Kelly and I really enjoy pizza. Since we’re vegans (we don’t consume or use animal products), I’ve been making our pizza’s from scratch, dough included, using all vegan ingredients. Vegan cheese, while tasting just fine, has always been kind of an issue when it comes to cutting a freshly baked pizza. I tend to mangle the cheese and the toppings as I cut, and while the pizza is still good, I always feel like the pieces come out messier than they should.

For a while, after each time I mangled a pizza, I’d say to Kelly something along the lines of “I have an idea for a cutter that would pre-cut the slices.” I’m sure I was never that precise, but the idea of a metal utensil that could be used to cut pre-cooked pizza slices always stuck in my mind. I spent time looking for something that did the job, but all I found were either hand held cutters, or large whole pizza cutters, operating on cooked pizzas. Small hand held cutters never worked for me, and large whole pizza cutters started at $200.00. That seemed pretty outrageous for something as simple as I what I had in mind. Finally, I decided to just have one made by a welder or metal worker. That is what I present to the world now:

My invention (for lack of a better word), is a large utensil made of metal, that is pressed into flattened uncooked pizza dough, right after the sauce is put on. The utensil remains in place all through placing toppings on the pizza and the cooking process. The pieces of pizza cook individually, while the metal actually causes the sides of the pizza to cook a little too. The result is a piece of pizza that has all toppings in tact and a clean cut every time. Let me illustrate the process as I tested it myself.

I won’t go into a recipe for pizza or dough here, but simply show the important steps.

First, the dough is spread out and sauce put on.

Second, I spray the Perfect Pizza Press with non-stick cooking spray. This version of the Press requires a tad bit of seasoning.

Next, I firmly press into the dough, using the handles for force and to rock the Press a little to make sure the pieces are cut.

Then I put on the toppings. What you see in this picture are eight slices containing a mix of vegan mozzarella and vegan cheddar cheese, topped with either vegan pepperoni, vegan sausage, or both. You can customize each slice if you want to.

Once cooked, the Press is carefully pulled out. Some cheese stuck in a couple places in my first try, and I think this was due to inconsistent spraying of oil. However, just a quick flick of a butter knife took care of that. The dough did not stick to the metal, and this is the result: Eight perfectly sized pieces of pizza with three different kinds of topping configuration. All other pizza slice devices that I could find are designed to operate on cooked pizzas. My design is the only one I’ve been able to find that focuses on the slice from the beginning and all the way through the cooking process.

There are a few reasons I’m posting this. First, I’m staking my claim to this idea publicly on this day. Secondly, if anyone has seen this before, please tell me. I did a lot of searching and couldn’t find anything that worked like my idea. I even did patent searches. Thirdly, and most importantly, I’m offering this for sale at cost to anyone who would like to try this out for themselves. This is an important step in my eventual goal to market and sell this on a mass scale. It needs more real world use, but I can assure you that it works as I have described, and is extremely durable. Hence, I’m selling it cost because it should last you quite a while.

If anyone is interested in purchasing one of my Perfect Pizza Presses or has feedback please let me know. Since I am not at the mass manufacturing stage, I can’t say what the cost will be until I get an idea of how many people want it to test with. If you’re interested, please email me, and I will let you know when I can calculate the price. Furthermore, since this an early product design, I’ll throw in a 2 year warranty on the Press for any manufacturing defects. It should last nearly forever unless it gets used as a frisbee.

If you’re not interested, but have feedback and comments anyway, I would appreciate that as well. This is completely out of the realm of my normal day job and skill set, and it’s all new to me. Any and all feedback is desired.

To contact me, the best way is shane dot p dot brady at gmail.com. Again, once I get a number (I hope someone is interested ), I’ll be able to give people a price, and if you’re still interested, we’ll work out shipping details as well as what size is needed.

Thank you for reading this and for any feedback it brings on.

