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Moving Back to Blogging

I’ve been saying for a while that I’m sick of FB and its AI randomly jailing people for whatever reason the AI has – that they won’t tell you.

I’m putting my content back on here and linking from my FB account. You used to be able to crosspost to your FB account, but FB got rid of that years ago, so you’d be pushed into posting your content THERE, rather than YOUR BLOG. You could post to a business page, but not a personal one. I’d been crossposting to the IndigoDragon page for a while, but I decided that I want my personal content to remain personal, so I just post a link to my blog manually when I post here. FB can SUCK IT.

Many, many content providers are doing the same. Jim Wright (Stonekettle.com) has moved all his content back to his blog because FB was harassing him constantly. I’m glad he took control of that and told FB to suck it. We bloggers are doing this because we’re sick of FB demanding that we post THERE, then jailing us when we say something that their rightwing biased AI doesn’t like. Fuck that.

FB should be left to business pages and old people. I feel that this is already happening. The content that I used to get is just not there. I find myself on IG and even Twitter (gods help me) for artist updates (IG) and news (Twitter).

So, I hope people will click away from FB to read my content here. I’m not seeing a ton of that happening yet, but I’m sure part of that is FB throttling who gets to see my posts. I still get decent Google clicks, mostly because this blog has been up since 1999!! I’m OG baybee!

Comments are always open for a month, then closed. I moderate everything, but encourage comments. It’s odd to me that people will comment all day on FB, but be shy about commenting on a blog. GO AHEAD AND COMMENT. I’ll see it, I promise!

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My Theory About Current Events

We’ve dealt with nothing but pure bullshit for the last, what? SIX years?

First, we had T**** elected by the hillbillies. That was bad, umkay? Then we had the pandemic. That was worse, umkay!

But the thread for all the jackassery has been, for the most part, OLD PEOPLE. Not all the hillbillies are old, for sure, but it’s the old people that I had an epiphany about recently.

Boomers and older Gen Xers are the demographic that are the loudest and most devoted right wing extremists. I started wondering why that is. I had a conversation with a boomer lady who argued that I was wrong to vote Democrat. I told her, NO, she was the one in the wrong. We argued good-naturedly about this when I realised what I think the issue really is: inability to believe that America could possibly allow misinformation and propaganda to be spread by the news. She simply could not believe that misinformation was being used. (I do hold much contempt for old GenXers, however, since I AM ONE and I managed to navigate all the new tech and managed to CHANGE MY MIND about a lot of things, so they can, too. Assholes.) Continue reading “My Theory About Current Events”

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If I Leave Here Tomorrow

I just watched the Lynyrd Skynyrd doc on Netflix (If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd, 2018) and it was excellent.

I learned a lot about the band and the crash that killed six passengers. For one thing, I did not realize that the plane was a medium sized prop, and that there were 20 some odd people on board. In my mind, it was a crash like Buddy Holly’s or Patsy Cline’s. But it was not, the plane was quite large and there’s still speculation about what happened. Some say it ran out of gas, but the surviving band members said that the engine was not right from the get-go. It was very sobering to hear the accounts of the crash from the surviving band members who were interviewed for this documentary. Only six people died of the almost 30 on the plane, so that is a good thing, but the band died that day for sure. Ronnie Van Zant, Cassie Gaines and Steve Gaines were integral to Skynryd – especially Ronnie, of course.

It was good to hear from the only remaining members of the band, well, really only ONE of the original is left: Gary Rossington. Johnny Van Zant has been fronting the band since the 80s, but he is not an original member (he’s Ronnie’s little brother). All the rest have since died. If you’re interested in the details, watch the doc on Netflix and read the Wiki entry.

As you all know, I’m from E TN, so Southern Rock was a big part of my formative years. I was a little too young for Skynyrd in their heyday, but they were a big part of my high school years, which happened a few years after the crash. All the boys in band were huge fans. One guy had tickets for the Knoxville show from that fateful ’77 tour. They were sacred to him. One of the guys also had the Street Survivors record with flames on it, original release. (They removed the flames after the crash.)

We listened to Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin about equally, along with plenty of Journey and for me Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar.

I wish I’d seen Skynyrd in their heyday. I saw Rossington Collins Band for my very first concert – I think it was 1980 – so, that was part of Skynyrd, anyway. I remember the band boys dissing them for having Dale Krantz (female) as lead singer, which pissed me off.

What surprised me was the feelings hearing all that music brought up. It was a meaningful time for me, like all teens in High School. Hearing all that music brought back the times we sat in cars smoking and drinking, listening to Skynyrd. I’m not prone to nostalgia, so it’s a rare thing!

So, yeah. Interesting to me that I feel this way. I did not expect it! But, it’s true that music speaks to your soul, not your brain, so I guess I should’ve known it would affect me. I think I’m going to flesh out my Skynyrd collection.

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White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
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White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I whipped this up on a whim and it is so good, I just had to jot down what I did! This is one delicious dip! No cooking required with this pantry staple recipe.
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Keyword bean dip, hummus, party appetizers, party dip, roasted red pepper, tahini, white northern beans
Prep Time 10 minutes
Author misangela

Equipment

  • Food Processor or Blender

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can Great Northern beans any white bean is fine
  • 1/2 12 oz jar Roasted Red Peppers or two if you roast yourself
  • 1/2 cup Italian Cherry Peppers, about 5-6 often labeled sweet and hot peppers
  • 1 tsp EACH, juice from red peppers and cherry peppers double the cherry pepper juice if you roast your own peppers
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbl tahini
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 Tbl olive oil (EVOO) stream in while puréeing
  • 2 tsp lime juice, about one lime to taste
  • S/P to taste

Instructions

  • Drain the beans and cut the roasted red peppers into 1" chunks. Mince garlic.
  • Put everything except olive oil into food processor and process on high until smooth.
  • Stream in EVOO with processor on.
  • When desired consistency is reached, add lime juice and S/P to taste.
  • This dip will firm up in the fridge.
  • Serve with EVOO on top. It is great with tortilla chips, crackers or crudité.
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The Fall of Afghanistan

So. Afghanistan. I agree with Biden’s decision to leave. I just don’t see what can be done at this point. It’s their civil war, it’s not our business to interfere. All we’ve done is stave off the inevitable for 20 yrs. It is a country of women and children. The men left yrs ago to escape death by the Taliban. It’s shitty.

I just read a book about what it’s like to live there and I don’t think we’ve done a damn thing to help in all the 20yrs we’ve been interfering. We’ve kept the Taliban from formal control of the government, but they still control the PEOPLE.

The book, if you’re interested in the plight of women in Afghanistan, is The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle T Lemmon from 2011.

I hate that the Taliban is going to get control, but there’s not a thing we can do about it. Best to just get out. Perhaps the men that left can band together to take back the country. I don’t know the answer, but I feel that it’s not our place to interfere.

The US has interfered with the Middle East since forever and look at the fucking MESS we’ve made. Also read Queen Noor’s book Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life if you’re interested in learning more about the Middle East and what has transpired there since the 70s. It ain’t pretty.

Afghanistan has been the hot potato for presidents for 4 administrations. At least Biden is willing to take the hit and do the right thing by getting out of there and letting that country mind its business. It is not our place to control a CIVIL war. We really need a Prime Directive. Sigh.