus LR must equal love. And since I factored DH plus LR to equal (d+l)rh, I plugged that in the love equation.

---...d+l=(<3)/rh ---
And now I am just manipulating the equation with standard mathematical operations.

---...d+l-d=(<3)/rh-d ---
---...(l-d) +d = (<3)/rh-d ---
---...(l-d) = (<3)/rh-2d ---
Aha. And now I have solved for (l-d).

---if(l - d = h) ---
I have subtracted the 12th letter of the alphabet from the 4th letter of the alphabet. This resulted in the 8th letter of the alphabet, h.

---& substitute:---
---thus: h=(<3)/rh-2d ---
I solved the above love equation for (l-d). Since I determined (l-d) equals h, I substituted h for (l-d).

---...h = (<3-2drh)/rh ---
more manipulating.

---...rh^2 = (<3) - 2drh ---
---...rh(h+2d) = (<3) ---
This is the final line of my proof. I have redefined love (<3).

---!!---
I tried and failed to find "therefore" in the symbol options or in the ALT secret combinations. Does anybody know how to make "therefore"? Alas. I know not.

---A: rh(h+2d) ---
---Q: What is love---
In Jeopardy format.

a mathematical love story

if(dh + lr = <3, lr=lrh, lr=lr);
elseif(dh +lr =2*<3, dh=dr,dh=dh);
dh=drh;

factor(drh + lrh) = (d + l)rh

(d+l)rh=<3
...d+l=(<3)/rh
...d+l-d=(<3)/rh-d
...(l-d) +d = (<3)/rh-d
...(l-d) = (<3)/rh-2d

if(l - d = h)
& substitute:
thus: h=(<3)/rh-2d
...h = (<3-2drh)/rh
...rh^2 = <3 - 2drh
...rh(h+2d) = <3
!!

A: rh(h+2d)

Q: What is love