(sigh)

I just bought one and it's got like 400 family photos on it.

Personally, all my family photos from like 2003-2014 are locked on some inaccessible hard drive that's probably been lost or thrown away, so if anyone had my family photos from 2006, I'd like to at least see them before they're deleted. If this is your vacation to Yosemite, your dog, your 2-year-old's birthday party, your trip to the park, please contact me [you can send this blog a tumblr ask even if you don't have an account at 20dollarlolita.tumblr.com/ask or you can email me at pink @ pinkandthekeytarcat.com (I'm pink and my cat is the keytar cat)].

These pictures are all separately named so please tell me the names of people in the photos to verify that it's you. Photos from a 1gb wii SD card aren't going to take up too much space on my computer so I'm going to just hold onto these. If they're yours, or you can contact anyone in the pictures, please let me know. I'd like to reuinte them with their owner.

if you mean CEOs, say CEOs

if you mean corrupt politicians, say corrupt politicians

To start off, some facts:

-White wine is made from sweet pulp inside of the grape (minus the seeds).

-Red wine is made from both the skin and the grape (and the seeds and stems…sometimes? Can’t remember).

-Tannin is the substance found in red wines, coffee, dark chocolate. Tannins are responsible for the bitter taste in those foods.

-Tannins are found in the skin of the grape, as well as the seeds and the stems. Therefore, most red wines will have tannins, versus most whites will not have tannins.

-Red wines vary in level of tannins, depending on variety of grape, climate, and fermentation process. Pinot noir tends to be very low tannin. Shiraz/Syrah, choice of poison for our beloved brunette surgeon, is very heavy on the tannins.

-Some white wines (most commonly Chardonnay) are aged in oak barrels instead of metal containers. Oak barrels have tannins, which seeps into the wine during the fermentation process. That’s why Chardonnays tend to be “drier” aka it has tannins.

-White wines like Sauvingnon Blancs are usually fermented in steel barrels (aka no tannins. Aka usually very fruity and light and sweet).

Your ability to taste tannins is genetic.

There is a genetic marker determining whether your taste cells are sensitive to tannins.

Basically two people can drink the exact same wine and have wildly different reactions because: 1. Person A can’t taste tannins, so they taste the actual wine flavor. 2. Person B can taste tannins, and that tends to overpower ALL the other flavors in the wine. Basically all they taste is tannins and none of the wine.

I am super tannin sensitive, so if I drink a wine like Cabernet Sauvignon (very tannin heavy, aka “very dry”, it tastes like bitter ethanol alcohol to me, whereas my best friend can’t taste tannins so the same wine is maybe a little bitter but they can actually taste the grape and different flavors. To her, a wine like Sauv Blanc is too sweet, tastes like sugar water. But to me it tastes good.

So unless it’s the taste of the alcohol or all wines you hate, chances are you might hate the taste of red wine, especially the heavier red wines, because taste the tannin overpowers everything else. And all you taste is bitter bitter ethanol bitter more ethanol. 

More tannin info: -Tannins bind to fat.

-This is why tannin heavy wines are recommended with fatty foods (Shiraz and steak). Whenever you eat food with high fat content, the fat builds up on your tongue. A sip of red wine will bind with the fat on your tongue and clear it away. That’s why the sip of wine between bites of fat heavy foods is considered a palate cleanser.

-By that logic, this is why white wines are recommended with low fat foods, like fish. Salmon is fattier than most fish, which is why Chardonnay (tannin heavy white wine) or Pinot Noir (low tannin red wine) is recommended with salmon.

-People who are sensitive to tannins can drink tannin heavy red wines with fatty food and generally the wine won’t taste gross. The fat on your tongue (from that steak) will bind with the tannin and neutralize the tannin taste. Aka the only time I ever drink Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz is with a steak or heavy, creamy pasta. Aka never bc I don’t often eat either.

-The reason dairy helps coffee taste better is because the fat in milk/creams binds with the tannins in coffee and neutralizes the bitter taste. This is why people who can’t taste tannins can generally drink coffee black without milk (sugar is a different story). It’s also why almond milk in coffee is the worst idea (almond milk is already bitter and has no fat).

More wine facts: -90% of the “aromas” of wine are marketing BS

-You know the labels that say like “cherry with a hint of blackberry?” There’s no real way to infuse cherry or blackberry into grape wine without screwing with the fermentation process. It’s all created by the wine marketing industry to sell you win. Sometimes if you smell cherry before you drink the wine, you might taste it in the wine (because majority of flavor comes from smell). Or if you think there is cherry flavor in the wine, your brain can trick your taste buds into tasting it.

-The only true flavors found in real grape wine are grapes (obviously), oak/earthy flavor (the barrels), vanilla (barrels, oak sticks), tannins. (There are a few others but can’t remember. I think maybe cinnamon?).

