Pumpkin Season Hits a Snag

Keene New Hampshire has a Pumpkin festival annually.


Last year (2013) there were riots as the festival coincided with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series (many rioters were students at Keene State).


It was thought that this year there would be less action. Unfortunately that was wrong.


This year there were 30+ injured, a dozen or so arrested (about 130 were arrested in 2013) and tear gas fired. 

Image is from the internet. 


Information is from the International Business Times has the story here. 

or

http://www.ibtimes.com/pumpkin-festival-riot-keene-state-college-new-hampshire-leads-arrests-injuries-1707518

Pumpkin Beer has apparently been around a long time: Pump not surprized

It's getting to be close to Halloween again. Pump gets very excited about this until Thanksgiving. Then he gets a bit down.



However, according to a recent article, pumpkin beer has been around for hundreds of years (although I never saw pumpkin beer for sale the many times we've been to Williamsburg, VA).


According to another recent article, there are some many pumpkin beers that somebody came up with a 21st best beer list. 


The article about the history of pumpkin beer is here

The article about the best pumpkin beers is here.

Gate Visits the VP residence

Gate visited the Residence of the Vice President at the Naval Observatory. 

The occasion was a Rosh Ha Shannah reception. It was the 4th year that this event has taken place during this administration at the same venue.

The food order is on the 8x11 paper (click on the image to read it better), the cocktail napkins are from the VP kitchen.

The kitchen is staffed by Naval Enlisted Aids who are a unit of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC).

Gate resisted the temptation to eat the guests or the staff or the VP. 

Also, the VP's weekly menus were posted in the kitchen. Almost no starch or sugar. Also the VP likes Diet Coke and Coke Zero in 6 ounce cans.

Vampy Aiming to Exceed Benchmarks

The selection process for first line manager in the underworld is still going slowly, after all, it is a hellish bureaucracy. Thus Vampy decided to try to hone his core competencies in order to exceed his benchmarks.

Here he is reading some stories that, as Vampy tells it, provide both motivational and technical information that can be readily integrated into procedures that increase operational efficiency.

(much of the management jargon above comes from blog posts by Darth Vader, e.g., this one) 

Vampy didn't like the flash I used when I took this but otherwise considers this post to be part of his overall marketing plan.

Coke Bear and Soccer Bear discuss the upcoming FIFA event

Coca Cola is sponsoring the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) annual tournament for 2014 (commonly called the 'World Cup) which this year takes place in Brazil from mid June to mid July. 

Coke has been connected with the soccor tournament for many years. According to Coca Cola's website there has been some sort of sponsorship since 1974.  Coke has a contract with the FIFA to sponsor the world cup through 2022.

This year, Coke and FIFA has the song, "The World is Ours" as the theme of the tournament. Coke perhaps thinks the song means something more than just being about soccer but he did not let Soccer bear in on it. 

The song is seen at youtube here.

A Roadrunner to look up to

Las Cruses, New Mexico has a 20' tall road runner. It was recently refurbished and will be installed near a highway rest stop near I-10.

Apparently the road runner was constructed of recycled material but now has ruby slippers (like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz).

Article: 

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_25788405/beep-beep-giant-las-cruces-roadrunner-is-homewardhttp://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_25788405/beep-beep-giant-las-cruces-roadrunner-is-homeward

Dogs Detect Cancer

I saw an article that some researchers are working to use dogs as cancer detectors (less expensive than current procedures with comparable error rates).

I told UGA and Gretel about it and they went to the internet.

Sure enough, there is even a web site dedicated solely to this issue. The web site is called 

http://www.dogsdetectcancer.org/

although it credits other canines as having the ability to detect, other canines aren't so easily 'trained'.

Evidently the people doing the blog for that site expect a near term breakthrough in having dogs detect breast cancer via smelling the breath of subjects.

Meeting on Executive compensation

There was a labor clause in the Coke Union contract which required management to consult before implementing a change in executive compensation.

