Diana Mertz Hsieh Meets The Wall of Hypocrisy

[Jonathan]

I will believe you that turnips can be made palatable, although nothing can convince me about squash.

Squash does indeed suck, but this recipe actually makes it unsuck.

J

[caroljane]

I will not be home cooking much in future. I am now entirely surrounded by international cuisine. To my immediate left a new Italian resto is opening next week beside Best Burgers and Poutine, which is beside the Hag & Sporran* (Scottish fusion), which is beside Chinese (feeling the heat of competition.)which is beside Starbucks. Pizza across the street. To my immediate right, Vietnamese, beside Maple Leaf Lunch, best of Canadian...too tired to continue down the street.

*These three are all owned by the same guy, naturally a Greek.

Oh God, oh Toronto.

[PDS]

I will believe you that turnips can be made palatable, although nothing can convince me about squash.

Squash does indeed suck, but this recipe actually makes it unsuck.

J

I have had surprisingly good squash of late, but am fairly certain that it was laden with brown sugar, white wine and "whatnot," which--I am given to understand--our Paleo ancestors were not fond of. Especially the "what not".

[PDS]

I will not be home cooking much in future. I am now entirely surrounded by international cuisine. To my immediate left a new Italian resto is opening next week beside Best Burgers and Poutine, which is beside the Hag & Sporran* (Scottish fusion), which is beside Chinese (feeling the heat of competition.)which is beside Starbucks. Pizza across the street. To my immediate right, Vietnamese, beside Maple Leaf Lunch, best of Canadian...too tired to continue down the street.

*These three are all owned by the same guy, naturally a Greek.

Oh God, oh Toronto.

I envy the neighborhood you have just described. Except for the loathsome Starbucks.

[caroljane]

I am not a fan of the Ourbucks either, wait time is too long for overpriced mediocre product. But it opens real early and is useful in emergencies.

[caroljane]

I will not be home cooking much in future. I am now entirely surrounded by international cuisine. To my immediate left a new Italian resto is opening next week beside Best Burgers and Poutine, which is beside the Hag & Sporran* (Scottish fusion), which is beside Chinese (feeling the heat of competition.)which is beside Starbucks. Pizza across the street. To my immediate right, Vietnamese, beside Maple Leaf Lunch, best of Canadian...too tired to continue down the street.

*These three are all owned by the same guy, naturally a Greek.

Oh God, oh Toronto.

I envy the neighborhood you have just described. Except for the loathsome Starbucks.

I feel so lucky to live in this area, especially as the three places next to me were not even there when I moved here. Maybe they saw me coming. My apartment is nothing special but I sure have a great dining room.

As I've mentioned before, my block on Gerrard is between Jones Ave and Galt Ave, and that you can run from Rand, but you can't hide.

[PDS]

I am not a fan of the Ourbucks either, wait time is too long for overpriced mediocre product. But it opens real early and is useful in emergencies.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to deliver a knife-hand shuto to the adam's apple of any of the self-important pseudo-hippies who frequent such establishments?**

**Rhetorical question--I know you are not that type. The karate type, that is. I see you as more of the Krav Maga type.

[9thdoctor]

This calls to mind the couple times I've gone to Amsterdam. They have lots of coffee shops there, I mean at least one on every street. But I don't recall ever seeing a Starbucks.

It always tastes burnt, it's the way they roast it, they mean for it to taste that way. I can take it once in a while, for a change, variety's sake and all, but it's never on my regular rotation.

[Jonathan]

I will believe you that turnips can be made palatable, although nothing can convince me about squash.

Squash does indeed suck, but this recipe actually makes it unsuck.

J

I have had surprisingly good squash of late, but am fairly certain that it was laden with brown sugar, white wine and "whatnot," which--I am given to understand--our Paleo ancestors were not fond of. Especially the "what not".

Have you ever had the sweet potato casserole at Ruth's Chris Steak House? That's pretty much what the squash bake recipe that I posted tastes like. In other words, the other ingredients completely neutralize the squashiness of the squash.

J

[caroljane]

I will believe you that turnips can be made palatable, although nothing can convince me about squash.

Squash does indeed suck, but this recipe actually makes it unsuck.

J

I have had surprisingly good squash of late, but am fairly certain that it was laden with brown sugar, white wine and "whatnot," which--I am given to understand--our Paleo ancestors were not fond of. Especially the "what not".

