Life is Work in Progress

Automatic

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ksWKOy665o

by Miranda Lambert

Mariachi Flor de Toloache

An All Female Mariachi band...interesting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-rl26QKPHtE

What Are The Healthiest Things To Eat?

Among the many things New Yorkers pride ourselves on is food: making it, selling it and consuming only the best, from single-slice pizza to four-star sushi. We have fish markets, Shake Shacks and, as of this year, 74 Michelin-starred restaurants.

Yet most everything we eat is fraudulent.

In his new book, "REAL FOOD FAKE FOOD" author Larry Olmsted exposes the breadth of counterfeit foods we’re unknowingly eating. After reading it, you’ll want to be fed intravenously for the rest of your life.

Think you’re getting Kobe steak when you order the $350 “Kobe steak” off the menu at Old Homestead? Nope — Japan sells its rare Kobe beef to just three restaurants in the United States, and 212 Steakhouse is the only one in New York. That Kobe is probably Wagyu, a cheaper, passable cut, Olmsted says. (Old Homestead declined request for comment.)

Fraudulence spans from haute cuisine to fast food: A February 2016 report by Inside Edition found that Red Lobster’s lobster bisque contained a non-lobster meat called langostino. In a statement to The Post, Red Lobster maintains that langostino is lobster meat and said that in the wake of the IE report, “We amended the menu description of the lobster bisque to note the multiple kinds of lobster that are contained within.”

Moving on: That extra-virgin olive oil you use on salads has probably been cut with soybean or sunflower oil, plus a bunch of chemicals. The 100 percent grass-fed beef you just bought is no such thing — it’s very possible that cow was still pumped full of drugs and raised in a cramped feedlot.

Unless your go-to sushi joint is Masa or Nobu, you’re not getting the sushi you ordered, ever, anywhere, and that includes your regular sushi restaurant where you can’t imagine them doing such a thing, Olmsted says. Your salmon is probably fake and so is your red snapper. Your white tuna is something else altogether, probably escolar — known to experts as “the Ex-Lax fish” for the gastrointestinal havoc it wreaks.

Escolar is so toxic that it’s been banned in Japan for 40 years, but not in the US, where the profit motive dominates public safety. In fact, escolar is secretly one of the top-selling fish in America.

“Sushi in particular is really bad,” Olmsted says, and as a native New Yorker, he knows how much this one hurts. He writes that multiple recent studies “put the chances of your getting the white tuna you ordered in the typical New York sushi restaurant at zero — as in never.”

Fake food, Olmsted says, is a massive national problem, and the more educated the consumer, the more vulnerable to bait-and-switch: In 2014, the specialty-foods sector — gourmet meats, cheeses, booze, oils — generated over $1 billion in revenue in the US alone.

“This category is rife with scams,” Olmsted writes, and even when it comes to basics, none of us is leaving the grocery store without some product — coffee, rice or honey — being faked.

The food industry isn’t just guilty of perpetrating a massive health and economic fraud: It’s cheating us out of pleasure. These fake foods produce shallow, flat, one-dimensional tastes, while the real things are akin to discovering other galaxies, other universes — taste levels most of us have never experienced.

“The good news,” Olmsted writes, “is that there is plenty of healthful and delicious Real Food. You just have to know where to look.”

‘Safety isn’t a niche’

One of the most popular, fastest-growing foods in America is olive oil, touted for its ability to prevent everything from wrinkles to heart disease to cancer. Italian olive oil is a multibillion-dollar global industry, with the US its third-largest market.

The bulk of these imports are, you guessed it, fake. Labels such as “extra-virgin” and “virgin” often mean nothing more than a $2 mark-up. Most of us, Olmsted writes, have never actually tasted real olive oil.

“Once someone tries a real extra-virgin — an adult or child, anybody with taste buds — they’ll never go back to the fake kind,” artisanal farmer Grazia DeCarlo has said.

“It’s distinctive, complex, the freshest thing you’ve ever eaten. It makes you realize how rotten the other stuff is — literally rotten.”

