High winds wreak havoc.
This is just north of San Francisco.
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WOW!! Rolling Stone has an amazing article up
Heather Cox Richardson’s post begins: I had planned to post a picture tonight, but this evening Rolling Stone dropped an exclusive, blockbuster story from reporter Hunter Walker that demands attention. The story says that two sources who are talking to the January 6th committee about planning the January rallies in Washington, D.C., have talked to Rolling Stone as well. […]
“The Liberty Way”: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students’ Reports of Sexual Assaults
Hannah Dreyfus reports in ProPublica: When Elizabeth Axley first told Liberty University officials she had been raped, she was confident they’d do the right thing. After all, the evangelical Christian school invoked scripture to encourage students to report abuse. “Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves, for the rights of all who need an […]
On the Origin of Minds
Pamela Lyonis, interdisciplinary visiting research fellow at the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University in Adelaide, writes in Aeon: In On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin draws a picture of the long sweep of evolution, from the beginning of life, playing out along two fundamental axes: physical […]
Transformation and a pot of soup
Back from a short trip to supermarket (where I got the first of two shingles shots — I thought I’d get the shot before I got shingles), and I went to cook the green lentils I purchased — a little 1-cup container from the bulk foods section. It’s very windy and somewhat rainy today, and somehow […]
More on the new view of humanity’s social structures
I posted recently about an Atlantic article about a new take on the cultural evolution of human society, drawing on the work of David Graebner and David Wengrow, particularly their book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. The Guardian has an extract from that book that’s worth reading. It begins: n some […]
How to retrain your frazzled brain and find your focus again
Eleanor Morgan writes in the Guardian: Picture your day before you started to read this article. What did you do? In every single moment – getting out of bed, turning on a tap, flicking the kettle switch – your brain was blasted with information. Each second, the eyes will give the brain the equivalent of 10m bits […]
This helps account for the epidemic of homelessness and mental illness: A new kind of cheap meth
I think this article may be outside the paywall. It’s by Sam Quinones in the Atlantic, titled “‘i Don’t Know That I Would Even Call It Meth Anymore,’” and it’s definitely worth reading. The article is adapted from Sam Quinones’s new book, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of […]
Human History Gets a Rewrite
William Deresiewicz has an interesting article in the Atlantic, which, month after month, seems to be chockablock with interesting articles. Deresiewicz writes: Many years ago, when I was a junior professor at Yale, I cold-called a colleague in the anthropology department for assistance with a project I was working on. I didn’t know anything about the […]
A Dark shave, 75% Canadian
Shaving soap and aftershave from Tallow + Steel (Winnipeg), Game Changer .84-P from Italian Barber (Toronto), and the brush from Rooney (UK). Those are the company sources, though I imagine the razor was manufactured in the PRC. A great shave, thoroughly enjoyed, from the wonderful lather Tallow + Steel makes, today with the luscious Dark […]
Perhaps a good time to read “It Can’t Happen Here,” by Sinclair Lewis
Published in 1935, It Can’t Happen Here depicts a future in which fascism takes hold in the US. From Wikipedia: The novel was published during the heyday of fascism in Europe, which was reported on by Dorothy Thompson, Lewis’s wife.[3] The novel describes the rise of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting […]
Lone Wolf and Cub — and Ricky Jay
I very much enjoyed the Lone Wolf and Cub series of movies. Perhaps it’s time to re-view them.
