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Thursday, November 9, 2017

Chinese Style Congee (Jook) Recipe, Random Stuff, and More

This is the latest in my series on quick, easy, and tasty meals: 

This is being placed here for my own possible records and for others to use if so desired. This is based on recipes online and an interpretation of restaurants that I occasionally frequent. The point of these recipes is to achieve the best taste, in the quickest possible time, at the cheapest possible price. That's why the ingredients are somewhat non-traditional at times. Here's the other thing, it's obvious that they can be altered quickly and easily to suit other core ingredients. Don't be afraid to experiment. 

- rice
- water or soup powder/stock (any flavour like Wonton Soup or Chicken Soup will do as long as it makes culinary sense? Note, that using water straight out will make for a bland/flat tasting congee if the meat isn't already flavoured)
- soy sauce
- fish sauce
- dried shrimp
- brown vinegar or rice wine vinegar
- ginger
- beef/chicken/pork
- spring onion (optional)
- salt (optional)
- pepper (optional)
- sesame oil (optional)
- vegetables (optional)

Throw rice, water, ginger, dried shrimp, fish sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, soup stock/powder (and other optional ingredients) into a saucepan and then cook until rice softens to a porridge like consistency (try eating this meal at a restaurant first if you want to know what it should taste like. You are of course, free to experiment with the texture as well). 

After this is done, add meat to saucepan (you can even use left over meat such as roast chicken or Bolognese meat but most of the time Asian flavours will work better, http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2017/10/fast-asian-style-meatprotein-recipes.html If the mix flavour doesn't work well, just try adding more fish sauce or other Asian sauces until things make more sense) and vegetables (add them in sequence if you want to maintain texture) at the end. Garnish with pepper and chopped spring onion.

It should look like the following:
Explore Easy Chinese Recipes, Asian Recipes and more!

