G+ Migration Blog

I am kind of beboggled at the immaturity and unprofessionalism that seems to be the tactic of (certain campaigns) choice to oppose Trump. Because, you know, the best way to do this is to behave as badly or worse than he is? Knowing how I feel, like this is watching an embarrassing and degrading slo-mo disaster, I cannot even imagine what it looks like to anyone from another country. I mean, they're all but sticking their tongues out and singing nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah at each other.

Congratulations, Cheryl Tiegs on being this year's nominee for the Jenny McCarthy "Science is Hard" award. Honorable mentions for Irrelevant Person who Misses Public Attention and Best Choice of Debunked Physician awards. http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/living/si-cheryl-tiegs-ashley-graham-unhealthy-feat/?iid=ob_lockedrail_longstory_pool&iref=obnetwork http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/living/si-cheryl-tiegs-ashley-graham-unhealthy-feat/?iid=ob_lockedrail_longstory_pool&iref=obnetwork

Hate is a real thing. Notwithstanding my entire upbringing and the fatuous idiots from much of my life whom I can picture saying you don't hate people, you may dislike them but you don't really hate them, and other such platitudinosity and invalidation.   I hate my mother. I don't know why Tuesday was the breaking point psychotic abusive

Hi, all of you better informed people, opinions on this, please? http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/271001-hillarys-newfound-disdain-for-single-payer http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/271001-hillarys-newfound-disdain-for-single-payer

Oh, yay, they are predicting 5-8 inches of ice pellets for tomorrow. Maybe they will change their minds.

So I left the house and went to a special screening here of Only Yesterday . No spoilers. It's long, boring, preachy, and visually gorgeous. It's also got an interesting soundtrack, esp if you are at all cognizant of European folk music. It also gets trite and cheesy at times, esp with the Japanese version of a big American movie theme song hit as the closing music. However, there are sections that work really well as story telling, but I'd have to spoil to say which. If you are into anime and manga, it is worth seeing, but be prepared for some deadly slow sections. And it is visually just beautiful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_Yesterday_(1991_film)

The sun is out. I'm trying to feel good about that.

At some point, I will have eaten too many tums. Also, they do not help with the dizziness.

Here, have something repulsively cute - my nephew. Not only do his parents regularly have formal photo sessions, clearly, it is not only girls who can be used as dress up dolls. (Seriously, my SIL spends so much money on "cute outfits".)

You'd think this would be a big deal, but judging by the coverage it's getting, apparently not. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-robert-reich-endorsement-219892 http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-robert-reich-endorsement-219892

Hi. I am struggling with some stuff. I am hoping it would help to feel like I could dump some of it, but also like I could get some input from some people I can trust. A lot of it is probably just the usual stupidity people go through from time to time. However, a lot of it is negative, or going to be expressed negatively, and I know people don't really need to hear that. However, since I can't just get blind drunk in a room with y'all, I'm asking if you'd mind if I impose on you on here. I'm just asking a handful of you, 'cuz not interested in broadcasting. Please say no if it's not a good time for you, I don't want to mess with everybody else's days, too. Thanks.

Today is not a good day.

More monkey abuse. Seriously, how does the Catholic church keep finding these throwback conservatives, and why do they keep putting them in charge of St. Louis? Dude, there are so many much more serious issues in and around St. Louis. What the hell? http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/us/girl-scout-cookies-st-louis-catholics.html?_r=0 http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/02/26/st-louis-archbishop-voices-opposition-to-girl-scouts.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/us/girl-scout-cookies-st-louis-catholics.html?_r=0

Jfam, people. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lands-end-gloria-steinem-abortion_us_56cf2645e4b03260bf75aa00 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lands-end-gloria-steinem-abortion_us_56cf2645e4b03260bf75aa00

Anderson Cooper actually said, "... get some popcorn ..." when telling people CNN would be replaying the Republican debate later tonight.

Roger Delgado's The Master was a better villain than any of the Republicans. Can we nominate him posthumously?

Much locked. So tightly. So, things are really bad at home, right now. Dad and I had some talks today, largely brought on by me losing it, but, you know, not as bad as that probably sounds. Just, cracks in the facade, right? Mom's broken and, you know, you can't "fix" people when that happens. Especially if they're pretty much stuck between denial and anger simultaneously. For years. Um, so Dad's actively depressed and I'm angry and we're both basically working on accepting the loss of the person we used to know. While moderately handicapped by lack of resources and other such. I mean, the seeds of this were there, but this is full-blown giant hogweed. And this never had to happen. I mean, I guess we all contain the seeds of our own destruction, but who the hell wants to nurture them? My dad's the one with cancer, but it turns out he's not the one we're mourning. It'd be nice if she'd stop being hurtful, though. P.S. Choosing not to...