Fake olive oil, Olmsted claims, has killed people. He cites the most famous example: In 1981, more than 20,000 people suffered mass food poisoning in Spain. About 800 people died, and olive oil mixed with aniline, a toxic chemical used in making plastic, was blamed. 

In 1983, the World Health organization named the outbreak “toxic oil syndrome,” but subsequent investigations pointed to a different contaminant and a different food — pesticides used on tomatoes from Almeria. (Olmsted stands by his reporting.)

Some of the most common additives to olive oil are soybean and peanut oils, which can prove fatal to anyone allergic — and you’ll never see those ingredients on a label. Beware, too, of olive oil labeled “pure” — that can mean the oil is the lowest grade possible.

"No one is checking,” Olmsted writes.

How do we find the real thing? Olmsted recommends a few reliable retailers, including Oliviers & Co. in New York and New Jersey. Otherwise, look for labels reading “COOC Certified Extra Virgin” — the newly formed California Olive Oil Council’s stamp — or the international EVA and UNAPROL labels.

In terms of scope and scale, there’s an even greater level of fraud throughout the seafood industry. “Imagine if half the time you pulled into a gas station, you were filling your tank with dirty water instead of gasoline,” Olmsted writes. “That’s the story with seafood.”

He cites a 2012 study of New York City seafood done by scientists at Oceana, a nonprofit advocacy group. They discovered fakes at 58 percent of 81 stores sampled and at all of the 16 sushi restaurants studied, and this goes on throughout the United States. If you see the words “sushi grade” or “sashimi grade” on a menu, run. There are no official standards for use of the terms.

Red snapper, by the way, is almost always fake — it’s probably tilefish or tilapia. (Tilapia also doubles for catfish.)

“Consumers ask me all the time, ‘What can I do?’ and all I can say is, ‘Just don’t ever buy red snapper,’ ” Dr. Mark Stoeckle, a specialist in infectious diseases at Weill Medical College, told Olmsted. “Red snapper is the big one — when you buy it, you almost never get it.”

Farmed Cambodian ponga poses as grouper, catfish, sole, flounder and cod. Wild-caught salmon is often farmed and pumped up with pink coloring to look fresher. Sometimes it’s actually trout.

Ever wonder why it’s so hard to properly sear scallops? It’s because they’ve been soaked in water and chemicals to up their weight, so vendors can up the price. Even “dry” scallops contain 18 percent more water and chemicals.

Shrimp is so bad that Olmsted rarely eats it. “I won’t buy it, ever, if it is farmed or imported,” he writes. In 2007, the FDA banned five kinds of imported shrimp from China; China turned around and routed the banned shrimp through Indonesia, stamped it as originating from there, and suddenly it was back in the US food ­supply.

Seafood fraud puts pregnant women at risk; high levels of mercury in fish are known to cause birth defects. Allergic reactions to shellfish have been known to cause paralysis.

“All the gross details you have heard about industrial cattle farming — from the widespread use of antibiotics and chemicals to animals living in their own feces and being fed parts of other animals they don’t normally consume — occurs in the seafood arena as well,” Olmsted writes. “Only it is much better hidden.”

Corruption in the seafood industry is so rife that in 2014, President Obama formed the Presidential Task Force on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Seafood Fraud. In the meantime, Olmsted has some suggestions.

Look for the reliable logos MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) for wild-caught fish and BAP (Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices) for farmed, he says.

Alaska Seafood: Wild, Natural, Sustainable.” Alaska’s system mandates complete supervision of chain of custody, from catching to your grocery store.

Perhaps most surprising of all: Discount big-box stores such as Costco, Trader Joe’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Walmart are as stringent with their standards as Whole Foods.

“When customers walk into a store, they don’t expect to have to pay a premium for safe food,” Walmart exec Brittni Furrow said in 2014. “Safety isn’t a niche.”

Your grass-fed cow was drugged

One of the simplest things we can do, Olmsted writes, is to look for products named after their geographical location. Grated Parmesan cheese is almost always fake, and earlier this year, the FDA said its testing discovered that some dairy products labeled “100% Parmesan” contained polymers and wood pulp.

That’s all the FDA did: You can still buy your woody cheese at the supermarket.

