I Speak of Dreams

Sweet Potato Casserole topped with Marshmallows

This dish has evolved over time.  My mother used to make it from scratch, roughly following the Joy of Cooking recipe "Candied Sweet Potatoes", and adding marshmallows for topping.  It might have been her mother-in-law's recipe.

I use sweet potatoes much more often than my mother did -- it was a holiday dish in her household.  Mostly I buy fresh ones and peel and oven-fry them, like cottage potato fries.

This recipe works better with the canned sweet potatoes in light syrup.

Because the family met at a restaurant on Thursday (long story), we had the home-made turkey feast on the Saturday following.  My step-son requested that I bring the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows.

This recipe is fairly infinitely expandable, given the limits of your serving dishes:

Ingredients For every 5 people

• 1 29-ounce can of cut sweet potatoes in light syrup
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.  Bottled is fine
• 1/2  tablespoon grated, moist ginger.  Fresh is the best but bottled is fine; Japanese pickled ginger (gari) is not. Powdered ginger will not do.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• about 1/4 bag of tiny marshmallows. Don't use stale ones; they won't puff properly.

Instructions

• Drain the sweet potatoes, reserving the canning liquid
• Place sweet potatoes in your mixer bowl (best) or a bowl for a hand-held mixer (second best) or a hand whip (most work, least desirable outcome)
• Using a potato masher (best) or spoon (more work) roughly mash the sweet potatoes.  When they are lumpy but fairly well mashed:
• Start the mixer.  Add the lemon juice, grated ginger and salt.
• Working in 1/4 cup units, beat in the reserved canning liquid until the sweet potatoes are light and fluffy, but not runny.  You probably won't use all the canning liquid.
• Taste the mashed sweet potatoes.  The dominant note should be sweet and yammy, with a bit of a tang from the lemon juice and a bit of bite from the ginger. Adjust the seasoning by adding more lemon and/or ginger, if you like.
• Transfer the sweet potatoes to a serving dish that can go under the broiler. For a one-can preparation, you will end up with about 3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes.  I use a regular loaf pan which will hold about 4 cups.  You want the mashed sweet potato layer to be pretty thick (at least an inch) so the marshmallows don't overwhelm.  If you don't have a loaf pan, you can use a larger container and line it with heavy-duty aluminum foil, using the foil to create a smaller shape.
• You can make ahead to this point and refrigerate for up to a day. 
• To serve: heat the mashed sweet potatoes as you see fit -- if you are using a glass pan, you can microwave them, or put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes
• Start the broiler. 
• Cover the hot mashed sweet potatoes with the mini-marshmallows.  The depth of the covering depends on your family's appetite for marshmallows
• Broil the dish, watching constantly.  You just want them a little puffy and brown, not all blackened.  They'll catch on fire if you aren't careful.
• Serve.

 

I didn't take pictures this time, but when I make it again for Christmas I'll come back and add the photos.

Semi-Safe for Work, but Boys and Men: This Video Is For You -- The Man in the Mirror, or Testicular Self-Examination

Last month I pointed you to the awesome ZDogg  MD & Dr. Harry's Pull & Pray

They've done it again, this time to promote men's health, specifically testicular self-exam.  The video is titled Manhood in the Mirror

Ladies, if you know a man 15 or older, make him watch this video.  Testicular cancer is the #1 cancer in men 15-34.

More resources, shamelessly stolen from Dr. ZDogg

• TC-Cancer.com: Great resource for testicular cancer, clearly written by--and for--hipsters.
• TC-Cancer.com Self Exam: Diagrams and video on how to examine your junk--practically pornographic! Not safe for work, but highly realistic!
• American Cancer Society: Much less erotic but more comprehensive; will probably put you to sleep but you might learn something before you snooze.
• Livestrong.org: great overall resource for issues related to cancer. And merchandise!
• Testicular Self-Exam brochure: This is one of several online--collect and trade with your friends!
• ManExam.org: Simple, direct, understandable, and literally black & white.

