Maybe you should know by now

I'm old enough to have collected a bit of knowledge and young enough that you still might pay attention to me. If you know, it's not groundbreaking, but maybe these posts can help you or remind you.

[lucky10000]

Meringues are stupid easy

Eggs are fixing to get crazy expensive because bird flu. You know what can make a substitute? Chick pea can water. I made a mess of meringues with the strained drainings of a 400 ish gram tin of chick peas, 125g powdered sugar, half a tsp each of cream of tartar and vanilla. Just dump it all in the stand mixer, whisk it for 5 minutes until stiff peaks form, and form it on parchment lined baking sheets. This is super low temp, which is nice, because I usually scorch the parchment when I bake with it. Set your oven closer to 225 than 250. Put in the meringues, and don't look for 2 hours. Then turn the heat off and let cool at least 40 minutes. Once you have meringue with cream, you realize this is marshmallow cereal with milk. But fancier. Crumbled in cream with strawberries, it's called Eton Mess. Topped with cream and berries, that's a pavlova.

[lucky10000]

This is basically pan fried falafel without the tahini, using soaked lentils instead of canned chickpeas. Soak for longer than 2 hours if your lentils have been sitting on the shelf a while. 4 minutes on medium on my stove would burn, so pay attention.

[lucky10000]

Arch supporting insoles can make a cheap pair of shoes comfortable. A little lift can also make all the difference in that back of heel blister. Fresh lambswool is lovely on bare feet, but it gets gross over time. Either have washable insoles or slippers/boots you can stick in the washing machine every so often.

[lucky10000]

You don't need a magic bullet

Not that kind of magic bullet, anyway. Get yourself a real blender and some mason jars.

[lucky10000]

Not all birth control is covered

So check your insurance carrier’s list, especially if you are changing plans. BCBS and UHC seem to like generic mini pills, but the combined pills tend to be low dose. Your doctor may not have had time to check out the lists, so print it out and bring it to your appointment.

Having changed plans, UHC will pay for the brand name, but not the generic. And at least the pharmacist was nice about it last year. The techs just looked at me like I was crazy.

[lucky10000]

It's been a while; I haven't had glaringly obvious things to write about that I haven't touched on before.

Steroids decrease inflammation, increase appetite, and make you feel like Superman for a while. Then they thin your skin, make you break out, and make you fat. You know how in My Big Fat Greek Wedding the dad was obsessed with Windex? In my childhood, it was Cort-aid, aka steroid cream. From bug bites, to road rash, to acne. I have perioral dermatitis, which is when you break out around your mouth and nose and around the smile lines. It's not acne; it's stubborn rebound rash from steroid withdrawal.

I also have eye allergies, in that my eyes are either crazy dry or have tears pooled in the corners. Against my better instincts and with the goading of my eye doctor, I went ahead and put 1/2% hydrocortisone on the big red patch outside my left eye for a week. It cleared up, and then I stopped using hydrocortisone, and now my whole face is broken out. Awesome.

I've been using ketotifen drops in my left and a homeopathic in my right, twice a day, and they both haven't been as teary. I read an article about 50% tea tree oil lid scrubs. Yeah, don't do that; it burns like a bitch. Fortunately I read to flush with oil or milk, not water, if you get tea tree oil in your eyes. 

So, the moral of my rant today is if hydrocortisone clears your skin and it comes back/gets worse as soon as you stop using it, throw out your hydrocortisone and be patient. And for god's sake, don't get a steroid shot for dermatitis. Be hygienic and use as little product as you can on your face. This stuff is pretty good. I have been using a tea tree/castor oil mix as an eye creme (maybe 15-30% tto), and the big red patch is fading pretty steadily.

[the1janitor]

the notion that talent should equal success is misguided. it takes much, much more than just ‘talent’ to be successful. it takes things like hard work, and wit, and making the right connections, and intuition, and foresight, and business savvy, and yes, also luck. this is why I rolleyes when people say things like “omg they’re not talented why are they successful!” or “omg this unknown person is sooo much more talented than this successful person!!” talent is just one small part of the overall equation.

[the1janitor]

types of ignorance

A. Circumstantial Ignorance

a lack of knowledge or education on a subject.

caused by not having been educated or experiencing the circumstances in question

can lead to uninformed/bigoted opinions

remedied by education/knowledge and experience

sometimes this knowledge and experience is not readily available to them, so sometimes we have to provide it.

