Un macaron du vegan s'il vous plait!Award-winning French pastry chef Pierre Herm has just created his first vegan macaron.

Called the Rose des Sables macaroon, the pastry uses an almond and oat-milk chocolate filling with rose and praline cookies. Algae extract and potato protein replaces the egg usually found in the French dessert. Chef Pierre Herms newest vegan confection has been launched in celebration of his new book, Infiniment Macaron, all about, as you likely guessed, the art of macarons.

Chef Herm described theflavor profile of the macaroon, saying, The soft and caramelized notes of the roasted almond mix with the suave fragrances of the rose-scented milk chocolate ganache to achieve the epitome of taste. The French take their pastries very seriously, and it certainly sounds like chef Herm put a lot of thought into his new creation.

Chef Herm is not the only notable pastry chef to veganize the worlds most Instagram-able pastry. The Parisian Bakery Lauderes Los Angeles location partnered with the plant-based chef Mathew Kenney to launch a vegan menu. The Los Angeles and New York City locations both serve plant-based versions of breakfast classics as well as dairy-free confections.

Although Chef Herms macaron is only available in Herms Paris bakery, those not lucky enough to live up the rue can make their own vegan pastry at homewith our fruit tart recipe. Or, if youre someone who doesnt love thebakingaspectof baked goods, check out this list of seven bakeries you can order plant-based pastries from, delivered right to your door. Bon appetite!

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Award-Winning Pastry Chef Pierre Herm Creates Vegan Macaron - The Beet

There is no rulebook to guarantee that a restaurant will make it through the lengthy slog that is the COVID-19 pandemic. And as challenges arise that none have experienced before, Austin vegan restaurants are struggling like any other to navigate the choppy waters.

Its all any of these restaurants can do to roll with the punches and keep their eyes on the finish line, albeit a finish line thats nowhere in sight. Eater checked in with longtime favorites like Mr. Natural, brand-new food trucks like Bone-a-Fide Vegan Bistro, farmers market staples like Luv Fats, beloved trailers like Bistro Vonish, ice cream shop Sweet Ritual, and newer Chinese vegan dim sum truck Plow Bao, among others, to see how these businesses have navigated this year. Many are giving their all to stay afloat in this new, strained economy.

Vegan restaurants have had to deal with some of the same supply issues as other restaurants and food trucks, including ingredient and supply shortages. From specialty ingredients to gloves and to-go containers, the items restaurants need to survive have been hard to come by, putting a strain on chefs and employees. And while vegan food businesses didnt suffer from the widespread shortages of meat that barbecue and conventional restaurants experienced, hand sanitizer and takeout packaging have become a universal necessity.

Craig Vanis, the owner and chef of vegan food trailer Bistro Vonish, was in the beginning stages of planning a physical restaurant before the pandemic hit and stay-at-home orders took hold in March. The business is now struggling because of steady but low sales.

Likewise, longstanding neighborhood vegetarian restaurant Mothers Cafe co-owner John Silberberg is afraid that the business, which has been operating for 40 years, wont last the year, as he recently told the Chronicle. Its a result of people not feeling comfortable going out as often or dining indoors.

Amelia Raley and Valeri Ward, the co-owners of vegan ice cream shop Sweet Ritual, say that they are doing about 40 percent fewer sales this summer and fall, in a time of year when business is typically booming.

Miraculously, still other vegan businesses are seeing an increase in sales during the pandemic. For dairy-free ice cream brand Luv Fats, found at Austin farmers markets, owner Chi Ndika turned her focus to wholesale business. This was to make up for the lack of customers physically coming out to farmers markets amid social-distancing measures. She increased her wholecase roster from one to four, including Rabbit Food and Bee Grocery, since this spring. However, that comes with its own set of complications.

Business has definitely increased, which is great, says Ndika, but I dont have anybody to help me under these conditions. She also doesnt feel comfortable asking another person to work with her and risk their own health during these times, which naturally limits her ability to expand.

Likewise, Joyce Ni, owner of the vegan Chinese dim sum food truck Plow Bao, was able to buy out her partner this summer, making her the majority owner. Since the truck at Buzz Mill Coffee is still relatively new, having only been open since December 2019, she doesnt have previous sales for comparison purposes. Ni says shes seen a steady increase in business since she moved from Buzz Mills now-closed location on Shady Lane into its original Riverside address at the beginning of April. In-person takeout orders at the trailer window have increased, but she credits much of her success to potential customers ability to order via Uber Eats and through Buzz Mills ordering platform via Toast, which makes ordering at any of the food trucks on site a possibility.

Naturally, as business ebbs and flows and the measures surrounding COVID-19 mitigation measures change, theres been a fair amount of pivoting required when it comes to figuring out day-to-day operations in a safe manner.

