Mad Social Science

The economics of choice in social situations have always fascinated me, and I spent most of my life since I was 15 resisting (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) the urge to use them to further my own diabolical means. One way my empirical observations of social interaction have helped me were with family home evening groups in my church. It's a relatively small social setting of about 10-15 people, and it was my job to have them meet and have a good time every week. It was a blast trying to meld my group of friends together, balancing the need to include everyone, solidify individual relationships, and break various barriers. I figure I use my powers for good, not evil, right?

My latest attempt was perhaps more an exercise in game theory than mad social science, but nonetheless it has social implications. The concept was born under the name of a "jungle potluck." The idea is simple, a potluck where people vote who can and cannot stay. The problem with a potluck is always the freeloader who brings little. Even when this is harmless lack of time or something, everyone else gets the message that the potluck is not a big deal. This way, however, there is constant pressure to bring better and better food.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. The risk of offending people is too high. I think it would work among foodie types, but not with a normal social gathering, but even then it's risky. Just a rotating dinner group is easier for accomplishing the task of assured good food, but lacks the flexibility and dynamic of a potluck. So, I found a compromise, and a simple one at that, a creation I call: The Provo Society of Dining.

The idea is an easy one, and this one I do recommend trying at home. When people join the group, the idea is communicated to them that a high quality of food is expected, and then at each meeting (we do it weekly) contributing members vote on their favorite dish. The winner gets exemption from having to cook next week and his first pick of the left-overs (second place is determined by his first pick). It's a perfect cycle: start with the desire to eat good food, add in some competition, everyone gets even better food and then gets more competitive. Rinse, lather, repeat.

So far our winners have been a Thai curry and a homemade cheesecake, and it hasn't been obvious who the winner is. The food is high caliber and in good supply. I'm interested to see if the food gets better and better or worse and worse as people settle and get into a routine, but so far signs are good that I've created an amazing dinner group: flexible, high-quality, entertaining (because of the competition), non-exclusive, reliable, and with a good distribution of labor. I don't think it would work in a larger setting, because of the classic free-loader (although maybe house wives in church are the most competitive bunch of chefs ever, which would explain why I loved potlucks as a kid).

The Combinatorial Explosion

An artist friend of mine recently remarked that she didn't think anything was ever truly created, artist's conceptions always arise from a combination of their past experiences (paraphrasing, and possibly mis-paraphrasing, so don't hold this statement against artists in general) and my first thought was genetic algorithms (don't judge me, nerdophobes). The idea behind g.a.'s is just that when a problem is too hard for us to figure out, we make a program that takes a random set of possible answers and "breeds" the best ones together, occasionally adding further random changes ("mutations") for several generations until the answer, or rather a good answer if the not the absolute best, evolves out of the chaos, survival of the fittest. This is probably my favorite evidence of natural evolution, the principle works well enough to be applied to other things. They've revolutionized computerized problem solving in a number of disciplines. People have gotten a little excited about these g.a.'s and started applying them not to boring engineering applications, but to writing music and making art, based on user input. Crazy, neh? Last summer my roommate made a life simulation along similar lines. His undergrad was in mechanical engineering but he studies genetics now. He combines more and more elements from actual genetics with his programs and we saw some crazy stuff develop, including multi-cellular organisms and a creature with a predaceous larval stage and an autotrophic adult stage. Who knows what could come out of these self-improving machines? I'm convinced mankind has figured out a little more about how God and the Universe works.

This thought has lousy implications of the meaning of the individual, I'm afraid, so it's only half of the answer to life, the universe and everything. The other half might be the joy in all combination, to realize that even though we all should be going in a similar direction, our different paths add meaning to the journey as a whole.

I'm glad I got the philosophical issues out of the way, because I really need to start writing my own g.a. for my optimization class. Anyway, happy interneting, tiny readership, and remember that it's the survival of the funkiest out there! (If you don't get this joke you need to check the links again). :)

Getting in the Zone

I hate it when I have three awesome first dates in a row...with the same girl. This needs no further expounding, because I think everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about. Fin.

Recipes ala Rugó

So, I love cooking, and to spread the joy of Hungarian food, and for this purpose distribute some of my classic recipes. Jó étvágyat!

Chicken paprikás

This is pretty much my favorite and everyone's. You might never get past this one. This recipe I originally got from my companion, Lázár Gergő Zéta. We made it together, but with potatoes, which is much the same. Géza taught me the Szegedi style.

