Done for the summer

 Too tired to blog. Mood up and down like Mary's pants a picnic following American and Ukrainian news.

See you in the fall.

The Case of the Poison Mushrooms

 

Sketch by Debra She Who Seeks

Bill, the beat cop, knocked on my door one fine spring morning. Since he was off duty, I poured two glasses of Scotch and prepared to listen. “What do you know about mushrooms”, he said.

“Some days, I think I am one. I am usually kept in the dark and fed horse manure”.

“We have a problem. A man died from eating poison mushrooms his wife made him, but we don’t know if it was accidental or not”.

“I had a case where a woman lost two husbands to poison mushrooms, and a third one by drowning. I asked how come he drowned, and she replied he wouldn’t eat his mushrooms. Can you imagine the first people to eat mushrooms? This one tastes like beef; this one killed Gary, and this one made me see angels for a week”.

“His wife is from Moscow. They go crazy in mushroom season and every year a dozen people get lost in the forest picking mushrooms. They pick and dry mushrooms by the kilogram”.

“Maybe an accident, maybe not. Did he have life insurance?”

“He took out a large policy a couple years ago naming his wife as beneficiary”.

“Not too bright. Mine is in my oldest’ name. She used to work with street gangs. Maybe I should worry too?”

“We seized her supply of dried mushrooms. Different kinds in different bags. She said her husband picked the bag that killed him. It was likely on top of the pile. Deliberately or coincidentally, we don’t know. She is pleading ignorance that they were poisonous.”

“Not bloody likely. Muscovites know their ‘shrooms. I only know meadow mushrooms in the wild and they are the same as the ones in the shops.”

“Me, too. As a kid on my grandmother’s farm, after a spring rain, I would only pick the meadow mushrooms. White tops, flesh coloured underneath”.

"You could never get this to stand up in court since she said he picked the bag of mushrooms and you have her word she did not know they were poisonous. You either have an unfortunate accident or the perfect murder."

Sex Crimes Against Children

 This is not the blog post I intended but ran into this link  https://www.whoismakingnews.com/

The Republicans and Evangelicals are constantly accusing LGBTQ of "grooming" children. Yet every day on @Threads, I see articles about cis-males sexually assaulting children or in possession of pictures of others assaulting them. Kristen Browde, a parent, lawyer, activist and out transgender woman, collected data on 10,885 cases between February 10, 2023 and May 23, 2014, discarded 4205 cases that did not provide details of the person involved and charted the remainder. All the information below can be found on her website.

The people in the gray circle "Other" is a list of any occupation you can name

Metric Time - the greatest April Fools Joke of all time

April 1st, 1975 - Radio announcers Wally Stambuck and Denny Carr of Saskatoon's CFQC 'Wal ‘n Den Show' pull off one of the best April Fool's jokes of all time when they make an 'official' news report that Canada will be switching to "Metric Time".

The April Fool's news report coincided with Canada's nation-wide changeover from Imperial to the Metric system on April 1st, 1975. That was the first day weather reports gave temperatures in degrees Celsius rather than Fahrenheit, road signs changed from miles to kilometres, gas went from gallons to litres and weights shifted from pounds to kilos. Many did not take kindly to the change and confusion reigned....

The timing was absolutely perfect and the 'Metric Time' changeover gag announcement (called ‘Larmencaller time’ by Stambuck and Carr) was added on as a 'breaking news, this just in' addendum to the official morning news report. The pair then proceeded to carry on the gag by discussing how to ‘convert’ clocks and making regular time announcements in both ‘standard’ and ‘Larmencaller’ throughout their morning broadcast.

The prank however went far, FAR beyond Stambuck and Carr's wildest imagination and quickly spread like wildfire.

As recounted by StarPhoenix columnist Paul Jackson - "The odd couple were so convincing, folks started turning in their watches and alarm clocks at jewellers around town to have them replaced." It was reported that Saskatoon City Hall got inundated with calls regarding people refusing to pay a tax increase to 'change the clock tower to Metric' as well as people phoning into bewildered Canada Revenue offices asking how 'Metric Time' would affect hourly wages.

