Get More (or Less) Caffeine from Your Coffee [Coffee]

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

\"4C0EF7A6-2E0B-4529-8BE1-387612F33F31.jpg\"The beans and blends you pick for your morning cup of Joe determines how much caffeine you\’ll drink down. A veteran coffee snob breaks down which \’varietals\’ you want for morning energy—or a more subtle sip.
Photo by tico24.
Starbucks co-founder and Atlantic Monthly blogger Jerry Baldwin describes the specifics of coffee in terms similar to wine, but notes that the average store-bought bag has a lot more complexity than a bottle of vino from one grape grown in one place. Still, the presence of certain beans can nearly triple the caffeine in your cup. Here\’s his thumbnail suggetions:

  • Arabica averages about half the caffeine as Robusta.
  • The cultivar determines the caffeine content.
  • Degree of roast has no meaningful effect on caffeine.
  • An espresso made from 100% Arabica, on average, has about 70 milligrams of caffeine per shot; a 12 oz. cup of drip coffee made my way in a press pot, using two scoops of coffee per 12-ounce cup — would have 200 milligrams.

The full post offers a good deal more explanation and background on cultivars and the like. What types of Arabica or other coffee have you relied on? Share your coffee choice, and links to other coffee-picking resources, in the comments.

Appreciating Coffee Like Wine [The Atlantic Food Channel]

(Via Lifehacker.)

Wallace & Gromit\’s Grand Adventures

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

I\’m so seriously tempted here… Steam is offering Wallace & Gromit\’s Grand Adventures for Pre-Purchase, and are throwing in two extra games, if you order before March 24th.
$26 + change, for 6 games… And it\’s Wallace & Gromit (for four of the games)! I\’m a hugh Nick Park / Wallace & Gromit fan, and my 4 year old, affectionally calls Gromit \”Doggy\”. She nearly wore out one of the DVD\’s…
Take a look, and see if you would be interested… I routinely use Steam, and I\’m quite a happy customer…

Wallace & Gromit\’s Grand Adeventures – Available for Pre-purchase: \”A series of four new games from the makers of Sam & Max. Buy Wallace & Gromit\’s Grand Adventures before March 24th and save 25% on the complete series – plus you get two free games: Sam & Max:
Ice Station Santa and Strong Bad\’s Cool Game for Attractive People: Dangeresque 3.

Crackin\’ good deal, Gromit!\”

(Via Steam RSS News Feed.)

Sci Fi Channel to become Syfy: Thank the lawyers?

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

And the SciFi Network continues it\’s slow but fatal slide down the hill… According to CNet…

Sci Fi Channel to become Syfy: Thank the lawyers?: \”In perhaps the most ill-advised branding move since New Coke, the network\’s basic-cable Sci Fi Channel will be renamed the phonetically similar Syfy on July 7.\”

SciFi, Z Rank monster movies are not Science Fiction. That\’s like the Cartoon Network running Live Action movies… (Oh wait….)
What relationship does Wrestling have to do with SciFi. Well I guess you could argue that William Shatner did enough Wrestling, but..
Never the less, it doesn\’t help that you will buy the rights to a 9 episode series, and get us hooked, and then we find out it\’s been cancelled for 6 years…
Just forget it… There\’s typically nothing good on the SciFi Channel….

The Heart of the TARDIS: To quote Martha Jones: \”Cardiff?\”

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Project update from Heart of the Tardis, regarding the upcoming Doctor Who Role Playing game. To summarize, the author is stopping at the BBC to discuss season 5 and how it affects the upcoming RPG.

MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2009
To quote Martha Jones: \’Cardiff?\’
I can\’t believe it has been over a month since I posted last. I\’m really slack.
However. This week I\’m off to Cardiff to meet up with the BBC team who looks after Doctor Who (Gary Russell and co), to ensure we\’re heading the right direction. Core set is written, we\’re just checking about the tone and content and whether we need to rewrite/reword bits.
Hopefully, I\’ll take photos and stuff and report back… maybe even try to get a peek at what\’s going on in the home of Doctor Who (though I am restricted by a non-disclosure agreement not to give anything away).

Sam Raimi lets slip a few tidbits about Spider-Man 4

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Sam Raimi lets slip a few tidbits about Spider-Man 4: \”

Spider-Man director Sam Raimi told MTV.com that he\’s working out ideas for an expected fourth Spider-Man movie.

\’The writers, producers and I are working out what the story will be, but we haven\’t been talking in terms of part four and five,\’ Raimi told MTV News. \’I\’ve read that [about Spider-Man 5] also, but right now we\’re just working on the story for Spider-Man 4, just that one film.\’

(Via SCI FI Wire.)

‘MacGyver: The Movie’ in the Making!

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Oh my Gosh….\"40D8BCF3-E5B6-4E6D-8B3B-8F43178DEF73.jpg\"
Hollywood is really out to destroy all the old favorites of my generation…
Several different outlets (Sci Fi Wire, Just Jared, JoBlo\’s Movie Emporium News) are reporting that there is a new MacGyver Movie in the works…
I can\’t help stating that if the plans are anything like the dozens of remakes before it, of other TV series, they will probably play it up with sight gags, bad humor, and as a half hearted spoof of the series.
Please Hollywood, hear this plea:
\"D399D433-ECB5-448C-84F6-290629CF1743.jpg\"

Stop twisting and distorting our old favorite TV series and Movies.  If you are going to remake a series, please keep the spirit of the series in mind!

And as an exclusive… We have an exclusive photo of the upcoming MacGuyver star in costume…

‘A paperclip can be a wondrous thing,’ the ever-so-resourceful MacGyver has said. ‘More times than I can remember, one of these has gotten me out of a tight spot.’
New Line’s Richard Brener said, ‘We think we’re a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise.’

JustJared coverage - http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/03/16/macgyver-the-movie-in-the-making/
SciFi Wire\’s coverage –

New Line is developing a movie based on the hit TV series MacGyver, which turned Richard Dean Anderson into a star, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Raffaella De Laurentiis, daughter of Dino De Laurentiis, is producing through her Raffaella Productions, along with Martha De Laurentiis and series creator Lee Zlotoff. Dino De Laurentiis is executive-producing.

Footnote:

Image credit for the new MacGyver star - http://www.thepunisher.com/past_news/april_2006/punisher35.jpg

How to be a program manager

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The Joel on Software web log, is in my reading list, and the information that Joel Spolsky hands out is priceless…
This has been sitting in my in queue for a bit, but he works at dissecting the \”Program Manager\” title, and what it really means in todays business world.

Having a good program manager is one of the secret formulas to making really great software. And you probably don’t have one on your team, because most teams don’t.

Charles Simonyi, the brilliant programmer who co-invented WYSIWYG word processing, dated Martha Stewart, made a billion dollars off of Microsoft stock and went into space, first tried to solve the Mythical Man Month problem of organizing really big software teams by creating one super duper überprogrammer writing the top-level functions, while handing off the implementation of the lower-level functions to a team of grunt junior-programmers as needed. They called this position program manager. Simonyi is brilliant, but this idea, not so much. Nobody wanted to be a grunt junior programmer, I guess.

Read more at Joel\’s web log…How to be a program manager