Taking On Einstein

 

Albert Einstein was a genius. Just a fact, not up for debate. But I'm going to argue with him a bit today (admittedly, far easier to do considering he's been dead for well over 60 years). And no, theoretical physics is not an arena in which I could take him on.

The truth about geniuses is that they are often proven to be best when they stay in their lane. Not all of them are "street smart," understanding of some of the less left-brained, more everyday aspects of life. Not so with Einstein. He actually understood so much more than the analytical.

One fairly well-known quote that caught my attention: "Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed."

There was a time I might have argued this one, but not now. Pessimistic? Yes. But coming to clear fruition in the realm of politics in this country? Hell, yes.

But it's a quote acknowledging, even putting higher value in, the right side of his brain that makes me think the same thing I've been thinking about our forefathers: insightful, incredibly insightful, but oh, you never saw this current republican party coming.

Einstein said: "I am enough of the artist to draw freely on my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Imagination may encircle the world, but in his own words, Einstein admits that stupidity, fear, and greed rule it.

So . . . Enter Ron DeSantis, followed by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and the Tennessee legislature . . . the death knell of knowledge. 

Yeah, I'm up on my soap box again.

I fully agree that imagination is integral to most every stride forward we make. But where I take exception is here: if we limit knowledge, we diminish the scope with which the imagination has to work.

Neither knowledge nor imagination is more important than the other. It is, it needs to be, a symbiotic relationship. They nourish each other.

It is not the ingredients OR the process that is the recipe for success, dear Einstein, it's the mixture: the ingredients AND the process.

Ginger Snap Sweet Potato Cake

Book banning limits knowledge. It is the beginning of the choking off of imagination, the limitation of nutrients. Imagination can survive, but cannot thrive.

Taking that limitation a terrifying step forward though, is not just the denial of facts, but the literal whitewashing of history. The bastardization of school curriculum from the largest scope of truth we can impart to one man's skewed personal views. The manipulation of knowledge by stupidity, fear, and greed.

I look at my generation with shame. We have not made the world a better place for the next generation. I have, however, seen so much hope in this next generation, a moral compass and a vision for this country and the world despite (or because of) the erosion of right, disregard of truth, bigotry, and the mass shooting traumatization endemic of the years in which they will come of age.

Now, I'm not so sure. The assault on education is the limitation of knowledge and its effect on imagination changes everything.

Computer scientists were right, the quality of the output is determined by the quality of the input.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Ginger Snap Sweet Potato Cake         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix

1/4 cup crushed ginger snaps

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes, cooled

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup orange juice

1/3 cup oil

4 eggs

1 can (16 oz) cream cheese frosting

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 TBSP brown sugar

5 TBSP crushed ginger snaps, divided

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch cake pans.

*Beat cake mix, 1/4 cup of the ginger snaps, mashed sweet potatoes, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, orange juice, oil, and eggs for 2 minutes. Spread evenly into the prepared pans.
*Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the center of the top springs back to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from pans, and cool completely. Trim the tops of the cake layers so they are flat. Place the bottom layer onto your serving plate.

*Beat together the cream cheese frosting, cream cheese, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Remove 1/3 cup of the frosting to a piping bag for decoration.

*Divide the remaining frosting in half. To one half, mix in 3 TBSP of the remaining cookie crumbs. Use half of this frosting to frost the top of the bottom cake layer. Add the middle cake layer and use the rest of this frosting on the middle cake layer. Add the top cake layer.

*Using the half of the frosting without the cookie crumbs, frost the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with the reserved frosting and the remaining crushed cookies. Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

*Cover and refrigerate leftovers, then bring to room temperature to serve.

Politicized Education and the Fate of Knowledge

 

 

How important is the narrowing of school curriculum?

 

Why do we even send our children to school, anyway?

 

There are a lot of benefits, including socialization, teamwork, skill development. But the most important, by far, is the access to knowledge. Presented by professionals trained in not just the information, but in how to cultivate interest, to inspire, to encourage, and to challenge.

Critical thinking, problem solving, discerning static vs fluid boundaries, all the ways in which our minds grow, are ultimately augmented or stagnate by the amount of information introduced.

What we need, actually need, our children to do is to go out into the world prepared to problem solve. Medical, environmental, societal, technical . . . And we owe it to them to arm them with everything they need to hit the ground running.

 

Every piece of material they are capable of comprehending, that we deliberately hold back from them is a detriment. Stilted knowledge. Constrained abilities.

How is this for irony? We're actively dumbing down education.

 

 

 

Florida's "don't say gay" law criminalizes the mention of diversity in sexual orientation or gender identity.

A Texas school district has banned Ann Frank's Diary.

Seven states have banned critical race theory (with pending bills in more than 15 states).

