Yesterday, SP received a couple of bushels of New Mexico green chiles for roasting, so of course they were prominently featured for dinner last night. And since she got two varieties (hot and extra-hot), I am paying the price this morning. So if the links seem a bit spicy, that’s why. Yes, I am typing this from the bathroom. Wash your hands after commenting.

 

Global Warming- is there anything it can’t do? 

Wheat, corn and rice crops will all be damaged — to the tune of 10 percent to 25 percent for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees F) that average global temperatures rise, according to the report. “Crop losses will be most acute in areas where warming increases both population growth and metabolic rates of insects,” they wrote. “These conditions are centered primarily in temperate regions, where most grain is produced.”

There is no doubt that the global climate is warming and no real debate about one big cause: human activity. The effects are already being seen with heat waves, droughts, floods and stronger storms as ocean currents and atmospheric patterns are disrupted.

I’m delighted at the reporters’ objectivity. NO DOUBT, NO REAL DEBATE.

“Increased pesticide applications, the use of GMOs, and agronomic practices such as crop rotations will help control losses from insects,” Naylor said in a statement. “But it still appears that under virtually all climate change scenarios, pest populations will be the winners, particularly in highly productive temperate regions, causing real food prices to rise and food-insecure families to suffer.”

Well, clearly we need to give Naylor more funding; think of the food-insecure children! Ignore that we’re breaking food production records left and right, it’s all gonna fall apart any day now.

 

Despite my proximity to Alinea, I’m not a fan of molecular cuisine, though I can certainly admire some of the creativity that goes into it.

A recent trend has taken hold in parts of the country where cereal or cheese puffs are covered in liquid nitrogen and “emit a misty or smoke-like vapor.” Shortly after eating the treats, people blow smoke out of their noses and mouths to look like a dragon. The treats, often called dragon’s breath, heaven’s breath or nitro puff, are popular at state fairs, carnivals, mall kiosks and some ice cream parlors…

Well, that sounds fun! Until the FDA scolds descend.

“Although liquid nitrogen is nontoxic and is currently used in medical settings and as an ingredient to prepare some food products, liquid nitrogen can freeze foods resulting in extremely low temperatures. This temperature can present risk of injury to consumers. Further, applying liquid nitrogen immediately prior to consumption increases the risk of accidental ingestion or direct contact with liquid nitrogen because it does not provide enough time for the liquid nitrogen to fully evaporate.” People who believe they may have suffered an injury from eating food with liquid nitrogen are encouraged to report injuries to the FDA.

What we need is common sense cheese curd control. And what I need is a family-size order of cheese curds from Culver’s. Hold the liquid nitrogen.

 

The UN is horrifically corrupt. I know, that’s not news. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is horrifically corrupt by UN standards. Which is quite an achievement. The Hitler Trump Administration has decided that it will no longer shovel American taxpayers’ money at it.

“The administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA,” the State Department said in a statement. “Beyond the budget gap itself and failure to mobilize adequate and appropriate burden sharing, the fundamental business model and fiscal practices that have marked UNRWA for years– tied to UNRWA’s endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries– is simply unsustainable and has been in crisis mode for many years,” it continued. “The United States will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation.”

About fucking time.

A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the US decision a “flagrant assault” against the Palestinian people, and a “defiance of UN resolutions.”

“Such a punishment will not succeed to change the fact that the United States no longer has a role in the region and that it is not a part of the solution.”

No, we’re not. Now go fuck yourself. And if Hitler Trump stops sending money and military to all the other foreign countries where we have no declared wars (23 of them at last count), I might even hold my nose and vote for him next time around. Big “if.”

 

This is exactly the sort of story that will have legs with the Glibertariat. Beautiful legs, flailing and entangled…

…sources tell FTVLive that two Anchors from WSAZ in Charleston, WV, got into a real fist throwing fight. Word is that Anchor Erica Bivens (top) and Weather Anchor Chelsea Ambriz (bottom) got into a fight at a local bar.

The two anchor the 4PM newscast on the station and sources say that they attended an event to help end domestic violence against women called “Girls Night Out”!

Witnesses tell FTVLive that the fight started with Ambriz acting “inappropriately” towards Bivens husband.

I’ll be in my bunk.

 

Remember the days when Team Red would hypocritically claim to be the party of limited government and free markets? I suppose it’s an improvement that they don’t even bother to lie about that any more.

A Utah senator has written a formal letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to “reconsider the competitive effects of Google’s conduct in search and digital advertising.” In a two-page document released Thursday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) noted that, when the FTC closed its previous investigation into the search giant in 2010, it partly based its decision on the expectation that Apple would become a “strong mobile advertising network.” This did not pan out.

So clearly since the markets didn’t immediately give the result desired by Top Men, we have to step in and kill a bunch of shareholder value. We can only pray for Hatch to be the next to get fatal brain cancer.

 

Old Man Music for y’all to complain about. One of the nice things about my out-of-the-mainstream tastes is that I often get to know the musicians whose work I love. After a show last year, I struck up a conversation with the flute player, and it turned out that he lived maybe two blocks from me. So we’ve hung out from time to time. He was over our house a couple weeks ago and mentioned that he’d bought two tickets to Jethro Tull’s 50th Anniversary tour, but his wife ended up not being able to make it. “Do you want to come to the show with me?” Now, I’m not big on dinosaur tours, but JT was probably my favorite rock band as a teenager, I still think their first three albums were superb, and it’s been close to 50 years since the first time I saw them live. And this flute player is a super nice and talented fellow, perfect to go to a show with. So that’s how I’ll be spending Labor Day. And in honor of a generous friend, one of my absolute favorite Jethro Tull songs, here done live but with two oddities: Ian Anderson playing Martin Barre’s Les Paul and John Evan being carefully hidden away.