Outside Gator

Going through old pictures I found one of outside Gator. He has relocated a few times and now resides on one of the flower gardens. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Gate frequently complains that outside Gator 'isn't even real'.

New Stuffed Animal - Mark Ham Owl

We hadn't added to our stuffed animal collection lately but George acquired a snowy owl, called Mark Ham Owl. This is the second bird we got, the first being Pengy in 2017. Our backstory is that Mark Ham Owl stowed away on a space freighter that landed on Tatooine and somehow, even though it was long ago in a galaxy far far away, made it to our planet. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................We now have several all or almost all white stuffed animals: Coke Bear, Lucy, Ski Bear, Mrs. Coke and now Mark Ham Owl.

UGA in Triumph

UGA won a bet apparently in this image taken after the 63-3 victory by the University of Georgia over FSU in the Orange Bowl yesterday. FSU was 13-0 coming in to the game but was missing some starters because of injuries. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Interestingly, this is the second season (although both in 2023) in a row UGA has scored over 60 points in a bowl game. Back on Jan 9, 2023, UGA beat TCU by 65-7 in the National Championship Bowl.

A Vampy Trick finally overcome but he has another trick

About four months ago, Ann was looking for her passport and couldn't find it. Last Friday she located it in an AARP bag along with some miscellaneous material, including a $20 bill. Vampy no doubt thinks well of himself for getting it lost. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... However, for some reason Oz lost his traveling yamulka about 2 hours before he was to leave the house for the airport on the way back to Israel. He has left this particular yamulka here before.

Another many hour mashgiach assignment

I had agreed to work on 19 July beginning 8am. I got a phone call about 10 pm on July 18. I was to come in at 530. There were multiple events honoring Israel's President Herzog. One event set for 19 July had, a week previously, been for 70 guests but it kept increasing and by 10 pm the day before the event the guest list was for 170. This event was sponsorted by AIPAC. It was about a 9 hour job. There were also other interesting things about this set of events. Various levels of security were established for the different events. The badge shown is for the second most security intensive event. Also, at one event, beef and chicken was on the menu despite this being part of the 9 days before Tisha b Av. Given that a lot of non Jews were at these events I can certainly understand doing this but I was not the decision maker on it.

Seven Hour Mashgiach Assignment

I did a 7 hour mashgiach assignment yesterday. Two things conspired to make this necessary. The first was that there was an event with a lot of moslems that needed food delivered. For some reason, the event manager decided that the halal caterers couldn't or wouldn't take care of it and so they used a kosher caterer. The second was that the fellow who was supposed to relieve me after 2 hours was getting back from an out of town trip and was badly delayed (he said by traffic but there was probably more to it). ............. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ This was one of those days where I did work at three different venues beginning at about 730am for a combined 10 hours or so of work. This is really unusual (fortunately). I don't think I've done more than 8 hours in a day for several years.

New Coke Product

I bought this product at Moti's. It is another new version of diet coke. I advised Coke Bear that I thought it had too much caramel. Coke Bear replied that I didn't understand that this was an 'Ultimate Limited Edition' under the 'League of Legends' program (the name of the new products department). ........... Then I asked Coke Bear what happened to the 'Hone our core competencies to exceed our benchmarks' policy. ...Coke Bear responded, "I make the policy, I can interpret the policy." ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... At least it didn't have any after taste unlike a product I tested a few years ago (I think it was called "Showtime Edition". Cross posted in the Weiss Chronicles.

Vampy Welcomes Us Home with Computer Malfunction

We got home from our vacation today. Within an hour so so, my computer went to the 'prevent mistakes' mode where you have to hold down a key for about 1 second before it comes up. This prevents any kind of text based work. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Two quick reboots didn't do anything. So I took a short nap. When I woke up, the problem was gone. But it was annoying and now I worry it will return......................................................................................................................... UPDATE: Yesterday and this morning we were unable to get Wondrium on our TV (Roku enabled). A few minutes after I found a website to chat problems with Roku, the problem fixed itself. ........................................................................................................................... ANTHOR UPDATE: Three more Vampy inflictions - laptop color turned off (G fixed this), phone voice map guide turned off, wanton soup substituted for eggroll from Holy Chow. Ann had wanted the eggroll but she liked the soup so that didn't cause a problem. A PREDATE: I should also have given Vampy credit for making my internet connection go bad while I was ordering a Uber at the Port of Baltimore on the 19th of March after our cruise.

