I remember leaving the state when you threatened us during COVID and being amazed how the other states were operating. Drove west and didn't find authoritarianism again until Oregon. I am not yours. You are under our control.
To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom, opportunity, and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior.
You come for my people – you come through me.
The chunky wood butcher block in 1980s kitchens disappeared because of a government recommendation that had zero science behind it.
In the early 90s, food microbiologist Dean Cliver asked the USDA for the evidence behind their advice to ditch wood for plastic. They admitted they had none. So he ran the test himself.
He contaminated wood and plastic boards with E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. Three minutes later, 99.9% of the bacteria on the wood was dead. The wood's pores pull bacteria beneath the surface, where they can't survive.
Plastic went the other way. Left overnight at room temperature, the bacteria multiplied. And knife-scarred plastic was nearly impossible to sanitize, even in a dishwasher. Every cut creates a groove where bacteria hide from your sponge.
The thickness wasn't decoration either. Those blocks were end grain, wood fibers standing vertical, so the knife slides between fibers instead of cutting across them and the surface heals itself. That construction only holds together as a thick slab. Slice it thin and it cracks.
Cliver repeated the results across nine hardwoods, maple to walnut. Same outcome every time.
The butcher block was self-sanitizing and built to outlive the house. America threw it out for the board that grows bacteria overnight.