Lychee Sorbet
A foodie post for Memorial Day. Why not? Something light and cool and refreshing for the onset of hot weather. The following recipe is my second assay of the project after the first was just not a success. I used Trader Joe's canned lychees (hmm, not finding an image of the can online which means I have to drag out the camera again...). One can drained, one can with syrup into the blender. juice of one lemon, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of triple sec. Blitz until well pureed. Pour into the ice cream maker, process and freeze. Rather nice actually.
After having made my own I did my Google search on "lychee sorbet" to find something somewhat interesting. The few recipes at which I looked used exactly the amount of canned lychee that seemed reasonable to me: one drained, one undrained. No recipe used triple sec but I am a believer in having some alcohol in home-made sorbets for texture. Alcohol helps keep the ice crystals small and keep the sorbet soft.
I tried lime juice in the first batch and it is not recommended. Too harsh. The juice of a lemon is just right. Though I suppose you could up that to one and a half and still be to the good.
Other flavors that I think would work well with this one: ginger (ya think?) and mint. I may cook up a mint simple syrup if I make another batch and see what that does for the crowd. But all that experimentation being as it may, lychee sorbet is rather good. As long as you like the taste of lychee.

Not Exactly A Music Embed
But it will do for this holiday weekend. It's a commercial for the Discovery Channel but it's one of theb est commercials that's been made in a long, long time. It's short, it's catchy, it's punchy and it features Adam and Jamie, MC Hawking, Mike Rowe - great guys all. So, it's an ad. Ihope you like it as much as I do:

The Long-Delayed Music Embed
I offer up my apologies for the long delay in posting the (ahem!) weekend music embed but I have been dealing with a pinched nerve in my right wrist (or, as I call it, the "terror-wrist") which has made doing just about everything annoying and painful. Today it seems to have subsided. Which means I'm willing to type again. And the blogosphere heaves a collective sigh of indifference.
So what's the big deal here? A made-on-the-Mac music viddy of a song by an outfit called "The Bird and The Bee." The obligatory guy thing requires me to say: Cute chick singer there. And I like the voice - high and sweet. I don't think she's a great singer but she does what she does very well. It's always a pleasure when you see an artist who understands how to work with her material. Though I should give him his due - it is a duo after all. I also like the electric piano intro. If you search out the official viddy of the song, it's rather amusing to see him playing what looks like a grand or baby grand and the noise coming out is absolutely electric. It has a very Chick Corea "Return To Forever" vibe if I'm not going too far back for a referent. At any rate, an interesting group.
But it's the way that Dennis Liu used a whole raft of Mac applications to "textualize" the lyrics and form the video out of the lyrics. If you follow the link to the uToob page, you'll see a screenful of links about what was used to create the video. It's more than's worth bothering with here but if you want to burn some time, please check it out.
At this point, I'd better just let the viddy speak (sing) for itself. I rather like it. I hope you do too.

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. What appears below is currently running in the cinema lobe of EM's

"Thinking Jelly"...

Can you guess what these three images have in common? (hint..one of them makes me sad)

Well..beat me to death...two in one day

I recently ran across this interesting list of musicians and their crimes:
(certainly an incomplete listing but I added a few)
Franz Liszt: treason, seduction, debt.
Johnny Cash: landed in jail, not prison, seven times in his life for various misdemeanors, most of them drug-related. Each stay lasted only one night.
Vince Neil: dangerous driving resulting in death.
Huddie Ledbetter: murder.
James Brown: weapons, assault, failure to stop for police.
Keith Richards: drugs.
Paul McCartney: drugs.
Rick James: sexual assault and torture.
Merle Haggard: theft.
Steve Earle: drugs.
Aaron Neville: theft.
Slick Rick: attempted murder, assault, illegal weapons.
Tupac Shakur: rape.
Chuck Berry- armed robbery, did 5 years in prison after being arrested under the Mann Act, income tax evasion and some really weird stuff including being sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathrooms at two of his St. Louis restaurants. A class action settlement was eventually reached with 59 women on the complaint.
Michael Jackson was charged, tried and acquitted of child molestation. He should be charged with abuse of a corpse..his own.
Lil' Kim was charged, tried and convicted of conspiracy and perjury.
R. Kelly-child pornography charges.
Ike Turner-wife beating coke head scumbag.
Gary Glitter-tried and convicted of child sexual abuse.

But this freak..”The Mad Genius of Rock and Roll” Phil Spector was charged and tried for murder (and due to a mistrial, he'll have to do it all again).

hmmmm... the resemblance is uncanny...

A favorite of mine ....

*****PROFANITY WARNING!!! (Obviously)***

His attitude and passion suggest an emphasis on quality and unwavering high standards to me. I respect those attributes. That's why Gordon's face looks like 300 miles of Arizona fire trails: the STRESS!!! He's only 40. It’s a damn shame he cannot run for political office in this country..

I couldn't resist.....you can guess where this headed...I've also heard he's absolutely terrified of his wife, as well he should be: she is simply stunning!!

Nothing Today
Still dry of writing. Deck Farm™ to finish setting up today. I think the long-delayed weekend embed will go up this evening. Otherwise, check back tomorrow. That is all.

Yawning Like A Big Dog
You will have noticed a hiatus in postings. I certainly have. But sometimes one just doesn't feel like writing. I even bagged out on my weekend music embed because I didn't want to get into all the who-shot-John about why I picked what I picked. But, as we say in the newz biz, it's a TK. Probably later today. After I go out to lunch with friends at a dim sum (in Mandarin: dian xin, meaning "dot heart") restaurant here in the NoVa. Strangely, this fan dian (literally "food shop") which is one of the two best Chinese places I've eaten at is about two blocks from the other best Chinese, the justly famous Peking Gourmet Inn.
So, not much lately but more later. Had prime rib last night at the excellent Sweetwater Tavern. Yuh-um!

Linky Linky
There's a thicket of good posting up over at Gateway Pundit today. Click the link, read much. I really should add GP to the blogroll since I check it at least a few times a week.

Burpee's Finest
Or at least the ones I wanted this year. I've labeled the plants with the exception of the Supersteak tomatoes. So let me explain the layout of the plants in their little cardboard bed: first row on the left is the Hot Lemon Pepper, next comes Zavory low-heat habanero, then the Biker Billy Jalapenos, next is the Golden Giant bell pepper and then the Red Delicious bell peppers. The tomatoes are lined up perpendicularly to the peppers with the Health Kick in front and the Supersteak in back. And there you have it. Rather, here you have it:

Keep in mind that the lens I used is a short one so there is some foreshortening. The tomato plants are of a decent size even though the Golden Giant pepper plants are the tallest on the group.
I would have planted them today but it was still rainy and right now it is co-old. Well, cold for mid May. If the deck dries out over night, I'll finish the ErfBox prep and plant the plants. And the Deck Farm™ will be in bidness!
UPDATE: Here's a clip from the Burpee site with a bit of info on the so-called "Health Kick" tomato:

A breakthrough in breeding, this tomato is actually healthier for you than others you can grow or buy. Packed with the 50% more of the beneficial antioxidant lycopene, this prolific saladette produces a bountiful crop of 4 ounce, sweet red fruits.

