Looking out from indoor dining at the Kidd

First decent commercial burger in a year.

"There is no Wisdom in the Crowd"

Who said that?

Well, I looked on Google and found a fascinating article about John McCoy's ideas. A marketing professor at the Wharton School, he said: build a baseline distribution of answers by asking people what they thought other people would answer. Then do a chi-squared of the actual answer distribution versus the baseline. Or rather, compare column height between the actual and the crowd's predicted answers.

Afternoon at Chappaquoit - two oil pastels

 Looking north - Cleveland Light

Looking south - April Beachgoers

The US Constitution's Failings

I never write abut political issues but it has to be said: the US government is simply not working. It has been taken over by corporate interests, that fund and fuel the thinking of politicians in both parties. Voters naturally think that, if we could just elect the right leader, he or she would solve American's problems. But we have seen again and again that people who go to Washington hoping to change things, invariably become focused on fitting in and being accepted by "the team". I have gone my whole life never once seeing a strong political victory for the people. I guess I'm tired of being fooled by the rhetoric of how the lesser of two evils is going to suddenly make us happy.

Consider the concept of a "right". The founders who framed the declaration of independence in terms of "rights" had been part of a system that depended on a Monarchy and a unitary God. For them, freedoms were granted by the superior power. They passed along that view of the universe when they started talking about rights. Rights flow from a superior power and they said:
 

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Is this not complete drivel? They might have said: we know, for sure, that this is really true and God or somebody very strongly supports our life, liberty, and happiness. After this has been said, all we are left with is a faint sense of relief that we are going be safe. 

Since I think it is such garbage, let me propose something cleaner:

People have needs such as food, shelter, healthcare, and education. It is the responsibility of a government to guarantee those needs will be met for every citizen.

In the end, I think energy that has been spent in the past supporting "better" politicians should be spent supporting strikes. The people have to Take Back America.

First (probably last) date at Quisset

Taiwanese Beef noodle soup

Adapted from "Souped Up Recipes" YouTube channel. Not a hard recipe but lots of ingredients. I tend to go light on the spices. Did not have an orange peel and used an apple instead.

Blanche the meat

In pot of boiling water, combine:

1-2 lbs shank of beef muscle (trim off most of the fat)

3 slices of ginger and some white wine

boil < 10 minutes, then discard water and rinse and dry the meat.

Brown the meat at med hi heat, with a little oil. Sideline the meat.

At low heat, add 1.5 tbs sugar to the oil, melt sugar [making caramel takes patience, I have trouble with it, it is slow, and perhaps worth reading about], then mix in and coat the meat.

Add dry ingredients:

and stir together for a minute or two, the aromatics:

4 slices of ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, white part of 2 green onion, 1/2 onion quartered

cinnamon stick, bay leaf, dried orange peel, 1.5 tbs tomato paste

[star anise? Du Ban Jiang? Dry chili peppers [or eg a couple jalapeno slices]

Add wet ingredients:

Wine, 1.5-2 tbs soy sauce

Water enough to cover the beef (or more)

Cover and bring to boil

Add salt to taste

Reduce heat, cover, simmer 3-4 hours.

Note: the desired outcome is a broth that is clear without too much fat. I separate the meat from the broth; discard what is floating in the broth (eg old slices of ginger, cinnamon, and onion); chill the broth and remove any fat layer that solidifies on top. Then put meat back in broth.

***

The result can be quite rich. You can dilute with beef broth or water.

Serve liquid over noodles, garnish with pieces of beef and steamed baby bok choy.