As one of many vegan food trucks in town to reduce its hours drastically, Vanis took it a step further. He closed down the trailer completely for several weeks before switching to twice-weekly preorders. This way, fans of his elevated vegan cuisine, like the Brussels mac and cheese and super-soft kolaches, could still get their fix, but they just had to plan ahead on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This new format is in an effort to keep doing what we love, he says, while also minimizing risks to our safety, and the safety of those around us. He started offering some of his food items, like the kolaches and mac and cheese, at other local businesses, including Dear Diary Coffeehouse and Rabbit Food Grocery.

Sweet Ritual has closed the parlor section of the vegan ice cream shop in lieu of an online-only ordering and curbside-pickup system. As a new offering, the shop started selling celebratory sundae kits, dubbed Ice-Elation kits, with ice cream, toppings, and even items like birthday candles or mad libs for at-home parties or just Tuesday evenings with the family.

Similarly, Mueller vegan deli and cheese shop Rebel Cheese switched to pickup and deliveries in place of dine-in service. Co-owners Kirsten and Fred Maitland even started offering monthly virtual cheese tastings, where customers can preorder a special cheeseboard selection (with or without wine), have it delivered to their home or prepared for pickup, and try them during a small virtual event. The two also recently upgraded to a larger, dedicated production facility with more square footage and flexibility thats all theirs, instead of sharing kitchen space as they had previously done, even though theyve seen about a 50 percent decrease in revenue, according to Kirsten.

Most vegan restaurants have had to quickly adapt to brand-new and completely customized ordering systems and keep abreast of constantly shifting safety regulations and local ordinances, which often result in long days and nights of learning new ways to operate.

Raley started the ATX Veg*n Food Business Owners group a few years ago, in an effort to foster community and communication. Because of the pandemic, it switched from regular in-person meet-ups to weekly online get-togethers to share ideas and support, and to foster much-needed community.

If your business doesnt adapt, youre not going to survive.

Feeling isolated and frustrated with the pandemic, says Railey, these virtual meetings have been a great space to see a friendly face and to commiserate on lost sales, share guides on how to streamline curbside service, and to help promote each other.

Longtime East Side vegetarian restaurant Mr. Natural is able to survive thanks to its presence on social media and streamlined ordering system (as opposed to many third-party apps, such as Uber Eats and Grubhub, which can take up to 30 percent of each sale) as necessities to keep local businesses on the map. If your business doesnt adapt, says co-owner Jesus Mendoza, youre not going to survive.

Still, though, and perhaps miraculously, for as many vegan restaurant and food truck owners, operators, and chefs that are struggling, just as many are rolling the dice and deciding to open new businesses and locations.

Vegan burgers and barbecue truck Bone-a-Fide Vegan Bistro opened in July after relocating from San Antonio, where it offered mostly catering service and pop-ups. We had to move unannounced and very quickly, say co-owners and couple Chris Hamm and Cheryl Knox, and we were not well known here. They had to start building a customer base all over again during a time when people arent regularly getting out and trying new things, they say. However, vegan Austinites cant get enough of their meatless barbecue, especially since it isnt readily available in the city. (Revolution BBQ is still closed in Austin while it looks for a new location.)

Many other trucks turned to Austin as they moved or expanded from other Texas cities, including San Antonio vegan fried chicken spot Happea Vegans. Owner Leah Drones was lucky, though, because the hungry Austin crowd was already fairly aware of its existence thanks to its frequent appearances at local vegan events.

Rolando Garza, the chef behind now-closed vegan truck Cool Beans, partnered with Edgar Delfin to open the Austin location of El Paso vegan Tex-Mex truck Lick It Up, despite raised eyebrows. We didnt have a choice, explains Garza, as a chef. This is what we do, and we intend to do it well. This is something I know how to do, and I feel helps during these times. The truck, which opened in August at Spider Cafe, already expanded to a second location on Rainey Street.

One thing these vegan restaurants can rely on is a dedicated and supportive customer base with a reputation for showing up when the going gets tough for businesses they love. These food-minded vegans are doing all that they can to help the businesses they love stay above water. Its an amazing community. Thats one reason I think were still here, says Kirsten Maitland. Not just the vegan community, but Im so grateful for all of our customers.

However, its hard for vegan diners to support these restaurants when theyre also struggling with the loss of jobs and income themselves right now. Vanis is very aware of these factors. Many folks who would typically support small businesses are unemployed, underemployed, living with the thread of economic uncertainty, or, very reasonably, dont feel that it is safe to go out more than is absolutely necessary, he says. Were doing the best we can, and enjoying the small moments of the day to day.

And its providing those moments of joy, togetherness, and good plant-based food from six feet apart that motivates so many local vegan restaurants to keep offering options that not only keep their boats afloat, but also ensure that the staff and community they love are safe. The rallying cry that will unite them all: Support local businesses, especially these vegan restaurants, so that theyre around after the pandemic ends.

Update, October 13, 9:03 a.m.: This article, originally published on Friday, October 9, has been updated to clarify Joyce Nis ownership status of Plow Bao.

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Vegan Restaurants Rely on Their Community to Survive the Pandemic - Eater Austin

Do the dropping temperatures make you want to cozy up and cuddle with a warm cup of broth? Want the highly touted benefits of bone broth without the bone? Thanks to some innovative companies committed to health and sustainability such as Beyond Broth and OM Mushrooms Superfood, you can have your broth and eat it too, so to speak.

