Tag: Historical Facts

Why “Missionary”?

It is a Summer Sunday and I have tale to tell….and of course a bit of history to brighten your day.

My readers know that I try to explain the mundane….the stuff that few actually think about so I do it for them.

This post begins with me and one of my sessions where I was reading and writing for about 5 hours…..finally about 4 in the morning my eyes were tired and burning so I decided to give them a break….in the background as usual the TV was on some weird ass show (it is on for company not entertainment) and I decided to put my feet up and close my eyes to help them relax….well that eye closure resulted in about a 35 minute snooze and when I awoke there was some cheesy movie on and two guys (bad actors) were arguing about sexual positions….one was sure the best was “Doggie” and the other was arguing that ‘Missionary” was the best….after about 5 minutes of that torture my brain kicked in….I understand the ‘Doggie” thing but where did the “Missionary” originate?

Sue has always said that I need to give my brain a break…..but that seems like a monumental task……but back to the tale…..I decided that as an FYI I would explain the term and educate my readers and hopefully entertain as well….

The term “missionary position” is an anthropological enigma. The most prominent explanation is that it has something to do with prudish Christian missionaries. However, that seems to be a big misunderstanding tied back to one of the most famous sexologists of the 20th century, Alfred Kinsey.

For the uninitiated, the missionary position is a sex position in which the female lies on her back with the male on top, facing one another. 

Other cultures have a variety of inventive terms for this sexual stance. Some Arabic speakers refer to it as “the manner of serpents” while in Brazilian Portuguese, it’s colloquially called posição papai e mamae (literally “daddy and mommy position”). The term missionary position has since been transplanted into other languages, including French (position du missionnaire) and German (Missionarsstellung).

Countless anthropological studies suggest the term “missionary position” relates to the coital pose favored by Christian missionaries in the early modern era. So the story goes, the position was seen as more “decent” compared to more “animalistic” positions. When the missionaries made their unwelcome arrival to distant lands in the colonial era, they attempted to teach Indigenous peoples to have sex in this more righteous and Christian way. 

This retelling of the story appears to stem from the 1948 book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred Kinsey, in which he tried to show that the missionary position was not perceived as the default position in most other cultures. 

https://www.iflscience.com/why-is-missionary-position-called-that-its-origin-story-is-a-myth-74860

Now you know and your day will be so much brighter for it.

You know maybe Sue is on to something.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

1960s And Climate Change

Climate change is a big topic these days….on both sides of the aisle….the deniers and the worried.

The debate has been going on longer than most realize.  I was around for the first Earth Day and the whole environmental movement….back in those days people were more worried about air pollution aka smog than they were about the changes in the climate.

You guys know me I will take every opportunity given to inject some history into just about any conversation…..and this is a good one to do so….

The whole environmental debate has been going on as long as some have been alive.

To judge by recent Supreme Court decisions, the world didn’t know much about climate change a half century ago.

In 2007, when the court ruled that the Clean Air Act of 1970 gave the Environmental Protection Agency the flexibility to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, former Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “When Congress enacted these provisions, the study of climate change was in its infancy.” Writing a dissent in a 2022 case looking at similar questions, Justice Elena Kagan argued that back in 1970 when Congress created the act, legislators gave the EPA the flexibility to keep up with the times, tackling problems (i.e., climate change) that couldn’t be anticipated.

Naomi Oreskes, a historian of science at Harvard University, saw those opinions as a sign of how little people understood about the past. “I remember just being mortified by that,” she said. To be sure, at the time of the first Earth Day in 1970, people were more worried about the immediate effects of smog than the long-term, climate-altering consequences of burning coal and oil. But Oreskes knew that scientists had been working to understand how carbon dioxide affected the global climate since the late 19th century. So she set about writing what she thought would be a short paper to correct the record. 