The gag quickly spread to Ottawa as confused and irate people all over the broadcast area began calling elected officials and Members of Parliament to complain. As further recounted by Paul Jackson - "A Member of Parliament, hearing the show and receiving angry phone calls, fearing Pierre Elliott Trudeau really had gone too far this time, raised the issue in the House of Commons.”

The 'Wal ‘n Den 'Larmencaller Time' stunt was so completely well played and perfectly timed that it made the news across Canada as well as internationally and is regarded as among the most masterful April Fools jokes of all time.

Photo taken by CFQC photographer Jason Schoonover, Text by Thom Cholowski

  

Cleaning Out My Meme Collection

 They build up and build up. Time to clean house.

Christians love to feel persecuted

Why Progressive ideas are out shouted

TRump is at the peak of the mountain and ten miles higher

That's How the Light Gets In

Somewwhere in Maine

Canonical Christians vs Evangelical Christians

Diferences of Opinion and Difference on Morality are two diferent things

I want to make this sign and put it in a few washrooms

Missing Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Prossper and Live Long

ChatGPT knows how Fascism Works

The Hangman By Maurice Ogden

This applies to Trump's kidnapping and disappearing of Americans 

The Hangman By Maurice Ogden

1. 
Into our town the Hangman came
Smelling of gold and blood and flame—
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air
And built his frame on the courthouse square.

The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.

And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime,
The Hangman judged with the yellow twist
Of knotted hemp in his busy fist.

And innocent though we were, with dread
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead; 
Till one cried: “Hangman, who is he
For whom you raise the gallows-tree?”

Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
“He who serves me best,” said he,
“Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree.”

And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another’s grief
At the Hangman’s hand was our relief.

And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn
By tomorrow’s sun would be struck and gone.
So we gave him way, and no one spoke,
Out of respect for his hangman’s cloak.

2.
The next day’s sun looked mildly down
On roof and street in our quiet town
And, stark and black in the morning air,
The gallows-tree on the courthouse square.

And the Hangman stood at his usual stand
With the yellow hemp in his busy hand; 
With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike
And his air so knowing and businesslike.

And we cried: “Hangman, have you not done,
Yesterday, with the alien one?”
Then we fell silent, and stood amazed:
“Oh, not for him was the gallows raised . . .”

He laughed a laugh as he looked at us:
“ . . . Did you think I’d gone to all this fuss
To hang one man? That’s a thing I do
To stretch the rope when the rope is new.”

Then one cried “Murderer!” One cried “Shame!”
And into our midst the Hangman came
To that man’s place. “Do you hold,” said he,
With him that’s meant for the gallows-tree?”

And he laid his hand on that one’s arm,
And we shrank back in quick alarm,
And we gave him way, and no one spoke
Out of fear of his hangman’s cloak.

That night we saw with dread surprise
The Hangman’s scaffold had grown in size.
Fed by the blood beneath the chute
The gallows-tree had taken root.

Now as wide, or a little more,
Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,
As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall,
Halfway up on the courthouse wall.

3.
The third he took—and we had all heard tell—
Was a usurer and infidel. And:
“What,” said the Hangman, “have you to do
With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?”

And we cried out: “Is this one he
Who has served you well and faithfully?”
The Hangman smiled: “It’s a clever scheme
To try the strength of the gallows-beam.”

The fourth man’s dark, accusing song
Had scratched out comfort hard and long; 
And “What concern,” he gave us back,
“Have you for the doomed—the doomed and black?”

The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again:
“Hangman, Hangman, is this the man?”
“It’s a trick,” he said, “that we hangmen know
For easing the trap when the trap springs slow.”

And so we ceased and asked no more,
As the Hangman tallied his bloody score;
And sun by sun, and night by night,
The gallows grew to monstrous height.

The wings of the scaffold opened wide
Till they covered the square from side to side; 
And the monster cross-beam, looking down, 
Cast its shadow across the town.

