Like A Moth To The Flame ... O_o

... I wind up drawn back to a quick look at the Uru forums .. I'm thinking I need my head seriously examined, too.

I wound up back there this time .. sucked back by this whole wedding thing .. one thing leads to another and I've read a coupla dozen threads and am ready to kill someone. O_O

What is WITH some of those people anyway ?!

The volume of sheer BS threads is astonishing. The avid Cyan boosters are utterly wetting themselves with delight .. and thread after useless thread .. thrashing the re-re-re-rebirth of Uru as the culmination of their faith is disturbing .. to say the least.

One thread .. addressing to a degree the way ANYONE who dared to express discontent in the past has been treated .. seems to have gone oddly awry .. started by someone who I used to think was a relatively nice young man .. but who became one of the meanest posters on both the MOUL and the DRC forums .. berating and belittling ANY who didn't express faithful devotion to Cyan/Uru. It was shameful behavior and totally inexcusable to treat other fans of the game with anything less then respect. The concerns were valid .. they were valuable .. and deserved better. I remember how badly Pad was treated when they left .. and they're really a very nice person who had the temerity to express doubts and that maybe they were gonna give up and leave .. unleashing a torrent of hatefulness that effectively drove them out of Uru for good. Along with a good many others who simply faded away unable to deal with the despicable treatment that somehow seemed to escape the mod-bat on MOUL forums. Something I wonder about .. a lot.

Among the usual raft of defensive posts .. I think quite possibly THE most insulting post in that thread has been one by Sophia .. who has certainly done more than her fair share of shutting people up .. and dismissing anyone who dares to utter discontent .. who seems to be suggesting that it's a bit of an affront to consider all people/fans? as equals .. judging by her use of *shudder*. Quoted from this post .. "It implies that everyone *shudders* is equal."

Now .. have I read this wrong ? .. I've gone over it a few times now and it reads the same every time .. I know she is among the most very strident of the Cyan-walks-on-water group .. but truly .. that is one of the most insultingly belittling responses I've ever seen. And is a hallmark of the attitude that has caused so many to leave .. and you can be quite sure .. many will NOT be back anytime soon unless something vital happens to change the way things are done.

With Uru being resurrected yet one .. more .. time .. oh wait .. that's MORE time O_o .. the movers and shakers are coming outta the woodwork as there is now a piece of the pie to be grabbed .. yet .. again.

Which .. before I forget .. brings me to a point on why I think they suddenly did this .. I believe they've had the rights all along .. based on a lot of different things that have been posted .. and I think they've done this now .. at this time .. because "Dickens" has posted his public domain guidelines to setting up shards and clients for all the world to see .. and .. rather then take the chance on losing rights to IP that is now tossed into the public domain .. they had to take a stand NOW or run the risk of losing in a knifefight later. Just my feeling .. but .. I'd wager I'm right on the mark with that. ;)

I've seen what goes on with some of these "guilds" .. and Cyan had better get their shit together and keep control of them .. else they will wind up with a shitstorm such as the GoG has degenerated into. I have a lot of friends from there .. and a good many have left .. and told me quite a few things that have gone on precipitating their departures .. so I know what I'm talking about here. ;)

At one time .. before Prologue died .. the Greeters were a product of Cyan .. created and controlled by them .. I refer you to this post by Tijara .. I have taken a screen shot .. just in case it now suddenly disappears .. cuz you know how those things can happen. ;)

I personally believe that THAT is the ONLY way this will ever come close to working .. otherwise you are gonna have a degeneration and blowing apart of what's left of this community that will .. one would think .. sound that final bell and be done with it.

Far too many egos .. all clamoring to have that all important "in" with Cyan .. I can't go it .. no more rounds on the forum .. no more reading the BS till I want to throttle sense into that lot .. I'm one of those who will not likely be back .. I won't say "never" because .. absolutes have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass .. but from my current space .. not bloody likely. Unless something drastically and fundamentally changes with how things are run .. um NO.

