Saturday, April 30, 2016
We're All Stars Now
7Introducing...Soccer Mom Jeannie Tate and her traveling talk show! Completely off topic here, I don't know about you guys, but I haven't yet figured out how children's team sports is supposed to improve society. Do we really get as much benefit out of all the effort put into it as we should? Are team sports going to save the universe, or what?
Friday, April 29, 2016
Zombiewalk.com - Your source for all Zombie Walk and Zombie Flash Mob planning!
Zombiewalk.com - Your source for all Zombie Walk and Zombie Flash Mob planning!
Yup, you're right - it's another Weird Friday.
Yup, you're right - it's another Weird Friday.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
The Thought For Today
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." - Groucho Marx
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
The Thought For Today
"You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one." - Dashiell Hammett
Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends
Welcome to the Happy Tree Friends. They just want to play with each other and have fun. And then something goes horribly wrong! Always! Enjoy the bloodshed - I do.
Welcome to the Happy Tree Friends. They just want to play with each other and have fun. And then something goes horribly wrong! Always! Enjoy the bloodshed - I do.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
The Thought For Today
“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.” ― Anthony Bourdain
Rec: Microwaved Potatoes Lyonnaise
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 small onions, sliced
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
In a 3 quart casserole dish, combine potatoes, onions,
margarine, garlic, salt, oregano, pepper and paprika.
Heat in microwave on HIGH until margarine melts,
about 1 minute; stir. Cook 10 minutes more, stirring
occasionally.
Serves 3 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave
2 small onions, sliced
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
In a 3 quart casserole dish, combine potatoes, onions,
margarine, garlic, salt, oregano, pepper and paprika.
Heat in microwave on HIGH until margarine melts,
about 1 minute; stir. Cook 10 minutes more, stirring
occasionally.
Serves 3 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave
Rec: Rice Picanté
2 cups white rice
4 cups water
1 cup mayonnaise - low-fat okay
1 sm. red onion - chopped
1/2 red bell pepper - seeded, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper - seeded, chopped
3/4 cup picanté sauce OR salsa
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese - low-fat okay
In a microwave steamer, cook white rice with water
for 12 minutes on 100% power.-In a bowl, combine
the mayonnaise, onion, peppers, picanté sauce and
cheddar cheese. When rice has cooked for 12 minutes,
remove from microwave and add the mayonnaise
mixture. Return to the microwave for 8 minutes on
100% power. Serve with fajitas.
Serves 6 to 8
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave
4 cups water
1 cup mayonnaise - low-fat okay
1 sm. red onion - chopped
1/2 red bell pepper - seeded, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper - seeded, chopped
3/4 cup picanté sauce OR salsa
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese - low-fat okay
In a microwave steamer, cook white rice with water
for 12 minutes on 100% power.-In a bowl, combine
the mayonnaise, onion, peppers, picanté sauce and
cheddar cheese. When rice has cooked for 12 minutes,
remove from microwave and add the mayonnaise
mixture. Return to the microwave for 8 minutes on
100% power. Serve with fajitas.
Serves 6 to 8
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave
Rec: Wasabi Peas
2 cups dried whole peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
Wasabi Coating
4 teaspoons Wasabi powder
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Soak the peas in water to cover overnight. Preheat the
oven to 200°. Drain the peas, then cook them according
to instructions on the package. Mix the olive oil with the
cooked peas until well coated. Oil a baking sheet and
spread the peas evenly across it. Place in the oven and
bake for 5 hours, until the peas appear dry and are crisp
when bitten into. Combine the Wasabi powder, tahini,
rice vinegar and mustard in a mixing bowl. Combine
the wasabi mixture with the hot peas making sure that
all the peas are evenly coated. Using a rubber spatula,
spread the peas on the baking sheet, separating as many
as you can. Increase the oven temperature to 250°.
Bake the peas for 10 to 15 minutes, until the coating is dry.
2 tablespoons olive oil
Wasabi Coating
4 teaspoons Wasabi powder
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Soak the peas in water to cover overnight. Preheat the
oven to 200°. Drain the peas, then cook them according
to instructions on the package. Mix the olive oil with the
cooked peas until well coated. Oil a baking sheet and
spread the peas evenly across it. Place in the oven and
bake for 5 hours, until the peas appear dry and are crisp
when bitten into. Combine the Wasabi powder, tahini,
rice vinegar and mustard in a mixing bowl. Combine
the wasabi mixture with the hot peas making sure that
all the peas are evenly coated. Using a rubber spatula,
spread the peas on the baking sheet, separating as many
as you can. Increase the oven temperature to 250°.
Bake the peas for 10 to 15 minutes, until the coating is dry.
Rec: Red Lobster's Garlic Cheddar Cheese Biscuits
2 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix
¾ cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
To Brush On Top
2 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
½ teaspoon garlic powder
pinch salt
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine Bisquick with
cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a
large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There
should be small chunks of butter in there that are about
the size of peas. Add Cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon
garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.
Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an
ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for
15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to
turn light brown. When you take the biscuits out of the
oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your
microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried
parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over
the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes
one dozen biscuits.
Serves 4 to 6
¾ cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
To Brush On Top
2 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
½ teaspoon garlic powder
pinch salt
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine Bisquick with
cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a
large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There
should be small chunks of butter in there that are about
the size of peas. Add Cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon
garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.
Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an
ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for
15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to
turn light brown. When you take the biscuits out of the
oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your
microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried
parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over
the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes
one dozen biscuits.
Serves 4 to 6
Recipe: Microwave Basic Steamed Rice
2 cups long grain white rice, washed and drained
2 1/2 cups boiling water
Pour the rice in a 3 quart casserole and add boiling
water. Cover with a vented microwave lid. Cook on HIGH
(1200W) for 5 minutes or until the liquid boils. Switch to
LOW(30%) and cook for 14 minutes. Remove from the
oven and let it sit for 5 minutes with the cover on. Fluff
rice lightly with a fork.
Makes 4 cups
2 1/2 cups boiling water
Pour the rice in a 3 quart casserole and add boiling
water. Cover with a vented microwave lid. Cook on HIGH
(1200W) for 5 minutes or until the liquid boils. Switch to
LOW(30%) and cook for 14 minutes. Remove from the
oven and let it sit for 5 minutes with the cover on. Fluff
rice lightly with a fork.
Makes 4 cups
Monday, April 25, 2016
Zombie Brains Emporium of Shiny Things: Home: Zazzle.com Store
Zombie Brains Emporium of Shiny Things: Home: Zazzle.com Store
And lots more zombie stuff for this week.
And lots more zombie stuff for this week.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
IT'S ARLYNE RZEPECKI DAY!
HERE'S A TIP OF THE HAT FROM ME TO
YOU, ARLYNE, AND BE SURE TO DROP
IN IF YOU GET DOWN THIS WAY.
YOU, ARLYNE, AND BE SURE TO DROP
IN IF YOU GET DOWN THIS WAY.
Friday, April 22, 2016
The Thought For Today
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other." - John Adams
Thursday, April 21, 2016
ToonDoo - The Cartoon Strip Creator - Create, Publish, Share, Discuss!
ToonDoo - The Cartoon Strip Creator - Create, Publish, Share, Discuss!
Well, well, well. Finally a Site for the artistically inept, like me, where you can make your own comic strip and publish, share and discuss it. And it's free. You can even put it on a Blog. Hmmm.
Well, well, well. Finally a Site for the artistically inept, like me, where you can make your own comic strip and publish, share and discuss it. And it's free. You can even put it on a Blog. Hmmm.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
KI4U Nuke Prep Expertise & Solutions!
