Arachnophilia: Capturing a combfoot

Last night I met this lovely young lady at the motel where I'm staying in Lovelock, NV. The one there on the left, with the long, hairy legs and red hourglass. A baby black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus), about an inch long. Still young and cute enough to be not too scary, don't you think?

This evening I was talking with arachnologist Dr. Kelly Kissane, who teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno. She told me that black widows are called "combfoot" spiders, and have tiny hooks at the end of their legs with which they hang onto their webs. She said the hooks are so small that I'd need a microscope to see them. Well, here was a challenge - a chance to test the Super Macro capability of my new Canon PowerShot S5 IS digital camera. I went back to the base of the lally post by the gazebo where I'd seen this spider last night. She was still there, waiting for some tasty insect to fly into her tangleweb. She wasn't at all camera shy, just stayed put and ignored me as I experimented with focus and flash.

The trick I needed to master was using manual focus, handheld, at such a close distance that the depth of field was only one millimeter. Anything out of that small window would be out of focus. This is where my rifle team training at Boston College served me well. I set up in a pretty stable sitting position, bracing the camera with both arms and legs, to minimize any shake. Using the manual focus while working in the dark took practice. But I finally got this shot. Look real close at the hook on the end of the leg and you can see the filament of web that the spider is hanging from.

I'm pretty pleased with the macro capability of the new 8MP Canon Powershot. I do a lot of microscope work, so I'm used to seeing the fine details of things. This camera seems to have the capability of capturing microscopic levels of detail on the fly. Cool!

Revealed: My Secret Recipe for Rice Pudding

My midwestern roots, and years as a young geologist in America's southland, offer up fond memories of large family gatherings and community pot-luck dinners. You always know what each person is likely to bring, for every aunt, uncle and next-door neighbor has their own specialty, a recipe they alone seem to have brought to mouth-watering perfection. One's offerings at these intimate pot-lucks becomes part of one's reputation and personality. I am by no means a gourmet chef, but in order to contribute to the heavily laden board at these occasions I have perfected a few recipes of my own, each somewhat off the beaten culinary path so as not likely to compete with similar dishes at any particular affair. When asked to bring a dessert, every one knows I'm very likely to show up with a rice pudding topped with fruit sauce that can't be beat.

You think you know rice pudding. A vanilla-ish pudding matrix with little clumps of rice scattered throughout to add texture, if not exactly flavor. That's not what I'm offering here. This is rice pudding with a smooth, creamy custard texture and puffs of flavorful rice, plump raisins, and subtle accents of nutmeg and vanilla amongst the sweet and sour garnish of a tart raspberry sauce. A secret recipe with roots in antiquity, finally revealed. Here it is:

1.33 cups Minute Rice
5.5 cups whole milk
0.66 cups refined white sugar
1 teaspoon iodized sodium chloride
0.66 cups raisins
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla - the real stuff only, please.
0.5 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Combine the rice, milk, sugar, salt and raisins in a saucepan and heat to just below boiling, stirring carefully, and let simmer for ten minutes. While the simmering is going on,

Mix the eggs, vanilla and nutmeg in a one-quart casserole dish and beat until the eggs are somewhat stiff. Into this, pour the hot ingredients from the saucepan. The hot milk will begin to cook the eggs immediately, so stir well while pouring to promote the best texture.

Place the caserole in a water-bath (a half-inch of water in a broiling pan will do) in an oven pre-heated to 375°. The water bath prevents scorching. Bake for 40 minutes or until an inserted knife blade comes out clean.

In the years of my childhood there was a Swedish Smorgasbord restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica, CA which served a delightful fruit sauce over its rice pudding. My attempts to reproduce the delicate interplay of flavors always failed until I discovered Junket Danish Dessert. That was the ticket. (Few stores carry this, so if you can't find it at your supermarket ask them to stock it, or buy some at http://www.junketdesserts.com/junketdanishdessert.aspx .) Now, for the piece de resistance, boil one envelope of Raspberry Danish Dessert in 2.5 cups dihydrogen monoxide, and top generously over the rice pudding.

This will make enough servings to feed your immediate family and most of your aunts and uncles. But a few of your cousins who opt for the cherry pie first, thinking they can come back for the rice pudding later, are going to miss out.

Now, the secret origins of this recipe: it was published on the side of every Minute Rice box during the 1960's. Eventually it was pulled, never to be seen again. Until now. Enjoy!

Harry Potter, Your Order of Phoenix is ready.

Well tossed, lightly scrambled, very light on dialog, with a delightful visual presentation.

JKR has done a great job with the novels, and the movies got off to a good start. This one, though, is only for fans who have read all the books so they can follow the story, as little of it as is presented, and appreciate the meaning of the visuals.

E.g. where does Percival Weasley show up? He's there, but not addressed by name, has no spoken lines, and is only recognizable by the use of an actor that looks like a Weasley, with a nasty demeanor, and a fraction-of-a-second hateful glance from Ron. Dialog is apparently passe in Hollywood and all relationships between characters are conveyed by the Meaningful Glance. Anyway, who needs dialog in the movie when there's all the dialog you'd need and more in the book? Again, this is a movie only for very well read Harry Potter fans. Read the book before buying your ticket.

All that said, the visuals are great. The purpose of this movie is to give the Harry Potter fan some alternative visuals to the ones he or she imagined when first reading the book. The visual story stays true to the book plot, and the characters, as much as they are defined in the film, are true to the characters in the book.

So all in all, a fun movie for Harry Potter fans who have the book memorized. Anyone else who wanders into the theater will probably be saying, "WTF?" a lot if they try to make any sense out of the plot.