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February 8, 2024 – The Joy Luck Club

February 8, 2024 /

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is the February Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection. This was Tan’s first published work and it has been around 30 years. There was also a popular-ish movie based on the book in 1993. I remember the title distinctly but I never saw it.

The book is termed fiction, but Tan said that it was loosely based on her life’s experience. It is structed in four parts with four chapters. There are 8 characters four women and four daughters. The story bounces around with the first section being the stories of the young moms and the next section of the young daughters. Then it is old women and grown up daughters.

I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but I am now the head of the book club. I have decided to nudge the club in a slightly new direction. I am breaking the direct coupling between the the books and the food. Half the members don’t read the book anyway and part of them don’t make recipes or food from the book either. I really wanted to have some kind of Chinese New Year dinner. I may have been able to find some kind of cookbook or something but I wanted to loosen the book affiliation more.

It is often hard to find a relevant book to fit the theme of dinner or vice versa for that matter. The group voted on the book but I suggested it. I did some internet searches for novels with Chinese food. I am sad to say that there was not that much in the way of food but that is OK. I really don’t want to read technical manuals all the time either.

I cant say too much about the story because it really wasn’t cohesive. It was basically 16 anecdotes. They were really only related because all the mothers were part of the social group Joy Luck Club or it was the mother daughter story. I have to say that I really didn’t find this story that enjoyable.

I found Joy Luck Club to be manic and disjointed. It reminded me of the TV show Gilmore Girls with emotional bickering and little resolution with each sub story other than they loved each other. The book ended with a stronger want to know this Chinese component of the inner soul but the entire story did little to help it get there.

My wife has not read the book yet. I have a feeling that she will like the book because I think women would probably identify with the struggles and dynamics. Additionally, I suspect that people of Chinese descent might like because there just aren’t that many written, familiar stories. Of course, these are just speculations on my part.

My opinion is to pass on this one. I get it that it is literature and that I do not appreciate the subtlety and nuance being a white male. For that reason, I guess I would simply say that I don’t identify with the characters or the story. It doesn’t mean that the story is worthless, just does not resonate with me.

End Your Programming Routine: I read almost anything that comes across my path. It is interesting that since I have been reviewing books, I have definitely become more discriminating in my opinions. It is the activity of thinking about what I like and didn’t that has developed that skill. I noticed that acutely with my dystopian reviews lately. So, the lesson is that you have to focus on objective qualities to refine your opinions. Even with that, just because I didn’t like something doesn’t make me right, just my thoughts.

February 7, 2024 – My Good Pen

February 7, 2024 /

How many more items like this do I have? That’s a good question, I don’t really know. I really do take care of my things and they seem to hold a lot memory associations with them. This Cross pen below I received from my Aunt and Uncle for my high school graduation in 1993. I also got a check for $50 that went into my war chest, otherwise known as a savings account. Boy was life different then, we had a home computer but still the majority of all work was done by hand and I do mean handwriting.

I dubbed this pen ‘my good pen’ and so I didn’t use it much. In fact, it probably spent 15 years in my day planner. For those of you that don’t remember or know, a day planner was an oversized book size calendar. It was meant to carry with you and keep track of all things on a day by day basis. I really wanted to use a day planner, in fact I bought several. But I wasn’t disciplined enough to write everything all the time.

The day planner became an item of clutter shortly after getting it setup. And with it, my pen sat zipped up and protected. I carried that planner around for years in case I needed to take a note or something but I never really did. I finally threw the planner away several years ago.

Writing in this blog is not the only writing I do. I keep a journal that is mostly about planning and productivity. Now this pen is used to keep a weekly log of what I did for the week and what I am planning for the next. About two weeks ago, it stopped writing. Finally, after 29 years it ran out of ink.

The good news is that I can still order a refill, which I did. I like the idea that items have a story. So, while the refill cost $8 and I could buy four good writing pens for that, it was worth it. My good pen is going to live on.

I have to be honest, some of today’s disposable pens are more ergonomic and actually write better. This pen is thin and a little slick. While it works perfectly fine, it isn’t the easiest to hold for long writing sessions. It’s best function is signing things and writing checks.

