It’s holiday — lets push the racists off the top post.
I am no where near the foodie that Tgirsch is, but I did find this group of articles on the science of good food fascinating. Enjoy, and I hope everyone has a nice holiday.
UPDATE: And be thankful for people like these.
I really wan’t going to post on anything today, but I see that the “oh I am so brave for pointing out that blacks are genetically inferio to whites!” brigade is back. This time it is Saletan over at Slate espousing this most racist of opinions. I just want to make a couple of points:
I’ll just quote a post I wrote the first time this nonsense reared its head:
This weekend saw a plethora of posts about The Bell Curve and the genetic basis for “intelligence”. Atrios, Calpundit, Digby, and Matthew Ygelesias, among others, all discussed it, and had lively discussions in their comments regarding the validity of the Bell Curve in particular, and the validity of genetics and race in intelligence in general. (Blogspot is down right now, so I could not get the permalinks)
I will not bother to dismantle The Bell Curve. I have read the book, and found I to be laughable. Even a basic understanding of statistics is enough to show the work to be seriously flawed. If you are interested, Brad DeLong has a link to the one of the many, many refutations of the book’s “science”.
The larger point is that it does not matter. Even
if there was a strong correlation between race and “intelligence” (defined as you wish),it does not matter . It has no practical effect, other than the spread of racism. Why? Because the individual range is so obviously great.Try it this way. Duke Ellington is a genius. Dr. Carver is a genius. John Rocker is a moron. History demonstrates that all races are capable of producing genius, and all races are capable of producing people so stupid you wonder if they will forget how to breathe, and of producing both in large numbers. In both “races”, history shows us that genius is rare but not unknown, stupidity is less rare, and the vast majority muddle along in the middle. From a practical stand point, it does not matter if the median white is dumber than the median black. As a society, you must allow for the geniuses of both groups to flower, and build institutions to contain the damage the morons of both groups could do. To do otherwise would be to doom your society, in the long run.
Since a work like The Bell Curve cannot honestly speak to broad social policy, for the reasons above, the
only effect can be to spread racism - to convince one group that they are genetically superior to another. (Which, as already shown, is utter nonsense. Since the range of outcomes is essentially the same (genius and moron rare, majority in the middle), no one individual can assume that he/she is superior to another individual based on their respective races.) It can serve no other purpose but to present the illusion of meaningful differences, and to use that illusion as the basis of discrimination.
The utter ridiculousness of the “science” Saletan relies upon is not hard to determine. A few minutes with the sociology and genetics department at your local university would have given you enough information and primary sources to put to rest the notion that the work Saletan is relying upon is anything close to convincing. Either Saletan did not do that leg work or he ignored it. In either case he is either a completely incompetent journalist — something that I do not think the evidence supports — or he he wanted to believe tht blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Thee is a word for that last option.
Try not to eat TOO much.
And don’t waste that turkey carcass! Instead, make stock:
After carving the turkey, add the carcass (all bones, scraps, skin, etc. — even the gibliets and neck!) to the largest stock pot you’ve got (at least 8 qt) with about 4 carrots cut up, and four ribs of celery (including the green leafy parts), as well as any herbs you’ve got laying around. Add about 2 tsp of whole black peppercorns and a tablespoon of poultry stuffing seasoning, and then fill the pot with water, leaving about 2″ of headroom. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer (covered) for about 3-4 hours. Allow the stock to cool somewhat, then strain it into a container (save the solids — you’re not done with those yet) and put it in the bottom of the fridge to cool more completely (overnight). In the morning, the fat will have risen to the top and solidified. Scrape this off the top. You can discard it, or you can freeze it for use in a roux, salad dressing or the Gravy of Tomorrow. The stock may be gelatinous — that’s a good thing.
What can you do with the stock? Well, you can make a turkey noodle soup (many recipes available on-line), or you can freeze it and save it for recipes that call for chicken stock. I like to pre-measure it into 1/2 cup, 1 cup, and 2 cup quantities and freeze these, so I’ve got ready-to-use amounts available quickly. (Tip: Once the pre-measured amounts have frozen solid, remove them from their containers and put them into a zip-top freezer bag, to save on freezer space.)
About those solids: If you’re willing to do a little dirty work, go through the scraps and pick out all the bones. You’re done with these. What’s left will be a mass of carrots, celery, herbs, and turkey scraps — which happen to make a good food for Fido. If you used onions in your stock, you’ll want to pick those out, too, as those can be toxic to dogs — I find it easier to skip the onions. But once the bones and any onions have been removed, put the remaining mess into a blender or food processor and puree it, adding a little water if necessary to make the job easier. This will get rid of chunks, and also chop up any small bones you may have missed. Refrigerate this for up to a week, or freeze some. It’s a great treat for the dog(s), although I wouldn’t replace more than about a third of their daily intake with this, just to make sure they’re getting good balance.
Enjoy the holiday!
Royalty was like dandelions. No matter how many heads you chopped off, the roots were still there underground, waiting to spring up again.
It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.
-- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