Wow. I am listening to this debate and the audience is acting like this is a WWE event - whistling, cat-calling. No wonder Trump has appeal (even if it's not to this audience). It's interesting to listen to Rubio try to explain how he's going to end DACA but he's sympathetic to children raised illegally in this country from too early an age to have known anything else. While he's saying he's basically going to put them in an untenable position if he's elected. It's also interesting listening to him talk about how his mother was an American who essentially lost a job as a maid to people like Trump hiring illegal immigrants. This would be the same person who has gotten a lot of mileage out of his immigrant story in his career. He's really big on legal versus illegal immigrants. The legal ones have rights, the illegal ones don't. How's he sympathetic, again? Neither Cruz nor Rubio really sounded to me like they answered any of the direct questio...

Wow, Michael Moore. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/02/25/no-reason-to-blame-canadas-garbage-for-flint-crisis-experts-say.html http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/02/25/no-reason-to-blame-canadas-garbage-for-flint-crisis-experts-say.html

If this is every day, is that a problem? Asking for a friend. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/today_illustrated http://theoatmeal.com/comics/today_illustrated

In honor of Kenneth Cavness (I keep thinking of songs when I see your postings). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKEzDfFiRBs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKEzDfFiRBs

That mood where stress says eating ice cream for breakfast will solve everything.

Hm. Apparently ripping out your stomach lining is intensely painful.

So tight locked. Wow. Mom just actually earned a full "Fuck you, Bitch." Which I of course did not say. I did say "That was the wrong answer." But she just brushed it off. I ... don't even know if it really matters what the details are, here. I just don't. Screw it, I need to vent. Mom: "Sorry I ruined your day." Me: "That's ok, I'll just ruin one of yours in the future." In an obviously joking tone, facial expression, and body attitude. Ha ha. Mom: "You've already ruined several." Not joking. At all. When called on it, she tried to recover by saying, "Well, I was half-joking."  Reeeeaaally. And you think that makes it better? Especially since you weren't (joking) and now you're trying to cover that up by, frankly, lying to assuage some social convention, or fear of being judged, or one of your internal anxiety/perfection demons, or because you know exactly what you just did. Actually, I don't c...

Oh, good. Because 7:30am is when you want your day to start going downhill.

Ion, caught up with Legends of Tomorrow .  Hate certain types of characters SO MUCH and there is one in this show. It is super irritating and needs to stop asap. Otherwise, thought episode was pretty decent.

Therese Noren has serendipitously alleviated a significant portion of my distress due to living with a pathologically anxious individual. Thank you, proxy of the mighty Thor.

About the same temp as Norway, today. Which is around freezing. There are birds out, though, so I'm not sure what that portends.

I feel like the movie rating system is pretty much useless at this point. So I think we need a system with check boxes that are potentially informative. Granted, you still might have to creatively explain to your children why they can't go see a certain movie (good luck with that), but at least you actually know why you shouldn't let them see it. A starting list of proposed check boxes: Cussin' (modifiers allowed - mild, moderate, I feel the temperature risin') Dishonesty, deception, and deceit Death (on screen, off screen) Death of Main Character (on screen, off screen) Scary Monsters Things exploding Things turning inside out and exploding Big Battle Scenes Copious Carnage Lots of innards Lots of fake blood Dismemberment Acts of violence graphically illustrated/demonstrated Torture and other abuse Bullying Anatomically correct characters Naked characters (partially, completely) Naked characters in the same scene Activities involving naked characters Of course, The Ma...

I'm easily amused: Tennant does Einstein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XSAVqm0XBI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XSAVqm0XBI

So, I went and saw The Lady in the Van the other day. I think I was hoping it would be funnier? Also, if you care about being spoiled run away now because not editing this. Somehow, I did not realize before going in that this was Alan Bennett ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Bennett ). More on that later. I highly recommend the score. Classical music is a key element in this story, so that is there, but there are lots of other bits and it's quite well done. As for the movie, Maggie Smith is a-freaking-mazing. Had they made her most of the movie, she should have been awash in awards. In fact, if it wasn't for her, there'd be no point in seeing this movie. Sorry, Mr. Bennett. There are many scenes of note, and, in fact, she is funny in a very great deal of this. The one scene, though, I'd particularly call out is one in which she doesn't even say anything. She says nothing and you want to weep. You want to fight the horribleness of the world and what it's don...