One of the weaknesses of the pen and design is the clip. Mine is slightly bent because it is soft metal and it got squeezed in that day planner I spoke of earlier. I thought it was so neat to have an expensive pen, I bought my girlfriend (now wife) one for Christmas. Hers is sprung more than mine. I don’t know how, but I know that is a weakness.

Ten years ago, when I did a lot of looking a gear list for survival packs and such, there was a ubiquitous Fisher Space Pen on most of the lists. This was a pen that developed for the space program. The ink was pressurized so that it would write upside down or any position. This is probably the gold standard for pens.

That being said, I heard an anecdote that the Russians decided to use pencils. It is kind of like Indiana Jones facing the guy with the swords and then he just shoots him. Why re-invent the wheel? The reason this pen is special to me is because of the memory, not because it is high tech or even expensive. Heck, I am pretty sure I still have writing instruments that I found in the high school hallway too.

End Your Programming Routine: This actually wasn’t the only pen I received at that event. I got another pen with a $100 bill. It was a more inexpensive pen, but I probably have that as well. I know this is what drives me crazy when my kids ‘borrow’ something and lose it or break it. Here I have kept and used so many things for thirty years only to have no regard for an item.

February 6, 2024 – What is Wrong With My Chex Mix?

February 6, 2024 /

We are getting very close to Super Bowl time. My mind is wandering to snack food. But then again, food is always in the background. This one has been simmering a little because I have attempted Chex Mix multiple times since the holidays.

My wife said that she had a hankering for Chex Mix before New Years. On one of my trips to the grocery store, I picked up three different varieties of Chex cereal. If you haven’t made this before, the recipe calls for the corn, rice and wheat varieties.

The official recipe is melt three quarters of a stick of butter. Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt, 1/2 a teaspoon of both onion and garlic powder to 3 cups of each variety of Chex, and a cup each of nuts, pretzels and rye chips. You pour the butter over and the mixture and microwave for five minutes.

I should have known that any recipe that involves microwaving is already suspect. This mixture has been around for a long time and I don’t ever remember microwaving it. More so than that, I have made it twice and it is well under seasoned. I even left out the rye chips because I couldn’t find them so there should have been more seasoning per volume.

Over the years many of us have bought the bag of Chex mix. In my opinion it is OK, it doesn’t hold a candle to the home made version. I think it has to do with the butter and the Worcestershire sauce. Plus, I don’t remember nuts in the bag. The commercial version has all dry ingredients plus a soup of preservatives which is a poor substitute to the real tang.

Chex mix is one of my aunt’s staple snack dishes. Every time I have it, I think how I should make it more often. In reality, I should probably ask her for tips instead of complaining online about why mine is not living up to my expectations. Nevertheless, I repeated the recipe twice to verify that the published recipe is not right or at least not what I think it should be.

Honestly, I don’t really know what is wrong. Should I use margarine instead of butter? My gut says to double the seasoning and maybe even triple or quadruple the Worcestershire. I pop popcorn using an air popper all the time and a little butter and salt is plenty for the whole batch. But, that is a simple seasoning, not the tangy and fragrant snack.

What a first world problem; this could have been an episode of Seinfeld. The reason I bring this topic up is that now is the time to perfect your Super Bowl party recipes. I know that I am a risk taker and I often make dishes for the first time at big occasions. But, if you are not a confident as I am or maybe not as skilled, you might want to practice before the big show.

End Your Programming Routine: What I can say is that I wouldn’t serve this recipe at a party. It lacks a lot of pizazz. I will be trying this again with some variation and if I find the secret I will report back. There is an alternate preparation that uses the oven at 250 degrees that I think helps bake in the flavor rather than the microwave. I am looking forward to the testing process.

February 5, 2024 – Vote Your Way Out of This

February 5, 2024 /

I used to be like this, I was idealistic. If we just got the right senator/representative/president then we could finally get what we wanted accomplished. After that didn’t work, then we needed the right combination of officials. After that, I realized that it wasn’t going to happen. This podcast explains why this is the case. The heart of it is an interview on the Sebastian Gorka radio show.

February 2, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto VI

February 2, 2024 /

From pagans to the lustful and now gluttons, Dante has descended to the third level of hell. This canto seems surprisingly thin. There is only one name mentioned, a contemporary of Dante and a person of seemingly insignificance by the judgement of history. I will delve in the best I can without a ton of context to carry me through.

