October, 2020 archive
Huntering for a Misdirection Play 0
At The Boston Globe, Joan Vennochi offers a theory as to why the Trump campaign is making such a fuss about Joe Biden’s progeny. A snippet (emphasis added):
Flooding the Disinformation Superhighway 0
The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Diaz comments on the flood of flummery on “social” media. A snippet:
Two words of caution: tweeter beware.
No one needs that reminder more than President Trump. He embarrassed himself early Friday morning by retweeting an article by the satirical Babylon Bee website that stated Twitter shut down its entire network “in a last-ditch effort to stop negative stories about Joe Biden and his family from spreading.”
In high dudgeon at 3:07 a.m., Trump retweeted the satire (from a site with what should have been the telltale motto, “Fake news you can trust”): “Wow, this has never been done in history. This includes his really bad interview last night. Why is Twitter doing this. Bringing more attention to Sleepy Joe & Big T.”
The Disclaimer 0
E. J. Montini reads the fine print.
A Parable of the Primitive 0
Follow the link to learn of a strange and exotic culture facing extinction.
Irish Soda Bread 0
The Phryne Fisher mystery I’m currently (re-)reading makes frequent mention of Irish soda bread, so I decided to try my hand at baking some.
I followed this recipe, which I suspect is less than authentic, as it calls for margarine (this recipe claims to be authentic).
I deviated from the recipe in a couple of ways.
As we commonly do not buy oleo, I used butter instead, and I did not brush the loaf with a buttermilk and butter mixture. Rather, I put a dish of water in the oven and brushed the loaf with the hot water a couple of times as it baked, a trick that makes for crustier crusts.
It was quite tasty and very well received by the household. Half the loaf is already gone, and the rest might now survive tomorrow.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Parent politely.
(snip)
According to the report, the woman told police her child found the firearm in a concealed compartment of her purse, deactivated the gun safety and fired the pistol when she turned towards her husband and away from the shopping cart.
Reactionaries’ Mind Games 0
Psychologist Roy Eidelson explores of “status quo bias” (which is, as far as I can tell, a fancy phrasing of “fear of change”) deters persons and society from making change, even when the evidence for the need of change is blindingly overwhelming. Here’s a bit from the introduction to his piece:
Follow the link for his five examples.
