Who says the mainstream media doesn’t provide useful information?

When I turned on the TV this morning I saw a nice little story on the local news about a local 9-year-old who created a sandwich to compete in a national contest sponsored by Jif.

Apparently if he wins the contest he receives a $25,000 scholarship (which will probably only provide him with enough money to cover one year of college in at a NC Public University), but that’s still pretty cool. Since you know that this site loves to review various food items (check the archives for reviews of Chick-fil-A copycat sandwiches), I decided I should say something after trying to make a similar version of the sandwich that is supposed to be made like this:

Technically, the sandwich is hotdog-like, replacing the hotdog with a banana, chili with granola, topping with jelly for the ketchup and diced green grapes for the relish. Adding a layer of peanut butter and honey to the bun is the secret to this finalist’s creation. Browning’s concoction, called PBB Dawg (Peanut Butter Banana Dog), won him a slot in the top 10 finalists in the eighth annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest.

I had everything but the grapes and a hot dog bun, so I just used a slice of Pepperidge Farm Sourdough and dropped the grapes. Even without these, this was a tasty snack!

The only thing that made me think it could be better was if the banana was fried first and still hot when you ate the sandwich. Thoughts like that really make me think I’ve lived in the south too long….

Every time you use Google Street View a deer dies

There are tons of cool things that people find on Google’s satellite images all the time. The fact that you can see my car in the driveway is pretty cool (and scary).

Now that google has sent a car (that you used to be able to see in pictures) to drive around your neighborhood there are a bunch of interesting ‘Street View’ images too. I ran across this while looking at something else at The Register. Click the link to check out what comes next.

I know, I know, I’m going to hell.

It’s been a while, man…

So it’s been way too long since I last posted something, but to honor my post from last year about the spectacular win NC State had against Miami in 2008 scoring 2 baskets in what seemed like less than a second, I should really comment on tonight’s game against ‘The U’ that had another great finish. Anyone who wants to read all about the details and the miscues (and a scoring drought by the ‘Pack that let Miami go on what I think was an 18-3 run during a 7-minute period in the 2nd half), but this is all you really need to see.

Though I don’t believe in superstitions, I decided to wear my red New Balance shoes tonight (no they are not as Red as Chuck’s used to be) hoping that is could bring us some luck.

They are bordering on ugly, but as far as I can tell, I’m supposed to like them so what do you want?

KFC Original Recipe Filet Sandwich

I’m sure all of you read my stunning review of the McDonald’s Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich and how it stood up to the gold standard of fast food chicken sandwiches, the Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich. Though the two sandwiches were almost identical in calories and fat content, the rip-off from McDonald’s just didn’t measure up to the fried goodness offered at Chick-Fil-A.

Not long after seeing that McDonald’s entered the copy-cat business, I noticed that KFC had entered the mix with their Original Recipe Filet Sandwich as well. I’m not a big fan of KFC (those from central and eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia know that Bojangles is king), but I decided I should try one just to see how the Colonel’s sandwich compared.

As expected I’ll first take a look at the nutritional facts from KFC’s website and add them to the previous table that compared the other two sandwiches:

	Calories	Fat	Saturated Fat	Carbs
Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich	400	17g	3g	39g
Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich	410	16g	3.5g	39g
KFC Original Recipe Filet Sandwich	330	22g	3.5g	13g

It’s interesting how different this sandwich seems to be compared to the others. Right off the bat I notice that it has 70-80 less calories than the other two. That’s significant enough — probably about 6oz of regular soda — that I won’t have to feel as bad about that third refill of Dr. Pepper. The offering from KFC does seem to have about 30% more fat than the other two, so it’s clearly not the healthier option. The Original Recipe does have a third of the carbs that the other two have, so I guess Dr. Atkins would think it’s the best one in the group. I’m not sure that’s something to brag about, though. After looking at this it’s clear that the KFC sandwich doesn’t appear to be as much of a copy of the Chick-Fil-A sandwich as the McDonald’s one (at least not nutritionally).

