Railpass — 'All Aboard'

Railpass simulates a train ride in your browser window using real video footage.

Choose from trains around the world, add weather to the mix.

Sound ON for the best ride.

Experts' Expert: How To Liquify Crystallized Honey

From Simply Recipes:

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Never Throw Out Crystallized Honey — Beekeepers Use This Simple Fix To Make It Smooth Again

Honey is the universal natural sweetener that can be used in so many ways. I drizzle honey over fruit and yogurt bowls, use it in baked goods, mix it up for salad dressings, and even roast vegetables with it. It’s incredibly versatile, and I always have a jar of honey sitting on my counter.

Over time, the look of your honey may change. Instead of that liquid gold appearance, it might start to look grainy or a bit more dense. While it's still totally fine to eat, there is a quick trick to bring crystallized honey back to its original runny form. The hack I learned from a beekeeper to fix crystallized honey is so simple and so clever, your jar of honey will be smooth again in just a few minutes.

Why Does Honey Crystallize Over Time?

So, why does honey crystallize anyway? According to Emily Schmiedel, lead beekeeper for Jacobsen Salt Co.'s Hive Program, the crystallization of honey is actually one of the markers that it is, in fact, real honey. She says that honey is roughly 80 percent sugar in the form of some ratio of glucose to fructose. The ratio of those sugars in any one honey depends on the primary floral source the bees were buzzing around. It can also vary seasonally, based on what was available for the bees to forage. "Honeys containing more glucose than fructose tend to crystallize faster," she says, noting that honeys with lower water content tend to crystallize faster as well. "Any amount of pollen in raw honey acts as a substrate, causing the honey to crystallize over time too." It's simply a natural part of the process.

When honey crystallizes, it might look grainy and dense, but it’s still safe to eat. "The taste is unchanged, but the fine-grained texture actually makes it a bit easier to spoon and spread without the mess," says Schmiedel, so it's not a bad thing if this happens. It doesn’t mean that your honey has gone bad.

The Easiest Way To Bring Crystallized Honey Back to Life

Store your jar or bottle in a warm cupboard if you really want your honey to stay liquid. This will help prevent crystallization in the first place. "I store it up high," said Schmiedel. "As heat rises, the honey then stays a touch warmer."

If your honey does crystallize, she says the key is to warm it gently. This is the easiest way to transform it from dense and grainy back to liquid again. "Secure the lid tightly and set the honey jar in a small water bath at about 100°, just up to the rim of the jar," she said. After sitting in a bowl for several minutes, the honey will have gently warmed and become liquid again.

'The Audacity'

I happened on a rave review of this 8-part series in the Guardian and decided to see what it was all about.

The Guardian noted the rapier-like sharpness of the dialogue and one-liners: no humbug!

Wikipedia describes it as "a dark comedy."

Very, very dark....

This is as funny and interesting as anything I've watched recently; as a rule I avoid comedy.

It's on AMC+, a subchannel of Prime Video.

Auracast — Create Your Own Personal Radio Station Wherever You Are

From the website:

.......

Auracast Broadcast Audio is a technology that allow one device to transmit sound wirelessly to multiple people up to 100 meters away with compatible listening devices or receivers. 

Multiple audio streams can broadcast simultaneously, providing primary audio content along with additional content such as language translation or audio description for people with vison loss.

Users select the audio stream that best meets their needs.

.......

More here.

'Vertical Run'

What a book!

It was published in 1995; I don't know where I learned of it but it turned out to be so compelling I had to forcibly tear myself away after finishing the first third in one sitting.

I'd never heard of its author, Joseph R. Garber, before happening on it.

This superb thriller grabbed me from the get-go.

Garber wrote three other novels before dying of a heart attack in 2005 at 61; I'm looking forward to reading them.

“FRESH OYSTERS” 🤢🤮☠️ I DON’T THINK SO‼️⚠️

Stowaway — 'Live 3D Tracking From The Window Seat'

More and more, flying is a big pain in the butt.

