Guys… when I was growing up I ate whatever pizza was offered to me. As a (very) young child when we lived in Connecticut, the pizza was what is commonly referred to as a a “New York Deli Pizza” (also known as a “New York Slice”); a thin crust pizza, soft, yummy and flavorful.
But around the time I was in early elementary school we moved to Western Pennsylvania. There, we ate the pizza from the early growth Pizza Hut restaurants of that time. And of course, being the 1960’s it was only on special events. Back in those days, eating out was rare, as we mostly ate full formal sit-down meals made by our mother at home.
Now the Pizza Hut pizzas of the 1960’s were quite different from what you see today. Those pizzas were thin crunchy crust pizzas. They were not the same as the pizzas that we ate in Connecticut. But being a kid, well… we ate the food. We didn’t appreciate the food.
After the “Woman’s Rights Movement” of the early 1970’s, my mother and many of my friends mothers stopped cooking dinners. They “burned their bras” and cut back on spending time with us kids. Some of the “Den Mothers” of our Cub Scout Troops quit, and we were forced to consolidate into larger groups. My mother got a job, but I did not see the extra money that she made do anything. In fact, it seemed to have no visible impact on our family at all. What ever she made disappeared… somewhere.
She would start eating out with co-workers, and her boss after work. Sometimes she would bring home some leftovers, but mostly, she just came home late. As for us kids, well the only difference was that we started to eat smaller and simpler meals, that she would make after getting off from work.
Instead of pot roasts, fried fish, casseroles, and chicken meals we would get TV dinners (no kidding), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, simple spaghetti meals, and maybe once or twice a week left over soup that she would cook on the stove on the weekends.
At this time I was growing up as a teenager, and “hanging out” with my friends, not to mention working. So for me, I would either make a sandwich and carry to work, or get a burger at the nearby diner.
Then when I was a Senior in High School, going out to Pizza Hut was THE THING to do. (At that time, my parents were separated, and my father lived in another city.) She would take us to Pizza Hut and we would eat large cheese or pepperoni pizzas as our weekend treat. I think she felt like she needed to do this, as the week daily fare of cold cut sandwiches, and cereal, pancakes, and an occasional egg or soup just wasn’t cutting it for us young growing kids.
So, here’s to Pizza Hut; the pizza that saved our family during the 1970s!
Today…
War On Iran: – Selected Writings And Reports
Selected writings of interest on the War on Iran:
A long-read on how Netanyahoo pushed Trump, against all other advice, into launching the war:
How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran (archived) – NY Times
In a series of Situation Room meetings, President Trump weighed his instincts against the deep concerns of his vice president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment. Here’s the inside story of how he made the fateful decision.
Mr. Netanyahu delivered his presentation in a confident monotone. It seemed to land well with the most important person in the room, the American president.
Sounds good to me, Mr. Trump told the prime minister. To Mr. Netanyahu, this signaled a likely green light for a joint U.S.-Israeli operation.
Lebanon emerges as potential spoiler to Iran deal – CBSnews
Multiple diplomatic sources told CBS News that President Trump had been told that the ceasefire announced Thursday would apply to the Middle East region, and he agreed that included Lebanon. Mediators believed the ceasefire to include Lebanon, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that it did. Araghchi also said it was included.
On the day of the ceasefire, a White House official told CBS News that Israel had also agreed with the terms of the deal that Pakistan had helped to broker.
However, the U.S. position shifted following a phone call between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump. Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the changing U.S. positions, and the disjointed remnant of the regime in Iran, are making the diplomacy highly complex.
Donald Trump is the war’s biggest loser (archived) – Economist
There is a reason he wants an exit from Iran
The war has shown that the value of America’s might is easy to overestimate. Its factories cannot resupply its armed forces fast enough, whereas Iran fought an asymmetric war with limited weapons. Too much testosterone leads to wretched judgments that confuse lethality with winning. Overwhelming firepower without a strategy saps American strength.
Non-Recourse National Strategy – Syncretica
They learn that hesitation is expensive, that deliberation is for people who don’t have conviction, and that the main failure mode is not swinging. They are, in the language of behavioral finance, calibrated to be systematically overconfident in their own ability to identify signal in noise, and structurally indifferent to path dependence because in their world, paths don’t particularly matter — if this startup dies, you do the next one. The option resets.
…
What happens when you staff an entire executive branch with people whose entire professional formation has been as option holders?
…
Exhibit B is the war in Iran. Heads you win and its regime change, tails…. uh did anyone think about tails? Apparently not – at least certainly not Kushner, Trump and Witkoff the real estate guys.This is where path dependence enters, and the administration appears constitutionally unable to see it.
…
Countries that interact repeatedly — on trade, on security, on currency arrangements — are playing an iterated game, not a one-shot game. In iterated games, reputation is not a “nice to have” it drives how people play and outcomes. Your counterparty’s willingness to make concessions today is a direct function of what they believe you will do tomorrow, and that belief is formed by what you have done before. Defect once and your partner adjusts their priors.
The Insurgent Empire – Standoff War, Trashcanistans, and the Proliferation Trap – Big Serge
The American strategy, as articulated by various administration officials and as discernible from the pattern of operations, does not envision ground forces seizing and holding Iranian territory. What it does envision is something remarkably similar to the insurgent’s playbook, executed from the opposite end of the technological spectrum: make the Iranian regime’s existence as the governing authority of its own territory impossibly expensive; deny it the exercise of sovereign control over its own military and industrial assets; impose costs that accumulate faster than they can be absorbed; and through this sustained pressure, either compel behavioral change or create the conditions for the regime’s internal collapse.
