Occasionally, I get inappropriate comments posted to Cooking For Engineers. This is one I found this morning that isn't really inappropriate, but I didn't feel belonged on the site. I rarely remove posts… usually only spam. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not going to remove it since I've left far more offensive comments (people cussing about my use of canned cream of mushroom soup, etc.) on the site in the interest of promoting open discourse. Anyway, this was posted to the "oh-so-contentious" Oven Baked Chicken and Rice article.

Subject: fat tastes good!
doesnt matter what we eat, it's all about proportions and in moderation.
we all know 'fat' tastes good!

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One CFE reader's view of fatty foods and recreational activities

So, I've been seriously contemplating getting started on the fabled Cooking For Engineers cookbook. With the limited amount of free time I have while working on Fanpop, Cooking For Engineers, and other projects, I imagine the project will take about a year to complete. I plan on doing design, layout, and writing myself so it has the same feel as the website (and hopefully higher quality).

I've worked with Adobe software extensively in the past, but over the years I haven't spent any money on upgrades. My only software that is up to date is currently Lightroom for managing my photography workflow. I have a copy of PageMaker 7, but I'm hoping that I won't have to use that to layout an entire book. I've been playing around with the trial version of Adobe InDesign CS3 and I find it quite usable and familiar (I've used FrameMaker extensively and some PageMaker and Illustrator). What I really need is a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard and I was wondering if anyone who works at Adobe could possibly get me a discount. You'll get an acknowledgment in the book - I promise…

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Adobe Software Needed…

John from J.A. Henckels wrote in to let me know about their annual sale at their warehouse in Hawthorne, New York (171 Saw Mill Rd., Hawthorne, NY 10532 - Google Maps). This could be a great opportunity for people looking for Holiday gifts. The sale runs on the weekends (Friday - Sunday) from Nov. 16, 2007 to Dec. 2, 2007.

More information can be found here.

I finally made the upgrade and went to a Pocket PC / Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone. I got myself the HTC Mogul (aka HTC PPC-6800) for use with Sprint PCS. It's a pretty nifty phone - bigger than my old crappy Sony Ericsson T616, but if it replaces my PDA (Palm m515) and phone, then it'll be worth it.

There are several programs that I use on my Palm m515 that I have found invaluable (or perhaps I just got so used to having the application that I can't seem to imagine using something that doesn't work as well). RPN is one such program. It is a postfix (where you enter values onto a stack and apply operators after) calculator for Palm OS. Users of HP accounting calculators and the legendary HP48GX scientific calculator will be used to using a reverse polish notation calculator.

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Free Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) Calculator on a Microsoft Windows Mobile device