Please, don't confuse the cheese with cocaine

The grocery store nearby has an excellent selection of cheeses; and the woman who cuts the cheese is my friend's aunt. She is always recommending new good cheeses for me to try. I am not a cheese expert or anything, but I can recommend a few practical choices.

My favorite kind? It is hard to say, but I find myself constantly buying the king of cheeses, Brie de Meaux. With bread, crackers, wine or just by itself is incredible. I tend to like goat cheeses too, and a very malleable one is the famous Feta. It goes perfect on salads, sandwiches and anything with hummus. At some point in life, everyone should make a pizza with real, fresh Mozzarella. Smoked Gouda is a great fondue cheese. Queso fresco with black beans is another winner. Good ham is the best sidekick to Manchego. Also, check out the cheap Laughing Cow. I am not sure if it is cheese, ("processed milk product" it says), but it is a delicious spread that you can put on anything to make it better.

I just love cheese.

But cheese is not cocaine.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - In an unusual case of mistaken identity, a woman who thought a block of white cheese was cocaine is charged with trying to hire a hit man to rob and kill four men. [...] A search of the home with the permission of the occupants revealed no drugs, only the white, crumbly cheese common in Mexican cuisine.

por favor, no lo dejen salirse con la suya

Tufo es definido por la real academia española como "Emanación gaseosa que se desprende de las fermentaciones y de las combustiones imperfectas." Todos hemos sido victimas de algun tufo en algun momento de nuestras vidas. Para aquellos que han cogido guagua pública, debe de ser muy conocido el tufo que emanan los sobacos de la gente que hace compras en Capri de Rio Piedras.
Contrario a la creencia popular, la peste bubónica (o peste biónica segun cierto prócer puertorriqueño) no es un tufo si no una simple enfermedad infecciosa. Otras pestes que no deben de ser confundidas con tufos son las pestes que acompañan al Hercólobus. Aún no se ha podido determinar si los Pitufos poseen algun olor caracteristico que sirviera como inspiración para darles este nombre.
Algunos bandidos han adoptado el nombre de "Tufo" en un intento por dañar la reputacion de nuestros amigos mal olientes. A continuación, un caso directo desde Nicaragua de las fechorias que están dispuestos a realizar estos rufianes.

«El Tufo» es grosero

LA PAZ CENTRO, LEON, (Especial, por Leo Cárcamo).- Un sujeto conocido con el sobrenombre de «El Tufo», sin mediar palabra alguna le asestó una pedrada a Luis Andrés García Rojas, quien recibió el impacto en la cabeza, exactamente en la región parietal derecha.

El agredido fue trasladado de urgencia al centro de salud de esta localidad, donde el médico de turno orientó que le realizaran doce puntadas en la herida. «El Tufo», después de cometer el hecho, se dio a la fuga, informó el teniente Yáder Toval, de Seguridad Pública de la Policía Paceña, quien aseguró que este antisocial caerá de un momento a otro en prisión.

Just in case you aren't tired of the Medal yet

Just in case you aren't tired of me posting about the Medal, I have yet another one. Here is another article, this one about the appeal process.

TEN SCIENTISTS on Saturday sent an appeal to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on the wrongful omission of the Indian physicist E.C.G. Sudarshan, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin, United States, from this year's Nobel award in physics.

It explains a bit of the controversy too:

Dr. Glauber, in fact, gave it a new name, the P-representation, as if he had discovered it but went on to make inaccurate assertions as well. He had claimed that the P-representation was valid only in the limit of high intensity whereas Prof. Sudarshan's diagonal representation is, in fact, valid for all fields, whether of low, high or intermediate intensity.

Yuca Warning!!!

Pancha's Kiosk, Philippines - In a story right out of a Shakespearean play, several dozens of people in the Philippines are in critical condition for eating poisonous yuca (cassava).

Nearly 30 elementary school children in the Philippines have died after eating fried cassava balls obtained from a vendor

Yuca is a poisonous root, and proper care has to be taken to extract its cyanide-related compounds. By carefully pressing the tubercle, the dangerous liquid can be extracted. Taí­no indians fermented this milky liquid to create a dangerous liquour-like substance. This should not be tried at home.

The victims suffered severe stomach pain, then vomiting and diarrhea after eating the snack during morning recess

The most common and safe way to prevent yuca poisoning is by cooking well the yuca. Raw yuca should be avoided at all costs! The vendor claimed to have carefully cooked the yuca treats.

