I was taken aback this morning when I read Uncle Ken's mention of the term "thin gruel." You see, for whatever reasons, writing is easier for me late at night. Consequently, I'll read the latest missive from Mr. Beagles and then start hammering away at the keyboard, trying to craft a coherent response. After reading Uncle Ken's early AM post I do the same, and then try to meld the two into something that is a unified whole, which seldom works to my satisfaction. Anyhow, last night I used the term "thin gruel" before I read Uncle Ken's recent post, so instead of ripping off the good gentleman I think thin gruel is an idea whose time has come, or we're all tuning into the same music of the spheres, or something.
Now back to the regularly scheduled posting. Warning! The following contains ice cream.
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"Call me old fashioned, but I still get most of my news from the newspaper."
Not old fashioned; I would call it practical. Not everyone shares my appetite and curiosity for the thin gruel, spicy yet lacking flavor, that is passing for news these days. It's easy enough for you to fire up The Cyber if you need to dig deeply for any information.
Besides, I'll wager that you can relate to most of the content of The Cheboygan Daily Tribune. You'll read about a place and think, "I know that joint, drove past it every day." Or the paper will mention a local businessman, and you'll say, "That guy is a crook and tried to talk me into a new water pump when it was only a busted belt." You know where I'm going with this; I read about stuff everyday in the local papers about places I've never heard of, people I'll never meet, and events I have no intention of attending unlike the Fish Fry at your local VFW.
So, Mr. Beagles, have you ever thought about submitting a regular column to the Daily Trib? Newspapers everywhere are suffering (Thanks, Craig's List!) and they have to pay for a lot of their content from syndicated sources so a home-grown bit of prose might be an asset for them. It could be humor, satire, or other cogent thoughts cobbled from bits and pieces of these very Institute discussions. An imaginary discussion between the three BeagleBoys sounds about right; the Voice of Reason up north juxtaposed with the yelping of the Big City mutts. Uncle Ken will have a quibble or two with my terminology, but you have the gist of it; just don't put words in the Old Dog's mouth as he already has plenty to chew on.
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Old books are great sources for observing the changes in the English language as it is written. Moslem became Muslim, Koran became Quran, and my favorite is what is now Hindu used to be called Hindoo; that word just looks funny to me. But I think manic and maniac are still, and always have been, two separate words with two different meanings. I should look it up.
Look at how maps have changed in our lifetimes and a few decades before. No more Siam, Burma, or East Pakistan. Remember the Belgian Congo? No more Zanzibar either; has any other place been more exotically named? Give me an old map or globe, anytime.
That change from centigrade to Celsius has baffled me also. Maybe it was decided that since Fahrenheit was named after a guy they would rename centigrade after a guy, too; only thing that makes sense to me. I'd like to see a uniform switch to the Kelvin scale..."Gonna be cold tomorrow, folks, with temperatures in the 250s."
In my old neighborhood, "rubbers" were what you stretched over your shoes when it was wet outside. What are now called condoms used to be called "rubber johns," which was a goofy term to my young ears. Maybe it's a northside/southside thing, but we ended up calling them rubbers anyhow.
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That Byron York article was written (or posted) 26-Jan-17 under the same title you mentioned, Mr. Beagles, so it's pretty recent. Guy seems more reasonable than most conservative writers that I've read lately but you might want to keep an eye on that guy. He may have picked up some Liberal cooties when he was studying at the University of Chicago.
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Again with the objective reality? Okay, Uncle Ken, I think we get it; you're preaching to the choir.
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A couple of recent items caught my eye:
"President Donald Trump today pledged to "destroy" the six-decade-old Johnson Amendment, which bars churches from engaging in political activities."
and
"Leaked Draft of Trump’s Religious Freedom Order Reveals Sweeping Plans to Legalize Discrimination"
I think it's time I started my own religion, got the righteous tax exemption, and made some bucks. Something along the lines of "The Fellowship Temple of the Non-stupid."
Atheists and believers of other faith systems are welcome, and then we could all say "I'm sorry I can't serve you, but my deeply held beliefs prevent me from any interaction with stupid people."
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I found a great time saver; no longer do I have to dig around, trying to figure out what's going on in the current political milieu. It's a link (sorry), and I haven't run any of it through Snopes or other fact checking sites but it looks solid: https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/
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In reviewing some of your older posts, Mr. Beagles, it looks like you use a vanilla base exclusively with the addition of extra goodies once it's churned, correct? Have you tried other flavors? My chocolate is simply vanilla with cocoa powder added until the color "looks right;" no extra sugar needed. Once churned I add chopped walnuts to the vessel and mix with a wooden spoon; damn plastic spatulas keep breaking. The contents are then transferred to smaller 8oz. lidded containers, which is a fine size for my single servings, and then popped into the freezer for final freezing and hardening. Still fine tuning the mix but I'm getting awfully close; always tastes good and it's just a question of getting the "mouth feel" dialed in. I have some vanilla mix aging in the fridge (overnight) and it includes a little Jack Daniels bourbon (hic!). Once I acquire some Sprecher's Root Beer I anticipate some very killer root beer floats. And who doesn't like root beer floats?
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So, how do you suppose Charlize Theron and Elon Musk observe African-American History Month?
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