Hello, Delicious Tea

it occurs to me that it could also be a consequence of the ubiquity of lee brice's critically acclaimed (&, imo, deeply cringe) 'i drive your truck,' a song which i have just learned was inspired by the real dad of a medal of honor recipient who drove his dead son's truck & for some reason did interviews about this specific practice. 'i drive your truck' is a fascinating cultural object: it's about how you're sad about your dead friend, who would probably punch you in the arm for crying about it, so you drive his truck with his dog tags & his go army shirt in it, even though the truck has terrible gas mileage, to go 'tear up' back roads & a field [goin muddin, one surmises, but also it feels very pointed that driving & grief are presented as destructive]. i just find this complex like, hilariously on the nose: oh did your kid die in an imperialist war intended to, among other things, secure american access to oil? and you're so sad about it you go literally waste gas? bro. come on here bro. experience a scruple, or at least like, a moment of self-reflection here, bro

this song also feels like it's in continuity with another popular country song, david ball's 'riding with private malone,' which came out in august 2001 & reached its popular height in the wake of 9/11. it's about buying a vintage corvette from the mother of a guy who went off to die in vietnam (a note left in the car reads "if you're reading this then i didn't make it home / but for every dream that's shattered another one comes true / this car was once a dream of mine now it belongs to you"); the singer nearly dies in a car crash, but is saved by the ghost of the titular private malone. hilariously, wikipedia informs me that this song received critical acclaim for its 'subtlety' in expressing the american psyche after 9/11. the mind boggles, but then i suppose the bar was low

neither of these songs are the same flavor of vile, unabashed patriotism typified by, e.g., toby keith, but they're still making the same 'freedom isn't free' argument, centered on iconic cars: both vehicles are haunted by an american soldier, either with the ephemera of his life (brice lists dog tags, a dirty baseball cap, and a shirt, along with a radio station preset and a half-drunk bottle of gatorade, which one must assume is by now swollen with the noxious fumes of incidental fermentation) or more literally (ball notes that the radio picks up an oldies station, but also the speaker sees 'a soldier riding shotgun'). i'm fascinated by the way that cars are emotionally central, in these songs & in the memorial decal tradition. they're making a claim about what american soldiers are dying for (our ability to drive cars) & operating from the assumption that we all agree that this is a tragic but noble exchange, because cars are just like, so great. there's a sort of self-serving maneuver in both of the country songs in which they acknowledge the radio; as a person who spent a ton of time stuck in the back of other people's trucks listening against my will to the local country station, i can confirm that these songs both got a ton of play (chart data reflects this observation too). fascinating in a sick way, i think. there's some obvious stuff going on here about the narrow straits of country-star masculinity; trucks & vintage corvettes (especially ones which you fix up yourself, of course) are suitably cool & tough to cover for unmanly emotions like 'being sad.'

Its the second high 90s heatwave of the season already, and some of our reservoirs are so low they've opened all fishing - they'll die if they remain.

I add more layers of compost and straw, put my potted plants into bin lids to catch water, wonder where I can get shade cloths for free or cheap when everyone needs them now.

Even after the hottest days pass, its staying in the 80s. No rain in the forecast. Barely any this past spring. Not enough snow, not enough snowmelt. I wonder what the reservoir I've only seen as a vast lake looks like... emptied. Drying out in the sun.

Lots of trees have died this year, already. Too many years of stress in a row, it weakens you in ways you can't see. Until, all at once, brown crowns sweeping the landscape where evergreen once stood. They say we'll lose all the ash trees within a decade or two, to another pest. Another pressure point pushed to fault.

I gather rain barrels on the sides of the road and stack woodchips around the young trees and I teach people about native landscaping and how the plants built to grow here thrive. Or, they did, before the days on weeks of killing heat became the norm.

And then there's the fires. The smoke blocking out the sky, the ash raining down and covering everything. I wonder if it'll help, in the places where the land still holds memories of frequent fires, ones that restored as much as they took. I wonder how many summers I'll spend taping clingwrap over my windows and choosing the heavier option for the trailer because, well, metal siding is less likely to catch from an ember. I wonder how much will be lost to the flames.

I water deep into the clay ground, grateful that it will hold the water instead of let it sink away. Asking once, twice a week to be enough. I plant more than I ever have, desperate to outrun the hikes in food costs I know are coming. I try not to flinch when people complain to me about gas prices, who've been silent on the war and the administration of terror who drove them up.

I plan for a future where things will continue to grow, because I have to believe it will happen and because I could not bear the alternative - to give up and be part of assuring they will not.

I share flowers and bushes and I hope they will survive what's coming.

First: THIS RECALL IS NOT STATE SPECIFIC. IT IS NATIONWIDE.

here are the specific products and dates:

FDA page on this:

you mean that you show when a character is showing grace (like the name of the character that was wronged and why this all happens in the first place) (that not once is shone with that light because she was forgotten by the very god that her father worshipped) (that poor girl) light shines upon them like god themselves is guiding the shone-upon character?

and that this is the only moment that benoit doesn't solve a case, at least officially, because having grace (the sun dims every time benoit talks) (only shining when he realizes he's being selfish) (when he understand that this is bigger than himself) (that this is not a game) is more important than being right.

you mean to tell me that when father jud carves a new cross (bringing faith back into the church) he carves the figure on it in a way that can be understood both as jesus and as grace (a woman he has never met) (but a woman that looks so much like himself) (pointed at as a sinner just for being human) and that in the heart of the statue he puts eve's apple (returning it back to grace) (the rightful owner) (the only way he can) (righting a wrong he didn't cause) bringing grace finally into the church as a revered and not a hated figure (because his purpose is not to fight the wicked) (but to serve them and bring them to christ) (and where finally, finally, the light of the sun shines upon her)?

Apple:

I am concerned by the fact that the green liquid in the ehrlenmeyer flask is clearly producing some sort of gas, but she is only wearing splash glasses. This looks like safety goggle work. Her hair is definitely long enough to be pulled back. The chemical here is "generic green" colored, which is a solid choice, if rare in real life. Please increase your degree of lab safety! 4/10

Google:

she's wearing proper goggles! Unfortunately, her hair is much longer, and definitely needs to be tied back. Also, she should not hold her weird purple liquid in such an unnatural way; she might drop it. I can't tell if her labcoat is buttoned. We see here the liquid is "generic purple," and it is in a very confusing piece of glassware. The bottom is shaped like an ehrlenmeyer flask but it has a very long neck and the ticks go all the way up the next like it's a graduated cylinder. I have never seen a piece of glassware like this. Why is it this shape why is her hand like that 2/10.

Samsung:

This woman definitely looks more like a scientist. She is older, wiser. She is not wearing any eye protection at all. Blue is an odd choice for a generic chemical color (although it does match her tshirt), but the ehrlenmeyer flask looks normal again. I think her labcoat is too big -- I suspect she is facing the structural sexism towards people with larger hips and busts in labcoat sizing. I hope she puts eye protection on soon. I hope her lab increases her salary. 6/10.

Microsoft:

This woman might have hair that is short enough and structured enough that she doesn't really need to pull it back, and she is wearing safety goggles! However, her lab coat is open. Her generic green liquid appears to be in a graduated cylinder and is over the top measurement mark, which means she doesn't know how much she has. She seems enthusiastic, but I think she is not as educated as she thinks. This woman is performing science without understanding it 3/10.

Twitter:

Her hair is short, her labcoat is buttoned, her purple chemical is giving off purple gas in a test tube, and she's wearing goggles. This is a quality assurance professional chemist, I think. She is about to put that test tube in a fume hood. I do not fear for her safety. This is a professional. 9/10.

Facebook: