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.

I Cannot Tell a Lie

 

I cannot tell a lie. 

Rationalization, however, is a whole other story. Or is it?

 

Today is National Rationalization Day. I'll just wait here for my crown. There is one, right? For being the queen of rationalization. I hope there's a monetary prize too.

We've all had to find some new ways to pass the days while staying home and trying to stay safe for the past year. I talked about having become a Big Game Huntress, but that hobby played (get that little play on words there?) itself out already. Something I do from time to time is to check the Fun and Bizarre Holidays and Celebrations list. Sometimes for writing inspiration, sometimes just for a laugh. I think my favorite one so far is May 1st, which is apparently officially World Naked Gardening Day. In case you're considering buying the house next door, let me assure you that particular holiday is one I may write about but have no intention of participating in. My luck I'd prune something important vital. So to speak.

Today's holidays struck me first of all because I'm gifted with the superpower of taking rationalization to an art form. It's not that I can really take all the credit for that, It's something parenting will do to you. Not that I'm trying to rationalize rationalization or anything.

But what had me laughing is another of the "holidays" celebrated today, Pinocchio Day. As someone familiar with the attempted vindication (or at the very least mitigation) of a justification defense, it's as clear as the nose on your face that if rationalization had a physical persona, it would be Pinocchio. 

 

As current reigning queen of rationalization (in my house, anyway), it is incumbent upon me to defend myself. I think a good place to start would be with the master of truth, George Washington, famous for his honesty. As the story goes, at the age of six, he took a hatchet to his father's cherry tree. When confronted by his angry father, little George stated that he could not tell a lie and admitted his guilt. His father then celebrated his son for being truthful. 

The truth? "I cannot tell a lie" is a lie.

Wake up, people. First of all, what 6 year old tells the truth? Ever. And what angry father is going to be all excited because his beloved cherry tree was chopped down by a truth teller?

 

In later years, when asked about the story, Washington's biographer explained that after Washington's death, people were anxious to learn more about such a revered man so he offered up the story to symbolize the president's virtues. Rationalization, Mr. biographer? Methinks so.

So if the truth, even about the truth, is not the truth? Precedent, your honor. At least I don't lie to the masses about a historical figure. My little falsehoods are way more, I don't know, benign.

Like when my boys were little and I'd say "no, there are no vegetables in that casserole," as I hid them under the sauce? It's not a lie if it's for the greater good, and everyone knows that it's a parent's responsibility to be sure their kids eat a well-balanced diet.

 

All in One Chicken Casserole

 

Or when, to incessant whining, I had to say "no" to fast food for lunch for the 987th time that week, I had to explain that McDonald's is closed on Monday? Well, see above excuse rational explanation.

When Hubs used to fly to NY for work one week every month, and I'd tell the kids that it was bedtime when it was actually not for another hour? Well, it was dark, I was tired, no harm, no foul, right? And they're still alive, aren't they?

 

And when Hubs was back home on the weekend and I'd tell him I needed to run a quick errand and somehow end up in a coffee shop with a friend? That was my errand. I never said it wasn't. And coffee and conversation are basic human needs, after all.

Yes, I may be guilty of a rampant rationalization, but at least I didn't chop down a cherry tree. 

 

 

By the way, there's a third national celebration day today, a sweet one. It's National Tootsie Roll day.

I'll take mine in a pop, please. And NOT a banana one. There are a lot of things you can rationalize. Banana Tootsie Pops aren't among them.

All in One Chicken Casserole

                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe


Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp garlic powder

12 oz shredded potatoes

1 egg

1 green onion, chopped

1/4 cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 cup poppy seed salad dressing

1/2 cup orange marmalade

1 packet Italian dressing mix

2 TBSP sweet hot mustard

10 oz frozen mixed vegetables

4 oz chopped ham

Directions:

*Grease an 8 X 8 baking dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

*Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and set aside.

*Mix the potato shreds, egg, green onion, salt, and pepper together. Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared dish.

*Evenly distribute the vegetables over the potatoes. Mix together the ham and chicken, then add to the baking dish.

*Whisk together the salad dressing, orange marmalade, salad dressing mix, and sweet hot mustard. Pour over the ham and chicken. Cover with tin foil.

*Bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove foil and bake another 30 minutes, making sure the chicken is fully cooked.

Truth, Forgiveness, and Chocolate

Jackpot. 

I was looking through online listings of holidays and celebrations as I often do (hey, I'd been stuck in the house a long time, I'm sure there were worse ways to amuse myself). Sometimes I just end up laughing, but often I find inspiration. I've written about Cow Appreciation Day, Lost Sock Memorial Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day and even Clean Out Your Fridge Day.

But today, July 7th, today turned out to offer an abundance of celebrations. It is:

Tell the Truth Day
Global Forgiveness Day 
and
World Chocolate Day 

I can work with that.

As I often do, I ran the idea for today's post by some fellow bloggers, and some of them thought they might like to join in. Diane was first (as she so frequently is, ❤ you, Diane), she and I decided to take the day full on, we'd be addressing all three "holidays". Others may choose one of them, or even two. Either way, I'm looking forward to reading what they've written. Their links are at the end of my post, I hope you'll head over there too.

