July 13, 14

 We'll see what I can get done today. Probably not much because I'm feeling lazy.

Al Jazeera posted this article ten days ago.

Farmer's Insurance has decided to get out of the business in Florida although a couple of subsidiaries will still offer policies. I heard a report on the TV last night and the reporter said the State was considering suing the company and criticizing it for being "woke." I laughed. The politicians might think that climate change is a "woke hoax" but the insurance industry isn't the only one trying to map out their risks with the rising number of sever storms, heat events, and fires. Michael Klare wrote about the Pentagon's efforts to study the issue in All Hell Breaks Loose. When big business and the military are thinking about things perhaps we should take notice.

14**********************************************************************

Sunny so far today. I will check the gardens to see if the plants need water. After the last couple of days I hope not. I should also clip some back a bit. 

Following the reporting on the New England flooding and the heat in the South and South West. The rebuilding in the east will be a massive effort  and parts of the west are looking at records falling in both the temperatures and in the length of days over 100.

In the "What's Old Is New Again," dueling assessments of Aspartame hit the news this norming. Yes, it is still around. The WHO (I think it was) has issued a caution that it might cause cancer while the FDA hedged its bets by saying it should be safe if consumers don't consume excessive amounts of it. I thought we went through this about 25 years ago. We don't use artificial sweeteners and since we cook most of our meals from scratch and most of the other foods use different sweeteners.

Tree Hugger answers a question we have asked for several years: what has happened to tomatoes? The don't have the flavor. They also have developed a straw-like core that is inedible. We don't buy as many or eat as many any more and we miss them. We have known for sometime that breeders have selected for every trait imaginable but not for either flavor or nutrition they used to. Growers wanted fruit that ripened all at the same time, would survive the trip to the supermarket, and looked enticingly pretty. I guess taste didn't matter except for old biddies like us.

Naked Capitalism posted this story parts of which I have read before. Another good reason to keep at least some of your money in cash under the mattress.