Random Stuff:
- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
- latest in science and technology
Shenzhen - City of the Future. The high-tech life of China’s Silicon Valley
China’s old Silk Road revival - hi-speed trains, massive skyscrapers and free-trade zones
open source games android
- latest in finance and politics
No evidence of RT manipulating YouTube
Soft Occupation. Investigating America’s influence on German politics
Rhythm of Chongqing - light rail, urban planning, food and tourism in China's megacity.
The Happiest People on Earth. North Korea - the rulers, the people and the official narrative.
ABRASIVE & PERSUASIVE Ft. Ernesto Abella, Philippine Presidential Spokesperson
AMERICAN PERESTROIKA Ft. Jack Matlock, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union
ARRESTED BY LIBERATION Ft. Mahmoud Jibril, Former Interim Prime Minister of Libya
ARROGANCE OF IGNORANCE Ft. Richard Dawkins, Evolutionary Biologist
ART OF NO DEAL Ft. Gilead Sher, Israeli Peace Negotiator
BANKING ON DIFFERENCE Ft. K.V. Kamath, President of the New Development Bank
CAN’T BE UN-DONE Ft. Atul Khare, UN Under-Secretary-General for Field Support
CLIMATE OF DENIAL Ft. Erik Solheim, Executive Director of UNEP
COLD WAR – NO MORE Ft. Piotr Dutkiewicz, Professor of Political Science
COMPLEX OF SUPERIORITY Ft. Matthew Kroenig, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council
COSTLY VALUES Ft. Yunus-bek Yevkurov, Head of the Republic of Ingushetia
CRUISIN' FOR A BRUISIN' Ft. Kirk Lippold, Former Commanding Officer of USS Cole
DEVOTION TO RIDICULE Ft. Lawrence Krauss, Theoretical Physicist
DON, BIBI, VLAD Ft. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Former Israeli Foreign Minister
ENGULFED IN DIVISION Ft. Abdullah Gul, Former President of Turkey
ESTABLISHMENT OUTSIDERS Ft. Jacques Cheminade, Former French Presidential Candidate
EXTRACTION & INACTION Ft. Saskia Sassen, Renowned Sociologist
FANTASTIC VOYAGE Ft. Efraim Inbar, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Bar-Illan University
FIGHTING FOR WAR Ft. Hamid Karzai, Former President of Afghanistan
FRIENDLY VISITS Ft. Sultan Barakat, Director of the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies
GLOBAL SUPERINTENDENT Ft. Gal Luft, Co-Director of the IAGS
HANDSHAKE ON THE ELBE Ft. Yana Toom, Estonian MEP
HONEYMOON'S OVER Ft. Konstantin Kosachev, Russian Senator
ISOLATION VS CONCILIATION Ft. Harold James, Professor of History and International Affairs
LET DIE Ft. George Khoury, Country Director for the OCHA in Yemen
LIBYA - EAST VS WEST Ft. Mohamed Dayri, Libyan Foreign Minister
LOST IN LA-LA LAND Ft. Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
NO BUSINESS AS USUAL Ft. Boris Titov,  Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights
PEOPLE IN POWER Ft. Alexander Baunov, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center
POLITICS OF ISLAM Ft. Suleiman Mourad, Professor and Author
POLITICS OF TERROR Ft. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Coordinator of the UN Al-Qaida-Taliban Monitoring Team
POVERTY OF PLENTY Ft. Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
PRACTICING NOT PREACHING Ft. Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs
PUTIN & CLINTON - SWEET COUPLE Ft. Steven Fish, Professor of Political Science
RHYMES OF HISTORY Ft. Mikhail Shvydkoy, Special Representative for Intl. Cultural Cooperation
SHOW BUT NOT TRIAL Ft. Alexander Shulgin, Russian Representative to the OPCW
TERRORISED & DISCONCERTED Ft. Ken Livingstone, Former Mayor of London
TWO-WAY STREET Ft. Ekaterina Schulmann, Political Scientist
UKRAINE - THIRD TIME LUCKY Ft. Serhiy Kudelia, Assistant Professor of Political Science
VALUES IN TRANSITION Ft. Ronald Inglehart, Founding President of the World Values Survey
- so many possible jokes regarding the JSF are possible? It's full spectrum stealth! See how it made all government money disappear so quickly? See how stealthy it is? When the grunt work needs to be done the JSF is no where to be seen? Incredibly stealthy, so much effort for so little product! See it's been years past the original delivery date and it's still not here!
Norway to reduce F-35 order?
https://forsvaret.no/pressesider/mediearkiv
F-35 regularly fly's over Mach 1.6
J-20 goes operational
F-35 and Corrosion 2017
- latest in defense and intelligence
Russian Superwoman - Outrageous walk through explosions & fire to test armor suit
War as a Working Place. Syrian reporters risk death to bring news from the frontlines
How Russia spawned more ISIL fighters than most nations
- latest in animal news
Munch Time: Animals at Dallas Zoo enjoy Halloween
Pandaland. Helping giant panda cubs return to the wild
How the panda became China’s diplomatic weapon of choice
- latest in music and entertainment
The Secrets of Wudang Wushu - Chinese Monks Perfect The Grace and Power of a Chinese Martial Art
Soundtrack - The Legend of 1900

Random Quotes:
- An unauthorised broadcaster interfered in a police chase in Victoria last Tuesday, forcing the officers concerned to call off their chase of two men suspected of being involved in an armed robbery.

The detectives from East Gippsland were investigating an incident in Sale. The pirate broadcaster is believed to be operating from the East Gippsland area, a police notice said.

The broadcaster impersonated a police officer during the chase which began after an alleged attempt at robbery in a shop in Sale, according to a report in the Brisbane Times.

The man who reportedly carried out the robbery fled in a car along with a woman and the police gave chase.

"Throughout the incident there were a number of disruptions during the radio transmissions which are being investigated," Victoria Police spokeswoman Lauren Kells told the website.

The Victorian Government said the incident highlighted the need for a more up-to-date radio transmission system.

Victoria Police Minister Lisa Neville said Telstra had been given the job of installing base networks for a digital radio system.

This would be used by regional police, the Country Fire Authority and Lifesaving Victoria.