Ingredients:
1-2 onion (more to taste)
8-10 chicken thighs or drumsticks (beef or pork work to, and as a veggie option, mushrooms are also popular)
paprika
salt
1 large thingy sour cream
flour
oil (or lard for the more authentic Hungarian experience)

Chop the onion all crazy like and cook it in a large and awesome pot in the oil till it gets glassy. Take it off the fire and add TONS of paprika (2-3 table spoons even). In hot oil, paprika becomes an explosion of color and taste, but it burns easily. Cook it as long as you dare, taking it off and on the fire. Add your chicken, stir it around to cook the outsides just a wee bit and then add water so that (with the chicken packed down) it almost covers the chicken. Braze to perfection (a good half hour at least, the more the merrier, stir occasionally, add water as needed). Mix the sour cream with a little water and flour. When your chicken is done, add the sour cream mixture to the sauce, stir it and let it bubble a while (the flour keeps the sauce from separating). Serve over pasta (if you want it legit, find a recipe for nokedli instead).

Jó étvágyat! (Bon apetit!)

Don't like sour cream? Instead add in a finely chopped tomato and pepper for the southern version.

Fruit Soup

This is as first explained to a friend of mine, pardon the inside jokes. I got this recipe from Lázár, too, originally, with modifications coming from my friends Kinjo and Goff.

Ok, first off, close all of your windows. They won't stop the inevitable hoard of people that come after your soup, but the breaking glass will alert you to their presence. Then, obtain the following ingredients:

4 cans of fruit (at least 2 sour cherry, if you can find it. It might be with the fruit, it might be with the baking stuff. I like to do 2 sour cherry, 1 sweet cherry and 1 pear)
cloves (12 whole cloves, if you've got whole cloves)
cinnamon
Other sweet spices, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, etc. to taste. Lots because its Hungarian.
A pint to a quart of sour cream or whipping cream or combination
Cook and serve vanilla pudding (instant doesn't work)
3 lb of pig fat (just kidding, but let's be honest, you believed me)
sugar
salt

Empty the juices from the canned fruit into a pot, add some water and the spices and just a little salt. Let it simmer for a while (10 min.)

On the side, mix the cream and pudding together very well. If you use sour cream, add in a little milk, too.

Take a couple spoonfuls of the broth only and mix it with your cream, stir well (otherwise it may curdle, still tastes fine, just looks funny)

Stir in cream mixture, cook another five minutes.

Add in your fruit to the pot, cook some more (5-10 min.)

Let it chill overnight or put it in ziplock bags in the freezer and it can be cold in an hour. All times are approximate. Once it comes out of the fridge, consult the manta dragon, and he will show you the way, but I can help you no further.

Nokedli

Ahhh, nokedli, giving new life to flavorless side dishes. I learned the recipe originally from a woman in Dunaújváros, with the cool water idea coming from Mariann, in Buda.

Mix 2 eggs, several cups of flour and water in a bowl. Add water/flour until the consistency is as thick as possible, but still runny enough to go through a cheese grater/nokeldi maker.

Once you get good batter/dough, spoon it through a flat cheese grater into boiling water with salt in it. Once it floats it should be done. Use a slotted spoon to spoon it out and put it in some cool water. Once it cools (this stops the slimy and lets you use softer batter than normal) use the slotted spoon to put it in your final container. Eat it anywhere you'd use pasta.

Rakott krumpli

Stacked potatoes just seems an inadequate translation for this deliciousness. I got this recipe from a woman I only met once, and just kept adding to it and changing it.

Boil lots oh sliced potatoes, at least 10 pounds. Skinned or not, whatever. Don't boil them all the way, though, they need to be a little firm. Also hard boil 6-8 eggs, then slice or break em.

Slice some sausage and cut up some bacon a whole kielbasa and maybe a half a pack of bacon. Scrap bacon works best!)

Mix salt, pepper, and whatever other spices you want into a large thing of sour cream (getting low fat is almost as bad as spitting on the Hungarian flag, btw.)

Slice two large onions into rings

Rakd!!!! Stack!!!

Sour cream, potatoes, onions, sausage, bacon, eggs, sour cream, potatoes...etc.
I use a pretty good sized pan. (Cause, well, it's 10 POUNDS of krumpli!)

Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees F, first with foil on. When it's getting close, take off the foil and put some fresh sliced pepper or tomato on it as a garnish. Let it brown, and you're done.

Borsóleves, Hungarian pea soup

Simple, and delicious. I got the recipe, again, in Dunaújváros.

