Well, thank y’all for the kind comments. I’m not going away, but I might take a few days off from time to time. I’m just feeling the need for the well to refill a little. But I will probably be here, compulsively, until kingdom come or, y’know, the alternative.
Today I was reading a story, a fairly straightforward news story, that referred to so-and-so’s “passing.” Um, OK. I prefer “died,” myself, but that’s the alternative I’m talking about.
Let’s not talk about that.
Lunch in Ann Arbor with my editor and a source. The source picked the restaurant. Very interesting menu. Short, simple, Asian-y but not. I got roasted cauliflower because I was feeling like I should eat my vegetables, and would you look at this plate of vegan loveliness?
I thought $14 was a bit steep for a couple bucks’ worth of in-season vegetables, but whoever assembled that plate is an artist. The colors, the fragrance, the taste — all exquisite. In addition to the main ingredient, there’s broccolini, roasted carrots, a little white onion stewed to the consistency of butter with some curried coconut sauce. And a few raisins scattered about. Yum.
Nothing like a good meal to improve your day. My editor kept sneering because he hates cauliflower. He got some chicken schnitzel thing, but I say I got the better bargain.
Dinner tonight was skirt steak on the grill, rice and now we’re watching “When We Were Kings” on the big screen via YouTube. Love summer.
One thing about being tied up most of the day in driving and lunching and more driving? I missed the panic over the stock exchange and whatever else the world was on about today. I was just thinking…cauliflower. Yeahhhh.
Now Kate is at the Stones concert and so are a few of my friends, and I’m enjoying it via social media. That’s the way to enjoy a Stones concert, if you ask me. All the fun, none of the traffic.
A little bloggage, then?
Donald Trump is the monster the GOP created:
One big Republican donor this week floated to the Associated Press the idea of having candidates boycott debates if the tycoon is onstage. Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham and other candidates have lined up to say, as Rick Perry put it, that “Donald Trump does not represent the Republican Party.”
But Trump has merely held up a mirror to the Republican Party. The man, long experience has shown, believes in nothing other than himself. He has, conveniently, selected the precise basket of issues that Republicans want to hear — or at least a significant proportion of Republican primary voters. He may be saying things more colorfully than others when he talks about Mexico sending rapists across the border, but his views show that, far from being an outlier, he is hitting all the erogenous zones of the GOP electorate.
Anti-immigrant? Against Common Core education standards? For repealing Obamacare? Against gay marriage? Antiabortion? Anti-tax? Anti-China? Virulent in questioning President Obama’s legitimacy? Check, check, check, check, check, check, check and check.
Again from the WashPost, an interesting piece, pegged to the Jared-Subway story, about our misconceptions about pedophiles:
The public typically maintains a highly stereotypical and largely inaccurate view of pedophiles, defined as adults or teens 16 and up who are sexually stimulated by pre-pubescent children (typically 11 and under). We imagine pedophiles as creepy men with shifty eyes, stubble and a trench coat. We think they lurk around schools and playgrounds, waiting to snatch children. We think of these men as despicable lowlifes whom we can spot when we meet them, which is why news of sex crimes against children are invariably met with disbelief. “Stunned” parents and community members say the same thing: “He never seemed like that type of person.” In my three decades working with many men who sexually violate children and teens, I’ve never met one person who fit “that type.”
Women and heroin, a growing romance. Alas.
Good Thursday, all.
Sherri said on July 9, 2015 at 12:19 am
I read a report recently that scientists have recently discovered that male and female mice experience pain in different parts of their brain. They could tweak that part in the male mice brain, and the male mice stopped feeling pain, while tweaking that same part in the female mice brain had no impact. Of course, most pain studies in mice are done with male mice.
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 5:30 am
A good friend of mine, in Chicago, a photographer, his wife is a PR person for the Museum of Contemporary Art a few blocks from where we live. The museum got a call from the Rolling Stones, they wanted to tour the museum during off hours so as not to cause a scene. The museum said sure as long as they got to photograph the Stones while they were there. So my friend got to be the one to photograph them and he emailed us one of the photos. Keith Richards was not in attendance though.
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alex said on July 9, 2015 at 6:29 am
All the fun, none of the traffic.
Or the ticket prices!
