serve God, love well, and commit to the bit

It is primarily a thing you say to clarify (or falsify) the tone of what you DID say

OR

it is secondarily a thing you say instead of something ELSE to maintain 1) plausible deniability 2) a moral high ground.

“Bless your heart”: You genuinely deserve blessings because you are going through it right now and you need them. Gratitude, sympathy. “I’m going to have surgery next week.” “Bless your heart! Is there anything I can do for you?” (“Oh, bless your heart for asking.”) Original face-value meaning.

“Bless your heart”: You need a blessing because God knows you’re lacking (manners, intelligence, common sense) right now. Synonyms could include “Well, isn’t that precious” or “Well, that’s different.” It often comes in clutch when you don’t want to tell someone to their face that they fucked up. Your nephew has mowed the front yard for you. He has also mowed over all your flower beds. “Well… bless your heart.” If you were going to use it as a stealth insult to someone’s face for a more egregious occasion, it would be this category. It can be a mean girl move (the classic “It’s so brave that you dress like that” vibe), but it’s also a way of saying, “I want you to know that I see what you’re doing and I don’t approve of it, and you fully understand I’m expressing that, but I’m not going to give you the justification to clap back at me because I didn’t SAY that.” Someone wears a fancy white bridal-looking gown to your cousin’s wedding: “Well, bless your heart, that sure is a dress!” (If they understand you: “What’s THAT supposed to mean?” Because they know, but they want to make you SAY it. Combat engaged.)

“Bless their heart”: I am sharing news (gossiping) about someone but I like them and I want you to understand that I do, truly, bless their heart. “It’s been so hard for her after her father passed. Bless her heart, I’m gonna make her that red velvet cake she likes.”

“Bless their heart”: I am shit talking someone and I want to cover my ass, of COURSE I am just concerned for them. “She wore white to her sister’s wedding last week! WHITE! Bless her heart, I guess some people’s children just don’t know better.” (“Well you know they say she was always after the groom—“ “NO! Bless her heart.”)

Man stops to rescue kitten, gets ambushed by platoon. 

See, we were talking about how movies are pretend and how in real life, animals don’t talk. I mentioned that there are some birds who talk a little bit, but not like the animals in movies, and she just looked at me like “???”

So I informed her that some kinds of parrots can copy sounds that people make, and can learn how to say words. I thought this would give her a giggle, as fun new facts often do, but she was just deeply perplexed and a little worried about this.

“Birds can talk?” “Do they ask questions?” “What do they say?” Why do they talk?” “Do chickens talk?” “What about Blue Jays?” “Why do some birds talk?” “How do they talk?” “Birds TALK???”

We showed her a video of a parrot doing the “Hello, pretty bird, give a kiss” thing, and she was dead silent the whole time, hugging her comfort pillow with her knees to her chest. We asked if she wanted us to turn it off, and she shook her head. But we also asked if she wanted to see another one, and she shook her head even harder.

I don’t know why it has distressed her so greatly to learn that some birds can mimic human speech; but then again, I don’t know why it doesn’t distress the rest of us more to know that some birds can mimic human speech.

But more importantly they love the sound of human laughter. No one knows why. But it is totally, 100% possible, and it happens to this day, to walk along the paths in the Black Forest and suddenly hear a strange kind of giggling sound, or maybe even a very clear, definitely human sounding “hello?” “Hiiiii!” Or “let’s go!”.

However, it takes a lot of practice for them to copy sounds as perfectly as they do, so you’re equally likely to hear something that definitely sounds human-like, but the words make no sense and the sound is unlike any language you know.

Ravens at the Tower of London do this all the time. Theyre pretty sociable with humans though, so they do it quite openly. I have seen videos of people, mostly Americans, look absolutely spooked out of their skins when a big ol’ raven (mind ye, these are birds that are 2 feet tall with a 5 foot wingspan) comes waltzing up on the deck and starts talking to them.

And ravens, especially the ones there that have been bred and raised by humans for centuries, don’t just imitate - they have one of the same language processing genes we do, and they understand the way a toddler might that things, places, and individuals have names, and can string together basic sentences much like an african grey.

I know because I used to work with one, Darlene, who knew, quite well, what she wanted and how to ask for it. If you were preparing her breakfast, she would hop on up and investigate. She used to be an illegal pet, and had been taught “manners”. That is to say, if she went for something and you told her, sternly, “mind your manners missy!” She would stop, look at you, perhaps for up to a minute, and then point with her beak to what she wanted. If that did not work, she would ask, in plain English, “grape?” Or “Darl have grape?” And lord help you if you gave her anything less than what she asked for. She would throw it at you, and try to bite you, sometimes while saying “No!” In the same tone as I imagine she was reprimanded in her home.

