March 15

 The weather channel predicts a cool day with clouds in the morning changing to sun in the afternoon. I am still reorganizing the What-not room. That will be a prolonged program. In the mean time I am making progress on the two blankets on the hooks and the four embroidery projects on hoops. I totally sympathize with craft workers who have multiple projects but usually start new ones before all of the WIPs (works in progress) are done. I am trying to bust my stashes by incorporating as much on hand materials into any new project.

I found this post on Medium and was intrigued to see what the author had to say about "saving the planet from your kitchen." As you might guess the topic is "how to reduce food waste." Although we don't have much food waste here, I like seeing what others do. A lot of what the author lists we already do however, I found a few points I disagree with or that we do slightly differently. I have never been good at meal planning beyond two or three days and even then it isn't unusual that a different mean is inserted to the list and the planned meals shifted to a day or two later. Also most of my cooking involves meals that will go multiple days. A couple of days ago we finished off a tuna casserole which lasted three days. Today we are going to finish the taco fixings we had yesterday. Tomorrow we will start on a pot of beans that will go two days with the remaining being frozen in one or two quart jars. The advice to avoid buying flavorings for one dish is good but I would go another step and look at what might substitute for the ingredients I don't have. She suggests that you don't "buy in bulk" and I would suggest that you selectively buy in bulk but limit it to what space you have on hand and how quickly you use the items. We also have (over time) developed a system where when we use the next to last or last item we stock up again. We also resist sales unless we know we are low on something. Having said that most of what is in the article is good advice and my changes wouldn't fit everyone.

Caitlin Johnstone has a good point on Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's response to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's comments on the Senate floor concerning Israel's conduct of the Gaza war. Israel may think of itself as an "independent" nation and a democracy but if so then perhaps they should refuse any future aid of any kind from the U.S. Then they can do what they damned well please. The U.S. should recognize that once the aid is given it is up to the recipient what is done with it and the only real choice we have is to continue the gravy train recognizing we don't have control or stop the aid. I don't support Israel unconditionally and I don't condemn Hamas unconditionally. Neither side is clean.

The House of Representatives passed their bill requiring Byte Dance to sell TikTok or be banned in the U.S. Now it is awaiting action by the Senate. The proponents of the bill cite safety concerns which at the moment are more hypothetical than real--at least as far as the articles I have read. Most of the opponents were concerned with freedom of speech issues and the potential harm for business. I don't use TikTok so I don't have a dog in the fight but I wondered how much harm and how much benefit might come from banning the app. From this article on CNN about the experience of India after they banned it back in 2020 after a border skirmish with Chinese troops I would guess not as much as either side hopes or fears. The ban didn't affect safety either way. And U.S. tech giants stepped in along with local start ups to provide the same services TikTok provided. However, on the negative, the big tech companies quickly ran over the locals. And TikTok customers quickly found new options.

Stray thought: Last night one of the news/comment shows had a piece taking off on the theme of Victor Orban/Donald Trump/strongmen. The reporter asked Republicans at I forget which event about that and several said they were fine with strongman rule and that this country needed such a change. But I notice the reporter never asked a simple question: Why?

Robert Reich asks a question that occurred to me on the TikTok question: who do you trust (or distrust) most China or American Billionaires. I don't trust either. I wondered who would be buying TikTok if Byte Dance had to sell and noticed that one of the possibles shown on one of the news stories (but not named) was Steve Mnuchin who served ignominiously in Trump's cabinet. He is supposed to be trying to put together a consortium of investors. However, how much would TikTok be worth without the algorithms which Byte Dance owns.

Charles Hugh Smith has an amusing but all too accurate post today on "America the Snackable." I said amusing but in a dark way because everything, not just snack foods, has been reduced to empty bites that don't really provide intellectual or physical nutrition.