Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 17673 Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 2:33 pm Post subject: Giving thanks
Well, while I don't really buy into that whole turkey-dinner formal meal praying thing, Thanksgiving does hypothetically give us a chance to focus on some positive things that we can feel good about. There is much to be thankful for, even while we so often focus on the bad things that are happening (and hopefully what can be done about them).
So, I'm thankful for friends and family, of course. I'm thankful for being able to do work and studies that I enjoy, and I'm thankful to the women who went before me clearing a path for me to be able to do so. I'm thankful that I live in Canada, which with all our flaws is still a country with people who care and that who have a sense of humour. I'm thankful that some conflicts and tragedies and inequities in the world have been resolved, and I hope that more will be. I give thanks for all the dedicated and passionate people who work to make a difference.
Oh, and I'm also thankful for EnMasse, which again in spite of our flaws is a great place to be with many wonderful, intelligent, fun people!
Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 24243 Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:39 pm Post subject:
Did anyone else catch Michael Enwright's show on CBC Radio this morning -- just in time for Thanksgiving dinner -- about food, and how the corporate "agribusiness" bastards are polluting and wrecking our food supply?
On the production end of it (at the farm, at least) there were few surprises for me -- I grew up on a farm, and I'm well aware of the rotten practices of these corporate farms -- but some of the processing stories were horrendous. It'd put you off your Thanksgiving dinner, unless you get all your food from your own garden, or from an organic farmers' market.
Ohhhhhh, how I HATE "agribusiness". They are evil bastards. _________________ "The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 17673 Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject:
Hephaestion wrote:
Did anyone else catch Michael Enwright's show on CBC Radio this morning -- just in time for Thanksgiving dinner -- about food, and how the corporate "agribusiness" bastards are polluting and wrecking our food supply?
On the production end of it (at the farm, at least) there were few surprises for me -- I grew up on a farm, and I'm well aware of the rotten practices of these corporate farms -- but some of the processing stories were horrendous. It'd put you off your Thanksgiving dinner, unless you get all your food from your own garden, or from an organic farmers' market.
Ohhhhhh, how I HATE "agribusiness". They are evil bastards.
Yes, yes, I agree, but you're supposed to be giving thanks on this thread!!!
Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 24243 Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:59 pm Post subject:
Well, okaaaaayyyyyyyy....
I'm thankful for my friends, my family (the one I've created, not my "relatives"), for the valley that I live in, for the fact that my country is still relatively free and independent from the nutcases south of us, for the abundance of good, inexpensive organically-grown dope in my area, for the wildlife right outside my door, for the boundless entertainment and information I find at EnMasse (and a couple of other sites that Feral has started or introduced me to)...
Oh, and orgasms. That's something to *really* be thankful for. _________________ "The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin
Last edited by Hephaestion on Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:06 am; edited 1 time in total
I want to give thanks for my family. They have been a rock for me the past year. So, for my much loved mum and dad, sister and brothers, inlaws, nieces and nephews... Thank you for everything! Couldn't have done it without you... _________________ Scissors cuts paper. Paper covers rock. Rock crushes lizard. Lizard poisons Spock. Spock smashes scissors. Scissors decapitates lizard. Lizard eats paper. Paper disproves Spock. Spock vaporizes rock. And as it always has, rock crushes scissors.
Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 24243 Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:59 am Post subject:
Well, beastly, at least. _________________ "The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin
Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8676 Location: OMG! They killed Jason Kenney!
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:05 am Post subject:
I am thankful that I still enjoy excellent health, that I have had plenty of opportunities to achieve my personal life goals and that I have good people in my life.
I am appreciative for all the usual stuff - friends, family, Italians, work, food, etc. and for enMasse which allows me to dialogue with others about issues of the day and nite.
As well I'm thankful for The Tranna * (wish we had a similiar publication on Canada's left caost), Quebecois music, Neil Young, the Kootenays, Jon Stewart, the Seinfeld show, the Orpheum & the VSO, and SNL!
Oh yea, I am also grateful to those enMasse folks who have donated some $ which will help to allow us to continue to function here.
Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 4004 Location: Central USA, Earth
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:06 pm Post subject:
Well, I get treated to more synthetic up-roar and blend of laughable sad. I am thankful that someone gave me 'heads up' by posting the WVD link because I will be asked/told about it (by figurative conservative "parrots') within a week. At least, I will somewhat prepared, not blind-sided with aggressive craziness.
As you sit down with your family on Thanksgiving and consider offering a prayer of gratitude, be aware the turkey at the center of the table may have already been "blessed" – in the name of Allah.
Customer service representatives from Butterball, one of America's most popular Turkey brands, confirmed to WND that the company's whole turkeys are – without being labeled as such – slaughtered according to Islamic "halal" standards.
Most of the time it is seen that Muslims and Jews tend to believe that Kosher is similar to halal and vice versa. In linguistic terms, both the terms kosher and halal are almost similar. Kosher is a Hebrew word that means proper or fit and Halal is an Arabic word that means permissible. However, kosher and halal are two different entities that have difference in their meaning and spirit.
