Good morning, it’s Thursday.
I don’t know about you, but when the seasons change so does my appetite. When it gets really hot out, I have no appetite at all – not even for ice cream or smoothies or what have you. This is not particularly helpful when it comes to training; my performance in the summertime suffers greatly.
The interwebs, bless them, inform me that this seasonal appetite fluctuation is normal.
It turns out that the changes in light impact key hormones – notably melatonin (the sleep hormone), ghrelin (the hunger hormone), and cortisol (the stress hormone, which also also is critical to ensuring we have sufficient energy at the ready in the form of glucose).
When it’s colder out, your body possibly perceives the need to have more energy on hand – in other words, more calories – to keep itself warm. Apparently research has shown that we don’t actually burn all that much more in the regulation of body temperature, though, as with most things, this varies from one person to another.
The process of eating and digesting does require energy, which, in turn, makes you feel warmer – especially if you are consuming warm, heavy food. At the same time, eating highly spiced food can cause sweating, which is the body’s air conditioning system. Again, this is another “it depends” situation, because if it’s very humid out, or if you have a health condition that impairs sweating, consuming cooler foods might be better.
All this is a sort of weird set-up for today’s topic, which is World Tuna Day. But stick with me, we’re getting there, I swear.
I like a good sandwich, especially open-faced (feels like more food, I think), and wraps, though I know there are some people who might quibble with my definition there. And during the fall and winter, I gravitate toward things that are grilled and/or broiled. When the temperatures start to go up, though, my taste turns to cold sandwich options.
Tuna salad – as long as it’s made right – is often on the top of that list.
“Made right” to me means light on the mayo, with finely chopped onion (red, not yellow or white) and celery, and a healthy dollop of pickle relish. This goes on well toasted bread – rye or wheat, preferably – with some fresh and crunchy iceberg lettuce. That’s it. No grapes or nuts or fancy herbs, please and thanks.
And also – this is key – the aforementioned sandwich MUST be served directly after it’s assembled, because nothing is worse and less appetizing than a soggy tuna sandwich.
Tuna, by the way, is good for you – high in protein and low in fat (minus the mayo, of course). If it’s canned, which is how most of us get our tuna (unless we’re having a tuna steak or consuming it raw in the form of sashimi or sushi), it does contain a level of mercury. Albacore tuna, (AKA white tuna), typically contains three times more mercury than canned light tuna.
This is problematic – especially for those who are very young, breastfeeding, pregnant, or trying to get pregnant – and has lead to the establishment of recommended consumption limits.
Despite the mercury issue, tuna is very popular. Americans alone consume about 1 billion pounds of canned and punched tuna every year. About 5.8 million metric tons of tuna was sold globally in 2021 – a 21 percent increase from 2012. And that’s only projected to grow.
Needless to say, given these numbers and its growing popularity, tuna overfishing is a problem. According to the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, 61 percent of tuna stocks are at a healthy level of abundance, while 13 percent are considered overfished.
If you’re eating tuna, it’s probably skipjack, which accounts for more than half of the global catch. Next up is yellowfin, followed by bigeye, and albacore. The bluefin tuna, which is rarer – actually, endangered and most threatened by overfishing – makes up less than 1 percent of what’s caught around the world on an annual basis.
Another nice day is on tap, with temperatures reaching the low 70s and intervals of clouds and sun. The weekend is shaping up to be sorta meh, sorry to say, with rain in the forecast on both Saturday and Sunday, and temperatures dipping down into the 60s and even the 50s (on Sunday).
In the headlines…
The Biden administration announced nearly 300 new sanctions on international suppliers of military equipment technology that the administration said have been helping Russia restock its arsenal as it carries out the war in Ukraine.
The targets include dozens of actors accused of enabling Russia to acquire technology and equipment from abroad. Other than China, targeted non-Russian entities were located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Slovakia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The move comes after repeated warnings from top US officials to top Chinese officials that they must crack down on China’s provision of dual-use items to Russia that the US says are being used to strengthen its military in the war against Ukraine.
Former President Donald Trump told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he would not commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, as he again repeated his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Trump is planning to speak at the Libertarian Party’s convention in D.C. later this month, his campaign confirmed.
In lengthy speeches in Waukesha, Wisc., and Freeland, Mich., yesterday – a day off from his criminal trial – Donald Trump continued to escalate his rhetoric around what a second term would look like — and the consequences he foresees if he doesn’t win.
Addressing crowds in Wisconsin and Michigan, Trump called the New York judge in his case “crooked,” “corrupt” and “totally conflicted.” He called the trial “fake,” “bullshit” and part of a “kangaroo court.”
He also called on universities experiencing protests to “vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for all of the normal students” while making inflammatory remarks about refugees from the conflict as part of his hardline immigration views.
Trump said that he asked his Secret Service detail to take him to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, acknowledging a key detail of his actions central to the findings of the House committee established to investigate the attack.
Rudy Giuliani promised a bankruptcy court that he would limit his spending, but it didn’t take long before he broke that pledge, and by a lot.
