G+ Migration Blog

This is what happens when we make foolish exceptions and ok agricultural use of critical medicines. This is why we need to not have meat raised chronically with antibiotics. It's ok to use them once in a while for an infection, but if you are going to predicate an industry on conditions that create chronic infections and need for antibiotics, you are breeding untreatable bacteria and asking for trouble. There have been publications in the medical literature about this for decades, at first primarily with workers in the industry with untreatable infections. Now, we have a messed up food supply. Cooking sufficiently probably kills most of these bacteria, but what "sufficiently" means may not leave you with food you want to eat. https://www.ewg.org/release/report-superbugs-found-more-three-fourths-us-supermarket-meat https://www.ewg.org/release/report-superbugs-found-more-three-fourths-us-supermarket-meat

Speaks for itself. Real headline: "Here's another friendly reminder to wash your damn hands" https://lifehacker.com/heres-another-friendly-reminder-to-wash-your-damn-hands-1827234659 https://lifehacker.com/heres-another-friendly-reminder-to-wash-your-damn-hands-1827234659

What was that about civility? https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/health-officials-tweet-like-donald-trump-663026 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/health-officials-tweet-like-donald-trump-663026

These people are unbelievably smug and completely deaf. They might as well just say the peasants are revolting. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/mitch-mcconnell-elaine-chao-protesters-685935 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/mitch-mcconnell-elaine-chao-protesters-685935

I'd ask a further, slightly less direct question, but still pertinent to my mind. How many of these rabidly anti-abortion individuals support the death penalty? But I absolutely agree with her that it is grossly unacceptable that people who scream and yell about life at all costs don't give a darn or do anything once there's an actual person. They certainly don't think much of full grown adult lives. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/opinion/abortion-kennedy-supreme-court-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/opinion/abortion-kennedy-supreme-court-trump.html

Actual headline: "Decades of progress are in peril" I get what he's saying, but I don't see anything changing. You can terrify the right into voting, but nothing seems to sufficiently motivate the left. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/decades-of-progress-are-in-peril/2018/06/29/b93edcaa-7bbb-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?utm_term=.3a748366a0b1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/decades-of-progress-are-in-peril/2018/06/29/b93edcaa-7bbb-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?utm_term=.3a748366a0b1

Omfg. Dude. Wtaf? NO. So many things wrong with this guy's attitude. It's anti-intellectual, it's anti-science, and it's anti-medicine. And eventually, he will get someone killed, directly or indirectly. He's not bloody likely to get re-educated enough to back off this stupidity if he's gullible and credulous enough to be anti-vaccine in the first place. Ugh. EDIT: Oh, man, even more details on why this guy is not ok - http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-sears-license-20180629-story.html https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/06/doctor-with-dangerous-vaccine-views-gets-probation-for-gross-negligence/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/06/doctor-with-dangerous-vaccine-views-gets-probation-for-gross-negligence/

A little confused about how to feel about the RuPaul finale. Like, can we stop with the reveals, already? Just really dance and sing the heck out of your performance. I know it's a show, but things are feeling all gimmicky. The last show before the finale was a whole lotta somethin', too. It was intense and I am pretty sure I know what I think about it, but it must be seen and experienced. s o m e r u s p a c e w h o s p i l l e d t h e t e a ? Ok, probably I will eventually think that Aquaria really did manage the best show during the finale. But I am not really keen on the privileged white kid thing. I do think that people who have a greater struggle are a critical piece of why anyone should even care about this show, and the spoiled, self-centered people just never quite feel like the best anything to me. I wanted so much more for Asia, but it was painful to see what happened. I honestly didn't expect Eureka to win, so that was not a huge surprise. I though Kameron migh...

Will read the study, which is one of those that suggests more serious prospective work should look at this, but it certainly jibes with my personal biases. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2172917-people-who-keep-seeing-the-same-doctor-have-lower-death-rates/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2172917-people-who-keep-seeing-the-same-doctor-have-lower-death-rates/

Makes a lot of points. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-greenesmith-kennedy-legacy_us_5b343fb4e4b0b745f17aa1a0 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-greenesmith-kennedy-legacy_us_5b343fb4e4b0b745f17aa1a0

This isn't a bad article, but it's a little sloppy on the details. Granted, it's a quickie overview. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/travel/what-to-do-in-buffalo-ny.html?nytapp=true&smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/travel/what-to-do-in-buffalo-ny.html?nytapp=true&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Two well spoken and thoughtful survivors, in spite of surely being in shock, on the terror of what they lived and the value of words without meaning, prayers without actions. https://www.thedailybeast.com/capital-gazette-survivor-i-dont-give-a-fck-about-your-thoughts-and-prayers?ref=scroll https://www.thedailybeast.com/capital-gazette-survivor-i-dont-give-a-fck-about-your-thoughts-and-prayers?ref=scroll

I forgot about the vacation spots. Canadians with the money often spend time in Hawaii, or Arizona if they are from the more western part of Canada, and, I guess, the easterners spend time in Florida in the winter. That's a lot of tourist money. Some of these people even have homes where they spend months in the winter. I don't know that the home owners can up and leave, but if all the tourist dollars walked, that would be a lot. I guess the other places you'd have to see if there's an impact is cross-border shopping. Trader Joe's and Target are favorites. It would have some impact on a larger city like Buffalo, but if they just stopped coming, I imagine it would have a significant impact in a smaller city like Bellingham, WA. Whether the GOP would care enough to get off their collective behinds is doubtful. They have successfully convinced their constituents that the actual devil, Satan, Lucifer, the morning star, Lord of the Flies himself is here and destroying A...