4.
Then through the town the Hangman came
And called in the empty streets my name,
And I looked at the gallows soaring tall
And thought: “There is no one left at all

For hanging, and so he calls to me
To help him pull down the gallows-tree.”
And I went out with right good hope
To the Hangman’s tree and the Hangman’s rope.

He smiled at me as I came down
To the courthouse square through the silent town,
And supple and stretched in his busy hand
Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.

And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap
And it sprang down with a ready snap—
And then with a smile of awful command
He laid his hand upon my hand.

“You tricked me, Hangman!” I shouted then,
“That your scaffold was built for other men . . .
And I no henchman of yours,” I cried.
“You lied to me, Hangman, foully lied!”

Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye:
“Lied to you? Tricked you?” he said, “Not I.
For I answered straight and I told you true:
The scaffold was raised for none but you.”

“For who has served me more faithfully
Than you with your coward’s hope?” said he,
“And where are the others that might have stood
Side by your side in the common good?”

“Dead,” I whispered: and amiably,
“Murdered,” the Hangman corrected me; 
“First the alien, then the Jew . . .
I did no more than you let me do.”

Beneath the beam that blocked the sky,
None had stood so alone as I—
And the Hangman strapped me, and no voice there
Cried “Stay!” for me in the empty square.

 

Hermes and Commodity Marketing in the Cattle World

 

Hermes is at the very top for luxury items. Everything they sell is perfect and priced to match. Silk scarves run $320 CAD on their website today. Years back I had a secretary who knew about Hermes. I said for that I'd buy her a scarf. she said no point as no one would know so no bragging rights. 

Their top of the line ladies handbag (currently not available) sells for $12,200 CAD. At one time I believe they had an iconic bag selling for higher than that. I tried to find an image but could not. The leather is perfect. Not a line or a needle hole or a scratch allowed.

The leather was accessed from the hide piles at veal slaughter plants across Europe. Simmental calves were mainly sold for veal and those were the hides they looked for. Needless to say they were scarce and hard to come by. 

As Director of Livestock Branch in 1990, I knew none of this. So I was very surprised one day when the President of Hermes showed up in my office to talk about sourcing hides. Europe simply could not supply enough veal hides of the quality they needed, could Saskatchewan help?

The President, possibly Jean-Louis Dumas, said that Hermes would be prepared to buy perfect Simmental veal hides. They had to be corral raised, with rails completely padded to ensure no scratches or bruises. They could not be vaccinated nor given any antibiotics to eliminate needle marks. They had to be slaughtered at about 200 kg or 440 lbs. Hermes would buy hides that met their specifications, calf owners would be responsible for finding markets for teh veal carcasses. He felt this would be an exciting new market. 

He was shocked when I told him no one would be interested under those conditions. He said Barbies sell lots of dolls. They created other Barbies like Black or Nurse and sold even more dolls. He knew marketing better than most. Anyone who can get $320 for a silk scarf has my utmost respect.

So I explained how commodity markets work. Because Simmental feeder calves in fall are a commodity. They can be differentiated from other feeder cattle in many ways, but in the end feeder calves are a commodity. Price is based on supply and demand. Supply  each fall is relatively fixed. Demand will adjust to find a price for every calf. 

So every Simmental calf in the fall of 1990 was worth between $350 and $500 to feedlot buyers. So for anyone to participate, Hermes would have to pay full price for value of the calf in the fall, regardless of when it was slaughtered. Plus pay for extra effort in rearing it to Hermes spcifications. Plus pay a bonus for perfect hides. Plus dispose of the veal. 

I felt bad as he went away quite discouraged. Many changes have occured in the European cattle market in the past 35 years and I suspect perfect quality hides are even more scarce. Which is too bad, really because there is too little perfection in this world at any price. Even if all you can do is admire it...from a great distance.

This Kelly bag from 1990 is the closest I could find and in fact may be the real thing. There is a 1945 Kelly bag listed on e-Bay for $50,000 CAD. 

