sovay | After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts

And tonight

rushthatspeaks and I were having a perfectly lovely time making hamburgers right up until the moment the microwave caught fire.

We're fine. The microwave is kaput. We still aren't quite sure what happened, except that it was set on a two-minute timer, there was nothing in it, and all of a sudden it poured smoke and smelled like an electrical fire, which I presume was actually what happened. We opened all the windows and turned on all the fans and tried not to breathe the smell of melting plastics. The microwave is no longer pouring smoke; it is unplugged and

gaudior has been cautioned not to use it for God's sake when they get home.

The hamburgers came out great. We cooked them in a frying pan and ate them in layers on Portuguese sweet bread with avocado slices, the last of the goat's milk gouda, and homemade spicy mayo. It turns out that if you don't have Worcestershire sauce to mix with the ground beef and instead substitute a few drops of garum, the result is a hamburger that tastes indefinably better in all directions. This was not my planned first use of an ancient Roman condiment, but on reflection I feel it was almost certainly appropriate.

I admit I would have enjoyed eating dinner on the relaxed schedule we had imagined, instead of the aftermath of a kitchen filled with chemical smoke. I know the universe has laws of conservation of perversity, but it would be fine with me if the rest of the night did nothing exciting at all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And tell sad stories of the deaths of microwaves . . ."

"Physicists still argue about the Great Lacuna the electromagnetic spectrum. It's only legend that says that once, in some immeasurably distant past, the spectrum was truly continuous. Different cultures have different explanations for the Great Lacuna. There's the tale from Greek mythology of Eros and Psyche--that Psyche's beauty vibrated at the exact wavelength that would fill the Great Lacuna, and that Aphrodite, in envy, stripped those wavelengths from the spectrum. Or there's the story from Japanese myth of one of Susanoo's many attempts to kill Okuninushi, by summoning many small demons by beating a drum at a certain rhythm. Okuninushi's ally the once-flayed hare kicked the drum to pieces and broke Susanoo's hands, since which time he was never able to beat at that tempo again--and thus the Great Lacuna was created."

There's the tale from Greek mythology of Eros and Psyche--that Psyche's beauty vibrated at the exact wavelength that would fill the Great Lacuna, and that Aphrodite, in envy, stripped those wavelengths from the spectrum. Or there's the story from Japanese myth of one of Susanoo's many attempts to kill Okuninushi, by summoning many small demons by beating a drum at a certain rhythm. Okuninushi's ally the once-flayed hare kicked the drum to pieces and broke Susanoo's hands, since which time he was never able to beat at that tempo again--and thus the Great Lacuna was created.

You are brilliant.

Only when I have brilliant companions who inspire things.

It's great when things spark. Not when the sparks create acrid smoke, but, y'know, otherwise.

Physicists still argue about the Great Lacuna the electromagnetic spectrum.

On a less glorious level, I thought of Mort, and the Death of Microwaves.

Nine

Oh I don't know--that's pretty glorious, I'd say :-)

That's amazing.

Also, there is a once-flayed hare in Japanese Mythology?

There is: Okuninushi saved it and gave it new fur from cattails--a very

cucumberseed sort of story, which I learned about not from my studies in grad school but from Wikipedia: Okuninushi.

Okuninushi saved it and gave it new fur from cattails--a very cucumberseed sort of story

Seriously!

After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts

the Great Lacuna

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