How much better to sit on your comfy chair or couch or lie in bed and take in the view from 30,000 feet — free, the way we like it?

Wait a sec — what's the song I'm hearing?

Surviving a 10-Hour Shift as a Line Cook in NYC

 

YouTube description:

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What's it really like working as a professional line cook?

Bon Appétit follows Lindsey Hubbard through a demanding 10-hour-long shift at One White Street, a Michelin Green Star restaurant in New York City.

Just four months into her career, Lindsey tackles her first shift on the Meat station, cooking $90 ribeyes, navigating a chaotic dinner service, and learning under pressure.

BeyondTheMedspeak: Why Concierge Medicine is Not For Me

Above, an invitation that came in Saturday's mail inviting me to a "private introduction" to local concierge physicians Drs. Mike and Paige McClincy.

"Learn what it means to have a physician with the time to truly know you."

Tell you what: the last thing in the world I have time for is wasting it so my doctor can ..."truly know me."

I love my current primary care doc and how she takes care of me: every six months or so she emails me to schedule a 30-minute wellness check via FaceTime.

Even that's more time than I want to spend on my health: I'd prefer no contact unless I initiate it.

But I go along so as to be a good patient.

What the Girl With a Pearl Earring Wears When She Goes Clubbing

2 Great Post-it Note Hacks

From my Crack Research Team©®™comes this pair of inventive approaches to Post-it note issues.

Up top, how to get yours to lay as flat as possible.

Below, what to do if you accidentally remove the protective paper on the bottom of the pad.

Mr./Ms. Right: Is He/She Out There? — The 37% Rule

Dr. David K. Smith of the Mathematical Statistics and Operational Research Department of the University of Exeter formulated this deceptively simple yet enormously useful rule applicable to all areas of life:

"Once you have seen 37% of, for example, job application forms, a coherent picture of the ideal employee is built up and the next person to fulfill these criteria gets the job."

Dr. Peter Todd, addressing the search for The One, put forward an abbreviated approach.

He suggested that a typical person should count up to about a dozen potential partners, and then start hunting seriously. 

"The first dozen will provide enough information to make a suitable choice from those who follow."

Now close the deal and live happily ever after.

Breaching Paywalls

An important tool in the bag of my Crack Research Team©®™ is an ability to get past paywalls intended to block non-paying peeps from viewing a website.

Since time immemorial Archive (https://archive.is/ and https://archive.ph/) has done the trick almost every time, but in recent years it too has been increasingly unable to penetrate online defenses against its efforts.

A couple months ago in the comments on Hacker News I noticed that someone had used unwall (https://unwall.app/) to uncover a website and I immediately tried it and was thrilled to find it worked on sites Archive couldn't penetrate.

Sometimes, though, unwall too hit the wall.

Last week, again in Hacker News comments, I happened on wallhop (https://wallhop.io/) for the same purpose: again, I tried it and it worked!

Each paywall breacher produces its own characteristic presentation.

This flurry of new (to me) alternatives to Archive is a welcome blessing what with the increasingly siloed nature of the internet.

Where are all these new options coming from all of a sudden?

Use Your Illusion

BeyondTheMedspeak: 'Can You Really Perform a Tracheotomy With a Pen?'

Long answer short from The Economist: "Yes."

More:

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It was November 1944. German soldiers were blocking the entranceways to the charming medieval town of Metz, in northern France. Meanwhile, just outside Metz, and less charmingly, a piece of German mortar was blocking the airway of an American soldier who was, his companion recalled, "thrashing around" and "gasping for breath." The companion acted swiftly. He took the soldier's fountain pen and said "I don't like to do this." Then he slit the man's throat open with a knife, popped the fountain pen in — and the soldier started to breathe. And a pen legend began.

.........

Better: use the LifeStat (below), 

invented and patented by Dr. Ronald J. French, an otolaryngologist in Metairie, Louisiana.

Below, 

the relevant anatomy: aim for the cricothyroid membrane.

