Computers are always giving us grief, and the term “computer bug” is bandied around to describe all sorts of things going wrong. While technically a “bug” is (uaually) a fault a the program running on the computer, there are exceptions.
Depending on whether you believe the US Navy or wikipedia the first actual computer bug was found in either 1945 or 1947.
First actual case of bug being found
It’s a moth, trapped between points in one of the large electromechanical computers of the day. The image is the page from the log book where it was taped after being extracted from the computer. If only present-day bugs were so easy to find and remove…
One of my favourite kids’ books is coming to the movies.
It’s a great story book, and the beautiful pictures really make it. The monsters look just right in the trailer. I can’t wait to see it on the big screen.
A rare win for common sense in Parliament. Full marks to the team at Creative Freedom Foundation who led the protest, and thanks to Stephen Fry and everyone else who joined in.
Google’s recent announcement that it will be targeting advertisements based on your browsing history has generated discussion around privacy and control of your browsing history. Many services provide the ability to “opt out” of this sort of advertising, but the opt-out mechanism is cookie based, and if you’re the stype who regularly deletes your cookies you’ll find yourself back in the program.
Enter the Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out, or TACO. Written by Christopher Soghoian it preserves a number of opt-out cookies for firefox users when cookies are cleared. There’s more information, including details on which cookies are preserved, which are not, and why, on the TACO page. It can be installed from that page, or (preferably) from the Firefox addons site. While it’s tagged “experimental” by Mozilla that’s a log-in-required add-on, but BugMeNot has credentials for the site.
Take a tin of sweetened condensed milk (around here they’re 395g) and remove the label. Place it (unopened!) in a pot and cover it with boiling water. Simmer for a good 3 hours or so. Take care to ensure it doesn’t boil dry — when cans overheat they explode, and this could damage not only your kitchen but any people who are too close.
Once it has cooled the caramelised milk/sugar mixture can be used to flavour icecream (making sure it is really cold first) and makes a tasty treat when used as a filling in little pastry cases. Personally I tend to just eat it straight out of the tin…
Here’s a simple recipe for home-made ice cream that is very quick to make, doesn’t require any unusual ingredients or machinery, and is suitable for almost all diets. It’s dairy-based, so not suitable for those allergic or intolerant to dairy, lactose and the like, but is great for people with nut, egg, wheat/gluten, and other common allergies.
Beat the evaporated milk until it is light and fluffy. I can usually achieve about 1.5 litres of volume, and oddly get more bulk when the egg beaters are on medium instead of flat out. Add the icing sugar and beat until well mixed. Add the vanilla, mix through quickly, pour into the freezing container and freeze until set. Enjoy.
That’s all. This recipe produces a light and versatile ice cream (see alternative recipes below) with a very creamy taste.
Notes
This recipe relies on everything being very cold. Some time before you start set your freezer to the coldest it will go, chill the ingredients (especially the milk) and freeze the mixing bowl and whatever you’re going to set the mixture in.
Having everything cold helps the mixture to freeze quickly and avoids it “falling” — it can sink in the middle and form a hard layer at the bottom if it doesn’t freeze fast enough.
Alternative recipes
Here’s a couple of alternatives that have proved popular in our house:
Strawberry ice cream: replace the vanilla with a handful of strawberries (pulped and beaten well through the evaporated milk, so as to leave no icy chunks) and 2 teaspoons of strawberry essence.
Caramel ice cream: replace the sugar and vanilla with ¾ of a 395g tin of caramel. You can buy tins of caramel, but I prefer to make my own. Take a tin of sweetened condensed milk, remove the label, and simmer it (unopened) for a good 3 hours. Take care to ensure it doesn’t boil dry!
Ingredients notes
In New Zealand the evaporated milk is usually the Carnation brand. In addition to milk this contains Carrageenan (from seaweed) as a thickening agent, but nothing else.
It used to be difficult to find gluten-free icing sugar, but most brands seem to have gone gluten-free in recent times.
We know many people who use artificial (vanilla “flavoured”) essence, but personally I just can’t bring myself to use anything but the real thing. Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I think it tastes better.