PS: I follow http://twitter.com/zdoggmd ... you should too

Fire and Ice Pickles from Flexitarian Gracie in Life at Blogher

Recipe shamelessly stolen from  Flexitarian Gracie in Life

Photos by me  (click all photos to embiggen)

... I'm making these right now myself, and they're so entirely addictive that I just had to share them. Besides, pickles are holiday food... kinda. Pickles need to be on your holiday table, right next to the candied sweet potatoes and the tofurkey. [Liz: yuuuck] In fact, I'm pretty sure that if kids aren't allowed to root around in a pickle dish with black-olive-covered fingers, they'll grow up warped and angry. And who wants that on their conscience?

.... I did not invent this recipe. But I wish I had. And if I ever find the person who did, I'll recommend them for canonization.

Now, my interpretation of the recipe....well, instructions.  With photo illustrations. 

Ingredients

• One big jar of the cheapest, rubberiest whole dill pickles¹ you can find.  Back to Flexitarian Gracie's advice

 

Now. I cannot emphasize to you enough that these need to be cheap pickles. The soggy kind of pickles. The ones that sit in dusty rows on the bottom of the pickle shelf because outside of a General Store no one would ever actually want to eat one.... If you go out and buy the expensive Clausson, guaranteed-crisp pickles then you are setting yourself up for an Epic Pickle Fail, and I won't be held responsible. Get the cheap ones, and make sure they're whole.

 

• One head of garlic
• Several pounds of sugar--I recommend baker's sugar
• Your favorite hot sauce.  Gracie recommends Tabasco; I prefer Cholula.  Just don't use a supermarket brand.

 

Procedure

• Drain the pickles -- that's right, just discard that cheap pickle brine

• Rinse the jar and set aside, together with the lid. You are going to put the pickles back into the jar

• Slice the whole pickles into 1 inch chunks² (update-- trim the stem end and the blossom end so all slices have two cut sides exposed to the syrup).
• Separate the head of garlic into cloves; lightly smash the cloves, trim the stem and head end, and peel. Some people don't know about smashing garlic cloves to peel them.  Instructions follow.

• This head of garlic is a little tired.  I discarded the cloves that showed any green, as they tend to be bitter or have an off taste

• Here's a clove of garlic, ready for the smashing treatment

• How to smash: using a cleaver (best) or large flat bladed knife, put the knife over the garlic clove

• and press down. Sometimes I use my fist on the flat of the blade.

• the smashing treatment loosens the skin.  Then

• Trim the stem end

• Trim the root end
• and use your hands to peel the skin off. If you find the texture off-putting, wear gloves.
  

• Start layering
  • into the empty pickle jar
  • One layer of pickle slices
  • 
  • 2 to 4 peeled garlic cloves
  • 
  • 2 to 4 shakes of hot sauce
  • cover the pickles with a thick layer of sugar
  • 
  • repeat until all the pickles are packed into the jar.
  • you might have to use the butt end of a spatula to pack the sugar around the pickles enough to close the jar.
  • 
• Once you are done, put the lid back on the jar. That's right, there will be no liquid in the jar, just sugar and pickles when you start. Don't fret.
• 
• (you can see the last shake of hot sauce running down the side)
• Put the jar in the refrigerator (I usually date it) That's day 1.

• Taste/texture test after 3 hours: Pickles are already much crisper and the flavor is more complex.  Actually, the pre-treatment pickles were pretty nasty....as the center part of the pickles-under-development still are.

• Day 2: Turn the jar lid side down. If you think it's going to leak, set it in a bowl or something to catch the slight leakage
• 
• Day 3: Turn the jar lid side up.
• Uh oh.  This is when I started testing the pickles for deliciousness, but I didn't take a photo of the pickle jar.  Here's what was left at the end of day 3
• 
• Day 4: Turn the jar lid side down. If you think it's going to leak, set it in a bowl or something to catch the slight leakage
• Day 5: Turn the jar lid side up. Try to stop everybody from devouring the pickles before you want to serve them to company.

