This isn’t new and apparently it didn’t catch on. I just thought it was funny.
The weird* thing about it is that there seems to be no such website as myplate.gov. USDA has choosemyplate.gov, which might be what they mean. Damned if I spent a second trying to find anything there, though.
I want a refund on whatever portion of my money they blew on this.
—
*unless you assume bureaucratic incompetence, in which case it’s not weird at all.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Laddie the Amazing Torso Boy 2011-2020
"Freedom Outlaw. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. It’s an attitude — from which actions always follow. It’s a do-it-yourself occupation. And a lifetime vocation."
- Claire Wolfe, Backwoods Home Companion, 6-07-10
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- G. K. Chesterton
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
- Aaron Zelman
"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."
- Barbie
"Never underestimate the ability of shit to find a fan."
- F. Paul Wilson
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The sophistry of villains - Bah!
- Robert A. Heinlein, Double Star
“Truth is, I’m not specifically interested in an armed society. What I want is a free society.”
- George Potter
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence
Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones.Â
– Reality
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand
If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
- Frank Turner
Don't be afraid to try something big, just because you're an amateur. The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
- Anon
"Nothing scares a police officer more than the threat of being treated the way that they treat people every day."
- Anon
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
- Gen. James Mattis
"Lust for power is the most flagrant of all the passions."
- Tacitus
"The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free."
- F.A. "Baldy" Harper
"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
- William James
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
- Viktor Frankl
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
- Milton Friedman
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
- William Faulkner
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
- Ernest Hemingway
"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
John Moses Browning - The most badass Mormon who ever lived.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- James A. Baldwin
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
- Anon
“I tried to live in such a way that, when dying, I would rather feel happy than scared.”
– Witold Pilecki
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
- Sallust
"Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark."
- Lazarus Long
Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
– Â Christopher Morley
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”
-Frederick Douglass
ESSE QUAM VIDERI –
To be, rather than to seem
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.”
– Ida B. Wells
Do what thy manhood bid thee do; from none but self expect applause.
He noblest lives and noblest dies, who makes and keeps his self made laws
– Sir Richard Burton
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”
― Father Alfred d’Souza
I remember one of my first encounters with a microwave many years ago. The thing was as big as a barn, but the idea was certainly entertaining. I was told that the thing would instantly cook an egg… but I wasn’t told actually how to go about it. So, I cracked two eggs and put them into the glass dish with some butter and a bit of water to poach them (my favorite way to cook eggs), and set the timer for one minute (I think, can’t quite remember). Anyway, I didn’t know to poke a small hole in each yolk, so they exploded inside the machine instead of just cooking. Took a week to get it cleaned out. What a mess.
Lessee, we have: ground meat, poultry, seafood. What about ground poultry or tuna out of a can? No popcorn? Ya gotta have popcorn! Who designs these menus?
ML: I didn’t know about the hole-in-yolk trick. On his way out at the end of his last day, a coworker nuked a dozen store-bought eggs (while still in the carton). They claim it blew the door open. Gotta try that someday when I can afford to waste 12 eggs. And borrow a microwave.
When the home computer was first invented, one of the first applications the manufacturers dreamed up was the kitchen computer, which the “modern homemaker” would presumably use to organize recipes. It never happened! But “they” never stopped trying. The latest gimmick is this continuous stream of dumb ideas for “smart” web-connected appliances. Beyond simple timers, I prefer my appliances dumb. In fact, the dumber the better!
I remember reading that the inventor of the microwave loved to cook whole turkeys in the microwave. It took like 20 minutes.
I couldn’t ever help but think about how that sumbitch must’ve come out like dried shoe leather by the time he cooked it.
All grey and soggy in the wrong places and dry in the worst… Yuck.
Indeed, that might be fun… if the person you borrowed the thing from didn’t mind it being destroyed. I gave up trying to cook eggs or meat in the microwave a long time ago. Just doesn’t do a good job, and I like my eggs soft and with the yolk still liquid. The microwave is good to defrost things, and for cooking some frozen vegetables quickly… though I tend to take the time and put them in a pan on the stove for better results. The thing I use the microwave for the most besides defrosting is softening butter in the morning. The only thing I don’t like about real butter is that it is hard to spread. 12 seconds in the micro, and it’s perfect. 🙂
I’ve always said I’d like a single machine to defrost… and to flash freeze things.
Yes indeed to the dumb machines. The “smart” ones usually scare me. LOL
About 4 years ago,my microwave quit working (with a loud pop),and I threw it away.I decided to see how long I could live without it,and I haven’t missed it once since then.
Bonus use for a microwave: dead ones are a free source of two really strong ring magnets if you’re willing to tear apart the magic microwave magnetron. Just make sure the capacitor is discharged first.
ML: I like to “poach” the eggs in the soup I’m heating up in the magic machine. No pan to wash and less butter use (which is a mixed blessing as I’m too fat but butter is good).
I’ve tried that, Robert. Just don’t like my eggs cooked that hard. I don’t use butter for anything but toast, most of the time. I use a bit of coconut oil in my little pan, add some cold water, then the cold eggs. The pan is covered and I put the burner on high. When it bubbles, I turn it down and watch for the covering over the yolk to get cooked a bit in the steam. Then I pour it all out over the toast (home made WW bread). It doesn’t stick, and I don’t mind washing the pan any more than I do the dish or a bowl. Just makes a better poached egg for my money. 🙂
The butter (or coconut oil) won’t make you fat, actually. It really is essential for our bodies, and helps us feel fed and full. I went through a phase trying to seriously limit my fats and was hungry all the time. I gained ten pounds!! The research seems to indicate that sugar is actually the culpret. I’ve lost weight and maintained it since I eliminated most sugar from my diet.
ML: Thanks, I’ll have to try the coconut oil trick. And yes, it isn’t that butter is bad, it’s that one itty-bitty pat has 100 calories I don’t need. Darnit. I’ve recently started the VA’s wieght control program and it ain’t so bad. Though the three house cats are starting to look like meat sources to me. 🙂
If you touch that button, the damned thing ought to shock you for being so stupid.