Going pescatarian

Last year, I wrote about switching to a mostly plant-based diet (ie vegetarian), with some fish mixed in (so pescatarian).

It’s been a year and I can honestly say that I do not miss meat whatsoever.  This transition has been great for me and I have really taken to it  

When I last wrote about my experience, I wondered if I would try lamb again.  I won’t.  A friend had some at a small gathering we went to, and while it looked appealing and smelled good, I wasn’t even tempted to try it.  

And as for BBQ, the thing I missed the most was the smokiness and sort of the texture  I have been able to replicate that fairly well in plants.  I get my smoky “meatiness” and it’s satisfying with a little sauce.  I don’t miss it and I won’t be going back. 

I’ve managed to cultivate a number of recipes to give me the flavors and textures I want.  And that makes me happy.  

I would also say that in general my health has been good, and I generally feel better than I had previously.  I know some foods would give me a headache or make me feel sluggish.  That has not been the case since I changed my diet.

 

People am stupid

As the pandemic took hold in this country, I struggled to put together my disney podcast on a regular basis.

The uncertain future, and the fact that the happiest place - where you could cast away your troubles - was closed made it tough sailing.

And that's when reality and fantasy collided in a different way. Disney is deeply embedded in politics. Look … Walt himself testified at the McCarthy hearings. There was always a need to ingratiate himself with politicians to get what he wanted. And, of course, disneys relationship with the state of Florida is nothing short of a political maneuver; we might not have disney world if it weren't for politics being at the forefront . And never mind the shnizzle the donald pulled to get himself into the hall of presidents.

Make no mistake: disney and politics are inexorably linked.

Overall, I prefer to stay out of that conversation because I know people just want to talk about the "fun" disney. I can be respectful of that and tried to always frame it in a historical context.

But here it was. Right in my face. The Donald was saying this would go away. The pinhead gov of Florida threw caution to the wind and did everything he could (and still can do!) to get disney world reopened because it suited him and his politics.

So I said some things about it and then I took a break.

And came back to something unexpected.

Disney world had re-opened, and I started hearing from some whackadoodles about how they wanted to - very selfishly - have a vacation for themselves. And how dare anyone stop them, or disney make them wear masks, or limit attendance, etc, etc. pandemic be damned!

Disney wasn't right here, either. Clearly, this was a money play. Sure in a way there was some relief to the nation, and you kept people employed. So winning, I guess? But it was a calculated risk.

So I came back and talked about it. I kept at it for a few months, going back and forth talking about history, and talking about what was going on at disney. Again with my point of view. I wasn't singing anyone's praises; I was being honest.

But some people can't handle that.

An election. A fucking insurrection. Bad behavior all around. I played the hall of presidents without the Donald speaking and reminded that disney will have to deal with what happened, in due time.

And I took another break because it was just too much, once again. People wanted to have fun with disney and not worry about the politics. They were, in a word, selfish.

I saw my listenership drop, and got rather a lot of feedback that I was a libtard and why couldn't I focus on disney? Some of it was downright nasty.

Ummmmm. Yeah. See my previous comment about how things are linked.

If people heard me and decided to think that of me, then my message of hope, of a better future, of this connection, got through.

And the fact that I struck a nerve tells me that people are stupid. They choose to follow the dumbasses of the world and be blind to reality. That's not at all fine, and our poor education system shines through. But first amendment, AmIRight?

But … I am going to speak. To stand up for those who are being silenced. Against the disney corporation where it needs it. And certainly against politicians who are connected to disney.

And that's when I redefined myself again and started talking only about history, and added "one little spark" to my podcast to hilight a social issue of the day.

Someone has to speak up. And if you don't like it, then feel free not to listen.

Disney and politics. They have been, and will always, be linked. And if you can't see it, or that bothers you, well that's a you problem.

As I used to say "my podcast, my rules"

What a cluster..f*ck. Cruise edition.

Last year, as the pandemic was taking hold, VP pence, senators rubio and Scott, and gov desantis stood at the cruise terminal in Fort Lauderdale, and made clear their aim was to protect the cruise industry from harm during the pandemic.

It was clear they were only talking about this huge moneymaker, with its tourism dollars and financial contributions to their political campaigns. Not to protect people or the general business. No this was about protecting their wealthy donors.

Flash forward and pence is gone. And rubio and Scott have different priorities. They are still be interested in political contributions, but they've stayed oddly quiet on this issue. It should be obvious, of course, that they are only in it for themselves.

So desantis is on his own. He wants the industry to bring tourist money to the state. He wants to help them so he comes off as some kind of hero, financially, and to try and help his own re-election.

He issues some BS orders and has legislation that gives him supreme authority in the state. Over municipalities. Over tourist related business. And effectively over the cruise industry.

