Good morning friends and family. 

We are in the throes of yet another winter storm session.  If we get the expected snow over the weekend, we are set to have the snowiest January in Indiana’s history.  A history that has been tracked since the 1800s.  The record holder right now is the January of 1978, which people around here refer to as “The Blizzard of ‘78”.  Here’s what it was like back then:

Yup, I could see as how that would have been a really tough time.  Blizzard is definitely the right word for that.  We are NOT having a blizzard.  Just a lot of snow, with 30 to 40 mph winds, drifting, whiteout conditions and just general good fun. 

Now, not to worry.  Ole Impish Dragon and family are all nestled all snug in their little cave.  We have plenty of French toast fixin’s, heat, and cigars, so all will be well here.  Any of you who are suffering the same fate this weekend I strongly urge you to stay indoors, stay warm and don’t go out unless you absolutely have to.

And to help pass the time?  Well, that’s where Dragon Laffs comes in.  Grab a cup of joe, put your feet up, pull your blanket up over your lap and …

Okay, this is just way too much!  This thief of a beagle has better skills than some of the professionals I’ve worked with in the past! 

Whose plane is it, anyway?  Quite funny.

This one is called “The Wrong House”.  And it just goes to show you that sometimes the good guys DO win out.

I just think she can’t take a friggin’ joke!!!

I just read “The shorter the journey to work, the more risks drivers are willing to take.” Nonsense. I never take risks on my way to work. And I can get there before my windshield’s even defrosted.

 

My friend Dave has drunk many weird and wonderful things in his time. I asked him if he’d ever drunk cologne. “No,” he replied. “Always with friends.”

 

Thanks to the Strike Owl for this next one!  I understand completely my brother!

I sat next to a tramp on a park bench today. “It was only last week that I had it all,” he said, “A chef to cook my food, cleaners to do my cleaning and wash my clothes and a nice warm roof over my head.” “What happened?” I replied, “Drugs? Gambling? A woman?” “No, I was just let out of prison.”

 

A woman was waiting in the checkout line at a shopping center. Her arms were laden with a mop and broom and other cleaning supplies. By her hard glances and deep sighs, it was obvious she was in hurry and not a Happy camper about the slowness of the line. When the cashier called for a price check on a box of soap, the woman remarked indignantly, “Well, I’ll be lucky to get out of here and home before Christmas!” “Don’t worry, ma’am,” replied the clerk. “With a good tail wind and that brand new broom you have there, you’ll be home in no time.”

 

One morning on the first tee, two guys ,who apparently had not any arranged playing Partners, looked at each other and one asked the other if he would like to play a round together? The other guy looks at him and says, “Yes, I would as long as you don’t mind my little dog Coming along with us!” “Heck No” the other says, and so off they go… They make the turn and get to the thirteenth green. The guy with the dog has a 30 ft. Putt side hill, downhill. He addresses the ball and sends it on its way. It goes out and turns toward the hole and goes right dead center of the hole and drops in. The guy’s little dog jumps up on his hind legs and starts to dance. Well, seeing this trick the guy looks at the dogs owner and says “Wow! That’s a smart dog you have there! What would he do if you had missed the putt??” “Oh well”, he exclaims, “he does somersaults!” “Somersaults!” exclaims the other guy, “how many does he do?” “Well,” says the dogs owner “….that depends on how hard I kick him!!!”

So, it’s 2200 hrs (10 pm for the rest of you) on Friday night and I’m just getting ready to put this issue to bed.  Double checking the I dots and the T crosses as it were and I get an email from my buddy Wheats.  All it says is: “Now that’s writing!” and a link.  Being a writer myself, I enjoy seeing what my friends think is “good writing.”  So I clicked on the link and as it turns out it’s from today’s online issue of the Wall Street Journal.  Not my favorite of periodicals, but since Buddy Wheats recommended it, and I (we, or so it seems from the comments) like what Buddy Wheats writes, let’s give this one a shot.  And here is a link to the website, since I want to be sure to give Peggy Noonan the proper due: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303947904579339142225570548 

Updated Jan. 24, 2014 6:44 p.m. ET

So the president’s State of the Union address is Tuesday night, and it’s always such a promising moment, a chance to wake everyone up and say “This I believe” and “Here we stand.” The networks are focused and alert, waiting to be filled with a president’s excellence and depth. It’s a chance for the American president to say whatever the storm, however high the seas, the union stands “rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible.” That’s how Stephen Vincent Benet had Daniel Webster put it, in a play.

