The month of May brings my birthday and wedding anniversary, so we usually end up making a cake or two. We don't usually do anything fancy. Usually a store-made cake. But this year with the pandemic, we ended up just getting some boxed cakes - Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines. Those sorts of things.

The problem is that they call for eggs and I'm allergic to egg yolks. (Not egg whites, oddly enough - just egg yolks.) So I've found some egg substitute. It works pretty well considering there's no egg in it. But I've found that when I use it in cakes, sometimes they turn out just fine, and other times they end up falling apart.

I know that eggs can be used for flavor, as a rising agent, as a binder, etc. but it's not clear to me how to tell which thing it's being used for in a given recipe. So my question is, in the case of a cake, are there other things I could substitute for egg yolks? The stuff I'm using has potato starch, baking powder, and psyllium husks. I guess the baking powder handles the rising aspect and the psyllium husks are probably like a binder? Are there other things I could be using?

This thread is posted daily - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

I'm an undoubted pleb when it comes to just about everything artistic (with the exception of music, in which I have impeccable taste). A while back, I suggested I'd be interested in seeing some critique or general discussion of already-known or published poetry, if only so I could get others' opinions on things that usually go over my head. This is an effort to get the ball rolling, with a poem that is one of my favorites.

Also, I'm not sure if this belongs here or in ~arts, please classify as appropriate.

Morning - Frank O'Hara

I've got to tell you
how I love you always
I think of it on grey
mornings with death

in my mouth the tea
is never hot enough
then and the cigarette
dry the maroon robe

chills me I need you
and look out the window
at the noiseless snow

At night on the dock
the buses glow like
clouds and I am lonely
thinking of flutes

I miss you always
when I go to the beach
the sand is wet with
tears that seem mine

although I never weep
and hold you in my
heart with a very real
humor you'd be proud of

the parking lot is
crowded and I stand
rattling my keys the car
is empty as a bicycle

what are you doing now
where did you eat your
lunch and were there
lots of anchovies it

is difficult to think
of you without me in
the sentence you depress
me when you are alone

Last night the stars
were numerous and today
snow is their calling
card I'll not be cordial

there is nothing that
distracts me music is
only a crossword puzzle
do you know how it is

when you are the only
passenger if there is a
place further from me
I beg you do not go

I watched Knives Out last night with my mother and we loved it. We used to love watching Hitchcock films, I’m in the mood for something more recent with a similar vibe. Like a modern Agatha Christie murder mystery. Any suggestions?

Cynicism is the bastard cousin of skepticism. While optimists look for the silver lining, cynics can't fail to see
the fly in the ointment and true skeptics are somewhere in the middle. Cynicism is an overwhelming trend in internet forums. The most upvoted reactions are usually the more pessimistic (regardless of factuality), and seemingly virtuous attitudes are immediately met with assumptions of bad faith.

Cynicism is tiresome and can very well lead to false conclusions.

This may be unlikely, but paradigms can be improved, governments can adopt better policies, corporations can act for the good of society, billionaires can be virtuous philanthropists, assholes can learn to be nice, and bigots can learn to respect diversity. We should be absolutely skeptical of sudden changes of attitude, but indiscriminate cynicism creates an environment that does not reward positive changes, and I don't think that's in the best interest of a community.

EDIT: I feel I need to clarify that cynicism is not equal to skepticism. Skeptics refrain from conviction in face of insufficient evidence, while cynics assume bad faith even without sufficient evidence. I am not advocating for naïveté, but for healthy skepticism.