Iran’s Schools and Hospitals in Ruins From U.S.-Israeli Strikes – NY Times
The Iranian Red Crescent Society, the country’s primary humanitarian relief organization, said on April 2 that at least 763 schools and 316 health care facilities had been damaged or destroyed in the war.
…
Schools and hospitals hold some of the strongest protections of all civilian infrastructure under international humanitarian law, and intentional attacks on them could be considered war crimes. Even strikes on military targets that damage nearby schools and hospitals can violate international law, experts say, and military commanders are expected to take stringent measures to prevent and minimize such harm.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other American officials have insisted that the U.S. military is acting with precision.
Hegseth, the Secretary for Warcrimes, is of course right. The U.S. military acts with precision when it intentionally bombs schools and hospitals in Iran.
Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest. But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.
Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations.
These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.
It is mostly about the War on Iran and relatively short. The U.S. has lost the war badly and Mearsheimer fears that Israel might go nuclear on Iran.
If the US built 150 aircraft carriers in WW2, why can’t they build that many carriers now?
150 carriers… of which most were “emergency” small ships that were only meant to last for the duration of the war and maybe a few years after. They were all retired by the 1950s.
They could only carry up to 30 airplanes (which is nothing by itself, basically) and the main reason for them to even exist was that “proper” fleet carriers took too long to build and both the US and Royal Navy needed one bazillion carriers yesterday.
In peacetime, something like this would rightfully be called a giant waste of tax money. You want weapons that can last for a while, not something disposable that you would soon pay more to keep it running than to pay for a new one. Besides, if you were to operate modern airplanes, you’d be lucky to cram more than a dozen in this carrier. The flight deck is probably too short to launch anything that’s not VTOL like helicopters or some crappy short-range drones that require the carrier to get dangerously close to the enemy. Basically, it’d be useless.
For reference, modern US Navy carriers made the Yamato, the largest and heaviest class of battleship ever built, look small in comparison. That’s arguably the absolute minimum size for a modern carrier to be powerful enough to fight a battle “on their own” (meaning relying their own air wing). Other countries except China can only field smaller carriers with fewer airplanes—but even those are still about the same size as World War 2 fleet carriers or even bigger (the British Queen Elizabeth class has the same displacement as the Yamato).
These proper warships that are practically useful today aren’t cheap by any standards. Ultimately, it all comes down to physics and military strategy and tactic. You want to operate a stealth jet on your carriers? There’s a few things that are not negotiable and there’s no way around that.
Fired Over Tattoos? Excessive Tattoos in Today’s Job Market…
The Fading Light
Written in response to: “People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.“
James Moore
He was lost.
Or simply exhausted, he couldn’t tell anymore. Nothing around him made sense, he had started to notice this feeling come over him more often on his hikes. Since turning 50 his mind couldn’t keep up with his body and the exhaustion would go straight to his head. He had lived in these hills his whole life, losing his way wasn’t something Dylan did, but now as he looked up through sweaty brow, all he could see was unfamiliar rocky outcrops and leaves from unfamiliar trees. None of this panicked Dylan, as he wiped the sweat off his head with a rag, he dragged it through his unkempt beard and shook his head vigorously like a dog. He knew he could just push on to higher ground and he’d see the world beneath him laid out like a map on his kitchen table, he’d be able to see his shack, and far below that the town, roads, train station and farther in the distance, if his eyes could pick it, out the Susquehanna River.
Dylan made it to the lookout point; he slumped back on the rock feeling the burning pains in his legs and back. ‘Would they be able to make it up here?’ was Dylan’s first thought. ‘They’ll all be suffering the same age-related physical deterioration I am, but maybe that city life has been good for them, gyms, health foods, warm houses, easier on the joints. On the other hand, Patrick was always a bit of a chubster, and Jessika never really liked exercise even when we were young. Alex was the only one who could keep up back then.’
The ‘they’ Dylan was swirling around his exhausted mind were his 3 closest childhood friends, they had grown up together out on the Appellation hills, gone to the local school together, hiked to each other’s homes every day, found solace in each other’s shared experience of life as a teenager in a small remote, abandoned part of an otherwise busy bustling country. Each of them had one at a time left. First college then maybe University, except Dylan, Dylan was too busy working as a cashier in the local town shop and never had the will to leave his family home. Then each found jobs and partners and moved away to bigger things, each followed their respective dreams. But not Dylan, Dylan would look up at the stars and dream of what might be out there, but he didn’t want to study astronomy so that he could be locked up in a lab all day pouring through research papers, because the next day Dylan might be dreaming about the wonders of the deepest depths of the ocean, or what microbes can live in rocks, or when the first tree grew fruit.
It wasn’t that Dylan wasn’t interested in anything, it was that Dylan was interested in everything, but no one thing enough to dedicate his life to. The thing that had piqued Dylan’s excitable mind now was a news broadcast he had heard on his old 1970s transistor radio about an upcoming eclipse that would be best viewed in the mid-northeastern area of the USA at 4:30 pm on the 22 of April 1997. Dylan sat on his lookout rock thinking about his life and how it had led him to here… Now. He thought about his childhood, his upbringing and the years that had flown past him that he hadn’t noticed (those that he could remember) that had led him to this point sitting in this time, on this rock.
On his way back down the 10-mile trail that would take him back to his shack, Dylan mulled over how he could convince his old friends to come and watch the eclipse with him.
