“Come on Eileen”.
Yeah. I was just minding my own business and this classic comes on.
“Come On Eileen” is a song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners (credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982 as a single from their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay.
It reached number one in the United States and was their second number one hit in the UK, following 1980’s “Geno“.
The song was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley and was initially claimed to be written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, although Rowland later stated that the essence of the tune should be attributed to Kevin Archer.
“Come On Eileen” won Best British Single at the 1983 Brit Awards, and in 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation’s sixth favourite 1980s number one single in a poll for ITV. It was ranked number eighteen on VH1‘s “100 Greatest Songs of the ’80s” and was Britain’s best-selling single of 1982.
“Come on Eileen”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BODDyZRF6A&list=RD6BODDyZRF6A&start_radio=1
There’s nothing particularly special about this song except that it represents a specific time in my life. And when I heard the song, I was transported to that time, and in that place.
Todays…
What is the most intelligent one liner you have come across?
I had over a hundred toxic exposure personal injury cases pending against a major chemical company. To save money and gain a strategic advantage, the defense attorney filed motions in every case across the US to compel participation in a single deposition of their product development expert. Known as a de bene esse deposition, the transcript would be read at all trials instead of the witness’ live testimony. It would prevent live cross examination in front of juries, and updating questions based on new developments or ongoing testimony in the various cases. it was scheduled to occur within a few days at the company’s HQ in another state.
I had sent this company detailed interrogatories and records requests delving into their knowledge of the dangers of their product/similar products and pertinent scientific literature. This information was critical to adequately prepare to cross examine the witness. Despite my demanding this for months, they had never responded. Thus, part of my answer to their motion to compel the deposition was a counter motion to compel responses to my discovery requests.
On the day of their motion, moments before we appeared before the judge, the defense lawyer handed me the company’s responses. Despite the fact that I had asked at least 60 questions [including sub heading follow-ups], and requested numerous user safety documents required by public health laws, the “answers” [mostly consisting of “irrelevant,” “unavailable,” “objection – confidential proprietary information,” etc] were contained on two typed sheets. There were no documents. The company lawyer smirked at me, thinking he had deflated my best argument, and further, condescended to a female attorney 20 years younger than he.
His motion was called, we both stood, and he argued confidently that his client should not be burdened by multiple depositions all over the US, and that we plaintiff lawyers would all be asking the same questions in any event. He argued that judges all over the US had already granted this motion to “streamline” the litigation.
Then it was my turn. I asked the judge if I could approach the bench. He raised his eyebrows, but he consented. I handed him the “answers” to the interrogatories, explaining that I had just received them moments ago. I asked him to please read them. He looked annoyed but did so—- it took about two minutes. He looked up at me a little impatiently and said “Well?”
I replied: “Your honor is now as prepared as I will be to take the deposition of this absolutely critical witness on behalf of all my clients. I respectfully ask you: do YOU feel adequately prepared?”
He sat back in his chair and smiled, cocked his head, looked at the defense lawyer and ruled: “Your motion for de bene esse deposition is denied. Plaintiff’s motion compelling discovery is granted. Call the next case.”
Modern Wife Instantly Regrets Divorcing Good Husband
It is so difficult being a single parent. It makes me want to cry.
When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?
Invited to dinner by a friend of mine, we were listening to music afterwards and I mentioned that there were annoying vibrations coming from the right channel of his sound system.
“Yes, I think the speaker’s blown. I’m going to buy a new set.”
I listened some more.
“I don’t think so. Let me have a look.”
I took off the front of the speaker and almost immediately discovered a screw was lose and this was the source of the vibration.
Have you got a Phillips screwdriver?”
He gave me one, I tightened the screw, fix completed.
A couple of weeks later I was in my local bar chatting to a friend and she suddenly asked me if I could look at her sound system.
I was puzzled.
“Why? I don’t want to buy one.”
“No, it’s not that. Greg told me you fixed his and mine isn’t working properly. Could you see if you could fix it, please?”
I explained that all I had done was tightened a screw and I was by no means a sound system repair man, thus destroying my chances of developing a side gig as a sound engineer.
Some people are easily impressed and, it would appear, rumours of non-existent competence can spread rather easily.
Taiwan Election Fallout
What’s something you regard as true but have no evidence for?
I say this as someone who has been teaching middle school (students aged 11–14) for over 15 years now, and who worked in special ed before that:
A nontrivial percentage of behaviors which fall under various special education diagnoses are, in fact, learned behaviors.
Learned helplessness, for example. That seventh grader who needs someone else to write down their assignments for them, because they “can’t focus enough” in class to write it down themselves? It’s no coincidence that that’s the same seventh grader whose parents have coddled them and treated them like a toddler well too far into adolescence.
Sure, now your kid can’t do that for themselves. Now your kid is far behind their peers in terms of independence. Because you taught your child helplessness by doing everything for them. What came first, your teenager needing to be treated like a toddler, or you treating your teenager like a toddler, even when they probably didn’t need it anymore?
And so you take your kid to a doctor, and the doctor diagnoses them with ADHD. Sure, they have ADHD. Anyone can see that. But what caused it? Or, rather, who caused it? Not all of you, but some of you parents need to look in the mirror for that answer.
Oppositional Defiance Disorder is another one. Yes, your kid has a problem with authority. Was your kid born with this problem? Not likely. They picked it up somewhere along the way. And who, more than anyone else in their life, is responsible for making sure they respect authority, to keep themselves out of trouble?
Maybe the kid who always gets in trouble at school has some sort of chemical imbalance or some major trauma in their past. It happens. It’s also equally possible, I believe, that that kid’s parents just did a shitty job of preparing their child for a world where they have to listen to authority figures to stay out of trouble.
But they can take their kid to a doctor and get a diagnosis of “O.D.D.,” so they sleep a little better at night, thinking that it’s not their fault that their kid can’t stay out of trouble. It’s a medical condition.
“Executive functioning problems” are another one. Is your kid so disorganized because they were born with some special need which made it difficult for them to be organized? Or did you just never take the time to teach your child how to stay organized, until it was too late? Perhaps it’s not your fault. Or perhaps you really dropped the ball when your kid was younger, and now that ball is too heavy to pick back up. Both possibilities have about the same chance of being true.
To be clear, I’m not saying all of these issues are caused by parenting. I’m not even saying most of them are. I’m just saying that some of them are. Enough of them that it’s statistically relevant.