These states and districts are not about molding curriculum. It's far more insidious than that. It's about forced conformity. It's about limitation sprung from bigotry. It is the divorce of education from educators in favor of the politization of knowledge. A political agenda determined to fit the square peg of information into the round hole of White Christian Nationalism.

History matters.

So does trust. When we whitewash history, we tell our children that we don't trust them. We don't trust them to know, to understand, to process, to acknowledge, to learn, and to grow. 

Wait, isn't that why they're in school in the first place?

Listen, education is compulsory, by law, in all states. And don't get me wrong, if you have specific personal convictions or religious beliefs, there are options. There are private schools, church run schools, and home schooling. Public school is not the place for information limitation. It needs to be the place for expansion.

We cannot expect pie if we deny the existence of some of the ingredients.

But it's so much more than that. We effectively limit the breadth of flavors of any future pies, in the short term, anyway. Until these students can spend valuable time and effort finding out what we already know. And refused to tell them.

Raspberry Prosecco Pie

 

If we deny world history, our history, the existence of diversity in our society, the chance to learn from the past, the tools to develop compassion, the truth . . . not before moving forward, but in order to effectively move forward, what are we doing? To our children, to our future? We are sending these kids out there with blindfolds on. With their hands tied behind their backs.

How important is the narrowing of school curriculum?

Ever heard that old saying "it's not the end of the world?"

What these bigoted politicians are doing?

Could actually be the end of the word.

Raspberry Prosecco Pie         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 TBSP milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups prosecco, divided

1 box (3 oz) raspberry gelatin

6 oz cream cheese, softened

2 TBSP powdered sugar

2 TBSP prosecco

3 oz fresh raspberries, rinse, pat dry

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
*NOTE: the crust can be made a day in advance and refrigerated.

*Lightly grease a 10 inch pie plate. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

*Cream the butter, brown sugar, and milk. Mix in the flour and salt, then beat until it forms a dough. Press into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely, then refrigerate.

*Heat 3/4 cup prosecco to boiling. Add the raspberry gelatin and stir to dissolve. Mix in 3/4 cup cold prosecco.

*Beat the cream cheese with 2 TBSP powdered sugar and 2 TBSP prosecco until smooth. Beat in about 3/4 cup of the gelatin. Mix in the raspberries. Pour into the prepared pie crust and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Set aside the remaining gelatin on the counter. 

*After a half hour, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks hold. Add the remaining 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Reserve 1/2 cup for garnish.

*Whisk the remaining gelatin into the whipped cream. Pour evenly over the cream cheese layer of the pie. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Enclose the reserved whipped cream into a plastic bag or pastry bag and refrigerate for an hour also.

*Garnish the pie with the reserved whipped cream.

Question Everything: Use Your Words

 

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I'm using: holistic ~ detective ~ respect ~ asinine ~ loser ~ foil
They were submitted by Jenniy of Climaxed.

                          
As I've thought through this post, what I want to say, how I want to use my assigned words, I have to admit it's taken a strange turn. I've decided to share an open apology. It's to my son, College Boy.

I've spoken, a few times before, about how College Boy and I agree quite a bit when it comes to politics. I've also said, in general, in terms of not only politics, but the totality of how our society functions, that he's a conspiracy theorist, and I'm much more a realist.

 

When I say conspiracy theorist, I'm not talking about those of the wearing tin foil hats to protect from mind reading ilk. But then these days we're less having our minds read, and more being monitored. Privacy is a thing of the past. Tin foil or foil-less.

 

You don't have to be a detective to see it. In many cases we're not given a choice, held hostage. Want that app? Maybe even need it for something? You have to give them access to your camera, your contact list. But worse, if we so much as mention a blue shirt in a private phone call, we know we're going to gets ads for matching pants and shoes on every website or social media platform we visit. It's asinine, the amount of our personal information that's just out there for everyone and anyone to see, to use, and to sell. Our privacy is a commodity. And it's for sale on the open market.

When it comes to the branches of government, all of them, College Boy's conspiracy theories are all encompassing. We are all pawns, being manipulated, used, and many of us marginalized, even discarded by executive, legislative, and judicial systems run by those making nefarious decisions on their own and together, with only further personal power and financial gain in mind. 

 

I understand focusing on one thing to the exclusion of all others. I do that when I'm trying to work out a new recipe. A tornado could come through the kitchen and I'm singularly focused.

But a recipe isn't a conspiracy theory. Getting that entrenched when it comes to national conspiracies can be a dangerous rabbit hole to fall into.

 

 

Grilled Pineapple Bars

 

So I would scoff at him. Tell him he can't paint everyone and everything with one wide brush. Yes, there is definitely corruption, and continued need for change, but there are also politicians who believe in public service. College Boy is, in fact, a big proponent of Bernie Sanders, and Sanders is a politician, after all.