Arriving home Dylan looked around his worn-out old shack in a dismal frame of mind, ‘I’ll need to tidy’ he thought. Dylan had built the shack in his 30s on his father’s small plot of land leading onto the hills, at the time he had had dreams of making it into a luxurious 3-storey lodge but with his mother passing and his father’s illness it never became a priority. His father had sold the main house and most of the land to pay for medical bills and upkeep before passing. What was left was a 3-acre patch of hillside and woodland that Dylan had built his tiny 2-room, hermit cabin. A small kitchen area, with a stove, a fridge, and a door at the back leading to a bed. Just enough for Dylan with no spouse or children he didn’t need much.
The small dining table had become cluttered with letters and magazines, Dylan frantically sifted through them looking for his old phone book and searching for the names of his 3 best friends. It didn’t take much searching, the only phone numbers he had were the local mechanic, the store where he used to work, his Dr, Dr Herman a handful of acquaintances and his 3 childhood friends. He called each one and after a short catch-up, Dylan would deliver his proposal, almost word for word to each of them.
“Hey d’you remember when we were kids and we saw the eclipse, we hiked up Little Bear Ridge and sat all day with blankets waitin’ for the moon to come over, well that was just a partial eclipse and this year, in just a few weeks in fact, there’s going to be a TOTAL eclipse. And the best place to view it will be right here, back at home in Huntersville Pennsylvania. Now I know we haven’t seen each other for a few years, and I know you’re busy, what with your job and your life and all. But you’ve missed my last 3 birthdays, and I am missing you a whole lot. So I’m hoping, you can find the time to come down here and pay me a visit, I’ve got a viewing spot all picked out, and you can stop out in one of the lodges around here or I can make room for you to spend the night with me” Dylan looked around his tiny shack “Or y’know we can camp out under the stars like we used to”
Now Dylan was sure that each one of them would make excuses as to why they would be too busy and wish him the best and say happy birthday if they didn’t see him before the next one. But to his surprise, they were all pleased to hear from him and expressed a great deal of excitement at the prospect of seeing the eclipse in their home town with him.
Alex gave a full and frank breakdown of his life living in New York and working as an investment banker, he spoke excitedly of his girlfriend and their travels around Europe, rock climbing and kayaking. Dylan listened and politely endured the conversation, though his mind was almost entirely focused on his eclipse endeavour.
Patrick seemed a bit more apprehensive about the concept but agreed nonetheless with the premise. Providing Dylan understood that he had a stent put in his heart, and although his doctor was encouraging plenty of fresh air and exercise, he wasn’t going to be racing up Little Bear Ridge anytime soon. Dylan completely understood and explained to Patrick that he too was feeling his age and had no intention of jogging up there.
Jessika sounded the most excited to hear from Dylan, she was now lecturing as a professor of medicine and had chosen to start to move away from being a practising Dr to try to pick up her childhood love of writing, she had already written some well-received journals on various medical subjects, but wanted to start writing fiction. She attempted to query Dylan about his medical state, including his mental health and his, as she put it, ongoing trauma response to the death of his mother and father. At which point Dylan phased out of the conversation as politely as he could, attempting to shrug her off with ‘We’ll talk about it when you get here’.
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Dates and times had been discussed and agreed upon, and Dylan was set to pick them all up from the train station, or more accurately meet them at the train station where they would all get a taxi. Patrick and Jessika had elected to book two nights at a motel in the town a few miles out from his shack, and Alex had agreed to stay with Dylan, for a ‘taste of the hermit lifestyle’ as he put it. Dylan would have much preferred to spend the night with Patrick or Jessika, but he didn’t quibble, he was excited to see each of them again.
Dylan spent the day before their arrival eagerly packing provisions for their hike, he found his dad’s old welding visor to view the eclipse with, made sandwiches and filled water bottles. Made up a cot in front of the fire for Alex to sleep in the kitchen.
The next day Dylan stood at the train station, pacing back and forth in anticipation of seeing the faces of his friends that were etched into his misty memory. Anxiously he checked his father’s timepiece again and again, scanning up the tracks for any sign of a train.
The first to step off the train was Patrick wearing a thick overcoat that made him look 3 times bigger, or maybe he’d gained weight. Dylan rushed at him with unexpected tears in his eyes forming.
“You’re looking well,” Dylan said with a beaming smile.
“Don’t lie, I look like crap” Patrick responded “You look… thin!?”
Next Jessika sauntered down the platform with the grace of a swan imperceptibly powering herself through water.
“DYLAN!” She screamed
Just as Dylan was about to break his embrace with Patrick to swap it to Jessika, Alex grabbed him from behind and lifted him into the air with a bear hug that startled Dylan as he writhed to escape it.
“You smell awful” Alex proclaimed with a grin on his face. “And you weigh nothing, what are you eating!? Or are you eating?”
The group all got into the taxi and made their way back to the outskirts of their home town, along the way pointing out landmarks and discussing memories of lost summer days in the park, they talked about their parents and what had become of them. Patrick spoke of how he had wanted to move back here to raise his kids, but his partner had work commitments in the city and it never would have worked. Alex talked at length about his plans to buy up a few properties around his parent’s old place and turn them into hiking lodges, but he never found the time. Jessika just looked out of the window, lost in her own memories of childhood, and occasionally looking across to Dylan with a concerned look in her eyes.
Disembarking the taxi they all agreed to meet back at Dylan’s early, 8 AM to have coffee and prepare.
“We’ll need to set off by at least 11 Am, which leaves us 5 hours to get there I know it’s only 10-11 miles, but it’s a hard 10-11 miles, It’s not all a well-trodden path and it is all uphill,” Dylan said, trying to prepare them.