In the process, Oreskes, along with other researchers at Harvard and Duke University, uncovered a lost history. As they searched troves of historical documents, they found plenty of other people were concerned about a warming planet, not just scientists, in the years before 1970. “We discovered a universe of discussions by scientists, by members of Congress, by members of the executive branch,” Oreskes said, “and the more we looked, the more we found.” 

https://grist.org/science/lost-history-climate-1960s-clean-air-act-supreme-court/

You see?  There has been those up trying to get the government to wake up and stop kicking the can down the road to placate the big money donors….but so far money talks and the environment be damn.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

AI: A History

There it is a chance for me to offer up some history….that is always a good day…..at least for me….after all it is a Sunday and I like to give a history lesson when I can.

It is all the rage these….that being Artificial Intelligence (AI)….it has invaded all aspects of life from major programming to homes to cars to blog posts….it is everywhere and in just about everything.

Some see the birth of ‘Skynet’ (look it up) while others see it as a boon to human activities….but where did it all begin?

To answer that question I put my skills and my mind to work…..

It’s the simplest questions that are often the hardest to answer. That applies to AI, too. Even though it’s a technology being sold as a solution to the world’s problems, nobody seems to know what it really is. It’s a label that’s been slapped on technologies ranging from self-driving cars to facial recognition, chatbots to fancy Excel. But in general, when we talk about AI, we talk about technologies that make computers do things we think need intelligence when done by people. 

For months, my colleague Will Douglas Heaven has been on a quest to go deeper to understand why everybody seems to disagree on exactly what AI is, why nobody even knows, and why you’re right to care about it. He’s been talking to some of the biggest thinkers in the field, asking them, simply: What is AI? It’s a great piece that looks at the past and present of AI to see where it is going next. You can read it here. 

Artificial intelligence almost wasn’t called “artificial intelligence” at all. The computer scientist John McCarthy is credited with coming up with the term in 1955 when writing a funding application for a summer research program at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. But more than one of McCarthy’s colleagues hated it. “The word ‘artificial’ makes you think there’s something kind of phony about this,” said one. Others preferred the terms “automata studies,” “complex information processing,” “engineering psychology,” “applied epistemology,” “neural cybernetics,”  “non-numerical computing,” “neuraldynamics,” “advanced automatic programming,” and “hypothetical automata.” Not quite as cool and sexy as AI.

AI has several zealous fandoms. AI has acolytes, with a faith-like belief in the technology’s current power and inevitable future improvement. The buzzy popular narrative is shaped by a pantheon of big-name players, from Big Tech marketers in chief like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella to edgelords of industry like Elon Musk and Sam Altman to celebrity computer scientists like Geoffrey Hinton. As AI hype has ballooned, a vocal anti-hype lobby has risen in opposition, ready to smack down its ambitious, often wild claims. As a result, it can feel as if different camps are talking past one another, not always in good faith.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/16/1095001/a-short-history-of-ai-and-what-it-is-and-isnt/

I am an old fart so I do not need help turning my lights on or starting my car….I prefer to do things for myself….at least as long as I can.

I refuse to let some program do my research for me or for that matter write a blog for me.

I am old but not lazy!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Is The Problem With The China/Taiwan Thing?

I know that the Gaza thing has every little person concerned with what is happening and all the while Ukraine continues and then there is this thing that has popped up in the last couple of years…..South China Sea.

The US has mobilized in protection of the island nation of Taiwan and the war drums are slowly beating out a scenario that could be disastrous for all parties involved in this mash-up.  (There are other problems in this region but this is the one that is getting the grease in the form of taxpayer dollars)

Have you ever asked yourself….What is this all about?

China has launched major military drills around Taiwan, simulating a full-scale attack on the island – just days after the new president William Lai was sworn in.

The exercises reinforce what is at the heart of the issue: China’s claim over self-governed Taiwan.

Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.

But many Taiwanese consider themselves to be part of a separate nation – although most are in favour of maintaining the status quo where Taiwan neither declares independence from China nor unites with it.

Taiwan’s first known settlers were Austronesian tribal people, believed to have come from modern day southern China.

