If you put anything metal in a microwave, sparks fly and it may blow up. That's a truth the whole world knows. Or is it? In the comments to the podcast on microwaved bread, Peter Hertzmann elaborates:

It’s not wise to put small pieces of metal in a microwave, such as the twist-tie on a plastic bag. Large pieces are another issue. I’ve been putting large stainless-steel bowls in my microwave ever since I worked in a restaurant in Switzerland in 2002 where we regularly warmed items in 2-liter metal bowls. The metal actually acts as a reflector, reflecting radiant energy from the magnetron tube into the food in the bowl.

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Decided to get out of my baking bread comfort zone a couple of weeks ago to make some ciabatta. It was difficult work, but ultimately worthwhile, and in pursuit of my goal to maintain a record of my other online activities here, I'm linking to sourdough ciabatta.

This also raises the question of what to do about plurals of foreign words. It drives me a teeny bit nuts when movie characters, and ordinary people, ask for "a biscotti" or "a panini". So should I maintain my pedantic persona and refer to ciabatte when I'm talking about several ciabattas?

À propos the need to get out there and flog my wares, three thoughts.

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Over on ADN a couple of days ago there was a long and convoluted discussion ¹ around the general topic of how to reward serious, or high-quality, news-gathering. Many elements are at play, from the nature of "high-quality" to the nature of "reward," and all of them got a good go-around. One of the elements that didn't surface for quite a while, though, was that good news has never been paid for solely by those who consume it. Advertising, government grants, and a few deep pockets have all helped to pay journalists to do their thing. And today?

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I'm no expert, I admit that. I know enough to be dangerous. But I also know enough to know when I'm being taken for a ride. So my current hosting provider, Gandi, gives me all sorts of grief about what really ought to be a very simple instance of WordPress. I decided to move to Linode. But it really does assume an awful lot of knowledge. After two mornings inching forward, following instructions to the letter, except when they don't work and then I have to improvise, I've reached the stage where I think I have a working server.

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