“Yes, Hike Leader!” They all jokingly chanted back at him in unison with a mock solute.
“I’m not joking I barely made it up there myself the other day and I know every rock on these hills”
Dylan showed Alex to his shack and waved goodbye to Patrick and Jessika.
Alex burst into his quiet shack like a hurricane blowing open the door.
“Nice place you got here Dylly” Alex said snooping around, kicking the makeshift cot Dylan had set up. “How much did it cost ya” Dylan didn’t know whether Alex was joking so just ignored him.
They sat up into the night chatting about old times and joking.
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They all convened at Dylan’s shack at 8:30 Am, Alex was already awake and doing press-ups on the lawn outside the shack.
“Sleep well?” Said Patrick in a mocking tone.
“Sure, if you don’t mind bugs crawling over you all night, smelling of fire smoke or the sound of Dylan’s snoring and deranged sleep muttering like a 90-year-old”
Dylan came out of the shack carrying 3 premade satchels, 1 for each of them, containing sandwiches and water.
“Ready!?” Dylan said excitedly
“I thought we weren’t going until 11?” protested Jessika
“Yeah, me and Alex discussed it last night and we thought it would be better to get a head start on it, in case there were any hold-ups” They all looked at Patrick.
They set off in high spirits, trudging up the long and arduous track through the woods, Dylan led for a few miles but steadily dropped back to walk with Patrick at the back. Alex would call back encouraging yet mocking remarks at them whilst also asking Dylan for directions. At which point Dylan would storm up the hill to join him, pause and look around for a while with a look of confusion, and gesture in a direction without much confidence.
“How’re you holding up?” Dylan asked Patrick at around the halfway mark.
“I’m ok, just need to have a sit down in a bit I think” Patrick wheezed, his face drenched in sweat.
“Yeah, I think I need to stop for a while too.”
They both sat on a fallen tree.
“Jessikas worried about you, you know.” Patrick said “She said she’s seen signs that you’re struggling with symptoms of early onset dementia”
“Does she say so!? It’s hard out here Patrick I haven’t got a family like you, and there’s no one checking on me or anything like that, so I don’t know, would a person even know if they’re struggling”
“How’re you guys doing?” Jessika called down to them.
Dylan and Patrick got up, patted each other on the back and continued up the hill.
Alex made it to the lookout point first and was already sitting eating a sandwich when the rest caught up.
“What time do you call this!?” Alex said jokingly as they all squeezed to sit side by side on the rock.
“2:45 pm.” Said Dylan looking at his father’s timepiece, “Still plenty of time”
The four of them sat enjoying sandwiches chatting and looking out across the view.
“What time is the eclipse going to happen?” Jessika asked
“Oh, wait there I’ve got it written down somewhere” Dylan rummaged through his satchel and pulled out a tattered piece of scrap paper “4:15 or 45, here Alex you read it your eyes are better than mine”
Alex took the piece of paper and looked at it for a few minutes “I don’t care how good my eyes are, no one can read this Dylan it looks like you wrote it during an earthquake. That might be a 4 or a 6 but the rest is just scribbles”
“It’s ok we’ll just wait, we’ll see it when it happens”
Hours passed and apart from a scare from what Patrick insisted was a bobcat that he saw down in the woods, and an eagle flying over. The group just sat and waited, Alex walked back down the hill a way to see if he could get a signal on his cellular phone but walked back up disappointed, stopping only to do a few pull-ups on a reachable branch. Jessika wandered off for a while to inspect some plants that she thought had medicinal qualities and Patrick ate another sandwich.
“Hey everyone, this is it, do you see that, the skies turning darker!” Dylan shouted in excitement
Clouds had started to come over by this point and the sun was no longer visible
“Are you sure?” Alex asked, “What time is it?”
Dylan looked down at his father’s timepiece
“7:30 pm…. Did we miss it?” Dylan looked solemnly at the timepiece
“So it’s just getting dark because it’s night?” Patrick said in annoyance
Jessika walked over and squatted down near Dylan and held both his hands in hers, she looked into his eyes.
“Are you sure the eclipse was today?” she asked Dylan softly.
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They all made it back down the hill in the dark, slowly and silently. Apart from a couple of stumbles from Patrick and a few curse words from Alex.
By the time they all made it back to Dylan’s shack, there was only time to light a fire and drag out enough bedding for them all to sleep on the floor, which they did, soundly despite the uncomfortable conditions.
The next morning Dylan woke up early to make them all coffee, they sat outside to watch the sunrise and discuss the hike, they talked about how their feet were hurting, the scratches and bumps they’d suffered, the length of the hike and their collective reluctance to do it again. But no one mentioned the eclipse.
By 3 pm they had all got their belongings together and were in the taxi heading to the train station, Dylan didn’t join them, he wasn’t sure he could take the walk home.
In the taxi Alex handed a letter to Jessica, “I found this on Dylan’s floor it’d been kicked under the cupboard, says it’s from a Dr Herman, what do you make of it?” Jessika read through the letter several times with an increasing frown across her brow.
“It doesn’t sound good Alex.” She said morosely.
As the three of them sat on the train looking out the window in silence contemplating what had happened, the light started to dim and the sun on the horizon started to look like a slice was missing.