Until he got caught, I'm pretty sure I am not cynical enough in assuming his attitude towards migrants was considered a feature, not a bug. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/28/624207450/former-ice-chief-counsel-facing-prison-time-for-stealing-immigrants-identities https://www.npr.org/2018/06/28/624207450/former-ice-chief-counsel-facing-prison-time-for-stealing-immigrants-identities

- locked - I will have nicer, happier things to post, I promise. Meanwhile, my mother is apparently starting to lose control over her behavior away from the house. Rare, but it has happened. I know because she said something out of the blue to me, vaguely, about something that happened. She still is in some sort of denial about needing professional input. In fact, she's just kind of in denial, because I think what she wanted was for me to say there, there, it's ok, or something supportive or whatever. What I did say was well, if a bad thing happened, you can take some time and go back to the other person/group and say you don't know what happened to you and you are sorry and you would like to try to work that through or however I phrased it. Basically, take responsibility and apologize and take the first step and if the other person/people are willing, try to move forward. Her response to that, essentially, was no. Total denial. Like, she completely dissociated and just ca...

This is ridiculous. Surely border agents have discretion and could have dealt with this without being so outrageous. And as I recall, no, there are no obvious signs on that beach, but I've only ever been through there once. Plus, especially if it's such a big area for illegal crossings (inferring), you'd think they'd not only have signs, but a fence. Come on, guys. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jogger-accidentally-crosses-u-s-border-from-b-c-gets-detained-for-2-weeks-by-authorities-1.4717060 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jogger-accidentally-crosses-u-s-border-from-b-c-gets-detained-for-2-weeks-by-authorities-1.4717060

Even the highway in Toronto is more cultured. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTOM9aK7t3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTOM9aK7t3E

My brother and SIL have just informed us that we will be graced with their presence July 4-8. We're busy, but of course we can rearrange our lives with less than 2 weeks notice. I suppose we should be grateful they let us know before they showed up at the door.

- locked - Latest fun in the insanity fun house - my mother, in her frequent mentions of my father's death, has apparently added a new spin. That is, she just doesn't know what she'll do if I am still living here when my father dies. Which she says to him, not to me. This is amusing on many levels, not least of which is that when I was favored child, especially once I had an income level of which she approved, it was her stated intention that when she was old and alone, she was going to come and live with me and I would support and take care of her. This has been a thing most of my adult life, long before there was any factual question of my dad's death. In fact, it was one of the ways she let my siblings know that even though she liked us all equally, she really liked me better (vomit). She's really sick, and it continues to amaze me how none of us picked up on the less concentrated but consistently present earlier signs of it. Meanwhile, it messes with all of us o...

Well, TIL. Actual headline: Keystone virus makes first jump from mosquitoes to humans with confirmed case in Florida teen. It's new to have it proven in humans, but it might have been endemic in northern Florida? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/22/first-report-human-keystone-virus-found-florida-teen/725460002/

On my nascent personal mood indicator scale*, I have moved from 'frak everything' (where today started) to 'have acquired coffee' to 'have had coffee'. Progressive improvement is always a good thing. NB: Not sure coffee is supposed to be a mood altering substance, but observer bias says yes. Meanwhile, it looks like calibrating this scale may be challenging, as there will no doubt be many levels and some difficulty characterizing these variables. *under development through field testing

I approve of the google doodle.

- mild lock - I know I would get push back about this, push back with which I obviously disagree, but while a very few details might differ, there's something very much the same about this discussion of women in the restaurant and food industry and my experiences in my field(s). It's disturbingly consonant with a few exceptions for detail. Like, going to strip clubs had (mostly) disappeared. Otoh, somebody got fired for getting arrested for fraternizing with a prostitute, so I should probably rescind that. I have to admit that there was an incident in training where I had had it with the subtle (and not so) chauvinist shit and when somebody brought up goosing and kept that conversation going I finally grabbed one of the males by the butt, because it was a stupid conversation, it was illustrative, and I was sick and tired of it all. Wouldn't you know, they were shocked for about 1 second, and then they were all hey, hey! And I was magically respected by those bros after that...

Someone mentioned the disappearing of people in relation to taking the children at the border. It finally registered on me that what this is, is like the Residential Schools and other such programs that occurred all over the English speaking world in an active policy to assimilate and wipe out native and indigenous peoples. Yes. Historically every single one of those programs has now been indicted for various forms and degrees of abuse. Yes, many if not most of the children had problems that continue to affect multiple generations of people. This is what they are doing by separating those children and making sure there's no way to reunite them with their parents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools#Meriam_Report_of_1928 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools#Meriam_Report_of_1928

Inspired by someone else's post about thunder because there's a storm at about 5:28. Besides, it's a great spoof of Wagnerian opera. https://vimeo.com/115773980 https://vimeo.com/115773980

So, yeah. Don't point a laser pointer at your eye, even if it is the officially safe lower power. WARNING: there are clinical photos of the back of someone's eye - the retina and optic nerve and such. It doesn't look like an eye, but in case that would bother someone. https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/20/health/laser-pointer-eye-hole-study/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/20/health/laser-pointer-eye-hole-study/index.html

Whatever you think of the quality of the experiment, this is sad. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/21/622160278/koko-the-gorilla-dies-redrew-the-lines-of-animal-human-communication https://www.npr.org/2018/06/21/622160278/koko-the-gorilla-dies-redrew-the-lines-of-animal-human-communication