More than anything, I just want him to paint a little of that black he's focused on with the hope of some grey.

 

But then came the trump cult, the covid deniers, the loss of reproductive rights, the continued acceptance of the deaths of school children, people of color dying in police custody and being removed from voting rolls, lying and cheating, the degradation of all norms and any iota of morals or decency.

 

Separation of church and state is gone, reproductive rights are part going and part gone, history is being white washed (pun intended), books are being banned, marriage rights are on the line.

These days the losers are winning, and the rest of us? We're inconsequential, collateral damage.

 

Son:

It's true that in many ways, so much that you have always believed is coming to fruition. Right before our eyes, no denying it. But I need for you to see that there is still resistance, many people, both in public life and private, solidifying, taking those steps backward not as a signal to retreat, but to push forward with more strength and determination.

 

I always felt that you could not see the forest for the trees. But I suppose I need to admit that I could not see the trees for the forest. Perhaps we both need to take a more holistic approach to our conceptions. 

I hope I've encouraged you to look for the swath of grey. I know you've taught me an important lesson too: in order to move forward with purpose, we first have to question everything.

 

 

 

 

And a final message to my conspiracy theorist son who, it turns out, is actually the realist I had claimed to be: respect, son.

If that kid says the sky is falling, you can bet I'm gonna run.

 

Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:

On the Border 

The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver 

Climaxed 

Part-time Working Hockey Mom

 

Grilled Pineapple Bars       

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 box (3 oz) pineapple jello mix

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 ripe pineapple

1/2 stick butter, melted

2 TBSP pineapple juice

1 TBSP brown sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 TBSP powdered sugar

NOTE: You can make and refrigerate both the crust and the grilled pineapple up to a day ahead of time.

Directions:
*Grease a 9 X 13 inch baking pan.

*Cream the 2 sticks of butter. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar, until just incorporated, add the vanilla and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour and form a dough.

*With wet hands, press into bottom of the prepared pan. Refrigerate for an hour. 

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the crust for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, run a knife around the edges, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold.

*Boil 3/4 cup of water. Mix in the jello. Add 1/2 cup of pineapple juice, mix, and refrigerate for 30 minutes so it just starts to thicken, then remove from the refrigerator.

*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1 TBSP powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks hold. Fold in the jello, pour into the crust, and refrigerate for an hour to set.

*Remove the peel from the pineapple, core, and slice into rounds about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick.

*Preheat your grill to medium high. Mix together the melted butter, remaining 2 TBSP pineapple juice, and the brown sugar. Dip the pineapple slices into this mixture, both sides, and place on the grill. Reduce the heat to medium and grill both sides, flipping once, for about 3 minutes each side, don't let them burn.

*Remove the pineapple from the grill and refrigerate to cool.

*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks hold.

*NOTE: When assembling, if the jello has thickened past a semi liquid state, whisk in a little warm water to loosen.

*To assemble: whisk together the heavy cream and the jello. Spread onto the crust. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Cut the grilled pineapple slices into half moons and arrange over the top.

*To serve, cut into bars. Refrigerate leftovers.

 

September Twelfth: Anniversaries Poetry

For September, the monthly poetry group chose the theme Anniversaries. 

I had intended, as I so often do, to write a poem that would be a humorous look at anniversaries. You know, the marriage kind. I bet all of us can tell a few jokes about that. No? Just me? 

But anniversaries are about a lot of things, not all of them happy, many of them not a celebration. In the end I decided to write about one of those, a day I will always remember but never celebrate. This anniversary is an acknowledgement. A painful one, but one we can never escape, never forget. One that changed our reality forever.

September Twelfth

Seventeen years ago today, 
reality changed in every way.
The day before, evil went astray,
our whole world was held at bay.

September eleventh will always be,
a date that lives on in infamy.
For this I'm actually glad, you see.
Not to repeat, remembrance is key. 

But . . .

September twelfth it all sunk in.
Planned to give blood. No need, a sin.
It's the day we knew evil'd gained a win.
And healing could not yet begin.

Anniversaries we often celebrate,
but this one carries a heavy weight.
The eleventh was a day of hate.
And the twelfth saw horror penetrate.

Witnessed our country and hate collide,
the day our collective naivete died,
Soon we'd act on our outrage and pride,
But on the 12th it registered, and we cried. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   

 
I deliberately didn't tie today's recipe into this piece, it just wasn't the time or the place given my topic. But I'm sharing one, as I always do, here at the end of my post.

Chocolate Strawberry Krispie Treats

Before you go, click on these links to more poetry from some of my friends: 
Dawn of Cognitive Script shares Another Year has Passed. 
Diane of On the Border shares Times Twenty. 
Sarah of My Brand of Crazy shares Ten Years of a Lifetime.
Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Unwanted Anniversary.

