An uncomfortable question

 

If he is not a "baby" while he is in your womb, then why do you paste ultrasound images into his baby-book? Why are "your circumstances" the condition that determines whether he is a baby or just a "lump of tissue"?

Just pictures

 

Same as the first photo but with the weeds pulled and my hand not shading the lens.

Weeding, the basic blocking-and-tackling of gardening

Three days of dry weather after a rain is the Goldilock's time before tilling, at least with the kinds of soil I am dealing with.

A woodchuck got in and had her way with the green beans and cucumbers and lettuce.

I tilled Southern Belle's garden today. It looks a lot better after running the tiller between the rows and touching up with the hoe.

This apple tree was buried in the hawthorn and honeysuckle. The gentleman who Southern Belle hired to clear out the brush agreed to leave this tree.

I am curious to test the apples after they ripen. Even if they are terrible, I can always graft over it.

And about that pear tree I grafted...

Everything about that tree screamed "PEAR!". The twigs. The tree form. How it suckered. Everything.

So I grafted Concorde and an early pear on to it.

Two months later...something seemed off...so I looked at it more closely. It is an apple tree. The Concorde pear is doing very well on it while the early pear is not thriving. Yes, I make mistakes just like everybody else.

I am not holding my breath. Incompatibility is often delayed. It will probably reject the Concorde grafts, too.

After finishing up at Southern Belle's, I tilled the home garden but I didn't pull weeds or touch-up with the hoe. I will do that tomorrow.

If any of you have suggestions for plants I can "plug in the holes" where several plants died then I am all ears. For example, I have some very spotty rows of field corn. Maybe black oiler sunflowers? I am racing against the clock. 

Red Pop

The Shekel has a post up about Faygo Red Pop. 

Growing up in Michigan, Faygo commercials were a regular feature of local TV programming. They really pushed Red Pop, maybe because the national producers didn't occupy that niche.

Fine Art Tuesday

Fridolin Leiber born 1843 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He died in 1912.

He specialized in lithographs which was an early form of color printing with limitations regarding detail and colors.

There was a large market for religious and moral images with book-marker sized and post-card sized images being big sellers.

Snobs would likely turn up their noses at his work, scoffing that they were "commercial illustrations, not art", but in modern language, Leiber' work was guided by "crowd-sourced knowledge" and was very well executed within the limitations of the technology. 

 

Hat-tip to nameless in unnamed, fly-over state

Whoupi Goldbricker beclowns herself, again

Whoupi Goldbricker is a clown who knows how to work a crowd. Like P.T. Barnum, she knows the value of creating controversy and getting into the headlines...as long as they spell her name correctly.

Goldbricker recently claimed that Blacks in the United States are even more repressed and economically disadvantaged than even the most disadvantaged person in Iran.

Even if Goldbricker's hypothesis isn't directly testable, we can look at some proxies for rural Iranians and make some comparisons.

This family is in the highlands of Nepal. For the first 45 seconds we watch one of the women picking nettle greens using a hooked knife, a basket and chop-sticks. Why the chop-sticks? Because nettles will sting you before they are cooked. Yes, that is what is for dinner.

The next 10 minutes shows the woman parching corn and then preparing the family meal in a fly-infested hut. She cooks about three gallons of corn-grits, a pan of dried-fish and pot-liqour (stewed greens) and cooks some greens. Each member of the family is given a massive wad of stiff grits with some of the cooked fish and greens ladled over it for flavoring.

The video shows the family tucking into the feast as if it were something special. 

The next five minutes shows the family cooking frogs. Not just the legs...entire frogs (although they may have been gutted). 

At one level, it is inspiring to see the extreme conditions humans can survive, even thrive under.

At another level, it is sobering to realize that hundreds-of-millions of people living on the edge could be pushed into extinction with the most insignificant of changes in economics; say something as simple as the doubling of the price of vegetable oils.

At a third level, it is beyond obscene for 300 pound, Whoupi Goldbricker to claim that she is more oppressed than people like those depicted in this video. It seems improbable that Goldbricker would be able to climb up the hill to the dwelling once, much less put in a full day's work of physical labor and then be able to prepare a meal using the resources within the dwelling. 

As a side-note

I had been wondering about the functionality of the wasp-waisted cooking vessels in that part of the world.

At the 7:50 mark in the video the woman demonstrates the functionality.

And at the 6:09 mark she shows us the utility of the riveted handles on her wok.

Writing by hand (vs typing) likely to be good for long-term, cognitive health

(Writing by hand has)...profound impact on cognitive processes (and) continues to be a topic of intense scientific scrutiny. Methods: This paper investigates the neural mechanisms underlying handwriting and typing, exploring the distinct cognitive and neurological benefits associated with each. By synthesizing findings from neuroimaging studies, we explore how handwriting and typing differentially activate brain regions associated with motor control, sensory perception, and higher-order cognitive functions. Results: Handwriting activates a broader network of brain regions involved in motor, sensory, and cognitive processing (while) typing engages fewer neural circuits, resulting in more passive cognitive engagement. Despite the advantages of typing in terms of speed and convenience, handwriting remains an important tool for learning and memory retention, particularly in educational contexts.     Source

Healthy brain in the middle. Patient with Alzheimer's Disease on the right. ERJ's brain on the left.

"...broader network(s) of brain regions..." is associated with recovering more quickly from strokes and other brain trauma. It is probably desirable from the standpoint of staving off dementia in all forms. If one neighborhood is not accepting through-traffic, then having frequently traveled, alternate routes is good.

My plan is to write out my daily To Do list long-hand, in cursive (why not?). Gotta tickle those neurons to keep them on their toes. 

Good Fortune dogs me

Good News!

One of Southern Belle's pets ran off a few days ago and had been on-the-lam.

An anonymous neighbor brought it back and put it back in its pen. We don't know who it was but based on the tracks in the driveway they rode a dirt-bike.

More good news

SB was in the market for a treadmill. I saw one beside the road and it said "Free. It works". Into the back of the pickup it went. It is now over at SBs.

.AND.

I found my garden netting next to the chainsaw

.AND.

I found the tomato clips in the breezeway

.AND. 

Mrs ERJ and I were getting ready to mow yesterday when she discovered a yellow-jacket nest while moving Quicksilver's toy house. I was able to neutralize it and neither one of us sustained any stings.

Still too damp to till

The weather-guessers estimate that we will get less than a quarter-inch of rain today. If so, then I should be able to till late Wednesday evening. If we get no rain at all, then I can till this afternoon.