I think we've failed to create a "justice" system in this country. We get taught we're better than this, but it seems we are not. http://time.com/5318165/juvenile-immigrants-virginia-detention-abuse-shenandoah/ http://time.com/5318165/juvenile-immigrants-virginia-detention-abuse-shenandoah/

Conversations that make you wonder about recruiters and HR: Acting as a reference for someone whose expertise is managing clinical trials. Get asked about skill set. Mention detail oriented and give example straight out of current events. That is, the NEJM Mediterranean Diet article withdrawal and republish. That happened because of poor monitoring and control of recruitment sites and data collection. I pointed out that this was exactly the sort of thing the person I was recommending would have caught as it was happening and nipped it in the bud. The recruiter/HR person I was talking to had no idea what I was talking about . This is a company that runs clinical trials. My confidence in an organization drops when that's the interaction. It's bizarre to me, even if it is not your specific field, that if you are in medical research at all, especially if your job is running clinical trials, you are unaware of the most prominent retraction in years and why it happened.

- more locked - Fortunately, I missed being present for a post-lunch conversation my mother and father had that reportedly began normally, but then Trump came up and somehow my mother managed to make that about my sister and her first, very abusive, ex-husband, with whom no one has had any contact for about 14 years, so why would she bring that up? Also, if she'd like never to see her other daughter ever again, she should definitely mention that man's name to my sister. Something was brought up about borderline personality disorder (he was definitely narcissist, that was a formal assessment, but BPD has never come up before that I know of). Then she segued into something about my sister calling her names, which apparently had to do with my sister appropriately calling her out for abusive behavior, like, I don't even know how long ago that was. That incident involved all of us, and mom was definitely being a butt. Which my mother escalated even further after that because omg...

- mild lock - Of course my mother resents that my dad and I can sit and watch and chat about baseball. Because of course she does.

Nice things - I get to sit and watch baseball with my dad.

So Trump was all photo op and whatnot at the big table today. As noted many places, he made lots of great statements with his huge vocabulary. I've thought about it, and I finally realized why this one particularly struck me: “The dilemma is that if you’re weak, if you’re weak, which some people would like you to be. If you are really, really pathetically weak, the country’s going to be overrun with millions of people,” Mr. Trump said. “And if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart. That’s a tough dilemma. Perhaps I’d rather be strong.” In my prior position, I had one of the key people I worked with/for (a very senior person) ask me as a teaching moment whether it was more important to be respected or liked. I gotta say, I always find things like this to be perturbing, because I don't see them as binaries. However, I get it, now. Strong people are respected, weak people are liked. Not really an ethos I was raised with. In this specific situation it was also code for misog...

As somebody else noted, there's public and private venting. In a time of crisis, it's important to pull as many people together as possible. We set aside differences and disagreements for a greater good. That doesn't mean we should not remain well-advised as to the nature of our allies and what may well happen when the immediate crisis passes or at least becomes less urgent. Publicly and privately, I believe in second chances and alliances of necessity. Privately, both respect and trust are earned. That takes time and consistency and a lot of work. It's easy to lose trust, it's hard to gain it.

This person worked as a janitor for CBP for a number of years. He started collecting what was in the garbage and created a photography project. I don't know if it was intentional or inescapable, but these photos evoke something from another time, another place and it is not a reference I would ever have thought to see associated with the United States. These are the belongings of immigrants at the southern border left/taken over many years. https://www.lensculture.com/articles/tom-kiefer-el-sueno-an-americano-project https://www.lensculture.com/articles/tom-kiefer-el-sueno-an-americano-project

It would be a major mess, but if somebody could get all the immigrants who pick our food and work in our meat processing plants and do all the back of the house work in restaurants and so on to stop work for even a whole week, surely it would clarify for people how much our economy relies on them? They're not taking anybody's jobs. Nobody else does or wants the jobs.

I guess I was raised wrong, because I do not understand what has to happen to a person for their soul or whatever is inside them to become so harsh and cold and lacking in human feeling. He doesn't have to care, though, he retired. (Yeah, this is ssdd from this administration and the career types who were unleashed by them. The new alarms my mother had installed are going off randomly in the middle of the night for no reason and I'm irritable, and pissed off and read the stuff about permanent separations and Lewandowski and am impotently angry at the world, right now.) And he and his can stuff their gee, gosh, golly, why not go to a port of entry with the multiple reports that officials are turning people away at ports of entry and also refusing to honor claims of asylum, regardless. Every crime committed by an illegal alien is a preventable crime but rates of crime (or type) don't matter? Like, if their contribution to the overall crime rate is negligible or insubstantial,...

Dinner - fresh frozen keta salmon from Sitka. Marinated briefly in OJ, black pepper, onion and garlic powder; pan seared in olive oil, finished in oven. Wild rice salad with green onions, toasted sliced almonds, fresh strawberries; dressing of OJ, olive oil, touch of honey, and black pepper. Mushrooms from farmers market - cultivated and I completely forget what kind they are, but they are delicious - sauteed in olive oil and butter with minced garlic. Must find out what they are so I can specifically eat them again. Very happy with salmon. The skin was all crispy and the fish was juicy. I do not know why this type of salmon is not supposed to be good eatin'. I did read up a bit to learn that it is less oily and should therefore be cooked differently than oilier salmon like sockeye or king, but it tastes fine, the texture is good. Idgi.