OMMushrooms Superfoodcreates its broths from mushroom superfoods such as shitake, lions mane, reishi, turkey tail (which is a mushroom), and cordyceps.The brand has two vegan varieties a mighty mushroom blend, which is simple and earthy, and a miso variety, which has the savory satisfying flavor of the Japanese staple. Both are warm, nourishing, and sustaining with 7 grams of added clean protein sourced from pea protein. OM Mushrooms Superfood broths are unique in that they all leverage the natural umami flavor of organic nutritional mushrooms, which are fabulous in savory applications. They are designed to offer a great consumption experience and broad health benefits led by immune health.

Multiple studies link gut health to immunity: According to a review from the International Journal Of Molecular Sciences on the health-promoting benefits of edible mushrooms on gut health, the gut microbiota contributes to gut immunomodulation in tandem with both the innate and adaptive immune systems. The important sources of prebiotics in mushrooms are non-digestible mushroom polysaccharides which can inhibit pathogen proliferation by enhancing the growth of probiotic bacteria in the gut.

By adding a variety of mushrooms to the mix, a veggie broth can have the same gut healing properties that many bone broths claim to have. Mushrooms are loaded with selenium, Vitamin D, B vitamins, iron, and zinc, all key nutrients for boosting immune health and whether you use a packaged mix or make your own broth, these powerful fungi are a key component in nutrient-dense broths.

In addition, seaweed and turmeric can also contribute to stomach lining health and digestive tract, both of which easily can be added to your homemade broths. Aloe vera and fermented foods will also help heal the lining of the gut and adding them into your diet can help you steer clear of the collagen and animal products in traditional meat-based bone broths.

Personally, I love to pour my veggie broth late morning and sip on it as I would tea throughout the day. You can also have a cup as a sustaining snack or you can use the powdered mixes in recipes to create a more savory nutritional meal. Try this satisfying recipe for creamy mushroom cauliflower soup with OMs Mighty Mushroom Broth. I love to make my own broth to warm my home with the scents of nourishment using a recipefrom Wallflower Kitchen loaded with veggie goodness.

Broths are a great way to feel healthy and strong all year long, and these vegan alternatives to bone broth pack all the taste and health benefits of the real thing.

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Bone Broth Without the 'Bone': Vegan Broths to Boost Immunity - The Beet

Tianna Johnson is a writer, academic and the founder of Black Girls Camping Trip.

Three times now, Ive unsuccessfully tried to convert to veganism.

It got to a point where I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my own failed attempts when, after engaging with more Black vegans and vegan literature, the journey to meat reduction became surprisingly easy. The difference in resources, advice and cultural understanding has a significant impact on ones ability to change ones lifestyle so dramatically. There is clearly a complicated relationship between Blackness and veganism.

So why didnt white veganism resonate?

The decision to go plant-based is a tough one. If you live in the West and engage in consumerism, its inevitable that the way you live is entrenched in the excessive use of animal products. The most common reasons for making the switch include animal welfare, health and environmental impact. For me, the animal-cruelty argument never stuck.

White vegans, and their respective organisations, co-opt the language of Black activists where speciesism is involved, in order to get their point across. By using the ism suffix to show cruelty against animals, they instead present as anti-black and racially tone-deaf.

This clumsiness always made veganism unappealing to me, especially because my first contact with this way of life was through large animal rights groups, like PETA.

PETAs gracelessness almost desecrated veganism for me. The groups award-winning 2019 SuperBowl advert adopted the infamous anti-racism kneel first used by Colin Kaepernick in protest of police brutality directed towards Black Americans. This was clearly used by PETA to shock viewers, at a time when Kaepernicks kneel was stirring up so much debate and chaos in the US. At the time, Kaepernick had also been dropped by his team and denied his right to work despite being one of the most reputable players.

We cannot accept that historical violence against Black people is unique enough to have its own movement, while simultaneously equating a legacy of colonialism and slavery to specieism.

In no way am I justifying animal cruelty. But the speciesism movement demonstrates just how far we are from the eradication of racial violence. Not only does it place my human rights on the same level as that of a chicken, but I also live in a world where the humanity of Black folks is equated to that of beings who arent even human.

The atrocities inflicted on my community have been studied, quantified and published, and yet we are no closer to racial equality. But PETA can skip all of the steps that require progress - by stealing the journey instead of taking one of their own. There are no stakes for an animated rabbit on his knees, but there are very real consequences for Black people who speak up, as Kaepernicks career has proven.

All this extends to the importance of cultural preservation for Black people. In most modern Black cultures, meat plays a huge role in how we experience culture.

As we move into an age of multiculturalism, even if it is only experienced digitally, the borders are open for people from outside to cross, engage and violate. Its well established that many of our modern cuisines are meat-centric. Francisca, founder of Black Geographers has said this herself.