The vendor who sold the cassava balls insisted nothing was wrong with them and ate a few to prove the point. Now she, too, is in critical condition.

Make sure you discuss with your children the dangers of yuca treats.

The p is for pana and Papitito

I'm craving some fried Pana, (breadfruit) with a tomato sauce to dip 'em in. Delicious. It is very starchy, so it can be boiled, broiled and baked; but as most starchy foods (like plantains) they taste better deepfried. After all, fats and starches go hand in hand in the kitchen. El almidón y la manteca son panas.

The most common variety in Puerto Rico is the seedless kind. There is also a seeded variety known as Pana de Pepita. Pana de Pepita's seeds are traditionally boiled, then pan fried a bit, and eaten. Its flatulence-producing properties are legendary, and this is why the seeds carry the nickname Rompe Matrimonios ("Marriage-breakers").

Pana skin is very hard, and peeling it is a very difficult task that should be left to experienced Dones or Doñas. Also, pana grows in trees that can be more than 60' tall, and the fruit itself can be the size of a small watermelon.


My greatgrandfather, Papitito, took care of his farm until he was 86 years old (85? his documents were contradictory about his age). One day he was walking around the farm and got hit on the head by a big pana from a very tall pana tree. He was never the same again, and at this early age had to retire from his farming hobby and focus solely on his sitting-at-the-porch hobby. He only lived until he was 99 years old (98?) after this. Who knows how long this blooming life would have lasted if he had taken the safety precautions of proper pana manipulation?


There are certain safety rules that should be followed around panas or pana-prone environments to make panas fun and safe:

1) Wear safety shoes. There isn't something worse than stepping on a rotten pana and falling down, or caerse como pana.

2) Wear safety goggles. A lot of mimes (fruitflies) live in these pana areas, and can enter your eyes. Blowing air constantly also keeps them out of your mouth and nose.

3) Inspect the pana before eating it. Panas can get fermented, and those should be discarded. When in doubt, do not operate heavy machinery after consuming bad panas.

4) Do not run around the house with pana-cutting knives. Knives appropriated for pana-cutting should be very sharp, and are extremely dangerous.

5) Plan ahead. Do not consume Pana de Pepita before important social events such as weddings, graduations, baptisms or sexual intercourse.

6) Lift with your knees, not your back. Back injuries are common in the pana industry.

7) When transporting panas, keep an eye on them at all times. Do not leave them unattended, and do not carry panas for people that you don't know.

8) Wear a construction helmet. Heavy fruits that can fall from very high trees tend to convert all their potential energy into kinetic energy, and a direct hit cause permanent injury, or even death.

If you would like to know more about this magical fruit, a good start would be to contact your local chapter of The Breadfruit Institute.

water bottle jet pack

Funny internet videos are too addictive. I don't like it when people start asking "have you seen this and that video?". That's a really stupid question, I can not watch every single funny video there is.
But anyway, after seeing that Panama Canal video, I decided to watch some other videos and ended wasting 3 hours of my life. The most interesting video I saw was the Water bottle jet pack video which not only is extremely funny but also interesting. It features everyone's favorite conjugate variable, as well as a Japanese tv show.

the t is for tough and tender

In his first appearance on jala jala since "Mr T and Your Mother" Mr. T presents us with an interesting interview about his upcoming reality show 'I Pity the Fool'

"For example a lady might write to me saying she's having trouble at a car dealership, because she's the only female employee and the men are harassing her. So I'll go in and straighten things out.

I look forward to seeing him solve things A-Team style!!!

In 1993 an 80's star was sent to the hospital by a terrible cancer he didn't deserve. This man promptly escaped from a maximum security hospital. Today, still wanted by the government, he survives as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem - if no one else can help - and if you can find him - maybe you can hire: Mr. T.

A man, a plan, a canal: Panama

According to Herodotus' Histories, The king of Egypt, Necho, started building a canal that would connect the Nile with the Red Sea (600 BC). The Persian King, Darius, after conquering Egypt decided to finish it (500 BC). He had the following inscription made to announce it:

King Darius says: I am a Persian; setting out from Persia I [1] conquered Egypt. I ordered to dig this canal from the river that is called Nile [2] and flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. Therefore, when this canal had been dug as I had ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I had intended.

But again, it seems like Darius never finished his Canal. The Ptolemies did, building a Canal that was 50 yards wide (250BC). It was forgotten for centuries, and its existence erased by the elements.

