"Shrimp fraud" in Gulf Coast cities

 As reported by USA Today:

Restaurants throughout the Gulf Coast are serving imported shrimp but telling their customers they're feasting on fresh crustaceans fished in the Gulf of Mexico, a series of new studies found.

SeaD Consulting, a food safety technology company, tested shrimp from randomly chosen restaurants in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; Galveston, Texas; and Tampa Bay, Florida. Researchers found a significant number of the restaurants were passing off their shrimp as locally sourced, even though they were grown on foreign farms and imported to the U.S.

The cities with the highest "shrimp fraud rate" were Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, Florida, at 96%, according to SeaD Consulting. Only two of the 44 restaurants sampled were serving authentic shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, a study found...

The consulting company behind the research says the rampant misrepresentation hurts not only customers – who are put at higher risk of consuming tainted food – but also harms local fishermen struggling to compete with the low cost of imported shrimp from countries like India, Vietnam and Ecuador...

Earlier this month, a new law went into effect in Louisiana requiring restaurants selling imported shrimp to include a notice on their menus telling customers the shrimp is imported and listing the country of origin. A similar law went into effect in Alabama in October.

An interesting specialized tool

Posted at the often-interesting whatisthisthing subreddit, with the following thumbnail description:

"Thin yet heavy metal pen-shaped object with a removable clip.  One end is ball-shaped (but no ink could possibly flow), and the other end has a fishing-line-type loop."

A major clue is that the ball at the end is magnetic.

Here are two replies:  

    "It's a tool to remove foreign objects from your eye, used most often in welding and machine shops. The other end is a nylon loop that holds a drop or two of sterile water to attract non magnetic debris in the eye.

    "Optometrist here. If you have a medical eye doctor nearby you can save the ER trip. I've removed a ton of these in office myself, and any ophthalmologist can. Just don't go to a lenscrafters or pearl vision etc. and expect anything beyond glasses/contacts."

Lots of comments at the link from metalworkers.

xoxoxoBruce has died

Reader Jim Armstrong left a comment in another thread noting that reader xoxoxoBruce had passed away.  I found independent confirmation in a Chevy truck forum.

I am totally shocked. Bruce was just at my house on the 10th. He had just picked up his newly painted SSR. He spent a lot to fix it up but never got to enjoy it. It was done at my old shop.

I just noticed that he texted me last Thursday the 17th, the day they said he past away, about coming up next week to fix some things on his truck.

Man this is hard too take. 😢He would send flowers to my wife every year on our anniversary saying what a mistake she made marrying me. He was such a jokester.

Going to miss all his emails and conversations.

RIP my friend 😫😭

I "know" a lot of my readers/commenters as a result of years of curating comments (I've never met any  reader IRL except my family).  The username xoxoxoBruce has been commenting on TYWKIWDBI for at least the past 8 years - maybe longer.  I never had to delete any of his comments, which were always pleasant and courteous.  I'm sorry to hear that he's gone.

Posting this for other readers and for other bloggers (Miss C, Marilyn, Jesse),

Addenda:  Here is a tribute to xoxoxoBruce, posted this morning at Nag on the Lake:

"I was saddened to learn via TYWKIWDBI that Bruce, who contributed links to this blog for the past two decades, has died. We never met in person but over the years we communicated regularly. When I was travelling he would send extra links because he knew I would have less time to round up my own. He sent me homemade Christmas cards and never forgot my birthday. A few years ago I posted a story about the world’s smallest bar which is about an hour from where I live. He sent me a gift certificate for cocktails there. I have often written about my love of Scotland so last year he sent me a bottle of Arran Gold liqueur.  I mentioned to Bruce that my dad was suffering from dementia but still enjoyed corny jokes. For many years Bruce sent me jokes to pass along to him. He also forwarded articles on antique firetrucks for my firefighter husband. I know he will be missed by the many friends he so easily made. I plan to pull out that bottle of Arran Gold and raise a toast to Bruce in front of the fire tonight."

(Marilyn's blog is very similar to TYWKIWDBI, for those readers here who have not yet found it.)

And a tribute from Miss Cellania:

"Bruce was a regular contributor to the comments section here, sent me links, and was a regular correspondent. I just received his Christmas card the other day, postmarked December 11th but for some reason it took more than a month to get here. Bruce was always ready with a joke, ready to be friends, and quite generous. Bruce helped keep me afloat a few years ago when I got laid off from Mental Floss and times were tough. I couldn't be more grateful."