Less talk…. more action. / Lo-fi for study, work ( with Rain sounds)
Bogotá-Style Chicken and Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds, cut into 8 pieces
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into fourths
- 2 stalks celery, cut into chunks
- 1 large onion, cut into eighths
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 pounds assorted small and medium potatoes, sliced thin
- 3 ears frozen corn, cut into 2 to 4 inch thick slices
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/2 cup capers, drained
- 4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
Instructions
- In large soup pot over high heat, combine chicken pieces, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, add salt and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
- Remove chicken and carrots from pot with a slotted spoon; set aside.
- Strain broth through a fine sieve; return strained broth to soup pot. Discard onion, celery and bay leaf. Add sliced potatoes, bring broth to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.
- While broth is simmering, shred chicken and discard bones.
- Add corn, peas, cilantro and reserved chicken and carrots to soup pot; simmer for additional 10 minutes.
- Spoon soup into deep bowls. Garnish each with sprinkling of avocado dice, capers and hard-cooked eggs.
Serves 6.
Nutrition information, Per Serving: 530 calories; 18 g fat; 4.5 g saturated fat; 45 g carbohydrate
From the Cooking School at the Ocean Reef Club, Miami, FL
Recipe and photo used with permission from: National Chicken Council
Sir Whiskerton and the Mystery of the Phantom Quacks
Or: When a Farm’s Nights Are Filled with Ghostly Honks—and What Lies Beneath
Introduction
Ah, dear reader, prepare for a tale of mystery, melody, and muddy misadventures. Today’s story begins with eerie quacks echoing through Sir Whiskerton’s farm at night—phantom honks that leave the animals spooked and sleepless. Intrigued, Sir Whiskerton teams up with Ferdinand the Duck to investigate, leading them to uncover a hidden underground pond teeming with quirky inhabitants, including none other than The Yodeling Fish.
As they dig deeper (literally), they learn an important lesson: sometimes, the answers we seek are right beneath our feet. So grab your lanterns (and perhaps a snorkel), as we dive into Sir Whiskerton and the Mystery of the Phantom Quacks.
Act 1: The Phantom Quacks Begin
It all started on a quiet evening when the farm fell silent under the silver glow of the moon. Suddenly, an unearthly quack shattered the peace.
“BY ALL THAT IS HOLY, WHAT WAS THAT?!” Doris the Hen squawked, flapping wildly.
The mysterious quacks continued throughout the night, haunting the barnyard like ghostly whispers. By morning, the animals were exhausted—and terrified.
“It sounds like a duck,” muttered Porkchop the Pig, “but… not like any duck I’ve ever heard.”
Ferdinand the Duck puffed up indignantly. “Clearly, someone is impersonating my artistry. This calls for an investigation!”
Sir Whiskerton adjusted his monocle, surveying the scene with dramatic flair. “Very well, Ferdinand. Let us solve this mystery together.”
Act 2: Following the Sound
Armed with curiosity and a flashlight, Sir Whiskerton and Ferdinand followed the phantom quacks to the edge of the farm, where the ground sloped downward into a patch of unusually lush grass.
“This is peculiar,” Sir Whiskerton mused, pawing at the soil. “The sound seems to be coming from below.”
Ferdinand tilted his head dramatically. “Below? You mean… there’s another world down there?”
Before anyone could answer, the earth gave way beneath their feet, sending them tumbling into a hidden cavern. To their astonishment, they landed in a sparkling underground pond surrounded by glowing mushrooms and… singing fish?
“YODEL-AY-HEE-HOO!” cheered The Yodeling Fish, leaping out of the water in synchronized harmony.
Ferdinand gasped. “This is outrageous! They’re stealing my spotlight!”
Sir Whiskerton raised an eyebrow. “Technically, it’s their pond.”
Act 3: Meeting the Inhabitants
The underground pond was home to a quirky community of aquatic creatures who had been living undisturbed for generations.
“We didn’t mean to frighten anyone aboveground,” explained one of The Yodeling Fish. “We just love to sing at night. It’s tradition!”
Ferdinand crossed his wings smugly. “Well, tradition or not, you’re ruining my beauty sleep.”
Sir Whiskerton intervened diplomatically. “Perhaps we can find a compromise. Your music is delightful—but maybe quieter hours would help?”
The Yodeling Fish nodded thoughtfully. “We can try. But only if Ferdinand joins us for a duet!”
Ferdinand hesitated, then sighed dramatically. “Fine. But I’m the lead vocalist.”
Act 4: Resolution and Reflection
With the mystery solved, Sir Whiskerton and Ferdinand returned to the surface, leaving behind a newly harmonious relationship between the farm and its subterranean neighbors.
That evening, the animals gathered around the old oak tree as Sir Whiskerton addressed the group.
“Today taught us an important lesson,” he began, sipping a cup of moonlit tea. “Sometimes, the answers we seek are right beneath our feet—or in this case, beneath the soil.”
Ferdinand adjusted his bow tie proudly. “And sometimes, teamwork makes the dream work. Or at least, the yodel work.”
Even Chef Remy LeRaccoon joined in, holding a tray of suspiciously glowing snacks.
“These are Subterranean Snack Cakes™,” he announced proudly. “Guaranteed to illuminate your taste buds—or cause indigestion!”
The animals exchanged wary glances but couldn’t help laughing.
Post-Credit Scene
Later that evening, Sir Whiskerton sat atop the barn roof, gazing at the stars.
“You know,” he mused aloud, “this whole adventure has made me realize something.”
“What’s that?” Ferdinand asked, lounging nearby.
“I’m still smarter than everyone else here.”
Ferdinand chuckled softly. “Of course you are, my friend. Of course you are.”