Still warmer than Norway, woo!

Well, that's one more down officially (Bush), and, realistically, it's a 3 candidate race at this point on the Republican side. Meanwhile, Sanders' concession speech managed to be more inspirational than Clinton's victory speech. Somebody's gotta work on that.

Today's news reminded me of The Dry Grass of August . It made a much stronger impression on me, and was infinitely more relatable and regrettably instructive about the "South" and racism and violence than To Kill a Mockingbird . In fact, I'd substitute it for that book if I was trying to teach students about literature and history in the US. You should read it, but know going in that it is not a light-hearted read. http://www.annajeanmayhew.com/ http://www.annajeanmayhew.com

I wanted to put this in response to something on another thread, but I also did not want to offend. Fuck the idea of being fucking perfect. That is the most broken, misused, harmful concept, ever. How about we just are whatever we are, and we do whatever we do with it, and that's FINE. I may or may not be empathizing with some things I've read elsewhere and/or may or may not have experienced personally.

Cool. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35617262 http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/02/18/photographers-swarm-yosemite-for-spectacular-firefall-phenomenon/ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35617262

Flames, on the side of my face. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/18/michigan-catholic-hospital-women-miscarriage-abortion-mercy-health-partners http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/18/michigan-catholic-hospital-women-miscarriage-abortion-mercy-health-partners

Somewhere in there is a hot dog.* Went to the newly opened brick version of the very first food truck in this area. Very food truck - it started serving some authentic tacos and some "fusion" tacos. Mostly it serves non-Mexican tacos and burritos. Anyway, they opened a for real restaurant version with a few other things on the menu, also a bar. The bar sounds like they have interesting things (i.e. cocktails), if heavy on pushing the mezcal. One of the things they added for the restaurant was a "Sonoran Dog". A hot dog wrapped in bacon in a toasted bun with shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, cilantro, onions, a mayo sauce made with their "rocket sauce", a salsa verde with avocado type vinaigrette sauce, and optional "rocket sauce", which is their house hot sauce. You can only kind of tell there's bacon flavor-wise under all that sauce, but it's a perfectly cromulent example of the kind of crazy hot dog with toppings that places like Japado...

Ion, still colder than Svalbard. (This will change tomorrow, though.)

Not to be annoying, but you know I duff around with this. Turns out it works So Much Better with, like, professional equipment and stuff. Anyway, the photographer is only like 2+ hours from me and has workshops. Too bad I haven't money or equipment, 'cuz I'd totally do that. https://plus.google.com/collection/YIF_v

Alassëa nosta, Silmaril. (Hope that's right because brain not working, so cribbed it.) (Hope got the date right, too.)

Neither The Onion, nor a SciFi movie: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/18/fast-growing-tumbleweed-called-hairy-panic-blows-into-australian-city http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/18/fast-growing-tumbleweed-called-hairy-panic-blows-into-australian-city

Since they're saying it on the media, it's probably okay if I say it out loud. Wonder if Rubio promised Haley the VP spot on the ticket.

I should do something for myself today, but am feeling rolled over by the persistent cloud of blahs. I wonder if the Dalek of self-help would work. Motivate! Motivate! Nope, but I am amused by the irony of a Dalek self-help guru.

Seems I forgot to post this last week. Found interesting new fungi to try - black trumpet mushrooms. Tasty and earthy. They do carry some dirt and bits, so there was rinsing involved prior to cooking. I chose to do it after I did a large rough chop because their shape tends to hide and trap the bits. Sauteed in olive oil and butter with minced shallots. Combined with sauce I had made this fall with yellow heirloom tomatoes, onions, and olive oil. Use over local made garlic whole wheat linguini. Nom. Definitely would eat these mushrooms again.

Good old American trash taco. Minimal effort. Got corn, black beans, canned green chiles, hatch chili salsa, lite mexican shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole (there weren't any avocados), cilantro, shredded cabbage, corn tortillas, a tomato, a lime at Trader Joe's. Diced up tomato, cut wedges from lime, chopped up some cilantro; heated up black beans with some cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, fresh lime, fresh cilantro; put stuff on tortilla including cheese; warmed up in microwave; put other stuff on top; ate. Not authentic, don't care.

More things that do not elevate the tone of the dialogue which reporters are saying - "Liar, liar, ..." sometimes with, sometimes without the "pants on fire" bit.

I am so craving proper tacos or tapas, now, but making them is all, like, work. Wah.

