Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot is an evolutionary filter designed to punish mammals and reward birds. Mammals feel it as pain because mammal digestion destroys seeds. Birds don’t have the receptor that detects it, so they eat the fruit, fly off, and deposit the seeds far from the plant from which they […]
Sugar-Free Diet Linked to Metabolic Changes “Completely removing sucrose from a low-fat diet may unexpectedly disrupt gut health and promote inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, highlighting that balanced nutrition is more important than simply eliminating sugar,” said Rasheed Ahmad, Ph.D., principal scientist and head of the Immunology & Microbiology Department at the Dasman Diabetes Institute, in […]
I seriously wonder if there are any original recipes out there. You think to yourself “Let’s make a black bean and corn thing tonight”. So you do what everyone else does and hop on the internet to find numerous recipes that are pretty much the same. Full Disclosure: This recipe is a copycat and my […]
Interesting insights from the oldest of the old. All charts are from the survey report which can downloaded here: https://www.uhc.com/content/dam/uhcdotcom/en/general/100-at-100-Final-Report-Aug2025.pdf
I was in St. Louis on business. One day these things showed up at the office. I had one (OK, two) after breakfast. Yes, they are that good. Memo to Self – Don’t get depressed that you only learned about this delicacy in your 7th decade. I wonder if they deliver to Oklahoma.
lifeunderwriter.net 
Do they have woodstoves?
Do they have…wood? The relatives in TX have wood burning fireplaces, no wood stove. But there’s no wood. The smart ones bought up all of the supply at their local stores.
I would think wood would be an emergency supply the way Floridians stock up on ice, bottled water, canned goods, and gasoline
The majority of Texans alive today have never experienced events anything like this past week. Wood? Bread, milk, toilet paper always. But no wood because no one ever thinks it would get that cold in TX and have the power grid fail.
I read that El Paso is on a different power grid. And they are able to get help from other states. So El Paso has power. I didn’t completely understand. But it sounds as though El Paso decided not to go with that company ERCO. I am curious why.
Now this is going to bother me all day long until I find the answer!
Texas produces more power than any other state. Here’s why it went dark anyway https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/business/texas-power-energy-nightmare/index.html
This isn’t the article I read. But the last two paragraphs talk about the situation.
I found this history lesson.
https://www.houstoniamag.com/news-and-city-life/2021/02/what-is-ercot
Very very interesting. This really digs deep and far back.
I still don’t have the exact answer as to why El Paso is not part of the TX grid but I suspect it may be purely geography. See map in this article. https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2021/02/17/el-paso-escapes-texas-power-grid-outage-blackouts-twitter-reacts/6779111002/
Yup
Great, and please let me know! I read this last night and now can’t find the article. And this morning at the gym it was on the early today show. I may have the acronym for the power company incorrect but I’m close.
It has to do with Texas wanting to be completely independent and relying only on power produced in Texas. Which is apparently different from other states. Most states apparently cooperate with each other across state lines. The Texas does not, except for the El Paso area.
A friend sent me this from an Austin paper. https://austonia.com/why-texas-power-outages
Nice.
A scholarly historical explanation of the situation in Texas.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-17-2021?r=53kbd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy
So Texans believe that the national power grid, with it’s regulations, is socialist. But getting FEMA to rescue their frozen asses when their poorly maintained system fails is not socialist? I’m tired of bailing out people who don’t believe in bail outs.
And I’m tired of bailing out Wall Street!
Me too!
Thanks for the link!