Spoiled Hallowen Vampy OK with it.

Vampy was pleased today.

Halloween was spoiled for the local kids by rain.

Of course Vampy thinks the commercialization makes people forget the true meaning (Satan Worship).

A somewhat different version of this is in the Weiss Chronology.

https://weisschronicles.blogspot.com/2022/10/#1319791816568865337#1319791816568865337

 

 

 

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Pumpkin Spice News

 The spread of pumpkin themed beverages has spread.

 

 

As the first image shows, 7-11 now has pumpkin coffee as a standard product.  

 

They also have a pumpkin spice gourmet additive to put in regular coffee.

 

 

Of course you don't get the upscale ambiance of the Starbucks experience. 

 

 

I imagine that Mr. Pumpkin (second image) is happy about this.

'Awesome' has survived being banned

 The Lake Superior State University has a list of banned words.

 

'Awesome' was banned in 1984. 

 

This University is on 100+ acres near Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. 

I wonder what they say at Guido's Premium Pizza (a few blocks from campus) when you order a large with everything pizza.

The complete list of banned words is at

https://www.lssu.edu/traditions/banishedwords/year/

Whose is your favorite painter

 

I was listening to Laugh USA in the car. It has stand up comedy all day. 

One comedian was recounting an experience while he was dating. 

First a group for guys and gals gathered in a room. A facilitator came and said, "To break the ice, we will go thru the room and each of you give one word answers to a number of questions (then there would be speed dating I think)."

The first question was, "Who is your favorite painter?".  The gals were asked first. (I think the instructions were not to repeat an answer).  The first gal said "Van Gogh", the next "Monet", then "Picasso", etc.  The comedian was sweating because he didn't know artists well.  Then when the guys were asked, the first said, "Michelangelo".

 The comedian felt better because he remembered that 3 other of the TMNTurtles were named for artists. But other guys immediately before him picked Leonardo, Donatello and Rafael.  It was the comedian's turn.  He hesitated for a few seconds then said, "Splinter" and got some laughs from both guys and gals.

 

One of his speed dates said she loved the answer. He said, "Thanks but it was done in panic since I don't know anything about art", which ruined that part of the speed date. 

Vampy at the blood bank

 

I almost always have daylight appointments for blood donation.

Also, I have mostly given platelets.

 

But today was whole blood as I can't wear the mask and remain motionless for 3 hours.  I might try plasma next time as it is only about 20 minutes more than whole blood. 

So I brought Vampy.  He was pretty frustrated because the red cross made him wear a mask and this ruined his plans for blood withdrawal. 

 

On the other hand, the staff at Red Cross loved him.  The Phlebotomist wanted to get in a picture with Vampy.  I happily agreed and this is shown in the second image.

 

Metrics: Pulse=62, BP= 130/88, Hg=15.4

Annoying Tax Related Dream

 

 

I had been thinking about the Minimum Required Distribution, MRD (George reminded me about it) of  various instruments, typically individual retirement accounts, IRAs.

 

I went to sleep. In my dream I was talking to a tax advisor, presumably about the MRD.  I heard someone in the background talking to my tax advisor (not my alligator who currently works in enforcement for the IRS - this is cross posted to the Weiss Chronicles),

 

Talker: "I have an answer for you on whether business expenses offset income from extortion."

Adviser: "Just a second, I'm on the phone with a client."

Me: Maybe we should talk later. 

Then I woke up.

Problem with a Coke 12 pack

 

I bought some 12 packs of  Coke yesterday.  One of the 12 packs tore when I lifted it into the car. So I had this conversation with Coke Bear.

