1. Are bay leaves a LIE? (Category tag on that article wins extra points)
2. Section 35 allows family members and/or providers to commit someone in Massachusetts to 90 days of substance abuse treatment. This includes substance abuse facilities as well as medium security prison facilities [pdf] (how is prison a substance abuse treatment facility, you ask? exactly, I grouch.)
At MCI Framingham [women’s prison], for example, the number of commitments related to Section 35 has increased by 131% overall, with a 598% increase for civil-only commitments.
3. Sinuous.
4. On taking and giving personal histories.
I’m filling out a new-patient form online for my doctor’s office when I see it, sandwiched somewhere between “Do you smoke? and “Has anyone in your family had a stroke?”:
Have you ever been sexually abused or assaulted?
Yes __ No __No context, no indication how this information will be used. No box to tick for, “Well, yes, actually, but that’s not why I am visiting you and I don’t know you and I have nothing to be ashamed of and I’m not afraid to talk about it but really I’ve done my talking already and mostly I just want my annual exam, not a bunch of prying questions or sympathy or anything, actually, from you.”
No space to breathe. Just a tidy little binary for a story that doesn’t feel tidy at all.
At my appointment, the doctor says, “So, you were sexually assaulted.” It’s not a question, but she pauses expectantly.
5. ❤ the musical Hamilton? Now there’s Harrison!
Partly related: Kenji Alt-Lopez backs up cooking with science, and here he deals with bay leaves: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/03/ask-the-food-lab-whats-the-point-of-bay-leaves.html
Honestly I was on the side of bay leaves being pointless, then I bought a jar of Morton & Basset Bay Leaves. It’s impossible to argue they’re flavorless after that unless you’re suffering from anosmia.