Cute. He did apply ahead and was denied. So he came by anyway, because he was visiting other places, to which he also applied ahead and which did not refuse permission. In that context, the statement from HHS, while clearly pro-forma verbiage, is also grossly disingenuous. He's a freaking senator, folks. He would have had ID. It's bizarre that the people running the place didn't come by and talk to him and say, gee, I'm sorry, we can't do this. No, they called the police, on an official of the US government doing US government business. In the current climate, I do not think it is unreasonable to wonder if they would have done the same to a republican senator or a Texas senator. They might, but there's enough craziness for reasonable paranoia. https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-06-06/oregon-senator-denied-access-migrant-childrens-center-texas https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-06-06/oregon-senator-denied-access-migrant-childrens-center-texas

Somebody at the administration figured out "talking points" and is really hammering that nail. I'm sure we're all shocked that their tack is: They are just following orders the law. No, no, there's no policy. Laws override policies. We have no policy. It's the law. The law made us do it. followed by: If only the Democrats would just let us sign a good law. Isn't it terrible that the Democrats won't help these poor children? Right. The Imperial Presidency of HRH Donald, Worst of that Name, is suddenly completely helpless before The Law. What disturbs me more than that, because, honestly, this is their play book and it should surprise no one, is the interview I heard on NPR with a mayor from eastern Tennessee, where a bunch of kids' parents were rounded up and shipped off and the kids were left there with no one. Plus, this happened while the kids were in school, and nobody told them. They just came home and their parents never did. The convoluti...

I have also had a headache that has continued to worsen throughout the day. I assume it is related to the weather front coming through/not coming through and/or the whole grass cutting endeavor, in spite of allergy pillages. Possibly aided and abetted by the not eating earlier. I have no idea. I just feel pain, along with some mild nausea, and inexplicable yawning tiredness. Of course, it could be a brain amoeba, but as bad as this is it isn't worst headache of your life, omg it's an aneurysm bad. Also fairly certain it's not a tumah. #csbp

I was up mowing the lawns at 7am. I couldn't get myself up to do it at 6, when it was only in the 70s, so I did it in the 80s - yay. Then I dragged myself inside, got bothered by my mother telling me about the neighbors two houses down and their lilies and how that meant no matter what we did there was someplace for the lily beetles to go hide and how she didn't know if their lilies had been attacked yet because those people never talk to anyone anyway. Then I finally worked up the energy to shower. I haven't eaten and I've been piggling on here. I have errands to run and things to do and the worse the inertia the slower I am to go do them and the hotter it will be and the more likely I will get caught in a thunderstorm this pm. If we get them. Which we better, because we need the rain, but the weather patterns have been weird of late and they break up around us and move past us, north and south. But there's no breeze and it's miserable and we need the weather t...

Nature is cruel. As you know, it is ridic hot & humid. But nearby lakes, aka inland seas, are 62 and 58 degrees - nice and cold - but the breeding insects are swarming on the shore and, oh, yeah, bad idea to be on a big old lake when the thunderstorms show up. Fine. Dangle your nice, cold water in front of us. Harumph. #csbp

This seems apropos of the day. (The video is actually the most famous film clip of Lindy Hop. It's from the movie Hellzapoppin, 1941. More info and the original clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehtEFCuBD_8 ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehtEFCuBD_8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehtEFCuBD_8

- mild locking - Unreal. My sister and niece call to facetime with my dad for Father's Day. My mother proceeds to huff because she says, "oh! I'll set up my laptop!" and my dad goes and gets his ipad instead. Because he always uses his ipad to facetime with childlings and offsprings. In fact, it is the only reason he has an ipad. Oh, and they were calling him. Because Father's Day. Then, she goes ahead and butts into the conversation anyway , because gods forbid she be left out of a phone call for Father's Day. My niece is leaving in a couple of hours for Malaysia. She called him to say Happy Father's Day before she left. Not to talk to my mom, who got her own phone call on Mother's Day. Jiminy Christmas crackers, what an asshole.

Input requested. I am philosophically opposed to use of the word "bitch" for many, many reasons. However, I need a descriptive word that will communicate something similar in meaning and intensity without the misogyny. You people have huge vocabularies. Please help.

- we be locked- Oh, ok. Today I am "disgusting" because my mother's communications skills suck. You know what? I'm not perfect, everyone can improve their skills at lots of things. However, I've won fucking competitive, professional awards for my communication skills. So screw you and your abusive crap. For once, I have objective evidence on who's likely to be the one with the actual problem. Go me. Furthermore, this is not about winning. It's not about you thinking everyone is calling you stupid, or about you being paranoid and thinking everyone is gaslighting you when they are not, either. But since your reaction is always as if someone has, indeed, called you stupid or gas-lit you, and that reaction is that you must win , allow me to explain. If you want something, or want something done, and that isn't happening, the way to get it to happen is to focus on what you want to happen. If you approach it from the perspective of proving you were 'righ...