It wasn't until Napoleon Bonaparte that this idea was resurrected, and some evidence of the existence of the old Canal found. Napoleon's engineers wanted to build their own, new Canal, but they thought it wouldn't be possible; they erroneously concluded that the seas had a big difference in their water level that would make it too expensive and probably impossible to build. It wasn't until 1869 that it was built without any need to compensate for the erroneous water level difference. It is what is called the Suez Canal.

The Panama Canal, on the other hand, does have a pretty huge difference on the water level from one side to the other. The average water level in the Pacific Ocean has 9 inches of difference across the Panama Canal, being higher on the Atlantic side; with the tides, it can be even more. To keep one ocean from flowing onto the other and eroding the whole canal on its way a complicated system of locks is used. The best explanation I've seen of how it works is in this video. It is an ubercool timelapse video of the locks working in sequence to let the huge ships crossing.

Oh, and, the subject of this post is a cool palindrome.

Por favor, no me destacen la hermosa vaquilla

Luego de comer hoy muchas sobras de pavo, es apropiado leer las noticias de Nicaragua donde dejaron a un probre campesino con las sobras de su hermosa vaquilla.

Impactantes noticias de Nicaragua:

Destazan res mientras el propietario bailaba

SANTA TERESA, (Alberto Cano).- El señor Pedro Alberto Saborío se arrepiente mil veces de haber asistido a una fiesta en la comarca El Caliwate, ya que mientras bailaba, los cuatreros le destazaban una hermosa vaquilla en su propia casa.

Al llegar a la vivienda, según el afectado se encontró con un charco de sangre y el susto fue mayor cuando buscó la vaquilla y sólo encontró los cachos y las vísceras, porque la mejor carne se la llevaron los abigeos.

En esta zona, los campesinos igualmente están preocupados ya que según dicen los caballos están siendo robados. En algunos casos para ser destazados, y en otros porque en el parque turístico Las Vegas, los compran para alimentar a los tigres y leones, dicen varios de los afectados

Soy Boricua, tu lo sabes

There are many stereotypes about people from Puerto Rico. One of the most famous ones here is that we are really into music. Also, some people think that we are all alcoholics or drug addicts. Another common stereotype is that we are crazy and like to fight a lot. I'm not going to deny that I have used that last one to my advantage, but it still isn't a good stereotype. In the past few weeks I've met several Boricuas in random situations, and you can be a judge to see if they fit the stereotypes.

I was at the bar with the best jukebox and burgers in town, having a pre-concert meal while talking to some of my old friends from PR. This girl approaches us after recognizing our accent, and introduces herself as a boricua too. After much conversation, she tells me about her band, where she plays the drums, and I promise to go check her show sometime.

A week later I was walking downtown, and see this huge SUV truck parking. It had a small PR flag, and I stared at it for a second. As I was walking away from it, the driver of the SUV rolls down the window and yells "What the fuck is your problem?". This guy wanted to kick my ass; an activity that he could have performed without much opposition, as he was a lot bigger than me. I apologized, and said I was from Puerto Rico, and his attitude totally changed. "Sooooocioooooooo, de donde eres?" he said, after shaking my hands. We talked some, and he seemed like a cool guy now that he wasn't thinking about killing me for no reason.

Last night, at the Stretch Arm Strong concert, the lead singer was talking to us and this guy comes to him and tells him: "Dude, I saw you in Puerto Rico." WHAT? It turned out there were two other boricuas in the show beside us, and they have their own hardcore band. After multiple questions mostly around our inclinations towards alcohol and drugs, we agreed to go support his band sometime.

For the record

We were more than just a tour date.
You were more than just a song.
We sweat and sang together
and that helped us to carry on.
We were more. You were more.
For the record.

I just got back from the Stretch Arm Strong and Suicide Machines show. I'm not into hardcore, but I am a huge SAS fan, and I have been wanting to see them since the first time I heard their music several years ago. The Suicide Machines gave an awesome show, with a lot of interaction with the crowd. So, how was the SAS show? Here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good

SAS packed SO much energy, and I couldn't help but to sing along all the time. Their sound was impecable, and their guitar riffs were just amazing. One of the guitar player noticed my energy and walked accross the stage just to connect fists with me. The songs that they played were among my favorites, and I had a total blast that left me voiceless. They also acknowledged how much I was into their music, and they gave the proper fan service. There weren't that many people at the show, and the stage was small, so it was very personal.

