Nyquil makes me want to bark. Frankly, that's not a good trade-off to make for the "sniffling, sneezing, coughing, stuff head-fever-so-you-can-rest" medicine. However, I know that many people swear by, rather than at, the stuff, so here's how to make your own.

n place of Acetaminophen (pain and fever reliever), Dextromethorphan HBr (cough suppressant), and Doxylamine succinate (sleep aid) we used green chile, ginger, citric acid and booze -- all herbal, if subtler, forms of the chemical stuff. A couple shots, errr, doses, of the stuff is perfect for sitting on the couch in a sweatshirt and sweating out your germs. Take that Big Pharma!

2 cups fresh mint leaves
1 cup water
1 cup agave nectar (sugar, honey work)
1 small ginger bulb
1 lemon
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. roasted green chile
2 shots Pastis
2 shots Southern Comfort

1. Start off making a mint simple syrup. Pluck 35-40 mint leaves off their stems, this should yield about 2 cups of mint. Roughly chop half the mint (set half aside for later use) and add to a saucepot with 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the leaves out. Put just the mint tea back on a medium heat and wait until back to a full boil. Add agave nectar, mixing, and let cook 1 minute before removing. Set aside to cool.

2. Ready your other veggies for the blender. First peel the ginger and slice into matchsticks. Next, zest your lemon, place the zest into a small dish and cover with 1 tsp. of good quality olive oil.

3. Toss the ginger, green chile and remaining cup of fresh mint to the blender. Add lemon juice. Finally add half the mint syrup, setting the rest aside for garnish. Pulse thoroughly for up to a minute. (Note: If you do not have the luxury of having authentic green chile, try subbing in a roasted jalapeño. Remove the seeds and use half in place of green chile.)

4. Strain the mixture into a bowl. Use a spoon to slush it around, allowing it to pass through the sieve or fine mesh strainer. Now you have the fresh juice part of your elixer! Taste it with a spoon, if it seems too tart or spicy, add more mint syrup one teaspoon at a time.

5. Mix. The basic proportion is one-part juice to one-part pastis to one-part whiskey. For a single dose: measure out a tablespoon of each into a cocktail shaker. Add a teaspoon of lemon zest oil. Complete with 3 ice cubes and shake fervently. Pour into a shot glass or desert wine snifter.

Tip of the blog to Lifehacker.

If it tastes at all like the original, maggots everyone will be committing suicide rather than be forced to gag over it. However, have at it if you're so inclined.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:10 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Frankly, I couldn't categorize this story found via Ace, so I shoved it into my catch all "errata". Actually, I put it there because my vision was blurry after reading the article and I knew that "errata" was at the bottom of the list. Anyway.

Short version: A little girl is diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and dies about a year later. Since then, her parents have been finding notes she wrote and stashed all around the house, such as this:

My little girl writes me notes like this all the time. It's beyond sweet and makes my heart swell with joy. I cannot imagine how much it would hurt me if something were to happen to her, nor can I imagine my reaction to finding notes like that. I'll guess that they would make me cry and smile at the same time.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 02:54 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I've opened beer bottles using my hand and the edge of a table. I've ruined a cheap Swiss Army knife knockoff using the tinfoil corkscrew to open a wine bottle. And I've even pushed the cork down into the bottle just so that I could get to the grape. However, I've never in my entire life opened a bottle of wine with my shoe:

Kudos to Lifehacker for finding this gem.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Jay Stephenson of Stop the ACLU interviews Misha, someone who I've been reading since blogging was still in its infancy. I almost didn't recognize the Emperor's tone, because a few choice Anglo-Saxon invectives were missing from the text.

I keed, I keed. Misha's always a worthy ready, but I really enjoy when he gets his dander up. I get that this interview wasn't really the venue for that.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 08:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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