My mum is half Zimbabwean and meat is a big part of Zimbabwean cuisine, she says. In the UK, food is one of the ways that we interact with a homeland that were separated from. Asking Black people to renounce this is huge. In the post-colonial era where cultural appropriation is rife and so much history has been lost to colonialism, its justifiable that Black people resist these changes.

Yet, for me, the journey towards veganism is about interacting with this culture that was left behind.

On my mother's side, my family are from remote, country parts of Jamaica, where the consumption of meat would have been controlled. It wouldnt have been viable for my family to have raised as many chickens or cows that we consume daily here in the UK. Therein lies the distortion of what my culture is because, in migrating, many of our elders were presented with the opportunity to make more of our meat-heavy cuisine.

This was one of the privileges of coming to the United Kingdom, where the mass production of meat was further along in its development than it wouldve been back home. My grandparents converted to Rastafari after arriving in the UK as part of the pan-African movement across the West, meaning they adopted a vegetarian lifestyle.

Hard food is one of my favourite cultural dishes and can definitely be enjoyed without meat. This is a composition dish, you can put your favourite bits in and leave your least favourite out. Boiled dumplings, yam, pumpkin, plantain and sweet potato are just some of my favourites. The word for this diet is ital, referring to a belief system, compulsory in the Nyabinghi Mansion of Rastafari, which dictates that its followers should eat food grown from the earth around them - unmodified.

It might even be what one considers to be veganism in The West.

Were seeing this move return in all of its forms, from chefs like Sisterwoman Vegan, who has revolutionised Caribbean and African American dishes by substituting plant-based options into traditional dishes.

It is important for members of large, and predominantly white organisations that champion veganism to know what kind of impact they are having on Black conversion. If they care as much about the eradication of animal cruelty and reversal of climate change as they claim to, then they should respect the experiences of Black people.

Its understanding that the path to this lifestyle will not land if Black people, sometimes with little choice about what they can eat, are being harassed. Instead, these organisations should show that a move to veganism can be a positive return to lost culture.

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The complicated relationship between Blackness and veganism - Euronews

You see this ingredient in so many vegan products, but what is it? And should you be worried about eating it? Here is the scoop on Soy Protein Isolate and why it's in so many vegan or plant-based foods.

The Impossible Burger has it. So, too, do vegan protein bars, other fake meats, and some granolas. In fact, suffice to say that if youre eating vegan food, youre probably consuming soy protein isolate. Yet while youre familiar with soy and protein and know theyre healthy, the isolate part has you confused. No more, as experts weigh in below and explain what this foreign-sounding ingredient isand why it shouldnt actually be a huge worry.

True to its name, soy protein isolate originates from soy, specifically defatted and dehulled soybeans, according to the Journal of Nutrition.By soaking the soybeans, protein can essentially be isolated out and dehydrated. As a result, that soy protein isolate becomes an ultra-rich source of protein, its content about 90 percent protein, says Nanci S. Guest, Ph.D., R.D., C.S.C.S., plant-based dietitian and nutrition scientist at the University of Toronto in Ontario.

Soy protein isolate is then added to foods, which not only boosts the protein content but also does so without adding additional fat or calories. Its not unlike how manufacturers use whey protein isolate with one obvious difference. Soy protein isolate is from plants, and whey is one of two proteins from dairy, Guest says.

Throughout the years, soy has had to fight to earn its justly deserved spot in the health food world, people often harboring an erroneous belief that isoflavones, also called phytoestrogens, in soy can increase your risk of breastor prostate (or other hormonal) cancer. Fortunately, numerous studies now exist to show the benefits of eating a moderate amount of whole soy foods like soybeans and edamame, and even minimally processed soy foods like tofu and soy milk. These foods help reduce the risk of cancer, especially breast and hormone-related cancers, and recurrence of cancer, says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., director of nutrition education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

So whats the worry with soy protein isolate? Theres some concern that like cows milk, soy protein isolate may increase insulin-like growth factors such as IGF-1. Once soy protein isolate is extracted from food, it may promote cancer and cancer growth, Levin says, citing a study in Nutrition and Cancerthat recommended men with early-stage prostate cancer "not to exceed dietary protein recommendations."

Others, however, say otherwise. Theres zero evidence that soy protein isolate acts differently than soy food, Guest says. In fact, soy protein isolate may actually have some health benefits.

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), soy protein isolate has been shown to reduce tumor incidence and growth in some animal studies and may also inhibit endothelial cell proliferation. And because it does contain phytoestrogens, displaying mild estrogen-like effects as a result, soy protein isolate may help regulate hormone balance and reduce the risks of breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis. Levin notes, however, that the NCI is citing studies done on animals, not humans, which could affect results.

And for individuals who are wanting to make fitness gains in the gym, soy protein isolate might be beneficial there as well: Soy protein isolate is firmly established as a high-quality protein that promotes gains in muscle mass and strength among individuals engaged in resistance exercise training, says Mark Messina, Ph,D., M.S., president of Nutrition Matters in Pittsfield, Mass. Soy protein isolate also lowers cholesterol modestly.

