Del.icio.us, Pinboard & fandom

k, I was never a Delicious user, and I dwell on the very outskirts of fandom, so take this for what it's worth. When Delicious came down crashing down in a burning wreck, though, it was made adamantly clear to me how much of the collective memory of the internet resides there. And I don't really have words right now to describe how this is glomming together in my brain, but the current Delicious fail and subsequent mass exodus / influx to Pinboard is playing out as leading to a Fandom Saves The Internet type scenario. ^_^;

You know how sometimes you get the impression that you're watching history in the making, even though the larger world isn't taking notice? Or that something that's perceived as being of modest significance is actually capital-I Important? Yeah.

Anyway, a few links:

• an epic link roundup by bookshop
• Pinboard gift exchange for fen who may not be in a position to ante up cash money for an account
• Also, the whole thing summed up as a wonderful play in one act. (Thanks skud for the pointer)

By request from sporky_rat: Grant loaf

Grant loaves: super-easy to make whole wheat bread with a super-dense texture (almost muffin-like, with a crisp, substantial crust). No kneading. Minimal time commitment - scratch to bread in 90 minutes.

This is a dense bread that goes well with butter, jam, or a nice cheese. Also great with soups, stews, and the like. Won't fit in a garden-variety toaster, but toasts up nicely in a toaster oven. Definitely not sandwich bread.

The original recipe appeared in a British cookbook published in the 1940s, written by Ms. Doris Grant. It's exactly the kind of bread recipe I'd be looking for if I were working shifts at the munitions factory but still expected to bake fresh bread for the family every day.

The recipe as I remember it, cut down to one loaf instead of the original batch of three:

• 1⅔ cups warm water (yeast-friendly; ~95-100℉ or ~38℃)
• 1 tsp brown sugar (the darker the better)
• 1 tsp yeast
• 4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt

The temperature of all ingredients is key, so if you should happen to keep your flour in a coldroom or some such, bring it into the kitchen and let it warm up a bit.

Grease a loaf pan.

Stir the sugar into the water until dissolved, then add the yeast. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl, or if you're like me, dump them both into a bowl and run a whisk through them a few times to mix. After about ten minutes or so, when the yeast is foamy and happy, make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast & water in. Stir with a wooden spoon, working the dry outsides towards the center. Mix for about a minute. Again, if you bake like I do, you'll get annoyed with the stirring process after about 30 seconds and mix in the remaining dry bits with your hands. ^_^;

Form into a loaf and dump it into the greased loaf pan. Let rise in a warm place for ~30 minutes, until the loaf has increased in size by about a third.

While the bread is rising, preheat your oven to 400℉. Bake for 40 minutes. When done, the loaf should have a substantial crust and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.