"Saladette." Sounds like one of the dancing characters in "Veggie! The Musical."

There Will Be Posting
Not blood. Just posting. No blood for posting! But may I have a milkshake?
OK, enough conflated references for now. Suddenly I'm Lileks or something. Jeez, Edit'!

Actually this post is something of a placeholder for some post that I hope to put either this evening or certainly on the weekend. First, pictures of the plants were taken and I'm going to take some shots of the EarthBoxes and the ErfBoxes in progress. All of the EarthBoxes are full of soil and needing on the planting to be productive members of society again. One ErfBox is almost filled with soil (I killed one bag and figured I'd cap the box and re-build some soil-dabbling gumption before tapping the next bag of potting soil) and the last one is as yet unsoiled.
One nice thing seems to be that the garbage bad cover on the ErfBox seems to work pretty well. Score!
So, pictures will be forthcoming. And the weekend music embed is looking like it'll be another Apple-related one albeit nothing official from the folks at One Infinite Loop. I'll probably post it early Saturday if you want to come back for it. So, I'm off to deal with the deck (like a deck of cards, but it's my patio deck, see? I'm so funny!) and such excitement as laundry brings. Sheesh. My life.

I'm Always Thinking
Today I may have thought of the most revolting thing ever: gay sumo wrestlers.
Feel free to top that in comments.

Uh Oh
I can't remember the last time I ate pork. I think I have hamnesia.

Mmmmm! EscarGO!
I'll split it with you.
(I tried to embed this but it didn't work.)

Good Advice Any Day Of The Week
Hat tip to a member of the Birds and Moons forum (dedicated to PRS guitars).

Not So Much Baby Steppin' Any More
According to the brilliant UPS tracking system, the plants which will constitute the Deck Farm™ 3.0 are on the truck to my house today. Woo hoo! I will be soiling myself and planting ere long.
UPDATE: The plants are here. They are spread out on my kitchen table (spreading little bits of dirt over all the crap that's already there) and watered. I'll give them a day to acclimate to being out of delivery and then ... the planting begins. Oh and pictures. There should be pictures.

Even Before I Was Born
If Ann Althouse can blog about the past, I figure it's fair game even if she's dealing with bigger things like visible camisoles than I. This excursion into the mists of time goes back to Korea of the 1950s. Yes, there is a war going on even if it's officially called a "police action" due to the fortuitous circumstance that let the United Nations act in the in the interest of freedom for once.
Ellis O. Briggs is the United States Ambassador to South Korea and an exemplar of the great tradition of the gentleman diplomat. The sort of man who would know much of the world beyond his vocation. A man of encyclopedic knowledge. Maybe.
When hosting visitors to the embassy on some occasion, he was asked about a flower growing on the grounds. Not actually knowing the type of flower but possibly thinking it best to answer the question nonetheless, he said, "That's an aster." When the questioner said something on the order of "That's not like any aster I know." he replied, "It's a Korean aster."
Thus is brilliance established and a diplomat exemplified.

Oh And By The Way
I mentioned the graduation party I went to. I drank a Corona Light. Pffttt! Whiz water. No flavor at all. Miller freakin' Lite has more oomph. Why in Gawd's name does anyone drink this crap?

Delayed Embed
I do love me some excellent guitarists. Case in point is Al Petteway who was a DC area guy until he moved down to the mountains of the old North State. I saw/met him and his partner in virtuosity, Amy White, a couple of years ago at a house concert in Delaware. In one of those instances that's not always to be expected but happens more often than not, both Al and Amy were wonderfully gracious and friendly. I seem to expect that those who are superbly talented will carry an attitude. Yet those who have "an attitude" are usually not as talented as those who go through this world under-appreciated.
The song is "Smoky Mountain Morning. " It is highly representative of his acoustic work - wonderfully melodic, beautifully played. If you have a chance to see Al and/or Amy live, please do. You'll be in for a treat. And if you bought any of their CDs ... same result. Enjoy:

Posting To Resume Shortly
I have been unwell. Essentially abed for three days. Saturday was spent with as bad a headache as I have ever had in my life. The kind where any movement caused additional pain. If there's any consolation, it's that I've hardly been able to eat so maybe I'm down a pound or two.
At least I'm more or less out of it today. Fingers crossed. But I'm making bacon and eggs for breakfast and a pot of tea so things in cold, everso rainy NoVa should be moving ahead after a hiatus.
Even a delayed music embed when I find something I want to comment on.

No Blogging Thursday
Just a moment of advance notice. I feel awful which means I'll probably get a late start on the day in which I have to get a few things done. For something interesting, hit the "Peeve Farm" in the blogroll and click on the obvious photo in a post. Way - I mean way cool.

Da Langwitch
I have to add another brief note from my continuing reading of John Barth's "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor." He has a wonderful turn of phrase to describe a tambourine being played: "sizzling and biffing." Short, sweet and perfectly descriptive. Can you not hear a tambourine when you read those words?

I Like To Call It Brekkies
I think it's a Brit English thing. But what it is, is a recipe sent to me by the XMBD NMSE for your brunching pleasure. It a prep ahead dish but it looks well worth the effort:

French Toast Souffle (12 servings)

Ingredients:
- 10 cups (1 inch) cubed sturdy white bread (such as Pepperidge Farm Hearty White, about 16 slices)
- 1 8 ounce block cream cheese, softened
- 8 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups 2% reduced fat milk
- 2/3 cup Half-n-Half
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions:
First day:
1. Place bread cubes in a 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray.
2. Beat cream cheese at medium speed of mixer until smooth.
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Add milk, Half-n-Half, maple syrup, vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
5. Pour cream cheese mixture over top of bread, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Second day:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Remove souffle from fridge. Let stand 30 minutes.
3. Bake uncovered @ 375 for 50 minutes or until set. Sprinkle powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup and mixed berries.

I am amused. Blogger's spell check offers the following options for the word "souffle" which is flagged for spelling: snuffle, scuffle and shuffle. I'll shuffle over to get me some so's I can snuffle it up and avoid a scuffle over it.