Be prepared. Dosimeters (especially Russian) are cheaper on eBay and potassium iodide is cheaper at Amazon, but buyer beware.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
The Shape of Things that Never Came
Paleo-Future: A Look into the Future that Never Was, is a great little blog site that showcases those things we dreamed of that never came to be. In most cases they probably never will come to be but it seems likely that at least some of these things will become reality some day, although probably not in the exact form shown. From Smithsonian magazine.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Flood Maps
Flood Maps
Use these maps to see what the world will look like as the ice caps melt. Just put how much of a rise in sea level you expect in the upper left corner and it'll tell you how soon you'll be treading water.
Use these maps to see what the world will look like as the ice caps melt. Just put how much of a rise in sea level you expect in the upper left corner and it'll tell you how soon you'll be treading water.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Donald Duck's Family Tree
Definately answers one of the burning questions of our time - where the hell did he come from?
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
The Thought For Today
"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it probably needs a little more time in the microwave." — Lori Dowdy
Monday, April 11, 2016
The Thought For Today
"In some versions of my original contest column I had proposed, in a lighthearted manner, that we reduce the deficit by 'selling unnecessary states such as Oklahoma to the Japanese.' This caused a number of Oklahomans to send in letters containing many correctly spelled words and making the central lighthearted point that I am a jerk. They also sent me official literature stating that Oklahoma has enormous quantities of culture in the form of ballet, Oral Roberts, etc., and that the Official State Reptile -- I am not making this up -- is something called the 'Mountain Boomer.' So I apologize to Oklahoma, and as a token of my sincerity I'm willing to sell my state, Florida, to the Japanese, assuming nobody objects to the fact that Japan would suddenly become the most heavily armed nation on Earth." - Dave Barry
The Hard Truth From Orlando
You know what bothered me about that article on the four social workers facing criminal charges over the death of a child whose safety they were responsible for monitoring? That the two supervisors were written up as being big in their churches. It's been my very bad experience that the very religious, church-types turn a blind eye to behaviors that tell you something bad is happening because they believe that God made families, families need to be together, blah-blah-blah. It's the same kind of blind idiocy that lets them allow and even defend child molesters and killers in their own organizations, but insists that every pregnancy be carried to term while you punish the mother for getting pregnant.
The other thing that bothers me, is this social worker organization a contracted private organization or is it really a state organization, manned by state employees? The difference is, we have so many church or faith-based private organizations vying for government dollars -- promoted by former President G.W. Bush as being "more economical" than government-run agencies. So minimal standards are set and the money is paid with little government oversight. These private companies have their own agenda and it's not necessarily about protecting the children or families; it's about getting as many cases as they can so they can pull in the money and submit the paperwork that meets the minimum criteria.
We've had some truly hideous cases come through our court here. The eight-year-old who was removed from his insanely abusive mother and siblings, placed (per state-legislated criteria that you have to look for placement within a dysfunctional family rather than finding someone sane first) with another relative, who then promptly stuck the kid back with the mother he'd been removed from because the relative couldn't be bothered to find a babysitter while she worked. The 13-year-old abusive sibling strangled the eight-year-old over an old cupcake the kid ate because he was hungry. The 13-year-old killed his younger half-brother because the cupcake was his mom's "treat" to herself and she'd beat the 13-year-old if it was gone. Yep. Right here in Orlando. And the relative was NEVER charged. The 13-year-old was, but not the mom and not the relative who violated the protection order by putting the child back in harm's way.
And that's just one instance of the craziness. I'm still a strong proponent of the government handing out all available contraceptive means, providing free abortions and totally chopping out welfare payments after two years to non-working parents and repossessing any children for adoption by non-relatives if the parent can't get it together. When every child is planned, it will be a wanted and provided for child. We won't see children used as two-legged paychecks for freaks who breed and pass the kids around like a coupon for free government money. A box of condoms or a $300 to $500 abortion is a damned sight more economical to society and our government than 18 years of counseling, welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, legal assistance, foster care, Medicaid or independent living expenses if the kids age out of foster care.