Of course, I can’t prove any of that. I’m just calling it like I’ve seen it, year after year, for the last two decades.
This Video Will Leave Every Man SPEECHLESS…
What are some things that people who live in places with brutally low temperatures know, that the rest of us don’t?
Back in December 1983, Chicago spent 100 hours below -20F. Wind chill made it -86F. I worked downtown back then. No elevated train until a decade later, so the buses went down I-55 into the Loop. (Small edit: the buses were for shit, wind would come in through the doors and the window slats. The Orange Line could get you downtown in 20 minutes, the Green Limousine (our nickname) took about 90 minutes on a good day.)
If you wore wire frame glasses, they would freeze to your nose momentarily. You layer up and you don’t bother to color coordinate. Look like a clown astronaut, no one will care. You’ll even blend in. Your nose might run waiting on the bus, it will freeze. Wiggle your nose and the ice will fall away.
Don’t walk anywhere without the intention of stopping. Back in the 70s, I was walking only about a half mile to get a bus, and part of my brain kept saying to stop. Sit down on that bench. Rest. You’re halfway there. This was at midnight. Somebody would have found my body, no doubt frozen to the bench, in the morning.
A few have asked, or questioned why *I* never said something, as if *I* don’t exist, and that really frosts my cone. again, sun was out. If a piece of ice can snap away without breaking, it is warming up. Holding the icicle for ten seconds, my hand would be colder walking to the end of the driveway to the mailbox and back.
Plus: why would I give my dog something that might hurt his tongue? Chicago beats all logic.
Ray Dalio Explains Why America is Entering A Horrific Financial Crisis
What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?
Ive been blessed with cracks between the worlds now and then.
I woke up one morning and told my late wife that we must cancel our trip to town as l had seen a “dream”, that a tree would fall on our vehicle. We had not been together long enough for her to know me all that well yet, and she got very upset because her heart was set on town, we were homesteading and needed some things she considered desperate ( like coffee🤣).
So after lots of persuasion I agreed to go. It was a two hour trip one way and I was keenly keeping an eye to where my vision had warned of the tree coming from, and sure enough, I caught a glimpse of the exact same tree coming at us. Because I had the warning and was looking for it , and my quick reactions of youth, I Swerved and slammed into it as it hit the road just in front of us, instead of ON us. We totaled our vehicle, but survived.
After that ,she always listened to my “hunches”(as she called em).
Greek-Style Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 6 boneless chicken breasts
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach
- 1/4 pound feta cheese
- 3 tablespoons Romano cheese, grated
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon oregano
Instructions
- Thaw the spinach and drain as much of the moisture as possible. Mix with the crumbled feta cheese, grated Romano, salt and pepper.
- Make a slit in the side of each chicken breast. Fill the slit with the spinach mixture and close with wooden picks.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet. Brown the chicken breasts on both sides and remove to a warm platter.
- Sprinkle the flour into the same pan and integrate with the remaining oil. Cook for about 1 minute. Slowly, add the wine and chicken stock and stir until a smooth sauce has formed. Add the lemon juice and the oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring to a boil and return the chicken to the pan. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes until the chicken is very tender.
Zhou Shen’s new song “Floating Light” is sung for the first time tonight! REACTION – BEAUTIFUL!
Have you ever had a problem with a coworker while working as a waiter/waitress? How did you handle it?
Back in my 20’s while working at a popular coffee shop, I had about an hour to go completing the graveyard shift, I was on the floor with an older gal about 45, 7 construction workers came in for breakfast and sat in her station. She went over to the table, and after about 5 minutes she stormed over to me and said “no way am I waiting on those jerks!, they are telling dirty jokes and everything”, so I told her I would wait on them, and I gave her 2 of my 4 top tables in exchange. I went over to their table, and they immediately began telling me the jokes, I looked at them and smiled saying “hmm, I’m not sure what that means but I can laugh”. The man who apparently was the foreman immediately told all the men to shut up and stop with the jokes, I suddenly became someone like a “daughter” he needed to protect (innocent). The service went great and they were all respectful of me, that foreman made each person leave me a 5.00 tip! That was a 35.00 tip on a 7 person breakfast that only came to about 45.00! OMG, now the trouble started, the other waitress saw what I got and ran to the manager demanding that I split that tip with her because after all, it WAS originally her table! The manager told her “hey, you told Linda to pick them up AND she gave you 2 of her tables to make if fair, so if you don’t agree with that, you can go”. The next week, the guys returned and she RAN to get them in her section, they began their dirty jokes, and this time she went along with them, and when they left, she got ZERO tip! Why? Because they saw right through her, I stopped by their table a few times to say hi, and was respected. Was she mad? oh HELL yes!
What is the one purely accidental thing you did that saved you or someone else from a major disaster?
Last Summer, I was sitting on the dock at my town’s marina watching boats being launched. A new-looking 25 foot boat was being launched from a trailer. There was some water coming out from a fitting near the stern. It seemed unusual but the launch angle might have caused some bilge water to move towards the stern where the bilge pump is normally located.
After launch, I couldn’t see much while the boat was tied to the launch dock. Its captain drove the trailer to a parking area and returned twenty minutes later to board with his family of young children. As the boat left, I could see that water was still coming out from the fitting.
I suspected that the owner had neglected to install his bilge plug. I called to the captain to point out his problem. His bilge pump could barely have kept up with the leak as long as his engine was charging his batteries but he would be in real trouble if he anchored somewhere. By the time he noticed, the boat would be settling in the water with dead batteries and the starting motors immersed in seawater.
At first, he gave me the look of someone who did not want to be bothered. He proceeded past my position before thinking better of ignoring my warning. He stopped to inspect his bilge and quickly headed back to the launch ramp. It took him about an hour to haul his boat, install the bilge plug and re-launch. Had he continued without installing his bilge plug, his new boat would surely have gone down.
China ANGERS The West, “We Won’t Destroy Our Economy For You”
What is the most shameless scam you’ve seen?
Years ago, there was a couple who sat in the parking lot with signs that read “Unemployed, four hungry children, please help. God bless you.” They had been doing this for over a year when our local newspaper interviewed them an published their story. This couple stated that they lost their good jobs due to the recession and just wanted jobs so they could feed their kids and, maybe buy a house some day – to be back on their feed again. After the story came out, they were flooded with job offers from all over the county.
