[QUOTE=kladner;358416]One of my brothers, who had trouble waking up for weird shifts, built a highly obnoxious alarm. [/QUOTE]
In the nineties I was working in China for a while, far away from family (usually Mrs. LaurV is my alarm clock , and there is no way nor arguing that I could ignore it or turning off! :smile:), and I had nothing reliable to wake me up, the clocks were lousy and I often ignore them, etc, and sometime I arrived to the factory late and wet, and risking to go hungry. Late was not a problem, no one was asking, as long as you did your job properly, and I don't really cared about the breakfast (provided by the company!), but wet... that was a problem. In GuangDong area, during monsoon season it was heavily raining every morning after 7:30, no joke! It was something related to the winds, which blow from the sea during the morning/day and viceversa during the night, don't exactly remember, but every morning, with atomic precision, and for about half hour or more, it was a heavy wind and rained cats and dogs, as the Englishman would say. There was no way to use an umbrella without the risk of flying around, and we had to walk about 500-800 meters from the villa (provided by the company) where we were living, to the factory. So, either you wake up "properly" and arrive before the rain, either you wait till after the rain (no breakfast anymore!) or... like in the song, "walking in the rain" and arrive soaked... Foreigners at the company used to joke about, like "if you don't come in time, you get wet and hungry", and we either joked about changing the working schedule "like the Chinese" (who came one hour earlier, and left one or two hours later, but they like it that way, more work, more money :smile:, well, the subject is not the exploitation here).

Big pain in the back! What to do? One day I found out I can use the aircond to wake me up. The room I was sleeping in had a HUGE aircond, which was not used during the season, except very seldom, to "dry" the air and avoid the humidity and kill the molds and fungi living happily in my drawers and books. I was using it also to heat :razz: the room in the winter (when the temperature outside was [U]plus[/U] 15C, hehe, don't laugh! I never liked the cold climate, in spite of the fact that sometimes I am missing the snow and beautiful Romanian winters, with [U]minus[/U] 20 or 30C!, and for sure, I HATE the aircond, I mean the [U]devilish[/U] thing that blows COLD air on your head, causing headache, sneezing, shortening your life with years :razz:), but in during the monsoon season (which is a pleonasm, as "monsoon" in fact means "season" :P, this I learned in China, as well as the fact the word "typhoon" come from the Chinese "tai feng" - same pronunciation, meaning "the lady wind", "old lady wind", I remember this because at that time I was reading some sequel of Frank Herbert's "Dune", which was in vogue in the nineties, and he was talking about "mother storms", etc), so during the monsoon, the devilish thing was mainly not used. This HUGE heating box, which people call "aircond", had a remote and timer. It took me a while to figure out, at that time such things were not so common, but the factory I was working for used to produce parts for them. Every evening I was directing its blow toward the bed, program it to start at the right time in the morning, and "cool to max", I used to put the remote in the most distant corner of the room, and go to sleep. In the morning the devilish thing was blowing freezing air directly to my face, which I could not stand at all, I had to jump out of bed ready to beat somebody... It was almost same effective as Mrs. LaurV... (wanted to write "better than", but I don't want to get in trouble in case she ever reads the forum... :blush:, which she does not, usually, but you never know... better safe than sorry...)

Now THAT is inventive! Very "cool"! :razz:

[QUOTE=kladner;358416]One of my brothers, who had trouble waking up for weird shifts, built a highly obnoxious alarm. I don't remember now what he used for a noise-maker. It was something like a big electric fire alarm bell, or an electric klaxon. I think he also put the controls completely out of reach across the room so that he had to get up and walk to turn it off. This was in the 70s. I don't even remember what he used for a timing device, but he was quite inventive about such things.[/QUOTE]Our front door "bell" is a smoke alarm with the push-button at the door wired across the testing switch in the alarm.

Very very loud which means that we can hear it anywhere in the house and if we're out in the garden.

[URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/european-maps-showing-origins-of-common-words-2013-11#ixzz2jn8YuohM"]Words and stuff[/URL]

[QUOTE=chappy;358518][URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/european-maps-showing-origins-of-common-words-2013-11#ixzz2jn8YuohM"]Words and stuff[/URL][/QUOTE]

Actress/humorist Janeane Garofalo, better known as "J-Rose" in her ancestral home.

[QUOTE=chappy;358518][URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/european-maps-showing-origins-of-common-words-2013-11#ixzz2jn8YuohM"]Words and stuff[/URL][/QUOTE]

Those are really interesting maps, with the corresponding word-versions.

[QUOTE=kladner;358527]Those are really interesting maps, with the corresponding word-versions.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I wish that they had chosen more basic words, however, such as words for body parts (hand, finger) or common verbs or even numbers. Words for vegetables or fruits are often borrowed from the cultures which supplied the seeds, and offer less insight than the words that tend to persist for centuries. Still very interesting and thought-provoking.

[QUOTE=philmoore;358529]Agreed. I wish that they had chosen more basic words, however, such as words for body parts (hand, finger) or common verbs or even numbers. Words for vegetables or fruits are often borrowed from the cultures which supplied the seeds, and offer less insight than the words that tend to persist for centuries. Still very interesting and thought-provoking.[/QUOTE]

I see your point about really basic and universal words. The words for genitalia would be an interesting study.

On the other hand, words for [U]grains[/U] would almost certainly show recognizable patterns of dispersal. I suppose that this is only a matter of degree in the same class as fruits and vegetables, but grains are about as basic as it gets in both the agricultural, as well as the linguistic realms.

Something that might make you go "Yummmm..."
 

Going completely tangential...

One of the few things I can cook well is sushi (although only maki currently).

I like to experiment with different fillings, and I'd like to share something I've found is a real hit with my guests (those last night explicitly requested (lots of!) it), and some of you might as enjoy it as well...

I would probably be executed for blasphemy if I ever made this in Japan, but the maki's contents are:

1. Japanese omelette (Tomago).
2. Crispy bacon (two strips per roll).
3. The usual other maki stuff including a bit of wasabi, etc.

I call it "The Breakfast Blend"... :smile:

I still can't produce the Tomago properly -- I don't know how the Sushi Master Chefs are able to produce something which is perfectly light yellow all the way through. But what I can do is good enough to taste good.

And trust me, this combination tastes *really* good!!!

light yellow? banana or pineapple?

Tumeric? idk, is that the way it is cooked or is something added?