-People’s perception of wine often affect how good it tastes to them. Social psychology studies show that people will rate the exact same wine differently if they’re told the wines are different in price. (They rated the more expensive wine as tastier).

(Side note: if you do order a white wine that’s too dry for you, order an accompanying shot of Saint Germaine or other elderflower liqueur and mix it with your wine little by little until you like the balance. This will boost the alcohol content a bunch, so be careful, but it will also sweeten the wine and add a pleasantly floral, fruity overtone. I did this for a friend of mine who only drinks dessert wines when she stopped by unexpectedly and all I had on hand was super dry stuff.)

For a truly sweet wine, look for an ice wine or a moscato - these are wines that actively taste sugary. A riesling or a gewürztraminer will not taste sugary, but neither is it likely to be bitterly dry - riesling is the sweeter of the two and the safer bet for sweet; gewürztraminers are “complex” wines in that they can range from dry to off-dry to sweet depending on preparation. They tend to have a lot going on, flavor-wise, at least in my experience.

I am only just now seeing this, and friend, I cackled so hard I'm glad I'm out of the house and can't scare my cat.

Over 100k like of a white supremacist tweet of 9/11 truther conspiracy about Jews doing it.

The kids are not alright, they're neo-nazi, white supremacists, Arab Supremacists and Islamists, and Marxist-Leninists.

As for the claim in that post, it’s so obviously ridiculous I shouldn’t even be validating it with a response, but not only is that obviously not true, a Jewish Israeli man was literally the FIRST PERSON to die on 9/11

I HAVE HEARD THIS EXACT CLAIM ABOUT MUSLIMS.

WORD. FOR. WORD.

This was a common Islamophobic "fact" in...like 2002? 2003? It is true that several Muslim employees called out that day, but let's look at numbers. The World Trade Center Complex contained seven buildings capable of holding approximately 130,000 people. All WTC buildings collapsed in whole or in part, with the two biggest buildings in the complex going all the way down; 7 WTC and the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel were also completely destroyed. Ten non-WTC buildings were damaged, at least one of which was destroyed day-of and two of which had to be condemned and demolished later. The fact that only about 2700 people died is astonishing. Still a horrific tragedy, but roll those numbers over in your head. Fewer than 2% of the total working population of the complex died. One of the major contributing factors to this number is that the first tower was hit at 8:47am. Most people weren't at work yet. The second tower, the moment we realized it wasn't a terrible accident, was hit at 9:03. A ton of people would only just have been getting in and still on the lower floors, and those running only five minutes late to the towers would have been denied entry. The other five WTC buildings were, as yet, more or less untouched; plenty of people got the fuck out before the worst came.

I'm sure there were Muslims who'd called out or simply weren't there at the time! I'm sure the same thing can be said about Jews! Given that the complex literally held a mid-size city, I'm pretty sure the same statement could be made about any employable subsector of people in the US!

The numbers alone make this claim nonsense. The fact I can word-for-word recognize it from chain emails going around when I was a teenager puts the lie to the flame.

TJD stands for total Jewish death .

TKD / “Total kind day” / any other positive word variations that start with k is another NAZI DOGWHISTLE.

One: the four Belugas we just got were chosen to travel together because of their deep bond, like Hobbits in Lord of the Rings or something

Two: "I believe I Can Fly" playing gently in the background

Cheetahs don’t have stripes… or do they? 🤔 Meet the “king cheetah” (Acinonyx jubatus)—note the pattern on its back. When scientists first observed this animal in 1926, it was thought to be a new species. Today, we know that “king cheetahs” are the same species as spotted cheetahs, and their unusual patterning is actually the result of a genetic mutation. These individuals are rare: Only a handful of striped cheetahs have ever been seen in the wild.

These chucklefucks support the notion that birth control is harming women. Can it be harmful? Sure, talk to your doctor about that. But as a whole, birth control has enabled women to stay in school longer, to have higher paying jobs, to have better economic status, to keep from unwanted marriages, to keep their health in many cases, and, most importantly, to not have unwanted children. This has led to a declining birth rate, and white supremacists are convinced that white people not having babies is allowing people of color to "out-breed" and overtake the white population. Tradwives and their supporters push the idea that birth control irrevocably changes your brain chemistry (it doesn't), makes women manlier (it doesn't), makes men into women via trace birth control in the water (it doesn't), and causes sky rocketing rates of heart disease, embolisms, and cancers (mostly untrue... Birth control can sometimes cause clots but that's a rare side effect. Again, talk to your doctor).

They also reject basic and well settled science on nutrition and food safety. It should be no surprise that the raw milk movement is directly connected to the traditional family movement.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a stay at home mother. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have a piece of land where you can raise some chickens and a nice sized kitchen garden. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live as naturally as possible and avoid unnecessary medicine or medical treatments. But that's not all this movement is, and they take it all to the worst extreme and for the worst reasons.

