I stumbled onto this recipe a few months ago: chips or crisps made out of kale.  The leafy superfood is, well, super. Vitamins, good things, protein, and blah blah blah. Read this for more information about the crazy goodness that is kale.

More importantly, it bakes up to a very crispy-crunchy snack with no gluten or starch. Brilliant.

1. Wash and dry oodles of kale. Really dry.

2. Chop the leaves off the hard stem and try to keep the leaves in fairly medium-large pieces.

3. Toss with olive oil and sea salt. Alternatives: add lemon juice, garlic powdered or minced, or other spices. I add enough oil to coat the leaves. I used an extra virgin olive oil that’s flavored Tuscan Herb to add an Italian taste.

4. Arrange on a non-stick cookie sheet (or sheet plus parchment paper). Single layer!

5. Bake at 300 degrees for 10–25 minutes. The time depends on the amount and type of kale. Just poke it and see. If it’s mushy, keep baking. The leaves will shrink up and darken, and if you bake it too long (like I always do, with everything) they turn brown. The flavor just gets a little smokier as it bakes so the brown kale chips are fine.

6. Store in a zip-loc or mason jar. Enjoy!

This is very clever ad for an online criminal justice degree. Beautiful graphic and solid information!

“… to say that God has chosen some and passed over others is to breach the nature of God. God is One, which means He is Unity and acts in perfect harmony with His nature. Every part of God influences every other attribute of God. One attribute can never act in isolation from the others, hence God cannot be guilty of acting ignorantly or with a double mind. The nature of God expresses His love, as well as His justice. The Bible teaches that God so loves the world, hence this emotion is constant to all creatures at all times. Unconditional election implies that God chooses some out of His nature, but since others are not chosen, then the unity of God is breached. Also the love of God is breached because He is not able to love all equally. If God chooses (elects) some, it must proceed out of pure motives from His total Person. But the election of some and passing over of others divides the unity of God, implying duplicity, ignorance, or partiality in God.”

Towns, Elmer L. Theology for Today. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008.

Flamingos!, originally uploaded by lorien.

Laguna Hedionda.

Volcano, originally uploaded by lorien.

Early in the second day of the tour of the Uyuni region, this volcano was visible for much of the trip.

Taken 23 July, 2009.

Salar de Uyuni, originally uploaded by lorien.

The ground on the salt flats of the Uyuni in Bolivia is just a comparatively thin layer of earth crust over water. Gas emissions break through the salty crust and create these shapes which stretch out far into the horizon.

In no particular order…

• Final Exam and Research paper for Church History I
• Tested Positive for Typhoid and Paratyphoid
• Completed paperwork and deliveries to a) get a new passport and b) not go to jail
• Staton’s Quince
• Katherine Returned to the States
• Discovered that not only is my backup drive fried, but I also seem to not have my data (read: school papers) on my laptop drive, either (read: panic).

I woke up today thinking that Staton had been 15 and Katherine had been in the States for at least two weeks. But no, just a few days.

Note for future reference: research papers on historical subjects, like, say, medieval scholasticism, are murder when one has no access to a physical library. JSTOR is lovely and all, but, man. I miss books.

The Voices that Be are widely proclaiming the economic crisis as the failure of capitalism. Wrong: this is a failure in government-regulated markets. We only have very limited and highly regulated capitalism in the United States, and that quasi-market system is what has gotten us into this situation.

The Mises Institute has released the Austrian Bailout.

Austrian Bailout Package–Part A

1. Suspend Basil II regulations (to at least 4/2/09)
2. Cancel FDIC insurance on all demand deposits after 1/1/09.
3. Increase FDIC premiums on short term time deposits of less than one year.
4. Make interest earned (starting 1/1/09) on bank time deposits and non-governmental, non-agency, and non-authority bonds tax free (not demand deposits and MMMF).
5. Convert Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s status from conservatorship into receivership.
6. Convert AIG’s status from government owned to receivership.
7. Cancel the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) and the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF) at the end of the announced program (January 30, 2009).
8. Announce that the Federal Funds rate will be allowed to “float” at market rates starting January 30, 2009.
9. Announce that the Federal budget will be prorated beginning with the fiscal year starting 10/1/08 including all defense spending and transfer payments.
10. Restore constitutional monetary status to gold and silver to act as an alternative medium of exchange (no capital gains taxes).

Those of us in Cochabamba are in for a fun ride over the next while.

A meeting was recently held in which the leaders of the Opposition movement and Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, were scheduled to discuss solutions and compromises in light of the recent referendums. The opposition leaders attended. Evo did not; Evo sent a low-level flunky in his stead. The opposition closed the session and returned to their respective locations.

Santa Cruz is, essentially, taking the attitude of — “Fine. We can the blockade game, too. You [Evo, et al.] have three days.”

This means, for example, that:

• The roads from Santa Cruz to the non-opposition departments, including neutral/stuck-in-the-middle Cochabamba, are closed.
• The borders to Argentina and Brazil from the opposition departments are closed.
• Gasoline lines from Santa Cruz to the non-opposition departments are closed.

Pragmatically, this affects our family’s life in a couple of ways:

• Most of the beef in Cochabamba comes from Santa Cruz and Argentina. The grocery stores and butchers are selling just chicken at the moment. Our preferred butcher, which is seemingly ritzier than the others with its nice building and clean environment, but is in fact cheaper than anywhere but La Cancha, is planning to fly the meat in from Santa Cruz. This means that although some beef will be coming in by plane, it will be a) in short supply, and b) much more expensive.
• Gasoline is being rationed today and tomorrow, after which it will probably not be available at all. Our car is gasoline only. The government is providing free conversions to natural gas, but that will require gutting the car of its A/C, power steering, etc. We’ll wait, thanks.

Politically, Bolivia could be reaching a breaking point. Up until now, the leaders of the opposition have been refusing to make too many ultimatums in preference to a desire for negotiation and, to a certain degree, a willingness to compromise. They’ve sat with the mediating organizations. They’ve kept their autonomy movement limited to politics and words. They agreed to the August referendums. After Evo’s extreme, and frankly silly, rudeness by sending a flunky instead of attending the meeting himself as promised, the opposition have made their ultimatum:

“Agree to our terms, or…”

Public buildings are being stormed. Borders and roads are blockaded. Hey, this sounds familiar — is this not extremely similar to how Evo led MAS in 2003/4 and 2005 in the Gas Wars and the run-up to the presidential election? The difference is that Evo and the Masistas could just sit in the way, cause problems, and have protests. The opposition this time is made of political bodies -  whole political departments. Evo is considering sending in the military… which would cause him to lose all credibility and would escalate the situation even further. News reports are filtering in of people caught inciting violence under the banner of the opposition — but when investigated, they’re members of MAS. Both sides are in on this.

Día del Peatón in Cochabamba is the annual Sunday (yesterday) when all driving is prohibited in preference to pedestrian traffic. A travesty of rights and active discrimination against the motorist the day may be, but the town sure is quiet! Our busy street of Simon Lopez, which is normally filled with honking cars and screeching brakes, was filled with cyclists and walkers.

Quiet Streets for Families: Día del Peatón from Lorien Johnson on Vimeo.