OK, so I didn't wait the whole 5 days.  There were a few oddities:

 

Some of the pickle slices, even those with two cut sides, were sort of shrivelled up¹ (like some Japanese pickles) but were still crunchy.  The slices that had only one cut side were still too sour/dill in flavor.

Back to Flexitarian Gracie:

The way the magic works is that the sugar is going to pull a lot of the water out of the soggy, cheap pickles, creating its own brine, and transforming those mush nuggets into crispy chunks o'goodness. Within a few hours your jar will be full of liquid. It's like a pickle miracle!

====

¹yikes.  I used kosher³ dills; this recipe from Deep South Dish said not to use kosher dills. I guess we will see in a few days.

Do not, however, get the kosher dills. They don't react well to this process and just turn into a shriveled mess. I once tried the large jar of Great Value dill pickles and they reacted the same way even though they were not marked kosher, so just a caution there

² Here's were I made a mistake. I left the stem and flower ends on, which meant that the syrup couldn't penetrate easily.  Slice off the stem end & flower end so all slices have two faces.

³ It turns out "kosher dill" may or may not mean "kosher" -- what it does mean is that there's garlic in the brine and in the jar.

Happy Thanksgiving, Thermite Style & Traditional Style

I wish you and yours all abundance and health.

Thermite Style, in memory of the Tank Historian and Scholar

A Thermite Thanksgiving - Watch more Funny Videos

Traditional Style

Copper Carrot Coins Try #1 and Suggested Alternate

We are trying to change up the Traditional Menu around here, so I decided to try a few recipes from Kitchen Daily.  First up was Copper Carrots. 

Doesn't that look pretty?  I read the recipe and thought it might be good.

 

 

http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/copper-carrots-149910

Ingredients

• 5 pounds carrots, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 3 cups unsweetened tart cherry or pomegranate juice (I used pomegranite juice)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Turkish bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Simmer carrots, juice, brown sugar, tomato paste, oil, bay leaves, coriander, salt, and pepper in a large heavy pot, stirring occasionally, until carrots are crisp-tender, about 20 minutes.

Strain, reserving liquid, (about 2 cups). Reduce liquid over high heat until it measures 1 cup and is slightly thickened.

Return carrots to pot with liquid to reheat, stirring to coat carrots with reduced juices, then serve.

This is what I really did:

Peeled the carrots

then trimmed them so that roughly the same size.  The smaller bits I reserved for another recipe later.

I then cut them into coins, making the smaller-diameter bits a bit thicker so that they would all cook evenly.

Here they are, all cut up, waiting to go into the cooking liquid

 

 

• In a large heavy pot with a lid, combine the pomegranite juice, brown sugar, , tomato paste, oil, bay leaves, and coriander, and bring to a boil. Note I did not add the salt or the pepper at this point as I thought the long cooking would overemphasize the salt and pepper flavors
• In another pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil
• When the juice mixture is boiling, add in the carrots.

As you can see, the juice mixture doesn't cover the carrots.  So add enough boiling water so the carrots are covered. 

Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are just al dente.  (It took about 12 minutes on my stovetop with my cooking equipment. YMMV.)

• Using a slotted spoon or a skimmer, remove carrots to a bowl and set aside.
• Bring liquid back to a rolling boil and reduce until the liquid is slightly thickened.
• Remove from heat, stir carrots back into liquid, and adjust the seasoning (this is where the salt and pepper comes in.)

Here's the finished product.  The carrots ended up an unappetizing brownish-orange, and the taste was...oddly bland, while tart (as you would expect from a pomegranite-based dish).

The base carrots were flavorful enough but maybe I just don't like boiled carrots.  Here's an alternative dish:

Mommy Carrots, or Sauteed Carrots and Ginger in an Orange Juice Glaze.