I have little desire to be under the thumb of self-appointed .. forumwise or gamewise .. overly puffed up with their sense of self-importance .. Grand High Poohbah's of Guild This-n-That .. in a make believe online world. The Eleri's and the Martens and the Sophia's oh my .. all elbowing their way past everyone else to fit snuggly against Cyan's hinderend so that they can faux speak for Cyan .. and toss the names about giving the illusion of their importance by association ?? .. no effin' way .. kthnxbai.

The Devil Went Down To .. erm .. New York ?? O_o

A few days ago .. I went to bed as normal .. and the world as I knew it was a good and comfortable place .. then .. while playing happily in Guild Wars a good friend pm'ed me with a bit of information that has left me thinking that Rod Serling is going to peek his head around the corner and the Twilight music is gonna start playing. O_o

Just when you think the inhabitants of the wonderful world of Uru couldn't get any weirder .. they do .. oh they REALLY DO !! O_O

I mean .. when .. the HELL .. did THIS happen ?!?! O_O



"Request your presence at *their* WEDDING ?!?!" O_o

"Held at *their* HOME ?!?!" O_o

To quote my dear friend Darksaber .. who I just HAD to pass this little tidbit onto .. "WTF????????" .. followed by "I think I just threw up in my mouth ..." O_o

Now I KNOW I have been outta that little loop for a while .. well .. avoided it like the plague is more like it .. but .. you know what I mean .. but .. as I recall .. she once posted that she had never gotten to know him because she found him too brooding and difficult to get to know .. and I am not gonna repeat the things he once said about her .. suffice it to say he .. erm .. HATED her quite decidedly. O_O

Apparently Second Life has allowed them to breach those particular little barriers .. and they've found love at last .. *wretches* .. I don't know whether to go into hysterical giggles .. or puke. O_o

I've been so contentedly happy lately that I must have missed the signs and portents of this unfolding .. for now we have the unholy union of 2 of the most meanspirited .. self-serving people in all of Uru .. what's next ?? Oh I know .. the adoption of their spiritual spawnling .. EricL. Truly the trinity of evil incarnate is being born. O_O

Oh my gosh .. and I told this to Tolip .. Ahahahahaha ... his reaction was ALL I could have expected and SO much more .. :D

Among so .. so .. so .. MANY other things .. one of the first he uttered was .. "Shit .. he HATED her .. " LOLOL

And Hellman .. what an apropos name choice for him .. Hell Man .. yeah .. it works .. :P

A close look at that picture .. *eeeeeasssy stomach* .. shows her copping her usual haughty attitude .. avvie style .. while his avvie looks .. erm .. lobotomized .. O_o

I think I'll give a wide pass on this little soire .. I've not been overly interested in Second Life up until now .. but I have one EXCELLENT reason to stay well clear of it now !!

I gotta ask though .. with Second Life's ability to let users create so much .. and my understanding is that there are animations for a whole host of .. um .. erm .. sexually explicit activities .. if .. now that they are "legally" bound in whatever unholy union that creates .. if .. IF they'll be partaking of such activities in the privacy of "their" home there .. *gags .. pukes* Well THERE'S an image I won't ever be able to get rid of .. O_o

And isn't her family in for a shock if this .. God forbid .. is just the precursor to a more "formal" real world union !? O_O

Which .. for some odd reason .. makes me think of curmudgeonly old bachelor Foghorn Leghorn .. looking for a nice new home .. and getting a bead on the spinster hen Miss Prissy .. regarding that entire thing. ;)

Oh .. and I don't want ANY grief over this .. those 2 directly contributed to one of the worst online experiences of my life .. they get what they played for .. and I need a good cathartic release every once in a while. :)

**The picture used in this post belongs to them in every way and I lay NO claim to it whatsoever .. if asked to remove it .. I will simply link to it elsewhere .. it stands.

Jam Making - 101

I love this time of year in Nova Scotia .. fresh fruits start coming into season and I get busy in my kitchen making a pile of jams. I do what is called "small batch preserving" as they are more easily managed .. AND .. you can actually use fresh fruits in season OR good quality frozen in the offseason.

