experiment

Recipe: Refried Beans

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I had tried this recipe awhile ago and am still tweaking it.  Here’s what I have so far:

a bit over 3 cups beans (2 15 oz cans drained, washed) – currently using black beans.
2 tbsp garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper

1) saute garlic in oil.  I use lower heat and a pan, about medium.  Brown it.
2) Add everything else, mash good, keep stirring.
3) Increase heat and stir until “well fried” (about 10-15 minutes).  You’ll start getting a little browning and that’s a good sign.  Keep mashing throughout.

Results?  Well still kinda “eh.”  The flavor is there, but subtle – and subtle enough even white corn tortillas mute it.  I need to “jack it up” some more.

As  a rule I don’t use salt but this could probably use a little – I’m also debating soy sauce and/or some red pepper powder.  Suggestions welcome.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

 

Media Awareness 9/3/2012 – Everywhere And You No Longer Care

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As I mentioned yesterday, I’m doing an experiment on better understanding how I consume media – something important in a high-tech media-saturated age, and relevant as I often speak and write on geeky careers, which are quite media/technical.

The basic technique is simple – keep a journal and write down when you game, watch TV, or something similar and why you do it.  Just asking “why” is pretty informative.

However, one of the things I noticed quickly is that those of us in America are in a very media-saturated society.  I’m sure many others live in similar societies, but I’m focusing on my current situation.  My current situation is very loud, noisy, and distracting to say the least.

Televisions running in bars and oil change shops.  Advertising everywhere.  Celebreties famous for being famous hawking perfume when I go to buy a shirt.  Giant media events with film releases or book releases making news.  New shows to watch, new DVDs, etc.  This is even before we get to the internet.

Then there’s the tie-ins.  Products and promotionals.  Branded candy.  Games based on the movie of the book.  We are surrounded by media, by information, by things that go into our brain or tie into things already there.

This of course is understandable: we’re human, we’re creatures of information.  But media is everywhere, all the time.  Culture is not something we carry or act on, but something being poured into us.

When you start monitoring your media habits, you start realizing very quickly how much is coming in, at times involuntarily.

A few takeaways:

  • I think the love of “media” jobs – writer, actor, etc. is so popular as such careers are so visible.  If you see actors, hear about writers, etc. all the time then people will want to be them.
  • Media competition is competition for attention, and at high saturation points that can get pretty intense.  Just look at concerns over ad hit rates on web pages.
  • Control of your own media consumption is a way to prevent dilution of time and knowledge.  I’d love to see media-use strategies of successful people analyzed.

 

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Experimentation and the Everything Wars

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I wrote previously on the Everything Wars – that now a lot of technical and media companies are engaged in a all-ways confusing knock-out fight because technology and media are so intimate – and the economy so unsure – everyone is trying everything.

One thing that came to mind as I read this over – and prepared for our podcast on the same subject – is that the Everything Wars are going to produce a LOT of experimentation.  Progeeks like us, in media and technology or not, will be affected by this in what we use technically and in our hobbies, if not directly in our careers.

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