Crossposted from (http://www.ldnetwork.tv/2009/05/20/editorial-the-unintended-consequences-of-credit-card-reform/)

This week with wide support and much fanfare, the US Senate passed a bill called the “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009″, touted as a measure to “protect” us against the “evil greedy” credit card companies. Let’s get the the basic facts straight though. No one is required to use a credit card. No one is required to carry balances over each month. No one is required to spend up to the limit of five or more credit cards. I do realize emergencies happen, but I have yet to see any study or report that shows a large amount of credit card use to be anything but conspicuous consumption. Our problem with credit is not that we have tons of unprecedented emergencies, but simply that we spend too much. The problem with credit card balances are not the credit card company’s: we own that one.

That is not to say that credit card companies have our best interests (bad pun, har, hard) in mind, either. After all they are in the business of giving unsecured lines of credit to the general population, and currently they are in trouble as an industry for giving out credit lines to too many people with lousy credit histories. They’ve been poorly run and I have little sympathy for their self created problems. If they can’t be responsible in who they choose as customers, then good riddance. Go bankrupt for all I care.

So now, with the economy in shambles and politicians eager to earn brownie points with consumers who on average carry around $11,000 on credit cards, comes the warm and snuggly sounding bill that gives us consumers a new “bill of rights.” Credit card companies will now be restricted in rate increases, for how long they can increase rates, be required to make the fine print more obvious, and show people how long it will take to pay off their balances with the minimum payments. In other words, this bill is designed to limit revenue generated by credit card companies and provide information that people already have access to if they were responsible with their finances. While I don’t agree that the government needs to get involved in this, let’s all be honest with what this bill is really doing. If you believe this is indeed where government should intercede, fine. I understand where you’re coming from. I just don’t agree with it, and allow to explain why.

The credit card companies are going to react in some way. They’re going to react in ways Congress and Obama certainly haven’t considered. Let’s look at a few obvious ones that have already been thrown out there:

* Return of the annual fee
* A paring back of reward programs
* Fewer promotional rates and offers
* Job cuts

However, I think there is one change that might well happen but no one seems to have discussed. Credit card companies might in fact, raise credit limits. This might seem counter intuitive, but it seems to me to play into human behavior. Consumers will not change behavior because of this bill. They might because of the economy, but not because of this bill. Credit card companies will need to make up the revenue somewhere, so why not increase limits and take the interest off of larger balances. I honestly think that is where this bill creates incentives. Instead of seeing rates of 18% on $3,000 balances, you’ll see 9% on $6,000.

Using a calculator from bankrate.com, a $3,000 balance at 18% paying the monthly minimum, will cost you $1716.00 in interest. Using the other scenario, you will pay $1355 in interest. While the credit card company took a 21% hit in revenue, you went into twice as much debt. At 11% interest rate is where the credit card company gets back to the same amount. Surely, a credit line of $6,000 at 11% will seem like a great deal compared to $3,000 at 18%. The former looks like the deal of someone who is well off and is responsible, the latter perhaps the average consumer, but they pay off the same.

I think it is an almost certainty that the credit card companies will react in some way that will in the long term be more detrimental to consumers than if the government had never gotten involved. There will be unintended consequences not listed in this article, too. The government is removing a moral hazard from the consumer-credit card company relationship, and history has shown us that usually leads to unintended disasters. I wish our legislators would take more seriously the cause and effect of changing the incentives.

On a side note, I applaud the news networks for pointing out the completely unrelated rider attached to the bill allowing loaded handguns into national parks. However, I wish they would do it more often, that is, pointing out unrelated legislation, and not just when it’s about an issue they are either strongly for (Fox News) or strongly against (MSNBC).

I’m horrible about keeping in contact with my family. I’m of the generation who doesn’t believe in calling home or writing letters. I’m all about instant messaging and email…and I’m bad at doing that as well. So, I’m going to attempt to keep family members up to date with the old blog here. Most of you (you dont’ have to tell me Josh) will this boring I bet, so I’m just warnin’ ya.

So..what have I been up to?

Well, my job always has me busy, and it’s almost been twelve years since I started my current job. It seems like a long time to be at one job these days, but working in online world, the business and technology changes so much, I’m always doing something different and learning new stuff. I might have the same boss as I did twelve years ago, but I don’t have the same job.