The system, costing $12 million, is expected to be up and running by mid-2018.
- She told members of the Senate Banking Committee that the Trump administration is trying to further isolate North Korea from international community and increase pressure on the country with necessary help from China.

Republican Senator Bob Corker, who also chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un considers nuclear weapons as “his ticket to survival” and there’s virtually nothing the US can do change his mind.

Corker asked Thornton and Sigal Mandelker, the undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, what could provoke North Korea to fire missiles at the United States.

“We’re trying to turn China’s position from looking at North Korea as some kind of asset, to looking at them as a liability,” Thornton said. “I think that (Secretary of State Rex) Tillerson has made a lot of progress on that front.”
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/09/28/536819/US-cant-do-much-to-halt-North-Korean-nuclear-arms-program-Senators
American financial firms are expressing alarm over fears that an increasingly dysfunctional US Congress may fail to reach an agreement to raise the country’s debt ceiling.

Bitter divisions among Republican Party lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s unpredictability could rule out a deal to raise the US debt limit before an October deadline, several lobbyists representing dozens of bankers, investors and credit rating agencies, told Reuters.

Trump’s attacks on members of his own party and his failure to denounce white supremacists at a violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, this month, has raised questions over the president’s ability to build consensus on the debt limit, one bank lobbyist said.

“Everyone is very worried,” he added.

The debt ceiling is a legislative limit on how much money the federal government can borrow from the US Treasury Department to fund its budget deficits and meet financial obligations.

“The stakes here are incredibly high. The economic impact associated with debt default is so immense,” said Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association (ABA), one of the country’s key financial lobby groups.

“We’re monitoring this extremely closely and we will mobilize as needed throughout September,” he added.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged lawmakers in July to raise the limit by September 29, otherwise the US government might not have enough money to pay all its bills.

Mnuchin said on Sunday that relief funding for the devastation caused by Harvey Hurricane might be delayed if Congress does not quickly increase the government's debt limit.

Failure to increase the cap from the current $19.8 trillion could lead to default, sending shockwaves across global markets.

Goldman Sachs, an American financial services company, estimated that failure to raise the ceiling would force a government spending cut equal to between 3 and 4 percent of US gross domestic product, which would have crippling economic consequences.

Many conservative Republicans have indicated they will only vote for a debt limit bill that contains promises of federal spending cuts.

The US has faced several debt-ceiling crises in recent years. The now-notorious 2011 crisis led Standard & Poor’s (S&P), the world's largest rating agency, to downgrade the credit rating of the US government for the first time in the country's history.

S&P warned last week that failure by Congress to lift the debt ceiling would likely be “more catastrophic” than the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 that led to the global financial crisis.
- ALTERNATIVES TO YOUTUBE

@LBRYio
@HelloZeroNet
@Bitchute
@Minds
@VidMe
DTube
@wrongthinknet
Torrents

You have the power here.

#EvacuateYT
- Here's the Macquarie Dictionary's definition of a bonus: "Something given or paid over and above what is due."

A bonus should be a rare event. But that's not the way the corporate world sees it. These days, executives expect and demand a bonus, regardless of performance.

The bonus system was foisted upon shareholders to allay their concerns about excessive pay. Instead, it merely has entrenched the practice.

The idea, supposedly, was to align the interests of shareholders and management, to put executive pay "at risk". The theory was, that if the shareholders lost out because of mismanagement, executives too would feel the pain.

But the system quickly turned to farce. Almost 15 years ago, when the dot.com boom imploded and global stocks went into reverse, the system was hastily reworked.

Executives, particularly those in non-tech industries, argued the market downturn had nothing to do with their management, and that they were being unfairly penalised. Oddly enough, none of them had argued the tech boom had artificially inflated their salaries in previous years and they shouldn't be entitled to them.

The solution was simple. Base salaries, the cash component, were lifted. Meanwhile, the hurdles around bonuses, particularly bonus shares, were lowered. It was a recipe that would be tweaked every few years to maximise pay.