There were three things that stuck out to me in this Canto. The first is the description of the level. Fetid, putrid, stinking and rotting were adjectives that were used. The first thought that came to mind was that it smelled like vomit here. Seems kind of fitting considering the crime.

The second and more cerebral notion that I noticed was with Dante’s conversation with Ciacco. My book has almost as many footnotes and explanations as it does actual text. The translator’s note on this was that because Ciacco was condemned, he had no further hope. Therefore, he was very interested that the current living world still remembered him and he had a legacy there. It was his only chance of living on.

Finally, there was mention of a second judgement. All beings would be returned to flesh and have a second evaluation. I am assuming that this is the famous rapture predicted in Revelations. My church and Christian understanding was limited to judgement in the living world by the second coming of Christ. The represents a new perspective for me but I maybe I should go back and re-evaluate what I thought I knew. I don’t see why not but by the same token, I am not sure if the outcome would be any different.

To peel the next layer of the onion, I want to look at the premise a little harder. What exactly is gluttony? The Webster’s definition is excessive eating or drinking. That is exactly what I thought before I looked it up. I have always considered it a temporal activity so what does it take to get to the third level of Hell with the sin of gluttony?

We could probably agree that drinking yourself to death would be gluttony. But, if the ultimate cause of death is liver failure or diabetes and yet the user stopped six months beforehand is this still gluttony? The Christian track would say that if you asked for forgiveness in the last six months, probably not.

Alcohol poisoning or overdose I wouldn’t always think apply either. Even though they are death by excess, they may not contain the chronic aspect of substance abuse. We were all young once and if you are reading this, fortunately we survived potentially risky behavior. Some unfortunately do not, is ignorance a sin as well?

What about drugs? They are not food nor drink yet I feel like they probably fit into this category in many cases. But does gluttony have to be consensual? I find it hard to believe that someone is addicted to Cheetos but then again, it is not the particular brand but possibly the chemical composition that causes the problem.

From what I have read and heard, the body becomes addicted to carbohydrates. This bio-chemical mechanism was a survival adaptation from long ago. When plants were offering fruits, the human body would consume it to the point of adding fat. That fat would help weather the leaner times. In this time of always in season, Cheetos are no longer seasonal nor do we have the wax and wain of what is possible.

The epidemic of diabetes in this country is nothing short of gargantuan. Between solicitous marketing and government/industry collusion (that is fascism by the way), they have created it. I consider myself pretty well educated and even I don’t know the whole truth. In my opinion, it is best to error on the side of whole foods and ignore all the other advice. But, there are sure a lot of people that don’t know (or won’t) to get out of their own way so to expect them to make a good and proper change is nearly impossible.

I am not holier than thou. I eat junk food sometimes, I even eat fast food sometimes. I try not to stock it in the pantry and I try to partake in moderation. I am overweight and I know that is largely from too many calories and not enough physical exertion. So, am I a glutton? I guess we will see if this is what leads to my death.

Gluttony in Dante’s time is probably different than now. First of all, there wasn’t a lot of food for many people to get fat or have chronic health conditions of excess. They were more likely to go the other way, malnutrition from lack of food. Fairness, while subjective is born into our psyche. If the rich are taking and getting fat while everyone else is barely getting by, I can see the class warfare gearing up. Also, Christianity teaches sharing and caring for the less fortunate.

End Your Programming Routine: I do think there is something here, I just am not convinced that it is as simple as eating or drinking too much. I do think that there is a chronic component, there is also probably doing it at the expense of others as well. Based on the side text, this level of hell is likely as political as it is a sin. I think that this is probably why it is titled, ‘The Divine Comedy’.

February 1, 2024 – Listening For the Shoe to Drop

February 1, 2024 /

This is getting to be old news now. But a major media announcement last week was like a punch in the gut. Sports Illustrated was laying off all staff writers and potentially all staff. I suppose that means that unless all staff is laid off, it will continue in some fashion. But what that is, remains to be seen. I didn’t realize that it has been a monthly magazine for several years, I guess that is how irrelevant they have become.

Last week I thought also saw some mention of National Geographic shutting down. As I was researching specifics for this article, I could not substantiate that. I did run across an announcement from June 2023 that all staff writers were laid off and news stand issues were no longer to be found.

