Month: March 2024

That Amazing Cornbread

Happy Easter to everyone!

Another Sunday and another month ends…..and what better time than one of the Old Professor’s trip into the magic land of food and history?

I am a Southerner and I grew up with that delicious food known as cornbread…..I have eaten it in any way it can be made…..sweet, spicy, cheesy and into cakes….We Southerners love their cornbread…..and a bowl of beans and cornbread is the perfect meal for me.

For those that have not eaten much cornbread this may not mean a lot to you but to us down here it means everything….so let me pass on some stuff.

Cornbread has passed through the hands of Indigenous and enslaved people to become a lasting culinary staple of the American South. Cherished for its dense yet crumbly texture and a slightly sweet or savory flavor, it’s traditionally made with cornmeal, water or milk, and fat. 

This traditional bread can be leavened or unleavened, made with white flour or not, and baked in an oven or pan-fried on the stovetop. From cornbread squares and muffins to crispy-edged fritters and hush puppies, cornbread is more than a side dish. It’s a culturally significant, nutritionally rich symbol of resilience that holds a unique place on the plate. 

Maize was and is a staple crop for Indigenous people in the Americas. According to research published in the journal Social Research, the term “corn” was introduced by European colonists, a word they used to describe small grains of all kinds from oats to wheat and even salt. 

The earliest versions of what we now know as cornbread were typically ground-up maize held together with animal fat and may have been baked or boiled, Miller says. A form of this basic recipe later became the daily bread for enslaved Africans, made from their weekly rations, which often included several pounds of cornmeal. 

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/healthy-eating/is-cornbread-good-for-you-a4401550107/

I can say no more….I have to run into the kitchen and make a pan for dinner.

Try it!  You may like it!

Now it is Easter so I need to give my reader a little something extra….in this case it is history and Soul Food….

An Unofficial History of Southern Soul Food

Have a great Easter Sunday and hopefully a great meal…..and as always Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–30Mar24

As March comes to an end I await the arrival of Summer, the dreaded Summer.

My new garden took a heavy hit….we had a strong storm move through and the high wind and heavy rain wrecked about half of my garden….just what I needed after all that hard work.

AS long as I am talking about the weather I will start with a prediction…

The United States can expect a nice spring break from the too rainy or too dry extremes of the past, federal meteorologists predicted Thursday. After some rough seasons of drought, flooding, and fires, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s spring outlook calls for a less hectic season that should be warmer and wetter, but not prone to major flooding and with drought at low levels, per the AP.

  • Flooding and drought: There’s zero major or record flooding forecast, with much of the East and Southeast predicted to get more nuisance-type flooding that doesn’t cause property damage, said Ed Clark, director of NOAA’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Meanwhile, less than a quarter of the country is in drought, with just 0.14% of the nation experiencing the highest level of drought, which is unusually low, said Jon Gottschalck of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. In other words, a sweet spot.
  • Transition: Former NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue, who wasn’t involved in the spring forecast, said there’s likely to be a bit of “overtime winter” at the end of the month for the Great Lakes and Midwest, but otherwise, spring is looking good. He and others say the world is transitioning from a strong El Niño to a forecast summer La Niña, which is El Niño’s cooler cousin. “A mild wet pattern for the next one to two months will probably give way to a hot, dry La Niña summer, but until then we may actually see a bona fide spring transition season rather than flipping the switch directly to summer,” Maue said.
  • Asterisks: Near the end of spring, flow rates along the lower part of the Mississippi River could be low for barge traffic, Clark said. Meanwhile, wildfire risk is still high in parts of the country, including the southern High Plains region, Gottschalck said. The NOAA forecast also doesn’t look precisely at tornadoes or severe storms, which may be a bigger problem than usual this spring. That’s mostly because a warm, relatively ice-and-snow-free winter in the Midwest sets up conditions ripe for those more severe weather systems, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University.

After our storm I am not impressed.

Moving on….surely your have heard of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)?

Well there is a new thing that endangers young women….breast ironing.

While reaching the age of puberty is a thing of joy to many female children, ‘puberty is pain’ for many others, especially those born in Pygba Sama, Kpaduma and other indigenous communities in Abuja, parts of Niger State, and the Camerounian communities of Cross River State. Their source of pain is the barbaric act called breast ironing.

Also known as bosom flattening, breast sweeping or breast grinding, the process involves the use of heated objects, including spatula, pestle, bunch of broom head, shard of calabash, grinding stones, hammer or any handy instrument to pound or massage these girls’ breasts twice a day.