Yeah, they turned them all down because panhandling was much more lucrative.
I worked in the city and there were quite a few off ramp and street corner panhandlers – the same ones every day. One day, I saw a young woman who left her corner, walked to the convenience store parking lot and got in to her brand new Honda Accord and drove home. Shift was over, I guess.
Now for a good story: There were two men who stood at the end of exit ramp I took on my way to work for about seven years. One was older, missing teeth and looked like he had led a hard life. The other was young, maybe early-mid 20s and he wore a funky top hat and played guitar and sang – he was really talented and all songs were his own originals. No sign, he just played his music. I am a go-with-my-gut person and never once did they ever made me feel uneasy.
After having enough experiences in horrendous traffic jams and snow stoms, I always keep protein or granola bars and a few bottles of water in my car. I would give them these when the light was red and, very occasionally, enough cash to buy a meal and they were always so kind.
I hadn’t seen the young man for a couple of months until, one night, I stopped at the mini mart on my way home from work for a diet soda and there he was. Working behind the counter. He looked healthy and happy and was so glad to be working. We spoke for a few minutes then he came around and gave me a big hug – man, did I get a lot of dust in my eyes.
Greek Orange Cake in Orange Syrup (Pontica)
Ingredients
Syrup
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
Cake
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- First make the syrup by combining the orange juice, water and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove the syrup from the stove and allow to go cold.
- Butter an 8 x 12-inch baking pan with all the melted butter. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl. Beat the egg whites until stiff and they can form a peak.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks until light yellow; add the sugar, orange rind and vanilla and blend well.
- To the egg yolk mixture add the egg whites a little at a time, alternating with 2 tablespoons of flour mixture until all used. Pour the batter into the pre-buttered baking pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Remove the cake from the baking pan and cut into diamond shapes. Place the cake pieces on a large plate that will trap the syrup when poured over.
- Pour the cooled syrup over the still warm cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.
Yield: about 15 pieces
A crying mother cat brough her dying kitten to a man. Just unbelievable!
Have you ever returned home from a vacation and found an unwelcome surprise?
Yup. Came home to find our cable wires cut.
Of course we didn’t know they were cut until the Cable Guy asked us if we had any enemies. Which shocked us, until we realized what had happened prior to us leaving for vacation…
We have Wi-Fi through Comcast. We pay for that service. We realized that the neighbors across the street were stealing our Wi-Fi. So we put a password on it. For security reasons. Nothing wrong with that, right? WRONG!
They (four men) would sit on their porch with their laptops. We thought it odd since it wasn’t a comfortable porch and they were all crammed together. More of a doorway and just some stairs. We didn’t have a relationship with them, just the occasional neighborly wave. My brother is the one who enlightened us to the fact that they were outside because they were hooking up to and stealing our Wi-Fi. He told us to put a password and watch what happens. So, they were outside, we put a password, their connection died, they stared at our house, and closed their laptops and went inside. We giggled like little schoolgirls and went on with our lives.
About two weeks later, we went on vacation. And when we came home, none of our electronics worked. Called the cable company. They couldn’t get any signal so they sent the technician. He looked outside, and that is when he asked if we had any enemies. All wires had been cut. Could you believe it? They got mad at us for taking away something they were stealing! And of course, without cameras, we had no proof.
Some people just suck.
China called Taiwan’s 2024 election a choice between peace and war. Now that Taiwan has chosen war, what will China do?
Taiwanese did not choose war. Taiwanese did not gave a single seat out for an outright pro independence party! That party lost every SINGLE seat in the election.
DPP Tsai Ing Wen party and now Lai Cheng Te took over is pro independence favouring party that recognise the one China policy. It assures its voters they won’t harm cross straits harmony. Yet it could garner a mere 29% votes and lost the parliament to KMT by one seat and now need a coalition to even has a say!
What will China do? China will let the U.S. implode further, will let the Taiwanese people realise it does not want a Ukraine. And they don’t! China is sitting pretty. The U.S. is totally fxxked up!
Taiwanese are Chinese stock just like me of Hokkien origin. We know that by sucking up to the U.S., Ukraine lost 500 thousand men, 9 million seek asylum, 4 regions to Russia and 1/3 of their land and almost the entire Black Sea coast! Taiwanese voted for kinda an economic union with China and some special status of being independent somewhat! They voted against outright independence and they are very wary of the U.S. and its influence.
The real question if you are smart enough to ask is, does the billions of CIA, NED and other government agencies money spent on Taiwan worth anything? Does it pay off?
The answer us zero and nil. Once again the US is taken as a sucker!
Wife IN SHOCK After Husband Uploads Her Cheating Videos To Website And Sends The Link To EVERYONE
What have you seen that made you think, “If you wanted to be fired you could just ask”?
There was a pretty epic incident from a few years back.
There was a dead man in the Denver hospital (Denver Health), in their morgue or some holding area. He had recently passed.
One of the nurses was apparently impressed by his manhood, enough so that she went and told the other nurses something to the effect of, “You have to see this man’s D!”
She and 4 other nurses went on to go look at the deceased’s manhood.
Unfortunately for them, someone overheard the conversation and reported them. An investigation was then launched by risk management which resulted in 4 of them being suspended. (Source: Nurses who opened body bag to view size of dead patient’s penis suspended. Smith, Lydia. The Independent)
One of them also resigned from her position following the incident.
The man must have had quite a member there. And they do say that your body gets stiff after you die…
So far behind
What was the moment you cancelled the friendship with your best friend?
I had a best friend from 14 till 29. For her 30th she threw herself a party, it was set to be wonderful, great food, drinks, friends a bonfire, just a wonderful evening. She and I hadn’t spent a ton of time together for several months before due to work and such so I was elated to hang with her and actually get to know this guy she’d been seeing for 6 months or so.
My friend was always a bit of an entitled princess but I usually ignored her when she did that. This party every 5 min she’d scream at the new guy: “go get me a drink” “are you stupid? My drink has been empty!” ”why haven’t you been paying enough attention to me it’s my biiiiiiirthdaaaay” it was annoying but hey she’s a bit drunk, oh well. Then as her bf is talking to HIS SISTER and I she walks up behind him and smacks him in the face full force. Her reason? “I knew what he was going to do, pay attention to other women and say things I don’t like so he deserved it.”
