What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?

[arewethereyet]

My boss is a damn maniac on several levels.

Never mind...I didn't just learn that. sigh

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

King cobras are not cobras.  They're in a different genus from true cobras and are actually more closely related to mambas.

But I don't expect a name change.

Boru

[Athene]

That there exists a wide array of "tactical pens" designed for self-defense, and that quite a few of my co-workers carry them.

And that I want one for Christmas.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I didn't know I needed an armoured bear.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I didn't know I needed an armoured bear.

EVERYONE should have an armoured bear.

Boru

[Rev. Rye]

When I went to Nashville five years ago, I liked the biscuits there so much that I decided to figure out how to make them. And it never quite felt the same, even after reading up on Alton Brown's recipe.

Then I found out about the big catch: a specific type of flour that's almost never found in Chicago. According to Robert Dixon Phillips: “you want a flour made from a soft wheat, It has less gluten protein and the gluten is weaker, which allows the chemical leavening—the baking powder—to generate carbon dioxide and make it rise up in the oven... Hard wheats [read: the sort of wheats that the vast majority of flour available here are made from] are higher in gluten protein, and when they’re turned into a dough, the dough is very strong and elastic and can trap carbon dioxide."

And apparently, it turns out that, even though the local Jewel doesn't stock White Lily (at least, I don't think they do, I didn't check when I went there yesterday), it's actually possible to mimic it in a shockingly simple way:

You can make your own White Lily facsimile by replacing half of your conventional all-purpose or self-rising flour with cake flour. Cake flour has a 6-percent protein content, which, when mixed in equal proportions with 12 percent all-purpose flour yields a total of 9-percent protein. In the immortal words of Thomas Dolby, “Science!”

And, if the Alton Brown recipe is any indication, presumably, I should add 2 tsp of baking powder (and maybe a fraction of a teaspoon of salt) for every cup of the hybrid flour.

And now, the actual recipe that Alton Brown's grandmother plugged in his recipe to complete the proper biscuit synthesis.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Elton John's middle name is 'Hercules'.

Boru

[The Valkyrie]

Elton John's middle name is 'Hercules'.

Boru

^^^^^This^^^^^


Also that Elton John’s dad was probably bitterly disappointed.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Elton John's middle name is 'Hercules'.

Boru

^^^^^This^^^^^


Also that Elton John’s dad was probably bitterly disappointed.

Well, he was born with the middle name 'Kenneth', so the change to 'Hercules' makes perfect sense.

Boru

[The Valkyrie]

^^^^^This^^^^^


Also that Elton John’s dad was probably bitterly disappointed.

Well, he was born with the middle name 'Kenneth', so the change to 'Hercules' makes perfect sense.

Boru

True. After being named Kenneth you probably would lose all hope.