M: So are you going to investigate this.

 

CB: Sure. We will see which assembly line made it and cut the pensions of the line workers by half for two years.

 

M: Won't that just decrease Coke's long term liabilities.

CB: Yes but I'll take a bonus for cost control next year so it all evens out. Win Win.

Theological disagreement

 

Two of our stuffed creatures have theological opinions about Halloween.

It is a disagreement.

 

Vampy dislikes Halloween because it is too commercialized and doesn't focus on praise for Satan, or as Vampy calls him sometimes, our father below.

Mr. Pumpkin, on the other hand is quite fond of Halloween as it increases pumpkin sales, use of pumpkin seeds, pumpkin spiced latte, etc.

He even insists that our lighted pumpkin be pointed to the street to publicize the miracle of pumpkins.

Off to Israel for Soccor Bear

 

Soccer Bear (a.k.a., kick) is off to Israel.

Although he doesn't cause trouble like, say Vampy, with his continued promotion of the area 'just outside Dublin' I reached a high point of annoyance.  Now I would rather he stay with Beth and Oz.

 

We were sending some books there anyway so Soccer Bear is accompanying them.

When Stuffed Animals Collaborate

 

Coke Bear must have gotten this idea from Wile E. Coyote (from his eyes you can see he likes his coffee).

 

Coming soon to grocery stores and already available on line from Walmart are multiple flavors of Coffee Coca Cola.

 

I suspect there may be a price premium on these, at least at first.  

 

 

This comes just after Coke announced it was ended production of 40% or so of its brands, so they must have some taste research to back up this product introduction.

New Air Freshener is a Big Hit w Mr. Pumpkin

 Mr Pumpkin is nearly always on message with the value of pumpkins, whether nutritional or indirectly benefiting national defense or the health of children.

So we ordered some "pumpkin spice things up" air freshener.  As with the pumpkin spice latte, it lists ingredients that only tangentially refer to pumpkin. In the case of the air freshener, the ingredients include 'fragrances'. 

But that seems good enough for bragging rights to Mr. Pumpkin.

Awesome Arm Rests Dude

 

I brought home two boxes of pizza today.

Michelangelo used the occasion to set them up so he could use the boxes as arm rests. 

 

Mikey's comment was easily anticipated.

 

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Pumpkin Spice Latte Found - But there is an issue

After searching other places, I found a bottle of Pumpkin Spiced Latte (yes it is a Starbucks product) at a Safeway.  

Mr. Pumpkin had been advocating getting this product. His reasoning is that it helps the national defense and you can't put off helping the national defense.

Interestingly, other than the name of the product, the word 'pumpkin' does not appear any where on the label. The description indicates cinnamon and all spice and the official ingredients has 'natural flavors' as the 5th component.

Mr. Pumpkin contends that, notwithstanding its role in national defense and childhood nutrition, the pumpkin industry is comprised of humble, hard working folks who just want to support our country and our country's health.

The Professor Cogitates

 

The Professor came out to look at the construction site of our sukkah.

He had this to say,

"It is a differential experience to see a  construction site honor a conceptual construct, particularly one that aims at a pre dialectic neo narrative in a self sufficient paradigm of meta cultural realism.  Although with a subtext of patriarchal interpolation spaced within a mythic normative liberationalist materialism, it does not fail to give a degree of pretense to rationalism."

Wile Joins Us for Socially Distanced Coffee

 

Ann works for a contractor that, although continuing to pay her, has run out of work to give her. Explanation below.

So we went out for coffee today. We took Wile E Coyote but made sure he was masked for protection from infection. You can tell from Wile's eyes that he likes the smell of coffee. 

Ann had taken off her mask to drink the iced coffee.

Ann's company is responsible for auditing medical coding at a major Federal facility.

 

However, the primary coding is slow because a number of coders quit. Basically a series of management mistakes.