In a State of the Union a president tries to put his stamp on things. Here we are, here’s where we’re going, all roads lead forward. We can face whatever test, meet whatever challenge, united in the desire that we be the greatest nation in the history of man . . .

What great moments this tradition has given us. JFK’s father thought his son’s first State of the Union was better than his Inaugural Address. It had a warmth. “Mr. Speaker . . . it is a pleasure to return from whence I came. You are among my oldest friends in Washington—and this House is my oldest home.” Friends, home—another era. LBJ taking the reins in 1964: “Let this session of Congress be known as the session which did more for civil rights than the last hundred sessions combined.” And you know, that’s what it became. Nixon enjoyed dilating on history, and was interesting when he did.

Reagan dazzled, though he told his diary he never got used to it: “I’ve made a mil. speeches in every kind of place to every kind of audience. Somehow there’s a thing about entering that chamber—goose bumps & a quiver.” There was his speech after he’d recovered from being shot—brio and gallantry. And of course Lenny Skutnik. Just before Reagan’s 1982 speech Mr. Skutnik, a government worker, saw Air Florida Flight 90 go into the Potomac. As others watched from the banks of the frozen river, Mr. Skutnik threw off his coat, dived in and swam like a golden retriever to save passengers. The night of the speech he was up there in the gallery next to the first lady, and when Reagan pointed him out the chamber exploded. This nice, quiet man who’d gone uncelebrated all his professional life, and then one day circumstances came together and he showed that beneath the bureaucrat’s clothing was the beating heart of a hero.

***

Well. History still beckons, waiting to be made. The great unstated question of today: Can America come back, reclaim her old spirit, confidence and joy, can we make things again, build them, grow, create, push out into the new?

And here I think: Oh dear.

Because when I imagine Barack Obama‘s State of the Union, I see a handsome, dignified man standing at the podium and behind him Joe Biden, sleeping. And next to him John Boehner, snoring. And arrayed before the president the members, napping.

Enlarge Image

Martin Kozlowski

No one’s really listening to the president now. He has been for five years a nonstop windup talk machine. Most of it has been facile, bland, the same rounded words and rounded sentiments, the same soft accusations and excuses. I see him enjoying the sound of his voice as the network newsman leans forward eagerly, intently, nodding at the pearls, enacting interest, for this is the president and he is the anchorman and surely something important is being said with two such important men engaged.

But nothing interesting was being said! Looking back on this presidency, it has from the beginning been a 17,000 word New Yorker piece in which, calmly, sonorously, with his lovely intelligent voice, the president says nothing, or little that is helpful, insightful or believable. “I’m not a particularly ideological person.” “It’s hard to anticipate events over the next three years.” “I don’t really even need George Kennan right now.” “I am comfortable with complexity.” “Our capacity to do some good . . . is unsurpassed, even if nobody is paying attention.”

Nobody is!

He gave a speech on the National Security Agency, that bitterly contested issue, the other day. Pew Research found half of those polled didn’t notice. National Journal’s Dustin Volz wrote that Americans greeted the speech with “collective indifference and broad skepticism.” Of the 1 in 10 who’d followed it, more than 70% doubted his proposals would help protect privacy.

The bigger problem is that the president stands up there Tuesday night with ObamaCarenot a hazy promise but a fact. People now know it was badly thought, badly written and disastrously executed. It was supposed to make life better by expanding coverage. It has made it worse, by throwing people off coverage. And—as we all know now but did not last year—the program was passed only with the aid of a giant lie. Now everyone knows if you liked your plan, your doctor, your deductible, you can’t keep them.

When the central domestic fact of your presidency was a fraud, people won’t listen to you anymore.

The poor speechwriters. They are always just a little more in touch with public sentiment than a president can be—they get to move around in the world, they know what people are saying. They have to imitate the optimism of the speeches of yore, they have to rouse. They are the ones who know what a heavy freaking lift it is, what an impossible chore. And they have to do it with idiots in the staffing process scrawling on the margins of the draft: “More applause lines!” The speechwriters know the answer is fewer applause lines, more thought, more humility and candor. Americans aren’t impressed anymore by congressmen taking to their feet and cheering. They look as if they have electric buzzers on their butts that shoot them into the air when the applause line comes. “Now I have to get up and enact enthusiasm” is what they look like they’re thinking. While the other party thinks “Now we have to get up too, because what he said was anodyne and patriotic and we can’t not stand up for that.” And they applaud, diffidently, because they don’t want the folks back home—the few who are watching—to say they looked a little too enthusiastic about the guy who just cost them their insurance.