Moral of the Story
Sometimes, the answers we seek are right beneath our feet.
Best Lines
- “This is outrageous! They’re stealing my spotlight!” – Ferdinand, channeling his inner diva.
- “Technically, it’s their pond.” – Sir Whiskerton, ever the voice of reason.
- “These are Subterranean Snack Cakes™—guaranteed to illuminate your taste buds or cause indigestion!” – Chef Remy, offering questionable solutions.
Key Jokes
- The Yodeling Fish add absurdity to the underground pond discovery.
- Ferdinand’s jealousy over sharing the spotlight sparks humor.
- Chef Remy’s glowing snacks spark both curiosity and concern.
Starring
- Sir Whiskerton (Feline Philosopher/Detective Extraordinaire)
- Ferdinand the Duck (Self-Proclaimed Singing Sensation)
- The Yodeling Fish (Quirky Aquatic Musicians)
- Chef Remy LeRaccoon (Mad Scientist of Snacks)
Summaries
- Moral: Sometimes, the answers we seek are right beneath our feet.
- Future Potential: Could the underground pond inspire new adventures or alliances? Or will Chef Remy invent edible glow sticks next?
Until next time, may your mysteries be solvable and your ponds harmonious. 🎶
As a mechanic, what’s the weirdest factory defect or prank you’ve found in a vehicle?
I’m not the mechanic, but I can imagine those involved with this prank that I, myself once pulled on someone I know (many, many years ago) answering such a question as this on social media!
I was a bit peeved at my friend for something at the time and felt this a perfect and innocuous way to “get even.” I acquired a cheap prank device .. a simple metal part which, when fitted into a vehicle’s exhaust pipe, causes the car to “screech” (whistle) when on the road! …
When subsequently at his/his wife’s house to perform paid house-maintenance for them, I “anonymously “ slipped the thing into the tailpipe of their car and had the utmost pleasure of hearing the results as soon as he started the car to drive me back to the train station for my return home at day’s end!
On the road, he was SO UPSET! .. “Oh My God .. What’s WRONG With This Car? .. This Just Happened. It Wasn’t Making This Noise This Morning.” I had such difficulty retaining a straight face! Even more evil of me, I didn’t disclose my prank that night .. instead, waiting for the FOLLOWING evening to phone him (to then disclose)!
“WHAT?!”, he exclaimed. “Eleanor’s (his wife) Been Taking The Car To Different Shops ALL DAY! They Couldn’t Find The Problem. Why Didn’t You Tell Me Sooner? She’s Still Not Home With It …This Is Going To Cost Us A Fortune.” (For years I had been charging them only half the price I charged any of my other customers for the routine work I would perform for them, so I felt not the least bit guilty in that regard)! As I was speaking with him, his wife finally returned and I heard her say: “The Third Place Just Found The Problem .. Someone Played a Joke With The Car.”
They were mad at me for MONTHS after!
Gen Z Job Crisis Face Tattoos, Piercings, Wild Hair & Sorry, 9AM Is Too Early But They Want a Job???
Pictures
Moon Eyes
Written in response to: “People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.“
Patrick Druid
Mark gathered his equipment excitedly into.his leather bag, while his partner, Andrea, grabbed the laptops, the telescope and other equipment and loaded the van.
Both Mark and Andrea were grad students who had apparently stumbled upon something significant during their tracking duties at the observatory. Unfortunately, when they reported the data to their supervisor, their conclusions were dismissed and they were reassigned to another project. Mark was ready to let it go, but Andrea was far more headstrong and enlisted his help
The TV was still on and and the news anchor was still talking with picture of the sun in the background and a countdown was showing below it.
“We are now 7 hours away from this once in a lifetime, remarkable, celestial event and people are already gathering outside to watch with the special glasses. Some have been having parties for this event. Joining me from the Sears tower, is our correspondent, Amy Kieffer. Amy, how is it going over there?’
The blonde girl flashed a wide grin for the camera and waved her hand behind her. “We are doing great over here, Tom, Thanx! As you can see behind me, there is live rave music, there is dancing here on the roof and below is the dancing continues in the streets! All of this is in anticipation of what’s being called the ‘Moon Eyes’ event happening tonight in the sky!”.
The news anchor came back and brought in an astronomer from Berkeley to explain to the public what was happening. The professor explained that the eclipse would happen in approximately 7 hours or less and during the event, we would also see not just one but two comets that were passing close to the Earth and that the trajectories of the comets would make it appear as if they were coming from opposite directions from each other. It was predicted that at the height of the event,.the moon would look like it has eyes.
Mark finally turned off the TV and then headed to the van with Andrea who was waiting for him.
They backed out of the driveway and headed down the road. Andrea nervously watched the screen of her laptop while trying to ignore the motion of the van and tree line whizzing by her.
Mark tried to make conversation with her while driving down the dirt road to meet with other stargazers
“What’s the latest?”
“So far, no change in trajectories” she replied staring intently on the screen.
“Hmmmm… Okay… maybe….”, Mark trailed off.
“Yeah we can hope, ” she countered. “But, I know what I saw when I read those charts. You saw them.”
Mark sighed…”yeah I saw them and I agree. There’s just no way this is natural, not even by a long shot.”. He shook his head and switched on the radio.
The two of them continued in silence while the radio continued to blare out the latest regarding the “Moon Eyes” phenomenon.
“We now go to our correspondent Phil on the street reporting on the activity there. Phil, how’s it going?’