Thus Coke Bear invited Labor Bear to a briefing at which Coke noted the world wide Coke production situation stressing the many countries that Coke could be produced without using union labor. Naturally Labor bear wasn't too pleased. 

Somehow, Hard Rock Bear and Graduation bear got to be spectators. Hard Rock reminded everyone that he was 'very unique' and Grad was interested in what type of beverage would be served (and was disappointed when none was).

This was all occasioned by developments in the 2014 Executive compensation program for Coca Cola. That issue is briefly discussed here.

Paternity Negotiations

This is a story line from some time ago (see the post here, and here and here) There was a potential for some trouble among the animals. 

A medium size panda came to the house and said he was young panda's real father. Of course Mrs. Coke said he wasn't. The big Panda demanded a paternity test and also wanted rights to the young Panda's inheritance (mostly stock in the Coca Cola Company).

Surprisingly perhaps, young panda took the lead in negotiating some terms.

The terms were that big Panda lives in China (where young Panda has been for a few years now studying Panda environments and very successfully representing Coca Cola to the Chinese). Big Panda will also draw a consultant salary from Coca Cola with no actual work required and Coke Bear will privately acknowledge that big Panda is probably the father of young Panda without any public acknowledgement required. Mrs. Coke will continue to have sufficient 'me time' and that will include an ample travel allowance for making trips to visit young Panda in China.

Vampy has a great night

Vampy has a great night 

A lot of stranded, stopped and slow moving motorists were out last night during a big snowstorm (dubbed 'Snowchi' by the local weather group Capital Weather Gang and 'Pax' by the Weather Channel). We had about 10" of reasonably powdery snow but then it began to drizzle and the snow became wet and heavy.

Vampy had a lot to drink and also filled a few bottles with his favorite liquid.

Speaking of the liquid, here is what Harmony (who drinks human blood she gets from the living) says to Angel in episode 17 of season 2 of Angel (who drinks pig's blood he gets commercially),

Harmony: "I mean how do you stand everything? Being what you are, how can you deprive yourself of the taste? The sensation of rich, warm, human blood (Angel's eyes glaze over) flowing into your mouth - bathing your tongue - caressing your throat with its sweet, sticky..."

posted by Martin Weiss  # 12:23 PM

SheepVamp enjoys a snack

Previously Vampy placed some blood in our freezer.

SheepVamp didn't feel like getting his own victim so he decided to have some of Vampy's supply. It took some doing because the bottle was taller than SheepVamp but with the help of some office supplies, he was able to get some.

Of course the other problem was that he had to wait for the blood to thaw.

Vampy Marketing and Adding Inventory

 Our stuffed vampire, had a great evening. It was cold and icy (note first image) outside and plenty of stranded motorists were within a few miles (and no competition from our stuffed alligator, Gate, because of the weather).

After some considerable activity, Vampy put some bottles of blood in the freezer. The blood came from stranded motorists  and from companions and/or passengers  of stranded motorists. Notice he kept some air at the top of the bottle to allow for the expansion that happens when blood is frozen. Smart little undead guy.

Scientists Realize Gators Use Tools

The Washington Post had an article today about the evolving consensus that alligators (and yes, also crocs) use tools.

An investigation in Louisiana (in one of the 127 counties and parishes probably), showed that alligators who resided under trees seemed to use sticks to lure egrets (the gator in the image is eating one) to the water surface but alligators in open areas did not.

Anyway, the consensus still doesn't recognize that alligators can change commas to semi colons to effect legal policy.

The Wapo article is here.http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/crocodiles-and-their-ilk-may-be-smarter-than-they-look/2013/12/06/1084cf28-5d2c-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

Labor Bear Objects to part of Hannukah

Labor Bear was with us as we were eating potato pancakes tonight.

We asked him to comment and he said he thought the 'Al Ha Nissim' paragraph was missing a line. The existing Al Ha Nissim thanks God for putting the wicked into the hands of the righteous, the idolaters into the hands of torah scholars, etc. but not the capitalists into the hands of workers.