Huh. Sounds interesting. If I was in town, I would be interested in checking out the open house bit next weekend. Ford will host a community open house on Friday, June 22-Sunday, June 24, for a rare look inside Michigan Central Station before renovations. Details of the open house will be shared at the company's event at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the train station. The public will be admitted Tuesday on a first come, first served basis, officials said. Registration may be found at: https://fordcorktowncelebration.splashthat.com/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2018/06/17/bill-ford-corktown-vision/703663002/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2018/06/17/bill-ford-corktown-vision/703663002/

Funny, not funny. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/16/pittsburgh-cartoonist-firing-publisher-gazette-650389 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/16/pittsburgh-cartoonist-firing-publisher-gazette-650389

When I was growing up they liked to tell us how our country was so great because we didn't have to carry papers that could be demanded randomly at any time. We were so much better than those terrible Communists and Dictators and other Bad People, always with the capital letters. We had a Bill of Rights. Had. Welcome to our dystopian future present. Papers, please. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bus-driver-tells-passengers-only-us-citizens-can-ride-as-border-patrol-agent-looks-on_us_5b256034e4b0f9178a9d9621 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bus-driver-tells-passengers-only-us-citizens-can-ride-as-border-patrol-agent-looks-on_us_5b256034e4b0f9178a9d9621

Ugh. It's already too hot and humid out.

Under these rules, every American POW forced to perform slave labor in WWII would have been told they couldn't come back to the US. Every person who survived being sent to a concentration camp would have been denied entry to the US. Every woman kidnapped and raped as a "comfort woman" would be ineligible to come to the US. Not to mention every German POW who was allowed to stay in the US after WWII should have been kicked out per these rules. What the hell is wrong with people? https://thinkprogress.org/immigration-judge-says-womans-forced-labor-was-material-support-for-terrorists-ce323407bdfe/ https://thinkprogress.org/immigration-judge-says-womans-forced-labor-was-material-support-for-terrorists-ce323407bdfe/

Jesus F. Christmas. They've told the workers they can't touch the children except, I guess to change diapers? They're insane. They must be. They're institutionalizing abuse and justifying it with cherry-picked bible verses. They have to be mentally ill, at least on the personality disorder spectrum. What sane person tortures and permanently destroys children? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-texas-shelter-immigrant-children-20180616-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-texas-shelter-immigrant-children-20180616-story.html

I made pizza. I was lazy and used store dough because I wanted to try the whole wheat dough. Not really a surprise that it was kind of dry. The pizza on the left has a 'sauce' of san marzano tomatoes, good anchovies, garlic, and fresh basil, w/ a bit of olive oil. It's kind of a bruschetta, except more finely chopped. On top are marinated mushrooms I made with creminis, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, fresh savory, fresh thyme. The pizza on the right is a cooked tomato sauce I made last fall from yellow heirloom tomatoes, garlic, leeks, and yellow zucchini. I reduced it down so it is very thick and sweet and spreadable. Otherwise, fresh torn basil leaves. Both have fresh mozzarella on top.

- locked - Offs. Mom had steaks out defrosting on the counter. Stupidly, I said oh, I guess you're cooking steak tomorrow. I get a whole thing of: Why, are you cooking? (No, I'm just asking since there were steaks defrosting on the counter.) No, they weren't. They were on a dish. I never put raw meat directly on the counter, you should never do that. (Ok, they were on a dish.) You always cook on Sunday and Monday. (No, I don't.) Those are the days you do laundry, you always cook then because you're home. (I don't have particular days I cook, actually. It's pretty random.) So you're not cooking tomorrow because it's supposed to be hot. (Yeah, no. Just not cooking. Nope.) Did you buy anything to cook at the farmers market? You always have to cook that right away. (Sometimes, but not this time.) Well, your father wanted to go get a hamburger for dinner tonight, so I can't have steak tomorrow. (...) I can't eat what he eats. (...) I'm marina...

It's 89 degrees, "real feel" 94. Let my whining begin.

How very Nazi of them, in every possible sense of that reference. Thanks, GOP. Your moral leadership is truly innovative. https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/16/politics/trump-separation-families-negotiating-tool/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/16/politics/trump-separation-families-negotiating-tool/index.html

That's a real loss to the music world. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blues-brothers-guitarist-matt-guitar-murphy-dead-at-88-w521611 https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blues-brothers-guitarist-matt-guitar-murphy-dead-at-88-w521611

Fun facts for our friends in Washington. The ones who are part of the 1%. So, all of them. The Gilded Age was only great for the rich folks, people. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/06/15/why-many-americans-arent-benefiting-robust-us-economy/705655002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/06/15/why-many-americans-arent-benefiting-robust-us-economy/705655002/

I'd be curious to see if there's a significant drop in the number of people shopping at Trader Joe's and Target, among others, near the borders. Those ought to be early and noticeable if this happens. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-canada-trade/at-odds-with-trump-over-trade-canadians-say-they-will-avoid-u-s-goods-poll-idUSKBN1JB2X7 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-canada-trade/at-odds-with-trump-over-trade-canadians-say-they-will-avoid-u-s-goods-poll-idUSKBN1JB2X7

Not so micro aggression. https://nypost.com/2018/06/15/man-asks-black-woman-if-her-daughter-bathed-before-going-in-hotel-pool-sparks-outrage/ https://nypost.com/2018/06/15/man-asks-black-woman-if-her-daughter-bathed-before-going-in-hotel-pool-sparks-outrage/

Nice. P.S. Paul Ryan, still the same execrable parody of a human being. Congressional Republicans are pushing a new tactic to combat sanctuary cities: make it easier to sue them. That effort, part of a major immigration bill in the House of Representatives, threatens to undermine sanctuary policies across California by making jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities liable for some crimes committed by undocumented immigrants they release. https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/15/house-immigration-bill-threatens-to-undermine-sanctuary-city-policies/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/15/house-immigration-bill-threatens-to-undermine-sanctuary-city-policies/

- mildly locked - My sister pulled a "mom" last night. On my niece, not on me, but I got a distressed phone call from my niece last night and I haven't slept very well. Why is it that my dad and I are the ones who are always supposed to hold everything together in this family? People resent us for it, but they keep dumping that responsibility on us at the same time. I'm amazed I've never completely imploded, although, obviously, I have burnt out now and again. Anyway, my sister pulled this last night and my niece is leaving for Malaysia tomorrow. Brilliant timing, no? I have to check up on my niece later and make sure she's ok. What the fuck is wrong with people?

