Of course I ended up working on Labor Day. It's tradition, after all.

But it gets worse! I knew I would be very busy this week, so I wrote a series of entries over the weekend following up on how I've been buying picture frames every payday to start hanging up my various collectibles and prints and such. I took a photo of what got hung up, wrote about how, when, where, and why I ended up with the piece, then moved on to the next entry.

And then lost everything.

Except the photos.

So now I guess I've got something to blog about (again) sometime in the future.

I guess I'm on a blogcation until Saturday then.

Since I frickin' lost all the entries I had written for this week and am having to go back and remember what I must have been doing during this incredibly busy week.

Work, mostly.

And while I work? The many adaptations of Agatha Christie's fantastic murder mystery sleuth, Miss Marple. My mom was a huge Christie fan and I'd read the books she got from the library after she finished them. It was a natural progression from the Encyclopedia Brown books of my youth.

But anyway, back to adaptations...

My most favorite adaptation of Marple is the two TV movies starring Helen Hayes... A Caribbean Mystery and Murder with Mirrors. To this day I remain gutted that we didn't get another movie or six from her, because she added such a flawless and effortless air of mischief to the character.

Before Helen Hayes we got a different take on Marple by Angela Lansbury in The Mirror Crack'd. The movie was a good one, but Lansbury was much better suited to playing Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote (which my mom also loved). Alas, the movie didn't do well at the box office, killing a planned trilogy.

Joan Hickson is widely seen as the "definitive" Miss Marple by many, and her adaptations of the 12 novels are legend. What's bizarre is that Agatha Christie herself wanted Hickson to eventually play the character after seeing her in a play in the 1940's. It's bizarre because this series didn't start filming until 1984. Which means Christie was seeing the actor 40 years before she would play the role, and died before she saw Hickson realize her dream casting choice. Of all the adaptations made, this series is probably the most faithful (or, as faithful as it could be given that so much time had passed since the books were written).

And then we come to Marple... the adaptation which wasn't much of an adaptation which ran from 2004-2009. Granted, it's been so long since I read the books that I'm a bit fuzzy on details, but this series plopped Marple into stories she wasn't actually in and changed some major plot points of the books in which she did. As if that weren't enough, they invented details of Marple's life which don't remotely fit the character (she's always been a spinster, but this show gave her the back-story of having had an affair with a married man in the second episode?!?). Geraldine McEwan starred in the first three series and was fine... but the entire appeal of Marple is that she's a sweet old lady. Instead they wrote her as slightly more aggressive in this series, so the charm just wasn't there. When she retired and the role was taken by Julia Mckenzie, they kinda realized the error of their ways and reverted her personality back to the sweet old lady from the novels. Which is to say that I liked the final three series quite a bit more than the first three, and there were some excellent episodes. Even so, the Hickson series still manages to top anything we got here.

And now we're in 2025 where apparently we're getting new Miss Marple movie adaptations after the success of the Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot films. I'll watch them, of course, but I didn't think any of the three modern Poirot adaptations were as good as what came before. Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express) and Peter Ustinov (Death on the Nile) were sublime in their respective film adaptations, and David Suchet's take on Hallowe'en Party (which became A Haunting in Venice) is also my preferred adaptation. But still... I'll hope for the best.

No matter what happens, the books still exist*

   
*Albeit with the racism, antisemitism, and other bits edited out for modern audiences.

It's gotten to the point where I'm afraid to read the news.

I keep adding key words to automatically delete the horrors of the day from my feed reader but, with new horrors arriving daily, it's a never-ending battle. Just when I think I've filtered out everything that sends my anxiety skyrocketing, heeeeeeere comes dread and despair!

The sad thing is that I usually pride myself on being up on current events and well-informed about what's going on in the world... but this? This?!??

Where is that world-ending giant meteor when you really need it?

I am at such a loss as to understand how our toxic society became "anti-science" that I feel like I must be insane.

But then I saw something which put it in clear perspective for me...

And there it is.

Science has been such a huge fucking miracle in our lives that we can't conceive of what life was like before the discoveries we've been blessed with. And so kids are dying from preventable diseases and laws are in process to deny people from even having the option to get vaccinated.

Welcome to the death cult mentality which is fucking up the entire world.

And... fire season has arrived.