Humor for English majors

Queen Elizabeth was visiting sick children in a Scottish hospital, and after performing her planned duties, she wandered off to other parts of the hospital. Walking into an unidentified ward, she went up to a patient in bed and asked him how he was doing. He replied:

"O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly played in tune....."

Finding the response somewhat inappropriate she wished him good day and moved down the ward to a room where another man was sitting quietly. In response to her inquiry, he began singing:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min' ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne ?"

Somewhat baffled by this sequence of events she found a third room, where her greeting was met with:

"Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie ...."

She gave up, and left the ward. On her way out, she encountered the head nurse. "Is this the psychiatric ward?" she asked.

"No, your majesty," the nurse replied. "It's......the Burns unit."

Reposted because January 25 is Burns Night.

"Daughters"

In my opinion, an outstanding documentary.  It's not for everybody; the trailer will tell you whether it's for you.  

The world's largest flower

Rafflesia arnoldii, in the Palupuah forest of West Sumatra, Indonesia.  The Wikipedia page has tons of information...

Although Rafflesia is a vascular plant, it lacks any observable leaves, stems or even roots, and does not have chlorophyll. It lives as a holoparasite on vines of the genus Tetrastigma (most commonly Tetrastigma augustifolia). Similar to fungi, individuals grow as a mass of thread-like strands of tissue completely embedded within and in intimate contact with surrounding host cells from which nutrients and water are obtained. It can only be seen outside the host plant when it is ready to reproduce; the only part of Rafflesia that is identifiable as distinctly plant-like are the flowers, though even these are unusual since they attain massive proportions, have a reddish-brown colouration, and stink of rotting flesh. According to Sandved, the flower opens with a hissing sound.

The flower of Rafflesia arnoldii grows to a diameter of around one meter (3.3 feet), weighing up to 11 kilograms (24 lb)

...ecotourism [note the photo] is thought to be a main threat to the species. At locations which are regularly visited by tourists the number of flower buds produced per year has decreased.

Photo credit Adi Prima/Anadolu/Getty Images, via The Guardian.

Speaking truth to power

Embedded above are the closing moments of an inauguration prayer directed toward Donald Trump, delivered by The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, who is the Episcopal bishop of Washington.

The full text of the sermon is here.

Following the sermon, the president attacked Budde online, labelling her a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” in a lengthy social media post early on Wednesday. He argued that she had “brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way” and described her tone as “nasty”.

Trump characterized the service as “boring” and “uninspiring”, and asserted that Budde and her church “owe the public an apology.”

Trump's allies joined in the criticism -

The Georgia representative Mike Collins suggested on social media that Budde “should be added to the deportation list”, while the Fox News host Sean Hannity called her a “so-called Bishop” who turned the service into a “woke tirade” and described her prayer “disgraceful” and filled with “fearmongering and division”. 

Yes, because we should deport Americans who express standard Christian values and use them to criticize us. FFS.

Budde said an interview with the New York Times that she felt her sermon offered a “perspective that wasn’t getting a lot of airtime right now” and a perspective of Christianity “that has been kind of muted in the public arena”.

“To plea for mercy is actually a very humbling thing to do,” she said.

“I wasn’t demanding anything of him. I was pleading with him, like, can you see the humanity of these people?

Following her sermon and the Trump response, the Episcopal Church as a whole has issued a "Statement on Creation Care," urging adherence to the Paris Agreement.

I'll leave comments open for a while, but if the thread devolves into a flame war, I'll close it.

Corny - but chuckleworthy

A person leaves a nickel on their balcony...

Here's their report and a question:

TLDR: I left a nickel on my balcony near my birdfeeders and now there's a hole.

I could be totally overthinking this. I have a small balcony facing a small wood. I have a few birdefeeders and I get all kinds of birds everyday. Basically, is it possible one of them pecked this perfect circle into my nickel?

I left it out there one day after seeing my first crow. That was a couple weeks ago and it didn't move at all til just a few days ago. I thought it may have been frozen to the deck. Eventually it had been moved and I noticed this hole! The back side seems to have the metal still present and folded over, I thought that might help confirm what had happened here. Anyone know how easily a bird could do this? Thanks!

