Rob Brogan » Uncategorized

Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp

Rob Brogan — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:01:06 +0000

It’s awesome.
I’ll write longer posts some day.

Oh, I’m in the United States now.

Sevilla

Rob Brogan — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:28:57 +0000

It’s hot.

L’Escala pictures

Rob Brogan — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:54:09 +0000

New meta-analysis methods of neuroimaging data

Rob Brogan — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:37:55 +0000

“Another promising future direction is the development of meta-analysis-based classifier tech- niques that will allow quantitative inferences to be made from brain activation to psychological states. This kind of analysis will allow us to make for- mal predictions about psychological states based on brain activation.” Kober & Wager

A documentary of a WWOOFing experience

Rob Brogan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:39:11 +0000

Two people go to eight farms (three part youtube movie).

Linguistic Isolationism (in the UK)

Rob Brogan — Sun, 16 May 2010 11:05:52 +0000

I finally found a possible counter argument to all my complaints of the Grand Valley modern languages department:

Put it this way: how would you react if you met somebody from the Continent claiming to hold an English degree who had never heard of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens or T.S. Eliot? Such have been the changes in our modern language degrees that we are producing a generation of linguists who often have little acquaintance with the major cultural achievements of the target language. The decision not to insist that all students of German, for instance, read at least some work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Thomas Mann has consequences.

Maybe the university system is to blame: a professor is someone who has a Ph.D in the subject, nowhere do you hear about people having to pass a training program for teaching well or holding MAs in Applied Linguistics for that matter. Universities do a good job of imparting the culture and some more of the gritty language details (I loved learning about phonetics and linguistics, etc) but I still believe, if you want to learn a language you best place is to start in grade school (you know, the place where the people working there have been trained for such a job) and take private classes while living in a foreign country, if possible.

I’m trying to keep this gripe a short a post. I leave you with the link to this article I quoted. Good stuff:

Linguistic Isolationism

New Year

Rob Brogan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:11:30 +0000

Writing coming soon, I hope.
I also have a side project and a job to find….

Chicken Paillards with Clementine Salsa

Rob Brogan — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:52:21 +0000

Well two nights ago I made this soup for dinner and it turned out great.

Here is a link if you want to try – epicurious.

I’ll be making this chicken paillards for dinner tonight!

Recipe below…

4 5-ounce chicken breast halves
4 clementines, peeled, diced (about 1 cup)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 serrano chile, seeded, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup fresh clementine juice (from about 6 clementines)

Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets plastic wrap or parchment paper, spacing apart. Using mallet, pound chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Mix clementines and next 8 ingredients in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Salsa can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover; let stand at room temperature.

Uncover chicken; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until slightly browned and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to platter. Add clementine juice to skillet; boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Drizzle sauce over chicken. Spoon salsa over and serve.

(source: epicurious)

Bon Nadal!

Rob Brogan — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:16:29 +0000

I saw this along Diagonal near where I live.
“Bon Nadal” is Catalan for “Merry Christmas.”
At least that’s what I assume it means!

Zip-lock baggies are “very American”

Rob Brogan — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:27:20 +0000

I learned that today. I put my ham in a plastic bag. I guess they’re not too paranoid about bacteria or anything. Neither am I.

Well I made a ham and gouda sandwich for lunch, and now I’m finishing up some pre-course work. Later I want to see if anything is happening down at the port, if I’m not too late. This is where I’m studying today. The laptop is out on the balcony for wi-fi sake.