I honestly thought that we'd somehow get away without a local fire filling the valley with smoke. Fires were around us all Summer, they always are this time of year, but we never had such bad air quality that I ended up sick. Until today when I could barely function at work and had to leave for part of the day.

Allergies suck bad enough when it's pollen... but smoke? That goes past being uncomfortable to debilitating shades of misery and suffering. I feel my lungs itching from inside and there's nothing that can fix it. Breathing is tough. And eating anything more than crackers is impossible.

So here I sit confined to my house with air purifiers on full-blast and every entry sealed... eating soda crackers and drinking 7-Up Zero while trying to ignore the fact that I wish I could pass out from having been outside.

Hopefully things will clear up over the weekend so I won't have to go through this all over again on Monday.

After taking yet another massive allergy pill so I could get a whole four hours sleep last night, I'm exhausted but recovering. My lungs don't feel itchy and I can eat real food.

But it's a different matter entirely for my cats. Who want to go out in the catio. Bad.

I keep showing Jake the air quality reading on my phone and telling him "It's too smokey for little kitty lungs outside!" But he sits there looking outside and crying because I've blocked the door to the catio...

It's particularly upsetting at night, because he sits there and howls because he can't get out. While I'm trying to wind down and rest. Fortunately I can call down to him and he'll come up and fall asleep next to me, because... yikes.

Jenny was upset at first, but resigned herself to the fact that she can't go out.

Which is good, because there's so much smoke out that you wouldn't know it's Summer. If not for the heat, you'd swear it was an overcast Winter day. And I really, really don't need my cats going in and out and brining smoke in with them.

In July they don't want to be outside in the heat very often any way. But September? Prime catio season...

Reeeeeeally hoping that this fire gets under control soon... but at over 9,000 acres and counting, it's not likely. Which means come Monday I'm going to have to leave my house for work and get sick, sick, sick again.

Which is nothing compared to the suffering by my cats not being able to go outside, of course (just ask them!).

The wildfire smoke may have me cowering in my home, but life goes on... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Imperial Forces! Well this is epic...

When I was sent this TikTok, I marveled at the fact that this cat even allows the helmet to be put on his head. My cats would run off the second I even got the helmet near their heads.

   
• Gadget Time! Speaking of 3D printing...

It's enough to make me want to buy a 3D printer, except I know I'd never be this clever. Here's another video by the same guy...

I mean, come on. All of these are genius.

   
• DIYphone! Speaking of 3D printing... this right here is one of the coolest things you'll see all day. Guy made his own phone with clicky keyboard. The patience required to work through all this is mind-boggling...

Brah. The fact that the result is so killer is just icing on the cake. Instant subscribe to Marcin Plaza's YouTube Channel, which is brilliant, clever, and funny. And worth your valuable time.

   
• Pi Times Two! Speaking of 3D printing... and now... this...

Now, I know this is nothing compared to the earliest days of computing where the components of the computers themselves had to be built... but, still... this kind of thing is pretty amazing. 3D printing is making it possible to do all kinds of cool stuff.

   
• Neat! I was given a link to this article: Obscure But Badass Folks You Should Know About, which is exactly what it claims to be. AND THEN... I fell down the very large rabbit hole that is Neatorama. You've been warned.

   
• More Mitchell! A while ago I shared a video of David Mitchell's rants from the brilliant Would I Lie To You. Well, here's more laugh out loud moments...

I swear, the Royal Wedding statement, which I've watched multiple times now... always, always gets me.

   
And now back to being a hermit.

What's worse than having a smoke allergy during wildfires? Vomiting so hard that you throw your back into spasm, so now you have two things to torment you.*

On Saturday morning I was feeling so much better. But then nausea returned with a vengeance that night. I had anti-nausea pills left from something, which helped... but they were gone before I knew it and I had to wait until today for that plus some muscle relaxers for the stabbing pain in my back when I move. Or, Lord help me, cough.

Or, you know, violently throw up because you thought pasta salad was a good move.

Fortunately, laying on a heating pad got me through Sunday and the pills got me through my work day today (and I was able to keep dry toast down) so it was more of the same, I suppose.

There was a good thing that happened though.

While laying on the heating pad all day yesterday, I ran across an Australian show on Hulu which is one of the best things I've seen in a minute. I was going to take a pass because it deals with self-harm, but the trailer looked so good...