After that smack I quickly got ready and left. A week or so later I met her for lunch and confronted her, thinking perhaps she didn’t recall due to alcohol and I could encourage her to get help. Nope, she remembered just fine and felt she was justified to get her way. That was the last day of our friendship.
Do you think Japan will continue to export successful “soft power” fare in the future?
Japan is in a dire need to go back to the drawing board. It needs to rethink blind allegiance to the U.S., it needs to rethink Japanese only mindset, it needs to rethink helping the U.S. doing shit on China. It needs to grasp how humongous China is, and that how influential it is in the world today.
It needs a fresh perspective, soft power is good when you are winning competition, Japan is not! Soft power is good as an icing on the cake. Today Japan has lost its cake all together.
Steel is gone, Ship building is gone, electronics is all but gone, infrastructure building is gone, high speed train is all but gone and so is automotive industry, tourism is useful but cannot sustain high cost of Japan as a subservient and submissive country to the U.S.
Japan’s economy is fine if the west and the U.S. represents 60% of the world’s demand. Today it is less than 30% of world’s demand. Sucking up to the 30% and offending the balance 70% is a suicidal strategy. It’s population dwindled a million a year! It domestic demand is fast evaporating. It’s export machine has all but stopped except perhaps for some super high end products that has a minute market!
Japan’s biggest dilemma is between sucking up to the U.S. or facing reality. It has chosen being a slave vassal state of Uncle Sam! Can it survive? I very much doubt so!
At best it gets to play a house slave role but at a cost of an imploding an economy. It’s debts us already the largest versus its GDP on planet earth.
Were Roman gladiators allowed to sleep with slave women on occasion?
Roman gladiators had a very strange place in Roman society.
First off, we need to remember than gladiatorial combat was staged and hammed up for dramatic effect, and was rarely to the death. It wasn’t any more “real” than pro wrestling is today. It was a show, and sex appeal was a big part of the show.
On one hand, Gladiators were slaves, the lowest of the low. Furthermore, entertainers of all sorts (actors, dancers, etc) were infamia — outcastes, basically. A Roman citizen lost many of their rights if they were infamia. An infame had nothing to lose, socially or legally, by prostituting themselves.
On the other hand, gladiators were famous and glamorous slaves who were often invited to mingle with and entertain the highest social classes.
And gladiators were expensive slaves. A good gladiator might sell for 500,000 sesterces or more. A unskilled laborer in good health was worth maybe 1,500-2,000 sesterces. (Translating ancient currency into modern currency is basically impossible and misleading, but as a rough guide a skilled tradesman might make 8000 sesterces a year)
All slaves and entertainers were expected to have sex whenever and with whomever their owner or employer commanded. Even for free entertainers, prostitution was part of the job description. It’s likely that most slaves were at least occasionally rented out by their owners as prostitutes. That undoubtedly included gladiators. It is not a stretch of the imagination that a slave owner might have hired a gladiator to stand at stud with a slave girl he wanted to breed. The Romans regarded slaves the same way we regard livestock.
Roman culture was bi-normative; they didn’t have words for “gay” or “straight.” There was nothing shameful or unusual about a man having sex with another man. What was shameful was to be the bottom to someone of lower social status, or allowing yourself to be used for someone else’s pleasure. Roman values were centered around power and control; being the receptive partner in sex was seen as giving up power and control. A rich Roman citizen would likely have viewed fucking a gladiator as a demonstration of their natural superiority.
Roman women had much less sexual autonomy than men, but it was recurring gossip that Roman women (up to and including the Empress) bedded gladiators for sport. Gladiator sweat was also sold as an aphrodisiac (seriously).
Victoria Nuland
He was killed because of this video.
Did you ever beat up the high school bully in front of everyone?
My little sister was two years younger and two grades behind me in school. She found me and my sports teammates one day and complained to me that a certain boy in her class has been bugging her, pulling her hair, trying to pull her bra strap and other such nuisances. So I told her, lead the way, little sister.
My teammates knew who this bully was and followed a bit behind me without me knowing it. I’m not that big of a guy but a couple of my teammates were. I figured I could just scare this bully and it would all be over. I rounded a corner with my little sister and she pointed out the bully. He was half a head taller than me and 30 or 40 pounds heavier. I gulped and I think everyone in the hallway heard it.
I walked up to the bully with my little sister and she menacingly said to him, “I told you I would get my brother to come and take care of you!”. Unbeknownst to me, that was my friends’ cue to come around the corner and stand a bit behind my sister and me. I took one more step up to the bully and told him he better leave my little sister alone or else…. I thought he was looking at me, but he was looking over my shoulder at my friends, and just nodded his head, then walked away.
When I turned around and saw my big friends, they were laughing at me and jeering, “OR ELSE!”. I started to laugh too. My little sister was happy – she would let us know now and then that the bully never bothered her again, and in fact had almost stopped bullying everyone.
And that became my friends’ catch phrase. Anytime I would make a statement, one of them, right on cue would add “OR ELSE!” Yah, that only lasted 2 years.
Have you ever been asked or told something so offensive you found yourself momentarily stunned?
When I was 22 I dropped out of college to have and raise my daughter. People were astounded I’d do that, as I also had to give up a full ride Air Force ROTC scholarship (I’d been introduced to the Governor of Oregon when I received it, made the newspapers).
Anyway, she was 6–9 months old and one of my soon-to-be-ex-college buddies called. I answered the phone as I was scooping some sweet potatoes into her, the airplane was coming into the hangar! She was in her high chair with her mouth open like a baby bird, hands up in excited fists giggling in anticipation of the plane vrooming some more sweet potatoes into her mouth.
He made the comment “I don’t know why you left school, you could have just had her get an abortion. You really messed up your career path. Think of all the money you’re missing out on.”
My daughter was looking me in the eyes smiling as he said that. I immediately hated his goddamn guts. So, excused myself from the phone call. I maintained contact over the years just to see how things panned out between us.
She grew up to be an EMT. She drives around saving other people’s lives, and has 4 kids herself. When she turned 19 and got her EMT certification, I went back to school and got my engineering degree.
Now I make more money than he does, have a superhero daughter, and 4 grandkids, and pictures of one million trips to the zoo, amusement park, daddy-daughter dances, holidays, etc. He has no children, grandchildren. He has a cat.
Fuck that guy.
What is the biggest waste of electricity you’ve seen in a home you visited, were a guest in, or even in your own home?