And let's be really truthful. Convincing young women to discard higher education and personal development to undertake this extremely labor intensive, health eroding, intentionally isolating and fully dependent lifestyle within a year or two of graduating from high school is setting them up for physical, emotional and financial abuse that will also be meted out to their children.

And when their husbands tire of them because they have put their foot down about no more babies or because they have complained "too much" about their workload or simply because a middle aged woman with life experience isn't as enjoyable to a "traditional husband" as a naïve, nubile teenager, they are left with nothing. No skills, no income except whatever support they are ordered, (which will be paid begrudgingly, slowly, or not at all) and no good way to start all over again with limited money and a bunch of kids they'll still be primary parent for. And that's a part of the movement too, keeping women compliant, agreeable and silent through fear of what happens if they are left.

The Obama Center is basically two parts: there's a large outdoor complex of gardens, walkways, play spaces, and social areas that's free and open to the public, and I would have loved to explore that more but not at the cost of my lungs. There's also a public library branch across from the main building (the "Obamalisk") but it's quite small and feels a little like a set piece. It looks like it was designed by someone who took their interior design inspiration from libraries of the 40s and 50s, which don't get me wrong I love, all wood paneling art art deco lighting, but it also feels a little off because of that.

I have thought for a long time that the main building was pretty remarkably ugly, but at the same time that my aesthetic opinion of it wasn't really relevant to anything. I'd read a lot of critics say that it looks much better in person and one or two people say they disagreed, but this was my first time actually seeing it, and honestly I like it a lot better now. It's a truly weird building but standing before it in person, it has a kind of dark whimsical charm. It's still weird as hell and very out of place with its surroundings but in a less jarring, more artistic way than the photos portray.

The Presidential Center, inside the main building, is what I would call Very Obama. You enter and are ticketed through the ground floor, and then they route you up an escalator to the second floor where the exhibits begin. Floors 2 and 3 are...a lot of reading. Like a lot. LOTS of text on the walls, on exhibits, lots of video media too (a supporting character of this presidential center is the sign language interpreters on all the video media; they become recognizable after a while because there are only a few of them, and at one point I heard a group of women discussing which one they liked best). There are some displays of memorabilia but you'd better make sure you look while you can because once you leave a floor, getting back to it is very difficult.

The fourth floor was the most fun for me; it had miniature dioramas of White House events, an exhibit of gifts given to the Obamas while in office, several of Michelle Obama's dresses, and the Big Photo Op: a detailed full scale recreation of the Oval Office as it was in 2014, where after about a 15 minute wait in line you can sit at the presidential desk and an attendant will take your photo.

There's also a digital mural, I believe on the fifth floor (locations got a little blurry after a while) with a bank of interactive screens nearby; you can choose to listen to stories of activists making a difference in peoples' lives, and at the end sign your name to show your support and your name shows up on the mural a few seconds later. The actual mural moves, so my name floated past some trees and over towards a building in the distance, while when I entered my niece's name, hers flew through a cloud. (Amy was the lady at the monitor next to mine I think.)

I do also appreciate that the museum was COVERED in seating. Every floor had multiple wooden benches for people to sit on, so much so that there were always open seats, and I saw docents carrying folding stools as well.

From the 5th floor they ask you if you've seen all of the floors, and if you say yes, they put you in an elevator to the 8th floor, the "sky room", where you can look out through the lettering on the side of the building. It's smaller than the photos have generally made it look, but still a very dramatic way to end a tour, and I can imagine on a sunnier day it would be a very warmly lit space.

Once you're done with the Sky Room they put you in a massive freight elevator with a few dozen of your closest friends and take you down to the lower level, where the gift shop (inadequate) and the cafeteria (seems nice) are. There was also a fancier restaurant on the ground floor, but both the restaurant and the cafeteria were super crowded, so after waiting in a velvet-rope line (!!) for the gift shop and spending a grand total of $10 on a couple of postcards and buttons, I headed out. Most of the gift shop is very expensive t-shirts and enamel pins.

Why Is It Always the Jews?

I watched Morocco lose to France in the World Cup quarterfinal with the same mixture of pride and disappointment that millions of Moroccans around the world felt. We wanted to keep dreaming. We wanted our team to keep making history. Losing hurt.

What I did not expect was what happened after the final whistle.

Within hours, videos began circulating from cities across Europe. Instead of grieving a football defeat, crowds were chanting, "Hamas," calling for the murder of Jews, and reviving slogans that belonged in humanity's darkest chapters, not in the streets of democratic societies.

As a Moroccan Muslim, I felt something deeper than disappointment.

I felt shame.

Not because Morocco lost a football match. Every team loses eventually. I felt shame because a small but visible minority turned a sporting event into another excuse to express hatred toward people who had absolutely nothing to do with the game.

