Posts

Posted on

Facebook Predators

I recently read where Facebook has removed 5,500 sex offenders from their site. Not long ago, I had a rather odd experience on Facebook which shows just how vulnerable kids can be.
My profile is open for anyone to see; I really have no reason to hide it. And it shows my real name and all. But for a while I used an avatar that I use on some other sites, one of the young stars of “Billy Elliot.”
One day I received a friend request from someone with an Hispanic name, which I do not remember. Thinking he was a fellow BETM fan, I allowed it. After all, I had not gotten any other friend requests from anyone who wasn’t a BETM fan, so I thought perhaps this was just the friend of a friend.
We had no contact for several days, and then out of the blue he started chatting with me on Facebook’s little chat thing (which I have since turned off). He started asking me questions about my age and where I lived, and he never said anything really overt, but when he learned that I was NOT the kid in the picture, this guy disappeared, not only from the chat but from my friends list. I am talking, within seconds.
It wasn’t until afterward that I even realized what he had been looking for. That is how subtle he was.
Needless to say, I changed my avatar back to 56 y/o me shooting Tinkerbell at Disneyland. Wonder what kind of perverts that will attract? 😀

Posted on

Alex Rider Books

Okay, yes I admit it. I am prolly too old to read the Alex Rider series. For those of you who don’t know, Alex Rider is a 14 y/o James Bond. The series of books, written by Anthony Horowitz, is for young readers, maybe 10 – 17 or so. Totally preposterous, but really a lot of fun to read them, and as you might expect, quite easy to read.
But I have one huge objection. The books that I have are, of course, the “American” version. For whatever reason, the publishers I guess thought that American kids were too stupid to understand that speeds are measured in kph and money in the UK is in pounds, and that soccer is called football in the rest of the world. So all of those things, and many more, were obviously converted to make it more readable for “stupid” American kids. I really resent this dumbing down of the books!
I am very tempted, when I go to London next, to buy the whole series there so I can read them in their original form!
But they are fun, and if you have a young reader, especially a boy, you should get them for him.

Posted on

Confessions of a Cheetophobic

I hate Cheetos. One might say I am a Cheetophobic. My family, especially my sister and her husband and children, think this is very funny and do such things as put bags of them in my Christmas stockings.
Why do I hate Cheetos?
Nothing to do with the taste, although I do not really remember what they taste like.
My last memory of them is spitting them out of my mouth, when I was perhaps 3 or so, and my mother was trying to leave me at a church day care. I did not want to be left, I did not want it at all. I cried, I tantrummed (which is not a real word) and they tried to appease me with CHEETOS!!!!! SPIT!!!!!
And this is why I hate them!!!
Thanks for your support.
Please, by all means, continue to buy them, but do not let them near me unless you wish to die!!!

Posted on

Potato Chips (known as Crisps in some parts of the world)

When I was young, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, potato chips were decidedly imperfect, which made them perfect! You see, kiddies, there was a time when potato chips were made by slicing potatoes, dropping them in hot oil, draining and salting them, and tossing them into a bag. If the potato was a bit blemished going in, it was blemished coming out. And sometimes a thin edge of the potato might get a little more browned compared to the rest of the potato, and that was okay, too. They tasted wonderful, with all those little imperfections adding myriad variations in flavor. In college, I used to buy the cheapest potato chips I could find, Golden Bear, which I think were culled out of the “other” potato chips because they had imperfections, brown spots and holes and such. They were glorious, as I recall.
But somewhere in time, manufacturers found ways to take the imperfection out of potato chips. No variations, no overcooked spots, no blemishes. Just one potato chip looking just like the last one, Pringles and the like being the worst, abominable chips which appear to be formed or pressed out of some kind of potato mash before being fried, so that they all are EXACTLY the same. What a shame!!!
But joy of joys, this past year I discovered Kettle Chips, potato chips made the old fashioned way, imperfections and all. They are wonderful, and almost as good as the old kind. (I have left out the part where good ol’ hips used to be fried in animal fats, which made them even better.)
So I love Kettle Chips, and I was especially amazed to discover them in Sainsbury’s in London!! I love ENGLAND!!! LOL

Posted on

SKOR Toffee Bits vs. Heath Bits o’ Brickle

Those of you who have visisted the recipe section might have come across Uncle Dave’s Husky Treats. In that recipe I mention that one can use home made toffee bits or SKOR toffee bits (which can be gotten here, in bulk), but NEVER Heath Bits o’ Brickle.
Oddly enough, SKOR and Heath candy bars are both made by Hershey, and they sell the hard candy part – what they call toffee – in broken up bits for baking. SKOR toffee bits, however, are much darker and have a richer, deeper flavour than the Heath crap. You are better off following my recipe for toffee and making your own if you don’t want to buy the SKOR bits in 3lb lots from the above link.
Anyway, I do wish Hershey would sell the SKOR bits in stores again!!!!