When markets are running hot, executives demand a greater proportion of shares. In downturns, they demand greater base salaries. In more recent times, rather than hitch the bonuses to share price performance, "soft targets" that can't be accurately measured, such as improved customer satisfaction, have been introduced.

In short, the bonus system has successfully removed performance from the equation.
- NK is a small country in a desperate situation. They want nuclear weapons for deterrence, and a negotiation chip. They have nothing else to bargain with, and almost nothing to lose. SK is a small rich country with a lot to lose. They have strong allies, and many options. They don't need to take such a desperate risk as possibly provoking a Chinese attack.
- The Pentagon would spread its fighter jets around the Pacific in small numbers to military and civilian airfields, some as far as 1,000 miles from the battlefield, to prevent enemy ballistic and cruise missiles from delivering a devastating knock-out blow to a base. Today, the Pentagon tends to concentrate the majority of its planes at regional super bases.

“During the initial days of the conflict, F-35s occasionally return to their bases - only to discover several are heavily damaged from enemy missile attacks,” Harrigian and Marosko write, in their warplay. Those F-35s must divert to civilian airfields. By this time, the F-22 and F-35 won’t need air traffic controllers as their high-tech computers will guide them to runways, even in bad weather.
- Any narrative about monopoly practices is deemed a threat by Google because it has just had to give in to the European Union on a big case, according to Barry Lynn, a former employee of the New America Foundation think-tank who lost his job recently after he criticised the search giant.

In a detailed interview with The Verge, Lynn, who worked for the Open Markets group at the think-tank which is funded by Google, said apart from the search monopoly case — which Google ceded — there were other cases coming down the pipe, all of which accused Google of monopolistic practices in various areas.

"This is a fight that they’re in right now, and they’re desperate to keep that fight out of the United States," Lynn told The Verge. 

"They want to keep that in Europe. Anti-trust is kryptonite for a super-large corporation like Google. You bring anti-monopoly up with them and it takes away all the special powers they have."
- Rowland said it appeared that even the Senate had not been spared what she described as the "wrath of the Fifield triangle – a vortex of drift which delays almost everything in its path".

She said Coalition Senator Linda Reynolds, the chair of the Senate Communications Committee, had expressed her frustration at the delay on 24 May, saying:

“I was quite dismayed last night to get, I think, 106 responses arriving when we were here at estimates yesterday for another portfolio between 8.00 and 10.30 last night, which did not give any of my colleagues time to read or digest the answers. It has been two months.”

Rowland said Labor Senator Anne Urquhart had put this in context a day later, with this statement: "“The Finance Department had answered 100% of its 129 questions on time. Prime Minister and Cabinet had answered 73.6% of its 229 questions on time. The Department of Foreign Affairs had answered 98.7% of its 154 questions on time…. Yet NBN Co only answered 11 of its 145 question by the due date. This amounts to NBN answering a meagre 7.5% of its questions on time.”
- Said Jones: "Despite the billions being spent on upgrading Australia's fixed broadband infrastructure, it remains slow and expensive by international standards. And I speak as one of the many, many Australians who are sick of hearing about why that is and who's to blame − we just want it to work, where and when we want it. 

"As a mobile company, we're in a position where we can do something about that, and we have. We're offering something that really does prove that fixed broadband, for a significant number of people in this country, is Not Bloody Necessary." 

Jones said the speed, reliability, ready availability and portability of mobile broadband were all advantages, "particularly compared to fixed broadband that is plagued with connection delays and impacted by weather and the quality of the connection to the home. And for the majority of Australian households that will consume less than 100GB of data a month, it's an immediate fix to the constant buffering and drop-outs experienced when we all sit down of an evening to stream the latest episode of our favourite TV show". 

"Up to now, the two things that were preventing mobile broadband being an attractive alternative to fixed were price and data allowances.  With the introduction of our 100GB prepaid mobile data plan for $100 per 30 days, we've eliminated both of those problems."

Jones said providing a means for fixed broadband users to test their bandwidth was so everyone could make sure that mobile broadband would provide a viable alternative. 