But then I explained to Labor Bear (Ann calls him Trotsky) that the word 'Nissim' means miracles ("Al Ha' means "on the"). Labor then said that actually the unalterable forces of history will place the means of production into the hands of the workers and thus no miracles are needed.

Lobby's Expansive Business

I asked Lobby yesterday if he does lobbying in the underworld as well as in the Legislative and Executive branches of the USA.



His answer was, "Potato, Potaato".


He then elaborated saying, "Actually, the lobbying in the underworld is a more pleasant experience because they are more up front with their agenda."

Pumpkins On the Rise

Mr. Pumpkin was in a good mood today.

In the financial news was an article that sales of pumpkin flavored food was up 200%+ since 2008.

This doesn't require much actual pumpkin since, apparently, a little pumpkin spice goes a long way. However, the pumpkin harvest was good the past few years and also prices have held up. 

Article on pumpkin flavored food is here.

Report on pumpkin harvest is here.

Mr. Pumpkin Farmer out to admire the neighborhood

Mr.  Pumpkin Farmer gets very excited this time of the year.

The beverage stores are selling pumpkin latte (I had some butternut squash soup yesterday that had the pumpkin look to it).

Better yet, many people place pumpkins in their yards. 

In the image, Mr PF is admiring one of them. 

Vampy Out to Look at pre Halloween sights

 I went out with Vampy today to look at some of the decorations people had done to get ready for Halloween.

The umbrella was to protect Vampy from the Sun (because he is sort of a vampire, he might burn up)

The first image shows Vampy looking at some shrunken heads on posts.


The second image shows Vampy looking at a scary ghost.

Of course Vampy is not a big fan of Halloween. Quite to the contrary. Vampy feels that Halloween has become to commercialized and detracts from its true meaning. He says something like, "it should be about our father below".

Soft Drink Decision Day

 

For some time, we've struggled to keep both caffeine free Coke and regular Coke in the house at the same time; the former, for George, the latter for Ann.

It got to the point that Ann worried that we would be out of the w/caffeine product and began labeling it.

George agreed to give up the no caffeine brand so that will make the inventory work less difficult.

This is a cross over post with the weiss chronology blog.

 

Yes, that's the Coke Bear on the left admiring his products.

Soc and Joleen: not an item

Another failed date matchup.

We tried to get Soccer Bear (who is also called Kicks, the Beanie Buddy) and Joleen interested in a relationship.

However, there wasn't a good connect. The closest they came is when Joleen asked Soc if there were any trains that stop in Dublin.



Actually there are (see route map) and in fact downtown Dublin has two rail stations but Soc complained that there weren't any stops 'just outside Dublin' and that was pretty much that.  

Vamp Has Some Advice for Beth

Vampy has been studying management with various sources (the image has him studying with the cast of the TV show "Angel"). He has however, also studied with Coke Bear and w Lucy and Grad Bear (the latter had little credibility in the underworld however).

Thus Vampy knows a few things about how management likes to hear staff speak. In Beth's case she needs to find a way to disagree without seeming to disagree. Vampy suggests the following:

- Yes. In the big picture that is good but to support the major point, you will have to do.....

- Yes that will be the pivot point and it would be usefully reinforced with....

- Yes and that will allow adaptive techniques and practices such as...

of course Vampy also likes to point out that

- you can exceed you benchmarks by honing your core competencies and,
- it is important to establish cross cutting coordination to break down organizational stovepipes 

in the Angel episode he learned about fail-safe mechanisms and loss cutting maneuvers as well as client support, all in the context of a multidisciplinary, turn-key, legal operation

Coke Reduces the Complaints

I was doing the shopping for an event at the synagogue. Not realizing there was a speaker (even though I had called in advance for late news) I under bought food and actually had fairly plain food at that.. 