Whether you eat soy protein isolate depends on what youre hoping to get from it. If you want to receive all of the same health-promoting benefits as whole soy foods, you might be out of luck. Soy protein isolate is lower in isoflavones and doesnt provide some of the other components found in whole soy like fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, says Messina, although he does say that both soy foods and isolate can have a role in the diet.

On the flip side, though, soy protein isolate can help you meet your protein needs. The question, of course, becomes whether you need that much protein in a single serving. A small food item with 20 grams of protein is a ridiculously high amount, Levin says, adding that it may be more of a marketing ploy at this point. Companies are playing on your fear that you need more protein.

In the end, soy protein isolate isnt the biggest red flag in the health world, and if you eat it every now and then or in moderation, it shouldnt be a concern, Levin says. Yet for optimal benefits, strive to eat whole sources of soy whenever possible.

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What is Soy Protein Isolate, Found in Vegan Food, and Is It Bad? - The Beet

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844. The noted philosopher is known for his writings on good and evil, the end of religion in modern society, and the concept of a super-man.

Nietzsche began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest ever to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24. Nietzsche resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade.

In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until she died in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Frster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900. Nietzsches writing spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony.

Throughout his productive life, Nietzsche struggled to have his work published, confident that his books would have culturally transformative effects. While he did not live long enough to witness his fame, he did learn that his work was the subject of a series of lectures by Georg Morris Cohen Brandes, delivered at the University of Copenhagen in 1888.

Nietzsche died on August 25, 1900, from pneumonia and a stroke. The Nietzsche manuscripts were eventually moved to the Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar.

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Friedrich Nietzsche Birth Anniversary: Top 10 relatable love quotes by the philosopher - Newsd.in

Last Monday I was wondering if we would be getting the day off on Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day/Old Farmers Day, and at that moment a song popped up on the CD in the car stereo. It was Texas songwriter James McMurtry singing, Im not from here, I just live here. Grew up somewhere far away

I relate. My grandparents emigrated from Sweden and Poland. My other grandparents emigrated from Alabama. Well actually they go back to Colonial Maryland, or so my third cousin who worked on our genealogy says. I guess you could say us Larsons are like millions of other families a tiny droplet out of this big melting pot we call home.

Here in New Mexico, some of the families really are "from here" and have a family history going back 400 years or so, and in the process spiced up the melting pot with green chile .

To be honest though, those ancestors originally came from Spain. Youve got to go back to the early 1500s when the Spanish conquistadors came, with many marrying their indigenous girlfriends and settling down and getting married and having children.

But if I read my history book, the ancestors of the indigenous population had settled around here after their fore-bearers came to North America across a land bridge from Siberia.

This is the point where my brain gets wonky and the neurons start jumping synapses, kind of like it did when I was trying not to flunk algebra, and if I take this much further I may have to resort to a flow chart in a powerpoint presentation. Heaven forbid.

So with all this in mind, I can see why some people wonder if Columbus Day should still be a thing. Here in New Mexico it was officially changed to Indigenous Peoples Day last year, and kin like fashion, other states have made the switch.

It may not be any big loss because if you think about it, Christopher Columbus' name is already enshrined by places like Columbus, Ohio; Columbus, Georgia; Columbia, South Carolina; District of Columbia; Columbia University; Columbia, South America; Canadas British Columbia and on and on.

While we're jacking around with legal holidays let's go ahead and add one that has a tad more significance when it comes to the U.S.A.'s history. This coming Monday, for example, is a day that ought to be right up there with VE Day and VJ Day. I'm talking about - wait for it - VB day!

Yes, Victory over the British, for it was Oct. 19, 1781, that Englands royal army under General Cornwallis was surrounded and consequently surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. George Washington well deserved having a ticker-tape parade to mark the victory. Of course, there was no such thing as ticker-tape back then and as a matter of fact, theres no such thing as ticker-tape today.

This is where the Z generation will ask, "Grandpa, what is a ticker-tape parade?" And I say it's kind of like dumping your paper-shredder contents out the window of a skyscraper into the street. Ticker-tape, as such, has gone the way of telegrams, "Fill 'er up?" gas station attendants and Kodak Instamatics.

Not to say that my old 127 Brownie couldnt take good pictures, its just nowadays you cant find anyone to process the film. What the latest thing now, though, is to pull all those old faded snapshots out of the photo album and scan them into your computer. And thats okay because with the right software you can make them look (almost) new. But time marches on, and now people rely on their cell phones for capturing those precious moments, and upload them onto the world-wide-web for people from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo to scroll past.

But look at me, being all high and mighty when I just posted a Flashback Friday photo.

Today is the birthdate of Friederich Nietzsche, who was born in Germany on October 15, 1844, and I only mention this because even to this day, you will catch people quoting him, whether they know it or not. It was Nietzsche, as I recall from my philosophy class at the University of Illinois, who gave birth to a million Facebook memes by proclaiming, That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

But that's not all. Nietzsche also said, Without music, life would be a mistake.