In a third, related story I have the Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding podcast on my subscription role. In December, they announced that Taunton Press was acquired by Active Interest Media. They do share some similar markets with Popular Woodworking and Woodsmith magazine. The difference here is that I do believe that Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding will continue for now.

All three of these things happening share a very similar root cause that print media is dying. We have all heard this and we intuitively know this to be true. I think the difference between Taunton Press’s potential survival and National Geographic and Sport’s Illustrated likely demise is journalistic integrity.

Taunton Press titles are detailed, on good paper and serve a niche. They have also made a good effort to integrate additional features on the digital side and provide a complimentary service. All past articles are available digitally and indexed. Supplementary content to the print articles can be found online as well.

When you look at something like what Sports Illustrated used to be, a current swath of what is happening in sports, that is old news. Up to the minute scores and standings are all found on the internet these days, even daily newspapers are too late to the game. There are thousands of blogs covering every team and every sport offering opinions and analysis. Do any of them hold a candle to Sports Illustrated circa 1990, probably not. But those are not the days we live in anymore.

I cannot speak to National Geographic these days. This was one of those magazines that I subscribed to when I was a college student. You know, those kids that don’t even have money for food. I turned my back on them in the mid-2000s. There were many fascinating articles but then there was definitely social justice propaganda in there. I got so fed up with it that I cancelled it and never looked back.

My favorite stories were the Americana stories. They were something like County Fairs in the Midwest. I could taste the fried food and smell the livestock dust. I also remember reading a story about alcoholics and how they would drink hairspray when they got hard up. I looked forward to reading it cover to cover every month.

I remember one story about the hole in the ozone layer in the early 1990s. At that time, it was predicted that there would be mass global cooling since all of the buffering compounds were going to escape out of the hole while simultaneously we were going to fry from UV radiation. What I think that the writer (and National Geographic in general) got right was identifying a problem. They did a pretty good job of figuring out the factions and getting access to knowledgeable people. Despite the highly detailed writing, what was actually missing was the data. These became articles that supported the magazine’s bias without proving why, with data.

Scientific journals offer method information plus data so that anyone with the right tools and gumption could replicate the experiment because almost every scientific experiment is opinion. Most scientists never do because it is such niche work. People use published work to design experiments as a take off or go another direction and then they find out it cant be replicated. Published scientific work is a technical persuasion piece. “I came to this conclusion because of this data and this is how I got it.”

Actual scientific method is not “I hold this opinion because so and so did the work.” Unless the writer is repeating the experiment and is knowledgeable in the field, he has no right to state anything as fact. To have scientific integrity, it could be written third person or biographically, but not as scientific fact. And just like in English class, all non-first person information should be cited.

The last straw with me was when they found a piece of a bone in Africa that claimed that artifact was the definitive key to evolution trumps all other theories of life. They built a whole skeleton and back story based on this leg bone fragment. I am not anti-evolution, I just don’t see the data to make that leap. There is a reason why anthropology is a social science. It is not governed by strict scientific laws. Yes, there are lot of generalities and trends but absolutes, no.

I am already off the rails. My point is that these magazines created their own demise. I get that print is dying. Who reads anymore? School kids, old people and recluses like me (I am also getting old). Heck, even people in my culinary book club don’t read the books. Sometimes they don’t even know what the book is. But when you compound that with AI written articles (SI) and pseudo science (NG) you get expensive and wasteful clutter.

End Your Programming Routine: I will always value print. I despise having to be connected to what I am reading and charged to be able to do it. Despite that, print isn’t always the best way for contemporary information. Articles or stories need to be evergreen to the point that when it shows up, it is not already out of date and is well done enough to get value or perspective. Everything that is labelled periodical has shrunk over the last 10 years. That means newspapers, magazine titles and the page count within. When the quality of what is there goes down too, so does the publication.

January 31, 2024 – Risotto, As Easy As 3.141592653589793

January 31, 2024 /

Of course I am being facetious. Risotto has a stigma of being on the menu of fancy restaurants, therefore it has to be complicated or difficult. Not so, and I am going to tell you how. First of all, we have to understand Risotto itself. It is a specific variety of rice that is grown in Italy, not as it is sometimes described as a pasta.

