In my defense: If you are reading this, I have offered it to you in self-defense. I am unvaccinated and will stay that way for as long as humanly possible. The pressure to vax comes from above, around, and below. I am told that I am harming others, spreading a virus, and that the hospitals […]
In my defense — Piece of Mindful
Well said and I couldn’t agree more! ~KH
I need to keep my job! I have bills you know!
Of course you do. I understand.
My kids need to go to school. My toddler needs daycare.
Yes, they do. Don’t worry.
I was really sick last August. It was awful. I missed 3 days of work.
I’m sorry to hear that.
We are so overworked in our department, people keep quitting!
But why, I thought it was a good job?
Well I guess they just don’t really need the money and they don’t really care, do they!
Clearly not. Of course, that could be a good thing for you.
Being over-worked! How do you figure?
Less competition, more room for advancement.
Oh yes, that’s true. Good point. The more unvaxxed around the better for me.
Now you’re getting it. I’m proud of you. I have a holiday gift for you and I’m going to put your name in for our next conference in Paris.
Wow! Thanks! That would be awesome!
Just keep this gift up-to-date and you never know.
I have a nice collection of cook books and love reading them, especially the old ones. I just thought I’d share this quote that makes for some perfect pondering at the holidays. 🙂
“Good cooking is always associated with good living. Like marriage, it consists of two elements which should blend in harmony: the aliments and the seasoning. Conscientious cooking, by rendering easy the processes of digestion, promotes that serenity of mind, graciousness of thought, and indulgent view of our neighbors’ failings, which is the only genuine form of optimism. No virtues will fully promote happiness if the art of cooking be neglected by the national conscience. We owe much to the fruitful meditations of our sages, but a sane view of life is, after all, initiated mainly in the kitchen—the kitchen of the small house, abode of the great majority of the people.
“Of all books produced,” said Joseph Conrad, “since the most remote ages by human talents and industry, those only that treat of cooking are, from a moral point of view, above suspicion. The intention of every other piece of prose may be discussed and even mistrusted: but the purpose of the cookery book is one and unmistakable. It’s object can conceivably be no other than to increase the happiness of mankind.”
The Gold Cookbook by Master Chef Louis P. De Gouy, 1947
Mr. De Gouy began his career as chef under his famous father, who was then Esquire of Cuisine to the late Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. Later he studied under the renowned Escoffier. In time, his name became associated with some of the great culinary establishments in Europe and America. In France: Grand Hotel, Hotel Regina, Hotel du Louvre, Hotel de Paris, and Monte Carlo. In England: Carlton Hotel. In Spain: Casino of San Sebastian. In America: the old Hotel Belmont and the old Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. He served as Chef Steward aboard the J. P. Morgan yacht Wild Duck when it made its cruise around the world.
From: Cookbook Village
And so, as 2021 goose-steps toward its fanatical finish, it is time for my traditional year-end wrap-up. It’s “The Year of the Ox” in the Chinese zodiac, but I’m christening it “The Year of the New Normal Fascist.” And what a phenomenally fascist year it has been! I’m not talking amateur fascism. I am talking […]
The Year of the New Normal Fascist — Consent Factory, Inc.
In this shit show, vaudeville act, fantasy-based reality, LARP, mass formation, post-modern reality simulation, totalitarian tiptoe, or whatever you want to call it, humor is the best medicine.
In fact, these days, it may be the only safe medicine.
So here’s an attempt to get us started!
One funny song:
One funny question:
If you had to choose between losing a war with the Russians or the Chinese, which would you choose?
I’ll start! To me, this is not a political question, but a cultural one. The politics in every country are equally shitty, I’d choose none of them. But, culturally speaking, the Slavs won a long time ago in my book. They’re my kind of folk! In fact, I’m pretty sure I was a Russian Jew in a past life. I even passed for one once in Slovakia, but that’s another story.
One funny meme:
One funny oldie-but-goodie, from the simpler days of 2015:
It’s been unseasonably warm for us so far, with regular episodes of more mild weather whiplash than in recent past years. I suspect that’s about to change, so here’s the garden as it’s growing now.
It’s a first for fresh tomatoes in December around here! We are still harvesting from the ‘volunteer’ tomato jungle growing in the duck coop. It looks so pretty and is producing much more than we can munch. Even though it’s tedious work, I dry them. They come out delicious that way and can be added to all sorts of dishes or made into a pesto.
With the peppers still growing strong that means in 20/20 hindsight I should not have moved a couple of them last month to winter them indoors after all. Where’s my crystal ball when I need it most?!
