Persecuted for wearing a beard back in the good old days. (h/t Wondermark)
An interview over at Abu Muqawama where they talk about how much damage the recently uncovered Israeli spy did to Hezbollah. I hope Israel puts a lot of work into saving this guy’s bacon. Otherwise there won’t be too many repeats.
This week’s poem of the week is Hymne to GOD my GOD, in my Sicknesse from John Donne
This week’s rant of the week is The Most Irresponsible Thing You’ll Read This Weekend from Jeff Matthews.
The week’s essay of the week is Comfort the Comfortless from Cloudy Day Writing.
The main irrigation system for California farmers, the Central Valley Project, expects to halt water deliveries to most of its growers this year due to one of the worst droughts in state history, federal managers said on Friday.
The zero-water allocation for most CVP users was declared by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as California water officials repeated their plans to cut amounts supplied from a separate state-run water project to 15 percent of normal allotments.
The cutbacks are a huge blow to farmers in the Central Valley, which produces over half of the fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States, and will undoubtedly lead to higher prices for a wide variety of crops.
From the Times….
US prices rise despite disappearing inflation
A question for an irrational world: For most of my adult life, asset prices have soared faster then GDP growth while at the same time inflation was mild. Why then is everyone so convinced that a sharp fall in assets prices will protect us from inflation?
New studies are coming out all the time which claim to prove this or that point. Some studies “prove” things which were obvious to most of us. Other studies prove less than the authors of the study think. And in some studies the results are debatable but since the results fit in with our own […]
It was early February, that Saturday morning when I went down to the creek. The sun shone from a blue sky, feeling somehow brighter and more cheery that it had in several months. The snow crunched hard under my feet as I walked to the tree line. Snow that has sat many weeks, settling, melting […]
Quality not the best for understandable reasons. So only watch if you’re interested in the phenomenon and not because you expect to see something really cool.
I should note that at least some of the clips on this video are probably aircraft dropping flares near a military base. Some don’t seem to fit this category though.
To Whom it May Concern:
Your teas are a disgrace. Either that, or your advertising is a crime. I’ve yet to find a single one of your “fruit” teas that didn’t taste hibiscus with only slight, mild aftertastes that may or may not reflect the claimed flavor of the tea. This fact is unfortunately backed up by your ingredient lists. Examine, please, your own ingredient listing on your “Fruit Tea Sampler”:
Rasberry Zinger: Hibiscus, Rosehips, Roasted Chicory, Orange Peel, Blackberry Leaves, “Natural Raspberry Flavor with ‘other’ Natural Flavors (contains soy lecithin), oh, and raspberries and raspberry leaves.
Country Peach Passion: Rosehips, Hibiscus, Orange Peel, Roasted Chicory, Chamomile, Blackberry leaves, “Natural Peach and Passion Fruit Flavors with ‘other’ Natural Flavors (contains soy lecithin), oh, and peaches and citric acid.
Cranberry Apple Zinger: Hibiscus, Cinnamon, Roasted Chicory, “Natural flavors” (contains soy lecithin), Chamomile, Blackberry Leaves, oh, and cranberries and apples.
Tangerine Orange Zinger: Hibiscus, Rosehips, Blackberry Leaves (again), “Natural Tangerine Flavor with ‘other’ Natural Flavors (contains soy lecithin), orange peel and hawthorn berries.
Black Cherry Berry: Hibiscus, Rosehips, Roasted Chicory, Blackberry Leaves, Hawthorn Berries, “Natural Black Cherry Flavor with ‘other’ Natural Flavors (contains soy lecithin), Chamomile, oh, and sweet cherries.
One would think one could at least expect that if a tea was describe as “Raspberry flavored”, some form of raspberries would appear before the last ingredient. One might think that if a tea was named “Cranberry Apple”, it’s dominate flavors would indeed be cranberry and apple. Instead, what one finds is that the tea is largely cheap fillers, much like putting sawdust in bread. There is very little to differentiate the tea flavors, except perhaps the illustrations on the box. If you take a mouthful and close your eyes, the dominate flavors have nothing to do with the advertised product. Sampling all five of these teas finds them more similar than dissimilar in flavor.
As a warm liquid fairly high in vitamin C, I suppose you excel. If your goal was actually, as claimed, to produce varying flavors, each enjoyable and distinct from one another, you have failed abysmally. If you won’t change your ingredients, at least change your names. “Hint of Cherry Hibiscus” or perhaps “Naturally Flavored Hibiscus.” Then your customers will know what to expect. Honesty is always a good policy.
Sincerely,
The Troll
Yes, I wasted 42 cents mailing this out. I have nothing more to say, except to point out the obvious: it’s the middle of Febuary in the frozen North. Plus, having informed them of their abominable product, I no longer feel the need to seeth every time I see the box. They have been notified of their failure; to think of it now only wastes time and energy, of which I have plenty of other uses.