Fortunately, however, I bought plenty of Coke because there was a sale.

Somehow there were no complaints.

And there was even some Coke left over.

Vampy Vs Hellish Bureaucracy

Vampy has been trying to get a management spot in the underworld (as noted a few posts earlier).

Unfortunately for him there are numerous obstacles to overcome. First, he submitted his qualifications and some essays on how he would deal with certain problems in the underworld.

It has taken the Beelzebub screening committee quite a while to do the early work (after them is the recommendation process and then the selection process). 

While the screening committee has been 'working', some of Vampy's certification became out of date. So Vampy had to go to get them updated. He got into one line but when he got to the front of the line he found out he was in the wrong line and he had to go to the back of the new line. Of course by the time he got to the front of the new line, the certification office had closed for the week.

Two of the images are from the boadingshan rock carvings in China. These were completed about 1200 CE and show various situations in hell (one judgement, one examination of sins).

Vampy Get Referral

Vampy is trying to get a management position in the underworld. 

To impress the supervisory demons and their bosses, he needed some references. Vampy identified Lucy and Graduation Bear. Lucy was identified because she frankly considers medicine a business and is comfortable pushing reimbursements to the maximum. Graduation Bear has an arguably unethical relationship with a Hedge Fund. However, the powers below did not consider Grad Bear a 'self starter' and so his referral wasn't of any value.

Party at the Postols

We took Gate, UGA and Labor Bear (aka Trotsky) to the Postols for a party on Purim 2013 (5773) with the Postols stuffed animals. The big red bear next to labor bear is Ivan (in the last image, Labor is on the left and Ivan is on the right. Mike has a pink duck who is always evil and a stuffed beanie buddy who is always good (November bear).

The Postols had enough stuffed animals to require two pictures. 

Anyway, we think the stuffed animals had a good time.

Michelangelo Goes to Sienna's

Mikey has wanted to get an 'insider' tour of Sienna's Restaurant for some time. After all, he's looked a the final product several times (in fact the post below shows Mikey doing that).


Tonight, I took him there. 

He got to see the pizza dough being prepared (1st image) . They use a device to flatten the dough and another to cut it into round pieces and another to punch holes in the dough. All this is before any of the ingredients go on it.

Then after the ingredients are on it, it goes into a cooker oven. The oven has a moveable grid and the pizza moves with the grid and comes out cooked (second image).

Of course, Mikey said the cooked pizza looked awesome.

Mikey Praises Pizza - Again

Mikey Again Praises Pizza 

Our dining table was set on Dairy since it was the day after Chanakah and we had people over for a dairy meal the previous night.

So Ann decided it would be a good day to carry out pizza.

Naturally we invited Michelangelo to the event.

He declared the pizza to be awesome.

No surprise there.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 10:24 AM

Christian Stuffed Animals enjoy a youtube concert

Wiley, Ski Bear, Jim and Martha came down to the couch to enjoy a few viewings of "Oh Holy Night" as sung by the Celtic Women.

The video is here.

If the counter is right, the video has been downloaded about 8,000,000 times with several thousand comments.

Vampy in Safed

We took Vampy to Safed (in the North) as part of our trip to Israel.

He was especially interested because there are 3 large cemeteries there. He thought that because of all of the kaballah influence a lot of people would be confused and wandering around and easy prey.

It turned out a bit different. The cemeteries were all on very steep terrain (and Vampy doesn't like that because he gets tired after flying a few feet) or guarded by military personnel.

The image has Vampy looking at the direction signs very near our motel. It shows you have to go way down to see the cemetery.

Another Policy Triumph for Gate

President Obama signed a bill shielding airlines from carbon fees in Europe.

An account of this from The Hill, leaves out the role of Gate who is in favor of global warming as policy (since it would increase his habitat).

No doubt some environmental groups were disappointed as were the Euro agencies that stood to collect the fees.

The airlines will be thanking Gate at some future time perhaps.