In the video up top, I demonstrate how to use the LifeStat.

Yes you can!

$130 here.

I DON'T MIND

My Most Popular Video EVER

I shot it and posted it to YouTube on June 13, 2022.

To date it's received over 37,000 views, as well as a number of comments saying "It worked!" and/or "Thank you!"

The Best Is Within Reach — But You Need The Right Lens To See It

I remember summers back in the late 1950s, when I would ride my (at least it felt that way to me) 100-pound solid steel one-speed bike with balloon tires five miles or so down to the stockyards in Milwaukee at 18th and St. Paul Avenue to gather discarded Coke bottles.

Two cents a bottle when I returned them for the deposit!

That was serious money to me, when a pack of baseball cards cost a nickel and you got a big (compared to the postage stamp-size iterations offered today) thick slab of pink bubble gum to go with it.

I got no allowance till I was 11 — when I started receiving 50 cents every Saturday morning — so I was pretty much on my own as regards spending money.

Anyway.

If I'd had an especially great day collecting bottles — I’m talking maybe 10-15 — I’d give myself a treat and buy a Coke, spending a precious nickel from my earnings and sitting quietly in the shade somewhere on that hot, still, humid afternoon and enjoying every icy sip from that classic 6.5 ounce bottle.

That was — and remains — as good as life ever got.

Yesterday afternoon, while watching my beloved calico cat Vanta go through her routines, all around the house, up and down the stairs and racing from room to room, it occurred to me that she’s the best pet in the world: I can't imagine having another animal — forget about a human being — as great to spend every waking (and sleeping) minute around, up close and personal all the time.

So once again, somehow I have been privileged to have the very best thing possible, just like that Coke I drank in the 50s: no one, no matter how rich or powerful they were/are, could have had a better Coke, nor could anyone on the planet be happier than I am with Vanta.

In the end, every single person who ever lives has a shot at having the best.

You just have to be able to see it when it’s right in front of your eyes.

New Apple TV Siri Remote

Last week Apple introduced an updated Apple TV priced at $299.

The previous model (2022) cost $129.

I'm not the only person who was startled at the price hike: some reviewers have decried the pumped-up price.

It turns out that the new model's introduction of Siri AI isn't exclusive to the new version: with the recent tvOS 27.2 update, Siri AI will also work with Apple TVs released in 2021 and 2022 after you pair the remote with a compatible iPhone or iPad.

But wait — there's more!

You can buy the new Siri remote (top) — the one included with the new Apple TV — on its own for $59 and pair it with your current Apple TV box if it was released in 2015 or later.

A new feature of the new remote is its compatibility with Apple's Find My app, which might well come in handy when the slender device slips down between the cushions or gets buried in a blanket.

You can connect it to your iPhone just like an AirTag.

'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'

Out of the blue I remembered the name of this movie from a long time ago: it's a great title.

Turns out it was made in 1972, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

I watched it last week and loved it.

Hanna Schygulla is incandescent: she lights up the screen.

Apple TV's Genius function brought up "The Marriage of Maria Braun," a 1979 film starring Schygulla, also directed by Fassbinder: it too is superb.

On Getting Back To Sleep At Night

Though I don't recall where I read it decades years ago, the advice was to keep your eyes closed from the moment of awakening, during the trip to the bathroom, and then on the journey back to bed.

Don't open your eyes for even a second.

It takes a little practice at first, preferably during daytime, but then becomes second nature.

It helps, especially if you're the type who, once up and about for any reason, has a devil of a time getting back to sleep.

The theory behind it is that once the eye and brain perceive light, activation of pathways related to consciousness causes the brain to shift its functioning into an "awake" mode, difficult to revert from.

Can't hurt to try it, what?

Up top, the poster for "Insomnia," a great 2002 movie starring Robin Williams, Al Pacino, and Hilary Swank.

THE ART OF US — THEO JANSEN

"Theo Jansen is engaged in creating new forms of life: the so-called strandbeests."

