Wednesday evening roundup and ramble

Facebook is good for something.

Fox News' climate change policy.

Food poisoning is rampant--more so than previously thought.

Kids are embracing vegetarianism.

I've (almost) never been more glad that I don't work at a bank. Really, UBS?

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I knew I felt much better this morning because (1) I actually had the energy to move; and (2) I could talk. I wasn't sure I couldn't talk yesterday, until I had to call tech support at work because my remote connection was acting up, and I could barely get a few sentences out. But today, I let out a "shut up or I'll have to beat you" before it occurred to me that I might have throat issues. My voice still sounds awful, but it works.

I think I feel better this evening, too, because I am actually warm, and the thermostat is still in the low 60s. This is the first time I've had a cold since I've moved to this house, so this is the first time I've set the heater anywhere above 65 degrees. Anyway, yesterday and pretty much all weekend, I just couldn't get warm.

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I know you've all been waiting for another macrobiotic update. The theme of this one is, things you can/should eat. A few weeks ago, when I had that conversation with a friend who couldn't believe what I'd given up, my response was, "but there's all this really good stuff that you do eat..." that most people don't eat. So here's the rundown:

Newly-discovered or newly-embraced macrobiotic-friendly foods I love: kabocha squash, azuki beans, wakame, brown rice mochi, daikon, burdock, squash seeds, and ume vinegar.

Macrobiotic-essential food that is still growing on me: brown rice. In its defense, I haven't been creative in bringing out the best of it, and plain/lightly salted brown rice just isn't doing it for me. Perhaps I'll try cooking it with an Earl Gray tea bag.

Macrobiotic-friendly food that I don't see growing on me: kombu. It's not awful, but it's just so blah.

Macrobiotic-unfriendly foods that I have no intention of doing without, but I find myself consuming less frequently: soy milk, eggplant, peppers, plantains and other warm-weather fruit, and (whole-wheat) pasta.

A note: There is much disagreement among macrobiotics as to certain foods; in those cases, I go with the less restrictive ones. For example, some embrace sweet potatoes, some suggest avoiding them. Now, why on earth would anyone avoid sweet potatoes? That would just discredit the whole philosophy, as far as I'm concerned. I'm in it for the plant-based and the unprocessed; I can respect, if not choose to fully embrace, the local/seasonal; but let's lay off the veggies.