TV journalism: 1. Never expected to hear a reporter use "I'm rubber and you're glue" when discussing a Presidential election. I mean, not even as a joke, but it seems to sum up the Republican primary at the moment. 2. In the annals of mispronunciation, never have so many mispronounced so few. That is, every one of your organizations knew where the Pope was going on his tour. Even if you didn't get the t-shirt, I highly suspect it was announced in a printed or emailed press packet. If you didn't know how to pronounce the place names, you had time to look it up. Meanwhile, several major stations' anchors (from multiple different countries) have ALL struggled to pronounce where the Pope is. It's that region of Mexico "devastated by drug wars". Say it with me, now ... Michoacán. 3. MSNBC has resurrected Brian Williams for occasional political reporting? Interesting.

Ayup. It warmed up and it's a-snowin'.  #lakeeffectnooooo

Ok, so, I did this sort of irrational superstitious wait until X thing with not updating. Anyway, don't remember exactly what I told you and what I didn't. Let me sum up: - Incidental found heart damage from stuff - Much invasive evaluating said finding - Eventual invasive fixing of stuff, which required meds that anti-coagulate - Sort of constant higher risk of bleeding because blood cancer, anyway - Restarted some chemo for side-effect cancers you get from this main cancer (I didn't know this initially) - This chemo has a possible side effect of bleeding or at least potentiating anti-coagulation (this was apparently pooh-poohed by certain professionals because they personally had never seen it - nice call, yutz) - Bleeding ensues - only a little at first, so just have stop one of two anti-coag meds; chemo is already in system - Bleeding gets bad - visit emergency room, they do things - See another doctor next day at office, they do things - Bleeding continues at low level...

It is not perfect, but I still really enjoy Galavant , of which I've finally caught up with the last episodes of Season 2. I really hope they renew this for a third season, it has potential! Also, now, ... uh, ok, in case anyone else is watching it and hasn't seen the rest of the season before me ... here's some spoiler space ... g a l a v a n t As I was saying, also now with a real dragon! Which was off camera and really just sound and lighting effects because I guess they have some budget limits. But the sheep was real! Poor sheep. Still don't get the potty humor, but there was less. The self-referential humor is generally quite good, although they were doing it an awful lot, here. Actual evil mustache twirling. Nice touch! Duet on screen with your own inner child as you are about to be killed by an undead army - nice touch. Revoltingly cutesy evil magic duet gets points for satirizing every perky, cheerful Disney magic song, ever. Did they reference the remake of The...

Boring people like me watch C-SPAN. I was actually looking to see if there was anything new (stop laughing) about Scotus & Potus. Obs there wasn't, so flipping channels found this. It was very interesting.  First of all, the whole "1980's" caught my attention, because this is during my lifetime. That, and it's after when we were taught "the civil rights era" was. So everything was all better, wasn't it? Mm, no. So it was very educational, including listening to the students asking and discussing.  Frex, would not have paid attention to boxing, but he talked about a title fight between Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney in 1982. In addition to what I suspect is widely known (it was promoted as black vs. white, Great White Hope, threats of violence, etc.), he said the dressing rooms were set up differently. There was a phone with an outside line in Cooney's dressing room so the President could call and congratulate him if he won. There was no corres...

Late catching up, but Legends of Tomorrow has gone from exciting potential, to sad, to exciting potential, again. I mean, there are still some dumb moments, but I'm willing to stick with it to see if Bad Ass Dr. Who becomes awesome. I'm bored with the main villain, at present, because he's just an excuse for a) the show premise, b) random violence. Maybe he'll turn into a character at some point. Right now, Dr. Who's problems with the High Council are looking far more promising than the supposed Villain Prime.

Thus far, it seems we have not broken the record low for today; at least, not at the official spot. Depending on which observing spot or specific area, though, the low has been reported anywhere from -10 to -15, so far. Just to keep up to date, it's still significantly warmer in Svalbard.

How fast can the Obama Administration get a Supreme Court appointment through Congress? Who's bringing popcorn?

It's zero degrees! Wooo!

Ok, I'm weird so I just looked it up. It's warmer in Svalbard than it is here. -_-

The temperature has been dropping since the sun came up. Ur doin' it wrong.