The struggle within the GOP — McCarthy v. Cheney
Heather Cox Richardson outlines the struggle to determine the GOP’s direction and destiny and offers some reasons for optimism, a quality which I now actively pursue. She writes: This morning, Jonathan Martin at the New York Times reported that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has warned Republican political consultants that they may not continue to work […]
My Canadian take on an Old Fashioned
Making an Old Fashioned normally begins by filling an Old Fashioned glass with cracked ice (not ice cubes, not crushed ice — cracked ice). I have a canvas bag and a wooded mallet so that I can crack ice cubes (or, for a Mint Julep, beat them to a powder). Then one adds rye whisky, a […]
Why fossil fuel subsidies are so hard to kill
Government subsidies for fossil fuels are the epitome of perverse incentives, particularly when those same governments proclaim that they are taking action against climate change. Jocelyn Timperley writes in Nature: Fossil-fuel subsidies are one of the biggest financial barriers hampering the world’s shift to renewable energy sources. Each year, governments around the world pour around half […]
St. John’s College: Life goals of the Great Books Program
I am an alumnus of the College and also for three years served as director of admissions, so I found this statement interesting. It was written by one of the founders — Stringfellow Barr, I’m sure. He was the first College president under the Program, and Scott Buchanan, the other founder, was the first dean. […]
Seasoned Journalist Uncovers What Most Media Ignore
Maybe I’ve just become too pessimistic from a diet of daily journalism, with confirmation bias pushing me along: once a person adopts a pessimistic outlook, one can find many anecdotes to support the view. Here’s another talk by Charles Groenhuijsen:
Today’s powerful but little-understood artificial intelligence breakthroughs
Robbert Dijkgraaf writes in Quanta: Is artificial intelligence the new alchemy? That is, are the powerful algorithms that control so much of our lives — from internet searches to social media feeds — the modern equivalent of turning lead into gold? Moreover: Would that be such a bad thing? According to the prominent AI researcher Ali […]
Trump media venture and Bannon subpoena
Heather Cox Richardson: Last night, the “Trump Media and Technology Group” (TMTG) issued a press release announcing the creation of a “rival to the liberal media consortium” which would “fight back against the “Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America.” The new social media […]
Some significant requests from Pope Francis
Pope Francis on October 16: I ask all the great pharmaceutical laboratories to release the patents. Make a gesture of humanity and allow every country, every people, every human being, to have access to the vaccines. There are countries where only three or four per cent of the inhabitants have been vaccinated. In the name […]
Cafe Jacqueline and the Art of the Soufflé
For a while, I made soufflés quite often, generally cheese, sometimes spinach. The secret, so far as I’m concerned, is to use a copper bowl and a good whisk — that and experience. I worked from the recipe in Julia Childs’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which was highly reliable (at least if you […]
Can the U.S. Bring its Supply Chain Back Home?
Todd Oppenheimer has an interesting piece in Craftsmanship magazine. It begins: Cutting Taxes and Regulations Playing Leapfrog The Hunt for Good Workers Will Reshored Jobs Last? Resources for More Information Almost all of us have now read about, heard about, or directly suffered from the extraordinary shipping delays that have arisen during the COVID pandemic. Some […]
David Troy’s latest Situation Report paints a grim picture
David Troy writes in Medium: What’s Happening Now Crypto is creeping along, undermining democracies. Longtime Russia shill Aaron Maté joined Vladimir Putin and Edward Snowden in coming out in support of digital currencies. Bitcoin surpassed $60,000 USD on enthusiasm over prospects of SEC approval of Bitcoin Futures ETFs (exchange traded funds), allowing more easier flow of funds into the scarce […]
New wrinkle in roasted squash
A cold, rainy day like today sees an ideal time to roast a small buttercup squash. I just did that, and and this time I put the seeds into the 400ºF oven for 10 minutes, and then I removed the pan, added the squash (tossed with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, ground chipotle, ground […]
Aging, quickly depicted
Via Aeon: The filmmaker Anthony Cerniello achieves a remarkable visual expression of ageing, animating still photos of various members of one family
The worker shortage in one chart
The above chart is from a post by Kevin Drum, who notes: The baseline during good economic times is about 6 million people. This represents the normal churn of people leaving jobs for a few weeks before starting up new ones. The unemployment level never gets much below this, and we’re pretty close to it […]
L’Occitane Cade with a badger brush
I have been using brushes with synthetic knots on this soap, and that has gone very well, so naturally I wanted to try something different. Previously this soap had not done so well with a badger brush, but that may have been a skill issue. So today I picked my Rooney Style 1 Size 1 […]
Scientists found modern domestic horses’ homeland in southwestern Russia
One book I enjoyed a lot (and which is listed among the books I find myself repeatedly recommending) is The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, by David Anthony. In it, he discusses the domestication of the horse and the subsequent invention and development of the […]
Voting legislation never had the slightest chance of passing
Kevin Drum hits the nail on the head: The Democrats’ latest voting rights bill failed again last night and activists think President Biden isn’t pushing it hard enough: So far, the Biden administration’s response to the GOP assault on voting rights hasn’t matched the president’s urgent rhetoric. This isn’t to say the president has done nothing, or that […]
Vikings lived in North America by at least the year 1021
Bruce Bower reports in Science News: Vikings inhabited North America exactly 1,000 years ago, a new study finds. Counting tree rings reveals that wooden objects previously found at an archaeological site on Newfoundland’s northern peninsula were made from trees felled in the year 1021. That’s the oldest precise date for Europeans in the Americas and the only one […]
Art interpreted in flower arrangements
Here’s one example: And here are a lot more. You can click a photo to enlarge, then to get back click the title of the page (on the left). You can also click on the enlarged image to get a slide show.
