They were worried for good reason. With so many troops and so much artillery swelling in England, it was impossible to keep the attack a secret. Hitler knew it was coming, and he’d been preparing a defense for months. Only one detail eluded him, and he was confident in a Nazi victory if he could figure it out—he needed to know where, exactly, the attack would happen. To make D-day a success, the Allies needed to keep him in the dark: They’d have to trick the Germans into thinking the real invasion was just a bluff, while making it seem like a major attack was imminent elsewhere. The task seemed impossible, but luckily, the British had a secret weapon: a short, young balding Spaniard. He was the king of con men, an amateur spy gone pro, the world’s sneakiest liar. He was also, of all things, a chicken farmer.

Mental Floss

What if I told you...
I photoshopped the same face onto every man behind Trump. Would you have noticed if I hadn't said anything?#GOPclones pic.twitter.com/C4MERQmvLC

— Amanda Holland (@AwkwardHolland) May 4, 2017

, Mark Walker.

You're a terrible 'representative'.

This is just so ... wow.

So much effort.

OMG.

Wow.

Goddamn.

This is my sourdough recipe.

• 4.5 cups of flour
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup of active sourdough starter
• 2 teaspoons salt

Makes 2 loaves.

For flour, I typically use 3 cups King Arthur white bread flour + 1 cup whole wheat flour + .5 cups dark rye flour.

The loaf in the picture was probably made with an all-white starter. These days, my starter is fed with wheat flour so the loaves come out fairly whole-wheat-dark.

Night before baking (this is always Saturday, 10:00pm), mix water & starter, then add 3 cups of flour (1.5 cups white + wheat + rye, or whatever your mix is). Cover. Put this somewhere coolish to sit overnight (<70 degrees if possible).

I actually mix the stuff in a 6 quart bucket, and then put that inside a 12 quart bucket with a big handful of ice on the bottom. Then cover that.

Next AM (9:00ish), add salt and one and a quarter cups more of flour. Mix it all up, let it sit for 10 minutes. This gives the flour time to absorb the water completely (this is the 'autolyse' method). After that, if the dough is still too sticky, add more flour.*

At this point, you can knead if you want. Or, you can do what I do, and use Ken Forkish's stretch-and-fold method. Big ball of dough in the bucket, grab one side and pull up a bit - less than a foot. Fold that back down onto the ball, rotate 90 deg, pull again. Rotate, pull again. And once more. Repeat the pull and stretch process at 20 minutes and again at 40 minutes.

After mixing, let the dough sit for 4 hours in its bucket, in a cool place, covered.

Scoop the dough out of its bucket onto a clean floured surface. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a ball. This is another bit that took me a while to figure out. Shaping is very important. Without shaping, the dough will not become a nice round loaf. It will become a hard, ugly lump.

My shaping method is pretty simple:

1. Grab the ball of dough
2. Hold it in my upturned hands as if I'm offering it to someone
3. Hold the dough on my fingers and rotate both wrists outward. My thumbs pull the sides down, gently. This stretches the top. And my fingers tuck the excess back into the bottom of the ball
4. Rotate the ball horizontally a little after each stretch to get a nice even shape all around.
5. Be gentle. Don't squeeze.
6. This should only take a few seconds.

Now, proofing. This is the final rest before baking. I use a floured wicker proofing basket for this. A lightly-greased steel mixing bowl will also work. The dough ball I just shaped goes top-down into the basket. And it sits there for 45 minutes or so.

I bake in a cast-iron dutch oven (D.O.). Preheat the D.O. and its lid, in the oven @ 425. When it's pre-heated, take the (FLAMING HOT) D.O. out of the oven, put it on the stove and quickly throw a sprinkle of cornmeal into the bottom (keeps the dough from sticking), then gently and carefully place the dough ball into the D.O., top-side up. Grab the sharpest knife available and cut a wide "X" into the top of the ball. This gives the loaf a place to expand. If you don't do this, it will pick its own place to expand, which can be dramatic if it picks a nice place, but it also might just refuse to expand. And then you will have lots of croutons and bread crumbs.

Into the oven, put the (HOT) lid on the D.O.. 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take the lid off but leave it in the oven. Turn the temp down to 375. Another 15 minutes, or until the crust is dark but obviously not burned.

Now repeat with the other dough ball.

* - this is the part that took me the longest to learn. "Too sticky" is very subjective. The dough should hold together, but it shouldn't tough and leathery.

pinkphilosopher:

moonblossom:

deluxetrashqueen:

Honestly, Rick Rolling is the best practical joke ever. Like, there’s nothing offensive or mean  spirited about it. It’s just like “Oops you thought there would be something else here but it’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.” which isn’t even a bad song. It’s fairly enjoyable to listen to. There’s no jumpscares, no screaming, no ill will. Just Rick Astley telling you he’s never going to give you up. I think that’s great. “You fell into my trap! Here, listen to this completely benign song that will have no negative effect on you.” 

I wish this were true. There’s a really good article about the problems inherent with rickrolling here.

Very interesting. I never thought about that and now I feel bad.

(via bookoisseur)

“I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,” Trump told Reuters in an interview. “This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”

Shocking. Everybody is so surprised.

Pregnant and past your due date? Try hitting up Hawthorne’s New York Pizza & Bar in Charlotte, N.C. According to locals, the restaurant’s signature Buffalo Wing Pizza has the power to induce labor.

Made with buffalo sauce, chicken and mozzarella cheese, the Buffalo Wing Pizza — or “the inducer,” as patrons now call it — has gained an odd reputation for sending soon-to-be moms straight to the delivery room. In fact, the owner of the Hawthorne’s chain, Michael Adams, claims that several different women have vouched for the pizza’s powers since the restaurant’s very first instance of buffalo-induced labor.

That's, um, something else.

A Russian naval reconnaissance ship sunk in the Black Sea Thursday after colliding with a freighter near the Turkish coast.

...

A shipping agent contacted by the Reuters news agency said the Togo-flagged freighter and the Russian warship collided in foggy conditions with poor visibility.

FILIPINO President Rodrigo Duterte has warned ISIS extremists he will “eat their livers” if they are captured by his troops.

...

He then threatened to “eat” organs of members of the Islamist militants that operated in his country.

Addressing the crowd, Duterte said: “Just drive me to extreme anger, and I can eat a person. Give me salt and vinegar and I’ll eat his liver.”

“You know, I am capable of eating a person. If you anger me, in truth, I will eat you alive. Raw.”