When my wife and I were first dating her electric bill in an apartment complex seemed high. The final straw was when she was gone for a two week trip and her electric bill was even higher than the previous month. I looked at the electrical panel and did a check on each circuit breaker, tripping it and seeing which lights or appliances were without electricity. I then marked them with a file sticky tab indicating what they went to. Two of the breakers didn’t seem to shut anything off. I told her to leave them off until we figured out what they went to.
Two days later an apartment maintenance worker was working on the apartment below hers. She noticed the worker, but it didn’t register to her why the worker might be there working on the apartment below hers.
The next day there was an electrician there and the “light bulb” in my girlfriend’s mind came on. She asked the electrician what kind of problem they were having, the electrician indicated that several appliances in the apartment suddenly went dead and had no power being supplied to them.
Turns out the two electrical breakers that I had tripped went to the water heater and the A/C unit for the apartment below hers. The apartment maintenance worker spent the whole day working on the problem for the apartment below hers before calling the electrician to perform the proper checks and determine the problem.
She told the electrician what I had done. He checked the breakers and told her that she had been being billed for the electricity to run the water heater and the A/C unit in the apartment below hers.
She asked if the electrician could fix the problem and take out those two extra breakers in her electrical panel. The electrician worked for several hours and then came back and said that the problem was fixed. The electrician had done one better, the people below that had been jerks while working to fix the problem. They now supplied electricity to run her water heater.
She never mentioned it for the two years that she lived there thinking it was probably going to even out over time for the electricity that she had previously supplied to the apartment below her.
The people below her complained several times about the increase in their electrical bill over what it had been prior to me tripping the breakers and discovering the electrical syphoning that had occurred.
No one ever came to check the electrical circuits for the rest of the time she lived there.
What are some of the best examples of “American ignorance”?
So I’m sitting on the hotel terrace in Düsseldorf, Germany sipping a wheat beer on a warm summer night last June.
Three American late-middle-age men sharing the table next to me with a similarly-aged German are debating the pros and cons of their company health care plans.
One guy prefers low premiums, with higher out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Another travels a lot and doesn’t want to be tied to one network. The third guy is in great shape and argues for a high-deductible health plan with a tax-advantaged health savings account.
They try to outdo each other with lower copays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums. Then they start in on horror stories from friends and family about outrageous billing, uncovered services, out-of-network charges, and medical bankruptcies.
The German listens politely until one of the men asks him if medical bankruptcies are a problem in Germany.
He answers, “oh no, all our costs are covered by the medical insurance.”
One of the Americans immediately cuts in and says, “oh, that’s right, Germans have really expensive universal coverage. I’m so glad we have freedom of choice in America.”
The Americans then continue their internal debate without asking the German another question.
“American ignorance” is not the problem, most people, from all countries, myself included, are pretty ignorant about a lot of things in life.
The problem with these Americans was not ignorance, it was an utter lack of curiosity and interest in anything outside their scope of experience.
Ignorance has a cure. Indifference is usually terminal.
Death of Gonzalo Lira, Crumbling Ukrainian Air Defenses, Growing Russian Military Capabilities
How do old people with low net worths live life? What are their lives like?
My mother in law has no net worth. She was a single mother working multiple minimum wage jobs, to get her daughters raised. My wife told her mother, that she did a great job, and that my wife had everything she needed as a child. Then my sil had a baby while still going to school, my mother in laws days, of supporting her grand daughter just started. She only had a month or two worth of expense money when she retired.
When she was 65 she moved into a seniors centre.
In Canada we have CPP, which pays out according to how much you pay in. She didn’t pay in that much, we also have OAS that anyone who has lived in Canada for 40 years, before turning 65 is entitled to. It pays $742 a month, finally we have a Guaranteed income supplement, to top up your retirement. If you have little income, like my mil, it pays out $1065 a month. So my mother in law earns $1800 a month, $21,600 a year. There are a lot of people like this.
But being in progressive Saskatchewan, my MILs senior centre charges her a percentage of her income, if she had more income, they would charge her more.
Until covid hit, she took a taxi to the nearest cheap grocery once a week, now she has it delivered, at 93 she can’t handle shopping for groceries.
She spends time either visiting or being visited by kids, grandkids, great grand kids, and great great grand kids. Or having coffee with her few remaining friends. Until recently she prepared meals and vacuumed at her granddaughters place, while they were harvesting.
She watches TV, plays board games at the senior center, does puzzles and crosswords, or plays Yahtzee with relatives. Up until recently she would go for walks to the farmers market near her. She is constantly giving out small amounts of money, to her relatives, for treats.
She is afraid of flying.
So this is her life, she was very happy until covid, then she got isolated and lonely, and hasn’t quite sprung back.
Not everyone would be happy with this life, but its heaven to her. When she grew up on the farm, they didn’t have running water. Being able to use an indoor toilet and get water from a tap, in her old age, is a step up from her childhood.
Are police officers ever afraid of a suspect trying to get revenge on them?
Working a long-term undercover assignment, you become close to your target. They learn to trust you and let you into their very closed little world. This happens over an extended period of time. When it’s time to conclude an assignment, it’s natural for the target to feel played, betrayed, and downright pissed.
I recall one gang leader in particular who argued with the detectives, refusing to believe I was an undercover cop. I watched this from behind a one-way mirror. Several minutes later, I entered the room, still sporting long hair and a grungy beard but with a gold badge hanging from a chain around my neck. The man jumped to his feet and screamed, “You’re dead!”
His face turned beet red, and he had to be restrained even though he was already cuffed. This was one pissed-off bad guy. It’s important to note, we knew he had killed before and was about the last person on earth I wanted to seek revenge.
I tried to sit and talk to the man, but he wasn’t ready to listen. A few weeks later, I was allowed to meet with him in jail with his lawyer present. He now seemed willing to hear that working undercover was part of my job and was never personal. I told him that I understood his feeling betrayed and didn’t take his death threat seriously. He didn’t reply, which concerned me greatly.
I had kingpin drug charges on him, which should have meant twenty-five years in prison. However, he cut a deal by pleading guilty and was given just nine years. I would meet him again less than five years later, as he was already out. He sought me out while I was on duty as a uniform sergeant on a call at a bar. He told me we were cool and didn’t blame me for doing my job. He also told me he was going straight and had started a job as a welder.
I didn’t know what to believe, but in the end, it didn’t matter. About a month later, he was shot dead by a member of a rival gang. Problem solved.
