Friday Potpourri: 22 November 2024

Still not back to Friday Potpourri being all humor, but I’m hoping by next week... Let’s start with a PSA. If you eat “lunch meat”, STOP NOW. I saw this article on Apple News, and it’s firewalled by New York Magazine. But you can see it on Apple News. The article detailed why “lunch meat” is such a great place to find listeria. I found this:

Processed meats are usually never one whole muscle. For example ham: Hams are normally taken, emaccerated (basically imagine a large piece of meat run through a giant lot of knives. Those knives make large cuts and gashes in the meat). This is then added into vacuum tumbler with other meat proteins (other parts of the animal that aren't as large or desirable to look at. This is then tumbled with the addition of phosphates to help "glue the meat together", and then some flavorings normally called a brine (sugar, salt, a cure and other flavors) are added. The vacuum tumbling action mixed with the meat and phosphate causes the meat to bind together in a sort of sticky way. This ham is then shoved into a ham casing (a VERY tight fit!). This is then smoked or cooked, causing the meat to blend together and look like a whole muscle. This is typically the ham or turkey you buy at a deli.

I don’t eat lunch meat. I’ve never tasted it. It’s on the incredibly huge list of foods that I will not eat. And yes, I have TERRIBLE eating habits. For example, I will not eat any food that cannot decide whether it is a liquid or a solid. Like Jello, pudding, aspic, custard, eggs (unless they’re in something, like cake), etc. I will not eat anything that has unidentifiable things in it. Like scrapple (“everything but the oink.”) I will not eat anything that has been ruined (in my mind) with extra ingredients. For example, I love broccoli but won’t touch it if someone puts salt, butter, sauce or the like on it. I love heirloom peaches, but won’t eat them in pie, cake, cobbler, ice cream, etc. Just peaches.

I know — I have many food prejudices.

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Have you heard about the $6.2 million banana? In 2019, a banana was duct taped to a wall at the Art Basel Miami Beach and called “Comedian". What actually sold for the $6.2 million was NOT the banana itself, but the RIGHT to duct tape a banana to a wall and call it “Comedian”. I am not making this up.

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Nancy Mace couldn’t care less about Matt Gaetz¹ being a serial statutory rapist, Pete Hegseth being a regular rapist, or the Orange Menace being both of the above. HOWEVER, she’s terrified of Sarah McBride.

I couldn’t care less about sharing a bathroom with a trans woman. In fact, I applaud Senator John Fetterman for his Twitter post.

I also saw this on Twitter, and it reminds me of a story:

In 1983, I saw my first drag show. My roommate had two gay friends who often joined us for dinner, and one day, she told me that Ronny was going to be singing in a club and asked if I’d like to go. I thought sure, why not? I had no idea…

Ronny was a tall, well-muscled, athlete. The Ronny on stage was a gorgeous woman, with a great voice! We were at a table with a bunch of people, and as Ronny was performing, they told me that all the performers were men who were performing as women. This was new to me back then.

Afterwards, we all went out to a bar. My roommate and I first went to the ladies’ room to check our make-up. We learned from the other two people there a TON about make-up. One said to me that since he could mask a 5 o’clock shadow, he could easily show me how to have cheekbones. If you’ve ever seen me in full battle regalia make-up, you can trace it to that night. I learned a TON.

More seriously, I lost too many friends to AIDS in the 80’s. Great guys who suffered terribly. Shout out to Dr. Anthony Fauci for all he did back then to move treatments forward. Today, AIDS is a controllable chronic illness, not a death sentence. If you are too young to remember that time period, I highly recommend this book.

I have gay and trans friends, in addition to straight friends. And the thing is, they’re the same because THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE! We talk, we share recipes and gardening tips, fight for the same political ends, care for one another. JUST PEOPLE!

I do NOT understand why the MAGA minions are so hateful.

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I leave you with these two thoughts for today.

Back on Sunday.

1. Yes, he withdrew because he could never have passed the confirmation process, but Nancy is still okay with him.