The roast came out pretty good last week. I used this recipe at House of Yumm for seasoning and should have reduced things since my roast was only about 2 ¾ pounds instead of 3-4 pounds. Terrifically tender but a little too salty. I braised it in beef bouillon from about 165 to 205, but I think the bouillon combined with the amount of salt in the rub was just a little too much. It came out with a great bark and otherwise very good flavor. I used crabapple and osage for the fire.

I overcooked it just a little, I think. Instead of taking it off at 200-205 degrees, I left it on for about 45 minutes up to 212 because I misread the cooking guide. Everyone has a miscue or two as they learn to smoke, I figure. The nice thing about cooking at that temp is that it didn’t dry out at all. It was still nice and tender and juicy. I may experiment with flavors in the braising liquid next time.
Middle Son told me that at the rate I’m going, I’ll be able to do a turducken for Thanksgiving. It’s a goal, but it’ll take some planning to pull everything off. I usually do a twenty-pound turkey to feed everyone, and I’m not sure a bird that big will fit in my smoker. Maybe I’ll do a smaller turducken and get a ham. We’ll see.
And Oldest Son sent me some Uncle Jammy’s rubs and BBQ sauce for Father’s Day (along with a really cool Evolution of the Alphabet poster). It’s almost like people want me to cook more.
Cues
You might be surprised how much you depend on audio and visual cues from the people who live with you.
Youngest Daughter is away at camp for a few weeks. Diana was at General Assembly last weekend. Middle Son spent Saturday night at a friend’s house.
Middle Son typically leaves about 10:30 PM, but this time he left early in the day, so he wasn’t home to leave at his usual time. Diana wasn’t home watching her usual TV shows, or working on her master’s program. Because I was alone, I didn’t cook a big meal.
I stayed up until 3 because I didn’t have the normal household cues.
My Sunday morning was off a little bit, too. I got up early to take the dog out because Diana wasn’t home to do it around 7 like she usually does. I had my glasses on since I hadn’t showered yet, which is when I usually put my contacts in. But I still pulled my glasses up onto my head when I turned the corner into the hallway because that’s what I do with my reading glasses at that turn. Except I didn’t have my reading glasses on; I was wearing my regular glasses. But that turn was my cue to push my readers up, so I pushed up the glasses I was wearing. Fortunately, I didn’t run into or trip over anything. It was a curious weekend though.
Things I’ve Read This Week
The Friendly Atheist had an interesting piece about guns in churches Monday. Most Christian pastors use armed church members to thwart a possible mass shooting. Hemant was quick to point out that “prayer is not a part of their safety plan,” but it doesn’t look like that was one of the options on the survey he was talking about. Is it really fair then to point that out? I get it; he’s an atheist (and I don’t tend to disagree with a lot of his posts). But churches have enough to criticize as it is. Why ding them for not giving an answer that wasn’t available?
Mehta also brought up the “regulate guns like cars” idea that seems to be a common suggestion these days. But the analogy falls apart pretty quickly. You don’t need a license to own a car. There’s no legal limit on how many cars you can own, nor is there one for horsepower, passenger capacity, or any number of characteristics. And my Oklahoma license allows me to operate my cars anywhere in the country without extra licensing or testing.
Insurance is another regular suggestion, but it’s usually made by people who don’t understand how insurance works. Liability insurance is designed to make you whole if I cause a crash and hurt you. But it won’t pay out if someone steals my car and hits you. Likewise, a comprehensive policy makes me whole in the event of a crash or other loss. Since most policies won’t pay out in the event of a criminal offense, the idea of some kind of gunowner insurance policy isn’t going to accomplish what its proponents want.
But that’s veering off to a tangent I don’t really want to pursue.
Ars Technica had a neat piece on the World Book Encyclopedia, entitled I just bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, and I regret nothing. When I was growing up, we had a set of bookcases in our living room that displayed a combination of knickknacks and books. One entire shelf held a World Book Encyclopedia set, and more than occasionally, I’d pull out a volume and just read. I tended to spend more time skimming the yearbooks, an annual update edition, for some reason, but I read everything. Nice to see it’s still in print, even if the number are greatly reduced.
This one is just downright chilling. An Anti-Porn App Put Him in Jail and His Family Under Surveillance. An Indiana man was arrested for possession of child sexual abuse material. As part of his bond conditions, he was ordered to not use any electronic devices. The family “agreed” to have Covenant Eyes installed on everyone’s devices as a compliance measure.
If you’re wondering how software can determine who’s using a device, you’re understanding part of the dilemma.
The problem for the Indiana man arose when Covenant Eyes reported that he’d visited Pornhub on his wife’s phone. But Covenant Eyes explains that the software can’t determine if someone intentionally viewed prohibited content or if it was a background process. Wired reporters recreated the issue on their own equipment.
And the man’s bond conditions don’t prohibit his wife from viewing porn, anyway.
The article raises other valid concerns. Text and email conversations between the man and his attorneys are privileged information. But Covenant Eyes takes a screenshot every minute and sends that to the user’s “accountability partners,” which in this case are part of the system that’s trying to send the man to jail. That’s a violation of attorney-client privilege.
The probation department takes the position that the family consented to the surveillance, so voluntarily waived their right to privacy. But their choice was consent, or force him to live somewhere else while he’s out on bail.
Coerced consent isn’t real consent.
I contacted Covenant Eyes with some questions but they didn’t respond before I had to post this. I note that they didn’t respond to repeated requests from the original reporter either.
Writing
Good Men Project picked up part of one of my recent posts, where I talked about my friend who’s now in federal prison. Compare the original post with their version.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share a thought in the comments. Sign up for my infrequent newsletter here. Find some of my other writing at The Good Men Project, too. Subscribe to the blog via the link in the right sidebar or follow it on Mastodon. You can also add my RSS feed to your favorite reader.
Share your thoughts!