The pedophile piece described Dennis Hastert to a T without ever mentioning his name. Amazing how quickly that story has left the public’s consciousness, which is now taken up by the Donald dissing Mexicans and Cosby drugging women.
I have to applaud the Donald. He just dispensed with dog-whistling altogether and upped the ante for all of the others who think they can throw red meat without getting blood on their hands. Quite the game-changer. Gentleman Jeb! and the others will be seen as impotent by the base if they don’t start insulting each other’s wives, and that’s just for starters.
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coozledad said on July 9, 2015 at 7:35 am
Once that baby has left the womb, it’s useless to Republicans, especially if it’s female.
http://wonkette.com/590552/minuteman-border-creep-maybe-molested-little-girls-oh-yay-it-gets-worse
Anti-immigrant fever dreams, and the whole strongman/savior idea seem to follow from pedophilia. Power gets their rocks off.
The judge in this case has already gotten a woman killed by her abusive husband, and now he’s going to let this fraud cross examine his preteen victims.
Denny Hastert IS the right. It’s what their farm system is finely calibrated to produce.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 9, 2015 at 7:35 am
The NYT has a Sunday Mag piece up about “Spike,” which seems to be another equal opportunity substance to abuse. It and heroin are both benefiting from low prices and being able to evade drug testing at work and/or with your probation officer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/magazine/spike-nation.html
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coozledad said on July 9, 2015 at 7:54 am
I remember when the former Soviet Union was in the early stages of Balkanization and the state was being auctioned of to the various oligarchs who rule it now.
A Republican acquaintance told me “They need Donald Trump to go over there and show ’em how good old American know how gets it done.”
It got good and fucked without him, but an argument could be made they did it his way.
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brian stouder said on July 9, 2015 at 8:33 am
Well, it seems to me that the brew of self-satisfied racism/elitism (especially the belief in needing to keep down the “mudsills” – whether white or black or Hispanic or whatever else) is as American as apple pie (and not specifically partisan, over time).
It seems that every couple of generations, it becomes a horrible-enough stink-pot to over-burden whichever major party owns it, and then the other party picks it up….and really, we’re almost due for the Republicans to tire of it, and for the Democrats to snap it up again.
Along those lines, it will be interesting to see whether Webb of VA gains any traction at all, or whether HRC throws any crumbs in that direction
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alex said on July 9, 2015 at 8:52 am
Refreshing. Why be evasive? Just cut off interviewers by telling them they’re stupid.
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coozledad said on July 9, 2015 at 9:35 am
alex: That’s actually good. The longer Jeb Bush is polling down in the pack with human Beavis simulacrum Scott Walker and the rest of the recessive traits field, the less likely the Bush family and their enablers will be able to pull off another right-wing coup. It’s got to be close before they can steal it again.
The race to the bottom started with Nixon. Sixty years on, they’re running phytoplankton.
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Jeff Borden said on July 9, 2015 at 9:46 am
I see that Jeb! believes the key to growing our economy is for all of us to work more hours. Nothing like a “get back to work you lazy cur” speech from a man who was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth and fine silk diapers on his ass and has never held a legitimate job in his life.
The more I see and hear Jeb!, the more skeptical I become that he is the “smart” one. God help us if Fredo Bush was the genius was the genius of the family.
Amen on Nixon, Cooz. Just as I wonder what might’ve happened with Vietnam if Robert F. Kennedy had been elected, I ponder how race relations in this country might have been different if that paranoid prick hadn’t embraced the “Southern strategy” in the wake of the Civil Rights Act, etc. passed by LBJ. Now, as you note, it is deeply embedded in the GOP’s DNA.
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kayak woman said on July 9, 2015 at 9:57 am
Which restaurant?
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nancy said on July 9, 2015 at 10:11 am
Taste Kitchen, on Liberty.
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Sue said on July 9, 2015 at 10:49 am
Ok, so if Nancy takes on guest bloggers, she should consider changing the name of this blog. I read a few multi-contributor blogs, and it’s sometimes hard to remember who wrote what and one contributor’s comments are sometimes attributed to another. So, if this remains Nancy’s blog, with her name front and center, and Cooz becomes a guest blogger, out in the internet people are going to start getting the impression that Nancy writes things like “*#&@#scatological@#*sexual$@#!*”, and she might get a reputation.