This process lasts for four to six months or more, pending when the breasts is seen to have flattened. By then, the fatty tissues and lobules of the breasts would have disappeared or melted to a point they can no longer come up again, until the young women in question have past age of puberty and may be married.

And for parents that cannot see their daughters cry endlessly or writhe in pains as a testament of the painful operation, they go for the easier way out. They make their daughters to either tie broad belt or tick cloth tightly across their breasts. These materials remain on the girls’ chests until the breast buds disappear.

https://guardian.ng/saturday-magazine/how-breast-ironing-endangers-lives-of-girls/amp/

What a terrible thing to put your daughter through….it is beyond barbaric.

There is a dire health issue that is worse than smoking or drinking….

While it might not be regularly considered a high-risk lifestyle factor, the so-called loneliness epidemic appears to be an absolutely devastating risk factor for health.

In a press release about new research, the Regenstrief Institute data informatics firm said that its study, conducted alongside the Indiana University School of Medicine, suggests that a majority of people aged 65 or older consider themselves lonely — which may well be worse for them than alcoholism, obesity, smoking at least 15 cigarettes per day, or leading a sedentary lifestyle.

Published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, this groundbreaking look at what researchers are calling a “biophysical stressor” may help doctors better address this overlooked lifestyle factor that seems to greatly reduce quality of life for seniors.

The results were alarming: that nearly 53 percent of seniors identified in a database study experienced loneliness, and among those who experienced it, mental and physical health outcomes were much poorer across demographics and health conditions.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/loneliness-worse-than-smoking

Our brains are getting larger…..

If someone tells you that you have a big head, take that as a compliment.

Humankind’s brains have apparently gotten bigger and bigger over the years, according to a team of scientists, who are surmising that bigger brains may stave off dementia as folks age.

An international team of researchers, led by the University of California Davis Health, arrived at this finding after studying the MRIs of people starting with those born in the 1930s, all the way through the 1970s.

In the resulting study, published in JAMA Neurology, the researchers found that 1970s babies had nearly 15 percent more brain surface area and 6.6 percent more brain volume than 1930s babies.

The scientists had taken MRI data from the Framingham Heart Study, a long running health survey started in 1948. They specifically looked at brain scans from 3,226 subjects.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-brains-larger

Our brains may be getting larger but that does not mean we are smarter….just look at the world today….

This is my fare for this Spring Saturday….I hope everyone will have a great Easter weekend….and as always….Be well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–29Mar24

By now most everyone knows about the trouble with the pesticide known as Roundup….but did you know that the maker of this pesticide is the aspirin people, Bayer? (Think about that for a moment)

Bayer is fighting in most states to stop all the lawsuits against it and its product Roundup….as a public service I want to pass on what this company is up to in your state.

On TikTok, Iowa State Representative Megan Srinivas is angry.

“To me,” she says, pointing at herself with both hands, her eyebrows raised, “Iowa’s farmers matter more than corporate interests.”

Srinivas, a Democrat, posted the video on February 7 to draw attention to a bill that was just starting to make its way through the statehouse. If passed, the legislation could prevent individuals who use pesticides from suing manufacturers based on the argument that the manufacturer should have warned them the products could cause cancer or another illness.

Srinivas is a physician, and one specific concern added to her outrage. Less than a year earlier, the Iowa Cancer Registry released data showing Iowa now has the second highest cancer rate in the country, after Kentucky, and is the only state where rates significantly increased between 2015 and 2019. For the first time, researchers at the Iowa Cancer Consortium have a plan to evaluate whether the incredible volume of weed- and bug-killers used in the state is a contributing factor (although an annual report released at the end of February focused more on high rates of binge drinking).

However, while other states have seen a flurry of more than 100,000 lawsuits brought by individuals claiming Roundup—the most widely used commercial product that contains the weedkiller glyphosate—had caused their cancers, Iowa stands apart. Especially in agriculture, most people trust the safety of pesticides, locals say, and Roundup is the most common and coveted.

Inside Bayer’s State-by-State Efforts to Stop Pesticide Lawsuits

Check with your state rep to see just what Bayer is up to in your state.

I am sure that money will be the answer to their problems….after all there are elections come up…..and soon.

Have a wonderful weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Climate Agreements

I have been following the climate debate for decades….it all started with Carter and just kept me interested…..I watched the timeline for clean environment pushed forward year after year until we are at the point where 2050 is the target date for a clean environment.

Not to worry there will be another climate summit to reassess that timeline and it will most likely be pushed yet again.

So what do you think of all this ‘kicking of the climate can’?

Personally I think these agreements benefit only one sector…..

