News

2026-08-29

Is Cottage Cheese Good for You? - Consumer Reports

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/nutrition-healthy-eating/is-cottage-cheese-good-for-you-a1956443640/

I've eaten cottage cheese since childhood. I don't even think of it as cheese because the texture is so different. However, large-curd cottage cheese has a texture I don't like, so I stick with small curd.

Cottage cheese is not one of my favorite foods because it is bland. Salt improves the flavor, and it becomes more interesting when you add fruit. I rarely buy it, though.

Most cheeses have flavors that don't appeal to me. However, I do like cheddar cheese. American cheese is essentially cheddar that has been highly diluted with other ingredients, such as oil. I think American cheese is only suitable for sandwiches.

I saw that one pizzeria said they put cheddar on their pizza. That's unusual, since mozzarella is the normal choice. I would like to try that.

Some pizzas are better without cheese. The cheese can hide the flavors of the other toppings. I've noticed that some places put the cheese over the toppings, while a few put the toppings over the cheese. I think the latter makes the pizza more flavorful.

2026-08-28

Ben Has Thoughts About Lake America

Lindsay Clancy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_the_Clancy_children

Conservative talk radio thinks that she should be found guilty.

One lady called into the Clay and Buck show and said that they don't understand psychosis. She said that she had wanted to kill her children, but got medical help and now takes antipsychotic medication. The lady said that she is afraid to stop taking her medication.

I find it easy to believe that people can go crazy. I already have that opinion about a few people. It appears that mental illness is fairly common.

I think that for a woman to kill her children is a crazy act by definition. There might be a few rare psychopaths who don't care and think that they can get away with the crime, but I doubt that they would try to kill themselves afterward. However, even psychopathy is a form of mental illness, although it is not the kind of crazy delusion where they don't know what they are doing.

Trying to kill oneself by simply jumping out of a second-story window is illogical, if not crazy, or it could be a carefully planned manipulation.

2026-08-27

The Android Tablet Problem

This says what I have been saying for a long time: most people don't need a tablet. We have phones with 6+ inch displays that can handle most of our portability needs, and we have PCs with large, comfortable displays for when we don't need portability.

I have seen professionals, such as medical personnel and mechanics, carry tablets with them to do whatever work they need to do. In these cases, a larger screen makes sense. Tablets could also be useful for students who need some sort of portable screen to do their schoolwork.

I feel the same way about laptops. For decades, I have known many people who wanted a laptop instead of a desktop computer, but they really didn't need the portability. They just thought laptops were "cool." However, laptops often cost more than desktops and are full of compromises. The components are designed for portability, which means you take a hit in performance, while the keyboard and screen are far worse than what you can get with a desktop.

Portable devices are also almost never upgradeable, even for things like memory and storage.

If I needed a portable screen, then a tablet would make sense, but I don't. I paid around $420 for a 16-year-old 32-bit iPad, and I never got my money's worth out of it. I still have it, but it is so out of date that it won't run anything.

The best tablets, which cost quite a bit of money, can outperform a desktop computer, especially the ones from Apple, which are almost always more powerful than their Android counterparts. However, who needs super-desktop performance in a handheld device? Only people who do high-productivity work, such as video editing, really need that kind of performance. But for this kind of work, why not use a desktop computer?

The low-end iPad (https://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPad-11-inch-Display-All-Day/dp/B0DZ77D5HL) has performance comparable to that of a good-quality laptop and outperforms some older desktops. For the mundane tasks that most people will perform on a tablet, this is more power than they need. In past years, budget iPads have been discounted on Black Friday to around $220, which would be a steal today. I suspect they won't be quite that cheap this Black Friday.

I've seen budget Android tablets that aren't as powerful, but they are less expensive and still perfectly adequate for basic tasks.

When it comes to Apple versus Android, I definitely prefer Apple's operating system. It is more intuitive, far less complicated, and, in my experience, less prone to viruses. I've seen people get viruses on their Android phones. My past experience with tablets is that I also prefer the feel of Apple devices in my hands. They seem to have a better tactile experience.

Amazon makes the Fire line of tablets. Although they retail for $150 or more, they are often half-price on Black Friday, and I paid $80 for mine. The newer models aren't much more powerful than the 2019 model I bought, and their processor performance is poor. However, they were designed for streaming video, listening to audiobooks, and reading books, whether from Amazon or another company such as Netflix. At these tasks, these cheap tablets work amazingly well. They can also play some Android games.

If I needed a portable screen for watching videos, then a Fire tablet would make sense, but I don't. I found mine useful exactly once, when I took it on vacation.

For basic Internet tasks such as web browsing and email, Fire tablets work, but they are slightly slow.

2026-08-24

Is this trans thought experiment just wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GecyqKkcFsI

@john2001plus
16 hours ago (edited)
A person's feelings about their body do not make a man a woman or a woman a man, nor is it possible to make the switch. A trans person will never be able to produce children. The changes are cosmetic only and don't change the fundamental reality of a person's biology. It seems to me that people are sold a lie about gender affirming care.

From what I read, some people do benefit psychologically from surgery. However, this is a serious operation that does irreversible damage to the body, with potential complications. Maybe psychological care would be more appropriate?

Some of us didn't exactly win the genetics lottery. We have to deal with the reality of our bodies instead of some fantasy. Surgery only becomes needed when it is medically necessary.

Sean Grayson, former Sangamon County deputy convicted in killing of Sonya Massey, dies in prison

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/sean-grayson-former-sangamon-county-deputy-dies-in-prison/

2026-08-23

In the Netflix streaming series The Crown, the Queen goes to Ghana to meet Kwame Nkrumah in an effort to keep the country loyal to Britain. In one scene, she dances with him at a party, and this softens his anti-British attitude.

The dance was real...