And I'm ever so glad I watched it.

It tackles a difficult, sensitive, and painful subject with wit, charm, and compassion... and is entertaining on top of it all. Exactly the diversion I needed, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I'm probably going to watch it again very soon.

There is one lingering question I have about the series that I won't say here because it could spoil things. Maybe it will be answered in the second season. Or maybe it never will because it's supposed to be up to the viewer. It doesn't matter. What does matter is how much I loved In Limbo.

Highest recommendation.

   
   
*Aside from the usual torments of daily life, of course.

When you're having to lay on a heating pad from the time you get back from work to the time you wake up because you don't want to have to dig into the muscle relaxer pills for your back, you end up watching a lot of television.

Or, as in my case, YouTube videos.

Here's what occupied my time laying around last night...

First of all, this video right here is everything I love about YouTube. Clever, funny people doing clever, funny things. I've seen Isaac Carlton videos before (and probably shared them), but this one is a great example of what he does so well...

Next up... As much as I loved the original The Matrix, I loathed the sequels. They were outright shitty excuses for stories because they were so far up their asses trying to be esoteric and cerebral and "smart" between the action that they forgot to be entertaining (then we got The Matrix Resurrections, which was somehow even worse). But every once in a while I run across a sequence from the sequels that almost makes me want to watch them again. The highway chase from Reloaded being at the top of the list. Sure, some of the effects are badly dated (the Agent jumping on cars is hilariously bad), but it doesn't change what a cool action sequence it was. Especially for the day. It's just such a shame that it was sandwiched between such shit...

And lastly (because I've got stuff I need to get to, not because I only watched three videos)... I honestly do not understand how Josh Johnson can be this brilliant every time. He never seems to run out of material. Most comics would recycle the same routines over and over and over. With Josh he's just on to the next hilarious bit...

And there you have it. Hope you didn't fall into and Isaac Carlton or The Matrix or Josh Johnson rabbit hole from this post.

But there are certainly worse ways to spend your time.

My days of running out and upgrading to Apple's latest and greatest are apparently over.

Because I've never been so overwhelmingly meh about a keynote that I can remember.

iPhone Pro Max 17
It's not that I wouldn't love to upgrade my 16 Pro Max to the latest model... I've always upgraded because of the cameras, and the improvements there are very nice indeed. 48MP cameras across the board on the rear, allowing for even more amazing "deep fusion" photos. A longer zoom. A 56% bigger sensor. Better low-light performance. Yes to all of that. And if I were still traveling regularly, I'd probably jump at it. But I'm not. I mostly take photos of my cats, and I can do that just fine with what I've got now. Everything else that's new doesn't mean much to me. My existing battery life, CPU speed, screen, enclosure, and the rest are already more than I already utilize. And what Apple "Intelligence" features I got in the year since they were supposed to be included on the 16 Pro don't impress me at all. I never use them because they're crap. I do like the orange color, having been dying for a Pro model that isn't drab and boring like we always used to get.

iPhone Air
I guess if all you wanted was a super thin and light iPhone, this is the model for you. But I want a phone for the camera, which is to say that this is not the phone for me.

iPhone 17
I guess if all you wanted was a less expensive iPhone Pro, this is the model for you. But I want a phone for the camera, which is to say that this is not the phone for me.

Apple Watch Ultra 3
Even if the size wasn't total overkill for me, the feature set would be. I'd make an exception if I were into the activities that the watch was designed for, but I'm just... not.

AirPods Pro 3
Even though these are the newest AirPods, you'd be forgiven for thinking they weren't given how there's AirPods 4 out there already. Regardless, Apple seems to be basing the price on how good the noise cancelation is. None is $129. Active is $179. World's Best Active is $249 (with Live Translation tossed in). I think the AirPods I own are the original Pro models, and they are still everything I need. Except the battery life is tanking, making them soon-to-be-unuseable. Which I'm sure is exactly what Apple is counting on... built in time bomb so you have to purchase new ones. Just like my Beats that died. At this point I think I'd rather go back to corded.

And so... guess I'm saving my money this time.

Even though it means I'm losing my Certified Apple Whore™ cred.

My back muscles must be getting weak in my old age, because I've vomited plenty of times in my life and never ended up with a back spasm. But now? Apparently it's cause enough.