Chinese records appear to first mention the island in AD239, when an emperor dispatched an expeditionary force to it – a fact Beijing uses to back its territorial claim.

After a relatively brief spell as a Dutch colony, Taiwan was administered by China’s Qing dynasty, before it was ceded to Tokyo after Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War.

After World War Two, Japan surrendered and relinquished control of territory it had taken from China. Afterwards, Taiwan was officially considered occupied by the Republic of China (ROC), which began ruling with the consent of its allies, the US and UK.

But in the next few years a civil war broke out in China, and then-leader Chiang Kai-shek’s troops were defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communist army.

Chiang, the remnants of his Kuomintang (KMT) government and their supporters – about 1.5m people – fled to Taiwan in 1949.

Chiang established a dictatorship that ruled Taiwan until the 1980s. Following his death, Taiwan began a transition to democracy and held its first elections in 1996.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538

All this was possible because the nationalists ran from the communists and the world got another domino in the theory that was ever so popular back in the day.

Now the US is once again pouring money into the island to confront China.

Taiwan’s recent election could spell a major escalation.

A Taiwan led by the newly inaugurated William Lai Ching-te will bring new challenges to the cross-strait relationship, as well as Beijing’s global articulation of its policies towards the self-governed island, according to observers on either side.
Joanna Lei Chien, a former Taiwanese lawmaker from the opposition party Kuomintang, said many assumptions on the cross-strait situation “should be thrown out of the window because things have changed at an exceedingly surprising speed” since Lai took over on Monday.
“Lai’s persona. It’s something that we really need to be very careful about,” Lei told a digital seminar hosted by the think tank Centre for Globalisation Hong Kong on Thursday.

If you must worry about something then I suggest that you keep an eye on Taiwan for it could be bursting into flames and sooner rather than later.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Morning Cup Of “Joe”

Yep that time again, Sunday and a day of either FYI or history, sometimes both.

I believe it was last Sunday that I wrote about the dangers lurking in decaf coffee……

Decaf Drinkers Beware!

I truly adore my cups of coffee in the mornings it makes the day a bit brighter…..but what do you know about coffee other than it is a great starter for the day?

The bad news is that there could be higher prices on the horizon….the Eastern horizon….

Coffee prices this morning are sharply higher, with arabica climbing to a 1-1/2 year high and robusta coffee posting a new all-time high. Coffee crop concerns in Brazil and Vietnam are fueling fund buying of coffee futures. Somar Meteorologia reported Monday that Brazil’s Minas Gerais region received 15.8 mm of rainfall in the past week, or 74% of the historical average. Minas Gerais accounts for about 30% of Brazil’s arabica crop. Robusta coffee is surging to new record highs on fears that excessive dryness in Vietnam will limit the country’s robusta coffee production.

Tight robusta coffee supplies from Vietnam, the world’s largest producer of robusta coffee beans, are a major bullish factor. On March 26, Vietnam’s agriculture department projected that Vietnam’s coffee production in the 2023/24 crop year could drop by -20% to 1.472 MMT, the smallest crop in four years, due to drought. Also, the Vietnam Coffee Association said that Vietnam’s 2023/24 coffee exports could drop -20% y/y to 1.336 MM. In addition, Marex Group Plc forecasts a global 2024/25 robusta coffee deficit of -2.7 million bags due to reduced output in Vietnam.

https://www.barchart.com/story/news/25518464/coffee-prices-surge-on-global-crop-concerns

You are in luck on this Sunday I can fill a few of your knowledge gaps about this magical elixir……

That coffee you slurped this morning? It’s 600,000 years old. Using genes from coffee plants around the world, researchers built a family tree for the world’s most popular type of coffee, known to scientists as Coffea arabica and to coffee lovers simply as “arabica,” the AP reports. The researchers, hoping to learn more about the plants to better protect them from pests and climate change, found that the species emerged around 600,000 years ago through natural crossbreeding of two other coffee species. “In other words, prior to any intervention from man,” said Victor Albert, a biologist at the University at Buffalo who co-led the study. published Monday in the journal Nature Genetics.