Coke Bear Mostly Approves

Coke Bear was investigating our inventory of 2 litre bottles.


He approved of the fact that we had an 11 bottle inventory.



He was disappointed that one of the bottles was a grocery store house brand but not upset with us because, as he puts it, 

"Coke doesn't consider house brands a threat, otherwise we would have a stronger defense against them."



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Soccer Bear Has Influence

A Soccer Dream 

This was also a post in the regular chronology blog.

I don't generally think much about soccer and when I do think about it, it is about how boring I find it.

Notwithstanding, I had a dream in which I was building a soccer practice field.  I had guideposts like in the image but I had mounted them on Roomba-like devices. They would look like the second image (which has a big vacuumed material  retention box) except sleeker.

I also had the soccer field tilting to make it harder for the forwards to control the advance.  

One of the coaches was talking to me about my design and how to get the players, who would be trained, on this practice field.

Then I woke up.


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Hardrock Bear Now Likes Dr. Fauci

 At a meeting today, Dr. Fauci, who leads coordination in the US response to the Corona2019 Virus (what I sometimes call the Wu), was giving a long speech and presentation.

As part of that,

"the spectrum of involvement with the same pathogen is very unique," Fauci says.

This was from a story in Axios reporting from a TB Alliance meeting.

The story is here. 

Of course, Hard Rock Bear insists that he is 'very, very unique' in that there were only 50+ bears made with the Atlanta patch on them, at least at the time he was made.


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Setback for Gate's Favorite University

Apparently, the taunting cheer used at the University of Florida called 'Gator Bait' is being ended per orders of the University President.

Somehow, this cheer which follows some short music and consists only of the words 'Gator Bait' and hand motion as in the image, has been found by the University President to be racist.

He said,

“While I know of no evidence of racism associated with our ‘Gator Bait’ cheer at UF sporting events, there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase,” 

... in an email to the student body,

I have no idea what horrific imagery he is talking about. There have been some movies starring a super large gator that eats people but those movies are supposed to be campy comedy. In those movies the people eaten are a pretty diverse bunch. There was also a fairly obscure movie called "Gator Bait" done in 1973 and an equally obscure GatorBait II done in 1988.

Initially Gate took this report with a grain of salt but it was also reported by the Miami newspaper, here. That report has comments from a person (who is black) who says he inspired the cheer.

Anyway, 



Image and article here.

Ski Bear Gets to Practise his Tutorial

Ski Bear has not had ski instruction work since early March this year because ski slopes have been closed to skiers.

He has been driving for Uber but plans to go to the southern hemisphere soon as the ski slopes in New Zealand are soon to open.

So today we helped him out by getting pizza and fries as these are the items Ski Bear uses in his skiing tutorials (to go faster, put your skis parallel like fries; to slow up put your skis at a front intersection like pizza). 

So, not only does ski instruction require large mental resources, it also helps to practice your lesson giving.

Meanwhile, Lev is looking on wondering what Ski Bear is doing and thinking about how it would require machos if Ski Bear were jewish.

Hadassah Gets into the Weiss Chronology Blog

Mother's Day Tulips before Sabbath 

I got flowers from the store instead of from the yard for the Sabbath before Mother's Day.




Hadassah, representing the Parnas clan of the Ukraine, wanted to make sure there were no 'problems'.

Some of the other stuffed animals are now a bit scared of Hadassah and her husband, Lev, is thinking he maybe got more than he thought he was getting when they married.

Heh.


Cards from Ann's birthday are near the Tulips.

Tulips match the table cloth. Cross posted with the Weiss Chronology.

A Setback in the Makkos Universe

According to a report from Reuters, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is going to end the practice of flogging.


Lev is pondering this as it pertains to a possible world wide trend.

There is no set  'end of flogging' date reported in the article.

Also, it seems there is no movement to end the practice of amputation and execution, including by public beheading, in the Kingdom.   This does seem to Lev that flogging is being unfairly singled out as 'inhumane' (whatever that means).




Reuters report is here.