And do you want to know the worst part of laying down after work for the rest of the day so you can try to heal instead of having to take muscle relaxers for a month? It's the filth.

I am not an immaculate housekeeper (except for my kitchen, which I try to keep very clean at all times because I make meals there). But I do try to make sure that I clean up any messes I make, pick up after the cats, and keep the place clean enough that I'm not mortified if somebody drops by.

Except now I can't. Every room is a mess. There's a paper towel I dropped two days ago on the living room floor. The bathroom was already overdue for cleaning. I've got dirty clothes thrown everywhere. There's cracker crumbs by my bed, in my bed, next to the counch, on the couch, and in the couch. Plus the sink is full of dirty dishes. Which mostly belong to the cats because I've been on an all-cracker diet. Which would be fine except fish residue smells after a few days. Badly.

Tonight I finally couldn't take it any more and decided to load the dishwasher as carefully as possible. Only the top rack so I don't have to bend over too far. The silverware I put in the rack on the dishwasher door instead of in the bottom rack like I usually do because it seems they would get cleaner there. I only managed to get the rack on one of the two pegs, but close enough.

Everything was going fine.

Until I bent over to get a soap pellet from the bottom shelf of the cupboard without thinking.

There goes my pill-free day.

So now I'm back on the couch waiting for the muscle relaxer to kick in so I can make my way up the stairs to bed.

In all honesty, I thought climbing in and out of my car would be my downfall, not cat dishes.

I thought I would wake up in serious back pain after re-injuring it by trying to run my dishwasher.

But I didn't toss and turn in my sleep and woke up laying on my heating pad the same as I fell asleep. Now, granted, I only managed to sleep 4 hours and 10 minutes (according to my Apple Watch), but still... I was quite happy, because my back felt... fine?!? Last thing I remember my cats were both next to me, but only Jake remained when I woke up.

Well, fine enough that I didn't end up taking a muscle relaxer, but it was far from great. Though when I got home I vacuumed the floor without issue, so maybe resting over the weekend will heal me up that I can have a semi-normal week next week.

Now, I realize it's not Caturday until tomorrow, but I am compelled to share the photo I took before falling asleep yesterday. Jake is infamous for hopping on the bed where Jenny is sleeping and laying on top of her legs or her head or whatever. Except last night Jake lay down just next to her, and I was thrilled that he didn't disturb her spot since she was there first.

Then he started kicking his legs, waking her up (again), before he finally stuck one of his legs through hers. She was, as you'd imagine, thrilled...

Thank heavens I was looking at my phone at the time this happened. Usually I miss photos of moments like this.

But then she fell back asleep, so no harm no foul, I guess?

Until sometime in the middle of the night Jake did something to make her scamper off.

With the catio closed all week because of my wildfire smoke allergy, the cats have been depressed. Jenny hasn't been dealing with the situation well at all. Sure she doesn't sit in front of the cat door and cry like Jake. But she checks several times whether the door is open.

Just Jenny... contemplating her life choices that lead to the catio being closed for business...

As usual, there's almost zero chance of taking her photo without her noticing...

Jake has been frustrated indeed that stuff is going on outside the window and he can't go investigate...

He's mostly been sleeping. He can sleep for hours...

Then one day when I got home the smoke wasn't terrible. So I opened the catio door. Jenny went out for five minutes and came running back in. Jake waited a few more...

Oh well. I just had to close the cat door again the next morning.

More smoky days ahead, but it would seem I can still blog while being trapped indoors... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• AI is Still Shit: Part 1,683! Dang. Googling my own blog to find something... and seeing their AI summary at the top is scary as hell. "Gemini" is drawing some very good conclusions each time, but missing the point entirely on a lot of things I've posted. Sarcasm and humor are left out of the equation, which means what I was intending to convey is badly misrepresented. Kinda freaking me out that people will see what Google is telling them and think that's what I was saying. But that's AI for you. Anybody who trusts it entirely needs to drastically reevaluate what they're being told.

   
• Unboxed! Marques Brownlee will be reviewing all the new iPhones in short order, but I wanted to reiterate how gutted I am that we finally get a brightly-colored iPhone Pro the minute I decide I'm going to pass on upgrading. Just look at how awesome it looks...

Yeah... the orange color paired with the camera lenses being upgraded (not to mention the sensor) almost makes me want to upgrade. Almost.