At home, Kelly and I have finally gotten around to purchasing some major items for inside the house. We bought our new sectional for the living room. It seats 7 or 2 people and maybe 8 dogs. The dogs love it because they can all sit on the couch with us, and because it’s very comfortable. We also purchases shades for our office. We have three large windows that face directly west, and while we love the view, when the sun comes down, it sucks. My laptop overheats all the time, and the glare is horrible. So yesterday, we had three roman shades installed that block the sun completely. They work great. In full sun, I can even play games without losing anything to glare (I consider it a good test of glare to play a game with darkly lit scenes). My second office/studio also has a newly installed roller which covers the entire window, and allows me to work in there as well.

We’re also working on our garden. The weather hasn’t cooperated so much, as we’ve had a lot of rainy weekends. However, it’s looking like this week we’ll be able to get it setup. We’re using a combination of cardboard and carpet to keep the weeds at bay. Combined with the series of soaker hoses we have, we’re hoping this year is the year we achieve little or no weeding and easy watering. We have great soil and had a good crop last year (we still have stuff left over and frozen) and hope this one does as well.

Also, all the dogs and cats are doing well.

Well, that just about sums it up for this week. Enough of the familial Ambien!

From some stupid report done for Missouri cops:

“It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitution Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Bladwin, and Bob Barr.”

More about it here:

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132250.html

This past Thursday, I took Ozzy back to the vet for his three week check up following his hell week of dealing with bladder stones and two surgeries. The purpose of the visit was to make sure he didn’t still have an infection and to x-ray him again to see if he had any remaining stones.

He came out with flying colors on both accounts. Everything appears back to normal. His appetite is voracious and his activity level is way up. I’m assuming he was somewhat sick for a while, and only when he was completely blocked up, did it finally show. He’s one tough little bastard though. The concern for kidney damage is no longer there, as he was able to process massive amounts of toxins in less than 48 hours. The only difference for him going forward is to keep him on a special food to prevent stones from forming again. He’s not on any special food related to kidneys. I’ve had him for ten years, and while I don’t really expect to have him for another ten, I could easily see him around when I turn forty.

This past Monday (2008-12-29), my cat Ozzy needed to be taken to the vet, because it seemed he was unable to control his bladder. Upon taking him to the clinic, the vet told me that his bladder was plugged up, probably by stones, and he need to take blood work, put him under anesthesia, and insert a catheter later that night. So, I didn’t feel too worried when I left him there, for what I thought was a couple days.

That night the vet called me and said the blood work was really bad looking, and that he could be having severe kidney failure. Putting him under anesthesia was risky, even for just the catheter, but there wasn’t any choice. I was told it was possible I could lose Ozzy because the kidneys could be that damaged. The vet called later that night, after the surgery was finished putting the catheter in.

The next morning I went to visit Ozzy, not sure what to expect. Ozzy seemed in pretty good spirits. He was drinking and eating, but it was still wait and see. I had some hope he would make it because he was just so alert, and not lethargic at all, which are signs of renal failure. The next morning the vet called me to say that Ozzy’s blood work was now normal, after just 36 hours. The major hurdle appeared to be over. Next, was surgery to get the stones out of his bladder.

There was a problem with that part, though. The stones had move out of his bladder and into the urethra, which threatened to plug his bladder up even more. The only option was to basically remove the penis part, and build him what is called a “drip board”. That surgery went well, and Ozzy was handling the anesthesia as well as one can expect.

Three days later, I was able to Ozzy home, just this morning. Other than large portions of shaven skin and missing chunks of fat that he lost during the whole ordeal, Ozzy is pretty much back to normal. As soon as I walked into the room where Ozzy was kept, he started meowing. When I didn’t get him immediately, he got a little annoyed and knocked his water dish over and made a mess. That is the Ozzy I’ve always known.