Happy Sinko de My-Oh
Actually, my intarweb this morning was running some kind of messed up. I couldn't load such essential sites as InstaPundit. Oy! How can I gather my knowledge of the world if I can't load sites? - Don't answer that! -
OK, yeah, I actually read the newspaper too. But that gets my hands dirty. Heh. Indeed. (oops - sorry - a symptom of not getting my fill of Insty methinks)

I'd like to point out that today is also Boy's Day in Japan, celebrated with the flying of koinobori (carp streamers) in honor of the male children in the family. It's traditional to have one streamer for each boy with size differences matching the ages of the boys. I love koinobori. They are one of the beautiful things in Japan. So happy Boy's Day to males everywhere! You'll always be some mother's son.

I went to a graduation party for the son of friends last night. A Chinese dumpling party to be precise. I brought the remains of my kim-chi dumpling filling and it was pronounced as excellent by a serious dumpling-eating crowd. I'm humbly proud.

On About The Weekend Embed
I had a nice, long chat with my friend the Guitar Nazi last night and it got me to pick up my PRS Hollowbody II and actually practice again. My fingertips are acting snotty this morning for being so suddenly abused. Ha! They don't know the half of it. I had so much fun that I'm going to practice even longer today. And from now on. There's a song I want to play. So much so that I decided to make it the weekend embed. Nick Lowe and Rockpile (an under-appreciated band in my mind) with "Cruel to be Kind." Great pop song. Oh and you can see Dave Edmunds in the mix as well. Other things of note, in my (to steal a word from Billy Beck) guitarded mind are the very sweet Strat solo and the guitar Lowe himself is playing. Why? Because I have no idea what make it is. Double cutaway, large lower bout, trapezoidal headstock. And the performance was back in 1979. The body shape could almost be a PRS Santana model but Paul was barely started as a luthier when this viddy was shot. If anyone has better info, please drop a comment. Otherwise, enjoy a blast from the past:

Reportage
A while back I mentioned that I managed to stab myself in the leg with the box cutter I was using to trim the interior "floor" of the ErfBox. And I promised to leave a record of the event. So, here is a pic of the pants I was wearing, the hole in them and the bloodstain that resulted. I include in the picture a pen, for scale, that was turned out of osage orange and walnut wood by a friend of mine. I may as well put something good and cool in an otherwise kinda revoltin' pic. So without further ado:

To Avoid Being Stereotyped
Avoid stereotypical behavior.

Lack Of Blogging Will Continue
Albeit briefly. I've been busy. Apart from the continuing pain of bad hips and a shoulder that has gone over to the enemy side, I had Lycurgus come through on his semi-annual trip of business. We had kim-chi dumplings. And I still have one container of the filling. Sounds like dinner tonight is taken care of. Then yesterday Jake was in town, as in DC town, which meant a trip to the dark side. I'm not all that fond of the look of urban decay and H St. NE is not exactly a place to avoid it. But I found parking and the show was great. Today I had my groomer take care of my pelt, which always takes more time that I'd like but she does a damn good job so .... [shrug] Now I have take care of some business I've been working on in the last couple of days and the return to regular blogging should be just after that.
For the nonce, I leave you with a rare, mid-week music embed of the Jake doing Paul Simon's "Graceland." He finished his show last night with it and I think he did it better last night than in the uToob viddy. But it's well worth a listen. There's no doubt that the song is Paul Simon's but Jake takes it in a new direction that's not so far off the original as to lose that elemental connection but still re-create it. Aaron Neville did the same thing with Van Morrison's "Crazy Love" on the "Phenomenon" soundtrack. So, here's Jake's show-stopping, show closer:



UPDATE: I had the show's location as H St. NW. Bzzzt! NW is generally nice in DC. NE is ... well ... not so much.

Weekend Music Embed
By way of welcoming the Enigmatic Misanthrope to Pugs of War, I make this weekend's embed the remarkable performance of Queen at Wembley Stadium in 1986. The opening of this demonstrates the absolute genius of Freddie Mercury as a showman. He brings the entire crowd into the song and the crowd follows. Then he has the temerity to mildly denigrate his own singing! Not that anyone in that crowd ever would believe that. The song is "Under Pressure" which, according to the extended blurb on YouTube, evolved from a jam with David Bowie whence everyone involved got a shard of the writing credit. That's class. The song is nearly iconic with "Bohemian Rhapsody" bumping it out of the trophy case of icons. Personally, I prefer this to that.

From The Bookshelf
I'm about a third of the way through John Barth's "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor," a book of slight vintage (copyrighted in 1991) and, in the Barthian tradition, of great invention and humor. But my intent is not a review. It's to copy out a passage that I found particularly appealing.

At forty-two, Jane Price was a striking woman still, long and lean like their daughter though more amply tushed and breasted, an eye-turner yet in snug jeans and a sleeveless top that set off her fine arms and shoulders. Her sunglasses were perched stylishly atop her walnut hair, the more attractive for its seasoning with a touch of gray, as was her face for the crow's-feet forming at the corners of her eyes. Those eyes were the color but (in present company, at least) not the warmth of the Sir Francis Drake Channel, which So Far had crisscrossed for the past week; her tone was no warmer.

So Far is the bareboat charter rented by the narrator and his family for an off-season cruise in the Virgin Islands. I haven't bothered to determine where that channel is but it's immaterial to the passage of prose. I read that paragraph and I am enchanted. That sounds like as beautiful a woman as I could conjure for the circumstance - a "striking" (I think that's a wonderful word to describe an attractive woman) woman who is not merely aging with grace but with greater beauty still.
Of course this description comes in the midst of the narrator's telling of his (and her) infidelity. Perhaps that's all a part and parcel of the necessary dramatic tension. But I see that woman in my mind's eye and want to ask the narrator, "Are you nuts?"
After writing the above, I thought I might follow my own link to the Amazon page and cast an eye on the customer reviews. Interesting. The book would seem to be a bit polarizing. It rates four stars but it's divided between 11 five-star reviews and three one-star reviews. There are no three-star reviews. It seems the book is more generally loved but those who dislike it, hate it. Nothing "meh" about this one it seems.

I Want To Have A Show About Opera
For the sole reason that I'd use the name "Don G. O'Vanni." And I'd have a female co-host who'd be called "Donna A. Mobylay."

