Fragile Bird

I’m ok with anchovies on pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever had pineapple and anchovies, though. I don’t think pineapple on pizza is any stranger than stuff Italians put on pizza. If shrimp and bechamel sauce is a classic, pineapple and ham is ordinary in comparison! And delicious!

Bah, humbug! Pineapple on pizza is A-okay!

This is roughly the advice the guy at the dealership service department gave me. He said I could look at Amazon and pick what was on sale or what was at the top of the list (Amazon had lists of how popular items are), or just watch the sales flyer from the local automotive store. There are so many bicyclists out there, many very careless of the rules of the road, I worry about accidents. And of course the road is full of careless drivers, or, often, “I don’t give a damn” drivers. And now that it’s dark early the numbers of pedestrians and bicyclists getting hit by cars goes up sharply, until the days get longer.

If they weren’t so damn lazy, they would have finished their work in regular hours, dontchaknow!

I see Kissinger’s gravesite will have to be protected. Seriously.

Yes. Yes she did. She showed his cheating ass… I know a family where the wife refused to be buried in the same cemetery as the husband, for the same reason.

Those comments about his beard made me look up Darling. What a good-looking man he was with his beard! Shaving it off made him much more ordinary. It is amazing how people who were left-wing in their youth can migrate so far to the right. And he was just 70, his birthday was this month. eta: I shouldn’t say so far to the right, merely so much more conservative.

It’s funny, because I’m one of the older people on the board the overwhelming memories I have of Kissinger are about shuttle diplomacy, ending the war in Vietnam, and diplomatic successes reaching out to Russia and China. The dark secrets about bombing Cambodia, the civillian death toll, leading to the rise of Pol Pot, came out years later, and it was always like there was a huge gulf between those two Kissingers because of the timing. And of course with the passage of time even more ugliness was made public. Let’s mention Chile, for one. I think that quote from Anthony Bourdain is spot on, but what Bourdain misses is the fact there’s a whole gang of Americans who should have sat in the cells with Kissinger. He didn’t do everything all by his little self.

Awful optics, yes, but think of a plane crash with all of them on the plane. I think the US president and vice-president travel in different planes.

I’m at the One of a Kind Show, where they sell mainly crafts but quite a few foods as well. Does anyone have a good recipe for oatcakes? Someone was selling them and they looked great. Someone else was selling bars with lemon zest buttercream on a graham cracker/coconut base, which sounds delicious but was way too sweet. I bet I could come up with a version that tastes better with less sugar in it.

That’s a dad joke…

I guess when I heard “all” in the background as the CNN broadcast played they were referring to the fact that all the former first ladies attended. I’m surprised Barack Obama wasn’t there. eta I also caught “except Trump” and assumed that meant both of them.

Well, I see everyone was at Roslyn Carter’s funeral today (in terms of former presidents and First Ladies) except for the Trumps. Do you think they weren’t invited or they turned down the invitation?

Hey, did you see a story pop up about a new strain of swine flu showing up in the UK? Only one case so far, and it was mild, but authorities are monitoring the situation. That’s all we need, swine flu.

I had a lousy Saturday filled with things going wrong, including getting a flat tire, but while I waited for the garage to fix the tire I walked over to the local drug store and got my Pfizer booster. No wait list this time! I’ve been meaning to get that done because my friends’ daughter-in-law was expecting her baby on Dec 5 and darned if little Elise Margaret didn’t decide to show up Saturday morning. So I’ll stay away until the two weeks have passed.

The article states Charles took in $26 M last year. The UK government revenues last year were 966.49 billion pounds. The Guardian making a fuss over 26 M sounds like sour grapes. And of course it could all come to an end if people just write their wills.

As a lawyer taught basically under the precepts of English law, I doubt that all the property of people who die intestate goes to either the crown, the PoW or the government. Every country has a hierarchy of inheritance in the event of intestacy. A quick Google tells me it’s the same in the UK, and just like Canada (or, probably more likely, Canada, just like the UK) there are monetary triggers, all the estate going to the spouse if the value is below a certain threshold, and if the estate is worth more (seems to be £270,000) and there are children the amount over the threshold amount is divided between them. And yes, lineal descendants come into play if there are no spouses or children: siblings, parents and grandparents. I couldn’t imagine Canada’s laws being so greatly different. I went back to the article and it clearly spells out the meaning of “bona vacantia” - Charles inherits only if there are no lineal descendants. He also gets any leftover assets when a company is dissolved because of years of inactivity. That usually happens when there’s an intestacy and no one is aware the testator owned a company. That does happen. And guess what? If you don’t have a will go and make your bloody will! Go to a stationary shop and get a printed form if you have no money for a lawyer. Or are too cheap to pay a lawyer. As for the shocking news that Charles used the money to put buildings into good repair, I think the guy has proven himself to be a good landowner and someone who hires locals and supports the local economy. I’d rather have Charles get my money than assholes who slash the health care system and party during lockdowns, and who thought older people dying in an epidemic was just the nature of things.

Uh, in Canada the “Crown” ie the provincial government, gets the assets if a person dies intestate with no lineal descendants. In this case it’s the actual Crown. What happens in all the other areas of the UK? Don’t the assets also escheat to the Crown?

I’ve gotten sick and tired of the bullshit being slung in these threads. “Think of the dead children” but no Israeli children died, right? If you don’t believe me go back and re-read threads one and two where doubts were expressed about children killed by Hamas. The truth is we all live in countries where children are considered unimportant until they come of age, whatever that age is, and thus constant reference to how many children died is sooooo bloody cynical. And running an AlJazeera article that ignores the differences in the two countries is just icing on the cake. My position is that all the deaths are important. Reading about entire families being wiped out, 19 people, 35 people, 50 people, who all lived together in the same buildings is deeply tragic. I don’t need to know how many were children to get my sympathy.

Keep us posted on your surgery. Hope all goes well and you heal quickly!

Those were all courtesy of a dad and his daughter (they trade jokes) at dinner tonight.

What’s the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? You’ll see one in a while and the other later.

What do you get when you plant kisses? Tulips. when do ducks wake up? At the quack of dawn. Where do bad rainbows go? To prism. Don't worry, it’s a light sentence. what did the O say to the H? Nice belt! I went to the monastery and saw a guy making fries. I asked if he was the friar, and he said no, I’m the chipmunk!

What’s the difference between a tuna, a piano and tub of glue? You can tuna piano but you can’t piano a tuna fish. Hey. Don’t blame me! eta: people say, but what about the pot of glue? People always get stuck on that.

Well, I now have to say that the predictive text on the iPhone is so good it’s a distracting pain in the ass and I may have to turn it off.