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/25/climate-agreements-suck/

Climate agreements suck. There are no real enforcement provisions. Many signatories cheat. Some don’t rep0rt at all. Moreover, reported data is highly suspect. It’s a worldwide scandal recently exposed by YaleEnvironment360.

Evidence of cheating is found in the atmosphere: Global CO2 is on a rampage, skyrocketing upwards like never before, double-to-triple rates of only one year ago, see: CO2 Bursting into the Atmosphere. This is not supposed to be happening. It is twisting the planet’s climate system into a pretzel that doesn’t know which way to turn next. There are plenty of reasons to believe it is going to get much, much worse. The planet’s climate system is already so far whacked-out that it’s breathing fire.

Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions are skyrocketing in the aftermath of the much-touted climate agreement Paris ‘15 when 196 countries agreed to cut to net zero. Oops, wrong, many signatories are “net nothing.”

There is compelling evidence that signatory nations to Paris ’15 don’t give a damn about the agreement or care about Hot House Earth as they cavalierly undercount, when they do report, or they simply refuse to report. As a result, UN climate goals go straight into the trash, worthless.

A little history….the first worldwide climate summit was in 1979….the mandate was “a better understanding of the climate system and the causes of climate variability and change” and “to determine the predictability of climate; and to determine the effect of human activities on climate”.  In practice, the program aims to foster initiatives in climate research which require or benefit from international coordination and which are unlikely to emerge from national efforts alone.

And that agreement has been sliding down the toilet ever since.

So yeah climate agreements suck because it means nothing to the polluters because government will have their backs….until the bitter end.

And that end is not that far away…..but the profits will flow and the planet will eventually burn.

I know a bit dramatic….but what the Hell someone had to say it.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

RNC Job Interview

Who did not see this coming?

If you watch politics this is not a surprise….but it is a major news story….and a source of humor for people like me.

We have new leadership for the RNC, Trump has his people entrenched in control over party politics….no one will buck ‘The Boss’….this means they need to hire more people to help lead the rush to whatever it is that Trump envisions for the US.

If you need a job and are considering applying to the RNC you might want to have a heads up….

Republican National Committee employees let go in a “bloodbath” earlier this month are being allowed to reapply for their jobs—and insiders say they’ve been startled by one of the interview questions. Sources tell the Washington Post and the New York Times that Trump advisers conducting the interviews have asked: “Do you think the 2020 election was stolen?” The question about Trump’s false claim is seen as a “litmus test” for loyalty to the former president, the Post notes.

  • RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez did not deny the question had been asked. “Candidates who worked on the front line in battleground states or are currently in states where fraud allegations have been prevalent were asked about their work experience,” she said in a statement. “We want experienced staff with meaningful views on how elections are won and lost and real experience-based opinions about what happens in the trenches.”
  • Insiders tell the Post the question was “open-ended,” though one former RNC employee says: “But if you say the election wasn’t stolen, do you really think you’re going to get hired?” The Times‘ sources say most of the applicants told interviewers there were some irregularities and changes to procedures in 2020 that were cause for concern.
  • The Trump campaign “has effectively merged its operations with the RNC,” CNN reports, and potential hires were told they might have to move to West Palm Beach, Florida, where the campaign is based.
  • “Donald Trump is demanding fealty to his extreme, antidemocratic beliefs to be part of his Republican Party,” Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement.
  • Trump installed loyal supporter Michael Whatley and daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chairs of the RNC earlier this month. On Tuesday, Lara Trump told NBC News that the party is “past” litigating the 2020 election. “The past is the past, and unfortunately, we had to learn a couple of hard lessons in 2020,” she said. “Believe me, we are applying them all across this country in every single state, and we want to ensure that, indeed, every single legal vote is counted.”

Also keep in mind Project 2025….the playbook for a Trump presidency….

Project 2025

Just a reminder of what could come.  You want to be terrified then read this playbook.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Scary Scenario For The UK

Ever since Vlad the Invader went into Ukraine and starting thumping his chest with nuclear warnings and threats the whole world has been a tither with predictions of Putin marching down some Main Street…..but a report by an UK general gives a dire prediction….

A British general admitted on Tuesday that the UK couldn’t handle a war with Russia for more than two months as London has significantly depleted its military stockpiles by arming Ukraine.

Lt. Gen. Robert Magowan, the deputy chief of the defense staff, made the comments during a British parliament hearing where he was urging for more military spending.

MP Mark Francois, a member of the Conservative Party, asked Magowan if it was true that the UK “couldn’t fight Putin for more than a couple of months in a full-on shooting war because we don’t have the ammunition and the reserves of equipment to do it.”