I Take It Back, I Take it All Back
A while back I blogged a little "American Idol." I said I liked the one with the bifurcated skunk stripe who's been bounced for a while now. And I said I liked Carly Smithson. Well, not any more (read the whole thing). It seems that Carly "Smithson" has had quite the career over her short life. When she was Carly Hennessy, she toured as Cosette in Les Miz, put out an album that, despite being backed by millions of MCA cash sold in the hundreds.
"AI." methinks, is about giving undiscoverd, new talent the chance to reach a nationwide if not worldwide audience. It's not about giving professionals who've failed a second or third chance.
So, Carly Smithson please go straight to hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect any more votes on "American Idol." AI? Try FU.

Passing Along A Deal
A little love from the Bargainist website: A sale on chockies at Amazon. Here's the scoopage, scooped directly from the Bargainist:

Amazon - Extra 50% off select chocolate

In one of the best grocery sales we've seen at Amazon, they're cutting select chocolate items by 50%. Use coupon code CHAWCLAT at checkout. Some of the eligible products include Nestle Toll House Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunk Morsels, Hershey's Sticks Filled with Carmel, M&M Mars Milkyway Miniatures, and many more. Offer good while supplies last.

The Dagoba Lemon Ginger chocolate bar looks particular toothsome to a confirmed ginger-holic.

Weekend Music Embed
I've been wanting to post a viddy by the superbly talented ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro (though I rather think that some time ago, before the weekend embeds, I posted one of his uToob vids). I think of Jake S. as the "other" Jake since Jake Armerding is "the" Jake. In point of fact, the Jake is coming to DC on the last day of the month and I'm going to get my ample ass down to the big town to see him. The connection is deeper though as I saw the Jake open for the other Jake in Philly.
The song is the Beatles' classic "In My Life" which is one of my all time faves. Really, who doesn't like this song? It's been on my mind lately since it was used by a local radio personality, Mike "Don Geronimo" Sorce of the "Don and Mike Show." He left the airwaves at the end of last week when he found he no longer had the heart for broadcasting after losing his wife in an auto accident a few years ago. He played "In My Life" at his sign off and it was strangely moving for me who had come to dislike Mr. Sorce for the lousy way he treated listeners. But he gave an emotional and touching valediction ushered out by the original of this song. Enjoy:

Meanwhile…”back at the ranch”..rumor has it..

“Come to “W. Jeffs Polygamy Bunny Ranch” and join the gorgeous babes who just wanna have fun... with each other! See why these prairie garbed girlfriends don't miss their boyfriends at all! This is the wildest, craziest assortment of hot Stepford-like girls you’ll ever find, all real and uncensored, only at the Polygamy Bunny Ranch! Join non-stop action and excitement, with this country s most valuable asset... zombie-eyed, Elvis-coiffed beauties anxious to bare their breasts! “

They are running a customer special: "If you come in the Polygamy Ranch and say, 'I'm pimping for Jeffs,' you get two bunnies for the price of one." Free set of “magic” underwear with each visit.

Am I the only one turned on here??

Steppin' The Deck Farm™
I have one of the homemade ErfBoxes (from now on the roll-my-own will just be called "ErfBox" while the store boughten ones will be called "EarthBoxes") complete. Looks like it'll work pretty well all things considered. The proof will be in the puttering. And the second is well on its way. I need to attach the pond basket and the 4" PVC support, drill out the drain hole in the side of the box and drill a slew of holes in the interior floor. But that's about it.
Oh, and I still haven't bought the potting soil but I'm going to try to hit Wally Mart today.
One other thing that looks intriguing is that I saved the outer rim of the tops which still "clip" onto the box. I should be able to use a sliced open contractor's garbage bag as the cover since I can clip it down all around. But I have real covers to spare so if it doesn't work, I'm (ha ha) "covered."

And speaking of slicing .... Do you know where the femoral artery is? Lucky for me my aim is not good. I was cutting down the interior floor this morning when the box cutter made a whoopsy-daisy and sank into my thigh. It's pretty impressive to see blood well up and flow out that fast. I'll take a snap of the pants and post it tomorrow (a slice hole and a blood stain - just for the record). Now I have to buy another pair of casual pants dammit.
In other news: Nature is about to blow a big-ole bubblegum bubble outside my front door as the cherry tree is blooming out. Again, I'll take pics and post them.

Welcome!
I'd like to welcome the Enigmatic Misanthrope to the warm, encompassing folds, unnhhh, fold of Pugs of War. I extended an invitation to him to join me as a co-blogger and he has decided to take up the PoW cudgel. I couldn't be more happy to have him on board.

Here is a list of celebrities I expect may not make it to 2009…not in ranking order of course but none look particularly well…
1. Muhammad Ali- Cerebral Evaporation?
2. Jerry Lewis -Terminal Bitter Asshole-itis?
3. Lindsey Lohan- STD/Drug Overdose- Combination?
4. Dick Clark- Complete skin failure, dry rot?
5. Patrick Swazey- Dance Cancer, Horse trampling?
6. Farrah Fawcett- Anal Cancer, bowel obstruction, hairballs?
7. Elizabeth Taylor- Vomit Aspiration, Acute Alcohol Poisoning, Loneliness?
8. Zsa Zsa Gabor- Dismemberment by a “Dust Devil”, dry rot?
9. Amy Winehouse- STD/Drug Overdose- Combination?
10. Dame Margaret Thatcher- Cardiac Oxidation?
11. Paul Newman- Blue-eyed Rollers Rhea, dry rot, cooking accident?

Given my druthers I'd choose to have a big cartoon anvil come whistling out of the sky and accordion me, with some cool brightly colored cartoon stars and stuff popping out.

You're The Cream In My Coffee
But not, I repeat not! the lemon in my iced tead! (Hat tip to the Enigmatic Misanthrope.)

Linky Linky
Two great posts up over at Varifrank's place. "20 Reasons Why I'm Bitter" and Obama as the hypnotoad. (polite golf applause) Well played, sir. Well played. Though the image does make me wonder who put the collar on the hypnotoad.

Terminology
I read recently that aging hag-slut Madonna spends some insane amount of money (like $10K a month) on water that has been "blessed" by the charlatans who've set up this "Kabbalah" nonsense. Which set me thinking on the idea of this new celebrity-sucking cult. Since it come across as awfully like another celebrity-sucking cult yet it's based off a Jewish tradition, can we just call it "Ziontology" from now on?

And since our poor, aged, addled ex-President and peanut head Carter is going off to give aid and comfort to the scum of Hamas, can we just call him "Dhimmi Carter" from now on?

