The Malcontent

John Gilmore cannot be broken.

The Malcontent admires his spirit and determination–and has said so before.

Probably not as nervous as the people in Solano County, California.

I think this quote catches the flavor of why people may view former Diebold employee/new county elections manager Deborah Seiler with some suspicion:

Seiler’s move is a rare one, however — an election official who left state employment to go work for a voting company, then came back to elections.

Seiler worked for Diebold–you know, the company who makes voting machines, whose president Wally O’Dell is one of Bush’s high-level fund-raisers known as “Pioneers and Rangers.” Remember the name?

O’Dell last fall penned a letter pledging his commitment “to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President.”

Right. Seiler worked for him. Now she works for Ira Rosenthal, Solano County’s registrar of voters and chief information officer. Rosenthal is appointed, not elected.

Just in time for the release of Doom 3. Thanks, IBM!

The Onion Brings It. (Oh, it’s been broughten. Oh, yeah.)

Paul Boutin reflects on the Blue Screen of Death in Slate and offers some advice in hopes of seeing it less frequently. Good for the non-technical crowd.

The government’s blatant attempt to increase the severity of Martha Stewart’s sentence.

Sorry, it was just too easy.

Well, no. The Malcontent wears many hats and one of them is a toque. Plus, the whole blog can’t just be a bunch of mindless political vitriol (I mean, why steal Ann Coulter’s place in the universe?) Plus, The Malcontent knows from food.

Last food item today (or until I find something else interesting): The highly annoying Rocco DiSpirito gets sacked. I’m no fan of Rocco, but he really seems to be having a crap year. Maybe he could go work for this guy.

Among The Malcontent’s many obsessions are apples. Not the computers, the fruit.

As a extra Wednesday food item, check out this beautiful apple cookbook, which is available for free download as well.

In honor of Spouse of Malcontent, who loves sandwiches, the recipe for one of the world’s oddest sandwiches, the chip butty.

Also a shout-out to Bill, who clearly loves sandwiches more than SoM, because his blog is called I Love Sandwiches.

The chip butty is one of those creations that is as much process as recipe. This recipe is adapted from the Lancastrian one found on this page of The Goodies Rule-OK!

The chip butty, while perhaps known outside of England and the U.K., seems to be perfected there. You start with big thick french fries—what the Brits would call “chips.”

You could buy take-out fries, but you can also do it yourself in a deep fryer or on the stovetop–think big steak fry size. Fry them up golden brown–crispness counts.

Then you want a soft roll, like a hamburger bun. Potato buns are a good choice, though it does seem a lot like eating a bacon-stuffed pork chop….

You want to butter your bread thickly–enough to make even your most ardent Atkins fat-natic nervous….

Then grab some hot chips and cram them on the roll. I mean, mash them down. This should be a vigorous assembly process. (Apparently, many feel this step is best if the chips go straight from the fryer to the bun, with a minimum of draining.)

As to condiments, opinions vary. Some feel a generous application of salt and vinegar is perfection. Others, tomato sauce. Even brown sauce (which, if you don’t have, can be approximated with A-1 Sauce). Yank barbarians like myself like a little catsup.

Next Wednesday—D.I.Y. angioplasty, natch.

The Malcontent has always been proud of his public school education, but suddenly, private school looks so-so-attractive.

Oddly, there were also reports that day of mass attempts by 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders to get “Alexandria Country Day School Rocks!” tattoos….