  • These wild coffee plants originated in Ethiopia but are thought to have been first roasted and brewed primarily in Yemen starting in the 1400s. In the 1600s, Indian monk Baba Budan is fabled to have smuggled seven raw coffee beans back to his homeland from Yemen, laying the foundation for coffee’s global takeover.
  • Arabica coffee, prized for its smooth and relatively sweet flavor, now makes up 60% to 70% of the global coffee market and is brewed by brands such as Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, and Dunkin. The rest is robusta, a stronger and more bitter coffee made from one of arabica’s parents, Coffea canephora.
  • The arabica plant’s population fluctuated over thousands of years before humans began cultivating it, flourishing during warm, wet periods and suffering through dry ones. These lean times created so-called population bottlenecks, when only a small number of genetically similar plants survived. Today, that renders arabica coffee plants more vulnerable to diseases like coffee leaf rust, which cause billions of dollars in losses every year.
  • Researchers from Nestlé, which owns several coffee brands, contributed to the study. The study clarifies how arabica came to be and spotlights clues that could help safeguard the crop, said Fabian Echeverria, an adviser for the Center for Coffee Research and Education at Texas A&M University who was not involved with the research.

I have given you the good news and the bad and even threw in a little history….but now the question is what makes coffee taste so damn good?

What is the best way to tell how a coffee is going to taste before you make it? Contrary to belief, the flavor of your coffee isn’t always determined by where it came from. It’s a combination of the microclimate the coffee plant grew up in, nutrient levels in the soil, age of the plant, rainfall (or lack thereof), roast level and one hundred and one other variables that shape and reshape the bean within the coffee plant’s fruit.

But there’s an argument to be made that no variable — other than maybe roast level — has a more plainly noticeable effect on coffee flavor as the “process,” something that’s stamped on any decent bag of coffee, which simply refers to how the coffee bean is removed from the cherry.

https://www.gearpatrol.com/home/natural-vs-washed-coffee/

Now that I have given you the history and the important questions I would like to close with some medical news about coffee….

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages, cherished for its flavor and the boost of alertness it offers thanks to its caffeine content.

Recent research has highlighted another potential benefit of coffee: its association with a lower risk of developing liver disease.

This article explores the evidence behind this finding, offering insights into how drinking coffee could help protect liver health.

The liver is a crucial organ that plays a vital role in filtering toxins, aiding digestion, and regulating metabolism.

Liver disease includes a range of conditions such as hepatitis, fatty liver disease, and cirrhosis, which can progressively damage the liver, impairing its ability to function effectively. Finding ways to prevent liver disease is therefore of significant interest in medical research

https://knowridge.com/2024/04/coffee-and-liver-health-a-surprising-connection/

Damn!  Time for another cup!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday….if weather permits go out and enjoy the day…. and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–05Apr24

This post is a question for my English friends and readers…..

I read an article that has given me a new perspective on the concept of the 1%…..

Well now, here’s a fun fact about Britain: according to investigative journalist Kevin Cahill, in the UK and Ireland, 70% of land is still owned by less than 1% of the population. In his book Who Owns Britain, Cahill argues that 0.3% of the British population owns 66% of the country, and these 160,000 families who own two-thirds of Great Britain largely descend from the army of William the Conqueror — the first Norman King of England who first conquered the country in 1066.

Cahill’s research traces the roots of current land ownership patterns back to the Norman Conquest of 1066. In the book, he explains that the introduction of the feudal system by William the Conqueror saw the Crown claiming ownership of all land, which was then parcelled out to loyal nobles. This moment basically set the stage for a legacy of concentrated land ownership. Strikingly, this one decision by a king in the 11th century still greatly affects the UK now.

This accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few continued. Despite subsequent changes in society and governance, the foundational structures of landholding established in this era have shown remarkable endurance. Cahill illustrates how, over the centuries, laws and practices have evolved to protect and perpetuate the land holdings of the aristocracy and elite, often at the expense of broader public ownership and access. It’s classic inequality applied over a millennium.

https://www.zmescience.com/other/shorties/70-percent-britain-land-owned-by-the-rich/

Now the question is….the accusation of land ownership….is this accurate?

