morganmarz's recent activity

  1. Comment on Brazilian delivery workers take their fight to get app users to pick up their orders to local legislatures in ~life

    morganmarz
    Link Parent
    It’s the same as any other publication name. “X refused to respond to CNN’s requests for information.” Rest of World is the name of the publication.

    It’s the same as any other publication name. “X refused to respond to CNN’s requests for information.” Rest of World is the name of the publication.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Best method to get rid of mealybugs (and maybe scale too)? in ~hobbies

    morganmarz
    Link
    In addition to what you have already done, there is also the option of a systemic pesticide, which kills the insects that are feeding on your plant. This is a scorched earth sort of strategy, but...

    In addition to what you have already done, there is also the option of a systemic pesticide, which kills the insects that are feeding on your plant. This is a scorched earth sort of strategy, but it is also extremely effective. I use Bonide systemic granules on my indoor plants.

    Do keep in mind that this should not be used on edible plants or outside plants.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on In Mongolia, back to school, back to sickness? in ~health

    morganmarz
    Link Parent
    That’s a very big question, and there’s no way that I could answer it succinctly. I will respond to a couple points though. If you want to do it, then make it happen. If it doesn’t make sense now,...

    That’s a very big question, and there’s no way that I could answer it succinctly. I will respond to a couple points though.

    1. If you want to do it, then make it happen. If it doesn’t make sense now, you don’t have to put it away forever. The oldest member of my cohort turned 60 in her first year there, and she’s gone back to live there for extended periods since.

    2. It’s hard. Peace Corps’s favorite slogan is that “It’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.” For a while that felt very on the nose for me, but as time has gone on and I’ve come to terms with things more, I feel that at least for me, it turned out to be true.

    3. Peace Corps is a good program. I will say that unequivocally. That’s not to say it’s without its problems, but I believe it’s a program that (at least currently) puts good into the world. The goal is not to go over to somewhere and live in a hut—though you may!—and save the world. It’s just to be there to help in the way that the community you’re placed in needs. That’s all. That’s why every volunteer teaches English no matter what their sector or primary work is. Sometimes you have a good idea and you have to fight to get people to see that it is a good idea, but that’s something you really only do very seldom, and after you’ve built trust.

    6 votes

  4. Comment on In Mongolia, back to school, back to sickness? in ~health

    morganmarz
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The best answer to your question is really, “It’s variable.” I will preface by saying that I do not know if there are any government regulations on wells in the countryside. But really, even...

    The best answer to your question is really, “It’s variable.” I will preface by saying that I do not know if there are any government regulations on wells in the countryside. But really, even within one small town you might have two wells on either side and built completely differently, of different ages. Have the outhouses tainted the well water? Does one site have a higher incidence of heavy metal toxicity? Not to mention the areas that use nearby bodies of water.

    Peace Corps Volunteers are issued a two-chambered water filtration system with a ceramic filter, so you don’t have to boil all your water. But that’s a luxury to keep PCV’s relatively healthy (not that I didn’t have enough food poisoning to last a lifetime despite having clean water).

    I never saw anyone boil water to use it for handwashing. But certainly washing your hands at all is better than not for individual and public health. The water will be what it will be.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on In Mongolia, back to school, back to sickness? in ~health

    morganmarz
    (edited )
    Link
    I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, evacuated due to covid, as it turns out, so I always perk up when I see news from there. Mongolia did surprisingly well with their early pandemic...

    I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, evacuated due to covid, as it turns out, so I always perk up when I see news from there.

    Mongolia did surprisingly well with their early pandemic response, much better in fact than the US. But obviously that couldn’t last, and covid came there too.

    It’s hard to talk about cultural differences with hygiene without painting a picture of one group of people being “better” than another. And truthfully, American handwashing culture isn’t that much better in terms of frequency than Mongolia. But one thing that certainly complicates things is access to running water. Much of the population has to gather water, whether that be from wells or other sources. This means that any instance of washing one’s hands (not to mention for a full 20 seconds or however long) has a direct effect on the amount of money they have to spend that week and how much more often they have to haul that water.

    Aside from that, in the city and provincial centers, I don’t think the situation is that much different than the US when it comes down to it. I overheard a coworker talking the other day about their kid catching hand, foot, and mouth disease at preschool. We can all do better.

    Edit to add another point:
    Mongolian culture is on the whole much more physically intimate, in a way that “Western” culture maybe once was, but has moved away from. Again, I don’t want to say that this is better or worse, but it is undeniable that it encourages the spread of disease. Sharing bowls of milk or vodka at gatherings is the norm. I would like to think that there is a medium between foregoing the richness of that culture and complete sterility.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on How do I use up all this mint? in ~food

    morganmarz
    Link
    Mint goes wonderfully well in a lot of southeast Asian cooking, such as spring rolls and pho. If you haven’t tried it out before I’d recommend it!

    Mint goes wonderfully well in a lot of southeast Asian cooking, such as spring rolls and pho. If you haven’t tried it out before I’d recommend it!

    8 votes

  7. Comment on We must end the tyranny of printers in American life in ~tech

    morganmarz
    Link Parent
    They’re ewaste if they’re thrown away, but look at the other commenters here saying how they’ve had the same printer for 15+ years.

    They’re ewaste if they’re thrown away, but look at the other commenters here saying how they’ve had the same printer for 15+ years.

  8. Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk

    morganmarz
    Link Parent
    I have a very similar experience and background to you. What got me interested in actually really wanting to try to like them was learning just how economical of a protein source they can be in a...

    I have a very similar experience and background to you. What got me interested in actually really wanting to try to like them was learning just how economical of a protein source they can be in a certain sense. Basically I watched a food show that visited a mushroom farm, and they showed that a crop of button mushrooms would take 8 days to be ready to harvest. That boggled my mind.

    As for how I actually came to use mushrooms, my first step was meat. I would slice white button mushrooms, marinate them with the whatever meat, and cook them with that meat. I initially tried with fajitas, I think. When done like that, they absorb all the flavors of the meat and marinade. That’s what taught me that the sponginess of mushrooms is their greatest strength, especially with a neutral white button that doesn’t have a strong flavor on its own. They absorb the flavors around them, to great effect.

    To take an aside, you asked “why is it even a food” in the context of them taking on other flavors. Some people may just like how a plain mushroom tastes, but I don’t think that’s either of us. Some people might just like how a plain hunk of chicken tastes. I can’t say that I do. Mushrooms are an economical and fairly ecologically sound food source that can take on the context of the dish they’re in. For me, that’s kind of the main point. I also learned that they can in fact taste good.

    Now, the texture is a difficult thing, because if cooked poorly then they really are just slimy and gross. But I don’t take that as a fault of the mushroom. If you cook a chicken breast poorly, it might become tough and dry. If you cook green beans poorly, they might become soft and bitter. Generally if I’m cooking with mushrooms in something like a stir fry, I’ll start them first and cook them hotter. You can brown a mushroom like anything else! And like I mentioned before, they will absorb whatever you put in there, such as soy, vinegar, hot sauce, whatever.

    Finally, expanding past the neutral mushrooms, some mushrooms like oyster and alba have their own flavor which is stronger than a white button, but not earthy. I first tried alba mushrooms at a Korean barbecue place, and they complemented the rest of the flavors wonderfully. Personally I don’t go out of my way to venture into other mushrooms that are really known for their pungency or earthiness. I think that’s probably okay for the both of us.

    21 votes