Ingredients

• 5 pounds carrots
• 2 cups orange juice 
• 1 knob of fresh ginger, about as big as two thumbs
• 1/4 cup of white wine (or water, if you have to).
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• Salt

Directions:

• Peel, trim, and cut carrots into coins, as above
• Peel ginger and cut into slivers
• In a large pot, melt  the 1/3 the  butter and a bit of the oil
• Working in batches, saute the carrots until they are browned a bit but underdone-- still crisp. Add additional butter/oil as needed.  
• Hold the sauteed carrots in a bowl.
• When all the carrots have been sauteed, deglaze the pan with the wine or water, scraping any browned bits free. 
• Add the ginger and orange juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce until the juice mixture is thicker than maple syrup, but not as thick as chocolate syrup.
• Return the carrots to the syrup mixture and stir constantly until the syrup mixture forms a glaze on the carrots.
• Check seasoning (you may wish to add a bit of salt and pepper).
• Serve.

 

Jacques Littlefield's Memorial Chili Dog Doritos Casserole

Today is the 61st anniversary of Jacques' birth. He had a real taste for...well not haut cuisine. 

Original recipe narrative, which is much funnier

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011758.html

Chili-Dog Casserole by Sean Craven

Ingredients:

• 1 12 oz. bag of Ranch-flavored Doritos
• 1 16 oz. package of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs (skinless)
•  4 15 oz. cans Dennison’s original chili con carne (or Hormel or Wolf)
• 4 cups pre-shredded orange cheddar cheese, any brand (cheaper is better)
• 1/2 lb. extra-sharp cheddar (white, if you can get it), sliced thin
• About a quarter-cup of French’s yellow mustard 

(optional if your diners like spicy)

• 1/4 lb pepper cheese, Havarti or jack; reduce sliced extra-sharp cheddar to 1/4 lb.
• Vlasic pickled nacho rings or pickled jalapenos (add to your taste to the hot dog layer)

Tools

• Mixing bowl
• Saute pan
• Lasagna pan or pan measuring about 13 in x 9 in x 2 in.

Procedure

Serving time minus several hours (or even day before)

• Slice the hotdogs lengthwise into quarters, then thinly crosswise (about 1/4" wide)
• Saute the hotdogs briefly to brown
•  Remove to bowl, add the mustard, and toss. You can do this the night before, if you wish.

Serving time minus 1 hour or more

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Open one bag of Doritos and crush roughly -- you want large, flat pieces.
• Take out a large handful of chips and set aside.
• Open the bags of shredded cheese. Take out a handful and set aside.

Assemble the layers as follows:

One:

• Doritos (scatter just enough to cover bottom of pan)
• Shredded cheese, about a cup, scattered evenly over previous layer
• One quarter of the hot dogs, scattered evenly over previous layer
• One quarter of the sliced cheese, layered evenly over previous
• One can of chili, spread as evenly as possible over previous layers

Two:

• Doritos (scatter just enough to cover previous)
•  Shredded cheese, about a cup, scattered evenly over previous layer
• One quarter of the hot dogs
•  One quarter of the sliced cheese
• One can of chili, spread as evenly as possible over previous layers

Three:

• Doritos (scatter just enough to cover previous)
• Shredded cheese, about a cup, scattered evenly over previous layer
• One quarter of the hot dogs
•  One quarter of the sliced cheese
•  One can of chili, spread as evenly as possible over previous layers

Four:

• Doritos (scatter just enough to cover previous)
• Shredded cheese, about a cup, scattered evenly over previous layer
•  One quarter of the hot dogs
•  One quarter of the sliced cheese
• One can of chili, spread as evenly as possible over previous layers

Topping

The Doritos should be all used up. If not, no worries. Return reserved Doritos to bag and crush very finely, to crumbs. Put reserved cheese in Doritos bag & shake until crumbs & cheese thoroughly mixed.