The CDC issues guidelines for cruising. Those don't meet with what he wants and he sues. They try to mediate. That goes nowhere.

So cruising is stuck. Executives of the cruise lines have no idea what to do and engaged their lawyers to figure it all out.

Some are running "test cruises" this week, with no idea how that will go. And it's completely unclear whether/how sailing will start in July.

And then there's this little nugget. If this doesn't get worked out soon, or even if it does in a nuanced way that it tilts toward Florida, some cruise lines not leaving Florida will be impacted and may not be able to sail at all.

Take the Alaskan cruise lines that already made arrangements to leave from seattle and not stop in Canada. They had to make some legal changes to accommodate.

And some of those may not be doable for these large companies that do business in multiple states because of the flori-duh rules.

In short, desantis is in it for himself and he's left everyone scratching their heads just to score some sort of "victory" for himself.

That's your ball licking trump supporter right there.

Neil deGrasse Tyson- Why Would-be Engineers End Up English Majors

Preach!

An open letter to my GOP senators

Subject: you are wrong about the January 6th commission

Either you are complicit in the actions on that day, acted against our government yourself, or you are supporting protecting those who were. In any case, you are allowing a seditious act to have been committed and are endorsing it.

An independent committee was necessary to get to the truth. But I guess that's just too much for today's Republican Party. You only care about votes and money than actually protecting and serving the constitution.

Abraham Lincoln once said (to paraphrase) that the only way the United States could be destroyed was from within. It takes a willful act from those who know better to undermine our establishment.

You have shown yourself to be a coward and while you opine about foreign terrorists bent on destroying us, you turn a blind eye to domestic terrorism and the very real threat to our democracy.

History was already written that shows how incompetent you are. Your vote on this matter merely underscores what we already knew.

If you could feel shame, surely you would have some now. But we know you can't feel any.

So our only choice is to remove you from office - by our vote, rather than the means by which you wanted to allow on Jan 6th

The pandemic isn’t quite over...

Although it doesn't get a lot of press, things aren't going so great in India or Brazil. Case rates are up, distribution of vaccine is slow, and variants have emerged that make the virus spread faster.

And so far the vaccines we have available will protect us against these variants.

By the way, we also have noted that having the virus once doesn't stop someone from getting it again, apparently.

So we've got a ways to go. Meanwhile, here in the US, things are better. And a return to something like normal makes sense if you are vaccinated. You are somewhere around 95% protected from getting a severe case of the virus, though you may get it and feel a little sick. And you can still spread it.

But now that vaccines are widely available to anyone over 12, there's no reason not to get one. Aside from some fringey bullshit, most adults should have one already, or be planning to get one shortly.

And frankly, to those people who choose to not get one, the burden shifts to you. We did our part to curb the spread. We wore a mask, stayed home, and now we have the vaccine.

If those of us who are vaccinated choose to go out unmasked and wind up infecting you, we shouldn't feel bad about it. You had the opportunity to get vaccinated. And if you didn't, well, that's not our problem.

(Disclaimer: if we know we'll be around someone vulnerable we can and should still mask)

I really can't understand eschewing the vaccine based on stupid and fatally flawed "junk science" or religion or political ideology.

On that topic, you may have noticed that the covid case rates and covid deaths have been decreasing and it's being hailed as good...

And it is. With a caveat.

Case rates have always simply been a barometer. The positivity rate has always been based on the population at large who choose to get tested.

When more people got tested, the numbers went up. But on the population that got tested, the positivity rate stayed nearly the same throughout.

Now there's a reduction in testing numbers, because large volume sites are closing, so there aren't as many people being tested. And the people who are vaccinated aren't getting tested...

In short, the positivity rate among those being tested is somewhere around the same - but the number of positive tests has been decreasing.

The death rate from covid is more specific. There's a percentage of people who died "from covid" but never got tested, and there are people who tested positive but died from "other causes"... it's been suggested that these two numbers essentially cancel out, so the death rate may be something close to accurate.

So if we look at the death rates falling over the last few weeks, we notice something: it has fallen by about 40%, which happens to be the vaccination rate.

This is surely not a coincidence.

And it would suggest that the death rate, not unlike the positivity rate, remains the same for the UNvaccinated people.

So if you need another reason to get a vaccine, there you go.

Take advantage of the lotterys, giveaways, and other things that are being offered, and join the millions who see through the nonsense.

Get freaking vaccinated.

Tampa Bay Rays minority owners sue Sternberg, say he secretly negotiated Montreal deal

In case you ever doubted that sports are nothing more than a cash grab....

https://www.tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg/2021/05/24/tampa-bay-rays-minority-owners-say-sternberg-secretly-negotiated-montreal-deal-in-new-lawsuit/


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.