Oops. #thankyouforsmoking https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/15/620328777/credibility-concerns-lead-nih-to-end-study-of-alcohols-health-effects https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/15/620328777/credibility-concerns-lead-nih-to-end-study-of-alcohols-health-effects

Heroes, Role Models, Cool People - Peggy Whitson. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/peggy-whitson-retires-1.4708376 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/peggy-whitson-retires-1.4708376

Guess it's ok if Trump won't sign it, then. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-nowrasteh-immigration-bill-20180615-story.html http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-nowrasteh-immigration-bill-20180615-story.html

Here, have some noir cats

So, yeah. It got very, very dusty. The writer talks about his own battle with suicide. http://observer.com/2018/06/anthony-bourdain-suicide-and-grace/ http://observer.com/2018/06/anthony-bourdain-suicide-and-grace/

This aspect of Italian culture can go stuff itself. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/15/620242306/italy-reportedly-drops-case-in-part-because-woman-too-old-to-be-harassed https://www.npr.org/2018/06/15/620242306/italy-reportedly-drops-case-in-part-because-woman-too-old-to-be-harassed

Take that, manipulative, controlling people. Abramovitz is now an associate principal/E flat clarinetist at the Toronto Symphony. And, BuzzFeed notes, he has a new girlfriend. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/15/620202403/musician-wins-260-000-in-lawsuit-against-ex-girlfriend-who-sabotaged-career https://www.npr.org/2018/06/15/620202403/musician-wins-260-000-in-lawsuit-against-ex-girlfriend-who-sabotaged-career

Lots of stuff about Flag Day today. Best line? Turns out Betsy Ross is the biggest lie your kindergarten teacher ever told you (except that Bubbles the class gerbil was moving to a farm upstate). #boughtthefarm

This should never happen. Not even once. Where's the report on the disciplining and changing of protocols for the EMS people? What ketamine research? What is with the response from the EMS director and the Poison Control director? In every other aspect of medical care - nurse, doctor, whomever - you are essentially forbidden from using any form of restraint without strict protocols and rare exceptions. No physical and no chemical. Yes, there are exceptions and there are protocols, but you do not get to just tie people up or drug them up because they are a problem to the staff. Because yes, that used to happen. A lot. So there are rules. It is grossly unethical. Yes, it's different "in the street". But this smacks of yet another policy that is all about protect and defend the police and first responders and never mind the actual human beings on the other side of that equation. And what the hell kind of EMS training and licensing does Minnesota have, that they just do t...

There's apparently still a Chuck E. Cheese's somewhere around here but that may not be for long. They keep having to call police for fights and violence. I thought they were for families and kids? Then again, I didn't know they had liquor licenses, which they are taking away first before they just force them to close. #csb

Tonight, we dined on quiche. Asparagus leek quiche.

I accidentally some of the North Korea propo video. A clip was on a news channel as I flipped past. But it caught my ear because what the heck was that music in the background? No way! So I actually went and skimmed the thing. It's amazingly long. Anyway, there's probably a lot of stuff I missed, but some of this was just head-scratchingly incongruous. And hysterically funny. A few samples of music in the background: Love is Blue. Eurovision 1967, folks! Red River Valley, on harpsichord, among other things. It gets used for quite a while. This is what caught my attention in the clip I heard. A Hooked on Classics version of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in g minor. You'd all recognize it if you heard it. It's the Hooked on Classics treatment that cracks me up.

Dear media, Whatever the clever people with the degrees and lab coats might say or write, please examine before you publish your headlines. Very rarely does anything CAUSE anything else. Many things are ASSOCIATED. Please stop putting 'X causes Y' in your headlines unless it is that rare paper that truly proves causation. You are doing more harm in your pursuit of clicks than any benefit likely to accrue from gaining people's brief attention. K thx, bye.

Clãss. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Arrest-made-after-Jogger-Joe-trashes-12989125.php?src=hp_totn https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Arrest-made-after-Jogger-Joe-trashes-12989125.php?src=hp_totn

Notable. https://qz.com/1305238/gm-appoints-india-born-dhivya-suryadevara-first-female-cfo/ https://qz.com/1305238/gm-appoints-india-born-dhivya-suryadevara-first-female-cfo/

I have wondered why this isn't considered a public health issue. Not because we should brow beat people with the sinfulness of suicide (give me break), although that is inescapably something embedded in our culture. Possibly, the idea that you're a bad person for having the thought is part of what happens to people who find themselves in a spiral. Social and peer pressure are real. In any case, this article is maybe the start of a conversation about suicide and public health. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/health/suicide-spade-bordain-cdc.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/health/suicide-spade-bordain-cdc.html

Speaking of incipient public health crises. https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/us-hot-spots-from-opting-out-of-vaccines-study/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/us-hot-spots-from-opting-out-of-vaccines-study/index.html

So here's my problem with this fun example ... But would the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the world's most selective and prestigious journals, have published the Mediterranean diet paper from Martínez González if the randomization issues and softened conclusion had been included in the first place? "It is difficult to answer hypothetical questions," New England Journal of Medicine spokeswoman Jennifer Zeis says. "We believe the evidence [in favor of the diet is still strong, but not as strong as a randomized study in which the randomization was executed flawlessly." In other words, NO. Which is a problem, because the study is obviously strong enough that it is simply being republished with a downgrade on the causation versus association front in the one part of a paper that is creative/improvised - the discussion where authors offer their interpretation of all the technical data driven stuff. As an aside, from what I can tell, they missed the kind...