What are some of the best examples of “American ignorance”?
I don’t know if it is ignorance, stupidity or just entitlement, but this just happened a couple of days ago at Barajas Airport, Madrid:
So anyone who has travelled to Europe and entered the Schengen Area knows that there are two queues, one for EU citizens and one for all other passports. You also might have noticed that airport and immigration personnel is usually right before the queues telling people where to go.
Anyway, along comes this sharply dressed “gentleman”:
Upon being told to go to the ALL PASSPORTS queue you can probably guess what he said to the lady directing people: “I’m American, I’m not standing on that line, it’s too long”. The lady just told him, quite tersely “European Union passports over here, all other passports over here” and then turned her back on him. He then proceeded to stand on the EU queue anyway.
I loved the look on his face when he got to the booth and the immigration officer told him that he could not go through and had to go to the back of the All passports queue!
Columbia and the Passport Bros
The MESSAGE is at the end.
Written by a 90 year old!!
🤙42 lessons life taught me 💖
It is something we should all read at least once a week! Make sure you read to the end!
Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 42 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short – enjoy it..
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.
9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
11. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
12. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it…
14 Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
15. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
16. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
17. It’s never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.
18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
20. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
21. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.💖
22. The most important sex organ is the brain.
23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
25. Always choose life.
26. Forgive but don’t forget.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does..
31. Believe in miracles.
32. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
33. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
34. Your children get only one childhood.
35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. (I love this one)
37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
38. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.
39. The best is yet to come…
40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
41. Yield.
42. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
Men and women
What is the craziest thing you have ever said or done at an interview and still gotten the job?
Well, I just retired at age 68 from being a Silicon Valley software development engineer for about 30 years. I probably literally have hundreds of interviews behind me. Some of them were quite funny and/or strange. But, the wildest one happened somewhere around 2014. (I may be off by a year or two either way.) Anyway, I was working for a small startup in Mountain View, California and it wasn’t going well. I had concerns about their future viability. And, so, I sent out my resume to my usual crowd of recruiters.
One of those recruiters got me a phone screen interview with Apple for an undisclosed position. (Meaning I had no idea what the job consisted of.) I had worked for Apple three different times in the past for a total of about 12 years — and, that included my very first job in 1990 as an entry-level engineer. I took the call on my personal cell phone while walking around in the parking lot because I didn’t want to be heard by my current employer. I just pretended that it was an important personal call (which I guess it actually was?) The phone screen interview was with the lead engineer of the team. I was under the impression that this was merely an initial screening and an in person interview would follow if I did well.
As best as I can remember the conversation went something like this after our initial greeting and exchange of names and background:
Interviewer: “Mr. Ussery, this job is an hourly contract position in support of Apple’s factory automation/robotics software as used in China and Ireland. And, it requires travel. Are you interested?”
Me: “Yes, I guess so, but I would like to know more about it.”
Interviewer: “Do you have any experience in this area?”
Me: “Absolutely none whatsoever.”
Interviewer: “Are you willing to travel and stay overseas for about six weeks, and do so for up to four times a year?”
Me: “Yes.”
Interviewer: “Do you have a current passport with a China work visa?”
Me: “I have a passport but it is expired, and I’ve never been to China.”
Interviewer: “I see. But, you have been overseas before?”
Me: “Yes. I have worked in Apple’s facility in Cork Ireland for six months in 1995.”
Interviewer: “That’s great! That is where I live and where I am currently calling you from. This position is home-based in Apple’s main campus in Cupertino, California. I spend about half my time there when I am not in China. Did you like Ireland?”
Me: “Yes, very much so.”
Interviewer: “How do you feel about working in China.”
Me: “I don’t know anything about it. I have never been there?”
Interviewer: “But, you would be willing to do so?”
Me: “Yes., I think so. Again, I would like to know more about it.”
Interviewer: “How many years of experience do you have with programming in C++?”
Me: “Over 20 years.”
Interviewer: “How many years of experience do you have with programming in Objective-C?”
Me: “About 15 years.”
Interviewer: “Have you programmed in non-MacOSX operating systems.”
Me: “Yes. I have programed on Linux and the Windows operating systems.”
Interviewer: “Do you know anything about factory operations, processes, and how final assembly of product are done?”
Me: “Not a thing. I don’t have any experience with that.”
Interviewer: “Do you know anything about factory quality control?”
Me: “No.”
Interviewer: “I see. Mr. Ussery, we would like to offer you a position working on our team. How soon can you start?”
They met me in person on my first day of work two weeks later.
And, that was how I got the best job I ever had — and up until very recently, the best paying job of my career. They even paid me while I had my butt parked on airplane flying to China or Ireland, and they paid me while I was in a shuttle bus going to and from a factory. (About two hours a day when I was in China.) Plus, they paid all my travel expenses and meals, and even put me up in four star luxury hotels when I was overseas. It was a great job, and it lasted about four years before I was replaced by a cheaper employee. I loved that job!
I think you’ll have to agree that the interview was pretty crazy. By the way, I made many really close friends while doing it, and that includes the original interviewer. My 60th birthday was a real blast too. I celebrated it eight years ago with six very drunk Irish engineers in Shanghai, China. I had a big hangover the next day — but it was worth it.
C’est la vie.
I Miss Living in CHINA! | America is SO Far Behind China
Why do so many people hate the self checkouts?
I will speak for myself:
Spite.
I like the idea of a self checkout for people who are in a hurry or don’t mind ringing themselves out. And that’s how the self checkouts were around here for the first decade or so that they existed. But, predictably, many of the businesses that I go to eventually replaced almost all of their employee checkouts with self checkouts.
I like having it as one of two options. I don’t like when it’s the only option. Or, as it is often around here, the only expedient option.
What a lot of places around here have done is to keep just one employee checkout open, and convert everything else to self checkout. The employee checkout always has a huge line (more spiteful customers, like me), which makes the self checkout seem like a better option. And that’s one of the points of only having one employee checkout open—to encourage customers to just use the self checkouts instead.
I remember, about 12 years ago, flying somewhere with my wife. When we got to the airport, an employee from our airline directed us to a self check-in kiosk. I said “no thanks,” and started to go to the counter to talk to a human about checking in. The employee literally stood in front of me and started going over the benefits of using the kiosk. I wasn’t interested. I know he was just doing his job, but the more he spoke, the more I was determined to not use that self check-in kiosk. According to my wife, I literally pushed the guy out of my way, so I could talk to a human. I don’t remember that, but I do remember being very mad that the guy wouldn’t shut up about the damn kiosk and just let me walk up to the counter.