   
• Jaws! My current mood...

Cats are fiesty, that's for sure.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Whey to go: Is cheese the new reason to travel? It always has been. Going to the Kaasmuseum (Dutch Cheese Museum in Alkmaar) became a life ambition the moment I found out it existed. That's why you always travel for cheese! Parmesan and mozzarella in Italy. Cheddar in England and Canada. Feta in Greece. Butterkässe in Germany. Pepper cheese in Australia. Camembert in France. Cotija and Queso Fresco, and Oaxaca in Mexico. Manchego in Spain. Queso Tico in Costa Rica. Provoleta in Argentina. Sakura in Japan. I didn't have a specific cheese in Korea that I can remember, but I DO remember their corn cheese! And of course ALL THE CHEESE IN THE NETHERLANDS! I don't eat so much cheese now, but I would still travel for cheese!

   
• Big! This really takes me back. The interesting thing to note here is that projection TV technology was shit back in the day. If you don't view it directly-head-on, you can't see the picture well at all. Viewing from off the side was impossible...

Of course now people are thrilled to have their entire living room taken over by a television. I know I am!

   
• NEWSFLASH: Child dies of horrifying measles complication in Los Angeles. Herd immunity is failing now that anti-vaxers have created the society they’ve been dreaming of. And the death toll is only going to rise. This is horribly sad. Herd immunity is critical for protecting people unable to be vaccinated... like babies. How the fuck did we get here?

   
And now back to our regularly-scheduled wildfire season.

After recovering all weekend by staying out of the wildfire smoke, it was back outside to go to work today.

Somehow I survived.

Though it doesn't really feel like it, because if not for the smoke I would have been out and about over the weekend. Summer days are growing short, and it would be nice to take advantage of that. Not that I can complain too much, because I did some more things framed and hung up... and was able to clean a good chunk of my house now that my back spasms are mostly gone.

Not that I was feeling well enough to scrub the bathrooms... but I did vacuum. And that counts.

Despite the fact that I'm a vegetarian, I've been wildly adventurous with experiencing world cuisine. So long as there wasn't any meat or mushrooms in it, I would try just about anything. I've had some incredibly spicy curries and questionable preparation of various foods... but my stomach is like cast iron, and I've never been worse for wear. And that's been the case for as long as I can remember.

What I am very easily affected by are medications. Which is the reason that I try to take as few of them as I can.

But sometimes it's unavoidable if I want to... you know... live, and stuff. Or, at the very least, live comfortably.

The latest I'm having to take came with a list of side-effects. And high up on that list is diarrhea. Which is to say that I'm 100% guaranteed to get it. Which is fine, because Imodium exists. But it's not like I am dying to take that because sometimes it causes more problems than diarrhea does.

Like I said, medications are problematic.

So it's a gambling game.

Is the gurgling in my intestines going to end up being bad enough that I should take the Imodium? Or will it be a minor event and I can proceed safely through my day without it?

As you can imagine, guessing wrong can have very dire consequences indeed.

So as I get older, I find myself less and less willing to chance a diarrhea incident gone terribly wrong. Which is why I'm seriously thinking about buying stock in the company that makes Imodium.

Sure it's insider trading, but who doesn't listen to their bowels when considering investments?

If you're fascinated by my adventures with growing tiny tomatoes... AND WHY WOULDN'T YOU BE?... you'll be sad to know that my tomato yields have been dropping quickly. There's still a good-sized tomato & feta salad left on the vine, but they're not ripening evenly. So I only get a small handful at a time.

Which means my salads can no longer be main courses. All I've left are side salads...

Still incredibly delicious though. It will be very hard to go back to store-bought after having home-grown, which can't even begin to compare.

I guess we'll all have to wait and see if anything else will ripen enough to be useable. Fingers crossed.

The last thing I remember seeing Robert Redford in is Avengers: Endgame. Turns out other than a voiceover and an uncredited cameo appearance in a television show he produced, that was his last real role. I actually think that's kind of cool, but also quite sad, so it's tough to know where my head is at. On one hand, he went out in one of the biggest movies of all time and was awesome in it. On the other, it was a comic book movie, and his acting talent was so beautifully nuanced that I can't help but feel his last film should have been something else.