Have you ever had the sweet potato casserole at Ruth's Chris Steak House? That's pretty much what the squash bake recipe that I posted tastes like. In other words, the other ingredients completely neutralize the squashiness of the squash.

J

Ah Jonathan, have you not grasped that the essential nature of squashiness cannot be neutralized? Squash is squash is squash. I would take one mouthful of that package deal and discern at once beneath the wine and sugar, the tang of pure evil.

[Jonathan]

Ah Jonathan, have you not grasped that the essential nature of squashiness cannot be neutralized? Squash is squash is squash. I would take one mouthful of that package deal and discern at once beneath the wine and sugar, the tang of pure evil.

What about squash, eggs, bacon, spam and squash? It doesn't have much squash in it.

J

[caroljane]

Spam, spam, spam,bacon...

spam, spam, spam eggs...

spam. spam. spam. spam, squash...

they're all off except spam and squash.

...... I'll have the spam

From Monty Python I think

[william.scherk]

All our joking aside Bill, and I hope our joking never dies, the nature of Solo is of interest to me, and you have known it longer than I have, I would be interested to hear any of your thoughts on how it has changed since you have known it, serious question.

This would need a month's worth of thought and research to do it justice, but maybe I can reduce it to a few observations of the defects built-in to SOLO. I believe the defects built-in doomed it from the beginning.

Leonid has apparently gone down the "open Objectivist discourse" disposal system over at Perigo's SOLO. After tired arguing against Doug Bandler's bigoted and simple-minded immigration solutions, Leonid let fly with a personal jab (in italics below).

And down came the red button. Capricious and peeved.

Islamoleonid

Submitted by Lindsay Perigo on Thu, 2012-12-06 01:42.

You see, Lindsay Perigo and LINZ are not the same. Lindsay is a journalist who runs TV shows, interviews people and writes books. LINZ ( Low Intelligence New Zealand) is a computer program which runs SOLO. The problem is that it's sometimes difficult to distinguish between these two.

Is that so? Well then, I shall spare you the necessity of trying. The computer programme has deleted you.

Edited December 9, 2012 by william.scherk

[caroljane]

That one is on a par with Darren's parting shot over there. LP certainly brings out the eloquence in his flock.

I was not aware that he wrote books. Commissioning one's own biography, or collecting all one's past writings into one volume is compiling a book, not writing one.

[caroljane]

Not that I doubt that the Great New Zealand Novel glowers from a top drawer. It opens as a beautiful man child, pent with passion for life and art, approaches the glittering gates of the Palace of Music....

[caroljane]

....There is a dark intensity about him, although he has no Maori blood. In his lean, sensitive hand he holds a paper sack containing the mutton sandwich lovingly cut for him by his mother only that morning...

[PDS]

....There is a dark intensity about him, although he has no Maori blood. In his lean, sensitive hand he holds a paper sack containing the mutton sandwich lovingly cut for him by his mother only that morning...

He stares into the distance, a Lanza tune ringing in his ears, and laughs.

The beautiful man child laughs. With orange hair.

[caroljane]

A future Perigo scholar will write. "The mutton sandwich is a foreshadowing metaphor, a talisman of the sheeple who are to be masticated...."

[anthony]

I rarely follow SOLO, and have seen Leonid's principled as well as sensible stand on the subject of immigration only now, due to WSS' link.

Good on ya, Leon!

[caroljane]

I am not a fan of the Ourbucks either, wait time is too long for overpriced mediocre product. But it opens real early and is useful in emergencies.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to deliver a knife-hand shuto to the adam's apple of any of the self-important pseudo-hippies who frequent such establishments?**

**Rhetorical question--I know you are not that type. The karate type, that is. I see you as more of the Krav Maga type.

I am not a fan of the Ourbucks either, wait time is too long for overpriced mediocre product. But it opens real early and is useful in emergencies.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to deliver a knife-hand shuto to the adam's apple of any of the self-important pseudo-hippies who frequent such establishments?**

**Rhetorical question--I know you are not that type. The karate type, that is. I see you as more of the Krav Maga type.

Looks like our local self importants are too hip for Starbucks, as I have not noticed the type much, lastime it was mostly guys in orange vests and a local busker, sobering up. However today, returning from lunch at the H&S (Haggis Balls and Smoked Haddock Chowder) I dropped into the Starbucks to stock up on serviettes and sugar, and there were two laptoppers at the window counter who might fit the bill. They typed in abstract concentration as they faced the street so that passersby could get a good look so that they could, of course, be oblivious of the passersby. One of them was a really beautiful young girl.