Silencing the Competition: Inside the Fight Against the Hearing Aid Cartel
Matt Stoller has a particularly interesting column today. The blurb: Hearing aids are big business, and a cartel controls the industry through mergers, patents, deals with insurance companies, and control of audiologists. Will Biden’s plan to stop them work? The column begins: Today I’m writing about the Biden administration’s action against the hearing aid cartel, […]
Black Beer No. 1 and the Omega Pro, with the Parker (Semi-) Slant
I could happily use the Omega Pro 48 (10048) every day for at least a week, thought not indefinitely: I love variety too much. But, once broken in, it’s such a fine brush. This morning it readily brought up a good lather from Meißner Tremonia’s Black Beer No. 1 shaving soap, and the Parker slant smoothed […]
Being infected with Covid does not confer immunity — not to the degree that a vaccine does
Lynne Peeples writes in Nature: People who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 can expect to become reinfected within one or two years, unless they take precautions such as getting vaccinated and wearing masks. That’s the prediction of modelling based on the genetic relationships between SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses1. The findings also warn that people could be reinfected […]
They Went to Bible College to Deepen Their Faith. Then They Were Assaulted—and Blamed for It.
Becca Andrews reports in Mother Jones: Megan Wohlers thought she had done all she needed to do. And even if she had missed something, she thought, she was on a Christian campus, full of other believers—someone would certainly intervene. It was the fall of 2016 when the sophomore at Moody Bible Institute, one of the country’s most prestigious […]
A history of FLICC: the 5 techniques of science denial
The above illustration is from a really excellent post about the techniques deniers use, often unwittingly (that is, some deniers simply cannot think very well — that’s not a good thing, but it’s better than being cynically deceptive). The post includes some interesting videos, so clicking the link is a good idea. The post begins: […]
Political spark that ignited firestorm across dry, divided land
Evan Osnos writes of his book, Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury: This book is the story of a crucible, a period bounded by two assaults on the country’s sense of itself: the attack on New York and Washington, on September 11, 2001, and the attack on the U.S. Capitol, on January 6, 2021. The Harvard […]
Factory farms of disease: How industrial chicken production is breeding the next pandemic
John Vidal reports in the Guardian: One day last December, 101,000 chickens at a gigantic farm near the city of Astrakhan in southern Russia started to collapse and die. Tests by the state research centre showed that a relatively new strain of lethal avian flu known as H5N8 was circulating, and within days 900,000 birds at the […]
Wood-fragranced shave
I do like the crisp, crunchy feel of my Rooney Style 2 Finest, and it did make a great lather this morning from Meißner Tremonia’s Warm Woods. (It’s unclear to me why the name of the soap is in English when the rest of the label is in German.) Well-lathered, I went to work with […]
Steven Pinker and the Apocalypse
Robert Wright in the Nonzero Newsletter: Steven Pinker, in his new book Rationality, says he sees a paradox within the world view of the woke—at least, those of the woke who subscribe to postmodernism. On the one hand, postmodernists “hold that reason, truth, and objectivity are social constructions that justify the privilege of dominant groups.” On the […]
A River Reawakened: Ten Years of Rewilding the Elwha Watershed
Jessica Plumb writes in Orion: IN SEPTEMBER 2011, I stood on a river overlook with children from my daughter’s elementary school, all of us transfixed by a giant jackhammer pounding cement to rubble. Below us, a waterfall raged through the first notch carved in the Lower Elwha Dam, as dust rose in the September sunshine, drifting […]
A Data Sleuth Challenged A Powerful COVID Scientist. Then He Came After Her.
