Our state’s mandated standardized test for school kids is called the MAP Test. I submit that it is fatally flawed. As far as I can determine, there are NO orienteering questions on the test at all.
Food Fun
I’ve been enjoying making meals for my Wonder Woman while I abstain from food for a short while — short 3 day fast. A “keto” regimen really ameliorates any food cravings. extra fun: cleaning out and reorganizing the food pantry and reorganizing the kitchen stores, as well. *heh* I’ve not even been tempted to plan meals from the pantry items.
Not eating meals, snacking, etc., has also freed up time to do more things like working on the food pantry. Another thing about doing this coming off a keto regimen is that I have no “sugar lows” and activity–like some exercise in addition to climbing up and down a stepladder to rearrange dry goods and canned goods *heh*–levels remain easy to maintain. . . so far (a little over halfway through my selected time frame). In fact, the keto regimen has apparently been really helpful in moderating my blood sugar levels (at least according to both my last labs and amelioration — more like elimination, actually — of symptoms such as occasional dizziness, headaches, or unusual tiredness after going without food for a while). Regarding blood sugar issues: a couple of years ago, my doctor expressed concern about elevated levels of fasting blood sugar — not diabetic levels, sort of pre-pre-diabetic levels. The keto regimen is one of the things I adopted to deal with that issue (on my own; I represented it to my doctor as “eliminating bread, potatoes, etc. from my diet. *heh* I know the bias my doctor has expressed about dietary fats — another story where my choices have born results that contradict “received wisdom” *heh*).
Anywho. . . Enjoying the time being “foodless” a lot more than in past times I chose to do this.
Experimental Foodery
Tonight, I’m springing an experimental meal on my Wonder Woman. I know she’ll at least like the leftover “Amish Salad,” but time will tell how the rest of the meal will go down. . .
No amounts, mostly, just ingredients:
Smoked sausage, nicely browned, served over
Riced cauliflower prepared with ghee, turmeric, roasted garlic powder, and a packet of beef-flavored bouillon powder (I’ve tried the cauliflower and like it; we’ll see who else does) Combined with
Sweet red pepper, chopped and sauteed in ghee
Onion, also chopped and sauteed in ghee.
“Amish Salad” for a side.
Hits my “Ooo, so good!” buttons, but we’ll just have to see if it makes the cut, won’t we?
Well, it still hit my “Ooo, so good!” buttons, but just my Wonder Woman’s “It’s OK,” resulting in a complaint that “I may have eaten too much,” but not a request to save the recipe. *shrugs* Maybe next time with a curry sauce. . .
Drive-By Food Post
Our oldest cat, something like 17-18 years old (a very young cat when he showed up and demanded to be let in to become a part of our household) has become more and more finicky about what he eats, lately. I’ve finally found an expensive dry cat food (he’s even been known to turn his nose up at canned cat food he previously ate with relish) that is clamed to have no grains, etc, etc., that he finds irresistible. Each time I dish some out for him, I am tempted to try some. Yes. It does smell delicious.
Autocorrect
Was out and about earlier this AM, and at one point needed to navigate on foot past a guy using a leaf blower, so pulled out my ear plugs, inserted them, and walked on by. I noticed as I passed that the 30-something leaf blower dude was wearing absolutely no hearing protection whatsoever. Damaging his own hearing much? “Well, that problem won’t last long,” I thought to myself.
A “Legendary Creatures Alphabet”
Herewith, my alphabet of legendary creatures
A is for Acephali (which may, instead of being mythical, refer to ~90% of the electorate, Mass MEdia Podpeople, Politicians, Academia Nut Fruitcakes, etc.)
B is for Baba Yaga (A.K.A. “Nancy Pelosi” and her ilk)
C is for Centaur (There are some in Congress, but they’re deformed horses’ asses.)
D is for Dipsa (easily recognized as Venomous Talking Heads) Note: D is also for Draugr (A Dhimmicrap voting block; see also: Fetch)
E is for Ewah (Actually found in suburbia, preying on young men)
F is for Fetch (See Dragur)
G is for Ghost (As in “The Republic is a mere ghost of what the Founders left us.”)
