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Overloading the Machine

Roasted Potatoes with Herbs

Based on the Boston Globe Magazine, 2005 July 31

Serves 4.

Perhaps the simplest way to serve freshly dug potatoes is to toss them with oil and roast them until golden brown. They turn crisp on the outside and tender inside. Potatoes that are all the same size will be ready at the same time.

12 2-inch yellow or red potatoes, scrubbed
Olive oil (for sprinkling)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped mixed herbs (fresh rosemary, thyme, and oregano)

Set the oven at 400 degrees.

Prick the potatoes well all over. In a bowl, toss the potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper. Transfer them to a baking dish large enough to hold them in one layer.

Roast the potatoes for 1 hour, turning occasionally, or until they are tender when pierced with a fork.

Sprinkle the potatoes with the herbs and serve at once.

On the Internet, however, there is no check on silly rules, because on the Internet, increasingly, rules are enforced not by a human but by a machine: Increasingly, the rules of copyright law, as interpreted by the copyright owner, get built into the technology that delivers copy-righted content. It is code, rather than law, that rules. And the problem with code regulations is that, unlike law, code has no shame.

-- Lawrence Lessig, "Free Culture"

This page was last modified on 2011 December 20.