I had to look up Krav Maga, as I am not as fitness conscious as I should be . My idea of a good workout is returning all my books to the library at the same time. My exercise plan is, I don't possess a car. If anybody attacked me my only hope would be to start talking and bore them into immobility.

The Krav Maga looks interesting though. All of these courses are taught by Israeli army vets and they show pictures of them on club websites. The free lesson might be interesting.

Actually all the martial arts in all the fitness places seem to be taught by Israeli army vets. There sure are a lot of them around. I know Israel has continuous conscription so there are a lot of vets out there, but do they all come here to become personal trainers or gym gods?

It's like the saints' relics in medieval churches. I mean, I know they were saints and all, but how many thigh bones can one man have?

[caroljane]

In case it might seem that I invented the haggis balls along with the pub name, not so. They are a real menu item at the real McGugans and they are quite good.

I do not recommend their neeps'n'tatties however, for reasons explained upthread.

[caroljane]

....There is a dark intensity about him, although he has no Maori blood. In his lean, sensitive hand he holds a paper sack containing the mutton sandwich lovingly cut for him by his mother only that morning...

He stares into the distance, a Lanza tune ringing in his ears, and laughs.

The beautiful man child laughs. With orange hair.

PDS please, if we are to craft this masterwork together, I mean when it is finished by the master, our hero cannot have orange hair, as that is too obviously Rand -derivative and more importantly evokes a turnip, which is not as erotic to the modern readership as it was to Rand's.

[caroljane]

....There is a dark intensity about him, although he has no Maori blood. In his lean, sensitive hand he holds a paper sack containing the mutton sandwich lovingly cut for him by his mother only that morning...

He stares into the distance, a Lanza tune ringing in his ears, and laughs.

The beautiful man child laughs. With orange hair.

PDS please, if we are to craft this masterwork together, I mean when it is finished by the master, our hero cannot have orange hair, as that is too obviously Rand -derivative and more importantly evokes a turnip, which is not as erotic to the modern readership as it was to Rand's.

....There is a dark intensity about him, although he has no Maori blood. In his lean, sensitive hand he holds a paper sack containing the mutton sandwich lovingly cut for him by his mother only that morning...

He stares into the distance, a Lanza tune ringing in his ears, and laughs.

The beautiful man child laughs. With orange hair.

PDS please, if we are to craft this masterwork together, I mean when it is finished by the master, our hero cannot have orange hair, as that is too obviously Rand -derivative and more importantly evokes a turnip, which is not as erotic to the modern readership as it was to Rand's.

This is no slur on Roark as a romantic hero, I am sure he was great in bed, but he was a lousy rotten architect.

[william.scherk]

Like most Magic Perfect Diet kooks, Hsieh gives me the impression of panic and the need to believe. Fantasy meeting reality, not liking it, rejecting it, and digging in deeper. Fear. Somatoform disorder.

The lure of the Paleolithic Diet craze is fairly obvious -- first, if one accepts the heuristic that Cavemen-Diet-Is-Adapted-Diet, then the lure is essentially Romantic; there was a Garden of Perfection and all we need to do is eat like they did.

Second obvious lure is Knowing Better Than Food-Typicals. If you cross over into the Paleo Garden, you are morally and rationally better than Typical Eaters. You have advanced into the Elite.

Now, problems could emerge as the rough rules of thumb are tested against reality (or what is known about this Perfect Garden). For most Paleo enthusiasts (Diana a perfect example), the reasoning process can be simplified to avoid problems in reality testing. Consider that these questions are settled among the Paleo 'community':

• What did old stone age people eat?
• Did they eat any grains, legumes or other carbohydrates/starches?
• Is there evidence that stone-age peoples ate primarily meats/fish?

Of course, this is where the entire enterprise goes off the rails, when the answers are assumed. The assumed answers are:

Stone age people ate no grains, legumes, dairy or 'modern' carbohydrates

There is the Paleolithic Diet before fact-checking ...

In my next report from the Badlands of research, I'll try to analyse the well-rooted beliefs of anti-grain fanatics, and their clutching of special cherries culled from the literature on paleolithic-era human nutrition.

Edited December 10, 2012 by william.scherk

[caroljane]

We ate each other, mostly. Alternatives were scarce. Don't know the vitamin makeup.

Trogg and Donner

Extinct