H is for Hag (see Baba Yaga above)
I is for Imp (Often found in any government bureaucracy)
J is for Jackalope (Livestock designed by congressional committee to combat hunger)
K is for Kawa-zaru (Frequently found working for congresscritters)
L is for Lamia (Commonly found in “Planned Parenthood” facilities)
M is for Maha-pudma (Found living rent free in the heads of Flat Earters)
N is for Nariphon (A species of Acephali found in “news” organizations; this version of podperson identifies as female)
O is for Ogre (Commonly found working as TSA thug)
P is for Panes (Large numbers of this creature found in Hollyweird)
Q is for Qliphoth (Evil spirit inhabiting Type II Bureaucraps)
R is for Redcap (Law enFARCEment Ossifers) Also Revenant (Dhimmicrap voting block)
S is for Sarugami (Congressional aides; lobbyists)
T is for Talos (“Feddle Gummint” version is brass, not bronze, and has feet of clay; also, cost overruns triple the price paid)
U is for Undead (See Dhimmicrap voting block)
V is for Vampire (Congresscritters, “feddle gummint bureaucraps,” etc.)
W is for Warg (Poorly-trained K-9 “units”)
X is for Xing Tiang (Government. Just “government”)
Y is for Yakubyo-gami (Found in most hospitals; responsible for “iatrogenic” diseases and deaths)
Z is for Zombie (Typical Dhimmicrap voter)
All Night Long. . .
All night long, it seemed my Wonder Woman’s phone just would not stop with that annoying weather alert. *heh* Constant warnings to “seek shelter,” etc. “Stop it! We’re sheltered already!” 😉
HEAVY rainfall over almost all of America’s Third World County™ yesterday resulted in many of the back roads being flooded out overnight, fords washed out, and even some state roads rendered impassable as roadways collapsed (largely because of poor initial construction, poorly-maintained, IMO). Rural schools with more than half their students coming in from areas closed off from safe travel resulted in countywide school closings. Rescues of contenders for Darwin Awards weren’t many, but a few Darwin Award aspirants did decide to drive into raging waters. Silly puppies.
Some folks around TWC Central measured 5” in their rain guages. I can believe it. Our street was flooded and the recently-covered public works excavation replacing their leaking water line needs to be repacked. We didn’t even try to measure, because at least half of our precipitation seemed to be in the form of hail. 100% coverage of our lawn to the extent that it looked more like snowfall. Really beat up our impatiens. *shrugs* They’ll live or they won’t. Short power outages, no biggie, throughout the county. Touchdown of two funnels juuuust over the county line to the east.
Fun times.
*slow sidescan*
When someone accuses you of being paranoid, it’s probably because they are out to get you. *heh*
Florida Man: Gator Toss
I can see that. I did something similar (though, sadly, harsher), a couple of decades ago, with an American Pit Bull Terrier (whose owner rightly should have been shot) when it had been “sicced” onto my son’s dog. Turns out, choking out a PBT can cause them to release (glad it had a very stout collar on, though). PBT survived. Son’s dog–a large Lab/Shepherd mix–was all, “So, what was that all about, anyway?”–injuries minor. Really calm, almost phlegmatic dog.
(Even sadder, the owner continued to be irresponsible and someone else ended up shooting the dog. . . though not the owner.)
“Type 1” Bureaucrats Only Want to Do Their Jobs
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people”:
First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.
For the last three years, contacts with the public works department here at Third World County™ Central have been rather. . . pleasant, ever since the new director of public works has come on board. It’s exceedingly pleasant to deal with a member of ANY government bureaucracy who just wants to do what his job description asks of him and actually behave as a public servant. Heck, I’ve seen the guy actually get down and use a shovel himself to help get things done faster. Shocking, I know!
Kicker: he’s available, and pleasant to deal with even on a Sunday, and even via his personal cell phone. (And a good thing, too, because the one remaining sore point–poor funding for public works–means that public works has had to keep patching a water line that should be replaced. False economy, of course, because multiple calls for water leaks on public works’ own supply line have ended up costing more than replacing the line once would have been. That’s not on the public works director. It’s on cirty government and its other, non-infrastructure priorities.)
Note: None of the above addresses the issue of whether any given bureaucracy has a legitimate reason for existence. That’s a whole different critter.