Even Absolut vodka is only 40%-odd alcohol,
and "absolute ethanol" is only around 98%.

So it seems that nothing is absolutly absolute. Surprised I knew

about > the vodka?
No, sorry to say that popular culture of various sorts
has slipped into cracks all over the place. I am not

In this case, their ads have been in different magazines I've picked up
here & there.

Ubiquitous, these references and insinuations. I
suppose that increased exposure to dreck is the
inevitable price to be paid for increased
availability of good stuff.

immune myself and have some sketchy knowledge of such
things as movies and football.

As do I, but probably a lot more knowledge of them than Steve. (G)

For some reason, the name Peter Lorre came up, as did
the movie Maltese Falcon, so a fit of curiosity induced
me to check out the stars of it - it turns out of these,
Lorre, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Sydney
Greenstreet, I have watched exactly 0 movies in which
these worthies appeared, except for snippets of M, Maltese
Falcon, and Casablanca.

Gradually > small owners were bought out by bigger ones, till we got today's
That's very plausible. One wonders, though, how little
providers had the resources to run local networks, how
they managed to have compatible standards with their
peers, and how they managed to have the expertise to do
all these things.

Don't know, but they were the only way a lot of people had telephone
service for many years. If you lived anywhere outside of town, you
didn't get it until town had had it for many years, as a general rule.

Makes sense, but I was focusing on the travails of
having to match up these systems together to build a
nationwide network, whenever that happened.

conglomerates running most of the phone service in the country.

A consolidated phone system has its advantages. My
preference would be for a nonprofit ogranization
to run it or at least oversee it.

Chances of that are pretty much slim to none and slim is out to lunch.

It would take a catastrophe of world war proportions
to clean out all the nonsense and get people to think
about a sensible plan - such as WWII did with the
public transportation systems in Asia and Europe.

in the US at least. By the way, I have not mentioned See's,
which is not notably superior to the others but costs a
whole pantload more. Warren Buffett owns that.

I've been in See's shops a few times, tho not in many years. They always
did seem pricey, even way back when; I don't recall buying anything.

Even in my relatively wealthy periods I've balked at
See's prices, especially as one can do better for less.
I did make an exception for my friend Ella Lou, for whom
See's was the be-all and end-all, so I'd occasionally
buy a small assortment for her. She's since deceased, so
no more of that silly behavior.

any U of A games > but I have seen several names I remember as U of A stars either in the > big time now or recently retired.
U of A and ASU both have contributed many major
league players.

I don't know as much about ASU but was also thinking of football,
basketball, softball in addition to MLB. But, since its been a good
number of years since we lived in the state, I think most of the "names"
I knew are no longer in pro sports.

Well, that shows your and my age more than the condition
of the sports programs at those schools.

Certainly a pound cake recipe should not be hard to find.

They aren't, but a good one is harder to find.

I would have thought that a bad one was hard to find.
Not that I've done a close study of the matter.

Depends on your definition of "good". You can make a cake from a box mix
that might be better than some made from scratch but overall, I think
the latter beats the former.

Yeah, but everything depends on your definition
of good.

cooking stuff, but it agitated for a Thanksgiving holiday and
to that end printed recipes for many dishes that we associate with holidays to this day.

Sarah (something) Hale, IIRC, was the push behind that.

I believe that's true and also that she was the
editor of Godey's when that was her project.

True, from what I recall having read about her.

Besides, the river is on the flat land. (G)

Everything points to the taverns being riverside.

Makes the most sense.

And hauling barrels of beer up a hill just doesn't
make sense. Whereas having scholars haul themselves
up hills seems more plausible.

That's our thoughts. Just sent in our passports for renewal.

Good move.

Figured better to have them valid and ready to go than to have to rush
one thru. Still an expensive propisition but not like a rushed one would
be.

If you have no wish to go abroad, there's no point,
but even of you have no concrete plans, it's only, what,
$16 a year, and a vague idea might turn into more faster
than you think.

Surprised that they were enjoyed as much as they were, tho?

Nothing much surprises me. Some people even like zucchini.

And some like a cow walked thru a warm room.

What's this warm room stuff?

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v7.07

Title: Lamb Tartare
Categories: Appetizers, Lamb
Servings: 6

18 oz Well-trimmed lamb from loin
-chop
12 ts Medium ground cracked wheat
-*
12 ts Water
1/4 c Minced green onion
1/4 c Minced fresh parsley
2 tb Minced fresh basil
1 tb Minced fresh oregano
1 tb Minced fresh marjoram
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Freshly ground pepper
1 pn Red pepper flake

garnish cherry tomato garnish sliced cucumber garnish sliced lemon
garnish
fresh sprigs basil

Cut lamb into 1-inch cubes and grind in processor to consistency of
hamburger using on/off turns. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle with 2
teaspoons wheat and then 2 teaspoons water; knead into meat, punching
down
with fist and turning. Repeat with remaining wheat and water in 5 more
additions, kneading in green onion, parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram,
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes with last addition. Line small
round-bottomed bowl with plastic. Fill with lamb, smoothing top. Cover
tightly with plastic. Refrigerate up to 3 hours before serving.

Unmold lamb in center of platter. Sprinkle with additional minced, fresh
herbs and green onion. Surround with tomatoes, cucumber and lemon and
garnish with basil sprig. Serve with garlic toast.

Source unknown. M's note - this is really a kind of kibbe.