So, the long term prognosis is pretty good. He will probably need to be on a special diet for the rest of his life to prevent stones, and there is still the chance he has a little kidney damage, but at his age (10), he hasn’t had his life expectancy really affected. As I write this post, he is curled up next to my laptop like he always is when I work in my hobby room. He was just as pissy waiting to be fed as he always is. I’m grateful for all the work Dr. Morris and his staff from the Animal Clinic of Kearney did, as well as the updates I received every morning. I appreciate that Dr. Morris was up front in the beginning with the chances of losing Ozzy, because really, the odds at one point weren’t really that good. But Ozzy must be pretty tough and heal well, because he went through everything really well. I’m really glad he’s home.

It has been thirteen days since I last watched or listened or read anything sports related. In terms of desire to know what was going on in sports, it has been easy. The hardest habit to break is simply putting on sports radio just to have something in the background.

What I am doing to help that, is simply adding more podcasts to my collection and making an effort to find new talk channels to listen to. Sirius XM’s public radio channels have been very interesting to listen to, as well as the POTUS channel. I’ve added more science and paranormal podcasts.

I also now realize how much time I spent reading about sports. I now spend that time communicating with friends and family, researching technology, or simply doing personal projects. There is a lot more time in the day it seems,

Now, I’m not wring this to tell people to give up fandom, but give up something and see what fills the void.

Well, I kind of missed the anniversary, but yesterday (11/17/2008) marked the six year anniversary of when I and my then-girlfriend-now-wife Kelly arrived from the western reaches of New York (Rochester to be specific) to our new city of residence, Kansas City. We are now roughly eighteen months into the ownership of a home I know I didn’t think about owning six years ago (it has a name and a big pond), we’ve eloped, and added four new companion animals (Peedee, O-Ren Ishii, Kaylee, Jayne).

I think 2008 will go down as the best year overall of my life and I don’t have a fear of saying that with two months or so to go. First, 2008 marks the first full year Kelly and I have lived in our first house. It has been a lot of work, a lot of learning, and requires more work going forward. I now know how to build a drainage system in my yard, do basic plumbing, replace outlets and switches, repair small roof leakes, regrade a yard, use a chainsaw, cut trees, and probably more things that I don’t remember learning. And despite the whole dollar increase in living expenses (mortage +taxes + insurance > rent payment), after equity and tax deductions it really does end up being a wash. So, I’m very happy there, and I’m happy that Kelly and I bought the specific house we did. Even it was originally decorated in the 70’s and never changed and we are the first non-retired couple to own it, we’re still very happy.

The next best thing this year, is that I ventured out into podcasting. After years of sitting on the sidelines and trying to come up with something I could really get into, my friend Jonathan and I created “The Libertarian Dime” a podcast dedicated to exploring libertarianism and developing a modern approach to promote libertarianism. We’ve had a lot of cool people on. I’ve talked to Michael Shermer, one of my favorite authors of all time, we were able to speak with the head of the Missouri Libertarian Party Glenn Nielsen who has been a great guest, and soon we will be speaking to Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv. It has been amazing to think that I’ve been able to talk to the people we have through the podcast, and if we decided to quit tomorrow, it still would have been far more of a learning experience than I expected.

I did have one partial setback, where a project I put a lot into at work was canceled. It really sucked to have put all the work into it, and I was down about it for a couple weeks in total probably. However, the hard work I did do was appreciated and for the people that matter, they don’t fault the technology that I built. I’ve taken my efforts to a new project, used what I learned, and put it to good use. Furthermore, I think I will be in a better place soon anyway within the company groups with a real chance to flex my skills in a way that working on longshot startup projects don’t offer. So, overall, I’m very happy about that.

In short, no matter what happens in November and December, I can say I’m pretty happy about 2008. I know the election will come and go, and we’ll be led by someone who isn’t really going to solve our problems, but that only makes me want to solve them for myself and those around me. That’s not a bad feeling to have methinks.

Perhaps the Ron Paul Tards are right about end of the world as the ultimate end to the current financial crisis:

GNR’s ‘Chinese Democracy’ Gets Release Date

As long as the world lasts to 11/24….