oh wow, lovely!

My name is Emily. I left Europe, moved to India, returned to the Midwest and finally figured out how to update my description. Updated blog name is up next.

[itsmythang]

Former federal employees from various organizations who were affected by the Trump administration’s mass firings share with @stephruhle on @11thhourmsnbc the significance of the work they did and their motivations for entering civil service.

[em-explores]

There is a special place in hell for the food bloggers that put ads in the printable version of their recipes

[art-of-eons]

If you look over the CDC website and the data they’ve compiled for US deaths and their listed causes you’ll notice a “weird” trend. Every-time a death certificate is issued, the cause of death must be listed or identified. Historically speaking, roughly 99% of death certificates clearly delineate a “cause” or reason for the death. The other 1% (roughly 500-600 deaths per week) is entered as a “mystery” death.

However, starting in 2020, the number of deaths in this “mystery” category has dramatically spiked.

A weird, “mystery” illness (that’s not being listed as Covid 19) is possibly killing up to 3000 Americans a week. And in many of the states that are pushing to reopen, this number seems to be skyrocketing.

Now if states like Florida, Texas, Georgia, etc. want us to believe that this massive uptick in unclassifiable deaths is somehow unrelated to Covid 19 - they still have to explain how hundreds of people mysteriously dying each week isn’t a public health crisis.

[graperestaurant-deactivated2019]

“I explained that very early on in my work I had discovered that the most compassionate people I interviewed also have the most well-defined and well-respected boundaries. It surprised me at the time, but now I get it. They assume that other people are doing the best they can, but they also ask for what they need and they don’t put up with a lot of crap. I lived the opposite way: I assumed that people weren’t doing their best so I judged them and constantly fought being disappointed, which was easier than setting boundaries. Boundaries are hard when you want to be liked and when you are a pleaser hell-bent on being easy, fun, and flexible.”

Rising Strong, Brené Brown

[em-explores]

Cleaning + personality types

My husband: out of sight, out of mind. If he has a box that online purchases came in, he's more likely to throw them in a closet than take them to the recycling bin

Me: everything has its own place, and I think it should be put back correctly or not be put back at all.

My husband will do the laundry while I'm on work trips and I'll come home and find shirts put away sideways, sweaters and pants mixed together, and then I lose the will to put anything away ever in the future.

Not sure how to reconcile the differences in cleaning style. I don't want to do everything but we also lose so much shit because he can't remember where he put it.

Also my closets and drawers are a clusterf*** right now and I literally just reorganized them in April

[em-explores]

Leaving a role and being replaced by two people at my current role's level

[valpwca]

you should experience this. via

https://www.vitaminwater.com/hit-refresh-for-exotic-mango-island-pic/and-20fl-oz-of-tropical-oasis/wow/wish-i-was-there/enhanced/e/the-hot-key-is-command-shift-r/electrolytes/be-sure-to-hit-refresh/but-not-too-much/you-have-to-give/the-page-a-chance-to-load/

[pickledcarrots]

The Stew

People seem bonkers for it so I guess I might try it too.

Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric Recipe - NYT Cooking

Spiced chickpeas are crisped in olive oil, then simmered in a garlicky coconut milk for an insanely creamy, basically-good-for-you stew.

While the chickpeas would be good as a side dish, they are further simmered with stock, bolstered with dark, leafy greens of your choosing and finished with a handful of fresh mint.

Buy coconut milk. Not low-fat, not cream of coconut, not a coconut-based dairy substitute. Just two cans of coconut milk.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for serving 4 garlic cloves, chopped 1 large yellow onion, chopped 1 (2-inch) piece ginger, finely chopped Kosher salt and black pepper

1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric, plus more for serving 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 2 (15-ounce) cans full-fat coconut milk 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock 1 bunch Swiss chard, kale or collard greens, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces 1 cup mint leaves, for serving Yogurt, for serving (optional)

Toasted pita, lavash or other flatbread to eat alongside it.

Preparation

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and ginger. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is translucent and starts to brown a little around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add turmeric, red-pepper flakes and chickpeas, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, so the chickpeas sizzle and fry a bit in the spices and oil, until they’ve started to break down and get a little browned and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove about a cup of chickpeas and set aside for garnish.

Crush the remaining chickpeas slightly to release their starchy insides (this will help thicken the stew). Add coconut milk and stock to the pot, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, scraping up any bits that have formed on the bottom of the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until stew has thickened and flavors have started to come together, 30 to 35 minutes. (Taste a chickpea or two, not just the liquid, to make sure they have simmered long enough to taste as delicious as possible.) If after 30 to 35 minutes you want the stew a bit thicker, keep simmering.