Magowan said Francois’ statement was true. British Defense Minister Grant Shapps was also at the hearing and downplayed the lack of UK military readiness, saying any war with Russia would be fought alongside NATO allies, and referred to Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty that outlines mutual defense commitments.

“For people watching, and hearing that the UK isn’t ready for war exclusively with Russia, it’s important to understand that because we are in NATO and Article 5 exists, we would never be in that situation,” Shapps said, according to The Telegraph.

The comments came after a report from the House of Commons defense committee found that the British military was “increasingly overstretched” and wasn’t ready for a war with Russia. In December, The Times of London reported that the UK had “nothing” left in its military stockpiles after sending so many weapons to Ukraine.

Despite the state of the British military, the UK is one of the NATO countries most involved in the Ukraine proxy war. A recorded conversation between two German military officers that was recently published by Russian media revealed that British soldiers are “on the ground” in Ukraine helping Ukrainian forces fire Storm Shadow missiles.

(antiwar.com)

So arming Ukraine and now Israel is putting the UK at risk in the of a Russian conflict.

Would not commonsense dictate that country comes first and screw the others?

Just a thought.

Please if there is nay more info on this situation then share with my readers….I am sure they will appreciate it.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Prepare For Sticker Shock

We all have gone to the grocery store and found that our food keeps costing us more and more of our hard earned cash.

We bitch about the cost of gas…but at least it comes down….maybe not to as low as it was a month ago but it does fluctuate…food on the other hand does not.

Will we ever get a break?

The prediction is….not on your life.  (Keep in mind that this will be a global problem just not a solely Main Street problem)

The new analysis shows that global warming could cause food price inflation to increase by between 0.9 and 3.2 percentage points per year by 2035. The same warming will cause a smaller rise in overall inflation (between 0.3 and 1.2 percentage points), so a greater proportion of household income would need to be spent on buying food.

This effect will be felt worldwide, by high and low-income countries alike, but nowhere more so than in the global south. As with various other consequences of climate change, Africa will be worst affected despite contributing little to its causes.

…

The first is that the same climate change effects that are causing the inflation are already making food harder to get hold of. For instance, higher temperatures can cause long-established and predictable farming seasons to shift and so may hinder crop production.

Other consequences can include more pest and disease outbreaks that deplete livestock and food reserves, and heat stress to already-poor roads which makes it harder to access rural communities.

All of these factors push prices higher and reduce the purchasing power of affected households. The drivers of food inflation are already worsening food insecurity.

https://theconversation.com/food-prices-will-climb-everywhere-as-temperatures-rise-due-to-climate-change-new-research-226345

Then there is the food that you go to the grocery for….like fruits and veggies….they could be poisoning you.

The latest edition of an annual consumer’s guide published Wednesday reveals that almost three-fourths of non-organic fruits and vegetables sampled contained traces of toxic pesticides while the “dirty dozen”—including strawberries and spinach—tested at levels closer to 95%.

Scientists with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) document in their new report, “2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides In Produce,” that four out of five of the most frequently detected pesticides found on the twelve most-contaminated produce items were fungicides that could have serious health impacts.

“There’s data to suggest that these fungicides can disrupt the hormone function in our body,” EWG senior scientist Alexa Friedman told Common Dreams, adding that the chemicals had “been linked to things like worse health outcomes” and “impacts on the male reproductive system.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ewg-2024-dirty-dozen-pesticides

Another reason I try to grow as much of my fruit and veggies as possible…..although I am getting older and gardening is getting harder.

Just thought I would let you know what is on the food horizon.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Literally Anybody Else”

I am not a fan of the two party system…..I think it stifles any progress in this country…..and yes I usual look for some to vote for that at least on the surface sounds a bit progressive.

In the recent past there has been a movement to protest by voting ‘uncommitted’….but this Texas dude has done the extra mile.

A Texas man has changed his name to what some voters facing a President Biden-Donald Trump rematch in November say they would prefer: Literally Anybody Else. The 35-year-old candidate, formerly known as Dustin Ebey, is an Army veteran who teaches math to seventh-graders in suburban Dallas, the Guardian reports. A Tarrant County approved the name change, and Else is trying to get on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. “This isn’t about me … more so as it is an idea,” he says. “We can do better out of 300 million people for president.”

Else says he changed his name because he’s not satisfied with the choices on offer this year. “There really should be some outlet for people like me who are just so fed up with this constant power grab between the two parties that just has no benefit to the common person,” says Else, who describes his views as centrist. “Literally Anybody Else isn’t a person, it’s a rally cry,” his website states. He is trying to get on the ballot in Texas, but it won’t be easy. He will need to submit a petition before May 13 with 113,151 signatures from registered voters who didn’t vote in either party’s primary, WFAA reports.