Since then, I’ve quit patronizing two local fast food places which only have self-serve kiosks now, and no humans to give your orders to. Why? Spite. That’s why.
Also, in one of those places, I walked in with my prescription sunglasses on, and I literally could not see the screen on the self serve kiosk. It’s like it was polarized the same as my glasses. But I also couldn’t see it well without my glasses, because I’m very nearsighted. I had to walk back to my car to get my regular glasses. I just walked back to my car and went elsewhere instead.
I recently read a thread on social media. The topic was “I’m with the Boomers on this one.” It was basically all younger people saying that the Baby Boomers were right about not liking the creep of technology into every aspect of our lives. There were a lot of people who claimed to be “with the Boomers” when it comes to not wanting to use self checkouts. I am one of them.
Others that I agreed with were:
- Not wanting to scan a QR code for a menu at a restaurant. Or anything, really. I’ve made it all the way to 2024 having never scanned a QR code.
- Not being forced to use an app for something you used to be able to do without an app, like pay a bill or make a reservation. Apps should be for convenience if you want to use them, not for necessity because they are the only choice.
- Not being prompted to tip all of the time.
- Wanting the option to purchase a new vehicle without a giant iPad-like screen in the dashboard.
- Wanting actual physical, metal keys for cars and doors, which you have to actually insert into a keyhole in order to open a door or turn on a car.
- Preferring RPG video games that have a top-down, 2D view, and not a 3D “open world” concept.
Technology is great, but it doesn’t have to be in everything. Just because something can be done with technology, doesn’t mean that is should be done with technology. For self checkout, I know that the primary motivation is to save money for the store. That’s understandable. I just wish stores would understand that there are guys like me out there would would gladly pay a little extra for an employee checkout instead.
I think it’s difficult for people under the age of 35 or so to understand just how quickly technology has changed the basics of functioning in modern society, and how annoying that can be for those of us who remember a world before high-speed internet and smart phones.
Thanks to a broken washing machine, I recently had to spend some time in a laundromat. My two hours there felt like what someone 40 years ago would have described as “dystopian.” All of the machines were set up to use an app. Fortunately, they kept some of the machines quarter-based, for people like me. It cost $5 to wash one load, and $1 to dry it. Everyone there, from the employee to the customers to the customers’ kids, had on headphones. No one said a word the entire time I was there. I was the oddball for bringing a book to read, rather than a screen to look at while I waited. Everyone other customer—literally about 20 other people, and their children, some just toddlers—all of them, when they weren’t moving their laundry into a machine, or folding their laundry, were staring at their own individual screen. The place had TVs, too, but they seemed pointless, as no one was watching them, because everyone had their own screen.
It’s not like I was going there to make a friend, but still. For someone who remembers when the Walkman came out, seeing everyone of every age in the same place at the same time, but each in their own little technological world… there was something really sad about it.
Anyway, to answer your actual question: I, for one, hate the self checkouts because of what they represent. More technological creep into my life. I hate them out of spite.
Gentlemen, act accordingly
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
When I was 10, my parents signed me and my younger siblings up for the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Kids Birthday Club. Basically, I gave Krispy Kreme my address and birth month and they would send me a coupon for a free dozen doughnuts every year on my birth month until I aged out of their Kids Club at age 12— ‘cause this is just for kids, OK?
Sweet deal.
But Krispy Kreme forgot to ask for the year in my birthday. They have no clue how old I am.
So I’m now almost 25, and I’ve been a member of the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Kids Birthday Club for 15 years. That’s a 180 free doughnuts for me, plus another 180 for my sister and 180 for my brother.
540 free doughnuts.
They’ve since closed the loophole to new signups— first you had to list your full birthday down to the year to join the Krispy Kreme Kids club (which they temporarily and unfortunately called “KKK”, no joke), and now they don’t even offer it. Adults can sign up to get one single donut on their birthday and some special days (tax day, Halloween, National Doughnut Day), but that’s it.
Will anyone at Krispy Kreme ever notice that I’ve been “under age 12” for 15 years? Tune in next year to find out.
Edit 2018: Nope, didn’t notice yet.
Edit 2019: More donuts.
Edit 2020: Happy donut day!
Edit 2021: Still more donuts.
Edit 2022: Congratulations to me, I’ve been “under 12” for 19 years! Can we get to an even 20?
Edit 2023: Happy 30th birthday to me! Either my donuts are late, or someone at Krispy Kreme is among the 1 million people who read this answer. It’s been great!
We pimp them hoes
What is the most surprising secret someone has revealed to you?
I am 21 years old. When I was in 10th grade there was a girl A in school. Just like typical teenagers she had many rumours surrounding her. I ignored those and went ahead and made friends with her.
In some months we started dating. We were head over heels for each other. We had everything going great so shown in movies. One day when we were on a date, after coming out from washroom she gave me her phone. There she had written something which changed all my views on her. She wrote that she was raped at the age of 14 by a guy who forced her to be his girlfriend so that other people won’t suspect a thing.
Fearing society and her parents, she didn’t tell it to anyone. But had to undergo therapy. Her parents were totally unaware to real reason behind her behaviour. She lost a ton of weight and was living on medicines. This was really shocking for me. Then I had flashback of all the times when she had certain insecurities and why she required so much time to trust a person. She also had intimacy issues because of this. And that person had told her to shut her mouth or he’ll leak the tape which he had recorded. This rumour was spread in our school by her friends isolating her.
But now she’s a healthy person pursuing her career in engineering and I am a proud boyfriend.
American society is changing
What causes a person to live like a recluse and not want to deal with the outside world?
I’ve been an RN for over 45 years. With each passing year I’ve grown progressively more tired of humanity. It’s true I’ve met some lovely people. However, the proportion of rude, abusive individuals seems to be rising with every month.
I’m tired of toxic individuals. To me they are everywhere I look, and not just within hospitals. They are on the roads and in the supermarkets. They are politicians and CEOs. They are all over the media. I barely recognise the world I live in any more. People have changed so much. To the point that I no longer feel compatible with anyone. We are deep in a pit of moral decay that’s every bit as malignant as Covid. I believe there are good people, but nowhere near enough to counter the trend in self absorption.
