Taking no credit

What's wrong with plain old black?

Absolutely nothing, but I was trying to make the links pop out a little.  Sometimes they show up as blue, other times as a slightly lighter shade of dark gray.  The text on the Blogger page rarely shows up as a true black, at least on my computer.  Maybe some day I'll get it sorted out.

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Modern technology is a wonderful thing, until it doesn't work.

And when a product fails, it usually fails completely without warning.  Repairing an item has gotten to the point where it's much cheaper to replace it than repair it; labor ain't cheap and it can cost you dearly to find out exactly what part failed and needs replacement.  Troubleshooting product failure is a dark art and takes a lot of time;  manufacturers go out of their way to make it almost impossible for non-factory facilities to repair their products and in some jurisdictions it is illegal for the user to fix the products they own.  The cans of worms keep multiplying.

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So, there are two types (so far) of social credit, eh?  The original type dealing with income seems to be the most valid but current usage is talking about the systems in China to keep folks on their toes.  They should have used a different term like behavior or cultural credit, I think.

In that vein, I have read that the body cameras that cops are supposed to wear may soon include facial recognition.  It's technically possible right now but there are some legal hurdles to be overcome.  The Constitution may take a beating as it is interpreted in our modern age of heightened surveillance and communication.

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YouTube has become my main source of entertainment, the food channels being my favorite.  I've found some neat stuff, like making rice pudding from the leftover rice from Chinese take-out, or the trick to getting popcorn that tastes just like the stuff at the movie theater: coconut oil and Flavacol (available on Amazon).

But one of the most interesting things is the use of Transglutaminase, also known as "meat glue."  Glued meat is more common than you may think, often seen in deli counters or fast food sandwich places.  Some restaurants are allegedly combining cuts of beef to create a "premium" steak; you may not get what you think you ordered.  You can tell by the way it looks that there's something off about the appearance but it's still okay to eat.  You can combine almost any meat as long as it has the same cooking time, and there are intriguing possibilities.  Bacon and steak might be tasty, as would a nicely layered pork chop/rib-eye combination.  Science is wonderful.