March 2021

Tod Perry 03.15.21 Internationally-acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma had 15 minutes to kill last Saturday after getting his COVID-19 vaccination at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, so he treated everyone to an impromptu concert. Ma is a part-time Berkshires resident and was receiving his second COVID-19 shot at the vaccination site. Richard Hall of the Berkshire…

Read More Yo-Yo Ma played a surprise concert during his post-vaccination observation period

Baked pineapple pie is a common Mexican dessert that’s not that easy to find in the States. Active: 45 mins Total: 2 hrs 45 min Original recipe submitted by Micah A Leal and published at Southern Living Recipes. Ingredients Dough: One box of Pillsbury prepared pie crusts (2 9-inch crusts per box) because I’m lazy right now, otherwise…

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By John Stoehr  March 09, 2021 The United States Senate passed Saturday a covid relief package worth about $2 trillion.2 It is a giant piece of legislation, in size and scope, akin to the Social Security Act of 1935 in terms of impact on the farthest corners of our society. It is the sixth of six spending…

Read More The American Rescue Act

MARCH 13, 2021 / 7:08 AM / CBS NEWS The Minneapolis City Council approved Friday a $27 million civil settlement with the family of George Floyd over the Black man’s death in police custody last year. The city council voted 13-0 to approve the settlement, which directs $500,000 to be used to benefit the George Floyd…

Read More Minneapolis approves “historic” $27 million settlement with George Floyd’s family

By Timothy Bella March 13, 2021 at 12:06 p.m. EST Amid a contentious hearing over proposed restrictions on Arizona’s vote-by-mail system, a Republican state lawmaker argued that voters who hadn’t participated in recent elections should no longer automatically have absentee ballots mailed to them. The reasoning, said state Rep. John Kavanagh (R), is that Republicans care more…

Read More A GOP lawmaker says the ‘quality’ of a vote matters. Critics say that’s ‘straight out of Jim Crow.’

Bob Brigham and Raw Story March 14, 2021 President Joe Biden declared “help is here” during a Friday address in the Rose Garden on the coronavirus relief legislation he has signed into law. On social media, Americans were reporting that they had already had their $1,400 survival check deposited into their bank accounts. “Americans waiting to get their…

Read More These two big banks are refusing to get stimulus checks to Americans as quickly as possible (do you bank at either one? – wcw)

By Amy B Wang March 14, 2021 at 11:01 a.m. EDT Several Democrats have called on Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to step down after he said he didn’t feel threatened in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — but would have been concerned if the mob had been made up of Black Lives Matter or…

Read More GOP Sen. Johnson says Capitol rioters didn’t scare him — but might have had they been Black Lives Matter protesters

The Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 9, 1841, freeing the remaining thirty-five survivors of the Amistad mutiny. Although seven of the nine justices on the court hailed from Southern states, only one dissented from Justice Joseph Story’s majority opinion. Private donations ensured the Africans’ safe return to Sierra Leone in January 1842. BTW, Connecticut Congregationalists formed the Amistad Committee, which organized a legal…

Read More Today in History: Survivors of Amistad Mutiny Released

There is no such thing as cancel culture. I don’t know how this dog-whistle changed meanings, but everything I have heard and can see suggests that complaints about “cancel culture” are used whenever someone says something anti, like anti-semitic or anti-LGBQTI, or racist, sexist, homophobic, or anything that is designed to shame or injure someone…

Read More Cancel Culture? WHAT?

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion (no belief in a creator god), also considered a philosophy and a moral discipline, originating in India in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. It was founded by the sage Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha l. c. 563 – c. 483 BCE) who, according to legend, had been a Hindu prince before abandoning his position and wealth to become a spiritual ascetic and, finally,…

Read More What is Buddhism?

Take 3 lemons which are heavy and juicy for their size. Scrub them thoroughly. Do not peel. Slice them see-through thin. Don’t use the little pointy ends. A good way to get really thin slices is to freeze the lemons, then slice them on a mandoline or the slicer side of a box grater. Put…

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By J. Kenji López-Alt INGREDIENTS 2 teaspoons potato starch, tapioca starch, or cornstarch 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes 4 eggs (see Note)  Pinch of kosher salt PREPARATION (sounds weird, tastes great) In a medium bowl, whisk together starch with 1 1/2 tablespoons water until no lumps remain. Add half the butter cubes to the starch…

Read More Extra-Creamy Scrambled Eggs