Weekend Embed
Today we reach back into the "grooveyard of forgotten favorites" to steal a line from El Rushbo. Steve Winwood with the title track from the "Back In The High Life Again" disc from the mid-80s. Any song on that disc is worthy of selection as a feature but I went with this song as it is so silky and optimistic. Also, part of the video was shot in my neck-o-th-woods: the train station is in Manassas, Va. Pretty cool.
According to my iTunes info, the disc was issued in 1986. This was a singular year in that two albums of nigh perfect songs were issued that year: "High Life" (of course) and Peter Gabriel's "So." A disc where every song is superb is rare ("Who's Next" comes to mind, Joni Mitchell's "Hejira") but two of them being issued at essentially the same time is worth noting. Though Winwood and Gabriel have musical ability of depth and style so perhaps it's not so strange. Still. Enjoy:

More Baby Steppin'
Another small advance on the home-made ErfBoxes. I cut filler tubes (water tubes) from 1 inch PVC pipe. I'm pleased with the way they came out. Ooh. I'll take pictures! More posting on that then. Also tomorrow I'll buy potting soil and begin the process of emptying out the prior years boxes. And I'll be cutting the 4 inch PVC pipe for the interior bottom (i.e. that on which the soil sits) as well.
I think the plants should be delivered sometime in the next several days.
One thought did strike me as I was finishing up the filler tubes. If someone called me and asked, "What are you doing?" I'd have to reply, "Oh, just deburring the filler tube apertures." These are the days of our lives.

UPDATE: Sans pictures yet but it's still a possibility. I have cut four sections of 4" PVC pipe to provide two supports for each interior bottom. I have cut the tops out of their edges but have yet to fit them to the level at which they'll be. Once I get them fitted, I'll drill out the multitudinous holes for airflow (and for strapping the pond baskets and support pieces on) and set the bottoms in place.
At this point, I still need to buy soil (hel LO Wally Mart!) and connect the hose pipe for the water flow. But I'm steadily more advanced toward the home-made boxen. Fingers crossed.

Not Much Blogging
Trying to get some things done today. And my left shoulder is (trying to avoid the word ... and failing) effed. Not much sleep the last couple of nights as it was hugely difficult to find a sleeping position where the shoulder didn't yield considerable pain. Actually sleeping on it seemed to work but since that means sleeping on my bad left hip, I can't do that for very long. I think it's a neck thing as well as the shoulder. And it's not like the ibuprofen I live on is going to do much beyond what it's already doing.
Ah nuts. Old age is not for sissies.

Just Whiskey
You can forget the Tango Foxtrot part for this gem...

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Bonus!
After posting below that I would have preferred to post Emm Gryner's music video of her song "Julia," I thought I might see if that video might be available somewhere on the web even though it's AWOL on uToob. Score! And it has the embed code.
I find this song to be enchanting and mysterious. The lyrics are, to me, all implication and misdirection. They are evocative but I can't say what she meant in writing them.

"Julia leave the dark alone
Every day is better than the last
Julia leave the dark alone
Speak your mind 'cause this life's going fast"

I swear her delivery gives me a frisson when I listen. The music is spare and haunting. In fact, I find Emm's arranging to be incomparable. She can make a big piano ballad with a cello come across like rock and roll. I hope you like it too:

Julia - Emm Gryner
UPDATE: I didn't mean that this song comes across as rock and roll. It decidedly doesn't. Despite its use of piano and cello. But other of her songs (I'm more thinking of the songs she covered on her "Girl Versions" disc) work that way.
Also, as much as I love the video, it does reveal what I consider to be a noticeable flaw in Emm's singing - breath control. The quick and audible intake of air just prior to the singing is all over this one. I'd love to see her take a course of opera training which would give her the tools to breathe unobtrusively.
I'd better listen to some of her newer music to see if that's changed. The problem with this small imperfection is that once I notice it, I can't ignore it. So perhaps the fault is mine.

Linky Love
A brief for all you sky-fie fans out there. io9 is a blog for things tech-y and sci-fi-y and geek-y and any number of things to which you could add an "-y." I don't consider it an every day read but I hit it at least once a week and believe I'm keeping up thereby. Apart from watching BSG and suchlike. Speaking of the battlescar: very good opening for the final season. Not perfect but better than 80% of what's out there, 90% of the genre output with the exception of what Joss Whedon does.
Oh lord. I'm a nerd.

Weekend Music Embed
I bring back the wonderful Emm Gryner in a live performance of "Almighty Love" on Irish TV. The song is from the superb "Summer of High Hopes" disc. I was hoping to find a viddy oher song "Julia" which how I first came to know of her. But it doesn't seem to exist on uToob. So I went with what's below. Don't miss the intro for a spot of info that's pretty impressive. I'm not the biggest Bono fan in the owrld but he does know music. For your delectation:

The Secret Of His Success
Ted Turner, fresh from making his money off the humped backs of his bison by cutting them up and selling their grilled bits, has decided to look to the future with his new restaurant venture:

If
If the Democrats reach back to push Al Gore into the mix as their candidate, won't that put the party in a pre-Kerry-ous position?

A Little Something New
If you peek over to the right you'll see a new link on my sidebar: "visit my store on cafepress!" Fairly self-explanatory innit? A couple of folks wondered if they could get the "OK McCain Then" bumper sticker. So I set it up on a store. It was easier to put it on a whole bunch of items so you may have to scroll through more crap than you'd ever buy. But you can get one if you so desire.
I hasten to add that the pricing in "my" store has absolutely no markup. The prices listed are CafePress's prices. I'd love you to buy something but I'm not making any money off you. Maybe when I come up with some original Pugs of War art, I'll make some products available and charge you a buck. Until then, I give. I give because I love. I love snark.

OK. Bite Me Then
This is an update on the savings post below wherein I was so pleased with myself about getting an inexpensive polo shirt. I'm still pleased with myself because I saved a couple of bucks but I didn't save nearly as much as I'd thought. I actually looked at the tag when I snipped it this morning (I'm wearing it now and it's quite comfortable). The price of this shirt, which hanes.com was asking $22, is $13.98. In fact, it's online here for that price. So, in essence, I paid just short of a buck for tax and shipping by buying with the coupon.
I'll tell you though, if I'd ponied up $22 for a shirt that arrived with a tag saying $14, I'd be so pissed off.
UPDATE: I didn't give hanes.com enough credit. The shirt wasn't $22 at their site. It was $16. Still $2 more than the tagged price but not an outrageous markup. Thus I retract my offer for them to chomp me. I'm just nice like that.

On the other hand, the Outer Banks website might prove to be a source for good, inexpensive clothing. I'll have to see how this wears.

Easter At Pug Acres North
As you can see, pugs are not into hunting wabbits much a'tall. That would be "cranky old bastard" Fred on the lap, Panda on the right and Chino in the middle. Thanks to the XMBD NMSE for the pic.