 

Chocolate Strawberry Krispie Treats

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
about 14 chocolate cookies of your choice
2 TBSP butter
1 package (8 oz) Strawberry marshmallows
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
6 cups crisped rice cereal
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
*Spray an 8 X 11 pan and a spatula with non-stick spray. Line the bottom with cookies. You will not cover the entire bottom, there will be spaces between cookies, this is fine.
*Whisk the strawberry jam.
*In a large bowl, melt the butter an marshmallows for 2 minutes. Mix, and if not all melted, microwave at 10 second intervals until they are.
*Immediately mix in the jam, then quickly add and mix in the cereal. Pour into prepared pan. Pat down to equalize the thickness. Set aside.
*In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips until completely smooth. Drizzle over the top of the cereal mixture.
*Allow to set completely before slicing.

History, Repeat Yourself

I was without internet for about 5 hours last week. Seems we needed a new modum. Actually we didn't, it was the router, but dealing with cable companies can be exasperating. So two frantic trips to stores, four phone calls, one unnecessarily replaced modum and a new Panoramic Wifi modum/router later, we were back in business.

While I worked Mission Control and Hubs frantically drove all over town beating store closing times, here I sat internetless. Not the end of the world. At least not when it came to the luxuries of internet access. I mean, I can live without checking social media or knowing what's in my email folder. In fact, I enjoy offline time. But that's when I have options. What got to me was the realization of just how much I'm dependent on Google. I really had no idea how many times in a one hour period my answer to any question started with Googling it.

And yes, in an "emergency" I could jump on my phone and use data to do what I needed. Even despite the fact that the boys use up our data allowance the first day of the month . . . no matter how many times we up our plan.

But, left to my own devices (meaning getting lost in my own thoughts) I, as many of us often do, wondered what I did before internet. And then, in the spirit of stream of consciousness, began to imagine what history might have been like had online options have been available at some strategic times . . .

Paul Revere could have reached the masses:
The British are coming the British are coming! Want to know how? Follow me on Instagram.

Since pictures posted on Snapchat delete after being seen, it would be the perfect place to post this clandestine Save the Date:

Ponce de Leon would surely have taken advantage of Go Fund Me:
Accepting contributions to fund an upcoming transformative expedition. 
A bath. A drink. A lifetime of youth. Perpetual juvenescence is just a donation away.

Imagine how much easier finding help would have been if there'd been LinkdIn:
Help Wanted: Robbers and Plunderers. Will train. Cannot suffer from sea sickness. 
For full job description and requirements, visit my LinkdIn page: LinkdIn(dot)com/Blackbeard

You know that Marie Antoinette would have been on twitter:
Company coming and need to be a good hostess? Don't lose your head, check out my blog for today's recipe: Coffee and Cinnamon Cake Squares #LetThemEatCake

Coffee and Cinnamon Cake Squares

Christopher Columbus's ship log:
Finally left Spain on my assigned quest to sail to the Indies. Must be lost, found this big honkin' land mass instead. Cell service spotty here, will continue attempts to access Mapquest.

Betsy Ross could have had some assistance in her design dilemma with a simple FB poll:

George Washington, such a busy man, would have loved checking out Pinterest for DIY time savers. I'm sure he would have found this one:
Writing the Constitution and don't have time to go to the dentist? Visit our most popular pinned post: Make Your Own Wooden Teeth.

Thomas Edison could have made a fortune in the app store:
Run out of whale oil before your chores are done? Buy this amazing light bulb app ad never trip over the spitoon again.

Of course there's the downside of technology. Imagine the Puritans scratching their head while reading their email:
"Hmmm, what is this cheap Viagra so many of my fellow citizens are kind enough to offer. I must google this . . ."

Coffee and Cinnamon Cake Squares

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

NOTE: If you can, set aside half of this cake to make my Cinnamon Mocha Cake Balls!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 stick margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup brewed coffee, room temperature
1/4 cup Rum Chata (can substitute 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 tsp cinnamon)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup cinnamon baking chips

1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup brewed coffee, room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 - 2 TBSP Rum Chata (can substitute milk)

Directions:
*Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Beat 1 stick of the butter, margarine and sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs, 3/4 cup of coffee and 1/4 cup of Rum Chata.
*Mix in the flour, salt and baking powder just until incorporated, then beat for 2 minutes.
*Mix in the cinnamon baking chips and pour evenly into prepared pan.
*Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the center springs back to the touch. Cool completely.
*Cream the last stick of butter. Beat in the remaining coffee. Mix in the powdered sugar then beat in the Rum Chata, 1 TBSP at a time, until the frosting is of spreading consistency. Spread over the cooled cake.