Parmigiano-Reggiano, however, derives its name from Parma, the region in Italy that’s produced this cheese for over 400 years. If you buy it with that label, it’s real.

Same with Roquefort cheese and Champagne from France, and San Marzano tomato sauce, Bologna meat and Chianti from Italy, and Scotch whisky from Scotland. Still, Olmsted strongly advises looking for the label PDO — Protected Designation of Origin, the highest guarantee of authenticity there is.

As for our own lax labeling standards, Olmsted is outraged. Ninety-one percent of American seafood is imported, but the FDA is responsible for inspecting just 2 percent of those imports. And in 2013, the agency inspected less than half of that 2 percent.

“The bar is so low,” he says. “Congress could not have given them less to do, and they still fail. They’re not clueless. They know. They’re actually deciding not to do it. They say they don’t have the budget.”

When it comes to beef, Olmstead reports that the USDA is no better; the agency repealed its standards for the “grass-fed” designation in January after pressure from the agriculture industry.

All that stamp now means, he says, is that in addition to grass, the animals “can still be raised in an industrial feed lot and given drugs. It just means the actual diet was grass rather than corn.”

If you don’t have access to a farmer’s market, Olmsted says that Eli’s and Citarella in New York are reliable providers of true grass-fed beef.

“Go up to the counter and ask them where the grass-fed beef comes from,” he says. “They need to know. In New York in particular, you have access to a lot of specialized gourmet stores, and you can source stuff locally. You can’t do that in most of the country.”

"EVERYTHING THAT WE LOVE TO EAT IS A SCAM"

Article by Maureen Callahan

You Might Be

If you think that you are the smartest person here, there or for that matter...anywhere
If you could care less of other people's input, opinions, feelings, comments, concerns or questions
(Because they could never be right)
If you constantly interrupt others
If you have no manners when around others
If you could care less of what might be happening to anyone other than you
If you firmly believe that God was made in your image
If you constantly need to swear and insult others or pick on them
(Especially if you do it through the Internet)
If you break up with someone via text
If you need constant attention
If you steal credit for other people's ideas
If you no idea of empathy
If you constantly seek out mirrors
If you cut lines
If you are a hypocrite
If you don't tip
If you don't listen
If you like starting arguments
If your constructive talks revolve around insults and put downs
If you believe that being "nice" and expecting nothing in return is a stupid idea
If you complain about everything and everyone
If you only pretend to do good when others are watching
If you ignore others because they are just not that important
If you believe that you are entitled to special treatment
If you believe that it's normal for everyone to tolerate your obnoxious behavior
If you make a mess knowingly and expect someone to clean it up for you
If you like being loud in quiet atmospheres
If you are a narcissist

You Just Might Be an Arsehole


Asshole Evaluation Chart
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ahtest

Asshole Rating Self Exam
(ARSE)

http://electricpulp.com/guykawasaki/arse/

"Don't be an Asshole!  Just because you have one...you don't need to Act Like One."

Christian Simamora

Marry Now, Sorry Later

Salt and Pepper

What A Man

"Whatta Man"
by Salt N Pepa
featuring En Vogue

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LyAIzLHvxnY&feature=youtu.be