MMMMM
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)

Hi Michael,

So it seems that nothing is absolutly absolute. Surprised I

knew > ML> about > the vodka?

No, sorry to say that popular culture of various sorts
has slipped into cracks all over the place. I am not

In this case, their ads have been in different magazines I've picked

up > here & there.

Ubiquitous, these references and insinuations. I
suppose that increased exposure to dreck is the
inevitable price to be paid for increased
availability of good stuff.

Could be, or the power of suggestion. People see the ad, then it comes
to mind when they're in the store and "hey, this was the stuff I saw
adverised, think I'll give it a try" sort of purchase.

immune myself and have some sketchy knowledge of such
things as movies and football.

As do I, but probably a lot more knowledge of them than Steve. (G)

For some reason, the name Peter Lorre came up, as did
the movie Maltese Falcon, so a fit of curiosity induced
me to check out the stars of it - it turns out of these,
Lorre, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Sydney
Greenstreet, I have watched exactly 0 movies in which
these worthies appeared, except for snippets of M, Maltese
Falcon, and Casablanca.

I know I've seen small bits of the last. Have also seen about the same
amount of "The African Queen", another famous Bogart movie.

they managed to have compatible standards with their
peers, and how they managed to have the expertise to do
all these things.

Don't know, but they were the only way a lot of people had telephone service for many years. If you lived anywhere outside of town, you didn't get it until town had had it for many years, as a general

rule.

Makes sense, but I was focusing on the travails of
having to match up these systems together to build a
nationwide network, whenever that happened.

There must have been some sort of standards for telephone wire,
switches, etc that was required. Another option would have been for the companies to work out some sort of replacement purchase of the "standard
stuff" when merging, then pass the cost on to the customers.

conglomerates running most of the phone service in the

country. > ML> A consolidated phone system has its advantages. My

preference would be for a nonprofit ogranization
to run it or at least oversee it.

Chances of that are pretty much slim to none and slim is out to

lunch.

It would take a catastrophe of world war proportions
to clean out all the nonsense and get people to think
about a sensible plan - such as WWII did with the
public transportation systems in Asia and Europe.

Don't know if that would do it. Probably lone wolf types would set up rudimentary systems to get communications re-esablished and not want to
tie into a national system.

in the US at least. By the way, I have not mentioned See's,
which is not notably superior to the others but costs a
whole pantload more. Warren Buffett owns that.

I've been in See's shops a few times, tho not in many years. They

always > did seem pricey, even way back when; I don't recall buying anything.

Even in my relatively wealthy periods I've balked at
See's prices, especially as one can do better for less.
I did make an exception for my friend Ella Lou, for whom
See's was the be-all and end-all, so I'd occasionally
buy a small assortment for her. She's since deceased, so
no more of that silly behavior.

Saving you a bit of pocket change now.

any U of A games > but I have seen several names I remember as

U of A > ML> stars either in the > big time now or recently retired.

U of A and ASU both have contributed many major
league players.

I don't know as much about ASU but was also thinking of football, basketball, softball in addition to MLB. But, since its been a good number of years since we lived in the state, I think most of the

"names" > I knew are no longer in pro sports.

Well, that shows your and my age more than the condition
of the sports programs at those schools.

True, but also there are ups and downs with any sports cycle, either professional or otherwise. Wake Forest High School just lost their first regular season game in 6 years, also broke a 45 game win streak, by
losing their season opener. They won the next game so don't know which
way the season will go.

Certainly a pound cake recipe should not be hard to

find. > ML> > They aren't, but a good one is harder to find.

I would have thought that a bad one was hard to find.
Not that I've done a close study of the matter.

Depends on your definition of "good". You can make a cake from a box

mix > that might be better than some made from scratch but overall, I think > the latter beats the former.

Yeah, but everything depends on your definition
of good.

Very true.

cooking stuff, but it agitated for a Thanksgiving

holiday and > ML> > ML> to that end printed recipes for many dishes
that we associate > ML> > ML> with holidays to this day.

Sarah (something) Hale, IIRC, was the push behind that.

I believe that's true and also that she was the
editor of Godey's when that was her project.

True, from what I recall having read about her.

Besides, the river is on the flat land. (G)

Everything points to the taverns being riverside.

Makes the most sense.

And hauling barrels of beer up a hill just doesn't
make sense. Whereas having scholars haul themselves
up hills seems more plausible.

Apparantly so.

That's our thoughts. Just sent in our passports for renewal.

Good move.

Figured better to have them valid and ready to go than to have to

rush > one thru. Still an expensive propisition but not like a rushed
one would > be.

If you have no wish to go abroad, there's no point,
but even of you have no concrete plans, it's only, what,
$16 a year, and a vague idea might turn into more faster
than you think.

We know we'll be going thru Canada on the drive to Alaska--passport card
will work there but I don't think we could have just renewed the cards.
Better to be prepared tho, just in case we want to take a trip overseas.

Surprised that they were enjoyed as much as they were, tho?

Nothing much surprises me. Some people even like zucchini.

And some like a cow walked thru a warm room.

What's this warm room stuff?

When I was a kid, one of our school principals and his wife were part of
the social group my parents associated with. Several couples had
anniversaries in the same general time frame so they'd get together and
go out for supper. Turned out that the principal liked a very rare steak
so they used to tease that he just wanted the cow to walk thru a warm
room before being slaughtered.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Are you sure you really want to know that?

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)