Agates carved into orange slices by wutong_crystal_carvings.

this frozen dessert is also known as an ice pop, popsicle, paleta, lollipop, lolly, ice lolly, icy pole, ice block, ice drop, ice gola, ice candy, ai tim tang, ice cream tang, and kisko. whatever you call these flavored frozen something-or-others on a stick, these recalled ones have a secret ingredient: glass

and that glass has best before dates all the way into november 2027.

for whatever reason, the FDA has made it unnecessarily difficult to tell if you have any of these recalled outshine fruit bars. more on that towards the bottom. I (rune) went ahead and made the batch information easier to read, because it feels extra bad imagining people panicking through the recall announcement trying to figure out if they or their children possibly ate glass.

if you have an affected box, do NOT eat it. throw it out or return it to the store for a refund. make sure everyone else you know does the same, because eating glass can cause unwanted side effects. such as death

🇺🇸 US food recall links | how to report a problem with food 🇺🇸

August 18, 2026 - Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc. is voluntarily recalling a limited number of select flavors of Outshine Fruit Bars due to possible foreign material contamination with glass. Products affected include Outshine Strawberry, Watermelon, Grape, Tangerine and Black Cherry 6-Count 2.5 ounce Fruit Bars and the Outshine 24-Count 2.5 ounce Variety Pack Fruit Bars. These lots were distributed to retailers nationwide.

"limited number" and "select flavors" are doing a lot of heavy lifting for a nationwide recall where the contaminated fruit bars were distributed to too many retailers to list.

No other Outshine products or varieties are impacted. ONLY the five flavors of 6 Count (2.5-oz bars) and Outshine Variety 24-Count (2.5-oz bars) Fruit Bars. Batch codes can be identified on the product packaging.

really neat thing to emphasize after dreyer's original recall failed to list every product affected by the glass contamination. this post is actually about the expanded recall. surprise!

the original version of this line was, "No other Outshine products or varieties are impacted. ONLY the five flavors of 6ct 2.5-ounce paddle bars."

no need to worry about our other products being affected by glass contamination, unless you trusted us the last time we said this...a whole three days ago! move on

Dreyer’s is taking this action out of an abundance of caution following consumer reports of glass found in the product. No illnesses or injuries have been reported to date. Anyone concerned about an injury should contact a healthcare provider immediately. Consumers who have purchased the affected product should dispose of it or return it to their place of purchase for a full refund.

as is the case with countless food recalls, dreyer's only discovered their desserts were contaminated with glass and subsequently issued this recall after multiple heroes reported issues with their food. no glass-related injuries have been reported yet, but...be real, chances are good someone already ate some amount of glass. if that sounds like you, dreyer's says to pursue medical attention (or at least professional medical advice) immediately.

even if the glass only slices your digestive tract a teeny tiny bit, any possible germs on said glass (and anything else you eat afterwards) get expedite delivered directly into those cuts and might lead to a serious infection. consumed glass could also become embedded somewhere on the way in, on the way down, and on the way out of your body. a scenario like that could require surgery to remove the glass.

if you do accidentally eat glass, PLEASE report it to both the FDA and to dreyer's to get your injuries officially recorded. the more heroes who report injuries and illnesses from their food, the more these issues get taken seriously, the more people find out about them, the more other people can be protected, and the more easily other victims can receive medical care and possibly compensation. in a worst case scenario, eating glass or food contaminated with mystery germs can result in lifelong disability or death. please help save lives.

The safety, quality, and integrity of our products remain our highest priority. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this action may cause our consumers and retail customers. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of food safety and quality and to earning the trust of our consumers and customers every day.

...which is why the dreyer's primary official website, icecream.com, definitely contains a prominent warning about outshine fruit bars containing glass? or at the very least a search result for "recall"? surely someone who claims safety as a "highest priority" would never half-ass communication about actual glass, right? (whoops!)

none of this PR bullshit matters. dreyer's should have at least had a prominent banner and recall page template ready, filled out, and published by now. plenty of other food manufacturers manage that part just fine. despite dreyer's PR pinky promises, they already extensively fumbled this recall. my (rune!) sympathies to anyone else devastated by dreyer's performance. and also the glass

Consumers with questions may contact Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc. Customer Service at 800-392-4885, Monday thru Friday 8am to 5pm EST. Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc Media Contacts: [email protected]

got questions? want to know when dreyer's plans to add prominent banners and pages to their websites about their glass recall? reach out!

alright, now here is where things get confusing. on the FDA's table listing the specific recalled products: product packaging (name and quantity) and UPC (identifying product number) both say "see image below". the batch code/best before date column is still correctly filled in, albeit attached to incomplete information.

the FDA apparently expects everyone to look at the blurry-as-shit images, transcribe flavors and UPCs in order, and then link them to the incomplete table. possibly while racing against the melting of their creamless ice. keep in mind, recall announcements do frequently contain errors, including having their associated photos incorrectly ordered or labeled. but the tables are usually at least completed.

so, where exactly is the list of recalled flavors and UPCs in plain text to know for sure? especially if the images are too blurry to read?