ps

Right Said Fred

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mtclwloEQ

Life, Liberty and what ever else that we may want

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Declaration of Independence

American Forefathers

Unalienable.
Isn't it such a peculiar sounding word?  Almost sounds like a double negative with the centerpiece of alien.  As far as I'm concerned, alien means foreign or unknown.  The current definition of unalienable according to thefreedictionary.com states:
Not to be separated,  given away or taken away; inalienable
So, anything that is unalienable can not be taken away from you...nor could you give it away if you wanted to...as a matter of fact...you can never be separated from it...and IT being your right of Life, Liberty and your pursuit of Happiness.
A right that belongs to you...a right that No One can take away from you...a right that you should not ever, under any circumstance, relinquish or "transfer" to anything or anyone.
Got it?
Good, now keep it because there are plenty of folks on this globe that lack the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Which brings me to my next point, and it's been a theme of mine before.
The Pursuit of Happiness.
Let's not confuse that with the right to be happy, because being happy isn't so clean and easy.
I find too many people, mostly younger who expect to be entitled to the be made happy by others (or things).
Yes, that's what some (being most) people expect...
To be made happy.
Whether it's through their personal relationships, or their jobs and co-workers...perhaps their neighbors, friends and family...
Some way, some how...it's everyone else's obligation to make you happy.
Because it's your entitled right.
Right?
Wrong.
It's no one's responsibility to make you happy.
No it's not.
It's up to you to pursue your happiness and make yourself happy.
It's not up to your spouse or loved one.  It's not up to the wealth to make you feel complete and happy.  It's not up to anyone or anything to hand you happiness.
It's all up to you, and nothing else really factors beyond that.
Nothing external will ever fill that void within us, unless we fill it from within first.
First fact to understand:
Focusing too much of trying to feel good all the time will counteract you actually feeling good....because expectations aren't always attainable to the levels they are set...especially if you make them contingent on others to fill.
Second Fact to understand:
Things are just that, things.  Maybe initially they make us excited...but with time, they become just like anything else...
Things vary from money, jewelry, vehicles, clothes and so on....
Again, expectations set our standards and if we get more...there is rarely a fill point where we say we have too much...and we are always looking for more to satisfy our expanding expectations.
Third fact to understand:
It's not a destination.  There is no road that ultimately leads you someplace where you will eternally happy.  That only happens in soap operas and Disney movies....and life is neither.
Instead, being happy is something that we need to continually work on.
As in an everyday effort.  In other words creating habits that implement that connection.
One way you can understand why you should be happy, is understand and appreciate all the good things already in your life.
Happiness isn't a one an done event, but rather a continual progress towards experience every day life.
So, you have be satisfied and content with what you have.
You need to feel healthy and strong, in turn, feel good about your self.
Keep good habits as far as diet and sleep go.
Surround yourself with people that mirror this influence.
Stay optimistic, stay positive....expect good effort out of yourself, after all...that should be your primary expectation of yourself.
And most importantly, cherish what already is good and understand that this is a path that everyone has to walk...and everyone has their falls.
Contrary to how you may think and feel, Life is NOT here to conspire against you in order to make you miserable....rather we are all fortunate enough to be allowed to have these experiences, aka the miracle of life....and that, in itself entitles you to make yourself as happy as you want.
Anyhow, without experiencing the low, HOW will you be able to appreciate the high!
And let's be real people, how can anyone short of being medicated or just born funny...how can anyone be able to sustain the "high" of happiness all the time?
Is that even possible under normal everyday conditions?





Nothing makes me as happy as listening to Vikings chanting!
Viking War Chant

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mav2kkvakGY

Ps congratulations to Iceland's National Soccer Team in the Euro Cup

love Supercedes fear

I can't hold fear as my dominating form of inspiration
No! No! No!
I just will not do it...
Instead, I focus on how a solution needs to find its home....irrelevent of consequence
or

reaction

Resolution WILL always happen

with or without our consent

Time always moves forward
Combine the two and stop worrying of WHAT happens in the "in between"
When I have a problem
I calmly step back and think
In time, it will come to pass
Let me do the best that I can and hope for the best to come
(Although LUCK does favor the prepared)
Before I know it
A half century will pass
My hair will grey
And half of the people that I know will leave
The other half will be on borrowed time
But I won't stress about that
Time isn't a problem, if I Don't make it one


ps
to those that want to be in the "know"

Listen here Ms Joanne Webb, every problem that I have ever had in life...(and I have had many moments of chaos and/or crisis)...I have stepped back and told myself in due imminent time, things will come to a pass and everyone will move on regardless of my action/decision...Finding myself released of any stress or tension that this chaotic crisis might have created.

This thought process calms me, grounds me and it re-energizes me.  I feel focused to the tenth degree when I realiz(s)e that time solves my issue of deadline...and my world will not somehow implode at the endpoint of whatever is my chaos or crisis.

It's like riding a wave to shore

I catch it with my focus and ride it with my skill

At all points

I am fully calm and focused

Ohm to those that get it

Pss

Don't sweat the little things

It's the big ones that often get us