The mushrooms continue to marvel me! First we had chanterelles nearly all summer, now we have delicious ’wood blewits’ (clitocybe nuda—ok that sounds a bit pornographic, no?!) and tabescens, and lactarius paradoxus. Also pictured are either the hallucinogenic ’laughing Jims’ (Gymnopilus spectabilis) or the highly toxic ’Jack-o-lanterns’ (Omphalotus olearius). The latter I give to a friend who uses them to dye yarn. The former, if I were 100% sure of my identification, I might be inclined to try! Apparently you can tell from the spore print color, either orange or white. But, what about when it comes out whitish-orange? Too risky for me!
The cooler temperatures make even our old dogs feel a little frisky!
And for a little more humor . …
The remarkably prolific Jim Lee is singing my tune this morning! It’s a terribly complicated issue, no doubt. I agree 100% with his sentiment—I want to see it ALL banned. But I know banning doesn’t work. I know there’s FAR too much money to be made in this industry and all those surrounding it to pretend it’s a fight we could win.
At least, I agree with Jim, an accountability act is a solid footing to start with that would increase public awareness and bring many of the parties involved to the same table. Or, the same ballpark anyway. And, of course, keep it out of the hands of the forever-scheming and criminal U.N.!
I’ve been trying to talk with folks about the fake clouds and the fake weather for so long now that I’ve been able to witness my personal growth on the topic.
At first I was simply appalled. Seriously?! How on earth can you NOT see it? It’s so obvious to me and has been for so long it’s like when I discovered real cheese and real beer for the first time, in Europe. That was over 30 years ago, when I’d only previously tasted individually wrapped Kraft American cheese slices and a few sips of my step-dad’s Bud Light. It was a revelation. I could never again feign a taste for fake cheese. Of course, I went on to uni and drank plenty of fake beer.
(Yesterday (11.30.2021) from morning to dusk. Some of us can not only see it, we can smell it and feel it and have palpable physical reactions to it—like allergies, cough, vertigo, etc. We’re called ‘sensitive’ in the pejorative and told we’re crazy and to take more meds.)
One can argue that the cheese, the beer, the clouds are not ‘fake’ and I understand that position. Just because they are mass produced and have very little in common with the original doesn’t mean they’re fake. I’ve tried to find a more descriptive word—imitation, manufactured, chemically-concocted, disgusting—but the word choice doesn’t seem to matter anyway, folks just don’t want to hear it.
So I took some well-meaning advice in trying on some new tactics in years past. Don’t say ‘chemtrails’, use the science terms—albibo enhancement by stratospheric sulfur injection, solar radiation management, climate remediation, etc—that way when folks look it up online they don’t get lost in ‘conspiracy theory’. If anyone has yet to research anything thanks to my posts, comments, rants, or suggestions, I have yet to hear about it.
Then I tried some advice from the ‘communication-expert’ types: say 5 positive things for every negative one, ask more questions than make statements, don’t get flustered, never let them see you sweat. Problem is, that requires I fake it, which I loathe doing. Not to mention, in my opinion there doesn’t exist 5 positive things about geoengineering and when I’ve tried to fake it, the teeny, weeny, little negative gets lost in all the “positive” and no one hears it anyway.
I’ve come to the conclusion that simply, very few folks care, for the same reasons they don’t care if they’re eating fake cheese, drinking fake beer or touching fake boobs. The simulacra is good enough for them. They prefer it even. Like the time I was giving landscaping advice to an acquaintance. She wanted some ‘curb-appeal’ plants. Her requirements were that they look good all year, never drop any ‘mess’ on the lawn or sidewalk, and require zero maintenance. “Ah, so you want some plastic plants then,” I replied. That’s where we’re at as a culture, and I accept that.
But as long as I live I will NEVER stop complaining about it, ranting about it, or praying it was different, or trying to change it all back to its natural state.
Even if I never reach a single soul or gain an inch against the tide of insanity.
I doubt it.
But do try, if you please.
For I hold that which is more fascinating than all the revelations on the Worldwide Web.
For I know what’s more delectable than the greatest feast any queen was ever fed.
For I have felt the pleasure of the task done only for her most dear.
For I have touched the archaic wisdom without fear.
For I have sensed the eternal crafted long before His key.
For fascination is my daily bread living this great mystery.
How ya gonna keep them wrapped in illusion once they’ve touched reality?
“He’s not Covid, he’s just cold.” Graham Chapman & Terry Jones from Life Of Brian 1979. Image Credits: Warner Brothers/Getty Images/The Covid Physician From a UK doctor… I encourage you to read the entire article. I’m shocked. ~Vic What has been witnessed in the last two years is not medical science. It is the death […]
Story Sunday: All Hail Covid — Cosmic Observation