Stephanie M. Lee reports in Buzzfeed News: Days after a mysterious new illness was declared a pandemic in March of last year, a prominent scientist in France announced that he had already found a cure. Based on a small clinical trial, microbiologist Didier Raoult claimed that hydroxychloroquine, a decades-old antimalarial drug, was part of a 100% effective treatment […]
The personality profile, a technique originally created to find a psychopath killer, finding use in profiling fish helpful in salmon farming
Benjamin Whittaker, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, discusses the use of personality profiles in animal behavior: In November 1888, fear stalked the streets of London as the Whitechapel Murderer claimed his latest victim. The unusually gruesome attacks had puzzled investigators, so police surgeon Dr. Thomas Bond examined the […]
Deepl.com, another translator
Deepl.com is a translation program that some say is better than Google Translate. Currently Esperanto is not included among the languages available for translation.
An atomic clock measured how general relativity warps time across a millimeter
We know, in a general (relativity) way that mass warps space-time, but we tend to be more aware of the effects on space (things falling) than on time (clocks running slower). From what I understand, though, is that the time effects are much more noticeable. Take a look at this video. That time difference was […]
Scotch Whisky and Sheep-Wool Fat: Wonderful to start the day (NB: not as a beverage)
The Wee Scot seemed the obvious brush choice for this (wonderful) shaving soap from Meißner Tremonia, and indeed I did get a luxurious lather with no effort. The iKon Shavecraft 101 provides a highly pleasurable (and also efficient) shave, leaving my face as smooth as with a slant. A good splash of West Coast Perfumery’s […]
“Blinkety Blank” from the National Film Bureau of Canada
From an Aeon article by : The celebrated Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren (1914-87) was known for experimenting with visual perception via film. In this short animation, which won the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, McLaren plays with ‘persistence of vision’, or how the human eye retains an image for a […]
How to make and use the staff sling
It’s a handheld trebuchet, in effect. It’s obviously a deadly weapon with considerable range, so use with caution.
Bill Maher on the slow-moving coup
Maher summarizes the situation: 1. Trump will run for President in 2024.2. He will win the Republican nomination.3. When the polls close, Trump will declare that he has won (regardless of the count).4. Election officials now being put in place by Trumpist Republicans will declare enough local Trump victories to give Trump the Electoral College […]
Spotting liars is relatively easy with the right sort of questions
What seems like “several” years ago (but I see now will be 15 years ago in 10 days), I blogged a technique for conducting a job interview: Hiring a STAR. As I noted in the post (in an update I wrote after thinking about it), the reason it works is because reality is very rich […]
Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why you should want one)
In particular, I dislike the conventional US bicycle posture of being hunched over the handlebars, craning one’s neck up to see the road ahead. Plus I always had to add front and rear fenders to my bike — who wants a spray of muddy water tracking up your clothes? I really admire the simplicity and […]
Stealth even more stealthy after blade change
Wholly Kaw’s La Supérieure Dulci Tobacco Shave Cream makes a fine lather, though the fragrance for me is muted. The Mühle silvertip shown has quite a gentle knot, but a single swirl of the damp knot easily picked up enough shave cream for a luxurious lather. I’ll note in my marketing persona that it strikes […]
Rush to stop ‘Havana syndrome’
Christina Pazzanese writes in the Harvard Gazette: In 2016, dozens of diplomatic staff at the U.S. and Canadian embassies in Havana began experiencing a sudden onset of health troubles with no apparent cause. They reported a variety of symptoms, including vertigo, nausea, vision and hearing difficulties, memory loss, and headaches. Many said they felt something pressing […]