This method is so easy that anybody can make jam with this recipe .. ANYBODY. I started doing this 10 years ago .. and I make damned fine jams .. if'n I *do* say so m'self. :D

Also .. I make my jams the good old fashioned way like my dear grandmother always did .. the way they were made BEFORE people started adding apple pectin to thicken them and started using liquid glucose for sweetening .. and it is without a doubt THE easiest method you can imagine. 3 of us are very allergic to apples .. and glucose is VERY bad for my blood sugars .. so I was delighted when this was passed on to me. :)

This has got to be the LEAST labor intensive jam making you can imagine. I will explain how I do this .. and it's gonna be the method as I do it .. so not your cut and dried usual recipe/method. :)

Some essential equipment you will need is a tall stock pot (at least 8 inches deep) for the hot water canning bath (I got an inexpensive stainless steel one for 20 bucks) .. 1 cup jars with caps and rings (about 6 for this recipe but it may be slightly more or less depending on how it cooks up so I always prep 7 .. just in case) .. jar lifting tongs for placing and removing the bottled jams from the sterilization bath .. small tongs to remove the empty jars, rings and lids from the boiling water (there is a magnet lifter you can get but I find the small tongs more useful) .. a special wide ended funnel that sits snuggly in the jar tops .. a cake cooling rack .. a good ladle .. a heavy bottomed 6 or 8 litre/quart cooking pot (I use a really nice KitchenAid one from a set that we got with a swap out for a defective coffee maker) .. a cheap cherry pitter is handy and a good LONG handled wooded spoon.

If you look around you can get inexpensive canning kits which have most of the items with it .. also there are canning bath pots with removable racks to set the jars in .. but I use the stock pot and jar tongs which work just fine and cost much less.

Before you start .. I would recommend that you NOT wear any clothes that you actually *might* want to wear out in public again. O_o

Strawberry - Cherry Jam

This should make about 6 - 1 Cup jars.

If at all possible use the deepest .. ripest .. sweetest fruits you can find .. and prep them while still garden warm if using fresh.

Wash and dry the fruit BEFORE you hull the strawberries and pit the cherries .. this way you will not lose any of those lovely juices.

5 Cups of Fresh ripe Strawberries
5 Cups of Fresh ripe Cherries
4 Cups of Organic Cane Sugar Extract (you *could* use white sugar .. but .. why .. WHY?? would you want to ?!?! O_O )

After washing and drying .. remove the hulls from the strawberries .. and remove the pits from the cherries.

I fill a 2 litre/quart Pyrex measuring cup .. to about 2 cups above the 2 quart line .. with whatever combination of strawberry to cherries I am in the mood for .. usually 50/50 but that can vary.

Dump them into at least a 6 litre/quart stockpot .. 8 is better but not necessary.

Add 4 cups of organic cane sugar extract (this looks just like regular sugar but slightly brownish and tastes much nicer than the white stuff). I get it in a 1 litre/quart sized container and dump the whole thing over the fruit.

Cut .. or mash but cutting is easier ;) .. the berries up as coarse or as fine as you want them by running a very sharp knife through them in the pot .. this lets the juices flow out of them and helps the sugar dissolve into a nice clear syrup .. and stir until the sugar is wet. Cover and let sit in your fridge for 24 hours .. ish .. stirring as often as you happen to think of it.

After 24 hours you will have a lovely syrupy berry mix.

Now .. at this point I often take a wand blender and puree (or partially puree) the lot of it .. just my personal preference for the texture of jams that we like here .. choice is yours .. but it DOES make for a nice jam. :)

Stir the berry/syrup mix well and place on a larger burner on your stove .. setting the burner to just above 7 .. I don't know how to say it otherwise as the knobs on my stove are numbered and I set it slightly above 7 toward 8 to get my best cooking heat for this.