Risotto itself is the name of the dish, you start with Arborio rice. This is part of the confusion. When you go to the store you don’t find anything named risotto and you certainly don’t find it with the pasta noodles. As rice goes, a little goes a long way. I only see it in small packages.

The basic formula is aromatics, Arborio rice, chicken broth and parmesan cheese. Everything after that is optional. I am making shrimp risotto today.

In my opinion, the most important thing with risotto is mis en place. Because technique is really the only thing that makes the dish, everything needs to be prepared and in place so that you can focus on the cooking. It is not like you cannot look away but you better be close and paying attention if you want good risotto. I release the flavor in the shallot.

Put in the rice and brown it up a bit. So far, it is just like Rice-A-Roni. Now, to make risotto, add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and stir it in. Keep the mixture boiling until it is almost gone and repeat. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked. How do you know it is cooked? Taste it. As a guide, this 1 1/2 cup of rice used about 4 cups of liquid.

Proper risotto is slightly al dente, just like pasta. However, my wife prefers that all gone. I am fine either way so I try to go her way. Make it how you like. When the rice is cooked, I added cream and cheese and turned off the heat. I want it to be hot but I don’t want a lot of extra mixing after I add the dairy. That is it, you have made risotto.

End Your Programming Routine: Chef Keith Snow says that risotto is a secret restaurant joke. The patrons think that it is exotic dish that turns out to be premade and reheated rice. Sometimes we get disappointed because when order it, the dish doesn’t deliver as in your head. The nice thing about making at home is that you can make it how you want it. See, it wasn’t hard.

January 30, 2024 – How Many Batteries Do We Need?

January 30, 2024 /

I am going to make an argument today. I stated in December that I am shifting away from alkaline batteries. This move is not to save the planet, while that is an added bonus, but to save my sanity. This is the tactic that every person that is environmentally conscious should use. In order to get people to switch to an ‘eco’ line of thinking, the evidence should be overwhelmingly beneficial, not because it makes them feel morally superior.

For instance, let us look at electric cars. I have yet to see a compelling argument that this is the replacement for gasoline engines. As far as I can tell, electric cars have a niche in the commuter space. It is super convenient to top off your car at home, at night and if you can get a couple hundred miles range then you have probably handled 75% of the suburban use cases. But, any sort of long range trip or extended weekend is a nightmare. Even in southern California, the mecca of EVs it cannot be done without extreme frustration and pucker factor. That alone is enough for me to say that EV technology is not a replacement for gasoline at this time.

When charging takes five minutes, is ubiquitous and the range is 800 miles now you are speaking my language. It is faster than refueling and goes farther now there is a compelling reason to not buy an EV over a gasoline car. Whether I believe the environmental benefits or not, the product is better than the alternative.

The decision of better for the planet is only one of the considerations in each purchase. People make decisions all the time based on many factors. The item fits better, it is in my price range, it is more durable, it is available now are some examples. I can go to any gas station, convenience store, dollar store, box store etc and buy batteries.

The biggest reason I am switching over to rechargeable batteries is the durability. I am sick and tired of opening a battery compartment to find that the battery has leaked out and even sometimes ruining my device. Usually, this is more than an inconvenience but these are things that aren’t really replacible.

My HP calculator that I paid $300 for in 1991 is an example. Sure, the technology is out of date but it still works fine and since I am not doing calculus anymore, I don’t need the capability. It is a sentimental item for me. It was the single largest purchase I made until I was out of the house and in college. My OBDII code reader had the batteries go bad. I paid $450 for that. That is replaceable but why do I want to? My current toner, my weather station, different remote controls, flashlights… the list goes on and on.

As I was writing that list, I was thinking most of those items occurred either in the shop or the basement. This doesn’t mean that every failure has happened in a less than conditioned environment. But a starting point might be to replace the batteries in my tools and things that live outside of heated space.

The failures also mostly happen in infrequently used items. It is probably safe to keep using alkaline batteries if you are frequently using an item. I am trying to take the batteries out when I remember, but sometimes I forget. Or sometimes things get moved without a thought and then the next time I need them, the batteries have exploded.