Put one peeled onion, a big pack of frozen peas, chopped parsley, and a couple sliced parsnips and carrots into a big pot. Fill with water. Add in salt. Let it cook for a while, maybe 20 minutes, add sugar to taste.

In a separate saucepan, mix half flour and half oil together, cooking it a while (you can add paprika here as well). This is called a rántás in Hungarian cooking. Pour and cook it in to your soup to thicken it, and you're done!

Copper wedding bands: an adventure in metallurgical symbolism

Metal, I swear, is by now far more a literary device than a phenomenon. I recently was perusing some marvel comics and I love the mythical attributes attributed to adamantium and vibranium. Now possessing a modicum of metallurgical knowledge, I find a lot of advertisements and popular culture sources funny in their perception of the stuff. Man's fascination with metal is rightly justified. For tens of thousands of years, the greatest technological advancements were made in metals, archaeologists dividing eras by which metals were being smelted at the time. In the modern age of plastics and advanced ceramics, metal still plays by far the largest role in terms of what mankind makes, but nowadays it plays a behind-the-scenes type role, cased in plastic. All this has only contributed to metal slipping from an everyday reality to a symbol. This doesn't really bother me, what does is the fact that despite amazing progress in metals, metallic symbolism is still rooted in what is very old news.

No metal is attributed more symbolism than gold. This metal had been arbitrarily been equated with wealth itself for millennia, but gratefully has been replaced by good old fiat money, despite recent and comedic efforts to the contrary. But, more relevant to the current post (from the topic of which I tend to digress [sic]) gold has become a symbol of marriage. And why not? Tons of its attributes make excellent symbols.

Gold is an extremely noble metal, meaning it reacts very little with anything, making it virtually impervious to tarnishing and rusting. Gold is precious, rare, valuable and unchanging. All of these make excellent idealized symbols of love, hinting at eternal fidelity. It shows financial stability(or used to, before the days of buying things on credit) and a willingness to sacrifice. Spending that much money on something with no practical application shows a certain elevation from the mundane. Yet, wherein lies the symbolism of something that lots of money can buy and then requires no maintenance afterward? Gold is indeed noble, but I think for a wedding band a more romantic metal would be appropriate: copper.

Ah, copper. Bright red and highly reactive, this metal embodies passion. Copper conducts heat and electricity better than any other metal, symbolizing complete and total connection. In a world where marriages break apart because of lack of communication, wouldn't the metal that carries the communication of the world be appropriate? Copper is more ductile than almost any metal, it can stretch and bend large amounts without breaking. Unlike gold, copper is pretty cheap money-wise, but expensive in terms of maintenance. It needs to be polished often, a constant reminder that young love is cheap, but requires diligence to maintain the shine. Alternatively, you can let it oxidize to produce the shades of blue, green and black that make it popular in architecture for its timeless feel, a patina unique to each ring, representative that love must change in mature, adapting to circumstances without compromising structural integrity. This green oxidation will stain the skin of the wearer (a friend of mine who wears a copper ring recently told me she actually likes the way it looks). Now, there is some symbolism, a wedding ring you can't take off, a love that marks you.

And don't get me started on titanium.

Tudjuk, mit jelent, balszél, ha fúj...

Focus. It seems to very often be the great divisor between success and failure. It's no wonder so many religions stress the need to improve oneself with the promise of untold blessings. When my mind and heart are aligned with my own desires and with God's will, it permeates to all aspects of my life. It is such a subtle twitch of the antennae that allows the Spirit to channel so purely through me. In the rush of reality that is life, I tend to fall off track. It takes a concerted effort, more time in the Scriptures, more time in prayer, to find my center again. Academically, this is much the same process: small changes that bring huge results. These changes really only involve focus, setting aside distraction, anxiety, and apathy. When things work out, I am amazed by what I can do. The reverse is also true, when I'm off my game, life can be an uphill slog.

List of things that count as comedic gold

1) Prenatal twin humor. Recently partially ruined by some movie about a twin that died in the womb. ("I should have absorbed you when I had the chance!")

2) Platypuses.

3) Beefalo.

4) Improper pluralization.

5) Childhood diseases. (OK, so not really.)

6) Ichthyologists and anything related to their craft. (Had to be there.)

7) Batman. (Think of a mundane task. E.G, gardening. Now picture Batman doing it in full costume. Funny, right? Now try surfing, taxes, toilet papering a house and 2nd grade show and tell. My work here is done.)

8) Canada.