And, I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.

He also left us with the sobering, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

Wait. Sounds like social media to me.

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Gazing into the abyss | Opinion | dchieftain.com - El Defensor Chieftain

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Lee M. Pierce, State University of New York, College at Geneseo

(THE CONVERSATION) After President Donald Trump announced his COVID-19 diagnosis, Merriam-Webster Dictionary reported a 30,000% increase in searches for the word schadenfreude.

The German word, which is often translated as harm joy, or joy in someone elses pain, instantly became a subject of debate.

GQ and Newsweek, along with Stephen Colbert of The Late Show, wondered whether schadenfreude was a morally defensible response to the presidents diagnosis.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said absolutely not. Harvard professor Laurence Tribe went further, writing that this was no time for cruelty, schadenfreude, or any other form of small-mindedness.

I agree that cruelty is small-minded and indefensible. But as a scholar of rhetoric, I have a difficult time looping schadenfreude in with small-minded cruelty.

One of the issues is that the common English translation of schadenfreude harm joy fails to adequately capture the nuances of the term, and misses whats most poignant about it.

The realization of divine symmetry

Perhaps the confusion comes from the social sciences. Recent studies of schadenfreude have oversimplified it as the darker side of human emotion.

But at its best, schadenfreude is actually a recognition of ironic justice.

Irony is frequently misused in American political discourse as simply not meaning what you said. However, irony is a very specific rhetorical device by which something returns as its opposite. A returns as not A is the classic formulation.

In the case of Trump, he downplayed the seriousness of COVID-19 and ended up being diagnosed with a serious case of the virus himself. A returned as not A.

That is classic irony. Then theres the justice element.

Trump didnt simply downplay it in a vacuum. He was in charge of the federal governments response to a pandemic that has devastated thousands of families across the country. To them, COVID-19 has been deadly serious. So in this case, the irony doubles as a form of justice.

By justice, I dont mean rule of law or a system of punishment. I mean justice in its older sense of divine symmetry. The roots of the word justice have several potential origins, including the Latin stitia, loosely translated as equity, and the pre-Latin word jowos, loosely translated as sacred formula.

Schadenfreude is about appreciating that sacred formula at work in a secular world. Maybe you observe with satisfaction as the person who mocked your weight in high school asks for diet advice on Facebook. Or maybe you look on contentedly as your grandchild gives your child the same grief over broccoli that your child gave you.

Is that small-minded cruelty? Or are you appreciating the cosmic irony by which a perceived wrong has been righted?

An emotional middle ground

Appreciation is not simply another word for happiness or glee. Those are emotions that feel good, the way cuddles with loved ones and delicious desserts feel good.

A sense of appreciation or satisfaction after witnessing poetic justice at work is different, and schadenfreude is a milder experience that involves satisfaction.

To Sigmund Freud, satisfaction was best explained by the word befriedigung, which means ceasing displeasure.

Ceasing displeasure is not the same thing as experiencing pleasure. Its about bringing things back into balance. Befriedigung occupies an emotional middle ground that can be difficult to grasp in a culture that prefers extreme, binary emotions.

The presidents tendency toward hyperbolic and grandiose language is symptomatic of the countrys cultural preference for the huge emotions, such as anger, guilt, happiness and pleasure. Schadenfreude is an emotional chisel in an internet and media landscape that prefers blunt rhetorical instruments.

When schadenfreude veers into hopelessness

That said, schadenfreude can certainly go too far.

Just a few decades before Freud, another influential German thinker, Friedrich Nietzsche, argued that schadenfreude, pushed to its limits, becomes another word: ressentiment. In On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche defined ressentiment as slave morality, a feeling of superiority derived from ones own suffering.

Think of it like a sliding scale. On the far end is simple justice: Someone in power does the right thing, like your boss approving your vacation request after youve worked six months with no time off. But lets suppose your boss says no to the request. And then no again two months later. And then no again two months after that. At that point, you might appreciate learning that your boss was denied a vacation request by headquarters. Thats schadenfreude. You might even point out this cosmic irony to your boss, hoping it will make a difference.

But when it doesnt and your boss continues treating you poorly you might start reveling in your own victimhood. You take every chance you can to tell your co-workers that your boss is out to get you. Thats ressentiment.

Ressentiment takes hold once the possibility for justice is no longer on the horizon. Under those conditions, even the most poignant appreciations of irony cannot speak truth to power. In turn, an oppressed people would understandably take refuge in an extreme form of schadenfreude.

But in between justice and ressentiment is a rich, gray area where schadenfreude can serve a valuable political purpose. If those in power wont take responsibility for the injustices they have perpetuated either knowingly or not then its certainly OK for people to appreciate those moments when the chickens come home to roost.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/schadenfreude-over-trumps-covid-19-diagnosis-was-more-about-cosmic-justice-than-joy-in-anothers-pain-147884.

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Schadenfreude over Trumps COVID-19 diagnosis was more about cosmic justice than joy in anothers pain - Jacksonville Journal-Courier

Contributed photo by Kathleen Greeson

CAPE SAN BLAS, Fla. Hope your days have been swell.

