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Culinary tidbits.

Beer is better for you than soda. It is not "empty calories" like soda. It is also fat free. I prefer Bud Light myself (partially for health reasons, but mostly I just like it), but I have heard of recent medical research that says dark beer is better for heart patients (which I am; had 5 bypasses in 1997. I don't know anyone alive with 6, so I figure I'm leading in that department). I think it is vitamin B12 that is the factor.

Things I don't like about Coors. When I was in the Army (68-70) all those from out west used to brag about how great Coors was, compared to all other beers. I never got to try it. Now, Coors is available everywhere. Not only do I think it is not so special, I don't think it is as good as regular beer (Budweiser being the standard). Coors Light is especially lacking in taste. What I really hate is that they have weird size cans. When I try to clean up and pack things in beer boxes, theirs don't fit.

Eating insects. I don’t do it and neither does anyone I know, but think about this. Mature, socialized human beings in the western world are the only creatures on earth that don't like things moving in their mouths! Dogs will snap at and swallow flies and bees. Cats will devour little things. Even human infants will pick up anything and stick it in their mouths; including spiders, garbage, etc. America Indians used to eat queen ants that were engorged with a honeylike substance, as if they were grapes. Lots of cultures eat insects, including grubs. Maybe we are missing something.

Lobsters, crabs, crawfish & insects: Almost everyone will be happy to pay a lot for a lobster or crab dinner at a restaurant. Not everyone gets the opportunity to eat crawfish, but they are great. As I understand biology, these, as well as spiders, ants, praying mantises, cockroaches, dung beetles, flies & fleas are of the same family; crustacean. So, doesn't that mean that eating lobster and eating insects is really the same thing, except for size?

Fried Baloney (or Bologna, if you prefer). I can't eat this very often anymore, for health reasons, but it was one of my favorite childhood meals. Throw baloney in a frying pan with butter and fry it. It looks great and the sandwich with the melted butter poured onto it is one of the greatest food memories of my life. Of course, it might be the reason I had to have bypass surgery.

Orange Juice & taste buds: I love orange juice in the morning. I have a tendency to drink it real fast. I have discovered that I (and maybe everybody) don't really taste it, except for the first and last gulp. My theory is that the taste buds are kind of like some exit switches on copiers that only care if they are turned on, and then are sort of in an idle state until the job is done. This wastes a whole glass of good tasting orange juice. If you find this happens to you, I recommend drinking in small gulps.

Rice krispie treats. These are great, but get stale after a day or so. If you microwave them when stale, they come out even better than when fresh. Just discovered this about a year ago.

Once a year chocolate milk. Every one can have chocolate milk anytime they want, so it is hard to make it special. What I do is this. I never have chocolate milk, except when the jar of chocolate syrup runs empty. Then, I pour about a glass of milk (no fat skim milk in my case) into the jar, and shake it up real good. Then pour it into a glass and it is almost like a milk shake.

Pet Peeve: When you go to tear off a thing to send in a payment and the dotted line to tear on is 1/16^th " away from the fold and you tear the fold and it doesn't fit in the envelope properly and I get so pissed off over 1/16^th inch!!!!

Can you match this for cheapness? My accountant once pointed out that the bank never gives back your paper clip when you make a deposit. I don't ask for it back, but I make it a point of using the bent or rusty ones that I find laying around the office specifically for that purpose!

Most popular model number? 150. There has been Canon NP150, Canon C150, Panasonic DP-150, Ricoh Aficio 150, Sharp AR-150, ARC-150.

How about 2020: Adler Royal, Canon, Konica, Mita, Sharp, Xerox.

Palindromic copiers: Palindrome is something that reads the same backwards as forwards. Like otto, bob, eye.

Adler Royal 212, Mita 111, 121, 131, 181, 191, 313, Minolta 101, Olympia 303, Sharp 505, Toshiba 909, Xerox (their name is almost a palindrome), Mazda 323, 626, 929 (whoops!)

Cruise Control: Bill Bishop. Motor etc.

Car songs: 409, GTO, Hey Little Cobra, Maybelline, My Rocket 88, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down, Surf City, Dead Man's Curve, Shlock Rod, Hot Rod Lincoln.

Commander Cody. Jan & Dean, Beach Boys, …… , Ronnie & the Daytonas.

Soccer Offsides tidbit. If you are a soccer parent, you have probably seen a kid offsides and the ref didn’t' call it. Here is why. Soccer refs (like me; professionally at amateur youth level for a few years) specifically have a discretionary view of the game. It is called "The advantage clause." You don't call certain things if they don't affect the team that is being, technically hurt, by the infringement. If a kid is hanging out offsides and not making any moves, the ref should not call it. If that player does finally do something to take advantage of the situation, the ref then calls offsides. And then parents say, "why didn't he call it sooner?" Because it didn’t' matter then. As a matter of fact, the team that gained by the call, probably gained even more because the other team got so complacent about leaving that player there all the time. It causes confusion. It is one of the reasons why soccer refs don't talk to fans or coaches. Keep the game moving fast and ignore everybody except the players and the ball.

Jennifer Lopez: The toughest female since Sigourney Weaver. She survived Anaconda, the Cell and was a real good cop in Out of Sight. My wife says Ms. Lopez has a big butt. I cannot think of anything that I would gain by disagreeing with wife on this subject.

New Movie Reviews:

The Cell: Personally, I thought some it was kind of gross. It was OK, but not fantastic. If Silence of the Lambs had not been done already, it might have been generally scarier, but it paralleled it in so many ways that it was kind of deriviative. But it did have Jennifer Lopez.

Space Cowboys. This was just great. Good old fashioned fun. About 1/2 way through the movie I turned to my wife and said "I love this and they didn’t even get into space yet!" If you are a real long time science fiction fan, you have to figure that the one scene on the moon and the spirit of that individual is exactly what Robert Heinlein did with Requiem (1950 or so).

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