A Florida Anarchist Will Spend Years in Prison for Online Posts Prompted by Jan. 6 Riot
Natasha Lennard reports in the Intercept on a curiously hard sentence handed down to an anti-fascist in Florida: ON TUESDAY, a Florida judge sentenced Daniel Baker, an anti-fascist activist, to 44 months in federal prison for social media posts that called for armed defense against possible far-right attacks on the state’s Capitol in the wake of the January 6 […]
Chef Rick Bayless’ autumn squash mash
From an NPR newsletter: “At home, I split [a pair of] delicata squash lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, salt the flesh, wrap each half in plastic and microwave all 4 pieces for about 6 minutes, until tender,” Bayless said. “I start with 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter or olive oil in the skillet, add […]
Chronic pain is surprisingly treatable — when patients focus on the brain
Nathaniel Frank, director of the What We Know Project at Cornell University, which aggregates scholarly research for the general public, has an interesting article in the Washington Post. (Gift link: no paywall.) Chronic pain is not unusual, and any means of combatting it without the use of opioids is worth considering. The article begins: One-fifth of […]
California Begins to Phase Out Gas-Powered Lawn Equipment
I wish my own city would take this step. From the report: According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), operating a gas leaf blower for an hour can create as much smog-forming pollution as driving a Toyota Camry for 1,100 miles.
Texas authoritarians take over school curriculum
Thought control comes to Texas, courtesy of the GOP. Heather Cox Richardson describes how Texas is working to ensure public ignorance of US history. George Orwell described in 1984 what Texas is doing now — I wonder whether teachers in Texas can assign that book. On October 8, the executive director of curriculum and instruction […]
Three Children Attacked a Black Woman. A Sheriff’s Deputy Arrived — and Beat Her More.
Richard A. Webster, WRKF and WWNO, reports in ProPublica: The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating a deputy accused of holding a Black woman by her hair and slamming her head repeatedly into the pavement with such force that a witness to the Sept. 20 incident said it ripped several of Shantel Arnold’s braids from her […]
How to think like a detective
Ivar Fahsingis, a detective chief superintendent and associate professor at the Norwegian Police University College in Oslo with 15 years’ experience as a senior detective in the Oslo Police department and at the National Criminal Investigation Service of Norway, has an interesting article in Psyche: A criminal investigation is a complex, multifaceted problem-solving challenge. Detectives must […]
More buttercup squash, different spices
Rainy day and buttercup squash: nice combination. I used only half a larger squash, though all its seeds, and I changed the seasoning somewhat. Tossed the seeds and then the pieces with: • Extra-virgin olive oil• Diamond Crystal kosher salt• Kala Namak Himalayan kiln-fired salt• Ground cumin• Hungarian Half-Sharp Paprika• Piri Piri Chilli seasoning (at […]
A classic shave — and a great pleasure
I almost always have a very good shave — lots of practice plus good tools and products — and I was wondering this morning why, since such a good shave is a routine occurrence, it continues to be such a great pleasure. The specific stimulus was my thinking, “What an exceptionally good shave!” and then […]
“My Father, the Hitman”
James Dolan has a long piece in D Magazine about his search for knowledge of who his father actually was as a person. It’s worth reading, and it begins: My dad had gotten out of prison, and, for the first time in years, we were sitting down to dinner. It turned out to be the last […]
Economists to Cattle Ranchers: Stop Being So Emotional About the Monopolies Devouring Your Family Businesses
Matt Stoller writes in BIG: Last week, there was what should have been a historic hearing in the House Agriculture Committee, with the goal of reforming America’s cattle ranching system. The first witness was a Republican Senator trying to persuade the House members to adopt his legislative initiative. “My name is Chuck Grassley,” he said, “And I’m a farmer […]
End Times for Democracy?