...hidden within the fucking alt text!!!!!!

and so it was up to me (rune!!) to utilize my expert hacker accessibility alt text skills and format this information for the tragically-tableless tumblr. why these steps were skipped over on the FDA website with full table capabilities in favor of making people hunt for it, I (rune!!!) have no fucking clue. rough times at the US FDA

reminder that tumblr natively supports alt text on both desktop and mobile, and more people should be using it. after attaching a photo, click on the meatball menu/3 dots to add a brief description.

rune (me) recall pro tip: to check your bars, take pictures of the box and then promptly put it back in the freezer. do not keep the box out while looking through the numbers. otherwise, much like the eventual fate of all things on our fragile earth, your treats might disappear into memory

RECALLED OUTSHINE FRUIT BARS, THEIR UPCS, BATCH CODES, AND BEST BEFORE DATES (see bottom of package) BELOW THE CUT

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

However, a friend once had an extremely premature orphan lamb born in December who had to live in the house for a couple of months with leg braces and all that, who due to spending her lambhood with dogs instead of sheep came out of the whole experience convinced she was a livestock guardian dog! She would patrol the perimeter of the fields every evening with the actual dog, stand watch in the barn door at night like the dog, and was more than willing to throw down if she saw something scary coming towards the flock the way the guard dog did. Tragically orphaned lamb did a convincing job at being a guard dog without actually having any of the biological advantages a dog has over a sheep.

As a former music teacher, I can also say that "learn the fundamentals first" is the death knell for a vast percentage of beginners, especially adult learners.

I've run into this with drawing several times, where some well-meaning artist has lectured me on needing to study anatomy properly or not use shortcuts like CSP brushes. And oh, believe me, I know. I know exactly how to learn an artistic discipline in a structured way. I just...don't want to!

The thing is, I'm not aiming to be a professional artist. I want to draw my gay little anime guys. I would undoubtedly improve at art much faster if I approached every gay little anime guy drawing as a study exercise. But I would also have quit drawing a decade ago if I couldn't just let myself enjoy drawing imperfect fucked-up little guys with whatever shortcuts I needed to body myself across the finish line.

With my adult piano students, my approach was always "What's your goal?" If their goal was to learn exactly one Elton John songbook to play at parties, then...that's what we did. We'd put tape on the keys to label the notes, and just fuckin go for it. Learning exactly one Elton John songbook is a good and noble musical goal, full stop.

Some of my students needed and enjoyed a more structured approach to learning; if they wanted to be able to play classical music, then yes, scales were going to have to enter the equation at some point. And yet others would learn the Elton John songbook, catch their white whale, and realize they wanted to explore more of the ocean. The scales were still there for them to learn!

Often the choice isn't between "learn art well" and "learn art imperfectly" - the choice is between "learn art imperfectly" and "don't do art at all." To which I say, learn imperfectly! Or, what the hell, don't 'learn' art. Just do, and enjoy the doing of it.

And unlike most cooking blogs, the commentariat substitutions are generally competent!

If you're still not sold on the site, may I add that he once took a pair of calipers to Chili's to test their claim that "their new Smokehouse Bacon Burgers [...] have 'the thickest bacon you've ever seen'."

Unsurprisingly, his verdict was:

(on Friday, April 13, 2008 at the Chili's in Santa Clara, California) they served bacon that was (to an accuracy of 1/128th of an inch) 3/16 in. thick (4.75 mm ± 0.2mm) after cooking. [...] Does it truly hold up to its claim that it's the "thickest bacon you've ever seen"? My guess is that for most people that's true, but for me it was most definitely not the case.

So yeah, definitely check out his website, whether you're a novice or experienced cook, whether you're an engineer or someone who didn't even know what a caliper was before you started reading this. I highly recommend starting with the shepherd's pie (yes, it's the same one from Joy of Cooking), and either the creme brulee or the biscotti for dessert. The recipe image OP used was for espresso brownies. Presumably roasting your own beans is optional, though.

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