And there is one other thing I would like to know about the UK…..

The chance to peer inside the place where Queen Elizabeth II died proved too much a temptation this week as the first public tours inside Balmoral Castle sold out within 24 hours. On Wednesday, King Charles III announced members of the public would for the first time be able to tour the interior of Balmoral, the British royal family’s private Scottish estate, as well as Buckingham Palace’s east wing, during daily tours in July and August. Forty tickets to get inside Balmoral were available each day from July 1 to August 4, before Charles and Queen Camilla arrive for their summer break, at the hefty price of $120 per person, or $190 with the added option of afternoon tea, ABC News reports. All sold out within 24 hours, per the Ardrossan Herald.

The tours are being offered as part of a trial to test whether the building completed in 1855 can handle increased foot traffic, per the Guardian. Those who managed to snag tickets will get a glimpse of the ballroom—a regular stop on the usual tour of the grounds—as well as two dining rooms, the drawing room, the page’s lobby, and the red corridor. Visitors “can see how rooms within the Castle are used today by their Majesties The King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family,” according to a tour description. They can also view Charles’ watercolor paintings and a selection of outfits worn by royals including the late queen.

Photography is not permitted on the interior tour. Tickets to tour the castle grounds, open to the public from May 4 to August 11, remain available at a cost of $22 per adult. Tours of Buckingham Palace’s east wing, including a visit to the central balcony where the royal family gathers for public appearances, run daily from July 15 to August 31 at a cost of $95 per adult, reports the BBC.

Are people really willing to fork over that kind of cash to visit some moth ball castle?

Sorry but unlike most Americans I could give a fig about the royals or their mansions.

Is all this true?

Thanx for stopping by and I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–01Apr24

****This is NOT an “April Fools” gag!****

Remember a few months ago when we were told of the shortage of eggs thanks to bird flu?  Well. it looks like they are setting us up again.

Back in those days I asked about the high prices we were asked to pay for eggs….

Is It Price Gouging?

With the most recent warning from the egg industry has sent people on a mission….

A shortage of eggs in shops during Holy Week has led Norwegians to flock to supermarkets across the border in Sweden and hoard the traditional Easter favorite, reports the AP. Norwegian news outlet Nettavisen said Thursday that the Nordby shopping center in Sweden, located just off the border about 62 miles south of the capital, Oslo, has been filled by “desperate” Norwegians trying stock up on eggs. The center’s Maxi-Mat food store ran out of eggs Tuesday, while the adjacent Nordby Supermarket has had to limit the number of eggs purchased to three 20-packs per household, the news outlet reported.

Not only are the Swedish stores better stocked with eggs, a traditional Easter treat needed for many dishes, but the product is also more affordable in Sweden, Nettavisen said. “It’s far cheaper than you get in Norway—if you can get eggs in Norway at all, that is,” Ståle Løvheim, the head of the Nordby shopping center, told Nettavisen. “The last time I was in Norway, the store was empty” of eggs. A pack of 20 eggs in Sweden sells for about $3.70, about 30% less than the price in Norway. Concerns about overproduction of eggs in Norway led to farmers being offered compensation to reduce egg production. That and the effects of bird flu have led to a shortage, according to news reports.

Egg prices are at near-historic highs in many parts of the world as Easter approaches, reflecting a market battered by disease, high demand, and growing costs for farmers. Ranked consistently among the most expensive countries in the world, Norway is known for its substantially high cost of living, especially in regard to food products and alcohol, which are heavily taxed even when compared to well-to-do Nordic neighbors. Many residents living in southern Norway regularly make shopping trips across the border to Sweden, where products and services enjoy a lower value-added tax, a phenomenon that has evolved into a lucrative business for Swedish store owners

I know it is Sweden….but how long before the trend makes it to us from across the pond?