Ok. So, it's a virtue to forgive, and there are some teachings about whoever is without sin, and something about not judging other people, but not if you're in a completely straight-laced political ad? That's so lame. This could totally have been spun in any number of ways that should have played well to a bunch of conservatives. Unless they're, you know, basically cherry picking their supposed ethics and morals and stuff. Also, I was really hoping it would be Cruz actually interacting with the softcore star. This is so totally boring. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/12/cruz-kills-campaign-ad-featuring-former-softcore-porn-star/

A Tale of Two Pączki Clearly, Tuesday was well spent. One of these is a traditional pączek right down to the plum/prune filling. It is an excellent pączek. The other is a mutant that ate all the others and is overwhelmingly filled with blackberry jelly. It is a perfectly cromulent giant pączek, if not traditional. The most common filling around here is blackberry jam or jelly, and in this case it came from Paula's of giant donut fame. The traditional one came from the newest of the Polish bakeries and really is super delicious. There are 3 remaining Polish bakeries around here, but these are so popular now that you can even get them at the grocery stores for Fat Tuesday. Not that you should feel limited by that, because the oldest of the remaining Polish bakeries has pączki available every Friday and Saturday. I believe theirs is the one with the rum glaze.

Weather update: potential high for tomorrow has gone from a range of -3 to +3 to a range of -5 to 0. If I was in Minnesota, this would not be news.

I did not have to decide whether or not to go on the ice hike on the lake tomorrow. The rangers decided that -35F wind chills were not conducive to the good health of participants and have cancelled said hike. They said that this weather has, indeed, created a lovely section of ice formations near to shore, but they are hoping visibility will be such that they can be seen from the windows in the park building. Maybe I will go next year. #coldasice   #lakeeffectnooooo

There was a hiatus in the Soup of the Week ambitions due to weather being sufficiently warm that it discouraged soup. Well, that changed. Yesterday, I made a roasted corn and roasted chilis soup. It's pretty good. I kept some of the kernels and some roasted poblanos for after the pureeing. However, corn soups probably need to be run through a chinois or a tamis because corn kernels just don't want to have anything to do with this whole smooth thing. Anyway, I sauteed some onions in olive oil, added two of those little cans of roasted green chiles, then added 1lb. of corn kernels, let all that saute then added 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 precooked medium butter potatoes (this was eventually to aid as a thickener). Let it do its thing for a while, tasted it, decided it didn't have much flavor, added some oregano, cumin, garlic and onion powder. Cooked a bit more, removed from heat, added a small bunch of chopped cilantro, and pureed. Retasted, decided it was neither terrib...

I love that they are playing the sound of gravitational waves. It makes me think that if John Cage were alive, he would write a piece of music called "1.3 Billion Years" where all you'd hear is white noise until there's one very quiet 'bloop!' and that's the end. #musicnerdhumor   #harmonyofthespheres

Sooo the temperatures were supposed to be in the 20's at worst today. I went outside. 20 degrees what? Kelvin? Needless to say the forecast had changed.

Cross over between craft postings and emergency preparedness survival postings on paracord provided this quote: Some of the uses for a paracord are for building a shelter, fishing or haunting for food, or making a sling for your arm among others! Interesting. I guess the paracord is so scary it frightens game to death?

Two things inspired by TV today: 1) What's wrong with our media is illustrated by only BBC World showing the press conference about gravitational waves. All the CNN and MSNBC channels were all repeating the same campaign stuff over and over, sprinkled with Zika virus and Major Sports Figure failings. They didn't even mention the gravitational waves. Or, well, anything in the rest of the world, except Zika, but that's because we could get it and that is bad. 2) Looks like we got ourselves a campaign, here. Has this even happened in my lifetime? Some pundits suggest not. The Congressional Black Caucus PAC clearly personally likes Hillary. But other notable members of the African American community are starting to endorse Sanders, and even when they are not endorsing him, they are talking to and about him and raising his profile. I very much wonder where this will go.

Some few of you might be into this sort of thing. Quebec group called Strada. Call it World Music, for lack of something else. Heard their version of "Hajej, nynej, Jezísku", a Czech lullaby carol on ICI Musique (French radio Toronto) in December but it took a while to find them online. Also, the broadcaster said it was called "Dors, petit Jesus", which was not helping. Anyway, after searching google.ca in French I found them. I like what snippets are on their website. They are eclectic, but good. That carol is off an album from 2000 called Kadou . (Their version of Alabama Song on the album Fanfarniente , which you can listen to on the site, is quite impressive, as well.) http://www.strada.ca/ http://www.strada.ca