Would You, Or Would You Not Love This?
I'm listening to Dennis Miller talk about Bobby Flay winning a throw down with some woman who billed herself as the queen of mac and cheese. Which sets me thinking about mac and cheese. And I keep coming back to a dish with a mix of cheeses (heavy on the sharp white cheddar) and jalapeno pepper chopped into it.
I'll make that dish when I've dropped a century. About November.
A quick Googling results in this recipe at RecipeZaar. Looks good.

April Foolage
I think I'm past it. I haven't seen an amusing or truly funny April Fool's joke in several years now. I invite anyone to post a comment or a link to something that will tickle the funny bone. There must be some out there somewhere.

The Dan Is Everywhere!
As usual, it starts with Instapundit with a "Babylon Sisters" riff which is noted by the VodkaMan who brings in "The Fez." I, of course, have to weigh in on the comments. So what does Prof. Reynolds do to top it? Today he hits a line from "Black Friday." I sense a meme.
Actually, Steely Dan is like "The Simpsons" in a way. Both have been around so long and have so many words out there that it's likely you can find some verbiage to use as a comment on any situation you face in either one. Not to mention universals like "D'oh!" and"Woo hoo!"

I So Completely Dig These
First: Beer glasses from Sammy Adams. Not beer goggles. Drinking glasses for beer, that are specifically designed for beer. It may be made to enhance the whole beer drinking experience but it just looks frackin' cool.
And: The Bodum New Kenya Tea Press. I have a teapot but this one looks cool and I like the idea of the press. It's supposed to stop the brewing which I guess it does by pressing the tea below the perforated section of the central cylinder. I wonder how annoying it would be to clean but other than that, me likee.

Poor Choices For Breakfast
As much as I've blogged about food and the general gloriousness of what the world has to offer us to eat, I have to admit to a very poor choice this morning. I haven't had oatmeal in quite a while and figured that I would access the wonderful McCann's steel cut Irish oats. First problem - just how long have I had this can on the shelf? Hmmm. These are no longer the freshest oats I've ever eaten. But not too bad. It was what I chose to flavor them with that really came a cropper. I cut up an Empire apple into the mix as well as a few pieces of sweet ginger (essentially crystallized ginger but without the coating of sugar). And then, because I had a hankerin': a dash of cinnamon.
Oy. Edible but a confused mish-mash of flavor that was neither one nor the other. I think the apple and cinnamon alone might have worked (and I'll be trying that tomorrow am) but if I want ginger flavor in oatmeal, I'm going to stick with the ginger syrup from now on.
If I don't use it up making ginger caramel corn - that's tonight's second try experiment.

And Oh Yeah
I got the hanes.com polo shirt in the mail today. It's nice and colory: "emerald green." It's tagged to a maker called "Outer Banks" and was hecho in Guatemala. For $14.65, I have a 100% cotton (the only way to go) polo shirt made by some sweatshop laborer in a country far, far away for probably about $2.00 (or 300 bazillion Zimbabwe dollars) and delivered into my waiting hands. Deal. I'll take two. If the coupon code were good for two.
Exploitative? Nah. It's $2.00 that the Guacamoleans wouldn't have had otherwise.

My Next Bumper Sticker
This goes on the bumper just to the right of my Fred Thompson sticker (which I just can't remove yet):

Weekend Music Embed
You have heard this song. It was used in "ER" when Anthony Andrews character died. It's been used in ads. I think it's been used in several different ads in fact. The singer and ukulele player is the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. A 600 pound Hawai'ian musician of surprising delicacy and grace for his bulk. If this version does not touch something in your soul, you are lacking in feeling. I love this song and have long been saddened that Iz passed before he was recognized for his singular achievement of making a song standard his own. I hope you like it.

Costing It Out
I'm trying to keep records on the Deck Farm™ this time around to see just how expensive my produce is going to be. Of course my cost analysis will be distorted by my building the two new boxes (and not making notes of the purchase of the original EBs). Also, I'm starting over on the potting soil which is not necessarily the cheapest thing to do. The proper thing to do is carve out the soil onto which the fertilizer was laid at the end of the growing season and then add in some more when setting up anew. I'll do that next year.
So what's the freight so far? Plants: $92.45, pond baskets: $8.40, 1" PVC pipe: $5.00, replant kits: $58.50. I still need to buy potting soil, 4" PVC pipe and cheesecloth none of which should be too costly. I'll rerun the numbers when it's all together. And I'm looking forward to next year when the costs will be pared down to plants, maybe one bag of potting soil and, quite frankly, I'm going to try to get just the fertilizer instead of the replant kits.
And I really should amortize the cost of the boxen but ... it's really not worth the effort.

The Post Where I Get You In On Dealz!
You like ice cream. You have a birthday. You like free stuff. Why not combine all those facts if you have a Cold Stone Creamery in your local area?
And if you like to poke around for stuff, why not let Dealhack do some of the work for you?
I just used a coupon code from Bargainist to get a polo shirt from Hanes.com for a total of $14.65 including shipping and tax. The code was for 50% off one item and it's here. I don't know how long it's in effect though.
This sort of info comes from my regular perusal of consumerist.com. Generally, that site is way too anticapitalist and anti-business for my tastes but it does offer up some tasty nuggets. Enough to make it part of my surfing. And there are some interesting stories about lousy business practices too. Feel free to visit if you wish.

Baby Steppin'
Another small advance toward the creation of home-made ErfBoxen. I have the boxes themselves (18 gallon Sterlite containers from Wally-Mart). I have a 10' stick of 1-inch PVC pipe (more than I need) for the filler tubes. I've ordered the replant kits (fertilizer and covers which I don't really need) from the honest-to-goodness EarthBox people. And today I bought pond baskets (for example) which serve as the holder for the soil where it dips into the water reservoir and thence wicks up. I paid a lot more than the internet price for the baskets but I'm guessing that with shipping I didn't pay a heck of a lot more.
So, what more do I need? Well the potting soil (at least 5 of the 2 cubic foot bags) and about four feet of 4-inch PVC pipe to use as supports for the perforated bottom of the soil section. Oh, and some cheesecloth to spread on that perforated bottom just to keep things clean. As soon as I get the PVC pipe I'll build the things. I do want to be ready when the plants arrive.

Anyway, I Was Thinking About Koalas
They eat eucalyptus.
Their breath must just be magic.

Though This Is Not A Photoblog
I feel compelled to put up a link to "The Ten Tastiest Food Photography Tips." This is, sorta kinda, a food blog and one of these days I need to start snapping pix of the kitchen efforting. It's almost easier than adding a bookmark. Well, that's not true. But I do get to share.
Because I care.
Seriously, there's some good info these. Take a peek.