How often people try is not what rates are rising faster among women, It's how often they succeed. When they talk about males succeeding, it usually comes down to access and choice to use a firearm. This doesn't say what it is about females, if they even know. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/14/619338703/u-s-suicides-rates-are-rising-faster-among-women-than-men https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/14/619338703/u-s-suicides-rates-are-rising-faster-among-women-than-men

Religion and culture, man. Btw, wasn't astronomy one of the things Middle Ages Europe was behind on compared to contemporary cultures in Iraq and other then Muslim societies? https://www.salon.com/2018/06/13/when-is-eid-al-fitr/ https://www.salon.com/2018/06/13/when-is-eid-al-fitr/

Oh, lordy, here we go. I can't read anything but the study abstract, so I can't give you a fun amateur evaluation of the statistics and data pooling that got published. It's possible, but unlikely, that the magic preventive for colon cancer is taking lots of vitamin D. The whole vitamin D thing is kind of out of control, right now, anyway. Some doctors test every woman, at least, if not everyone for vitamin D, which is a pricey lab test, btw, and then tell everybody below the lab cutoff to start popping lots of vitamin D pills. Whether or not they have a specific issue that suggests it would be helpful. Without us being sure about potential side effects and long term effects. Why? Because we have limited or conflicting literature on this. There are even doctors who are still arguing whether or not vitamin D is a hormone. If you are really bored, have fun looking up all the arguments on that one. tl;dr a case can be made for both arguments. Vitamin D refers to a number of co...

Things I learned today: My mother pre-programmed me to be cowed by how to shut up a woman in a board room behaviors because she engages in those behaviors to control and shut me up. Like calling me bitchy because she doesn't like how I interacted with someone else when a man would have been called aggressive. P.S. This is still her casting a value judgment on my behavior that is negative, even if I was a man and she called me aggressive. She doesn't get to tell me what behaviors and feelings I'm allowed to have. This isn't about social interaction, this is about stomping people to control and destroy them. My mother admitted she is being bitchy - her words. Of course, she was trying to tear me down by saying under her breath but loud enough to hear it with her back to me that, "At least I'm not the only one who's bitchy around here." So she knows she's behaving the way she is toward everyone. Her attempts to co-opt me and tear me down are pathetic,...

Old, but good article. Historians of science are always quick to point out that Ronald Fisher, the UK statistician who invented the p-value, never intended it to be the final word on scientific evidence. To Fisher, “statistical significance” meant the hypothesis is worthy of a follow-up investigation. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/31/16021654/p-values-statistical-significance-redefine-0005 https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/31/16021654/p-values-statistical-significance-redefine-0005

If what drives these elections is white, suburban voters, explain to me again, please, how those people vote for this person but are not racists? Because his entire campaign, his entire persona is hatred, racism, and white supremacy. And people voted for him. Not poor, unemployed, blue collar people. White, christian, middle class people. But they aren't racist. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/corey-stewart-virginias-gop-nominee-for-senate-is-now-mainstream.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/corey-stewart-virginias-gop-nominee-for-senate-is-now-mainstream.html

Trash panda lives to climb another day! #mprraccoon He made it to the roof, ate the cat food in the trap, and was caught and later released - see facebook video link for actual release: https://www.facebook.com/wmsmn/videos/10156093576486208/ https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/us/raccoon-minnesota-intl/index.html https://twitter.com/joelneill/status/1006802322415144960/photo/1 https://twitter.com/joelneill/status/1006802322415144960/photo/1

Ion, the Donut of the Month - maple bacon. It is a perfectly cromulent example of the genre.

Disclaimer: unlocked and therefore non-specific post. Oh, mom is on a roll today. Bless her tiny, wizened, little Grinch heart. #MtCrumpittodumpit

Oh, fuck you, you stupid bass turds. Do you have ANY IDEA of the amount of LEGITIMATE cross border trade and travel that goes on? DO YOU?!? I dare you to prove there's any worse smuggling or drug trafficking than there has ever been, you lying, manipulative propagandists. I wish I believed there could be a coalition of all the northern border states to stand up to the lies and crap being sold to the rest of the country, not to mention Trump and the GOP. But it's a long border and I somehow see Idaho and Maine being more likely to make common cause with each other about gun rights than common cause with New York and Minnesota about a long standing alliance and culture across the border. I hate this timeline. http://www.newsweek.com/dhs-announces-strengthened-northern-border-strategy-amid-growing-tensions-973115 http://www.newsweek.com/dhs-announces-strengthened-northern-border-strategy-amid-growing-tensions-973115

- locked - Prefaced with an apology to my supportive and tolerant listeners, who I really hope have mostly got awesome and mature, non-toxic relationships with their mothers. That is sincerely and genuinely meant. On to the post disclaimer venting. Oh, fuck you, mom. No, really, fuck you and your pathology. Just to be clear - fuck you. To infinity and beyond. You are the most horrible person and no matter how hard I have to struggle to do it, I hope I get away from you and never, ever have to have anything to do with you, ever again. Brought to you by real time recognition of a horrible toxic person and their behavior. AGAIN.