Above is a picture from the Mrs. 5-at-10, which was feeding and ate only slightly more seafood than the 5-at-10 did Wednesday night at the Indian Pass Raw Bar. Egad those oysters were good.

Oysters, friend or foe?

We will try to move more quickly today. But, again, you know how that goes.

So with the breeze whistling and the waves crashing, from the satellite offices off of 30E in Florida, let's do this.

Fab 4 picks

We're at a loss. Seriously.

Not sure what the midway point of the college football season is, but it feels like we're carrying bags of cement up a hill when it comes to our college picks.

For every good pick there is at least one flubbed pick. And for every loss when we're on the right side, we have left a clear winner on the cutting room floor.

So it goes, and this year is anything but normal. And for comparison sake, at the midway point of October the last three years in college picks, we've been at 58 percent, 62 percent and 61 percent against the number.

Right now? We're two games below the Mush line.

Side question: What betting movies/movie characters are the best? I ask because Mush from A Bronx Tale is a great one. An all-timer for my group, especially in college. Mush, for those uninitiated, was a character in the mob circle of the rather mediocre aforementioned movie "A Bronx Tale." In fact, Mush, and the story about the $20 are the only true lasting parts about it.

Well, "He can't win, Mush bet Kryptonite."

There's an old saying I learned at card tables across the South. If you can't recognize the sucker, you're the sucker.

Is it possible? Am I Mush? At 11-13, it's Mush-able.

But, we're here. We're clear. We've got more than a little fear. Maybe we need to get used to it.

And pickers gotta pick. (In honor of our beach themes, here's what some folks callthe best ukulele playerin the world. Enjoy.)

(Editor's note. Picks coming in a few. The Mrs. had a flat tire on the way back from the world-famous donut shop on Cape San Blas this morning, and hey, duty calls.)

Tide-Dogs

Not sure how you bet that one, to be honest, but I know that I will never bet against Saban against non-FCS competition.

Sure, I might not bet on Alabama every week, but it feels like a 10-day old tomato to do otherwise. (That means it feels really Mush-y, Spy. C'mon, I expected a littlemore from a varsity letterman.)

We wondered Wednesday if Saturday's showdown between the unmistakable top two teams in the SEC even matters in the race for the college football playoffs.

It's more like qualifying and positioning at this point all things considered, and as Chas noted on Wednesday, that could very well be about the strangeness of this season.

Speaking of which, that COVID has arrived at Saban's door stinks. Here's hoping the GOAT whips this thing like he does former assistants.

A lot of folks are banging the drum that this is Kirby's time and this defense is that good.

Maybe so.

But I'm not picking against Saban. Not on Saturday. Not against the Corona. Not ever.

And if this is Kirby's time, well, then Saturday's going to be a barn-burner and someone on Georgia's roster is going to be made into a mythical figure.

Because the only times through the years that anyone has toppled Saban in the last decade, it has been in a pretty magically memorable fashion.

And if it's going to happen, it's not necessarily going to be the defense that does it. Yes, Ole Miss put up a billion yards and a million points and this Bama defense is not what we're used to.

But if there is one common thread through the last 10 years of Alabama losses, it's a dude at wide receiver having a game for the ages or a quarterback who will be the subject of songs. Be it Alshon Jeffery or Rueben Randle or LaQuan Tredwell, or the likes of Cam, Johnny Football, DeShaun Watson or Joe Burrow.

Sure there are Auburn holes there that were inexplicable rivalry games that came with fancy nicknames and highlight videos, but other than that, it will take an extremely superhuman effort from a skilled offensive guy? Does Georgia have that guy on Saturday? We'll see. (But I'm still never picking against Saban.)

Braves stumble

So what? So bleepin' what?

There's not an aggregate tie-breaker in the NLCS, so losing 2-1 or 8-7 is the same as the 15-1 loss the Braves took Wednesday.

In fact, as Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters, including Dave O'Brien of The Athletic the game, "Quite honestly, we're in better shape than if we had grinded out a 7-5 loss. We wanted to win the game and all. Those last 4 hours were not a lot of fun. But now that it's over and you look back, if we had to lose the game that's probably the best possible way."

And he's right. Completely.

Because after not getting out of the first, Kyle Wright is available sooner rather than later.

Sure it puts a ton of heat on Bryse Wilson tonight, but so it goes. Braves fans almost assuredly needed Kyle, Bryse or one of the other guys with Greg and Doug and Chip from the Omega House to get one win.

And the knowledge of Fried and Anderson still looming as needed is way more comforting than the frustration of what was a historically bad first inning Wednesday.

Deep breaths Braves fans.As aforementioned Chip Dillertold us, "All is Well."

This and that

You know the rules.Here's Paschall on Sabangetting the COVID despite wearing a mask "all the time."Here's his picks column. And here's a look atUGA's hopes Saturday night, and maybe how that could even happen Sunday morning.