He call his walking kinetic sculptures "a new form of life."

They walk the coastline of the Netherlands, feeding on wind and fleeing from water.

His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@strandbeestfilm

His Wikipedia entry is here.

Brain-Dead @Xfinity

Since forever — at least 10 years, probably more — Xfinity, my internet/cable company, has periodically sent me notices that I'm eligible for a free upgrade to my cable/internet box.

It's been longer than that since I had the one I'm using now installed.

Xfinity promises much faster internet speed and smoother TV watching.

I'm happy with my current internet speed, whatever it is: it's fast enough for me to do whatever I need to do without waiting more than a second or three.

I must say watching TV is increasingly degraded by regular streaming glitches and the need to go back and restart whatever I'm watching.

But here's the thing about Xfinity's upgrade spiel that they'll send me a new box: I drilled down and it turns out I'm supposed to install the new box MYSELF by following the instructions that come with it.

Clearly Xfinity hasn't a clue that TechnoDolts©®™ like me and everyone else in Geriatric Park have ZERO chance of being able to get the new box connected and working by themselves.

There's no option to pay for a technician to come and do it, which was the case with my current box.

Hard to believe no one in the Xfinity C Suite realizes how this FAIL is why peeps like me don't upgrade.

Incarnations of Joy

It is a rich, thickish light, heavy with late summer. Lavish, almost. The colour of candlelight against an untouched buttercup. He could weep.

Behind him are the chalky walls of the city in which he was born. It will not be too many years before the son of his father's employer will reduce the whole complex to rubble. And it will be his tutoring of this man's son that will, in turn, sweeten tempers enough to have the city rebuilt again.

The pain in his stomach has spread much as a deep burn begins its slow ruin. He feels it in his groin, the joints of his knees, the bolts of his thighs. How much longer now until it reaches the heart, the throat? He wonders what part of himself will yield first and whisper its submission to the whole.

He's ashamed to say that he's frightened to die. It has been such a privilege to be a small purposeful share of the Earth. To look out onto the atomic darkness and to thrill. To savour what it is to sense the spring's first warmth on naked skin or to lay himself out on summer-struck stone and absorb its energies after a long walk. To taste the goodness in a ripe strawberry. To feel the sorrow of desire in the first kiss with a lover.

And to belong among others in kind. The old olive trees that buckle against the generations of storm and heat and still service the birds and men with their fruits. The gambolling bears drunk on light in the first mornings of re-emergence. The dolphins. Ah, the dolphins. Slender, muscular incarnations of joy. He will miss them. He will miss all of them.

Aristotle feels the quickening of tears at the edges of his eyes. All he can hope is that he has done enough, given sufficient energies of his own to the vast, communal conversation on the why, the how, the what next? He hopes that others will correct his errors, make good on his intuitions, and draw knowledge of the world into something that might almost be virtue.

And what might come? He doesn't know. But of this he is certain: There is no soul but the body itself that in its wit and striving becomes an instrument of freedom. Not freedom from the Earth itself. Not freedom from others. But freedom in its oldest sense of a beloved one. For if the soul is anything, it is the gift of knowing the body and loving the world in return.

...

[From "Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World," by Melanie Challenger]

[Top: "Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer" – Rembrandt, 1653]

Experts' Experts: What's the best way to reheat pizza?

The Washington Post's kitchen and culinary team tried 5 different methods.

Long story short, published in the October 13, 2026 edition: Results are inversely proportional to the time you spend reheating yesterday's perfect slices.

Results, worst to best:

5. Microwave

4. Cold oven set to 350 degrees

3. Air Fryer

2. Skillet

1. Pizza stone in preheated oven

Yes, I have a pizza stone; no, I will not take the time and go through the rigamarole required to yield its apparently optimal result.

I'm sticking with my microwave, which has served up excellent reheated pizza in around a minute for as long as I've used it.

My tip: watch through the window and when the cheese starts to bubble and melt, pull it out.