Karin's Adventures

They knew since December, but decided to tell us today. Investigations into a huge botnet turned up 16 million stolen email addresses, complete with passwords, half of them ending in .de - Germany.

I found out that my oldest email address, which I have been using for almost everything in the past 15 years, is one of them. I had almost expected that, given my level of exposure online, and I wasn't really concerned about any consequences, because I have been doing enough to protect my computers, and online accounts, and identities.  

Just in case you want to know what I'd recommend for your protection - and peace of mind:

• For your online activities use an email address that does not contain your name
• Use a unique, different password for every online account
• Create complex passwords, using a system that is easy for you to remember
• Change your passwords for everything every three months, or even more often
• Keep your virus protection and firewall on all your computers up to date.
• Scan all your computers for malware with multiple, different programs a least monthly
• Turn all your computers off when you are not using them

It had been snowing almost non-stop yesterday, leaving us with
about 14 inches of snow on the ground. Temperatures had dropped
drastically to -17°F. Figuring in the windchill factor we are now facing
life-threatening -40°F and a travel warning has been 
issued by the authorities.

Currently only emergency travel is allowed. Most businesses,
schools, and government offices remain closed for today.
Indiana Tech decided to follow suit, which gives me a very welcome
day of plowing snow, unclogging a drain in the bathroom,
and staying warm by the fireplace.

Ever since I read the ingredients list on a container of the goop they call "jogurt" in this country, I have been making my own jogurt at home. Long before "greek jogurt" officially became America's favorite, I was enjoying it for breakfast daily, at about half to price of store-bought. 

The process is simple, the results taste fabulous, but I saw room for improvement. My 2-quart jogurt maker renders 1 quart of finished product, so I had to make two batches per week. Also, the inner container of my jogurt maker is made out of plastic, and I always wondered how much of that was seeping into my jogurt during 12 hours of incubating a slightly acidic substance at about 95°F. 

Recently I had an idea that would solve both problems: my crock pot!
Now I make jogurt only once a week; and it sits in the ceramic insert of my slow-cooker during fermentation.

If you would like to try it for yourself, here's what you need:

• 1 crock-pot, 5 quarts capacity or more
• 1 gallon of milk
• 2 cups of plain, natural jogurt with live cultures and absolutely no additives (Dannon, Chobani, or Fage)
• 2 big 8-inch strainers
• 2 cheesecloths
• 2 mason jars, 1 quart capacity each, with caps

Turn your crock-pot on at the lowest setting. Mine has "buffet", but "low" will be OK too. While the crock-pot warms up, heat the gallon of milk in a big pot. You need to constantly stir that and watch the temperature. The milk should be at about 95°C (or body temperature) before you proceed.

Mix 2 cups of plain natural jogurt into the warm milk, then pour the mixture into the crock-pot. Make sure it is well blended without any chunks of jogurt floating around in the milk. Now turn the crock-pot off. This is important! If you leave the crock-pot on, it will get too hot and your jogurt cultures will die. Just let the pot sit there undisturbed for about 12 hours.

When you see the whey separate from the jogurt a little bit, and the stuff in the crock-pot seems noticeably thicker, prepare two strainers. Line them with cheesecloth and set them up over large enough bowls. Now pour your jogurt out of the crock-pot into those two strainers and let the whey drain out. You can check once in a while to see if your jogurt has the desired creamy texture.

After another two to four hours of draining you'll end up with two quarts of the most delicious, healthy, creamy "greek" jogurt you've ever had. Fill that into the mason jars and store it in the refrigerator. 

Enjoy!   

Christmas is coming upon us really quickly this year, probably because Thanksgiving was rather late.

I enjoy this time of the year! As the days are getting shorter, the evenings at home by the cozy fireplace get that much longer. The streets along my daily commute light up with everybody's attempts to top their neighbors' Holiday decorations, or at least top their own from last year.

The ceiling over my cubicle at work is the perfect place to hang up a net of little white LED lights, combine that with clear and silver plastic glitter strings, and create the impression of a winter wonderland floating above my head.

Just because some type of fuel is "renewable" doesn't necessarily mean it's also "good".

Prompted by the special needs of the latest addition to our fleet of vehicles, a beautiful BMW R1200RT, which requires gasoline with a 90 octane or higher rating, I educated myself on the effects of ethanol added to fuel.  

In short: it's not good!

Ethanol attracts water, which then damages whatever engine is running on it. Ethanol also dissolves the softeners used in many plastic parts, tubes, and seals in our machinery. The production of ethanol creates more greenhouse gas and wastes more water than the production of gasoline.

Those 10% of ethanol added to most of the fuel available in the USA are the reason why carburators, fuel pumps, and engines get clogged up, need frequent oil changes, don't last as long, and run less efficiently.

Finding alcohol-free gas is not easy, though! There is only one source in Fort Wayne. A gallon of the precious stuff currently costs $3.959 there.