The explanation was one that most readers of TYWKIWDBI could have predicted:

"A bird would not do that but it’s possible it took your nickel away and brought back another that it found.  I would continue to experiment."

Other replies:

"My crows brought me a bullet casing and a child’s Jack among other things they love shiny!"

"I had a murder of crows I left roasted peanuts (unsalted) and nickels out for. The nickels disappeared and one time, there was a very shiny dime and a silver gum wrapper in the spot where I fed them! Prized possessions."

"The Xmas tree fell a few years ago, and the string of beads broke.  Wife had the brilliant idea to put them and peanuts in a flower pot hung from a tree limb.  The crows rolled in.  I get gifts almost daily. Glasses, coins, beads, metal shot glasses, a car key to a jeep wrangler, dog tags, a medical alert bracelet, silver crosses, necklaces.  They hang out to see my reaction.  They harass the crap out of the local hawks, who think they want one of our chickens.  And, I might give them leftover hotdogs when I'm grilling."

I have heard of this, but never experienced it.  Our crows are gone for the winter, but I think this summer I'll leave out some shiny new nickels and see if they will exchange it for an old buffalo nickel or shield nickel.  Any reader experiences in this regard?

"Teen Paranormal Romance"

Posted at Reddit as "the newest for-real book section at Barnes & Noble."

When I initially encountered this, I dismissed it as rubbish, but based on a comment by a reader of this blog I've looked into it further and discovered that this may be a case where I jumped to a conclusion too quickly (a not-uncommon occurrence when blogging rapidly).

The category is explained in some detail at Wikipedia:

A type of speculative fiction, paranormal romance focuses on romance and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the genres of traditional fantasy, science fiction, or horror. Paranormal romance may range from traditional category romances, such as those published by Harlequin Mills & Boon, with a paranormal setting to stories where the main emphasis is on a science fiction or fantasy based plot with a romantic subplot included. Common hallmarks are romantic relationships between humans and vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, and other entities of a fantastic or otherworldly nature.

Beyond the more prevalent themes involving vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, or time travel, paranormal romances can also include books featuring characters with psychic abilities, like telekinesis or telepathy.

Paranormal romance has its roots in Gothic fiction.

A few paranormals are set solely in the past and are structured much like any historical romance novel. Others are set in the future, sometimes on different worlds. Still others have a time-travel element with either the hero or the heroine traveling into the past or the future...

Romance is not my cup of tea, but since I am a science fiction fan, I need to give this category its due.  For a deeper discussion of the genre from the viewpoint of someone in the publishing business, see "What is Paranormal Romance?" (pdf).

Thanks for the heads-up, Kirsten.

Reposted from 2010 (15 years ago!) to add a link to this story from the BBC:

Fans rush for hotly anticipated fantasy book sequel

Fans have queued up for Onyx Storm, the hotly anticipated new book by best-selling US fantasy author Rebecca Yarros, in one of the publishing events of the year.

"Onyx Storm is the third novel in Yarros's Empyrean series, set in a world of dragons, magic, warfare and steamy romance... In the US, some avid readers waited until 3am for the online release of an exclusive special edition from Target - but many who had stayed up complained on social media that the store's website couldn't cope with the demand...

In anticipation of Onyx Storm's release, the first two Empyrean books, Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, went back to the top two slots in the New York Times fiction bestsellers list...

Our library has 76 copies of the book on order, and already 750 patrons have placed their names on the waiting list.  I'd be delighted to hear comments from readers about the first two books.

President Eisenhower's farewell address (1961)

YouTube link.

Wikipedia summary.

Best known for his precient comments on the military-industrial complex, the speech also cautions against mortgaging the future of our grandchildren for immediate gains:

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

Fulltext here.

Related:  His Republican administration imposed a 91% marginal tax rate on millionaires, and in 1963 he opined that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unnecessary.

Reposted from 2019 because today I found a video in the National Archives discussing Eisenhower's role and intention in crafting the speech.  

Amazing science fact of the day: aquaporins

Some of the greatest migrations of living creatures on our planet occur in the oceans.  Most people are familiar with the "horizontal" migrations of whales, sardines, eels, and seabirds.  But other migrations occur "vertically," with creatures moving up to the surface in the daytime and retreating to darkness at night (or vice-versa).