France scored two goals.

The Jews did not.

Yet somehow, once again, the anger found its way to the same destination it has found for centuries.

That should disturb every decent human being.

Let me be clear from the beginning. The overwhelming majority of Moroccan supporters simply mourned the defeat, congratulated France, and went home. They represented the values of sportsmanship and dignity that I recognize in my own country.

But the fact that only a minority engaged in antisemitic chants does not make the phenomenon less alarming. It makes it more revealing.

Because this was never about football.

Football was simply the latest excuse.

The more I thought about those images, the more one question refused to leave my mind.

Why is it always the Jews?

History offers the same pattern again and again.

When economies collapse, someone blames the Jews.

When pandemics spread, someone blames the Jews.

When political leaders fail, someone blames the Jews.

When wars begin, someone blames the Jews.

When conspiracy theories flourish, Jews somehow become the hidden hand behind every event.

Now, apparently, even the outcome of a football match becomes another opportunity to direct hatred toward the world's smallest religious minority.

As someone who has spent years building bridges between Muslims and Jews, I have learned that antisemitism rarely begins with facts. It begins with convenience.

Blaming Jews is easier than confronting corruption.

Easier than questioning failed leadership.

Easier than examining extremism within our own societies.

A scapegoat is always simpler than self-reflection.

That is why antisemitism has survived for centuries despite constantly contradicting itself.

Jews have been accused of being powerless outsiders and all-powerful insiders.

They have been blamed for capitalism and for communism.

For globalization and for nationalism.

For war and for peace.

The accusations change with every generation, but the target remains remarkably consistent.

As a Moroccan, this troubles me for another reason.

Our country has a unique history. For centuries, Muslims and Jews built Morocco together. Jewish communities were not strangers in our homeland; they were part of its very foundation. They contributed to our commerce, our music, our diplomacy, our crafts, and our culture. Morocco's identity cannot honestly be told without them.

That is precisely why I refuse to remain silent when Jews become the convenient target for frustrations that have nothing to do with them.

Silence is never neutral.

History has taught us where silence leads.

The Holocaust did not begin with extermination camps. It began with words that many people dismissed as harmless. It began with lies repeated so often that they started sounding reasonable. It began when ordinary people convinced themselves that blaming Jews required no evidence at all.

Every generation believes it is different.

Every generation imagines its hatred is justified by new circumstances.

But hatred does not become noble simply because it finds a new excuse.

As a Moroccan Muslim, I believe my faith calls me to stand against injustice regardless of who the victim is. My patriotism calls me to defend the best traditions of Morocco, a country whose history demonstrates that Muslims and Jews can share not only neighborhoods but also a common national identity.

That is why the scenes that followed Morocco's defeat mattered.

Not because they revealed something about Jews.

They revealed something about us.

The question the world should be asking is not what Jews supposedly did to deserve another wave of hatred.

The question is why humanity keeps searching for reasons to blame the same people generation after generation.

Until we answer that honestly, the excuse will keep changing.

Another design is using 2 20x25x1 filters, taping them to the sides of the box fan and then to each other so they sort of make a triangle, then cutting cardboard to make a top and bottom to the triangle.

This was discovered as a more effective design during the 2020 US west coast fires.

https://tombuildsstuff.blogspot.com/2013/06/better-box-fan-air-purifier.html

Our cube has only been running for about five hours. My mouth no longer feels dry. My eyes are mostly back to normal. Sneezing has been greatly reduced. I’m still sick and that might take a while, but this is a HUGE improvement. The whole cube costs less than $100 to make and that included getting the materials delivered through Door Dash.

I'm sure someone on @scam-alerts would tell me not to be distrustful, but since they don't even offer a general set of rules about avoiding Gaza scams, allow me to provide my own reasoning for why this is a scam:

Name spelled differently in the blog title vs the message.

Randomly messaging me out of nowhere.

Linking to a chuffed fundraising page. Chuffed does not pay out to Gaza:

Someone named "Kristina Turner" in the US created the campaign but there is zero information about how Kristina is gonna get the money to Gaza or even any explanation of who she is and why she's trustworthy.

The "proof" of the procedure he said he had being this crunchy as fuck photo that is, for some reason, in English? Somehow, 'evisceration' has the exact same artifacting around the word in both places. Like maybe it was cut and pasted from a different document and used twice.

And these physio notes. In English. On a torn piece of paper with a date that is either from 2023 or 2011.

Which is especially interesting because the first donations are from 27 days ago, so I don't think this person has been hanging out for 3 years with these terrible injuries just hoping something good happens:

A Jewish physics professor at Melbourne University has described his fear after finding 20 masked people occupying his office.

A year later, a death threat against him was graffitied on a university noticeboard. Professor Steven Prawer today told the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion the University of Melbourne failed to adequately respond.

James Oaten reports.