The Spanakopita of Doom: Made in the Lasagna Pan of Doom, which is about 15" x 11" x 4". 4 lbs frozen spinach, drained and squeezed and drained, etc. 2 very large onions, minced 2 small bunches of scallions cut up 1 bag TJ frozen leeks (it's easier than washing 'em) 4-5 cloves garlic cut up 2 pkgs sheep feta cut into 1/2" cubes, about 1.8 lbs. About 9-12 sheets of phyllo as needed to layer bottom and top small bunch fresh dill cut up olive oil for softening oniony things and for brushing phyllo nutmeg sprinkled on top of cheese layer I guess you're really supposed to sort of par cook everything together before putting it into the phyllo (including cheese and eggs), but I didn't. I just did the onion and garlic items briefly. I mixed the dill with the spinach. Layered and brushed some phyllo on the bottom of the pan overhanging sides. Layered some of the onion mixture, then the spinach mixture, then the onion, etc. Then layered the cubed up cheese and...

This whole attempt at winter thing would go a whole lot better if we got snow, not ice. Just a suggestion.

Tried one other proto-nola thing tonight, and, well, one out of two ain't bad? They had gumbo (that's what they called it), by which I mean a stew-like dish involving rice and okra. It wasn't like any gumbo I've ever had, but there are many kinds, and they did cook the okra properly (i.e. it was not mucilaginous). I mean, whatever it was wasn't bad, it just wasn't gumbo. They also had someone who was supposed to be playing ragtime, new orleans, 20's/30's, boogie-woogie, etc. piano. It was a nice upright that was obviously being taken care of, and the pianist was enthusiastic. It was so bad. So. Bad. I came home and put on my CDs from Preservation Hall. Purchased at Preservation Hall, I might add. It was necessary. Hey, you know, they tried. And I supported a small local business. And I have several paczki bought today for eating tomorrow. It's all good.

Not getting well publicized, but apparently there is a small but growing trend of Mardi Gras-isms popping up hereabouts. This place was serving red beans and rice (surprisingly delicious!) and made fresh King Cakes for the first time this year, which they were selling whole or by the very large slice. It's an impressive first effort. The red beans and rice, though, were excellent and I wish this was something they served regularly, not just today.

At what point do the don wannas wear off?

Maybe not as cute as baby goats, but still pretty cute. https://twitter.com/NationalZoo/status/696730932930289666 https://twitter.com/NationalZoo/status/696730932930289666

Oh, good grief. (I'd still probably eat it - it's mint chocolate chip!) http://elitedaily.com/social-news/bernie-sanders-ice-cream-ben-jerrys/1341550/ http://elitedaily.com/social-news/bernie-sanders-ice-cream-ben-jerrys/1341550

Spanakopita of Doom: 4 lbs frozen spinach 2 pre minced containers of onion - so like two very large onions? 2 small bunches of scallions cut up 1 bag TJ frozen leeks 4-5 cloves garlic cut up 2 pkgs sheep feta, about 1.8 lbs. about 9 sheets of phyllo? maybe 12? olive oil small bunch fresh dill cut up nutmeg sprinkled on top of cheese layer Cooked hour and 10 or 20 minutes at 375. Started uncovered for 20 min then covered then left uncovered for last 15. Mom says she does 400 about an hour or more, covered, then uncovers for 15-20 minutes to finish cooking. Also, this should have included 6-8 eggs, but it was ok without them. Usually you use the eggs, though. At least, mom does. Makes 12 large piece servings.

Today is National Kite Flying Day, I guess? Which is weird, 'cuz April is Kite Flying Month. I don't really know who makes these critical decisions, but clearly there's a lack of coordination. http://www.examiner.com/article/go-fly-a-kite-it-s-kite-flying-day http://www.examiner.com/article/go-fly-a-kite-it-s-kite-flying-day

Hi. Could somebody scream this really loudly? "We have this laser focus on weight, when this measure of body size doesn't get under the skin of what healthy markers are," she says. "We need to focus on actual health markers, rather than this outdated, very broad measure called BMI." The article isn't fully publicly available, yet, but I put the link here, anyway. The NPR post covers many of the things about BMI with which I have had an issue for some time. It is taught as if it is a health indicator, which is why so much has been pegged to it, and that has to change.  It's like the way in which p-values are constantly misused, among other things. Further, I do not at all agree with the idea that people who smoke, or have an elevated BMI, or whatever else should have to pay more for health insurance. Why? Firstly, because no matter how much it is claimed this is science, it is almost always motivated by a deep seated moral/ethical judgment system that is...