But anyway... Redford was Alexander Pierce in the Marvel comic book movies, and was absolutely wonderful in the role. Captain America: The Winter Soldier remains one of the best super-hero movies ever made, and that's due in part to his performance.

But the film which he will forever be remembered for by me is, of course, Sneakers.

I love that movie so much, and was thrilled that Redford's character was so flawlessly cast...

But then again, they were all flawlessly cast.

I think the first thing I ever saw Redford in was The Natural. But it might have been a VHS rental of All the President's Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Candidate, Three Days of he Condor, or perhaps The Sting.

But the thing I will always remember him for most are Sneakers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Up Close & Personal, Indecent Proposal, and... Legal Eagles?!?

This Redford flick co-starred Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah... and was not great. Nor was it particularly memorable. I just remember it because I saw it on a date that didn't go particularly well.

And so... I'm going to work my way through the Redford movies I loved starting this weekend. Maybe a new favorite will emerge, but it's pretty tough to think that any of his movies could ever top Sneakers.

But who knows? I've never seen The Way We Were, Barefoot in the Park, or Out of Africa because they definitely don't seem like my kind of movie... but maybe if I'm adventurous enough, I'll find out

My comfort level, as of late, is dependent on the wind.

If the wildfire smoke is blowing out of the valley, I'm able to have a (relatively) normal day. But if the wind direction is blowing it into the valley, I prepare myself to have a miserable day.

The good news is that my body is tolerating the allergy pills better now that I've been taking them for a couple weeks, so at least I don't have to worry about not being able to keep food down (and, consequently, throwing my back into spasm from vomiting). I also don't have to worry quite so much about itchy lungs, which is the absolute worst. Nothing quite like an itch there's no way to scratch because it's inside of you, and gets worse with each breath.

So, yeah, with the exception of insomnia (which is as bad as it's ever been), everything is peachy-keen.

Half my kingdom for an off switch.

I have completely given up trying to manage my cats.

They do whatever they want and I don't even bother trying to restrict their behavior because now that they're old and cranky (like me) they just don't care. About anything. Fortunately, there are some rules that have been in place since they were small so they don't misbehave because it's engrained into them. Things like scratching furniture or jumping up on the kitchen counters. Sometimes they "forget," but it's rare because they still remember aluminum foil covering the countertops and sticky tape on the furniture legs.

But then there's the dining table.

For whatever reason, they categorically refuse to stop jumping on top of it. No matter how many times I shoo them off, they will hop back on... sometimes minutes after they've been removed. No idea why this is one of those things that they're so intent on doing, but nothing seems to work that keeps them off.

So now I just put a towel on the table and that's that...

If I ever need to actually use the table, I still scrub it down with anti-bacterial scrub... but the fact that Jake and Jenny always stay on the towel when they're on the table is enough to keep me from losing my mind.

So I'm chalking this up as a win.

Even though everybody knows I'm taking the L here.

It's a cold, dreary, and wet day, so I'm guessing Fall must be here, but I won't be wasting time mourning the end of Summer... because an all new ALL FOOD & EATING Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Food Talk! I fell down another rabbit hole on the internet... this time with a podcast called Lunchbox Envy. The episodes are like potato chips in that you can't watch just one. There's also a clips channel with short videos that have interesting food facts...

Food is always interesting because it reflects the culture and environment of the people eating it. But there's something to be said about discussing interesting things about the food you eatmin your own culture.

   
• Plum Sweet! I could watch bats eating all day long...

Bats are adorable in all the right ways. But bats eating is next level.

   
• Taters! I've had all these dishes because I love potatoes so much, and have tried well over 100 recipes for them...

I'm a little sad that the Japanese croquet included meat, because when I was traveling to Japan, the way they make them without meat is amazing because of how they're seasoned. The most interesting option here is the Turkish baked potato, which I had without the hot dog. It seems a weird combination of toppings, but it really works... and I need to make one soon, because I haven't had it in at least a decade. And I can make it with a veggie dog!

   
• We'll Be Having Eggs! Chef José Andrés broke the internet when he unveiled his secret for an amazing omelette in less than a minute (on Rogan, of all places). It's just and egg with mayonnaise mixed in. I had one this morning and can verify that it is indeed very delicious and very easy to make...

I have been buying microwaveable frozen omelettes because I don't eat a lot of eggs any more, and don't want them expiring. I am very curious to know if the José Andrés omelettes can be frozen and still taste good, because that would be a lot cheaper.