Bring to a nice boil and .. stirring often to keep it from thickening too much on the bottom of the pot .. let boil for about 20 to 25 minutes. It will boil up into a foamy mass at one point for a few minutes .. this is normal .. just stir well until it settles back down .. and is thickened .. and continue boiling. Using a nice long handled wooden spoon is essential with this as there will be a good deal of spattering upward of VERY HOT jam .. so be EXTRA careful while doing this. Skimming is NOT necessary because of the next step.

At this point .. remove from the heat .. cover and let rest for another 24 hours in your fridge.

After this 24 hours .. take clean jars, lids and rings .. and place them in a pot of boiling water that covers them completely .. fill a kettle and get it boiling .. and finally place the tall stock pot on the stove and fill to halfway with water that also is brought to a boil.

Place the pot of cooked fruit on the stove and bring to a boil for 5 minutes stirring often. The variation depends on how thick you want your jam.

Using the jar tongs .. lift out the jars and place them upside down on a rack .. grab the lids and rings as you need them with the smaller tongs. Flip a jar over .. place the wide funnel into the top of the jar and scoop in 1 cup of the boiled fruit mixture. Cap and add the ring .. turning to just secure but NOT tight. Using the large bottle tongs .. place the jar into the large stock pot of boiled water.

Bottle and cap the rest of the jam .. you may or may not need to put the extra in the 7th jar which gives you a part jar which I cap as normal and use first for .. erm .. quality control testing purposes. ;)

Once all the jars are in the stock pot .. make sure that the water covers them completely .. adding more from the boiled kettle as needed .. then turn back on to boil and let boil for 10 minutes.

At that time .. using the bottle tongs .. lift the jars out .. place on a rack .. and WITH GREAT CARE .. using oven mitts OR silicon cooking gloves .. tighten the rings as much as you can. You will hear the tops make a *pop* sound from the suction as they cool forming an airtight seal. Check periodically and retighten the rings. Once you can handle the jars .. place them in your fridge .. or if you are lucky enough to have one .. in a "cold" storage room.

This tastes GREAT served over ice cream .. as well as on your toast. ;)

Variations on this recipe that turn out excellent jams are :

10 Cups of Strawberries - First cooking 25 - 30 minutes / second 10 minutes

OR

10 Cups of Cherries - First cooking 15 - 20 minutes / second 5 minutes

OR

8 Cups of Blueberries - First cooking 15 - 20 minutes / second 5 minutes

OR

10 Cups of Plums (of your choice as they ALL make lovely jams) - First cooking 20 - 25 minutes / second 5

OR

10 Cups of Raspberries/Blackberries - First cooking 20 - 25 minutes / second 5 - 10

OR

10 Cups of ANY berry combination that you like :) - First cooking 20 - 30 minutes / second 5 - 10

I have used this method for 10 years now .. and have NEVER had a problem or anything resembling a "bad" batch. The jams are tasty .. full colored and quite delicious. I have successfully made them using fresh fruit .. and also frozen berries .. ALWAYS with perfect results.

Cooking times can vary .. I am at a point now that I go by the look and sound of the thickening mixture and adjust accordingly .. but .. the times I've given are a good guideline as I took note while making these current batches.

I actually start one batch every day so that I am turning out a batch a day for about 2 weeks or so .. until I am done. The small batch approach is amazingly efficient with this easy, old style method. The short cooking times .. combined with the long resting periods allow the fruits to develope their own natural gelatin .. the way jams USED to be made before they speeded the process up by adding apple pectin to get them to artificially thicken faster. I understand that you can add about a quarter cup of lemon juice to the mixture IF there is a problem with the gelatin formation .. but have never found it necessary to do so.

Back to the jam making .. I have 1 batch of strawberry/cherry left to finish today that MC is chomping at the bit for .. and one batch of cherry to finish tomorrow .. then done until wild blueberries come in in late August .. and also I do have a nice cauliflower/cucumber mustard relish I will be making in much larger batches starting about then too.

I hope you give this a try as it really is so easy and the effort is well worth the final product. :)