Add greens and stir, making sure they’re submerged in the liquid. Cook a few minutes so they wilt and soften, 3 to 7 minutes, depending on what you’re using. (Swiss chard and spinach will wilt and soften much faster than kale or collard greens.) Season again with salt and pepper.

Divide among bowls and top with mint, reserved chickpeas, a sprinkle of red-pepper flakes and a good drizzle of olive oil. Serve alongside yogurt and toasted pita if using; dust the yogurt with turmeric if you’d like.

[moosepower]

This was really good.

[em-explores]

Painting your cheap kitchen cabinets white isn't going to hide the fact that they're cheap kitchen cabinets

[em-explores]

“There are no more battles between good and evil, no monsters to slay, no maidens in need of rescue. Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case. There are no longer simple tales with quests and beasts and happy endings. The quests lack clarity of goal or path. The beasts take different forms and are difficult to recognize for what they are. And there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep going on, they overlap and blur, your story is part of your sister’s story is part of many other stories, and there is no telling where any of them may lead. Good and evil are a great deal more complex than a princess and a dragon, or a wolf and a scarlet-clad little girl. And is not the dragon the hero of his own story? Is not the wolf simply acting as a wolf should act? Though perhaps it is a singular wolf who goes to such lengths as to dress as a grandmother to toy with its prey.”

― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

[bujnik]

2018 School Rankings by State

1 Massachusetts 74.16 2 New Jersey 67.09 3 Connecticut 66.93 4 New Hampshire 65.11 5 Vermont 63.18 6 Virginia 63.03 7 Minnesota 60.34 8 Maryland 57.82 9 Wisconsin 57.59 10 Colorado 57.45 11 North Dakota 57.03 12 Wyoming 57.02 13 Maine 56.82 14 Nebraska 56.42 15 Kansas 55.55 16 Iowa 55.33 17 Rhode Island 54.78 18 Washington 54.58 19 Delaware 54.36 20 Kentucky 54.34 21 Illinois 54.20 22 New York 53.36 23 Montana 52.78 24 Indiana 52.69 25 South Dakota 52.27 26 Florida 52.10 27 Ohio 51.93 28 Pennsylvania 51.36 29 Missouri 51.20 30 Utah 50.99 31 Michigan 50.07 32 North Carolina 48.91 33 Oklahoma 48.79 34 Idaho 47.84 35 Tennessee 46.90 36 Texas 46.90 37 California 46.33 38 Georgia 45.67 39 Hawaii 45.09 40 South Carolina 42.24 41 Arkansas 42.18 42 West Virginia 39.91 43 Oregon 39.79 44 Alabama 38.98 45 Mississippi 38.87 46 Nevada 38.54 47 Arizona 37.53 48 Alaska 35.87 49 District of Columbia 33.62 50 Louisiana 32.50 51 New Mexico 31.53

[em-explores]

Not in the bottom ten #yaaaaas #arkansasthough

[em-explores]

It makes me sad that there are so many people live their lives always following the latest trends

[lifeinpoetry]

Crazy is acceptable if you’re beautiful. Crazy is acceptable just so long as you’re not crying. Crazy fun, crazy in bed, crazy hot. Crazy is a game of Poker and you must never overplay your hand. Men love crazy until it turns against them. Men love crazy for a Saturday night out on the town, but come Sunday morning they want crazy out of their bed. In middle school, the most popular girl in my grade had the AOL screen-name craZZZychica3o5. In Hollywood, there’s a strip club named Crazy Girls. The neon sign flashes over Sunset Boulevard. CRAZY GIRLS. LIVE GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS. Girls can be crazy. Women can’t. Crazy should always be playful. A little wink. A little game.

— Michelle Lyn King, from “Under the Influence,” published in Cosmonauts Avenue

[neil-gaiman]

Hi, I read that you've dealt with with impostor syndrome in the past, and I'm really struggling with that right now. I'm in a good place and my friends are going through a lot, and I'm struggling to justify my success to myself when such amazing people are unhappy. I was wondering if you have any tips to feel less like this and maybe be kinder to myself, but without hurting anyone around me. It's a big ask, I know, but any help would make my life a lot less stressful

The best help I can offer is to point you to Amy Cuddy’s book, Presence. She talks about Imposter Syndrome (and interviews me in it) and offers helpful insight.

The second best help might be in the form of an anecdote. Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.

On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”

And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”

And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.

(There’s a wonderful photograph of the Three Neils even if one of us was a Neal at http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/08/neil-armstrong.html)

[em-explores]

Also why does my phone get to decide when to notify me about meetings and when not to

[em-explores]

This day fucking sucks

[em-explores]

When you go to your manager and ask him if he knows the logic on a calculated field and he decides to help you he needs to sit with your end user to understand how the process works