Random Notes from a Crank

I'm trying this concoction called oxymel. It's apparently a health that dates back to Ancient Greece, back to Hippocrates. 

At base, it is equals parts honey and equal parts apple cider vinegar. I got the recipe from this blog post I found on the InterWebs: "Herbal Oxymel Recipes & Benefits." I'm doing the one for cold and flu, so I some used dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, and ginger. 

We'll see whether if it's worth my time. At the very least it has polyphenols that create antioxidants. I wonder about the taste though. 

I'm leaving Facebook. I've already deleted my Instagram account, and I'm abandoning FB on Feb. 1. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to delete my account or just not interact with people on FB with a dim hope that the platform will reform its ways. I may just delete it, and if I rejoin FB at some time, I'll befriend the good people who are my "friends" and not befriend the President Adolf supporters I have accumulated over the years. 

Regardless, I just cannot be on a platform that has given up fact-checking/moderation because Zuckerberg is genuflecting and licking President Adolf's asshole while that autocrat, the GOP, and his oligarchic cronies further game the system for the rich and the 1%, destroy the social safety net, foment lies and disinformation, deport hard-working people, deregulate all kinds of things that should be strictly regulated, stack agencies with pro-business  lackeys, pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, and spread anti-science and anti-intellectual hokum while the poor, working class, and middle class lose out. 

Yet poor, working class, and middle class dipshits voted for President Adolf. 

I just have to remind myself that 54% of Americans read below a sixth-grade level. 

I can see why my daughter is looking at graduate schools in Europe. 

One of the books I'm reading right now is biography of Napoleon, Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. I have some gaps in knowledge of European history, so it's an interesting read for me. The author's premise is that Napoleon is misunderstood for a number of reasons, one of which is because of British propaganda and Hitler being compared to Napoleon by Churchill during WWII. 

Napoleon was a brilliant military mind, and as I have found out, he was an intellectual. Here's a quotation from him that struck me as quite wonderful: "The true conquests, the only ones that cause no regret, are those made over ignorance." 

The world would be a much better place if people followed that statement. 

Random Notes from a Crank

One of my FB friends shared this article by RawStory the other day that I found interesting. It's written by a neuroscientist: "Link between Religious Fundamentalism and Brain Damage Established by Scientists." 

The gist is that in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that does critical thinking, religious fundamentalist don't have a propensity for "cognitive flexibility and open-mindedness." 

As the author states, "Religious beliefs can be thought of as socially transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real. Religious beliefs differ from empirical beliefs, which are based on how the world appears to be and are updated as new evidence accumulates or when new theories with better predictive power emerge." 

They're not open to change: "Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview."

Religious fundamentalism is one of the things wrong in this world. 

And this all reminds me that I need to reread Mencken's Treatise on the Gods. 

Wales made the World Cup for the first time since 1958. So the group the US is in includes England, Iran, and Wales. 

This fine article from The Onion hits a little close to home since I'm usually geeked up when blue jays and woodpeckers show up: "Area Bird Creeped Out by Bird Watcher.

I need this notebook.  

Random Notes from a Crank

The article about omicron and its spread in Denmark in the The Washington Post is a good one to read since the Danes are the best folks in the world to test and track the virus: "What Does the Omicron Variant Mean for a Highly Vaccinated Country? Denmark Has a Dire Answer." 

I checked the other day, and in my county in east central Illinois, only 43% are fully vaccinated. 77% of those 65 years and older are fully vaccinated, and 50% of those 18-64 are fully vaccinated. Those percentages are terrible. 

If you're interested in your own county or state, check out the Post's "Tracking the Covid Vaccine" link. 

I recently got a smoker, and I've spent the past two weekends smoking various meat. Last weekend it was a pork loin and then salmon fillets. This weekend it is spare ribs and then a whole duck.

I picked up a case of Sierra Nevada IPAs at Costco on our last visit. That is some great ale. It could be argued that Sierra Nevada is the brand that helped start the craft beer movement in the US.

Random Notes from a Crank

News outlets are regularly running stories about Covid-19 deniers who die. One of the more recent ones is about a preacher who believed God can cure anything. He died of Covid-19 after discounting the pandemic and going to Mardi Gras: "A Virginia Preacher Believed 'God Can Heal Anything.' Then He Caught the Coronavirus." 

Thoughts and prayers I guess. 

The draft came and went, and as usual, Matt Miller of the Bleacher Report has "2021 NFL Mock Draft: Matt Miller's Way-Too-Early Predictions." There are a lot of players from Alabama and LSU on that list. 

I just heard on The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz that men who are able to grow beards early on are more likely to suffer hair loss. God damn it. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I made a couple of new dishes based on recipes from Cooking Light and Milk Street magazines. The first was a slow cooker affair that used apricot preserves and jalapeños as the flavoring agent for boneless chicken thighs. They turned out like chicken sloppy joes. The second was a grated carrot salad that used a bunch of flat leaf parsley from my garden, so I got to use my grating implement of my food processor. 

There's some kind of varmint eating my tomatoes in my garden. I suspect it's a damn raccoon. 

Recently I've been researching dog breeds. Our dog is getting older, and when she passes, we'll probably get two dogs, one smallish dog for Mrs. Nasty and a dog I like. Because I want a dog that doesn't shed much and one that will make me take it for walks, the two breeds I'm interested in currently are the Vizsla and the German Shorthaired Pointer. 

Here are some links about those breeds if you're interested:

• Vizsla
• German Shorthaired Pointer

Rick Perry got early Daily Showed: "U.S. Energy Secretary Duped into Fake Interview with Russian Comedians." 

A scientist wrote a great opinion piece in the Washington Post: "I'm a Scientist. I'm Blowing the Whistle on the Trump Administration."

Random Notes from a Crank

With Trump as the front runner and Ben Carson as second in the current GOP field, this whole Republican race is bizarre, especially with Carson believing that the world was created in six days. That's right. The world was created in six days according to Carson. Stunningly stupid. Even my eleven-year old daughter recognized that story as a metaphor. Check out "Ben Carson: The World Was Created in 6 Days. Literally." 

Over at the Washington Post, in "Why Republicans Are Starting to Panic, in One Paragraph." Chris Cillizza concisely sums up what a number of people in the GOP are worried about considering demographics and the coming presidential election. 

As for the Democrats, it's the Hillary and Bernie dynamic right now with Biden sitting it out at the moment. I suspect Biden decides to run. 

The candidate I would probably support the most, Elizabeth Warren, made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 

I'm one of the coaches for my son's soccer team, which makes me wish I played soccer as a kid. I think there might have been some soccer leagues back then northern Iowa (maybe), but the junior high schools and high schools didn't offer soccer as a sport. 

This weekend the men of the Nasty home will have the house to ourselves. Mrs. Nasty and my daughter are going with a few friends to Nashville to see an insanely expensive Taylor Swift concert.