"Time is a Mere Fragmentation of the Mind"

Somebody famous must have said that once, but I don't know who. I'm not sure what it means exactly, but it sounds kind of philosophical. Truth be known, there is nothing arbitrary about time, it's our human measurement of time that is arbitrary. A day doesn't necessarily have to be 24 hours, and an hour doesn't necessarily have to be 60 minutes, but it would be inconvenient to have more than one way of measuring time, so somebody decided to measure it that way and everybody else bought into it. The time zones are also arbitrary, you've got to draw the line somewhere, and that's where somebody decided to draw it. Theoretically, the time zone boundaries should be straight, but they were made to jog around population centers for everybody's convenience. Some time ago, there was a news article about these two Pacific islands that were on either side of the International Date Line. I don't remember if they were joined politically, but they were close enough together that there was traffic between them. Apparently the residents wanted the date to be the same on both islands, so whoever approves such things agreed to bend the line so that both islands would be on the same side.

I bake my bread at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. That's more than was called for in the recipe I started with, but I found by trial and error that is what works in my oven. I don't know if the 400 degrees on the oven heat control is accurate but, if I set it any lower, it takes longer for the bread to bake, and most recipes say that it should take 30-45 minutes. I know that the professionals measure their  ingredients by weight, but I measure them by volume because that's easier and it works just fine. to measure by weight, I would need to buy an accurate scale, and then I'd have one more piece of equipment to clean and store. My crust is okay, but it's not chewy like it is on most artisanal breads. I think I'm going to try that tray of ice cubes next time. It likely will only affect the top crust, since the sides and bottom are enclosed in the bread pan, but that's okay for now, just to see if it works.

I have eaten smoked chicken and smoked turkey. There also is a product called "turkey jerky", but I have never tried it. I don't know about pickling poultry. I don't like the taste of anything that is pickled, including pickles. Raw chicken is what's dangerous, which is why it's important to rinse off any utensils that come in contact with raw chicken before they are allowed to touch any other food, including cooked chicken.  I don't know if it's salmonella or what, but the juice of raw chicken has something in it that can make you really sick, or so I have been told. Additionally, any time you finish working with any kind of meat, you should clean your utensils before using them for another kind of meat. You can cut beef all day with the same knife and cutting board but, when you switch to pork, or vice versa, you need to clean your tools. If you don't, you risk what they call "cross contamination". I'm not sure exactly how that works, but I have been told that its no fun at all.