E.G. A person from a small town grows up thinking that black people are thuggish criminals, and then he becomes aware of many awesome black people and his convictions evolve.

B. Willful Ignorance

a lack of knowledge or education on a subject, or an intentional disregard for knowledge or education of a subject, or a lack of a desire to gain knowledge or education on a subject

caused by not having been educated or experiencing the circumstances in question

leads to uninformed/bigoted opinions. when these opinions are challenged, often the willfully ignorant do not care enough to learn why others have opposing views

only remediable by a conscious action of the person themselves. happens rarely.

occasionally fixable through ridicule and reductio ad absurdum, but generally their pride/agenda will override logic

I recommend public debunking of these kinds of views for onlookers and those making up their minds.

E.G A person believes healthcare plans shouldn’t cover birth control because someone else shouldn’t have to pay just so you can sleep around. The person has not considered other reasons why people might use birth control, and does not care to think about it.

[lucky10000]

A bartender ex of mine says a 3 second pour is about a standard shot. I am not sure if this is with or without the pouring tips on the bottles, but when I have to guesstimate a volume that isn’t critical, it’s helpful. A standard shot is about 3 tablespoons.

[lucky10000]

Modern dishwashers don’t require rinsing your dishes. I live in an apartment, so I wouldn’t know. Even though crappy dishwashers are crappy, somehow we like to run them through to rinse off, at least, rather than depend on doing dishes entirely by hand. But at some point, it saves water to fill the sink, soak the dishes, and put them in the dishwasher rather than hold them under running water. Also, if you are soaping your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher, maybe just run them through a rinse cycle. I don’t live here, but close enough to think about it and turn the faucet off while I brush my teeth.

[lucky10000]

First Amendment freedoms include peaceful gatherings and being able to say almost anything. It is not a violation of your freedom when people disagree with you. They have the right to disagree with you and say so. It is not a violation of your freedom when you are an asshole and people boycott your business.

[lucky10000]

If you hate the president so much, next time vote. And/or campaign. And educate yourself about what is really going on instead of skimming the scare-forwards from your racist aunt’s office friend.

I do recall my American History professor was a democrat, but I also went to school in the south, where it is taught that slavery was an afterthought, not a cause of the Civil War. So I figure my education on the Constitution is pretty fair and balanced.

There is a Facebook story going around that people who post that they don’t like Obama are getting arrested. I didn’t bother to click through to the article, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were death threats in there. Why? Because the First Amendment has a couple of caveats, according to my prof. You will get in trouble for yelling, “Fire!” in a crowded building and inciting a panic when there is no fire. And you will get in trouble if you say you are going to kill the president. Don’t even joke. Because that is the elected leader of the free world. You don’t have to agree with him or even respect him, but death threats do need to be investigated. Taught to me by a democrat when H. W. was in office, mmkay? And that was the touchstone of not-being-an-idiot when I used to hang out with the hacker kids. There are pranks, yeah. But don’t anonymously send death threats to the White House from the coffee shop computers or Feds will be sent, and the coffee shop is going to make it a lot harder to get on line.

[lucky10000]

Inside your car is a really stupid place to keep your umbrella, if you have uncovered sky between your dwelling door and your car door. I realized, watching the rain fall down.

[lucky10000]

I have posted before about how microbeads in your facial scrub are bad news. That shit is in toothpaste, too!

[lucky10000]

Sometimes the classiest thing you can do is back down, admit you're wrong, and apologize. Like Pharrell. Pharrell didn't say, "I'm not racist; you're oversensitive!" or "It's just fashion." He said, "I respect and honor every kind of race, background and culture. I am genuinely sorry." 

[lucky10000]

If you are sleeping poorly, consider your environment. Is it pretty dark? Does your phone charger have a light on it? Do your curtains crack and let in a lot of the streetlamp from outside? If there is no way to properly darken your room, consider investing in a sleep mask.

[lucky10000]

Don't flush your meds

Flushing your pills means all the little fishies get a taste of whatever it is. Birth control, antibiotics, it's bad news. Various pharmacies and police departments have a take back day every so often. If you must dispose of them, sealed in a can with coffee grounds will shield them from the ecosystem and keep scavengers from eating them.