Spread Doritos - cheese mixture over top of chili.

Bake in oven for 30-45 minutes, until center is hot.

Serve. And honey? This is how I feel.

Mr Handley Continues To Make Statements That Are Not Supported by Evidence

Updated with new blog posts & requests from bloggers formerly designated as "anonymous". So naturally the numbers change as well.

 

Yesterday (November 16, 2010), the Age of Autism blog published a phantasmagoria by J. B. Handley, asserting that the blogger known as Sullivan is in fact Bonnie Offit MD, the wife of Paul Offit MD.

In that post, Handley wrote:

I’m personally convinced, I think Bonnie Offit is Sullivan.

Today (November 17, 2010), Mr. Handley posted this comment 

click to embiggen

I'll attend to just the first two sentences:

One of the more enjoyable parts of kicking the hornet's nest is watching the Keyboard Courage Club, aka anonymous bloggers, all get together to defend one of their own. It's a society of chicken-shits.

Two points:

1. Is anonymous the same as pseudonymous?  
2. How many of the bloggers who challenged Mr. Handly's phantasmagoria are in fact -- well, not blogging using their legal names?
   

I'm going to tackle the second point first, and leave the first for another post. Let's look at the evidence to date:

As of November 17, 2010, at 6:39 Pacific Standard Time (PST) November 18 at 8:05 pm there are eighteen twenty responses to Mr. Handley's assertions:

Posts:

1. Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams So Wrong It Is Funny:
2. Orac at Respectful Insolence I am Bonnie Offit
3. Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain I am Bonnie Offit
4. Kim Wombles at Countering No No No I am Bonnie Offit
5. Kim Wombles at Countering It Has to Be Asked
6. Kim Wombles at Countering Age of Autism Runs Out of Steam: Handley, Bonnie Offit, and Sullivan from LBRB
7. Catherina at JusttheVax I am Bonnie Offit
8. Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit
9. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit!
10. Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
11. Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Age of Autism, Meet Shark
12. Rene F. Najera at Epi Times  Ich bin Bonnie Offit / Yo soy Bonnie Offit / I am Bonnie Offit / 我邦尼Offit
13. Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit
14. Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit
15. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit -- Followup
16. Michael Rosch at New York Atheism & Skepticism JB Handley is a deranged psycho (I have proof)
17. Kim Wombles at Countering The Fallout of Handley's Sullivangate: Looking to Tomorrow and Hope
18. Kev Leitch at LeftBrain RightBrain Society vs. Individuals
19. Craig Willoughby at My Socrates Note It Is Time to Step Away from the Accusations, AoA
20. MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks

I will now segment them:

Responses using the blogger's full, real name: 

1. Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams So Wrong It Is Funny: JB Handley Claims "Sullivan" is Bonnie Offit
2. Kim Wombles at Countering No No No I am Bonnie Offit
3. Kim Wombles at Countering It Has to Be Asked
4. Kim Wombles at Countering Age of Autism Runs Out of Steam: Handley, Bonnie Offit, and Sullivan from LBRB
5. Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Age of Autism, Meet Shark
6. Rene F. Najera at Epi Times  Ich bin Bonnie Offit / Yo soy Bonnie Offit / I am Bonnie Offit / 我邦尼Offit
7. Michael Rosch at New York Atheism & Skepticism JB Handley is a deranged psycho (I have proof)
8. Kim Wombles at Countering The Fallout of Handley's Sullivangate: Looking to Tomorrow and Hope
9. Craig Willoughby at My Socrates Note It Is Time to Step Away from the Accusations, AoA

Let's review.  Hmmn.  Mr. Handley asserted that  "anonymous bloggers" were responding to his post.  So far,   9/18 = 50% 9/20 =45% of bloggers responding did so under their own names.  As the Mythbusters would say, "probably busted."  We aren't done yet. What about the other eight? eleven?