Food, Stuff
Item The First: Peeps. Did everyone get their peeps this weekend? I don't do Easter candy much but I always eat one package of mushmellow peeps. This year it was a single row of pink chicks. One of the most wonderfully revolting things the world has to offer. And now I have another year to go before having any more.

Item The Second: Ginger Caramel Corn. First attempt was on Sunday. I've never made caramel corn before and was surprised at how easy it was. But the ginger syrup (previously pictured on PoW) in lieu of the light corn syrup did not carry enough of the ginger with it. My next attempt will be to increase the amount of ginger syrup and reduce the amount of brown sugar. If that is insufficiently gingerific, I will chop candied ginger into the mix. I don't think I can do much more than that.

Item The Last: Cauliflower Parmesan Flans. When I use the plural, it's because they were made in ramekins. Not a bad dish. But my first attempt was not great - I eschewed the cayenne pepper which made them blander than they should have been. And the florets I cooked and pureed were too wet so the cooking time was longer than it should have been. I'll post the recipe when I've made it to my satisfaction.

Blasphemy!
What trait does our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ share with Pillsbury Doughboy?
He is risen.
(Highlight line above for answer.)

Inconsequential
In lieu of the usually more ... nuanced posts I put up about food, this one is just plain ... plain. Something I love, I mean eat-my-own-weight-in (and that sayin' something!) love is spinach fettuccine (often sold in those "fresh pasta" 8 oz flats) with a hunk of butter melted into the hot noodles and then splashed with soy sauce. I am so jonesing for that right now. That and a diet cream soda. Not that the two go together but I like cream soda too.

Weekend Music Embed
Again I reach back into the mixed bag of my time in Japan. The song is "Ruby no Yubiwa" ("Ruby Ring") performed by Akira Terao. Back in the early '80s he was considerable less gray and less grizzled. This is a fairly jazzed up version but it maintains the essential character of the song I enjoyed so much all those years ago. Somewhere I have a translation of the lyrics but the likelihood of my laying hands on it soon is quite low. Yet when I do (and ultimately all things are transparent before God), I'll post them and link back to this post. Fair enough? OK then. I hope you like it:

Heard On The Radio
"The markets will be closed for Good Friday." Which sounded a lot like "The markets will be closed for good Friday." Ooh. Better buy now!

OK, I May Have To Try
Drunken Figs. Drunken Figs! Click the link. If that doesn't make your mouth water, you were born without salivary glands. Yet at $5 per in a 10 batch, a bit difficult to buy into. I'm wondering of I could get close to this in the home kitchen. ...pondering... I'd need a source of fresh figs. Not always easy to come by. Figs are remarkable little beasts when fresh and bursting with ripe flavor. I may have to work on this one. I'll blog it when I do.
(Hat Tip: Peeve Farm. There is much interesting food blogging going on at Brian's Place. Drop by. Read and drool.)

Trouble, Trouble, Trouble
My friend the Guitar Nazi is currently in hospital though he's insisting on release on the morrow. His health has been precarious for a while now yet the hospital event turns out to be a mixed bag of blessing and curse. First, he fell in his home and did damage to his chronically bad knees (both sprained I believe) and hyperextended joints in his ankles. Both ankles. Yet this resulted in his being diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Which is indeed a rather massive steaming heap in the "sucks" category. Yet it is to his benefit that the diagnosis has now been made. It's entirely possible that some of the worst of what he's been through may now be ameliorated through proper diet and insulin when needed.
In posting about this I want to make some comment on the vicissitudes of growing older but I keep returning to the old saw: it's an ill wind that blows no one any good. As much as I give in to my own ill health, I am given chances to see that changes can be made for the better. It's possible, even at my advanced age to repair some of the damage I've done over these many years. I will attempt to take the lesson that when we are given hints, it's best to take them.

Arthur C. Clarke - Immortal
With the passing of Arthur C. Clarke, the world has lost a giant of letters. His body of work from conceiving of communications satellites to writing a novel that was turned into a movie that has become a touchstone of modern culture is an achievement that I doubt will be duplicated and certainly not exceeded. Which is not to say that everything he has written is a masterpiece (I'm not a fan of the Rama books - moreso the ones that he co-authored with Gentry Lee) but he was a superb writer and a thinker. Science fiction needs men like him. The world needs men like him even more. It's a sad day.

P(h)il(ly)grim's Progess
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. The Philly Boys are no longer the Philly Boys. Actually haven't been for a while. They're Arizonans now. The explanation for that will be forthcoming one of these days. Soon. But todays is the travelogue. We start with a stop out of Philly and beyond the brief sojourn at Chez BlogDog. Pink bikini. I'm just sayin'.

Then a stop for the food, the atmosphere that is Norlins. Click the image for a postcard version of a recipe for red beans and rice. Yum. Someday I, too, will go to New Orleans and eat my fill of beignets, gumbo, red beans and rice, coffee with chickory and a good seafood boil.
But the trip goes (went) on! Westward ho! Wagons away!

San Antone. While I'm pretty much a homebody, I'd love to visit Texas. See the Alamo. Sample the music scene of Austin. There must be other things to do but I'm just spitballing here. Austin. Sounds a lot like "autism" doesn't it?






And, as the hobbit said, the road goes ever on. All the way to:
Woo hoo! A new home in the Wild West. To be specific, the Philly Boys are now the Yuma Men. One day, one cold, cold day, I'll go out to visit with them.








And one more thing, since this was a first trip, one of the Yuma Men had another trip to the Great White North. Got to cool off after that dry (ahem!) heat.

Happy St. Patrick's Day To Ye!
When being green doesn't force you into enviro-contortions or alien pretensions. Have Guiness, or a Harp. Maybe a sip o Bushmills or any of the waters of life. Slainte!

I May Have To Call This The Weekend Embed
I keep getting ahead of myself by a day or so. Submitted, early, for your delectation is The Fratellis brilliant "Flathead." It's another Apple-related song but I expect you to overlook that. This is one of the songs I bought from the iTunes Music Store and it is now the most played song in my iTunes library (by a mere two plays). I love (I mean love, love, love) that "ba da da ba da da" chorus. I totally dig the white Telecaster. And a trio of busty, burlesque-y babes just doesn't hurt. Lemme see - sex, rock 'n' roll. We're only missing drugs from the trifecta. No great loss. Enjoy.

A Couple Of Dumpling Links
Via Amazon's "Al Dente" blog I pass along, first, an LA Times article on "Asian Dumplings" with a sidebar of links to such delights as a dumpling skin throw-down and several different varieties of filling. And the other is an article from boston.com on Nepalese "momo" dumplings.
Very intriguing. I'm going to have to explore these in depth in the next few weeks.