Some of that migrating biomass consists of plankton, and some of those plankton are microplankton, which are single-celled and have no appendages.  Not only do they not have fins - they don't even possess cilia to move themselves around.  They are just single-cell balloons - and yet they have evolved the ability to move themselves vertically by several hundred meters in coordination with the dark/light cycle.  Ask the smartest person you know how a single-celled animal can propel itself in the open ocean and see if they can postulate a mechanism.

I heard the answer to this in an episode of my favorite science podcast - the BBC's Science in Action.  They offer a 30-minute summary each week of the newest developments in all of science - virology, space exploration, global warming, quarks, botany, anthropology, etc., via brief interviews with the researchers.  The link I've embedded discusses this plankton migration (from the 8- to 18-minute marks).

The key mechanism is that the organism adjusts its buoyancy by inflating itself to six times its deflated size (pix embedded above of a pair of small deep-water bioluminescent Pyrocystis noctiluca, and a pair showing their adjusted size near the ocean surface). 

Further investigation showed this expansion happens as a natural part of the plankton’s cell cycle. Once a single-celled plankton divides into two, an internal structure called a vacuole, a kind of flexible water tank, filters in fresh water, causing the two new cells to massively grow in size. These two daughter cells, now swelled with the lighter freshwater, sail upward. “What we realized is that this is a very clever way to essentially slingshot in the ocean during cell division,” Prakash says. “So, what happens during normal time? You’re making a lot of proteins, you have tons of sunlight, and you make a lot of biomass until you get heavier and you sink. Then, you do cell division in the deeper waters and use inflation to get back to the size of the mother.”

Note that the Pyrocystis is inflating itself with fresh water despite living in the ocean.  It amazes me that a single-celled organism has basically a desalination method.  And they do this without diluting their own cytoplasm.  Their cell membrane has aquaporins that transport water molecules without the dissolved ions.  

The links above are for the general public; the primary research was published in Current Biology.

Who makes up etiquette rules ?

Apparently I've been eating bread wrong my entire life.  I read something in a book recently that suggested that I have been departing from societal norms, so I looked it up.  Here's Rule #3:

"The only correct way to butter and eat your bread is to:

Using a knife, put a bit of butter on the side of your bread plate first;

Then, tear off one bite-sized piece of bread at a time and butter that piece only, right before putting it into your mouth.

Many people make the mistake of buttering the whole slice of bread and then biting into the slice."

I quite understand not to do any "communal dipping" into olive oil (Rule #7) (and not to double-dip nachos into the group salsa), but who determines that bread is placed on the left (Rule #2) and passed to the right (Rule #6), or that at formal/business dinners, bread should not be eaten until the first course is served (Rule #1).  

Hygiene and health-related rules are fine, but other prescriptivist dogma seems archaic and silly.  IMO.

"Touch" (2024 Icelandic film)

There are at least six movies and two series entitled "Touch" or "The Touch", so the title of this post specifies that I'm referring to the Icelandic movie released in 2024.

"Based on the Icelandic best-selling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Touch is a romantic story that spans several decades and continents. Touch follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago, before his time runs out."

This is easily the best movie I've watched in the past year.  The acting is superb, the cinematography beautiful, the storyline intriguing and ultimately satisfying.  It is currently streaming on Prime, probably with ads; I watched it without ads on Apple+TV.  The DVD is not in our library system yet.  

This film was chosen as the Icelandic entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

Word for the day: steezy

As defined by the Urban Dictionary:

"A snowboarder term that combines the word "style" with "ease" to create the act of doing a trick with style and ease to make it done with super steez. A rider with steez, such as myself, would be referred to as "steezy" whether it be because of his/her sick tricks, gangster apparel, or watevs."

I was introduced to the word by my grandniece, so I'll illustrate it with her photo from her Facebook feed.  I will grant her some privacy by leaving her anonymous for the present, although her artistic skills were featured in TYWKIWDBI eleven years ago.

Those wishing to dive more deeply into the jargon might wish to explore REI's Snowboarding Glossary or Burton's Debatably Definitive Glossary of Snowboarding Terms and Slang, which says that steeze is "no longer widely used and is not considered "cool” in some circles" (and just when I've learned it...)