Giuliani has been making unauthorized payments on his credit card, a committee of his bankruptcy creditors have claimed
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she would demand a vote next week on a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson, moving forward in the face of all but certain defeat with a second attempt during this Congress to depose a Republican speaker.
But the effort is all but certain to fail after Democratic leaders said they would vote to protect the Speaker from her coup attempt.
Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged and signaled wariness about the recent pace of inflation, a hint that they may keep borrowing costs high for longer.
Central bankers reiterated that they need “greater confidence” that inflation is coming down before reducing interest rates from 5.33 percent, where officials have held them since July.
The Biden administration said it’s working to strengthen federal testing guidance and the overall public health response should the bird flu outbreak in cows spread among humans.
Now is the time to get ahead of bird flu, a handful of experts said, so we don’t end up with another nightmare scenario.
Scientists are on alert for changes in the H5N1 or bird flu virus that could signal it is adapting to spread among humans.
The Food and Drug Administration said that dairy products including cottage cheese and sour cream are safe to eat amid the outbreak of the bird flu virus in dairy cows.
Additional testing of retail dairy products from across the country has turned up no signs of live bird flu virus, strengthening the consensus that pasteurization is protecting consumers from the threat, federal health and agriculture officials said.
Arizona lawmakers voted to repeal an abortion ban that first became law when Abraham Lincoln was president and a half-century before women won the right to vote.
The repeal passed, 16-14, in the GOP-controlled State Senate with the support of every Democratic senator and two Republicans who broke with anti-abortion conservatives who dominate their party. Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is expected to sign it today.
As protests and attempts to quell them spread from New York to Los Angeles and many states in between, Biden finds himself caught in a series of political and diplomatic crosscurrents without an easy solution.
American universities were on edge yesterday, after police officers across the country entered campuses where pro-Palestinian demonstrators had erected encampments and seized academic buildings.
Police officers in riot gear briefly entered a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, early this morning, as an hourslong standoff on the campus between demonstrators and law enforcement appeared to escalate.
An encampment of protesters at Tulane University in New Orleans was cleared and at least 14 people were arrested early yesterday, the university said, after officers from three law enforcement agencies ordered the group to disperse.
NYPD cops arrested about a dozen students who set up a pro-Palestine encampment at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus.
A 63-year-old career activist, Lisa Fithian, whom the police called a “professional agitator,” was working alongside protesters who stormed Hamilton Hall at Columbia.
Cops including two high-ranking NYPD officials proudly hoisted an American flag — and a school worker pulled down and tossed away a Palestinian flag — after evicting protesters encamped at City College, video posted by the department shows.
Protesters have often cited the First Amendment as shelter for their tactics. But many legal scholars, university lawyers and administrators, believe at least some of those assertions muddle, misstate, test or even flout the amendment.
House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer announced a hearing focused on the pro-Palestinian protests at the George Washington University, calling Mayor Muriel Bowser and the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) as witnesses.
Adams defended the overnight arrests of nearly 300 campus protesters in New York City, praising the police for using restraint and arguing that protesters were antisemitic and led by outsiders who were part of a global effort to “radicalize young people.”
“They are attempting to disrupt our city, and we are not going to permit it to happen,” Adams said. “And we’re proud to say they have been removed from the campus.”
Nahla Al-Arian, 63, told The Associated Press that Adams had misstated both her role in the protests and the facts about her husband, Sami Al-Arian, a former computer engineering professor and prominent Palestinian activist.
Adams said it was “despicable” that U.S. schools would allow another country’s flag to fly on their campuses while defending th NYPD after hundreds of officers in riot gear broke up pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University’s campus.
For much of the weekslong protest at Columbia, university leaders have remained in the background, making public pronouncements through campuswide advisories. In their absence, Adams, a former police officer, has forcefully stepped in.
Prosecutors asked for a September retrial for Harvey Weinstein during a hearing yesterday in Manhattan, the disgraced movie mogul’s first court appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week.
One of Weinstein’s accusers, onetime aspiring actor Jessica Mann, was in the courtroom and is prepared to testify again, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told the judge.
Much of the discussion centered on whether Weinstein should be released and if there will be a new trial. Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, asked that his client be allowed to stay in the hospital where he was receiving treatment.
Adams defended firing a firefighter whose death months later left his family in a financial mess – saying keeping him would have meant misspending “taxpayers’ dollars.”
Councilman Lincoln Restler slammed Adams for requiring lawmakers to fill out forms to communicate with administration officials, saying it is “interfering” with those officials’ City Charter-mandated duties and is “a dangerous politicization of city government.”
Two New York Philharmonic players sued the orchestra, saying they had been wrongfully suspended after a recent magazine article revived allegations of misconduct against them.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it has raised $550 million in private donations for its new modern and contemporary wing, named after Oscar L. Tang and Agnes Hsu-Tang in honor of the couple’s $125 million lead gift in 2021.
New rules on how lawn trimmings and yard waste must be bundled for disposal are stirring discontent in the Town of Colonie.
The Comfortex window blind and shade manufacturer will be laying off its staff of 85 workers and closing its plant at 21 Elm St. in the Maplewood neighborhood of Colonie by the end of the year as the company consolidates work in other locations.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