Yes, to take advantage of and use modern technologies most effectively, there should be centralized access to health information without redundant bureaucracy. No, patients are not fully protected from discrimination, nor will anyone ever fully understand what might happen if they sign away privacy rights. This is not a simple situation with a simple solution. “These people will be presented this consent form at their weakest, where they're suffering and at their most vulnerable,” Pyles said. “It's an effort that appears to preserve the patient's right, when in practice, it sets up a process to ignore it.” http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160205/NEWS/160209897 http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160205/NEWS/160209897

I give up. g+ thinks it knows better than I do how to share my photos. Surprise, it does not. In honor of Fire Monkey New Year, some pics from the Chinese New Year things I saw in Vancouver a few years ago. That was the year of the Water Snake, hence much snake imagery. This was part of a festival and display set up near the Art Museum in downtown. Lots of food and crafts and a parade. I have my light up paper snake hat from it somewhere. https://goo.gl/photos/aM27QUaUvFbQ4gcY9

Also, what the heck happened to the Panthers? Asking for a friend.

I know I said we might not have ice on the Lake, but that was an observation, not a complaint. Now they are predicting we will have minus degrees of temperature on Saturday. And it was like 60 or something last week. I mean, they haven't been able to be accurate more than 3 days out this winter, so we might get some positive degrees but this trend is not promising. I am totally fine with hiking in 20 degree weather. I don't have mountain gear for doing it in minus whatever. Not that there will necessarily be ice, but it can build up overnight, so there's a chance. If it's minus something onshore, it will be even colder offshore. This is adding a lot to my nope.

nope

Happy Year of the Monkey Butts! Well, the whole monkey, but that includes the butt! Specifically fire monkey butts. Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/12144891/chinese-new-year-2016-year-of-the-monkey.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/12144891/chinese-new-year-2016-year-of-the-monkey.html

I do not remember this, but it seems to be au courant because there's a thing trying to compare Sanders to Dean out there, now? Anyway, the link is to the radio program on which I heard about it. Apparently, Howard Dean's campaign got the "Doesn't she look tired?" treatment by the media back when he ran for pres. in that he was supposed to be angry and hot tempered.  At some rally they selectively picked up him yelling on an overblown mike and played it endlessly and asked him why he was angry. Or some such. I do not, for the life of me, remember him being portrayed as angry, nevermind this supposed scream being played repetitively. There's good explanation of the technical details of why and how that sort of "Go Team!" yell ended up sounding, well, exactly as they describe it - kind of a screech. In addition, they seem to suggest that the media didn't collude, they just all thought it was a great story of the angry candidate and played that up a...

As has been mentioned, it seems a great many people had the same reaction to this guy, or at least his face. The reason I'm bothering to link to this, though, is the bit further down where they mention "backpfeifengesicht". And those of you who would know have to tell me, is this a real word? does this really mean, essentially, a face that needs to be slapped? Because that just makes German the best for words and concepts, yet again. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/martin-shkreli-faces_us_56b388d7e4b01d80b2456139?cps=gravity_2425_-8941478547933430589 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/martin-shkreli-faces_us_56b388d7e4b01d80b2456139?cps=gravity_2425_-8941478547933430589

Dinner last night - spanish mackerel in a puttanesca sauce over garlic broccoli rabe. Mackerel is supposed to be a fatty or oily fish, so I was expecting it to be really strongly flavored, but it was very mild. It had a slightly richer texture than your standard flaky white fish, which was nice. The sauce is just olive oil, garlic (a lot), a few anchovies, capers, green olives, red pepper flakes, and obs diced tomatoes. I did dust the fish with garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and dried oregano before letting it cook in the sauce. The rabe was just heat olive oil, infuse a bunch of garlic but remove before it burns, cook down/wilt the rabe, then mix the garlic back in when you finish cooking and take it off the heat. Would eat again.

The calories in lasagna come from the cheese. But you cannot have lasagna without cheese. I haz a sad.

Oh ye who crave King Cake, I was looking for something else and found this. It says New Seasons and Beaverton Bakery may have King Cakes. http://www.portlandmardigras.com/fat-tuesday-traditions/

Why does no one tell me about these things? A paczek and a beer? Now that's motivation. http://www.tour-de-troit.org/paczkirun http://www.tour-de-troit.org/paczkirun

Other cooking adventures: I signed up for this marmalade class. I've made jam, but not marmalade and wanted to see what there was to learn about the different process. Made from organic Hamlin oranges from Florida provided by the little store where the class was held. If there's one time it might matter whether you got conventional or non-sprayed fruit, this would probably be it, since the whole point of marmalade is that the peel is included. In summary, more involved than jam, but tastes yummy and if I had anyone to give the rest of the jars to, I would probably play with making marmalades. Meanwhile, I present my jar of orange marmalade. P.S. Not bought, not feeble.