Check out Northern Viewpoint, Please

 My brother is married into a family of Fox News viewers. His wife watches Fox only and her father and brothers also. They are full blown Maple MAGAts.

This has not affected his children who all have their heads screwed on right.

He started a blog just to keep up on what is actually happening and uses HCR's method of recording sources. His introduction is priceless.

https://viewfromsaskatchewan.blogspot.com/2025/01/introduction.html 

I'm giving him some publicity to increase his readership if I can

Duets by Country Couples

 The most famous country duet of all time is Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers singing Islands in the Stream.

But many great duets were sung by married couples. Johnny Cash and June Carter, married in 1968, recorded many duets together. Likely one of their more famous duets is Jackson

John Prine was married to bassist Rachael Peer from 1984 to 1988. She samg harmony on several of his songs incuding this one.

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were maried from 1969 to 1976. This is my favourite of their duets.

Waylon Jennings and Jesse Colter were married from 1969 until he passed away in 2022

Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge were married from 1973 to 1980

Drugs, alcohol, and infidelity played major roles in the divorces and even in the marriages that stuck it out. Johnny Cash battled with amphetamines all his life until the last few years. Waylon Jennings called amphetamines the artificial energy on which Nashville ran around the clock. Jesse Colter stayed with him in spite of his alcohol and drug abuse. Fame comes at a high price for too many. 

Anxious, Depressed, Dejected and Woe'd

 Life is hard when you ave high anxiety, a love of history, and an obsession with keeping up with events.

I have 270 emails backed up in my inbox in the last few days and none of them contain good news. I may just delete them for sanity's sake. I am what is known in America as an elite. I can read and write above a highschool level, have a knowledge of history, a passport am a permanent resident of Ukraine where I lived for 15 years and have visited a few countries including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Panama, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Czechia, and UK. If I live long enough I will add more.

America is in the grip of ignorance beyond description. The following is from an acquaintance in response to something he posted on Facebook.

We tolerated President Obama for 8 years and kept quiet.  Here is my issue with the whole, “let us all be a United States again” that we heard from President Biden.  For the last 4+ years, the Democrats have gone and scorched earth. You have salted the fields and now you want to grow crops.  The problem is 75+ million of us have memories longer than a hamster.

• We remember the women’s march (vagina hats and all) the day after inauguration.
• We remember the 4 years of attacks and impeachments.
• We remember “not our president” and the “Resistance…”
• We remember Maxine Walters telling followers to harass us in restaurants.
• We remember the Presidents spokesperson being kicked out a restaurant.
• We remember hundreds of Trump supporters physically attacked.
• We remember Trump supporters getting Doxed, and fired from jobs.
• We remember riots, and looting.
• We remember “a comedian” holding up the President’s severed head.
• We remember a play in Central park paid with public funding, showing the killing of President Trump.
• We remember Robert de Niro yelling “F" Trump” at the Tony’s and getting a standing ovation.
• We remember Nancy Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union Address.
• We remember the total in the tank move on the mainstream media.
• We remember the non-stop and live fact checking on our President and his supporters.
• We remember non-stop in your face lies and open cover-ups from the media.
• We remember the President and his staff being spied on.
• We remember five Senators shot on a ballfield.
• We remember every so-called comedy show turn into nothing but Trump hate fest.
• We remember 95% negative coverage in the news.
• We remember the state governors asking and getting everything they ask for and then blaming Trump for their problems.
• We remember a Trump top aid verbally assaulted in two DC restaurants.
• We remember people banging on the Supreme Court doors.
• We remember that we were called every name in the book for supporting President Trump.
• We remember that Hollywood said they would leave after Trump was elected but they stayed.
• We remember being called Nazis
• We remember being called Deplorables
• We remember being called Fascists
• We remember our sitting President calling us "garbage" and Kamala (and the media) trying to tell us to "get past it because Biden doesn't matter anymore"
• This list is endless, but you get the idea.  My friends will be my friends, but a party that has been on the attack for 4 long years does not get a free pass with me.
• Join me in supporting President Trump as he gets America back on track