I want a little piece of land away from the world. A dog, a couple of chickens, and a garden. I want a simple and as self sufficient life as I can make it.
I prefer to make friends with animals, plants and the stars To attempt to treat the planet with more respect than the majority of my counterparts.
It’s something I intend to make happen within the next few years.
Sounds like they read MM stuff
Do Westerners hate China?
Yes they do, they use the thin veneer of I just hate the communist party.
You know the group that gave increased levels of prosperity to Chinese people?
We can literally see this with attacks on Asians in western countries. How are those CCP members?
We can also see it with the WIDESPREAD dehumanisation that has somehow been normalised. Look how normalised it is and accepted it is to dehumanise Chinese people, the prevailing thought by most Americans is we’re literally insects. This can be seen by their politicians who are VOTED IN BY THEIR PEOPLE.
Westerners ‘are accepting of’ Asians/Chinese when we’re seen as servants, those who deliver things, cook your food, do your laundry but once they as some of them say get uppity (you know aspire to be more) out comes the white supremacy.
Greek Hot Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 large potatoes
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Juice of 2 lemons
- Parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Boil potatoes until tender and keep hot. Slice onion into a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and cold water, and allow to stand about 5 minutes; drain.
- Slice hot potatoes and add to onions. Add olive oil, lemon juice and celery. Mix well to absorb dressing. Season to taste, and garnish with chopped parsley.
- Serve warm.
Have you or are you treated like a baby by anyone? Have you ever been mistreated?
I have traveled to the Philippines many times, but my first trip was the most memorable.
My flight was on PAL, Inc. (referred to by all proper Filipinos as Plane Always Late If Not Cancelled), from San Francisco direct to Manila, back in the 1990s when they still flew that route.
I wore jeans and a T-shirt for the twelve-hour flight, and the tag on the T-shirt was sticking up. One of the flight attendants tucked it in for me. I am a bit of a jokester and told her “Thank you. My wife dressed me this morning.”
So for twelve hours the flight attendants talked to me like I was an imbecile: “Can you read the menu?” and “Do you need help going to the toilet?”
It seems that Filipinos (at least the ones who work for PAL) take things rather literally, and I got a good opportunity to practice humility.
The flight back was memorable, too. As we taxied down the San Francisco International airport at the end of our flight from Manila, emergency vehicles surrounded our 747 and sprayed foam and water all over it. I looked at the cabin crew and they did not look worried at all, although some of my fellow passengers looked like they were ready to activate the emergency doors and jump.
It turned out that this was the senior captain’s last flight; he was retiring that same day, and this was a traditional means of celebrating.
You’d think they would notify us passengers first …
Yup. The USA is toast
Greek Fried Cheese (Saganaki)
A visit to a Greek restaurant anywhere in the world is likely to feature waiters setting this dish ablaze and parading it through the room, accompanied by an appreciative “OPA!” from the guests.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 pound kasseri cheese*, sliced 1/2 inch thick
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat.
- Beat the egg and flour together, and dip the cheese slices into the mixture. Fry until well browned on both sides.
- Remove from the heat and add the brandy. Carefully ignite the brandy with a match, and shake the skillet until the flame is extinguished.
- Squeeze the lemon juice over the cheese, and serve from the skillet along with crusty bread.
Notes
* Available in finer supermarkets and Middle Eastern specialty shops. Parmesan or Romano cheese may be substituted.
What’s something you’ve had stolen from you that you literally couldn’t replace?
The thing that was stolen from me was my childhood. I was born the oldest of two sons to a violent and entirely unpredictable man. He abused his wife and sons until we three left (vanished really) one morning while he was at work.
He first abused my mother and I when she was 8 months pregnant with me (an unplanned pregnancy) by beating her and then punching her in the stomach. He then kicked her out of the house into a terrible Maine winter with no shoes or coat. A chance passing of people from the church choir she sang in got her into a warm car and a safe haven for the night.
With no means to get anywhere or escape, she returned to him.
I was born a month later hemorrhaging and required emergency medical treatment. A month later he began crib slamming me (to stop my crying)—and so began a 17 ½ year hell from which there was no escape and no hope of rescue. When I was 7 my little brother was born, a planned pregnancy this time. From the time of his birth our abuser tried desperately to drive a wedge between us—BUT HE FAILED.
More than brothers we turned to each other to lend strength and support to each other; we became like soldiers in combat that never ended.
The dynamics would take more space to explain than I have here. But I was assigned the role of Black Sheep and to blame for ALL the rage and violence in the household. This conditioning was something that my mother and little brother still clung to LONG after we had left, and our abuser was dead. But the bond between my little brother and I was still made of the hardest steel, forged in the very fires of hell.
I lost him in 2015 at the age of 47 to a massive heart attack. Our mother would survive 5 more agonizing years without him before passing away in 2020. It was only recently that I realized that our abusive father had caused my little brother’s death…his compulsive eating had led to his overweightness and blocked artery condition.
When our mom passed away in 2020, I became the last member alive of our nuclear (and dysfunctional) family. I have been left to try and clean up all the mess left behind by their passing, alone. Mom died with never having had another relationship in 40 years. My brother destroyed himself without ever realizing it was our abuser reaching out from the grave to destroy him. I have been left with the guilt that I never realized it myself until after my brother was gone.
Every year he told me he would kill me. He also said he would never be charged either, he would get away with it because of his masonic ties. Twice (age 15 and 16) when he was beating my little brother in the living room, I tried to take a kitchen knife and go after him—my mother stopped me both times telling me it was just what he wanted, he was waiting for me. Frankly, I did not care then, I just wanted to save my little brother and make the screaming stop…I would have rather died for him. I see now that this was how he planned to kill me without consequence.
He stole 17 ½ years of my childhood making me live in fear and doing nothing to prepare me for life, ruined my mother’s adult life and leaving her unable to find love in a relationship, and killed my little brother from the grave with the patterns he instilled when my brother was young.
THIS theft was worse than anything material I have ever had taken since. THINGS you can buy, but those years of my childhood, the years of trying to rebuild my life (and still trying in my 60s), and the loss of my little brother so young are a violation of my very soul. HE HAD NO RIGHT, and in fact had a RESPONSIBILITY to protect me from those kinds of things and to nurture me as the bright and imaginative child I was. Instead, he threatened to kill me and seemed to try every week.