Energy IQ*. This was fun. The questions change-up, so take it a few times.

The US gets most of its oil from Canada. You knew that, right?

* I had to switch from Safari to Firefox to get the swf to function properly.

Remember the first time you found your father's or (*shudder) your grand father's porn collection? It was probably in a dusty cardboard box and smelled of mildew and humid ink solvents, from being stored in in the rafters of a garage. As I look back at it now, I cannot help but be amazed that all that could be from just one person. Clearly, after numerous complete years of certain periodicals, enough would have been enough. Like, if the complete archive of 1962 didn't get the job done, maybe the issue is the musty garage. Just a thought.

Anyway. Short of fumbling through years of posts, in search of the questionable content. I decided to nuke the ads all together. They never amounted to any flow of cash here. And, in considering the somewhat legit content of late, John McCain can save his ad dollars.

• 6oz. Extra-virgin Olive Oil*
• 3oz. Fresh Basil, two really big handfuls
• 2T Minced Garlic
• 2oz. Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2oz. Romano Cheese, grated
• TT Salt*** & Pepper

1. Place a third of the olive oil in a food processor with all the ingredients.
2. Blend until the mixture is an even paste. Add the remaining oil and process until the mixture is homogenous.
3. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
4. The pesto should be a slight paste that does not easily separate when left to stand. If the consistency isn't right add more herbs.

You guys might already have something like this in your back pocket. If not, here you go. This is something that is wicked simple to make and keep on hand. Impress your friends the next time you toss some chicken on the grill. Baste it with the pesto a couple of minutes before you pull it off. The next time you have pasta night, toss it [preferably linguini] with the pesto and a couple pats of butter**. Maybe you're having guests over for some cocktails. Thinly slice a loaf of french bread and baste each slice with the pesto. Toss the bread in the broiler until golden in color.

If you get that down, you can experiment a bit. Try sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, olives, capers, pecorino & grueyere cheeses, cilantro, oregano, etc. If you have a decent palette, try a range of olive oils or balsamic vinegaretes and note the different profiles.

* This is when extra-virgin olive oil is required. Pony up for the medium price range. When you have guests, and you should pretend that every dinner guest is your mother, throw down more cash for the really good stuff and note the difference. Most people use extra-virgin oil exclusively. This is a waste. Use this rule of thumb: If you are going to sweat, saute, reduce use the non-virgin variety; if you intend on serving the oil uncooked, like on a salad, or toast point, use extra-virgin. The reasoning behind this is the same as wine/beer usage. Basically, you're not going to grab the $50 bottle of Cote de Rhone for your Coque au Vin recipe. Treat olive oil the same way.

** Why should real butter be used? Real butter is part animal fat. Animal fat melts at body temperature, which just happens to be the same temperature as the inside of your mouth. The melted butter unifies the flavors of the food and evenly coats the inside of your mouth when it melts. That's what makes you shudder when you put that croissant in your mouth and the flavor of the dough treats your tastebuds like stay at a 4-hour asian hotel. Margarines and non-saturated fats are plant fats that do not combine as well with animals. You don't have to use it all the time. Just know the difference.

*** Don't even get me started on salt.

Saturday
101.43 miles
5h:22m
avg: 18.9mph
Saturday was a barn-burner. I left at 6:00am sharp and ahead of the 50+ member team that was starting the race. I held the pole-position and didn't see other riders until the century loop doubled-back on itself around mile 68. It's a total rush when the SAG truck pulls along side of you as you're barreling down a country road and the driver tells you you're the lead rider. Anyway, I skipped a few rest stops and was able to shave a solid 25 minutes off my normal finishing time. The last 25 miles were mostly heading into a strong 15+mph NNW wind and took the top off what would have been a great pace. But the course takes, and then it gives...

Sunday
81.49 miles
4h:16m
avg: 19.1mph
Sunday we left at the back of the pack, 7:30am. The legs were strong enough to get past the northern sections of the course and keep a good 22+ pace with the gravy at my back heading east. Overall, this route had a nice rolling quality to it. There were enough slow inclines and declines to stand up once in a while and really tuck at other times. Coming out the headwind (westward) section after the last rest stop I hit the pedals and held a solid 25mph pace into the finish.

The ladies all finished their routes and were great company. Overall, no technical difficulties, though we're all sitting on ice bags.

If you've donated, you rock.

With this, I've been given a brief insight into the USPS and the BS that goes with the federally guaranteed employment. Here's a few one-hitters:

1. The route he is given on any given day needs to be completed prior to the end of his hours. Zero exceptions. Well, as a temp. he gets different routes all the time. He is a college grad. but even that doesn't ensure that he can keep pace with a carrier that has been at the beat for several years. His supervisor told him that the mail cannot come back to the post office undelivered. "Make sure every piece gets into a box." Really, as long as he doesn't come back with it they don't care where it goes.

2. As a temp. he earns time off. It's not paid, but at least he can get a break from the six-day weeks. As it turns out, he's been instructed again by superiors that he should not request time off because it will most likely be denied. In which case, an absence on a day that was requested but denied will be a red flag. So, he should just call in sick on days he need off.

Now, I don't mean to suggest that this kind of delinquent crap does not happen in the private sector. The riders here have been employed by and worked with enough fuck-sticks to confirm otherwise. The difference is that the private sector has a method of removing the schmucks. Not that the private sector is void of useless dolts, I'm just saying that if you encounter a complete jackass that has been in the same field for decades - that person is most likely: a union member, a gov't employee, or both.

Yeah, I know. I'm a complete dick for saying that.

That is the crux of my beef with Big Gub'mint. It's not that I don't understand the desire to have the Fed make things better. Government can make a great deal of improvements and legislate changes that are beneficial and that would not necessarily happen if the private sector had free reign. Top-down beats bottom-up in certain situations. I'm thinking national parks, 40-hour work weeks, SEC regulations, FDIC, health codes, etc. It's worth pointing out that unions were an aid in those types of things.

The issue is that now, after a large portion of the heavy lifting has taken place (for the most part), big Gub'mint continues to fuck with things. We get foie gras bans, labor strikes for pay and benefits that exceed what can be had for equal qualifications in the private sector, gov't sanctioning of marriages, smoking bans, exaggerated taxation of successful companies, and on and on.

This leads me to a post that Savage made a while back [I won't dig for it because I'm lazy, and not in the mood for self-gratification.] regarding Scalia and his views on originalism. My take out of that [On second thought: here] piece and applied to this discussion is that government can only get bigger. Sure, there are bubbles that burst; see also: France. The outward expanse will not stop. For example, teacher's unions have been around for the better part of the last century. Take a guess when its ranks tripled in size. You got it, the 1960's. Since then the Fed Education system is one of the largest expenditures of cash and public schools are avoided like the plague - not everywhere, mind you. But try mentioning to people that you are planning on raising your kids and live in Downtown Chicago. Hilarity ensues. There's no way to thin the ranks at the public trough. Meanwhile, consensus is that more cash is the best way to fix the system. Does anybody see a third of the people employed by the public system packing up shop and heading to the private sector? When it's clear to anybody that looks at the data that the best way to fund a public edu system is to funnel the cash to schools through parents that are involved. Instead you get DC.

To get back to Savage's subject, I don't see a problem with the Fed stepping in after 9/11 and creating the TSA to standardize security at airports. Fine. What should happen is that those standards should be applied to a privatization of the system. Let the Fed set-up the system and then have it get the fuck out of the way. Instead, you get your airport security handled by the same type of people that work at the USPS.

The bloat is on.