“I’m not delusional. This will be very hard to do, but it’s not impossible. My hope is to have Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and then Literally Anybody Else right underneath,” Else tells WFAA. He says that the campaign is more about sending a message than winning and that if he doesn’t make it onto the ballot, he hopes voters in Texas and other states will write in Literally Anybody Else to express their dissatisfaction.

Clever.

I know, I know….if you vote for this guy then you help elect the other guy….that is a tired old excuse….

Yes it is a gimmick….but sad that one has to resort to gimmicks.

Vote for who you want and screw all the naysayers.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Are You US Army Retired?

If so you might not want to pass this post by.

For a few years now the Army has failed to meet its projected enlistees…..and since the “c” word (conscription) scares the living B-Jesus out of Congress what is the Army to do to fill all those empty positions?

I wrote about this problem a couple of years ago and the incentives the Army was offering to coerce people to enlist…

Closing Thought–24Jan22

Ever heard of the program designated as “ALARACT”?

On March 20th, the US Army Publishing Directorate published ALARACT 017/2024.  The title of the form is “Utilization of the Army Retiree Recall Program” and it cites Executive Order 13223 under “References”.  Executive Order 13223 is a Bush-era EO from September 14, 2001 titled “Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation.”

The 18-page PDF for the ALARACT, which stands for “All Army Activities”, contains a slide titled “Directorate of Military Personnel Management.”  Under the first slide, it states:

“What is a Retiree Recall?  -A recalled retiree is a retired Soldier who is ordered to active duty from the Retired Reserve or the retired list under 10 USC 688/688a, 12301(a), or 12301(d) and serves in his or her retired status.  Retiree Recall is not an extension of your MRD.

Who can approve a Retiree Recall? -The Assistant Secretary of the Army (ASA) of Manpower and Reserve Affairs (M&RA) is the authorized approver to recall retired Soldiers.”

Lots more information in the article and if you are a retiree you might want to keep an eye on the situation and learn as much as possible about this program.

WWIII Alert: US Army Publishes ALARACT for “Utilization of the Army Retiree Recall Program”

If you thought you were safe because you are retired you might want to think twice and prepare for what may come.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Defeat Russia At All Costs

Hit them hard with everything you have…..but not like that.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine the US and the NATO nations have imposed heavy sanctions (something I serious doubt) on the invader….financial sanctions mostly economic sanctions all in an attempt to weaken the Russian economy and its war machine….and this included sanctions on their oil industry where they derive a lot of their working capital.

If the West can cripple the oil industry then they, Russia, would most likely try to find a way to end this conflict, right?

So hit them hard and often…..but not like that.

If so then the latest move by the US is a bit confusing….

US officials are losing patience as Kiev fails to heed American demands to stop attacking Russian energy infrastructure. The White House fears the attacks will lead to an increase in oil prices and trigger reprisals by Moscow.

According to the Financial Times, “The White House had grown increasingly frustrated by brazen Ukrainian drone attacks that have struck oil refineries, terminals, depots, and storage facilities across western Russia, hurting its oil production capacity,” adding that US officials are concerned with “driving up global oil prices and provoking retaliation.”

The demands to halt attacks on Russian oil facilities may appear confounding to Kiev after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg green-lit Ukrainian attacks inside Russia last month. Additionally, President Joe Biden has vowed to cripple the Russian economy, and the West has used sanctions and price caps in an effort to curb Moscow’s energy exports.

The White House may see increasing gas prices at home as a primary concern with the 2024 election on the horizon. Bob McNally, a former White House energy adviser, said, “Nothing terrifies a sitting American president more than a surge in pump prices during an election year,” as cited by FT.

As Ukrainian losses on the battlefield have continued in recent weeks, Kiev has conducted more attacks on Russian soil. This has led the Kremlin to evacuate thousands of children from a border region. Ukrainian forces also successfully attacked seven energy targets in Russia last week.

Washington’s fear that attacks on Moscow’s energy infrastructure will prompt retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian energy seems to have materialized. On Friday, the BBC reported, “A million people are without power across Ukraine after Russian missiles targeted energy infrastructure,” with Kiev’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko saying Moscow aimed to cause “a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system.”

(antiwar.com)

Is it win at all costs or is it just a geopolitical game of Risk?

Biden is really good, like most politicians, of speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

And the game goes on….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”