• Orac at Respectful Insolence I am Bonnie Offit

Orac's relationship to David Gorski, MD is well-known.  In fact, at the blog Age of Autism Mr. Handley himself made a big deal out of their relationship, as did Jake Crosby at the same site in an effort to threaten Dr. Gorski's employment.

So we are up to 10/18 = 55.55%.  10/20=50% Progress! Even closer to busted.

Next:

• Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain I am Bonnie Offit
• Kev  at LeftBrain RightBrain Society vs. Individuals

Who is Kev? He is Kevin Leitch;  his real-life identity is well-known to the folk at Age of Autism, as this scurrilous post reveals.

So we are up to 12/18 = 66.66%.  12/20=60% Even closer to busted. Creeping up on busted!

Who is left?  Are they truly anonymous?

1. Catherina at JusttheVax I am Bonnie Offit
2. Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit
3. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit!
4. Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
5. Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit
6. Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit
7. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit -- Followup
8. MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks

Are these people anonymous or pseudonymous?  Let's take them on a case-by-case basis.

• Catherina at JusttheVax -- she and her blogging partner, ScienceMom, were long-time commenters at sites such as Respectful Insolence.  They began their blogging career in April, 2009 
• Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit They have an email address, justthevax@gmail.com, to which they respond [personal evidence]

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 14/20 = 70%.  Even closer to busted.

• Todd W. is a long-time commenter at sites such as Bad Astronomy.    He has a website, The Truth About the Evils of Vaccination and a blog, Silenced by Age of Autism , to track comments that were moderated out of existence at the Age of Autism site, and an email address to which he responds. [personal evidence]

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 16/20 = 80%.  Even closer to busted.

Next:

• Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit

Sheldon is a long-time commenter at the Huffington Post (as Sheldon101), and other sites.  In October 2009 he started a blog to curate his comments, some of which were, well, moderated out of existence. (Is there a pattern here?) He has a revealing about page, including an email address to which he replies [personal evidence]

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 17/20 = 85%.  Even closer to busted.

Although I don't know MJ myself, I know people who know him in real life and vouch for his identity.

• MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 18/20 = 90%.  Even closer to busted.

• Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's Built

Laura has an informative about page, but no contact information. I'm putting her in the "anonymous" category.

• Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit

Travis also has an informative about page but not contact information. For that reason I am also putting him in the "anonymous" category.

Both Laura and Travis have left comments that indicate they don't think of themselves as "anonymous" so I'm adding them to a new category: blogs under a partial version of real name:

• Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
• Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit

Final count?  20/20 = 100% 

That is strong enough to call

Mr. Handley's assertion is totally and completely busted.

Oh, and about Mr. Handley's comment that

...anonymous bloggers, It's a society of chicken-shits.

 

Well, Mr. Handley, how about your anonymous (and vulgar) comments?

These are his most recent  (the ISP has been verified as Handley's):

 

(click on the image to embiggen)

 (click on the image to embiggen)

So Wrong It Is Funny: JB Handley Claims "Sullivan" is Bonnie Offit. No, I am Bonnie Offit

There's a blogger who goes by the nom de blogue "Sullivan", mostly posting at LeftBrain/RightBrain.  (He chose the name based on the character from Monsters Inc., one of his kids' favorite movies.)  I am proud to say that Sullivan is a friend in real life -- we met through blogging, discovered we lived in the same part of California, and meet from time to time for lunch or coffee or similar.

Sully is danged smart and a passionate advocate for truth, justice, and improving life for people with disabilities.  One of his children has significant disabilities, including autism.

JB Handley is also a father of a child with autism, but has a completely different character.  Handley and his wife founded Generation Rescue; Handley blogs from time to time at Age of Autism.  His blog posts are often scurrulious screeds (examples: Novella, Gorski, Wallace , Harris, and so on). Handley's  bête noire is anyone who disagrees with the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism; his favorite target for villification is Paul Offit, MD.