Will it the toilet paper shortage of the future?

This is another “Not An April Fools” joke.

A report by Oddspedia, a sports-betting and data-tools website, lists Florida as America’s No. 1 conspiracy theory “hotspot,” followed by those in California, while the Sunshine State’s residents “ranked as the second-most gullible.”

But Oddspedia’s analysts noted conspiracy theorizing is a national pastime of sorts these days, with broad implications for this year’s election.

“In the lead-up to the 2024 US elections, conspiracy theories have entrenched themselves as a notable element of American political discourse,” the Oddspedia report concluded. “The impact of these theories on the presidential race is noteworthy, with the potential to either bolster or undermine a candidate’s credibility.”

What’s going on? Here is what Oddspedia found:

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/01/april-fools-florida-tops-conspiracy-theories-gullible-residents/73142438007/

Now since it is ‘April’s Fools’ Day I thought a little history would help….

April 1st is celebrated by many as April Fools’ Day, a cheeky date on the calendar when playful pranks abound, within people’s homes, at schools and workplaces, and even in newspaper articles or television programs. The day is known around the world as a light-hearted moment in the diary to try and catch out unsuspecting friends, family, employees, and teachers with silly games to make one another laugh. But where did the tradition come from, and why did it occur on this particular Spring date? The exact origins of April Fools’ Day are unknown, but there are several possible sources that point to its evolution through the ages.

https://www.thecollector.com/history-of-april-fools-day/

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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”

That Magnificent Burger!

First get the crap out of the way….Haley loses to Trump in South Carolina (go figure)….time for her to think about retiring.

Another Sunday and what better time to learn something….especially if it is something about America’s favorite food.

It is getting to be March and that magical time we call Spring….and all across the Deep South people dusting off and rolling out their grills and one of the first things we do is cook burgers.

I admit it I do enjoy a good burger….mine is with cheese with mayo and brown mustard….put the garden on the side….but as good as a burger is where did it all begin?  (Surprise!  A little history.)

Close your eyes and picture a hamburger. Whether the version in your imagination is bursting with lettuce and tomatoes and oozing ketchup or not, it’s a sure bet that the image in your mind’s eye includes a bun. Without a bun it’s not a hamburger, though—it’s just a hamburger patty, or what used to be known as a hamburger steak (or hamburg steak).

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering who invented the first hamburger, you’re not alone. Below, discover more fascinating details about the history of hamburgers, from their minced beef-with-suet recipe origins to White Castle’s legendary “sliders,” and more.

Exactly how a dish named for a German city evolved into one of America’s favorite foods is a riddle wrapped in a mystery on a sesame seed bun.

The earliest reference to the ancestor of the hamburger appears in an English cookbook from 1763. In Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse explains how to make a Hamburgh sausage. The recipe calls for mixing minced beef with suet, spices, wine, and rum and stuffing it into a gut, which is then smoked and dried. Except for those final steps of converting it into a sausage, the minced meat and fat with spices could be considered a hamburg steak, which is defined as a dish of salted and smoked minced beef.

The first glimpse of hamburg steak occurred around the 1870s, when this dish began popping up in restaurants. In San Francisco, a menu from the Clipper Restaurant dated 1871 to 1884 lists Hamburg beefsteak for 10 cents, the same price as stewed mutton, tripe, or salmon. A tenderloin steak was 20 cents. 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56926/history-hamburger

Now you have learned everything you need to know about the amazing burger….I mean burgers are so popular there is even a pop song about them….

For full disclosure….while I truly enjoy a big thick burger today I will be grilling a couple of tenderloins with baked potato and a salad.

Enjoy your day and have a burger life will look so much more bright.

As always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

To Save Democracy

It is election time and both sides seem to think that they are the savior of our beloved Constitution…..both are silly in my world….but I read a blog post the other day that I feel needs to be shared.

The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederation)’s Law of Peace and Seventh Generation Principle Can Save our Democracy and Climate

An interesting read and very well thought out…

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”