David Troy has an interesting useful newsletter, Situation Report, to which you can subscribe for free and which you can read on Medium. Here are a couple of snippets from the most recent Situation Report: Bannon is trying to split the Catholic church and establish Moscow as the “Third Rome.” While he made big headlines this week for defying […]
Grooming Dept Lemon Bay, a DonkeyBase formula
Grooming Dept currently does not have any DonkeyBase formula — and apparently the price of donkey milk has gone through the roof, so it may be a while before it returns. (He does currently have Mallard formula soaps, of which I bought a couple.) The lather from the Lemon Balm is excellent in volume, consistency, […]
How — and Why — Trump Will Win Again
The future is notoriously difficult to predict accurately (though inaccurate predictions abound), buI fear this post by Umair Haque might well prove accurate: Getting a little nervous right about now? It’s becoming easier, by the day, to see Donald Trump heading back, triumphantly, to the White House. And his followers, emboldened, going absolutely mental. Uh oh. […]
The right-wing operatives orchestrating the attack on America’s school boards
Judd Legum writes in Popular Information about the Right’s effort the destroy the America I have known — or thought I knew. The nation’s school boards are under attack. Frequently things are getting out of hand: In Illinois, a “man was arrested…for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct following a disruption at a Mendon Board of Education.” […]
Counties with more Confederate monuments also had more lynchings, study finds
Let me beat you to it: Correlation is not causation. However, the common cause in this case is evident. Gillian Brockell reports in the Washington Post: It was 1898, and John Henry James was on a train headed toward certain death. The Black ice cream vendor had been falsely accused of raping a White woman, arrested […]
Rainy-day buttercup squash
It’s cold, wet, and rainy, so a good day for some roasted buttercup squash, with the oven helping to warm the apartment. Here it is ready for the oven. Seeds with extra-virgin olive oil and Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Pieces of squash tossed with EVOO, freshly ground black pepper, salt, and that Cape Herb & […]
Doppelgänger and the Plisson Grey Badger, with one of Gillette’s new DE razors
This brush is coarse on the face, and it took me a while to realize that was enjoyable. Note: the feel is not prickly, just coarse. And the lather it aroused was wonderful, from Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula. The Gillette DE razor uses the Edwin Jagger/Mühle head, and has a fairly heavy handle. A heavy […]
Chili extremely tasty
I made the chili blogged earlier today, and I updated the earlier post with the outcome (which is excellent).
The Abortion Backup Plan Many Do Not Know
Olga Khazan points out in an article in the Atlantic that abortions are readily available through on-line access to medical abortifacients. She writes: So many states have restricted access to abortion so severely that people in large swaths of the country feel they have no options if they want to terminate a pregnancy. But technically, those […]
Good list of influential science-fiction books
Take a look. I downloaded a dozen or so samples. (I have a Kindle, and one way to remember a book I might be interested in buying is to download the sample. It’s more effective than putting the book on a list, and surprisingly often just having the sample stifles the impulse to buy.) One […]
An interesting interview with Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson on screen is appealing, and apparently he’s the same in real life. Chris Heath has a lengthy interview/profile in Vanity Fair. It begins: During one of our last conversations, Dwayne Johnson’s five-year-old daughter, Jasmine, comes into his office to ask, a little impatiently, when he will be available to eat some lemon cake with […]
A Man With a Badge Nearly Killed Her. So She Got Her Own Badge.
And no, she didn’t nearly kill him back. Instead she had a highly successful career in the NYPD and founded a program that sounds extremely good. Here’s the report, and it’s a gift link, so no paywall. The report is by Michael Wilson in the NY Times, and it begins: When her boyfriend punched her in […]
Renewable energy costs now in the range of fossil fuel costs.