The Bad

Their set was a bit too short. I wanted to hear more songs, and I convinced the singer to play at least one more. The show being just before Turkey-Day, there weren't many people. Most of them were there to see the Suicide Machines, and didn't care about this hardcore band.

The Ugly

Some stupid drunk guy kept acting like a dumbass. SAS several times tried to calm him down from the stage, and at one point had to stop a song because the bouncer got into a fight with the drunk dumbass. Not cool at all. I think that SAS decided to cut it short in part just because of that guy.

the most wonderful time of the year

Ya se acercan las navidades y quien mejor que lo niños para recordarnos el verdadero significado de la navidad?
Cartas de niños a los reyes

Mi hermano se ha portado bien por los dos:

hola mellamo alejandra mihermano se asta portando bien;
1bebe amore
2carioqui
3un pericode verdad
4una mini niyac
5maquina de pagar
6maquina decoser

Los reyes hacen credito:

Nos hemos portado bien y un poquito mal, pero esperamos este anio portarnos mucho mejor.

Yo voy a usar la misma cajita el año que viene, pero mas vale que me traigan juguetes nuevos:

Saludos y muchas felicidades y bendiciones para ustedes los Tres Reyes Magos. Soy Anibal y tengo 6 años y mi hermano se llama Angel y tiene 4 años. Nos hemos portado muy bien para que ustedes esten bien contentos y nos traigan muchos regalos. Ya llenamos nuestras cajas con yerba para los camellos con nuestras listas de los regalitos que queremos, en especial yo quiero una guitarra y mi hermano un muñeco de power ranger. Los queremos mucho y aunque se que hoy estan ocupados espero que lean mi carta y aunque sea luego me contesten. Ya nos vamos a dormir pues queremos que ya sea mañana. Por favor que los camellos se coman la yerba sin morder la caja pues esta muy bonita y la voy a usar para la proxima vez que vengan. Mami y Papi les manadan saludos. Los queremos muchooooo.

Face to face with facebook

I wasn't sure of what it was, until someone sent a link to her profile because she had a photo album there that she wanted me to see. I don't think that facebook hosts the pictures, but that was the link that I got, so, I dared to enter my name and email, and created an account, checked the pictures, and logged out. "I don't understand why 70% of the college students use this thing daily." I thought. It is so popular that even my students have asked me about my facebook thing.

Facebook is freaking scary. Do you remember friendster a few years ago? The social network where you could connect with your friends online, exchange messages, and pictures, and so on? Well, it is pretty much the same thing, but limited to your college.

A few days later, I decided to look someone up (I was trying to match the name to a face; yes, I have a horrible memory like that), so I logged in again. In the profiles, there are pictures of their friends, and I recognized a friend of this person. Very quickly this expanded into many diverging paths of [friends of]^n that grew driven by my recently discovered voyeurism. At one point I was able to find my exgirlfriend's boyfriend's profile, and that is when I realized that this was out of control.

What the hell what was happening to me? In 30 minutes I learned way too much information about too many people. It was addictive, too addictive. And I know a lot of people that check this thing daily. DAILY. I don't want to get addicted like that. So, I deactivated my account before it was too late.

I came face to face with Facebook, and it was scary. I think I'm out for good. I hope.

Rock In Peace, Link Wray

Link Wray will rock forever.

God is playing my guitar, I am with God when I play.
-Link Wray

At the age of 76 the most influential electric guitar player ever, invented the powercord and introduced distortions to rock, has gone to the place where you never have to retune your guitar.

If you don't know him, for sure, you have heard his songs. Just check out Rumble, Jack The Ripper and even the Batman Theme, and you will go "Oh, THAT guy."

He had the odd distinction that his music was banned in many radio stations, although it was purely instrumental. Why? Because it rocked too hard.

Rock In Peace, Wray, Rock In Peace.

Cómo preparar el pavo perfecto: guía ilustrada

Guía ilustrada del pavo perfecto (sangüivin 2002 - Chefs Sheplan y Phobos)

Siguiendo estos simples pasos garantizarás que este día del pavo no te sobre ni el pejcueso.




1) Empezar con ingredientes bien feos y frescos. Matarlos.







2) Adobar bien chévere por debajo del pellejo y por tos laos. Meterle cebollas por el trololó.







3) Hornear y sacar a cada ratito para revolcarlo en su propia manteca.







4) Mira que dindo quedó.




5) Jampearse el pavo con mucha gula.