‘Thank you Tom. We’re here with a group of people who have a different take on Moon Eyes. This group here calls.themselves The Astrologers Consortium and they have a lot to say about it. I’m speaking with Lisa Nielson from the group right now. Lisa, what can you tell us?.”
Lisa spoke up with a crackling voice. “Well, as you know, an eclipse usually signifies a time of great change for everyone. When it happens, many things are revealed.that were previously hidden. Depending upon the sign you were born in, it could mean that your business life would change, your health could change or your relationships could change.
Now the “eyes” is give this a more intense meaning. It’s more like a warning, or an alert, gives us a since.of urgency to our actions.”
“So”, Phil responded. “Whatever changes are coming,.the eyes are saying that it’s time to change right now and we’d better be ready?”
“Yes, that’s exactly right. The stars and the planets all speak to us and the Moon Eyes, is clearly a sign that we need to be paying more attention”
“Very good, Ms. Nielson. Thank you for speaking with us today”
“Thank you,” she replied.
Some hours later, Andrea spoke up. “Mark, the trajectories changed!”
“Uh oh”
A few minutes later, the news anchor reported again on the issue
“This just in! The two comets that were set to pass over the moon and form “Moon eyes” have changed their trajectories. We have called in our astronomy correspondent in Berkeley again for further information. Doctor, what can you tell us?”
The professor leaned into his webcam and coughed a bit.
“The comets’ trajectories changing is nothing that’s new. As an object in space gets closer to a planetary body, it gets caught by the gravity of that body and since the comets are coming in between the Earth and the moon, they are being pulled by both bodies.causing a slight change in the pathways they take.”
“So, you’re saying that this is completely natural and nothing to be too concerned about “
The professor coughed again..”Well, I am saying that the change is caused by gravity interaction rather than by some artificial design. I wouldn’t say that it’s not concerning in other ways.”
Andrea snorted in derision while the radio kept the interview going. “No, no no,.you dopes! Don’t you know? Didn’t you see the data?”. She groaned.
“Andrea, you know how it is. They say ‘dont cause a panic’
“Yeah but you can’t put your head in the sand or cover up something of this magnitude with a bag of kitty litter! You know that these two comets did not change trajectories through some gravimetric interaction. Not like that and certainly not over a period of 4 or 5 years. These “comets” had to be piloted or controlled in some way and that change proves it”
The truck came to a stop in a local park where many people were gathered for the event with telescopes and laptops.
Mark and Andrea gathered their gear and found a spot for themselves. They were greeted by the other skywatchers who were just as excited as those on the Sears tower.
Andrea held her tongue and continued her set up process, aligning the telescope to meet with the moon’s position.
It was only 30 minutes before the eclipse and the moon eyes would appear. Mark and Andrea and everyone else on the hill kept a close watch on the sky.
While this was happening, a news anchor reported that the two comets were changing trajectories again. As soon as Andrea heard this , she muttered “hah! I knew it!”. She was ready. Her laptop was set to record everything as it happened.
Soon, the moon came into full view as it passed directly in between the sun and the Earth. The stargazers on the hill all.held their collective breaths while the news anchor continued to provide commentary.
“The comets are approaching a point where they will be directly in front of the moon in ,just moments everyone! Standby as keep monitoring…. 5….. 4……”
The crowd made a sharp inhale…
“3 …… 2……. wait…what happened?
“I knew it!”
Just at the last moment, the two comments disappeared from the screen…
“Where did they go? What happened?”.
Suddenly there was a blinding flashlight of light in the sky and then the earth rocked and shook as the moon itself exploded sending debris everywhere and a cloud of dust that envelopes the entire planet.
There were no words spoken by the news anchor, the revelers on the Sears tower or Mark and Andrea. To their credit, Mark and Andrea were correct. Sadly, their fate was sealed as was the rest of humanity.
What’s the difference between restaurant cooking and home cooking?
The most universal difference is that restaurants tend to use more fat and more salt than a typical home cook. More oil in the pan for frying. More butter in the sauce. Restaurant cooks are more consistent with salting/seasoning than home cooks are.
Depending on the quality of the restaurant, it will also have better source ingredients than you can pick up in the supermarket. Better cuts of meat, fresher seafood, sweeter fruits, fresher vegetables. Butter will have higher fat content and is probably fresher as well. Some restaurants will use higher fat manufacturing cream instead of regular heavy cream.
Depending on the cuisine, the restaurant will produce better sauces than most home cooks will have the patience for.
Good restaurants strive for consistency. That means all of the cutting (dice, chop) is consistent night to night and dish to dish. Portion size is consistent every serving — literally stuff is weighed out. Fancier restaurants are organized by station — grill, seafood, apps/salads (garde manger). The cook at each station focuses on doing their part consistently so that the assembled dish is the same. And when someone else is on that station they strive to do the job the same exact way. (I find bread to be a huge tell in consistency. If I go to a restaurant often enough I can often tell when the “other guy” prepped the dough.)
Most home cooks don’t make the same thing night after night. They might wing recipes (measuring). Their food just has to be good…not identical. “How grandma used to make it” probably varied more than restaurants want each night.
Restaurants design menus to maximize profits by maximizing value from ingredients. From ingredient to menu to recipes to service, night after night it’s a well-oiled machine that can’t afford food waste. America’s home cooks usually can’t make the same dishes every night. Inevitably they aren’t as efficient managing ingredients (or consistently prepping the “left overs” meal). A lot of food goes to waste in America.