"Mobile data coverage is great for more than 95% of Australia's population, but the first step in making a switch is making sure you're one of that number. We've set up notbloodynecessary.com to help people make an informed choice, and share their experiences to help their neighbours do the same," he said. 

"A big reason for that is that in our experience, most people simply don't know what their options are and they are all wondering is it me, or is everyone having such big issue with their fixed Internet? With notbloodynecessary.com, they can quickly find out if their fixed broadband speed is better or worse than what else is available."
- The chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has described as “laughable” calls by the United States that Iran coordinate its naval activities in the Persian Gulf with American forces there.

Major General Mohammad Baqeri said on Tuesday that arrogant powers had recently made a hype over Iranian vessels sailing to some one hundred meters of US warships in the Persian Gulf waters.

Based on coastal rules, he said, Iran has rights over territory in the Persian Gulf and will defend its interests there.

“Unfortunately, a country from the other side of the world… assumes special rights [for itself] in the Persian Gulf and says ‘Iran should coordinate with us if it wants to approach us,’ which is precisely [an instance of] excessive demand,” Major General Baqeri said.

The top Iranian commander suggested that the foreign forces in the region would take no responsibility to safeguard Iranian interests and should expect no coordination from Iran, either.
- Wild Life Sydney's top tips to keep safe this snake season

    Do not leave clothes, shoes, towels, etc. on the floor.
    Do not keep shoes outside on the ground, and if you need to, keep them on an angle so spiders can't crawl in.
    Spiders and snakes love to hide in dark places and pools, so try to minimise the amount of garden waste and rubbish in your backyard. 
    Keep pot plants and clutter away from house. 
    If you are cleaning guttering, make sure you always have thick gloves on. 
    If you have a chicken coop, keep it at a safe distance from the house. 
- Williams referred to a recent op-ed in The New York Times written by Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheeen in which, he said, she "makes the same tired and weak argument that Kaspersky has Russian intelligence ties and that classified assessments would allay any public doubts".

He said these allegations could be equally made against many US companies vis-a-vis their ties to US intelligence.
...
In July, the US government removed Kaspersky products from a list of approved software suppliers for two government-wide purchasing contracts.

And there have been reports that the US Senate is set to use a provision in the National Defence Authorisation Act to look at a ban on the company's software in all federal agencies.

Williams, who has weighed into the issue before this, said that protection of intelligence sources and methods was a standard reason given for withholding intelligence data from public consumption.

"But, if Kaspersky and Russian intelligence knows what the FBI is briefing to US companies, there are no sources and methods to protect," he wrote.

"The American public remain the only people unable to make an informed decision about whether or not to use Kaspersky.  The FBI needs to educate the American people so they can make an informed decision about Kaspersky.

"It’s high time the bureau showed its cards or folded its hand."
- TOWNSVILLE is one of the sexiest towns in Australia, new data reveals.

Online adult store Femplay has listed Townsville at number four for the number of adult toys sold in Australia per capita.

Toowoomba, number one last year, remains the sex-toy capital of Australia followed by Cairns and Sydney.

Melbourne and Brisbane hold the fifth and sixth spots respectively.

“Yes, it seems Cairns has still been overtaken by Toowoomba this year but this doesn’t mean that tropical North Queensland isn’t just as sexy, especially with Cairns coming in at a comfortable second place and Townsville a happy fourth place” a Femplay spokeswoman said.

“With our research we have found that the sexy North Queenslanders are a mixed group of consumers.

“They have the miners who are FIFO and the Australian Defence Force personnel who are often away leaving their poor partners at home, and they still are in need for some pleasurable time so they take measures into their hands, so to speak.

“You also have a substantial amount of backpackers that once they arrive in your beautiful neck of Australia they want to stay a while and this leads to new relationships blossoming with our international friends and the heat rises in the bedrooms.

Market Consolidation/Neo-Feudalism, Random Stuff, and More

- it never occured to me until recently how consolidated things in the world were in the global market place. In this post we'll take a ...