After sampling the KFC sandwich it is clear it is quite different as well. While I was reminded that the Colonel’s recipe is a good one, the filet itself was weak. It was too thin and in standard KFC-style it had waaaaaaaaay too much breading. The filet was so thin that I felt like the power of the Original Recipe made it impossible to actually taste the chicken. Is KFC trying to distract you from the taste of the chicken by adding a ridiculous amount of seasoning to this tiny sandwich? If so, they should consider getting buying better tasting chicken and cut down on the seasoning.

I’m sure by now you can guess that I really didn’t like this sandwich. I could ramble on for much longer about how terrible this sandwich is, but it’s just not worth the keystrokes and certainly not worth the money. Hopefully you won’t waste either of those on it either….

Updated: Poll still indicates 31% of Americans are idiots

I ran across this today and just had to say something. In recent months there has been a push to restore the ‘Fairness Doctrine‘ and for some reason there is a group of people that think if brought back completely and that it should apply to online forms of media as well. My main point here is not to discuss the legitimacy of the ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ but to point out how insane people are if they think something like this can be applied to online forms of communication.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) say the government should not require websites and blog sites that offer political commentary to present opposing viewpoints. But 31% believe the Internet sites should be forced to balance their commentary.

When I first read this I couldn’t guess which party would want this type of regulation. Both the left and right thinks the other controls the media, so I actually figured the right would be the ones asking for balance in blogs since blogs are free and easy to start and only the well written ones get read — which explains why my blog gets minimal traffic.

Then I read this quote and my assumptions made an ass out of me (again):

Democrats oppose government-mandated balance on the Internet by a 48% to 37% margin. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republicans reject government involvement in Internet content along with 67% of unaffiliated voters.

These statistics are incomplete (since we don’t know how many Republicans or unaffiliated voters are in favor of government mandated balance), so I can’t draw any real conclusions other than the fact that 37% of Democrats are idiots, as much as 27% of Republicans are idiots, and as much as 21% of unaffiliated voters are idiots.

(I’m presuming that 12% of Republican and unaffiliated voters are ‘Not Sure’ about regulation of Internet media. This seems like the high-end of the spectrum since the poll average was 12% and based on the numbers above 15% of Democrats were undecided. I don’t know the breakdown of party affiliation of those surveyed, so I can’t say for sure.)

EDIT: Added link to ‘Fairness Doctrine’ and explained that’s what the article I’m linking is referencing is discussing.

I just paid for software?!?!?

I decided to drop the $10 to get the upgrade for my iPod Touch, so I could use the snazzy new features available on the iPhone 2.0 software. It seemed like getting it for access to the App Store was a good idea, so I figured I would give it a try. (I’m actually using the WordPress app to write this entry, so I guess it’s useful.) I had my reservations, though.

I was pretty diasappointed about the prospect of paying for software since I honestly can’t remember the last time I paid for software. Almost everyone would probably read that last sentence and think that I spend all my time trying to find a way to steal software, but those that know me know that isn’t the case.

Since I’ve successfully managed to live for the last several years with only free open-source software (specifically Linux distributions Fedora and CentOS) on my home systems, I’ve become accustomed to never having to pay for software. Much to the amazement I have a fully functional PC for browsing, editing images, playing media, and of course software development.

Unfortunately the idea that you don’t need Windows or OSX to use your computer is probably foreign to many. I can only hope that will soon change — which is why I like to take the opportunity to bring it up whenever I can!

First Fruits

I was a bit behind getting a garden started this year (and I didn’t fertilize like I normally would), so things are just starting to appear. It’s fun when miniature versions of the fruits and vegetables start to show up, so I figured I would post a few pictures.

Jalepenos


Cucumbers (notice the bee spreading pollen in the flower on the left)



Sun Gold Tomatoes



Heirloom Tomatoes



Watermelons (or maybe Cantelope — I can’t remember what I planted there)





As I was out snapping these this morning I noticed that we also had one over-achieving cucumber that was growing outside my chicken-wire fence, so I picked it since it looked close to ready. I’d rather eat it than give it to some birds or deer. Funny how it’s over twice the size of everything else on the plants!