A Must Buy?
I've just dropped a few bucks over at Amazon on the complete set of DVDs of "Arrested Development." It's a tragedy that this series which is one of the cleverest, funniest, ribald and just laugh-out-loud shows ever on TV was limited to three seasons. And the ribaldry is so brilliantly done that it's all implication. You could play this with kids in the room. If they're not old enough to get the joke, they just won't see what's funny. And Amazon has it on sale for a mere $46.

Further Comment Would Be Superfluous
Billy Beck says everything I would say about Eliot Spitzer. Let the scum continue to be skimmed from the pond of the body politic.

Whyzit?
The Canadian dollar coin is called a "looney" (linkage for image) since it has a loon on it. I saw (somewhere) recently that the Candain two dollar coin is called a "twoney." Though that spelling maybe wrong. That's kind of cute but I think it would be much cooler if the two dollar coin were called the "dubloon." Enh? Enh?
Too clever by half? Too precious? Better? You tell me.

Henh?
I get the monthly newsletter-ish device from the homeowners association of my neighborhood. It has, unsurprisingly, a "classified ads" section. I'd like to reproduce one of the entries in its entirely less the phone number (and I stress entirety apart from that exception):

1 each of the following: 10 (navy blue), 12 (black), 18/20 (black), mens small (black), mens medium (black), mens size 38 (black bibs). All in excellent condition $15 each.

You tell me.

A Bit Sad
The decision has been taken for Atlantic Cycling (no link for reason to become clear momentarily) to cancel its riding season and, for all intents and purposes, disband. It takes a lot of work to put on a ride the way we did. I think our ride support stops were second to none in variety and quality of fruit, snacks and drinks. But it takes a toll and this year we sought to bring more people in to the committee from the ridership but got very little to no response. We were all burnt out and tired. So I'm sad AC will no longer on the scene but i will have a huge bundle of great memories about a fine group of people and a great bunch of riders. And some T shirts and a water bottle and a cap and a some riding togs. Swag is always a nice way to remember.

Final "Best Of" Music Embed
This one, the only music video I bought (from the iTunes Music Store when I first got a viddy-capable iPod) is the immortal "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim, featuring the great Christopher Walken. But you already knew that.
What more needs be said about it? ... That's right. Nothing.

The Lowest Form Of Humor
A high-rise condo was recently built in Miami Beach. The real estate agents decided it would be a good strategy to cater for a Jewish clientele. Which turned out to be a good business decision and soon the entire building was leased and sold to elderly Jewish retirees who, not surprisingly, spent a majority of their time complaining about the world and, well, everything.
Needless to say, the place became known as the Oy!-full Tower. (highlight "missing" text to read it)

Deck Farm™ 2008
And so it begins ... again. My order to the fine purveyors of plants at Burpee is in today's mail. The plants should not arrive until April but I have to get started or ... I'll never get started. I'm adding a couple of home-made faux ErfBoxes to the store-bought real things this year so I can expand my purchases. All the plants are sold in sets of three, just so's ya know.

We start with the hot peppers: Zavory (a mild heat habanero!), Hot Lemon (nice and bite-y little yellow peppers that worked well last year) and Biker Billy Hybrid Jalapenos (great jaloppys that I grew last year).
Then the bell peppers: Golden Giant Hybrid and Red Delicious Hybrid (I'm intrigued by the description of an "apple" taste).
And, of course, since I want to take pictures of horn worms, the tomatoes: Supersteak Hybrid and Health Kick Hybrid.

I won't go into agonizing detail on these because you can click the links and know as much as I do about each. I invite you to do so if you're thus inclined. I will blog the development and I'll try to take more pictures of the progress than I have in the past. I'm hoping to have a good tomato season this year and I'm thinking that I may be returning to the pepper jelly in the fall. People seemed to like it. And if the bell peppers work out, I can use all of my own peppers in the recipe!
Next year, I assay the brutal 1,000,000 Scoville unit, hottest pepper ever - the Bhut Jolokia!

Troubling
In my channel surfing last night I watched a portion of a re-run of CBS's "Criminal Minds," at least in part because the episode was old enough to feature Mandy Patinkin. I find his work consistently interesting from Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride" to the lead reaper on "Dead Like Me." So, despite the re-run tag on the episode, I watched some of it. When the episode ended I was struck with a major whiskey tango foxtrot moment.
The story of the show was a sexual predator on a college campus who turned out to be a kampus kop. A murder copycat to his modus operandi got him out from under the charges after he was caught (I may have missed something in that - channel surfing after all). It turns out that the copycat was a sad Goth chickie whose desire was for the killer to kill her since she couldn't bring herself to do the deed. Which is all fine in fiction and the world of the teleplay. So what goes hugely wrong? As the show is reaching its climax, the FBI types are watching the sad Goth chickie and the bad guy on security cam and from a distant, hidden eyeball-vantage point. She admits to killing "for him" but the bad guy won't kill Gothie baby (he knows he's on camera). So she knifes him in the gut. At which point the FBI eyeballers start running toward her. She then finds the nerve to stick the knife in her own gut (as the FBI stands there, pointing guns [?] and telling her to "drop the knife"). Finally, maybe 30 or 45 seconds after the kampus kop gets the shiv, only after Gothie stabs herself, the FBI types watching on the security cam shout "Call an ambulance!"
OK, maybe we don't like the bad guy but doesn't someone call an ambulance the moment the knife goes in his gut? I'm sorry but that's just stupid scriptwriting.

Morning Linky Lagniappe
The beatboxing basset.

Oh Wow Man
When did the hippies start designing frogs? Trippy. Maybe God gave one to Jerry Garcia for all the good music.

Sunday Music Non-Embed
The video is Johnny Cash's immortal version of Trent Reznor's "Hurt." I don't know how old Mr. Cash was when he did this video but it is the most remarkable expression of human pain I can recall seeing in almost any video format. Surely some movies have done it. But here we have an artist take another's words and music and turn it into indelible images of his entire life come crashing on the shores of mortality. "What have I become/ my sweetest friend/ everyone I know/ goes away/ in the end"
You can actually see his pain at missing his beloved June. You can see a man who, while having nothing more inside, a man ready for nothing but Jesus, makes one of the purest expressions of art in music video history.
This video tears my heart out. It is beautiful. I hope you find it as moving and incredible as I do.
And I apologize for the lack of embedding but the embedding is disabled on this one.
UPDATE: Another one has the embed code. I'll try it.