Kosher and halal are mainly associated with the food of Muslims and Jewish people. Though kosher and halal are food laws, it also has great significance in other rituals that they both follow in their life. Kosher and halal have their roots in their respective scriptures, Kosher is identified in Holy Bible and Torah and Halal is mentioned in Quran.
First of all lets see the difference in slaughtering of animals in kosher and halal. Though the slaughtering is the same, Jews, who follow kosher, do not pronounce the name of God on each animal they slaughter. They think that it is wasteful to utter the name of god out of context. They only perform prayers on the first and last animal that they slaughter. Muslims who follow halal rituals always pronounce the name of God on each animal that is slaughtered.
Hey bshmr....what's all this stuff I'm reading on MSN, Yahoo and seeing on US TV about some long weekend happening. I haven't seen anyone preparing for a Long Weekend and all Banks, stores, government offices and workplaces are open as usual. And why are you resurrecting this Thanksgiving thread? It was over a month ago. _________________ I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day. - Assclown Rob Ford
Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 4004 Location: Central USA, Earth
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:22 pm Post subject:
The Evil Twin wrote:
Hey bshmr....And why are you resurrecting this Thanksgiving thread? It was over a month ago. :P
TET, the thread is in Banter and titled 'giving thanks', not in Culture and not titled 'thanks-giving' or 'harvest festival', which a few of us old folks know Eskimos and First Nations recognize much earlier in the year at the end of their two-week long growing season. You frozen-white-worlders are so provincial at times.
So there (which is intended as an entendre, an non-risque one).
I am running face-first into this elsewhere. Ugh.
This - yes, Thanksgiving - is a very heavy holiday in my mind, since it has to do with everything which sustains us, and our responsibility with respect to the earth and other people- particularly those who lived on this land before us.
Using the occasion as an opportunity to lay a guilt trip is a bit offensive, IMO, since I think there are many who get the point, and aleady recognize that inequity is an important thing to remember as part of the day.
Funny that this is coming up around U.S. Thanksgiving, I was expecting to have this conversation all over again a month ago, and figured we were out of the woods.
Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 4004 Location: Central USA, Earth
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:18 pm Post subject:
FWIW, I usually see (and identify with) honest complaints, as well as rants, over religious perversion of holiday and the fictions of Occidental pseudo-history, particularly during the six weeks of 'the crazy shopping season' aka modern 'retail festival', etc. The serious and informed (IMNSHO) ones merit mention as Culture, Education, Humanity, and the like, period.
OTOH, crap along the lines of the WND article deserve to be ridiculed, along with the fools who parrot such freeling nonsense.
And, it is humorous that I get so bent-out-of-shape when surprised, or merely imagining being surprised, by 'ditto-heads', Beck-ites, Murdoch's zombies, 700 Club-bers, ... confronting me, often insistent and belligerent, with damned stupid, fabricated crises.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6169 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:09 am Post subject:
bshmr wrote:
WND Exclusive IMAM, BASEBALL AND APPLE PIE
Has your Thanksgiving turkey been sacrificed to idols?
Surprise! America's favorite meal may be secretly dedicated to Allah...
And here I always thought that saying "Turkey Day" was a crass distortion of the meaning of "thanksgiving." So the Turkey is a significant religious icon after all?
There's gotta be a golden calf lurking somewhere behind this discussion. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
I believe Ben Franklin lobbied for the turkey to be their national bird, rather than the eagle. All things considered, he might have been on to something.
Though turkey day is one of my least favourite terms for it as well - a reminder to me of just how much food gets cranked up and wasted for that one day.
Last edited by 6079_Smith_W on Sun Nov 27, 2011 3:50 am; edited 1 time in total
Cross-posted an edit with you. One of the few holidays I find more wasteful than the glut of Thanksgiving is all those pumpkins that get grown for one night, then turned into compost.
What surprises me though, is that so few pumpkins are made into pies (considering that making pumpkin pie is so easy that even a clumsy, lazy cook like me can do it). They're also quite delicious (though obviously not everyone agrees.
Judging from what I always see on the garbage pickup days following Halloween, 6079_Smith_W is correct. The vast majority are being wasted, in most cases thrown out into the trash.
ETA: a far bigger waste are all the plastic artificial pumpkins that people buy, use once and then throw out after Halloween. Why the fuck are these ass clowns buying plastic when there are the actual biodegradable specimen is so plentiful and more importantly, cheap? And then having bought it, these clowns compound their error by tossing it instead of re-using it and it sits in a landfill for the next couple of thousand years. And people wonder why I drink so much. _________________ I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day. - Assclown Rob Ford
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6169 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:12 am Post subject:
Because drinking gives you the opportunity to recycle bottles? _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
The ones that get made into pie suffer no such fate.
Well, at least not immediately, anyway.