But she might also get to take credit for things like “The race to the bottom started with Nixon. Sixty years on, they’re running phytoplankton”, so maybe it would be worth it.
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nancy said on July 9, 2015 at 11:00 am
Oh, totally. (The credit, I mean.)
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Scout said on July 9, 2015 at 1:01 pm
Sue, she can call it Nancy Nall and friends!
Jeb! is so freaking tone deaf. The let-em-work-more-hours gaffe reminds me of his pappy at the grocery store and his idiot brother congratulating that poor woman who told him she worked three jobs just to get by. I hope the American public realizes by now that these are not, never have been, and never will be “regular folks.”
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jcburns said on July 9, 2015 at 1:25 pm
I’m thinking whether Nancy has guest contributors or not, her blog should be named Nance! 2016. (Either that, or the “Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour! PM 2016”)
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 9, 2015 at 1:30 pm
Wait, that would make Nancy into either Gene Rayburn, or Peter Marshall.
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Dorothy said on July 9, 2015 at 1:42 pm
Who wants to be Paul Lynde?!?!?!
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Charlotte said on July 9, 2015 at 2:11 pm
I love the idea of a Hollywood Squares header — whoever the guest blogger of the day is would appear in the center …
Canadian company running some core samples in old mining claims just above Chico Hot Springs. Going to the community meeting tonight — my local FB feed is AFLAME with photoshopped images of the Butte pits superimposed above Chico. Gotta love that 1872 Mining law …
And as far as Jeb is concerned — that’s common opinion in the halls of places like the Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest — “the help” is always lazy. They never wanted to give workers any rights, and have been systematically trying to return the US to the “golden days” of the robber barons. When the next Haymarket riot happens though, they might regret privatizing Ft. Sheridan and turning it into condos …
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Bitter Scribe said on July 9, 2015 at 2:32 pm
Severely OT, but I can’t help it: Dubya is charging a charity $100,000, plus $20,000 to charter a private jet, to give a speech. The charity is for wounded veterans of the wars he started.
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brian stouder said on July 9, 2015 at 2:45 pm
Bitter, wow.
That is literally blood-sucking, on B-43’s part
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 3:15 pm
OT question for you folks. If your cell phone is in a different area code and you need to call 911, does it automatically go to the local dispatch? We had an experience today, a young woman had a seizure while she was driving her car, some guys ran alongside the car and managed to get it stopped. We ran over with our cell phones and asked if someone had already called. They had, but then it made me stop and think if my 911 call would have gone to Chicago instead of Santa Fe. We weren’t much help, the guys got the woman out of the car and laid her down on the street, on her side and they were calming her down, telling her she was going to be OK and that help was on the way. Those guys were amazing, I hope there is someone around like that if I ever need help.
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alex said on July 9, 2015 at 4:06 pm
Deborah, it dials the local 911. I can attest to it. I butt-dialed 911 when I was in Florida.
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 4:13 pm
Thanks Alex, I thought that would be the case but I wasn’t sure.
We’re making apricot jam right now with some local apricots one of our neighbors in Abiquiu gave us. It looks fantastic.
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MarkH said on July 9, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Charlotte — Not happy to read about these developments, of course, but it was likely only a matter of time, don’t you think?. People have been nosing around there for years since the original mines were abandoned. Everyone ‘knows’ there’s a mother lode of un-mined gold in Emigrant Gulch, just a matter of how cost effective methods would be, given today’s gold prices.
One winter over 30 years ago while on time off from my geophysical exploration job, I was hired by a local Jackson entrepreneur/mine buff to research old claims and scout around the area behind the resort. He also wanted me to pay particular attention to the old creek that runs down from the lodge toward the Yellowstone River, as he was convinced there were significant gold deposits from the runoff of the old days. Even though I got him a lot of info and photos, Elmer never did anything with it. But I had a great time, paid to stay at Chico and enjoy the area amenities and fine food for three weeks!
I found the Park County Environmental Council’s fbook page, so can keep track of this. Let us know how tonight’s meeting goes. For those unfamiliar, here’s part of Charlotte’s back yard:
http://www.chicohotsprings.com/
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brian stouder said on July 9, 2015 at 4:54 pm
MarkH – very nice, indeed!