How I view truth has changed a lot in the age of coronavirus. Truth, or the need to tell it, is not absolute, there are levels. The well used example of "do I look fat in this dress?" doesn't necessarily require the same level of truth as "did you eat the last cookie?" And the repercussions of an untruthful response to "did you eat the last cookie?" holds nowhere near the level of ramifications associated with a federal dishonest response to questions about the number of US cases of coronavirus, or whether it'll just go away on its own or that it's encouraged to take an anti-malaria drug for someone without malaria, or whether or not we should look into inject humans with lysol, or if the actual number of cases we have is tied to the amount of testing we do.

What did Kellyanne Conway say? There can be alternative facts? Not in situations of consequence, not in the case of life and death. No. Truth has no politics, and when we treat it like it does? Worst case scenario, people die. That's how far a country that was a stalwart defender of human rights has sunk.

Truth matters. Duh. I used to say to my boys "before you do anything, think about whether you'd be willing to admit to it. If not, that's a pretty good indication that you shouldn't do it." I thought that made a lot of sense. For kids being raised to have a conscience, yes. But our current batch of politicians have forced me to look at that advice differently. It's a whole new level of immorality to act in a harmful way comfortable knowing you can just lie about it. How did lying become a viable option? How is this our current culture? 

The only way I can see out of this division, the only path forward for us as a country, is forgiveness. 

There was one clear vision for this country. We may have disagreed on a myriad of issues, but we had our freedom and our morals and our values to unite us. This is no longer true. There are now two visions for this country, resulting in what I now see as us being embroiled in a civil war. We're never going to agree, as I said, we never have, but can we build a future that we can all live with?

It's going to take forgiveness. 

Let's not sugar coat this (warning, cookie reference), forgiveness from a place of anger and hurt and distrust (and disgust) is laborious and grueling and exhausting in practice. 

Can we do it? As a country? I'm just not sure. It's a process, and I have to admit I'm not there myself. But I'm trying very hard to take steps. Just like with truth, I see levels in the ability to forgive as well. On a micro level, when friends post statuses to FB that I find selfish or uncaring or untrue, I unfollow them for a while, not unfriend, just unfollow. The respite from seeing these posts, for me, is the foundation of forgiveness. I reserve the right to like them again another day.

When I observe store mandates to wear a mask, go up some aisles and down others, and social distance, I am showing respect. When someone targets me, comes down the "up" aisle without a mask to stand shoulder to shoulder with me, well that's not just refusing to follow precautions, it's actively aggressive. Forgiveness of this level of behavior requires a more concerted effort.

When someone refuses to take precautions, they are literally taking others' lives in their hands. If it were to turn out that they're right and we should believe politicians, not doctors, and didn't actually have to take precautions, by doing so we haven't harmed anyone. But if I'm right and we should believe the scientists and wear masks and social distance, they could be killing people. So when the man on a recent flight to Boston who sat directly behind my mother refused the airline's attempts to get him to wear a mask, I'm not quite able to forgive. Same with the airline, btw. I wonder how I will ever forgive people whose selfishness allows them to recklessly jeopardizing my mother's life.

And if forgiveness is difficult on a personal level, burdensome on a local level, and grueling on a federal level, what would global forgiveness take? 

If we want to save this planet, we need to start thinking along those lines.

In the meantime, at least there's chocolate. 

Or is there? 

I've mentioned many, many times lately that I've had to change my husband's diet. He needs to eat much lower in fat and I'm watching how much sugar I use too. Since I wouldn't (well, mostly) eat the foods he loves but can't have in front of him, how I cook, bake, and eat has changed as well.

But. But. Chocolate! {{sob}}. 

I've been doing a lot of baking with fruit, which we've been very happy with, but oh how we both miss chocolate. I now spend about an hour or two a day researching articles about gallbladder attacks, fat and sugar substitutes, and have even made a list of how many grams of saturated fats there are in 1 TBSP of all of my go-to cookie mix-ins. Turns out you can use cocoa in baking to satisfy that chocolate craving, and mini baking M&Ms have the lowest saturated fat content of my mix-ins. I've made some other fat and sugar substitutes in these Midnight M&M Cookies, which definitely change the consistency, but . . . chocolate . . .

Midnight M&M (lower fat) Cookies

Truth is, I would give up chocolate completely, would forgo almost anything, if it meant helping to keep others safe. 

And if more people could say that, there'd be so much less I'd have to try to forgive. 



Before you go, click on these links to read more posts using today's theme(s):

Diane of On the Border shares Truth, Forgiveness . . . and Chocolate. 
Jenn of Sparkly Poetic Weirdo shares Truth, Forgiveness and Chocolate.

Midnight M&M Cookies       

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 40):
2 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp instant coffee granules
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup mini M&Ms

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
*In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking cocoa, salt, baking soda, and coffee granules.
*In a smaller bowl, whisk together the canola oil, maple syrup, brown sugar and eggs. Mix into the larger bowl and once completely incorporated, mix in the mini M&Ms.
*Roll into 1 inch balls, flatten slightly and bake for 10 minutes.