To date, I have already spent several hundred dollars on rechargeable batteries and I am not even close to having enough. These things are expensive, granted I am not buying the cheapest brand. They are averaging $3-4 a piece whereas at Costco, I can buy an alkaline battery for about $0.50. But, that means that if I go through eight cycles it has paid for itself. The batteries are supposed to have 2000 charge cycles in them. Even to get to eight cycles it will take a long time for them to pay off. But even if I only get 20 cycles, it should more than pay for itself. Best of all, I am not going to have a ruined device.

One last thing about rechargeable batteries. Having a stock of these is valuable if you need them. They can be recharged with solar power or a generator. You are not going to charge an alkaline battery so if you cant get to a store or there are not stores open or no more alkaline batteries, this is a more self-reliant option. This is where I got the idea. My initial experience with Ni-Cad batteries in the 1980s was terrible but I have been convinced that technology has moved a long way in 30+ years.

End Your Programming Routine: It may be that not every alkaline battery needs to be replaced with a rechargeable one. There are some things that I could care less if they get ruined. That being said, I am buying batteries to replace each time the alkaline dies. That is an expensive proposition, but I think it is going to work out economically, ecologically and for the safety of the device.

January 26, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto V

January 26, 2024 /

The second circle of hell. We have made it past the pagans and into the real torture, I guess. According to the summary that I read, the second circle is the result of carnal sin. Since carnal sin is love, albeit misguided it barely qualifies the worst of things a person could do according to Dante.

I suppose the thing that I don’t totally understand is what exactly is ‘carnal sin’. Before I went looking for a definition, I would understand it to be wanton infidelity. Or, I could have speculated that it was a premarital or an extramarital sexual relationship. All I could really find was the definition of carnal being passion, of the body and that kind of stuff. What I am saying is that I really don’t understand what you have to do to get to the second level of hell.

Interestingly enough there were a few recognizable names here. The first and biggest was Cleopatra. As far as I have heard, she was a was a woman of ‘passion’. That being said, I didn’t know her to be a woman of ill repute. One of the other people that was there was a person named Dido. She was apparently married but fell in love with someone else. She killed herself when he was sentenced to death (actually suicide is a much more severe sin, not sure why she got level 2).

Even if it is simply lust as on another analysis I read, it is not our place question. Do you remember “Thou shalt not covet another man’s wife”? In the most basest of interpretations, coveting another’s wife is a synonym for lusting after another person in the sexual sense, wife or not. But then again, there are lots of things that we consider crimes based on morality. For instance, drugs. However, taking/using drugs had no consideration from Moses in the Ten Commandments.

What I am getting at is that I get it at face value. Carnal sin is worthy of damnation by our morality standards. By the same token, Carnal sin is very subjectively and ambiguously defined. For that reason, I think we should obey the commandments but we should also follow our heart. After all, I don’t believe that God wants us to be miserable. We just have to do it the right way.

I was imagining in this series that I would take a level of hell and relate it to a current event and persons in the public eye. We all know people that fit the definition and maybe we will see them in level 2 of the hell. Bill Clinton comes to mind but probably not Jeffrey Epstein here, maybe Ghislaine Maxwell? I have been doing some thinking though. If a relationship was consenting, is this really a sin? After all there were plenty of polygamist in the Old Testament. I did some quick research on the subject and you find the usual subjects.

The puritanical approach says that polygamy was a means to an end. It was accepted until the new covenant (the coming of Jesus). Just like at the other ritualistic trappings of Judaism, the veil and sacrifice and such, none of that means anything at this point according to Christianity. Arguments are made that the transition from many to one in Judaism is now one on one in Christianity. Therefore the other related bible versus two becoming one or Adam and Eve for instance are pointing to the justification that only one committed relationship is the way to go.

The more that I study psychology and human behavior, I side with the data that supports that the richest, healthiest and most rewarding relationships are one on one. This also conforms with my moral beliefs. However, I cannot succinctly say that what I (and Dante) believe are actually defined as sin. This of course excludes non-consenting adultery as mentioned in the Ten Commandments.

End Your Programming Routine: Truthfully, I didn’t think that I would end up here before I started writing this. I suppose that this puts me more on a philosophical plane rather than a Christian one. If an action hurts another, it is probably worthy of evaluation. But, these are complicated matters that are hard to solve in a single page. Was it consenting and now it is not? What if your heart changes, should two people be bound to a reciprocal, loveless marriage? I am pretty sure that this level is not for the deviant crowd but the consenting one. I am not sure I can get behind that.