For all you election junkies out there, I found some more election maps. I think I've already mentioned the one on Washingtonpost.com, but there's also one on NPR and the New York Times website, all easily found by googling election map NPR or New York Times, or what have you. I admit, grudgingly, that the New York Times is my favorite of this lot (it's a hard pill to swallow to admit the NYT does something better than the Washington Post, especially related to politics). All three are interactive, so you can click on states and see recent polling results, etc.

I also discovered http://www.270towin.com/ (referring of course to the number of electoral votes needed). It's got a hypnotizing simulation feature where it'll run through all the possible results based on probabilities determined by the latest polls. So, for a state like Arizona that's definitely voting McCain, it'll always predict that it'll be red, but if he's 55% likely to win Nevada, he'll win Nevada in 55% of the simulations. You can press the "run again" button under the map over and over to see how it'll all play out. This has a very similar feel to that scene at the end of War Games when Joshua is learning about global thermonuclear war and runs thousands of scenarios, all of which end in a stalemate. Feels like that. Especially when, disturbingly, the scenario occasionally plays out to each candidate getting 269.

It also has a view of the electoral college all the way back to 1789. Nancy and I were lamenting about how torturously close this election has been, and it's really interesting to go back and see that, before 2000 the races were more or less fairly one sided (or, the results turned out that way, I'm sure in the thick of it it didn't feel one-sided). I mean, George McGovern got 17 electoral votes! Truman and Dewey wasn't even that close, as far as the numbers, Truman getting 303 and Dewey with 189. There was another squeaky close election like the 2000 election in 1876, Hayes 185 v. Tilden 184. If I'm being honest I'll admit I didn't know there had ever been a President Hayes. In 1800 Aaron Burr v. TJ was exactly tied. Anyone know how they decided who would be pres? Was it because Burr had killed Hamilton, or was that ok back then? I'm asking because that 269 v. 269 result on the simulator has me a little spooked, I'd like to know what the back-up plan is.

Bethie's book list

PS, I just read Turn of the Screw by Henry James...pretty good ghost story if you can get around his run-on sentances. I'm in the middle of Great Expectations, which is really good (Katie didn't think it was as good as East of Eden...which for those keeping track, was an EXCELLENT book), and am leafing through Germs, Guns, and Steel by Jared Diamond (good history, socioeconomics, evolution book).

Lemon Chicken Soup

Hi all! It's true, KV got tired of me emailing her recipes. I also tend to like the quick and easy ones better because most days, I only have less then 1/2 hour. As far as cookbooks go, I love Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade (I have her 20-minute meal book). Although she does like to, um, taste-test the cocktails a little too much on her show, her recipes have been big winners so far. The only problem that I've had is that with some of them, the ingredients are really grocery-store dependent because of the short cuts. For example, for one recipe, I was supposed to get a can of Hunt's diced tomatoes with pepper and onion. But they didn't have that, so I had to get the toms with pepper and garlic. Big deal? The world may never know. For the prepackaged stuff, she also offers the brand name that she uses, which is occasionally helpful.

This is one of my favorites, perfect now that it's starting to get chilly and the flu and cold season is starting soon:

Lemon Chicken Soup (4 servings)

3 cans (10.75 oz each) condensed chicken and rice (or chicken noodle) soup, Campbell's (I used the reduced sodium kind...you really won't miss the extra sodium)
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, Swanson
1/3 cup lemon juice, RealLemon
3 large yolks (This one comes straight from the ol' clucker herself)
1 precooked chicken breast, shredded (see above)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (optional)

1) In large saucepan, combine soup, broth, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to simmer

2) In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot broth mixture into egg yolks to prevent curdling. Slowly pour into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. (Alton Brown cal led this "tempering" I think)

3) Stir in chicken and heat through. Stir in parsely. Serve with pita bread, hummus.

So, like I said this is one of my favorites. Couldn't be easier, and the ingredients are fool-proof. Last time, I used chicken and noodle, then added extra egg noodles in step one to make the soup hardier. When you have a cold, the lemon clears sinuses, and the creamy yolk and salty broth soothe sore throats. Hmm...almost makes me want to get a cold just so I can have some to feel better...

Another variation includes substituting condensed cream of chicken soup for the yolks and the broth with 6 3/4 cups water to make it even creamier.

Cheers!

Bethie occasionally sends me recipies that I'll never make, like fried califlower (not a huge califlower fan), so I thought I'd just ask her to post her recipes here, cut out the middleman. And, my friend Suz, who is a terrific chef, has some ideas she wants to share, too, so you might be seeing some entries from them soon.

Does anyone work with Google Earth? I spent literally all day on Friday putting together this great project for my literature workshop participants and for some reason it decided it didn't want to save. Actually, what it really did was revert back to some random earlier save. I had been saving it all along and it just picked one of the early ones and held on to that, disregarding everything else. Any ideas? It was a really cool presentation, I had map overlays and everything. :( I can redo it, but I don't want to if that means it won't save anything again!

Podcasts I like

If you're not tired of my book reviews, I thought I'd also give some podcast reviews. I listen to podcasts on the way to and from work, and that tends to add up to more time than I spend reading, usually. Anyway, it's hard to know what's good, so I thought I'd just say what I like, at least.

My favorite podcasts are the Agatha Presents Mysteries, radio shows from back based on Agatha Christie's books. I just stumbled upon these in itunes, and I haven't been able to find them again, but they're great if you find them. I love the guy who does Poirot's voice, it's perfect. These don't update very frequently, but whenever I have a new one I gobble it up.

I also like This American Life. These are hour-long programs, with a few stories centered around a theme. They can be hit or miss, though, and when they're a miss it's often a really really weird and scary miss. But, some are awesome. There was one episode about supers, which I highly recommend. That was on last year sometime, but it might be in the archives. More recently, I really enjoyed an episode called "leaving the fold," especially the first act that looked into the life of Jerry Springer, who was apparently by all accounts the most promising politician to come around since Kennedy. I'm in the middle of one called "nice work if you can get it." The "preface" part was an interview with various astronauts about the minutae of their daily grind, which actually sounds pretty boring. The first act is a recording of a speech by John Hodgeman (he's a PC to that other guy's Mac in those commericals) that had me laughing so hard on my way home from work I was worried the neighbors would look at me funny, laughing at myself.

You can also download Prairie Home companions from NPR, including the News from Lake Woebegon, which is always nice after a hard day. :)

we're experiencing fall-like symptoms...

I saw my breath this morning! It's 47 degrees right now, although it's expected to get up near 80 or beyond by the weekend, so Bloomington hasn't quite committed to the idea of fall. However, there is a beautiful harvest moon still out at 7:40 am. Off to work!