If our government leaders were serious about reducing crime, poverty, government spending, child abuse, they'd hand over the medical provisions and acknowledge that being a parent is either totally the individual's choice and therefore an individual's responsibility and will automatically result in criminal charges against parents who expose their offspring to abuse, or they'd say being a parent is not a choice and the government is picking up the tab for all the unwanted, unprovided for children the current paternalistic legislation promotes. Instead, we have these half-measures. On the one hand, access to contraceptives and abortion are being made inaccessible to the neediest people among us. But on the other hand, the government is handing out money hand-over-fist for children with little hope of ever being productive, contributing, taxpaying citizens.
I say, pick one. Either end the mindless production of children for a social work and prison industry, or admit and accept it's okay that the taxpayer foots the bill for religious-based irrational policies and pays for it with the blood of unplanned, unwelcome children.
Florida Cracker
The other thing that bothers me, is this social worker organization a contracted private organization or is it really a state organization, manned by state employees? The difference is, we have so many church or faith-based private organizations vying for government dollars -- promoted by former President G.W. Bush as being "more economical" than government-run agencies. So minimal standards are set and the money is paid with little government oversight. These private companies have their own agenda and it's not necessarily about protecting the children or families; it's about getting as many cases as they can so they can pull in the money and submit the paperwork that meets the minimum criteria.
We've had some truly hideous cases come through our court here. The eight-year-old who was removed from his insanely abusive mother and siblings, placed (per state-legislated criteria that you have to look for placement within a dysfunctional family rather than finding someone sane first) with another relative, who then promptly stuck the kid back with the mother he'd been removed from because the relative couldn't be bothered to find a babysitter while she worked. The 13-year-old abusive sibling strangled the eight-year-old over an old cupcake the kid ate because he was hungry. The 13-year-old killed his younger half-brother because the cupcake was his mom's "treat" to herself and she'd beat the 13-year-old if it was gone. Yep. Right here in Orlando. And the relative was NEVER charged. The 13-year-old was, but not the mom and not the relative who violated the protection order by putting the child back in harm's way.
And that's just one instance of the craziness. I'm still a strong proponent of the government handing out all available contraceptive means, providing free abortions and totally chopping out welfare payments after two years to non-working parents and repossessing any children for adoption by non-relatives if the parent can't get it together. When every child is planned, it will be a wanted and provided for child. We won't see children used as two-legged paychecks for freaks who breed and pass the kids around like a coupon for free government money. A box of condoms or a $300 to $500 abortion is a damned sight more economical to society and our government than 18 years of counseling, welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, legal assistance, foster care, Medicaid or independent living expenses if the kids age out of foster care.
If our government leaders were serious about reducing crime, poverty, government spending, child abuse, they'd hand over the medical provisions and acknowledge that being a parent is either totally the individual's choice and therefore an individual's responsibility and will automatically result in criminal charges against parents who expose their offspring to abuse, or they'd say being a parent is not a choice and the government is picking up the tab for all the unwanted, unprovided for children the current paternalistic legislation promotes. Instead, we have these half-measures. On the one hand, access to contraceptives and abortion are being made inaccessible to the neediest people among us. But on the other hand, the government is handing out money hand-over-fist for children with little hope of ever being productive, contributing, taxpaying citizens.
I say, pick one. Either end the mindless production of children for a social work and prison industry, or admit and accept it's okay that the taxpayer foots the bill for religious-based irrational policies and pays for it with the blood of unplanned, unwelcome children.
Florida Cracker
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Saturday, April 09, 2016
How Addicted to Blogging Are You?
Find out with this quiz! I'm a mere 17 percent addicted myself, but I think all the rest of you will be much more addicted. Think of all the money you could be making while you're wasting time on blogging. You could probably have a second job, be packing money into the bank and investments ... But no, you have to BLOG! I'm so far ahead of all you guys.
Friday, April 08, 2016
Thursday, April 07, 2016
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Saturday, April 02, 2016
With Luck, They All Fall Down
Okay, it's a British TV commercial, but if you haven't seen it, it's worth a look. (I can't believe they got this on the first take. And what's that swimming froggie thing in the water?...)
Friday, April 01, 2016
The Thought For Today
"I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That may be. But I think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't afraid of vacuum cleaners." - Jeff Stilson
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