Weezer: Red Album

So I finally managed to pick-up the new Weezer Album this morning. Sure I could have bought it online, but I decided to just get the actual CD since I was at Target anyway looking for a Wii Fit again (I’ve lost all hope at this point). So far I’d say it’s a pretty decent album. Of course I manage to tolerate all of their albums, so Weezer could probably put out a record that was just Rivers Cuomo farting and I’d probably still like it and listen to it a couple hundred times.
I did decide to drop the extra $2 to get the deluxe edition that contains 4 bonus tracks, a booklet talking about the making of the album, and slightly different packaging. It’s nice to get the lyrics, but generally Weezer’s lyrics are pretty understandable so it isn’t that necessary. There seem to be several typos in it though, so they should probably get someone to proof-read the jacket on the next album.

Weezer supposedly has a Prince-like catalog of music, but it seems that some of these songs are either completely new or major rewrites of old ones. I do think it’s interesting that when you’ve got a band that’s been around for close to 20 years they have a history and can remember when they first met. I especially like the references to Nirvana’s first major album in Heart Songs and it really takes you back to what it must have felt like to be around them when the band started. I’d say that this is a nice evolution for Weezer and might be a bit better than some of their last attempts at a decent album.

Anyway, that’s all I’ll say for now. I’m sure there are thousands of other reviews online that are much more in-depth or descriptive, so I’ll stop now and give you time to check those out while I take my board to work instead of my car (to save gas of course).

Adults using baby wipes

I found out in the last week that two of my friends (who are guys) are now using baby wipes after taking crap rather than simply using toilet paper. I remember a brief advertising campaign close to 10 years ago to try and get people to buy a small dispenser that clipped onto your normal toilet paper roll and start using the equivalent of a baby wipe after pooping, but I figured that most with above average intelligence dismissed this as worthless and wasteful. Apparently I was wrong.

Of course it does seem that some others seem to think this is a good idea too, but you can almost always find another idiot or two on the internet who shares your warped sense of reality.

I didn’t find out if my friends carry their wipes around in their purses, but I’m guessing either that or their fanny packs.

McDonald’s Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich

I’ve always felt like McDonald’s has done a good job of creating new and unique food items that you never knew you wanted. The McRib was a perfect example. I didn’t know that I needed a hunk of pork pressed to look like a short rack of ribs (edible bones included) and smothered in barbecue sauce, but once I had one I knew I needed another. The same thing can be said for the McGriddle. I don’t think I ever thought I needed a breakfast sandwich with meat and egg on syrup-infused bread, but damn that thing is good.

Though the ideas for these products may not have always come from Marketeers or Chef’s at McDonald’s, I always felt like McDonald’s didn’t steal these ideas from other national competitors. Until they announced the McDonald’s Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Sure every fast food restaurant has a fried chicken breast sandwich, but this one is an exact rip-off of the Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich. It even seems like they tried to make sure it was nutritionally equivalent as well:

	Calories	Fat	Saturated Fat	Carbs
Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich	400	17g	3g	39g
Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich	410	16g	3.5g	39g

On paper, these sandwiches seem identical, so I decided to make a trip to McDonald’s recently to determine if this sandwich was worth the hype. I was always a fan of the the other famous sandwich, the McChicken (the equivalent of a giant processed McNugget on a bun), but I’m a HUGE fan of the Chick-Fil-A sandwich and currently feel there is no better fast-food chicken sandwich in existence (sorry to all the Bojangle’s fans out there).

The verdict: No one anywhere in the Chick-Fil-A organization should lose sleep over the new sandwich from McDonald’s. The Southern Style Chicken sandwich was tasty (probably the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had from McDonald’s), but anyone with a ounce of sense is not going to pick this turd over a Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich — not even on Sundays.