There is a reason for this level of ignorance in half of Americans. Your education system sucks. But it maintains a ready supply of Republican voters:

Here is our proposal for an 11th Province. Then I could visit my blogger firiends in Maine, including HCR

My Grandson and Luckenbach Texas

 Since Grayden was an infant, Waylon Jenning's song Luckenbach Texas was the go-to for settling him down if he was crying, putting him to sleep if he was tired, or just soothing him in general. His dad says I sang the chorus to him over and over.  When he would not settle in his father's arms, he sang songs from the Highwaymen to him. We have no idea why he loved Luckenbach Texas, it just worked. One night when Graeme was putting him to sleep, he said, "Daddy, play 'bach'".

Graeme says it is his talisman. 

Night before last Graeme left his phone playing a list of Waylon Jenning's songs and he went right to sleep. Graeme came back in an hour and took his phone. 

I hope he eventually gets hooked on Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristopherson. Country music will never be the same as when the Highwaymen sang. They each had glorious careers as individuals and together were the greatest county music artists in my lifetime. 

Elbows Up

Gordie Howe, 1928-2016, arguably the greatest hockey player of all time, played professional hockey from 1948 to 1980. He played 26 seasons in the NHL, 25 with Detroit and coming out of retirement 6 seasons in the WHA with the Houston Aeros with his two sons. He won the Stanley Cup four times and the Hart Trophy six times.

There was one trophy he never won. Instead of saying something would happen when hell froze over, I would say when Gordie Howe wins the Lady Bing Trophy. He was deadly in the corners. While elbowing is a penalty call, it never bothered Howe. Only the brave or foolish went into a corner with him and his elbow.

The story goes that once he went into the dressing room for stitches and told the doctor not to leave as the other guy would be in shortly.

When Canadians say “Elbows Up”, they are channeling Gordie Howe.

I quit reading Xitter long ago as it is only useful if you wish to argue with idiots. I follow @Threads now and there are a few who have moved over from Xitter that show up on occasion. Lately with Trump’s trade war with Canada, and Trudeau telling Trump to Papa Foxtrot Oscar, there are comments about America invading Canada militarily. I do not believe the US military would invade but Trump could authorize some of his 3 Percenters, Proud Boys etc as militia. Canadian response to those idiots is to remind them who contributed to the Geneva Convention. Canadian soldiers in WWI were notorious for playing dirty.

In one particularly cruel episode, Canadians even exploited the trust of Germans who had apparently become accustomed to fraternizing with allied units. Lieutenant Louis Keene described the practice of lobbing tins of corned beef into a neighbouring German trench. When the Canadians started hearing happy shouts of “More! Give us more!” they then let loose with an armload of grenades.

Trench raids were the First World War at its most brutal. Hand to hand fighting in crowded, darkened chaos. Whole dugouts of sleeping Germans burned or buried alive by tossed grenades. Terrified defenders mercilessly stabbed or machine-gunned as they fled for the rear.

They wore thick rubber gloves and blackened their faces for maximum stealth. They crafted homemade pipe bombs and grenade catapults to increase their killing power. They continued raiding even while other colonial units abandoned the practice. 

As their skills grew, Canadian trench raiders were eventually able to penetrate up to one kilometre behind enemy lines, dealing surprise death to Germans who had every reason to believe they were safe from enemy bayonets. In the days before the attack on Vimy Ridge, trench raids of up to 900 men were hurled at enemy lines on a nightly basis. These were essentially mini-battles, except instead of holding ground attackers were merely expected to sow death, chaos and then disappear.

Note: The Canadians won the Battle of Vimy Ridge, breaking through the German lines. The war could have ended in 1917 but the British did not believe the Colonials could do it so there was no follow up and the Canadians were driven back the next day. Pierre Burton’s Vimy

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-forgotten-ferocity-of-canadas-soldiers-in-the-great-war

As many commenters noted, Canadians have not forgotten how.

More YDG Memes.

The internet is loaded with great memes.