So, you know how I mentioned there may have been a Bundt pan incident? Well, this is the intended cake, deconstructed. It was meant to be a way to use up some of the dark ale I had partly used in making the alpaca stew. Instead of a chocolate stout cake, it was a chocolate dark ale cake. Which would have had espresso buttercream filling and a smoked salt caramel sauce to pour over. It works just as well layered.

Apparently mini sliders made from mini donuts or donut holes are a thing. This has been raised in the context of superbowl party foods. I'm not sure I think that is really an eatable thing.

There are a few places where this would confuse me terribly for pronunciation reasons, as explained by Wikipedia: "The acute is used only on é. It is known as accent aigu, in contrast to the accent grave which is the accent sloped the other way. It distinguishes é [e] from è [ɛ], ê [ɛ], and e [ə]."  http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/02/05/quelle-horreur-jesuiscirconflexe-takes-off-with-changes-to-french-language.html http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/02/05/quelle-horreur-jesuiscirconflexe-takes-off-with-changes-to-french-language.html

I wonder if they're going to disallow traveling with laptops, again.

So, I had signed up for this ranger-led ice hike on Lake Erie that's supposed to happen next weekend. I'm not holding out hopes for this to actually happen, seeing as there is virtually no ice on any of the Great Lakes. The last two winters you could pretty much be stupid and go walking on the water and mostly be unlikely to fall in (I posted the pictures, right?) so although it would have been fun to do the guided thing, by the time I found out they did them, they had too many people signed up.  So I just wandered a bit on Lakes Erie and Ontario just because. Oh, well. I will drive down to the state park, anyway, as they have a little shelter where they can give the talk, even if there's no ice to walk on.

Reasons a warm winter might not be good -  http://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/minimal-ice-cover-could-spell-trouble-for-great-lakes/article_d2e096fb-731f-59ce-8ee0-7f76fc2a883d.html http://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/minimal-ice-cover-could-spell-trouble-for-great-lakes/article_d2e096fb-731f-59ce-8ee0-7f76fc2a883d.html

I don't care how stupid this is. I loved the After Dark screensavers. Esp. Lunatic Fringe. Pew pew! http://makezine.com/2016/02/02/built-toaster-dark-screensavers/ http://makezine.com/2016/02/02/built-toaster-dark-screensavers

Things I hear on the radio that confuse me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7v8QW4xW1M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7v8QW4xW1M

Randomly on the subject of hipster small batch, bean to bar chocolate. I saw these and decided to try them. The Nathan Miller one tastes like what it says it is. The label says "Hispaniola Cacao". That could be from either Dominican Republic or Haiti and it doesn't say. It does say 70%. It also says Aleppo chili. If it's the real deal, it's really going to have to be from Turkey, right now, although I was under the impression since it's grown in a region that overlaps the border that even that capacity was being affected. The streusel is definitely there as tiny, slightly crunchy, slightly sweet bits, of which I approve. Anyway, it's tasty and I'd eat it. It also gets points for the mulberry paper style wrapping, which is all silky feeling. Sadly the Raaka didn't taste like lapsang souchong tea or chai spices. I can easily explain the lack of spice flavor as the only spices listed are black cardamom, coriander, and marshmallow root. I have no idea...

Important things you should know: http://modernfarmer.com/2015/09/difference-between-llama-and-alpaca/ P.S. They can both spit, though, so don't threaten them. http://modernfarmer.com/2015/09/difference-between-llama-and-alpaca

More than you ever wanted to know about chocolate. http://www.cocoaconnect.org/sites/default/files/publication/Market%20study%20of%20fine%20flavour%20cocoa%20-%20revised%20version.pdf

Much lock, so tight, very private. Wow. My dad is worried about upsetting my mom. Seriously? You are the one who is ill. As long as you are not being a jerk, other people need to cope with their own being upset, sometimes. You just take care of you. (She's doing pretty well, all things considered, so I will give her props. Dad just feels like he's ruining everything for everybody and that's just nonsense.)

I am super tired for reasons, so anything I say or do posting wise today may be somewhat irascible. Also rambling, there may be rambling. Not gamboling, though, not feeling the gambol.

#verytightlylocked   Presume this starts with at least a paragraph of profanity. We had to take Dad to the emergency room last night. Presume this ends with a paragraph of profanity.