Depending on the restaurant, a lot more effort will be put into presentation. Warmed plates, consistent, smudge-free food placement, a wide variety of impractically-sized earthenware. Compare Terroni’s pasta dish to mine. Clean, warm, large bowl with stacked and twisted homemade pasta noodles. Mine is Barilla elbows in a smudged, room-temperature bowl that I probably bought at Target.
Footnotes
” I Can’t Get A Job Because Of My Face Tattoos” REACTION
Why is the US economy still larger than China’s even though China produces and manufactures almost everything?
So very true! The U.S. economy is HUUUUUGE. . . and getting bigger!
The U.S. is definitely pulling away from China . . . by almost a pound a minute . . but not in a good and healthy manner.
Represented in human physiological terms, the U.S. is like a 700-lb obese person addicted to an eating disorder with food of empty calories and not pre-disposed much with exercise.
The U.S., like most of the Western developed economies, is fully financialized and almost completely de-industrialized. We don’t do much manufacturing anymore. Profiles of Western GDPs are almost the same – with consumption from 75% to 85% and like U.S. manufacturing is down to about 10%.
Balances of trade are also similar – perennially in the deficit – we consume more than we produce. And the national budgets, they’re also in the deficit. . . . and very little for constructing infrastructures.
Americans have literally been living on the dole – our national debt is now $37 trillion and ballooning out of control. We’ve been simply printing money without any care in the world because we’ve been expecting Japan and Chinese to buy our debts and put them in cold storage as reserve. The days of easy money through quantitative easing is not possible anymore. China’s not buying our bond anymore and causing our yield to skyrocket. The rooster is home to roose and just our interest charges from here on end will be at least $1 trillion a year – exceeding even our skyhigh military expenditures. The buffets Americans have been pigging out on are not free any more and in fact getting expensive by the day.
In other words, Americans have been pretty much sitting at home and doing nothing but eat. On other hand, the Chinese have been putting on the hard hat and lab coats and going out to work at a 996 pace.
China’s GDP depicts this different story. Its consumption is 55% and its manufacturing accounts for 36% of global output. China is the only developed country in the developed world that does not only its industrial base intact but growing exponentially.
Note that China had already passed the U.S. as the world’s largest economy in PPP terms since 2017. China’s economy is equally reflected in their scale of consumption – as the world’s largest car market exceeding U.S. car purchases by at least twice – in 2022, China’s new car sales was 26 million vs 13 million for the U.S . . . . .they’re the world’s largest importer of food in all categories in meat, rice, wheat, soy bean . . . . .the world’s largest home appliance market, largest consumer of luxury goods . . . and in pretty much to all other categories.
Chinese are savers but they’ve been spending as well.
As for China’s industrialial base, China went from a few hundred in 2008 to 44,000 kilometer of high-speed rails in less than 20 years while the U.S. can’t even complete a single line – California’s LA to San Francisco is more than 10 years in construction with no end in sight but costs ballooning skyward with each unending delays. And as in all infrastructure categories, China had exceeded the developed world also in all categories.
In summary, yes, the U.S. is growing larger but it’s because Americans are inordinately consuming to add fat. On the other hand, the Chinese are still staying lean and fit . . . not gaining weight but growing muscles and adding strength.
The U.S. will remain the largest economy in the world for a while. MAGA and trump are boasting the U.S. to be the strongest and HOTTEST country in the world. . . . . . until the old ticker can’t anymore pump the lifeblood for our oversized fatass economy.
Chicken Breasts Brazilia
Instructions
- Wrap boneless chicken breasts around hearts of palm stalks and attach with a wooden pick. Place each seam side down in a buttered pan and cover with melted butter. Season with salt and pepper.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.
- To serve, top with hollandaise sauce and chopped chives.
Is there a way to prevent bolts from getting rusted and stuck in the first place?
It starts with the bolt and nut themselves. If rust is a concern, hot-dip galvanized or electro-plated are your friend. They’ll shrug off casual rust very well, and unlike stainless, you can easily and cheaply find the strength grade needed for your use. It’s why we use them for things like this:
But as you can see, eventually they will corrode.
And that’s not a solution for getting stuck/seizing. So the hardware is only stage one. Stage two is sealing those threads so nothing gets in. The first thing is simply to make sure the threads are clean before anything goes together. Now, anti-seize is a good choice, it does what it says on the tin, but if you’re concerned about things staying tight, I recommend loc-tite.
Doesn’t have to the name brand stuff, but loc-tite blue (242) will prevent things from working loose, but doesn’t cure so tough that it makes your life hard when it’s time to take things apart. But more than that, it’ll act as a lubricant when bolting things together, preventing galling, and more importantly, they seal the threads away from oxygen and moisture. No penetrating oil needed on removal, because no water was able to penetrate and gum/rust things in the first place. If you don’t need the thread-locking effect, there are thread sealants that do basically the same thing without that locking effect.
For 99.9% of installs, those two steps are enough. But if you’re looking at a long-term install or a highly corrosive environment, there is a third step. Grease.
First, I’m not talking about greasing the bolt or nut or mating surface beforehand, that’s almost always a terrible idea; I’m talking about after everything is torqued to spec and the loctite has had a chance to cure.
A big glob of a salt-resistant, hydrophobic ultra-high viscosity, temperature-stable grease slathered over the remaining exposed surfaces will seal them away from dirt, water, salt, and everything else. You do need to be careful to choose right grease: too viscous or not temperature-stable and it will work its way into the mating surfaces, which can weaken the joint; not hydrophobic and salt resistant, and it can trap corossive elements in contact with the bolt. But if done right? The bolt is basically hermettically sealed. When it’s time to remove, it’ll be pristine.