Did some wheelin' and dealin' to shake up our fantasy football team, which had lost three straight games. We dealt Chris Carson and Antonio Gibson for Christian McCaffrey. And we dealt Tyler Lockett, DeVonta Freeman and the Packers tight end for Davanta Adams. We were flush with depth, but a high scoring bench does you little good. Of course, in our Mush run right now, we'll get two injuries and be stuck. We got a pretty righteous collection of RBs and WRs now with Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Jonathan Taylor and McCaffrey as well as Adams and DeAndre Hopkins. We're either going to make a charge to win this thing or finish DFL. Mush.

Loved this storyfrom USA Today about Joe Mogila. What an interesting dude, who is now the head executive director of the football program at Coastal Carolina seriously, that's his title and CC is 4-0 after last night. And, he's doing it for $1 a year. (Of course, when you are the former CEO of TD Ameritrade and had various years making more than $20 million per, you can afford to do what you love for any price.)

Today's questions

Hey, remember the mailbag gang.

Nietzsche was born on this day in 1844. Is there a more famous often repeated philosophical theory than "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" by the aforementioned Nietzsche?

As for a Rushmore, Penny Marshall would have been 77 today. Rushmore of female directors. Go, and remember the mailbag.

Go here to see the original:
5-at-10 on fall break, Day 4: Fab 4 picks, Never picking against Saban, Braves are fine - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Today, I wouldnt consider walking into a store without a cloth mask. Im not happy if you walk in without one.

However, I dont know whether masks are or arent effective in preventing COVID-19. Neither do you, Fauci, Birx, Atlas, Trump, Biden, Fox, MSNBC or myriad Twitterati.

A disconcerting feature of the pandemic is frequent abuse and misunderstanding of science itself. If the topic were theology rather than virology, 2020s dominant voices would be cultists and atheists. Those who view scientific evidence as unquestioned truths or superstitious nonsense. Jim Jones versus Friedrich Nietzsche.

I revere science and have taught its tools to medical researchers and others. I view masks and other COVID-19 precautions through the lens of Pascals Wager.

In the 1600s, Blaise Pascal argued for a cautious approach to the existence of God. If theres no God, he argued, living a godly life will reap no benefits post-mortem but will entail only modest sacrifices in the present world.

If God exists, he argued, an ungodly life in this world will bring only modest pleasures, followed by infinite suffering in Hell. Hence, a godly life is a good bet. Pascals reasoning (along with that of Thomas Bayes and other theologians) played a powerful role in the development of scientific methods.

A recent missive from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: if that is what the scientific and medical advice tells us we must do. Arecent articleat a medical website says: [T]he science is clear: Face coverings tamp down the spread of COVID-19.

Properly used, science never tells us what to do. Science is a witness, and not the judge. Its testimony may be loud and convincing, but never clear. At some point, science rests and humans decide what to make of it.

In teaching economics and statistics to thousands of students, I stressed the importance of maintaining a healthy skepticism toward scientific evidence.

As the world stumbles its way through COVID-19, science provides only a faint and flickering light to guide us through the darkness. Just as a spelunkers flashlight cannot tell him which way to proceed through a cave, so it is with scientific evidence. To assume otherwise is to confuse science and faith.

In conveying this message to my students (many of whom were already well-established scientists and medical practitioners), I had them consider baseball and kidneys.

In 1995, 1996 and 1997, David Justice batted .253, .321 and .329, respectively, while Derek Jeter batted .250, .314 and .291.

Justices average was higher each year. A baseball scientist (sabermetrician) might conclude, The science is clear. Evidence commands, Bat like Justice, not like Jeter. Q.E.D. Selah.

But heres the problem. If we combine each players stats for these three years, it turns out that Jeters batting average over the three-year period 1995-97 was actually higher than Justices. If this anomaly (known as a Simpsons Paradox) bothers you, great. Google it and work through the math. Youll be a better person.

The same paradox showed up in a 1986 study of kidney stones byC. R. Charig, et al.The group compared success rates for two different kidney-stone treatments.

Treatment X had an 83 percent success rate, while Treatment Y achieved only 78 percent. One might have concluded that: The science is clear: Insurance should pay for X and not Y.

However, when the researchers divided sufferers into those with large stones and those with small stones, it turned out that Treatment Y had higher success rates for both groups. So now, one might conclude that science says pay for Y and not X.

Health journalistJulia Belluzpresented a wonderful graphic titled Everything we eat both causes and prevents cancer (borrowed from study bySchoenfeld and Ioannides). The diagram summarized studies indicating that wine, tomatoes, tea, milk, eggs, corn, coffee, butter, and beef prevent cancer and studies showing that each causes cancer.

Ultimately, though, human beings must sift through ever-conflicting, ever-shifting data and do their best.

And so, I wear my mask, because its not too onerous, because it might save me, and because the data are relatively convincing.

As with Pascals Wager, it all comes down to costs, benefits, probabilities and weight of evidence.

Visit link:
On Face Masks, God, Baseball, Kidneys and Cancer InsideSources - InsideSources