Our next big trip will probably be another western trek; maybe wing into Las Vegas, and the wheel to Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam.
And at some point, we have to do Yellow Stone, too
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Charlotte said on July 9, 2015 at 4:54 pm
That’s one of the biggest reasons I’m going to the meeting Mark (I hate hate hate meetings). There’s so much hysteria right now, and if they do find sufficient ore to go forward, then we’re going to need a strong and not-hysterical group to work with them like the folks who worked so successfully with Stillwater over on the other side. Himself’s cabin is on Emigrant (near Six Mile Creek), so we’re pretty interested. I’m a lifer in the environmental movement, but I hate alarmism —
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 5:20 pm
OMG the apricot jam turned out so good. I’m making bread now to put the jam on. I screwed up on the bread though and put in more liquid than I was supposed to so I had to add more flour. Oh well, it’ll be better than nothing. I think bread is pretty forgiving. Who knows it may turn out better than usual. I’m not very good at making bread as it is.
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Judybusy said on July 9, 2015 at 5:36 pm
The jam sounds great! Did you add any spices, or is it just fruity goodness?
And roasted cauliflower is much loved in this house. We usually don’t end up with much on the table because we keep eating it right off the pan. We brought it for Thanksgiving last year and even my meat-n-potatoes BIL loved it.
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 5:43 pm
Judy Busy, the apricot jam recipe we used called for way more sugar than we actually used. And we used more lemon juice than was called for. I usually scew recipes that way, I like tart over sweet. And roasted cauliflower is divine.
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MichaelG said on July 9, 2015 at 6:28 pm
Hot homemade bread with fresh homemade apricot jam? Lord.
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 7:01 pm
Do you say Ape-ri-cot, or App-ri- cot Which do you say?
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Deborah said on July 9, 2015 at 7:03 pm
Holy cow, did I have to type that over and over before autocorrect would let it stand.
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susan said on July 9, 2015 at 7:15 pm
I say cot.
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David C. said on July 9, 2015 at 7:22 pm
Bitter Scribe @18. I heard about Dubya nice little payday. It’s sickening. Then I heard Jimmy Carter on The Stephanie Miller Show talking about his new book. He’s such a decent man and yet he’s the one who gets all the crap thrown at him. I sure hope when President Obama’s time in office is over he models himself after President Carter.
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Dave said on July 9, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Sue at 12, you made me laugh talking about what Nancy could get credit for.
Jimmy Carter was on the Diane Rehm Show today. He is such a decent man. He was talking about Gerald Ford and how they became such good friends. I read elsewhere that they became from when they discovered they had a mutual hatred of Reagan. That made me think about how Reagan probably wouldn’t even please today’s crowd of idiots.
Which makes me think about how today’s campaigns go on forever, turn on the news and there’s a story about candidates, mostly sticking their feet in their mutual mouths. Locally, it’s about the congressional campaign, the primary is ten months away. I don’t believe one of those people (local Republican candidates) actually gives two hoots about us. There is no Democratic Party candidate announced yet, except for a semi-homeless bum who runs for everything. Ugh.
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Dorothy said on July 9, 2015 at 9:06 pm
Lol @ Deborah @ 31. I say ‘ape’, not ‘app.’
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BethB said on July 9, 2015 at 9:42 pm
This food talk is killing me. I’m trying to take off a pound or two or thirty, and I love homemade bread so much, among way too many other things.
I say apricot either way–and love them canned or dried, but I’ve never tried them fresh. I’ve kind of a philistine when it comes to food, and as my family will attest, way too picky about what I will or won’t eat or even try. I’m glad I am much more open-minded about everything else. Really–I love it here at NN.com, don’t I, where open-minded people love to dwell?
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Dave said on July 9, 2015 at 10:49 pm
“I read elsewhere that they became “friends”, not from. Oh, that’s ugly. Doesn’t matter, it would have been too late to edit it by the time I read what I’d written.
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MichaelG said on July 10, 2015 at 12:03 am
App.
Jimmy Carter is a wonderful man.
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Dexter said on July 10, 2015 at 3:02 am
Ap-ro-cot or ape-ro-cot…who knows? I bet these guys and girls know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-918OMwCx6w
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