Exactly. That's what happens to ours. And I'm not even as concerned about the ones that get used then composted, but I remember two years ago I went to the store Nov 1 to get some cheap pumpkins to store for the winter, and there was not one, where the night before there had been 30 bushels or so.
They probably went straight to the landfill.
Also, I know that in some places people slice and pickle them.
Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 4004 Location: Central USA, Earth
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:59 pm Post subject:
Down here, those of us not home-schooled learn that 'pie pumpkins' ain't used for 'jack-a-lanterns' and 'biggest contests'; and, vice-versa.
That does mean that USAn capitalism richly rewards those that commit fertile land to growing and resources to nuturing a relatively useless, entertainment product for a single-day, fabricated event plus some vandalism.
<bait>You 'frozen white-landers' don't get the 'big picture', do you? </bait>
Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 1283 Location: Left . . . of the plate
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:45 am Post subject:
The Evil Twin wrote:
What surprises me though, is that so few pumpkins are made into pies (considering that making pumpkin pie is so easy that even a clumsy, lazy cook like me can do it).
I've made lots of pumpkin pies, but never from fresh pumpkin. It doesn't seem very easy to me; a lazy person wouldn't get past step one, picking out all the seeds.
I do pick out some of the seeds and roast them. Some of the innards get used as pumpkin barf:
Since we moved, my kids have been nostalgic for our annual pumpkin toss. Our old place had a raised deck. Wait until pumpkins are moldy and half decomposed, then scoop up with a shovel, and fling off the deck into the woods. Good times.
ETA: LOL, I thought the part you cooked was the stringy stuff. But I see that gets discarded too. So you wouldn't have to spent eons separating seeds from pumpkin. Bshmr's right though. The recipes I checked called for small "pie" pumpkins.
My mother always made the jack-o-lanterns into pie, as well as baking the seeds, when I was growing up and I can attest that those pumpkins work quite well for the task. Quite honestly I never much cared for the jack-o-lantern side of things, really. I don't think I'd've bothered if it wasn't for the promise of seeds and pie later.
Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 4004 Location: Central USA, Earth
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:17 pm Post subject:
Raos wrote:
My mother always made the jack-o-lanterns into pie, as well as baking the seeds, when I was growing up and I can attest that those pumpkins work quite well for the task. Quite honestly I never much cared for the jack-o-lantern side of things, really. I don't think I'd've bothered if it wasn't for the promise of seeds and pie later.
It works. But <G>, why cut one's squash in half, remove the seeds, and let the pulp dry out while filtering 'germs' for two or more days?
OTT, the pulp of 'pie' pumpkins differs by being a bit more sweet or favorful and AIR the skin thinner, etc. though it has been years since I harvested and used my own, even longer since I carved a jack-o-lantern.
A tangent (OT, if you will): anyone do pumpkin cannons or throws? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_chunking I recalled it being 'big' north of mid-USA but it appears I was confused AGAIN.
Well, I get treated to more synthetic up-roar and blend of laughable sad. I am thankful that someone gave me 'heads up' by posting the WVD link because I will be asked/told about it (by figurative conservative "parrots') within a week. At least, I will somewhat prepared, not blind-sided with aggressive craziness.
As you sit down with your family on Thanksgiving and consider offering a prayer of gratitude, be aware the turkey at the center of the table may have already been "blessed" – in the name of Allah.
Customer service representatives from Butterball, one of America's most popular Turkey brands, confirmed to WND that the company's whole turkeys are – without being labeled as such – slaughtered according to Islamic "halal" standards.
1. Islamic Menace Soiling Our Pure American Turkeys
It's been a typically weird year for dark conspiracy theories about Muslims. Noted Islamophobic nutjob Robert Spencer told us that “the Leftist/jihadist alliance has been on abundant display during the Occupy protests.” We also learned that the Muslim Brotherhood has “infiltrated every level of our government,” and we were shocked to discover that even that yuppie stalwart, Whole Foods, was promoting radical Islam. Or something.
But the cake was taken by none other than Pam Geller, nuttiest of the nutjobs, who has in the past accused Dunkin' Donuts – and the Food Network's Rachael Ray – of promoting jihad and argued that the Arabic language itself “is the spearhead of an ideological project that is deeply opposed to the United States.”
How does one top that kind of crazy? Let's let Geller explain:
A citizen activist and reader of my website AtlasShrugs.com wrote to Butterball, one of the most popular producers of Thanksgiving turkeys in the United States, asking them if their turkeys were halal. Wendy Howze, a Butterball Consumer Response Representative, responded: "Our whole turkeys are certified halal."
In a little-known strike against freedom, yet again, we are being forced into consuming meat slaughtered by means of a torturous method: Islamic slaughter.
She then launches into a description of “Islamic slaughter,” which sounds exactly the way animals are slaughtered under Kosher law.
And then finishes with a flourish...
Why should we be forced to conform to Islamic norms? It's Islamic supremacism on the march, yet again.
Yet again!
_________________ I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day. - Assclown Rob Ford
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