‘Democrats have a plan’

She lost me right there. As a Democrat, I feel confident in stating that we have never had such a thing.

It is a truth so old that Will Rogers was cracking jokes about it 100 years ago.

Daily alcohol: blunts my emotional pain, causes awful feelings in my stomach, does damage to multiple organ systems, is physically addictive, and gives you a hangover the next day.

Daily THC and other cannabinoids consumed via edibles: blunts my emotional pain, blunts my physical pain, has a minor effect on working memory when used over years that does not further inhibit cognitive ability or motivation, is not physically addictive, and has no impact on the next day.

Used to self medicate in vaguely controlled doses, it is a no-brainer. MJ is not perfect by any means, but it is world better than booze for frequent users.

You most certainly would not! My French is awful. It is a known fact in my house that when Dad says, “You know, the French call this . . .” you should immediately stop listening and assume he is lying.

I use the French name for the dish in this case to signify the style as opposed to the usual American lumpy mashed potatoes with less butter.

Thank you! I’ll try that the next time it’s on sale.

I look forward to the meals that you will post here! Your plating game must be on point.

I need to try this. What was your sous vide temperature?

I belong to several chicken groups on other social platforms, and the number of people who view this as part of a giant conspiracy is wild. Nope, this cannot possibly be the consequences of the known spreading mechanisms of well documented disease in a factory farm setting. It is clearly an attempt to control the populace through a narrative of limited food supply. Or it is a justification to release the next phase of the scamdemic. Or it is an initial cull to drive up prices and make more money by - checks notes - refusing to sell eggs.

I agree the corporations are out to take us over the coals and that large scale government has aspects that should not be trusted but still, people go from zero to pedophiles in pizza basements really fast.

Sincerely, I wish her the best. I know it is common to jump in with hate-the-rich feelings here, but I don’t know of anything she has done that makes her deserve cancer. Cancer sucks. The flight is awful, and once it is done you don’t get to know if you are actually better for a long time. For the rest of your life you get to carry physical and emotional scars from the fight.

I did this fight. I would wish it away from anyone except the most evil. I hope her treatment and recovery are as smooth as possible.

Thank you, friend! I could not get to posting the recipe until now, and you were quicker to it.

No, this was just from general wear over time. It would be less bad if we threw it away at the first sign of wear, but that felt wasteful. Why ditch a sponge with a little wear on one side when the rest remains fine? Now we know.

This is where I am going to get on my soap box (pun intended) and castigate the entire Scrub family.

When snaking my shower drain, I get to go pretty dang far down to remove a clog. I was easily to the point point where my kitchen sink joined the drain line. Among the last things I pulled out were several Scrub Daddy chunks of good size. Can I be sure that these caused the clog? No. Am I sure these could screw up my septic pump or cause clogs even further down? Absolutely.

The chunks these sponges shed can wreck havoc on your drain system. It’s not worth it for a tool that cleans no better than a dish rag and a stiff bristle brush. Those actually clean better, last longer, and are more environmentally friendly.

I want to love Scrub Daddy. I just cannot afford the aggravation and potential cost they bring with them as they break down.

Oh, this is great. There may have been more results since I was working on a field project studying them, but to my knowledge we have absolutely no idea! They are not particularly well adapted to the cold, but their range keeps extending northward. This well predates the rapid climate change caused by humans, so we cannot use that as a reason. They are a bit of a mystery.

My guess would be that they are occupying a niche where limited brain and limb development (problems all marsupials face) are not limiting factors on success. Maybe their lack of a close genetic relation when surrounded by placental mammals gives them some pathogen resistance when scavenging? Those are just mildly educated guesses. When I was working with them we had no idea, and our field results were not at all enlightening.

I do not mean to be pedantic, but this is topic I love.

Marsupials do not fill a niche by virtue of their lack of placement. Instead, they have survived so long by virtue of their isolation.

It turns out that the adaptions required for marsupials to birth and raise young without a placenta make them inferior to placental mammals in almost every scenario. They get out competed and die off in almost every instance. South America had marsupials, not placentals, until it formed a land bridge with North America. What happened then? All the marsupials died off with the weird exception of the American possum. The placentals straight up out competed them across the board.

Australia has kept marsupials only because of its extreme isolation. When any type of placental mammal has been introduced to Australia, it has ruined the ecosystem and taken over the niche it fills.

Independent of humans, marsupials are a dying design. We just happen to live at a time when we can see that extinction in process. Yes, humans have sped it up by more rapidly introducing placental species, but we can see how it happened without human intervention as well.

I added the recipe link and notes to the post as an edit.

If anything, it’s consistency was a little thicker than many chowders. Between the roux, the cheese, and the many small bits in the soup, it is very thick. I liked it this way, but I could see using more broth to thin it out a bit.

The soup is heavy. I am a big guy who can easily put back a few bowls of soup at dinner. I could barely finish two half-full bowls.

Added to the post as an edit. Enjoy!

I added the recipe to the post. We did have hard rolls with it, but I further hardened them out a little too much as I neglected them in the oven. My youngest still enjoyed hollowing out his roll and using it as a hand-held bread bowl.

That is exactly where I was with it. It wound up being delicious, but I was unsure at every step along the way. It was a gamble, but both of my boys loved it as a fun spin on a food they enjoy.

This photo is amazing! I love how you used depth.

This is a solid medium rare, but it looks a more red from the color correction I used. If you dislike medium rare, then it was not cooked enough for you.

It is 100% medium rare by texture, color, and temperature. My wife prefers medium-rare bordering on medium, and this roast was acceptable to her. She strongly dislikes rare beef.

I chose between a couple easy color correction filters on my phone, and this gave the best overall representation of the meal. It made the color a little too red, but my other choice made it a little too brown/beige and sucked the color out of the scene.