tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post5019607536414713697..comments2024-03-29T15:34:55.287+11:00Comments on loon pond: In which the pond partakes of a piquantly flavoured Oreo as its luncheon treat ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-45150932211570472442017-10-03T11:38:40.683+11:002017-10-03T11:38:40.683+11:00"Besim was friends with teen jihadist Numan H..."Besim was friends with teen jihadist Numan Haider"<br /><br />http://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/home/coroners+written+findings/finding+inquest+into+the+death+of+ahmad+numan+haider<br /><br />Haider had lived in Australia since he was 5. He was not a "caliphate child". He was a troubled and depressed Australian teenager. He became radicalised and violent over several months. It is ridiculous and entirely un-Christian to believe that transformation is irreversible. Oriell's fundamentalist rhetoric is disgraceful. Nicknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-15644531225573366822017-10-03T08:21:29.071+11:002017-10-03T08:21:29.071+11:00Quite fascinating, FD, and just one more thing I&#...Quite fascinating, FD, and just one more thing I've never heard of before. But even with the 'clove oil' eugenol in common, I can't quite see why all of those ingredients were somehow stuck together or why, even so, basil and bay leaf were omitted. Didn't the Dutch VOC know about them ?<br /><br />But I'm not quite sure that I want to ingest quantities of 'pumpkin spice' to try to find out. Have you ever consumed it yourself ?GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-70224407016553207112017-10-02T23:24:07.031+11:002017-10-02T23:24:07.031+11:00Oh, as a sidebar, these spices share a common ingr...Oh, as a sidebar, these spices share a common ingredient (which is ultimately why their flavours are so compatible), the "essential" oil eugenol, which is present in varying concentrations in all of them. Eugenol derives its name, ultimately, from the same root which gives us "eugenics". <br /><br />I don't know why, but given the sordid history of these condiments, the link seemed somehow appropriate.FrankDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-49006479549245517612017-10-02T23:15:19.435+11:002017-10-02T23:15:19.435+11:00Mmmm, pumpkin spice...a sort of pot-pourri of the ...Mmmm, pumpkin spice...a sort of pot-pourri of the really excellent side of Western Judeao-Christian history.<br /><br />Cinnamon from coastal Sri Lanka, nutmeg and mace from the Banda Islands, cloves from the Maluku ("Spice") Islands, all conquered by the Portuguese and then by the Dutch VOC, the genocidal transnational corporation dedicated to destroying lives and livelihoods everywhere they went. Purely from a commercial point of view, their monopolistic practices and engineering artificial scarcity to hike prices encouraged the production of cheap substitutes - cinnamon from Spanish-occupied Philippines, nutmeg and mace from Spanish (then British) slave plantations in the West Indies and cloves from slave plantations in French Mauritius and the Sultanate of Zanzibar (the arab world's biggest slave market).<br /><br />Allspice is native to Jamaica, so produced by Spanish-owned Caribbean slaves, and then British-owned African slaves. Ginger, boringly, is widespread and could not be monopolised in this way.<br /><br />Pumpkin spice originates in the north-east states, presumably due to Dutch connections ("even old New York was once New Amsterdam"), so thanks to the VOC, white Americans can savour the true flavour of racial supremacy, and 500 years of genocide and slavery. Mmmmm, that's the taste of victory... :)FrankDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-78293624936137768312017-10-02T13:33:38.384+11:002017-10-02T13:33:38.384+11:00Oreo: "There are many child victims of jihad...Oreo: "<i>There are many child victims of jihad</i>."<br /><br />I wonder what she'd say about the child victims of Crusades ?<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Crusade<br /><br />And thanks for the timely reminder of J&M. Still as apposite as ever.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.com