All are welcome to join the fun, the silliness, the conversations. If you don’t know...just ask! Some things really do require a bit of explanation.
There will be a few surprises along the way, all good ones, we hope.
We are here to keep building the Daily Kos Community.
We post Mon-Sun at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Pie fights will be met with outrageous ridicule and insults. Trolls will be incinerated and served at the next group BBQ. As briquettes.
Rolling Stone’s Best Graduation songs of past 25 years.
Various ways of holding public graduation ceremonies while properly social distancing —
I call these “graduation trees” because they usually hit peak bloom around mid-June when the academic year for most schools on the west coast ended. But in recent decades more schools here are getting out in May.
Jacaranda mimosifolia is a sub-tropical tree native to south-central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its attractive and long-lasting pale indigo flowers. It is also known as jacaranda, blue jacaranda, black poui, or as the fern tree. Older sources call it Jacaranda acutifolia, but it is nowadays more usually classified as Jacaranda mimosifolia. In scientific usage, the name "jacaranda" refers to the genus Jacaranda, which has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the blue jacaranda.
The blue jacaranda has been cultivated in almost every part of the world where there is no risk of frost; established trees with the protection of hard wood can however tolerate brief spells of temperatures down to around −7 °C (19 °F).[3] In the US, 48 km (30 mi) east of Los Angeles where winter temperatures can dip to −12 °C (10 °F) for short several-hour periods, the mature tree survives with little or no visible damage. Even when young trees are damaged by a hard frost and suffer die back, they will often rebound from the roots and grow in a shrub-like, multi-stemmed form.[3]
In the United States, the Jacaranda is grown very extensively in California, in southwestern Arizona, southeast Texas and Florida.[4] In California they are grown most extensively in Southern California, but are commonly planted as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area and along the frost-free coastal regions of Northern California.[4][5] In California flowering and growth will be stunted if grown directly on the coast, where a lack of heat combined with cool ocean winds discourages flowering.
Full episode — www.kcet.org/…
This why my mom made my dad chop down the Jacaranda tree at our house. (See “California’s Gold” above, starting at about the 10:30 min. mark.) —
jacaranda haters see the tree creating nothing but a sticky mess on their sidewalks, cars and anywhere else the blooms fall. They complain about this sticky stuff being tracked into their homes. www.presstelegram.com/...
In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.[1] The United States Army also celebrates the U.S. Army birthday on this date; Congress adopted "the American continental army" after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775.[2][3]
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; on August 3, 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Flag Day is not an official federal holiday. Title 36 of the United States Code, Subtitle I, Part A, CHAPTER 1, § 110[4] is the official statute on Flag Day; however, it is at the president's discretion to officially proclaim the observance. On June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first U.S. state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday, beginning in the town of Rennerdale.[1] New York Statutes designate the second Sunday in June as Flag Day, a state holiday. en.wikipedia.org/...
Current status —
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becoming tired or less dynamic; declining in strength.
Coincidentally, June 14 is also the date for the annual anniversary of the Bear Flag Revolt in California. On June 14, 1846, 33 American settlers and mountain men arrested the Mexican general in command at Sonoma, and declared the "Bear Flag Republic" on the Pacific Ocean coast as an independent nation. A flag emblazoned with a bear, a red stripe, a star and the words "California Republic" was raised to symbolize independence from Mexico of the former province of Alta California. The Bear Flag was adopted as California's state flag upon joining the Union as the 31st state in 1850, after being annexed by the United States following the Mexican–American War of 1846–1849.[21] Prominently flying both the U.S.A. and state flags on June 14 is a tradition for some Californians.
The “some Californians” who fly the Bear Flag these days are typically the State of Jefferson tea party Rethuglicans who want to break away from CA to form their own state of mind.
Apricot-Almond Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 lb. (3-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. table salt
- 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 5 oz. (10 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh apricots (or substitute canned apricots, drained very well and patted dry)
- 3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
Preparation
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Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil (or spray with cooking spray) the top of a standard 12-cup muffin tin (cups should be 2-3/4 inches across and about 1 inch deep) and line with paper or foil baking cups.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter, milk, crème fraîche or sour cream, eggs, and egg yolk until well combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold gently with a rubber spatula just until the dry ingredients are mostly moistened (the batter will be lumpy)–there should still be quite a few streaks of dry flour.
Sprinkle the apricots, sliced almonds, and almond extract onto the batter, and fold them in until just combined. (The batter will be lumpy; don’t try to smooth it out.) Do not overmix.
Use an ice cream scoop if you have one with a “sweeper” in it; otherwise, use two spoons to spoon the batter into the muffin cups, distributing all of the batter evenly. The batter should mound higher than the rim of the cups by about 3/4 inch. Bake until the muffins are golden brown and spring back lightly when you press the middle, 30 to 35 minutes. (The muffin tops will probably meld together.) Let the tin cool on a rack for 15 to 20 minutes, then use a table knife to separate the tops, and then invert the pan and pop out the muffins.
dumbster disaster days (count)down — 220