Both charts here are from EV’s Charts of the Week. And though renewables (Photo-Voltaic (PV), Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), Offshore- and Onshore-Wind) are within fossil-fuel cost range, that’s not likely to stay that way, since fossil-fuel costs are rising. Hydroelectric power is also renewable, and the drought in the Western US has affected that, especially […]
The tomato/potato divide in Europe
My guess is that the divide is partly cultural, but also partly driven by climate. I almost titled this post “You say to-may-to, I say po-tay-to.” 🙂
Lessons Learned from Two Gun-Violence Epidemics
Daniel Webster writes at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: came to Johns Hopkins in 1987 to get my doctorate and focus on public policies that enhance public health and safety. Initially, I focused on reducing motor vehicle deaths, but gun violence was engulfing U.S. cities in the late 1980s, including Baltimore. In neighborhoods […]
Buttercup squash
Buttercup squash are not yet so common as other varieties, so I was pleased to pick up these fellows. They’ll each be roasted (along with their seeds) over the coming days. This morning I am having the squash at the bottom. I cut it into bite-sized pieces and tossed those with olive oil, some kala […]
Chili gathering
I have some dark red kidney beans to cook, and to me that spells “chili.” So I gathered some things to use. I made a list off the top of my head. [Full disclosure: ingredient measures were done by eye, thus the “~”; counts, however, are accurate.] Olive oil1 large Red Onion (sort of hidden […]
Tcheon Fung Sing, the fine Italian shaving soap
Yesterday’s Zi’ Peppino left me wanting more of that green-tobacco goodness, so this morning I brought forth my tub of Tcheon Fung Sing Tabacco Verde and with the snakewood-handled badger brush I bought from Strop Shoppe long ago, easily produce an abundant lather. This is a gentle brush, so today’s shave was soothing. Maggard Razors’ […]
Britain experiencing cultural blindness about Brexit
I have a post about cultural blindness, the specific examples being the microculture of basketball and informal fights between individuals. However, the phenomenon — when a culture is oblivious to something that is plainly visible to those outside the culture — crops up in other contexts, and Umair Haque points out how Britain has become […]
Trump Won the County in a Landslide. His Supporters Still Hounded the Elections Administrator Until She Resigned.
The slow-moving coup continues its motion. It seems possible that it will succeed. Jeremy Schwartz reports in ProPublica: An elections administrator in North Texas submitted her resignation Friday, following a monthslong effort by residents and officials loyal to former President Donald Trump to force her out of office. Michele Carew, who had overseen scores of elections […]
Had to use a boar brush again in a mostly RazoRock shave
I originally had a badger brush lined up for today’s shave, but yesterday’s experience with the Omega Pro 48 was so nice that I just had to reprise it, this time using my Omega 20102, which sports a beechwood handle. After letting the brush soak while I showered, I loaded it well with Zi’ Peppino, […]
Heather Cox Richardson on the slow-moving coup being carried out now in the US
Richardson writes in her column tonight: Both the New York Times and the Washington Post today ran op-eds from Republicans or former Republicans urging members of their party who still value democracy to vote Democratic until the authoritarian faction that has taken over their party is bled out of it. In the New York Times, Miles Taylor and Christine Todd […]
Toward a Unified Theory of Blob-dom
Robert Wright (one of whose books has a place on my book list) has an interesting post that begins: The people claiming that there is some sort of unified theory of Blob-dom are not thinking clearly, said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. For one thing, he said, even within Brookings there […]
Possible culprit in the obesity epidemic
A Chemical Hunger is a literature review of obesity studies in a search for why obesity suddenly started becoming a problem around 1980 — not just in humans, but also among domesticated animals. The site consists of multiple sections, one webpage per section, and section 7, “Lithium,” has just been posted. It’s worth reading. It […]
Good Leaders Know You Can’t Fight Reality
Scott Edinger writes in the Harvard Business Review: Summary: Acceptance is often misunderstood as approval or being against change, but it is neither. Acceptance is about acknowledging the facts and letting go of the time, effort, and energy wasted in the fight against reality. Your reality may be that you are falling behind on revenue, a […]
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Written by Leisureguy
25 May 2021 at 9:09 am
