Careful putting basil in the fridge. Some varieties can't take the cold and turn to an ugly brown mess. I think most of the stuff from the grocery store can handle it though.

PQ criteria for me is generally color accuracy and dynamic range, and I'll take better blacks/shadow detail over brighter highlights. Basically, I want to watch stuff and not think about the TV—I don't want to think "hmm, why is that tree neon green" or "I need to turn the brightness up b/c I can't see what's in…

How many sizes do you need? LG, Samsung, and Panasonic all have plasmas in the 42/50/60" sizes, usually with 3-4 models per band per size. And Samsung and Panasonic have ones in the 46/55/65 sizes too, I think.

My experience has been that Amazon tends to have the best selection and prices.

Of course people are doing it wrong. "9 and 3" is a lot different than "coffee and cellphone."

Twelve serranos sounds like a lot, but it's for six avocados. Two of those little buggers for each alligator pear sounds about right.

It's unlikely that electric space heaters would be efficient at heating your house than baseboard heaters unless you live in a part of the country where electricity is cheaper than gas/oil (this is rare). Space heaters are useful when you only need to heat a small area, but if you do that with any regularity you…

"the consensus among Building Science circles will tell you that air infiltration/exfiltration is the biggest source of energy loss"

Question for those in the know: are air leaks a significant contributor to summer cooling costs? I was under the impression that solar radiation heating the walls of the house and streaming through windows was the primary heater. The air temperature during the summer is actually pretty close to the setpoint (usually…

Fwiw, it's the temperature gradient that matters, not the ultimate temperature. So you're probably ok using canning jars for this. During the heating phase, the temperature gradient may be larger during canning because steam has a much larger heat xfer coefficient than the dry air in the oven. During the cooling…

Err...no leavening? Seems like a recipe for globs of soggy, dense dough. I've never tried it, but that doesn't sound like good eats too me.

With a fork and a spoon, same as for most Thai food. Chopsticks are usually used only for noodle soup or Chinese food.

Traditionally, you'd probably eat the sushi (but more likely sashimi) first, then the hot dish, then the miso soup. But it you're doing AYCE, anything goes, of course.

Gotcha. I'd always heard incense, so my ears perked at "gravestones."

Incense, not gravestones, I think: [en.wikipedia.org]

Ok, question: You're Chinese, and you sit down at a Chinese restaurant in the US. You get a small plate, a bowl of rice, and share a few dishes from the center of the table. What food do you place on the small plate, and when? Do you scoop rice onto the plate and then add other food to it? Do you add food to the…

I microwave water in the glass carafe of my french press every morning. It works fine. I could be wrong, but I think any glass object meant to hold heated objects would be microwave-safe.

Longer, harder rides, different bike geometries, different anatomy, and poorer-fitting bikes/saddles can all make bike shorts much more comfortable than street clothes. I get along just fine in jeans for jaunts around town, but for extended rides they get uncomfortable.

You should be able to adjust for cable stretch without having to replace them. Replacement is really only necessary if the cables are somehow damaged (filaments broken, etc).

Tight shorts prevent chafing, stretch and fit well during cycling motions, allow the use of padding, and are more aerodynamic (the latter is the least important). The yellow shirt is for visibility, and is cut so that it fits well in the bent-over position that most cycling involves. It also usually has pockets on…