   
• Sliced! Slicing bread is not an overwhelming task. You pull out a serrated knife and you start sawing it. But when you make a lot of bread, a tool like this looks pretty fantastic, just because it looks like it makes perfectly even slices...

But the problem with stuff like this? You then have to clean it. Which doesn't look fun at all.

   
• Food Map! D gets me Southern Italy, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, a good chunk of Greece, Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Turkey, a nice chunk of the Middle East, the Philippines, and more? Sign me up...

I would badly miss Mexican and African cuisine... and I'd be missing most of the European dishes I wouldn't get... but, yeah, D... second choice G. They have the best variety of what I most love to eat.

   
• UtiliBread! I have a sourdough starter that I use for absolutely everything bread-related. From loaves to pizza crust to hamburger buns... it's good for anything I could want. Then I found this interesting no-knead dough that I very much want to try sometime...

Because you can never have too much bread!

   
• Umami Whammy! It's bizarre to me how MSG is in so many foods, yet people treat it like some kind of toxic chemical or something (seriously, look at the ingredients on a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and get back to me). The misinformation campaign started as a way of discrediting foreign foods (MSG is a staple of Asian cooking), and became urban legend so people think it causes headaches or whatever. And yet most people are eating it without knowing and don't seem to complain? Well, I love the stuff. It only takes a small amount, and I put it in many foods that I make (it makes potato salad and vegetarian meat-substitutes sing). This guy does a test which compares common foods with and without MSG, and it's a pretty great video which mirrors my experience...

So... if you want to add some mouthwatering appeal to your cooking and ignore the misinformation that plagues it, try just a small amount of MSG and find out if it makes a difference to you.

   
• Cost of Living? Can anybody tell me to get those cheaper groceries that were promised on "Day One?" Because I just paid an astronomical sum for a very small amount of groceries. The only thing that seems to be down in price are eggs (which makes sense because the chicken population is being restored after so many were killed because of the Avian flu). Alas, I don't eat many eggs... so that means I'm paying more for everything I'm buying. Price indexes say we're paying 29% more than 2020, but that actually seems an understatement, because the size of products is decreasing as prices are increasing. And the prices are only going to get worse... likely far worse... because tariffs, deportations of agriculture workers, and climate change are driving up prices with no end in sight. Just like economists said would happen before the election. I don't understand how somebody who prioritizes personal gain and funneling money to his wealthy corporate donors while knowing nothing about how tariffs work was ever going to be a solution to high prices. The guy bankrupted a casino... A CASINO! And where is all that tariff money going? Tax breaks for billionaires, I'm guessing.

   
I should probably go out and start pulling all my dying plants for compost, but it's not at all pleasant outside so I guess I'm holding off on that. Instead I think I'll cook something because I'm hungry all of a sudden.

Today's internet rabbit hole brought to you by... THE END OF DAYS!

It's supposed to happen, yet again, sometime tonight or tomorrow, assumably depending on which time zone you're in. This latest date for the Rapture is courtesy of a South African pastor who said that Jesus Christ told him directly when it was happening back in June.

And despite the fact that these things never come true, people are totally believing the guy.

I've watched a lot of their TikToks. All of the video creators claiming to be devout Christians.

Which I highly doubt, because if they had read their Bible they would have seen Matthew 24:36, which addresses the time for End of Days thusly...

"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Which is to say that the odds of God telling some pastor somewhere when the Rapture is coming before Jesus even knows he's coming back is laughably crazy.

Let's continue with Matthew 24:37-39, shall we?

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

How the fuck is that in ANY way unclear? God is not dropping by with a warning about the return of Jesus. To anybody. According to the Bible, you'll be out living your life and... BLAM! Heeeeeeeere's Jesus!

But anyway...

If you never hear from me again, it's because I've been Raptured and am chillin' in heaven at the Supper of the Lamb with JC.

I'm sure I'll be forgiven for not believing yet another random person claiming to have been told when the world was ending.

I somehow forgot the reason why I didn't pre-order Fantastic Four: First Steps. Namely, they're charging $30 for it.