Today, based on an offhand comment I wrote at Squidalicious, Handley has posted a cloud castle, claiming "evidence" that Sullivan is in fact not a father of a child with autism, but Paul Offit's wife Bonnie.

The chain of evidence is pathetic in its delusions.  But it's standard operating procedure for those enmeshed in pseudoscience: begin with a misinterpretation, and go hunting frantically (if not hysterically) for confirmation. 

Update: Here's Handley's two promises

If you can produce a dad with a child with autism with a remarkable grasp of the medical and scientific literature who blogs under the name Sullivan, a man who has an inordinate grasp of the details of your husband’s patents, lawsuits, published studies, and web habits, I will make sure that the pauloffit.com website is given to you and your husband for good.

In fact, if you can produce this father, I promise to never, ever publicly write about or utter the name “Paul Offit” again.

Internet responses:

1. Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams So Wrong It Is Funny:
2. Orac at Respectful Insolence I am Bonnie Offit
3. Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain I am Bonnie Offit
4. Kim Wombles at Countering No No No I am Bonnie Offit
5. Kim Wombles at Countering It Has to Be Asked
6. Kim Wombles at Countering Age of Autism Runs Out of Steam: Handley, Bonnie Offit, and Sullivan from LBRB
7. Catherina at JusttheVax I am Bonnie Offit
8. Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit
9. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit!
10. Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
11. Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Age of Autism, Meet Shark
12. Rene F. Najera at Epi Times  Ich bin Bonnie Offit / Yo soy Bonnie Offit / I am Bonnie Offit / 我邦尼Offit
13. Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit
14. Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit
15. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit -- Followup
16. Michael Rosch at New York Atheism & Skepticism JB Handley is a deranged psycho (I have proof)
17. Kim Wombles at Countering The Fallout of Handley's Sullivangate: Looking to Tomorrow and Hope
18. Kev Leitch at LeftBrain RightBrain Society vs. Individuals
19. Craig Willoughby at My Socrates Note It Is Time to Step Away from the Accusations, AoA
20. MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks
21. David M. Brown at Evil Possum:  If Sullivan's Offit, then JB is Bigfoot![pdf file]
22. Meg Evans at ASAN Southwest Ohio True Confessions
    

end

Recipe for Life | Recette de la Vie for Haiti and anywhere Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) Is Needed

I was directed here by Grunt Doc

 

From

One of the stars of the video, Dorothy Edwards, made an ORT rhyme -

“Cap, cap,
Cap, cap; A cap,
Four caps of sugar,
One cap of salt,
A half-liter of water,
And what have you got?
Life-saving miracle,
Snatch you back from the dead,
Life-saving miracle,
Get you out of the bed.”

More from Doc Gurley's post:(emphasis added)

As those storms blow through Haiti, and floods rise, spreading misery and more cholera far and wide, you may feel the urge to turn off the news – if for no other reason than because you can’t take it any more. And because there’s nothing you feel like you can do to make a difference. If so, I encourage you to do one small thing. I encourage you steal this video, below. I spent a weekend making it with good friends. It is a mostly-wordless instruction video, suitable for any country, about how to make life-saving oral rehydration solution, using only things that a person living in a sheet city would have. I was appalled to find that there are almost zero YouTube videos about Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) – almost all (except for one in the Hausa language) are actually commercials for electrolyte drinks.

Also, if you are an aid worker, see http://www.memoriamapp.com/

Memoriam is a mobile app to help relief workers globally track deaths and incidents easily while in the field and provide enough information that victims can be easily identified. It includes the ability to store data securely and confidentially remotely. The purpose is that victims never be forgotten. Memoriam is currently in beta testing in Haiti and will be coming to the App Store soon. If you are interested in knowing more, please email info@memoriamapp.com.

For All Veterans Everywhere: Thanks for Your Service

Image source: http://mommylife.net/archives/2009/11/november_11_vet.html