Holy Procyonid, Batman! #mprraccoon Go trash panda, you're climbing up to the sky (Trash panda, go trash panda) Go trash panda, you're slicker than a human fly (Trash panda, go trash panda) You are a star, you've climbed so far, little trash panda. https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/raccoon-scaling-skyscraper?utm_term=.twkBBy3Xar#.elVJJmXQRY https://news.avclub.com/a-death-defying-raccoon-has-climbed-up-a-minnesota-skys-1826777803 https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/raccoon-scaling-skyscraper?utm_term=.twkBBy3Xar#.elVJJmXQRY

Basically, this is an intelligent article. Unfortunately, there are a number of factors that play into this. Many meds do not need a prescription. Assuming you have insurance it may only pay for limited visits and afaik there is no code for "monitoring to see if there's a side effect visit". Controlling your blood pressure might keep you alive and functioning versus a stroke. Etc. I'm curious how they addressed age in the study, and how they defined depression. I mean, yes, they used a presumed to be validated screening questionnaire, but what does that mean in terms of people's quality of life and daily function? With respect, are people suicidal, or worried about paying their bills? There's a big difference, there. What dose and for how long do you have to take a med before it has been reported to be associated with depression? It seems to me that the pharm prof is suffering from if all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail. Look through the PDR or some...

It's mind-boggling to me that this is where we are after having a vaccine in the 1990s. There is absolutely no reason why we should not have a fuller and better understanding of this disease and better ways to treat and prevent it. And now we have many more tick species spreading, and many more tick borne diseases spreading. I wonder when we'll decide that this is a public health concern worthy of the attention given to Ebola, West Nile, and Zika. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/in-the-battle-against-lyme-disease-the-ticks-are-winning/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/in-the-battle-against-lyme-disease-the-ticks-are-winning/

"I think the lesson" of the Iran deal, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters, "is that if you try to do things unilaterally or just with the executive branch, that they don't last long." I think the lesson is that the GOP has become a bunch of obstructionist twits who were hoist by their own petard with the Iran deal. But that's ok, because, hey, we wouldn't want to have to stop Trump from ripping it up. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ... "Again, let’s do a deal that does complete verifiable, irreversible dismantlement, and I have a hard time not believing that thing's going to be ratified," So you either think this is all a fantasy and nothing will ever be put in front of you because ha ha DPRK will agree to actual verification, nevermind actual dismantlement, or you'll ratify anything Trump sends you because it only has to look good until you get re-elected. "What I think is going to happen is that, eventually, th...

#pringles I'm curious to see the actual study, because this article is terrible. Coffee does not automatically come with sugar, soft drinks absolutely do come with sugar or other chemicals of dubious health value. We have salad, French fries and pizza ... among that list, there weren't a lot of nutrient-dense foods, One of these things is not like the others. I mean, you can make a salad unhealthy, but as a baseline it is hardly the equivalent of french fries and pizza. My favorite, though, is including water in a list of things that they are clearly implying are unhealthy and I'm like, uh, that's the one thing on that list you literally cannot live without? If you meant energy drinks, or flavored waters, or other hipster beverages and not good old H2O, you really need to say so. Otherwise you look, well, stupid. https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/12/health/unhealthy-workplace-eating-study/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/12/health/unhealthy-workplace-eating-study/index...

Good for Caroline Hirons. I can't imagine her family's suffering. Also, about this commenter: we cure diseases with electric plant based diets, herbs, rituals and knowledge from our ancestors, not the corporate American way. Namaste. WHISKEY. TANGO. FOXTROT. with a helping of cultural appropriation on the side - nice touch. and another one: just looking into whatever Mr Google or the CDC say doesn't make it FACTS!!! Um, so about the CDC not having facts ... but we are supposed to believe you when you go on to talk about meeting parents whose children have died from vaccine reactions, because that's facts? Not that I have purchased any of Kat von D's stuff, like her makeup, or anything, but am absolutely not going to now. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/06/12/kat-von-d-called-out-anti-vaccine-instagram/694083002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/06/12/kat-von-d-called-out-anti-vaccine-instagram/694083002/

I have vastly improved lemon pepper chicken, or lemon anything, really, with the following experiment: Olive oil Lemon Oil (a little - doesn't need much) Coarse ground black pepper Voilà . No squeezing or zesting and intense lemon flavor. I have now advanced from using lemon oil only in baking to using it in savory cooking. Next experiment will probably be fish. I may try making lemon pasta this way at some point because I love me some lemon pasta.

:( https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/

God may be good, but it turns out repellent, tick checks, and medical science are better. https://pilotonline.com/news/local/health/article_6e4f5a62-4bf5-5af7-86d5-f13d8e1ac137.html https://pilotonline.com/news/local/health/article_6e4f5a62-4bf5-5af7-86d5-f13d8e1ac137.html

Well, this'll be interesting. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-nlrb/worker-testifies-that-tesla-stopped-him-from-organizing-union-idUSKBN1J803Z https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-nlrb/worker-testifies-that-tesla-stopped-him-from-organizing-union-idUSKBN1J803Z

It still probably won't matter, but makin' friends everywhere. https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/how-canadians-can-boycott-donald-trump/ https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/how-canadians-can-boycott-donald-trump/

Interesting article. Not sure about adding tahini to whipped cream, but it is a pretty versatile ingredient with a fair bit of food value. https://www.foodandwine.com/news/best-tahini-lior-lev-sercarz https://www.foodandwine.com/news/best-tahini-lior-lev-sercarz