So when I got home and saw an ad that it was released, I actually got excited for a second. Then I saw $30 and was puzzled all over again. I will happily pay $20 for a movie I am dying to see. Might pay $25, if it's something special (like this one). But thirty fucking dollars?!?? No thanks. To rent the thing is $25, but I refuse to pay that much money for something I can't watch again whenever I want...

What's really weird is that Marvel is pricing the film like it was some box office smash that people can't wait to see (or see again). Sure it made a half-billion dollars... but it can't touch the nearly three billion that Avengers: Endgame hauled in. Seriously... thirty dollars?!??

I'm honestly trying to think if there's any movie I would pay that amount for. And I honestly don't think there is.

Oh well. I'm sure it will be on sale fairly soon.

The wildfire smoke was back with a vengeance this morning, which made for a miserable day. I masked up in a futile attempt to not end up with itchy lungs, which is the worst, but to no avail. I had to drive into the Big City after lunch and ended up pulling over on the way back to puke my guts out into my car's garbage bag. Doesn't get more fun than that.

After stopping by home to brush my teeth, I went back to work and felt like dying for two hours. Then I drove home and have felt like dying for four more hours.

The good news is that the Air Quality Index dropped from a hazardous 294 to a slightly less hazardous 257.

The bad news is that it will probably still be smokey enough to make me sick tomorrow.

Also the bad news... more misinformation bullshit has been unleashed upon an unsuspecting world... vaccines AND Tylenol causes autism now?!? God. I suppose not even the fact that the World Health Organization has declared there's no evidence of any of this will make no difference. Just throw it on the ever-growing pile of idiocy that's going to fuck over humanity. I mean, if people believe the earth is flat, they'll believe anything.

Meanwhile, I'm off to bed way too early in the hopes that I can somehow fall asleep so my lungs can clear out and not feel fuzzy and itchy any more. Where's my Tylenol PM?

Picture it...

You just spent $3,500 on a new smart refrigerator. It has a 32-inch touchscreen on it where you can see your calendar, display messages to your family, show your security camera feeds... even display photos and reminders! Not only that, but there's cameras inside so you can see inside your fridge while at the store... and AI watches what you put in and take out so it can remind you when you're running low on something. As if that wasn't enough, the doors open by touch sensor, so there's no having to grab for a handle when you've got your hands full. Smart drawers can be adjusted for different tasks... from keeping frozen foods frozen to keeping vegetables fresh!

Sure it cost you $3,500, but just look at all the features you get! It's everything you never knew you needed in life!

And then...

Samsung decides that they're going to display ads on your refrigerator's screen.

$3,500 for a refrigerator that turns into a billboard.

And this is everything that's wrong with modern companies. They cannot fucking stop selling you shit. They want those sweet ad dollars, and don't care how much you fucking hate them for it. Because money...

It's like Netflix all over again. The entire appeal of Netflix was the fact that you didn't have to sit through ads. But now you have to pay a shit-ton of money to get an ad-free experience. All the other streaming channels are the same. With the exception of AppleTV+, I think, but surely it's just a matter of time?

I find stuff like this Samsung bullshit to be outrageous. If I owned one of these refrigerators and was told that now I'm going to be sold ads ON SOMETHING I FULLY PAID FOR, I would sue. Sue like the wind.

Then I would use all the money I won to go ad-free on my new refrigerator.

My view on the way home yesterday felt like the End of Days.

A canyon outside of town is under immediate evacuation. Air tanker planes are flying overhead, shaking the house and freaking out the cats. The fire began 24 days ago. Now 31,000 acres are in flames. Winds are making containment difficult. We could really use rain... but I worry that it could come with lightning and start more fires...

I honestly thought we'd escape a major fire this season. Guess not.

The wildfire smoke has been so bad that I ended up taking the weekend off. From everything. Including blogging.

Despite the fact that I cowered in my home with air purifiers on full power... Saturday was residual misery from going to work in heavy smoke on Friday, and Sunday I made the mistake of taking out the garbage without a mask. In a city which I would later learn had the worst air quality in the entire country.

Fires to t he North. Fires to the South. And I read that some people are starting to wonder if the fires might merge. At which point I will be evacuating along with the rest of the city.

Personally, I think it's unlikely. As the weather cools and rain is forecast, fire containment by our firefighters seems the safer bet. Fortunately, it's not July right now, or I'd be pretty worried.

Well, more worried than usual.

   
Why do I watch the news? It just keeps getting worse and worse.