'According to intelligence documents released by the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian, "Nkrumah was doing more to undermine [U.S. government] interests than any other black African."

Nkrumah generally took a non-aligned Marxist perspective on economics, and believed capitalism had malignant effects that were going to stay with Africa for a long time. Although he was clear on distancing himself from the African socialism of many of his contemporaries, Nkrumah argued that socialism was the system that would best accommodate the changes that capitalism had brought, while still respecting African values. He specifically addresses these issues and his politics in a 1967 essay entitled "African Socialism Revisited"'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah

2026-08-21

How Many Cities In America Have Over A Million People?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvToR1Pgujk

@john2001plus
1 minute ago
Salt Lake County consists of many connected cities, making a total of 1.2 million. Indianapolis is roughly 0.9 million, but the connected cities push it up to 2 million.

What's the most populated island on earth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljo__EAYROo&t=94s

2026-08-19

What country has the most Muslims?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIYX-j8pNcs

I guessed Iran.

2026-08-17

What the Flu Does to Your Body

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5-dE2nCzjM

Hayden Panettiere, star of 'Heroes' and 'Nashville,' dies at 36

https://abcnews.com/US/hayden-panettiere-dies-36/story?id=135698473

She was very good in 'Heroes'. The series was great in the first season, but the second season faltered quite a bit. It lost any momentum that it had. The show recovered in later seasons, but was still cancelled.

Israel Right to Exist

https://politics4thought.blogspot.com/2026/08/israel-right-to-exist.html

2026-08-16

Everyone Is Getting the Democratic Primaries Wrong

https://politics4thought.blogspot.com/

One simple way to save 200,000 lives

Nolan's 'Odyssey' reminds us of America's $40 trillion national debt crisis

Cut ... to ... 2001. Those Americans had just watched a Democratic president and a Republican Congress run a budget surplus while expanding trade. Tell them we would arrive here, in just two and a half decades — $40 trillion in debt, in the middle of a global trade war — and they would simply not believe you.

How did we get here? At bottom: incentives.

People respond to them, and our system gives citizens almost none to really understand the issues because understanding does not translate into any real say. We hand our authority to a proxy selected largely on partisan sound bites, then root for our political team the way we root for a ball club.

Wealth and civic health are twin engines. The nations with the strongest safety nets don't have them because their politicians are nicer; they have them because their economies are richer and their systems reward productivity over plunder.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/odyssey-reminds-us-nightmare-leaving-american-children

How One Company Secretly Poisoned The Planet

2026-08-14

Ex Navy SEAL reveals his secret to surviving Hell Week!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrL9uYeCJqM

2026-08-10

Colombia hit by strong earthquake; severe damage feared

https://weather.com/2026/08/10/news/massive-earthquake-rocks-colombia-major-damage-feared

2026-08-09

Anthony Fauci is Evil Satan Bastard Man!

https://politics4thought.blogspot.com/2026/08/anthony-fauci-is-evil-satan-bastard-man.html

The Mythbusters freed a man from life in prison

The Little Treat Economy Is A Psyop

https://moneyandinvesying.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-little-treat-economy-is-psyop.html

Caveman NIMBY

Early man tries to solve the housing crisis.

2026-08-08

Why the US Army's New Round Is Made of Three Metals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpvZVJYvHzE

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole: The Voice of Hawaii That Touched the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N96uQ-g4BH4

I assume that most people have heard this version at some point. It is beautiful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z26BvHOD_sg

COVID Lab Leak: A State of the Evidence

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8715

Indoctrination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyLGiyDa2g&t=1057s

Protestors

While driving home I saw protestors half a mile from my house on National Road in Columbus, Indiana. They were holding up signs facing the opposite direction from me. I thought that maybe it was a labor strike, but I couldn't contain my curiosity so I drove around the block just so I could read their signs.

Their signs said things like...

"No more endless wars"

"Stop the killing"

"Honk for peace."

I heard one vehicle honk their horn.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

2026-08-07

Where Do Conspiracy Theories Come From?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Nu52D7VF4

2026-08-05

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

“You go to these cities that are taken over by the socialists and the communists, they’re always filthy, dirty. They’re disgusting,” Trump claimed in the interview. He added, “Aside from crime, aside from all of the other problems — no jobs, no anything, no money — they’re always filthy, disgusting, dirty, and that’s what you’ll get.”

El-Sayed has not been endorsed by the DSA, but democratic socialist lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have campaigned for him. El-Sayed has told The Wall Street Journal that he is “not technically or practically DSA.”

Rogers and national Republicans had signaled that they consider El-Sayed an easier opponent than Stevens. The National Republican Senatorial Committee went so far as to produce a digital ad emphasizing El-Sayed’s progressive credentials and endorsement from Sanders

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750

2026-08-04

5 Foods Feeding Silent Inflammation (and What to Eat Instead)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEP2f9BloeM

Movies: Lightyear (2022)

My review from 4 years ago, with some grammar corrections.

https://letsallgotothemovie.blogspot.com/2022/08/lightyear.html

2026-08-03

Spain Gives Europe Another Migrant Crisis

https://www.thefp.com/p/spain-gives-europe-another-migrant-crisis-ceuta

Two more federal appeals courts reject ICE mass detention policy

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/30/ninth-circuit-ice-detention

Europeans in America

https://politichumor.blogspot.com/2026/07/europeans-in-america.html

Joe Biden confessed to his crimes, and now we have the tapes

Even after the report, Biden was still denying that he had retained classified material, even though he had discussed that classified material with his ghostwriter years earlier and had admitted as much to Hur. But before the public, Biden declared, “I’ve seen headlines since the report was released about my willful retention of documents. This assertion is not only misleading, it’s just plain wrong.”

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/6002930-biden-classified-materials-confession/