They are all enacting. They are all replicating. They’re all imitating the past.

You know when we will know America is starting to come back? When some day the sergeant at arms bellows: “Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States” and the camera shows a bubble of suits and one person emerges from the pack and walks into the chamber and you’re watching at home and you find yourself—against everything you know, against all the accumulated knowledge of the past—interested. It’ll take you aback when you realize you’re interested in what he’ll say! And the members won’t just be enacting, they’ll be leaning forward to hear.

And the president will speak, and what he says will be pertinent to the problems of the United States of America. And thoughtful. And he’ll offer ideas, and you’ll think: “Hey, that sounds right.”

That is when you’ll know America just might come back.

Until then, as John Dickerson just put it: Barack Obama, Inaction Figure.

Zzzzzzz.

And the only thing that I can say, and the highest praise I can give to another author is: Damn!  I wish I’d said that!

A very avid golfer was lined up and ready on the 17th tee when out of the woods came a naked girl who ran past him and into the woods on the other side of the tee. Being the avid golfer he was, he once again bared down on the ball and right in the middle of his backswing a guy in a white coat ran out of the woods and asked him if a naked lady ran past. Our golfer said “Yes, she ran into the woods.” The guy in the white coat said thanks and ran after her. Our golfer again prepared to hit the ball when all of a sudden another man in a white coat came out of the woods carrying a 5 gallon bucket of sand and asked if he had seen a man in a white coat come through here chasing a naked lady. He said, “Yes, they ran that way through the woods.” The man said thanks and started to run off when the golfer stopped him and asked, “Hey, what’s going on?” The guy explained, “You see we work at a sanitarium institution nearby and every now and then that girl gets away and all she wants to do is get naked and fuck.” The golfer then asked, “Well what’s the bucket of sand for?” The guy in the white coat said, “Oh, that’s my handicap. You see, I caught her last time!”

Unbelievable!  You had one lousy job to do….

The real difference between cats and dogs:

This is a video about starlings murmuration.  Watch it first, then we’ll talk about it.  Well, actually we’ll let wiredscience.com talk about it.

Video of a massive starling flock turning and twisting over a river in Ireland has gone viral, and with good reason. Flocking starlings are one of nature’s most extraordinary sights: Just a few hundred birds moving as one is enough to convey a sense of suspended reality, and the flock filmed above the River Shannon contained thousands.

What makes possible the uncanny coordination of these murmurations, as starling flocks are so beautifully known? Until recently, it was hard to say. Scientists had to wait for the tools of high-powered video analysis and computational modeling. And when these were finally applied to starlings, they revealed patterns known less from biology than cutting-edge physics.

Starling flocks, it turns out, are best described with equations of “critical transitions” — systems that are poised to tip, to be almost instantly and completely transformed, like metals becoming magnetized or liquid turning to gas. Each starling in a flock is connected to every other. When a flock turns in unison, it’s a phase transition.

At the individual level, the rules guiding this are relatively simple. When a neighbor moves, so do you. Depending on the flock’s size and speed and its members’ flight physiologies, the large-scale pattern changes. What’s complicated, or at least unknown, is how criticality is created and maintained.

It’s easy for a starling to turn when its neighbor turns — but what physiological mechanisms allow it to happen almost simultaneously in two birds separated by hundreds of feet and hundreds of other birds? That remains to be discovered, and the implications extend beyond birds. Starlings may simply be the most visible and beautiful example of a biological criticality that also seems to operate in proteins and neurons, hinting at universal principles yet to be understood.

Internet addiction, like other kinds of addiction, is a problem around the world.  It is estimated, by one study, that 1 in 8 people, that’s 12½% of the population suffered, in one sense or another, some sort of addiction to technology and the internet.  Whether it was having to check email and Facebook on your phone one more time after you’ve laid down to sleep or, as in some of the incidences in the following video, where teenagers have disappeared from home for entire weekends or longer being on line at an internet café the entire time.

We normally associate Internet addiction with teenagers.  Those gamers who will stay up all hours playing games, but I knew an adult who ended up losing his job because he was always late to work because he overslept from spending all night playing World of Warcraft.  The CRC Group has a page dedicated to Teenage Internet Addiction.  This is what they have to say:

Teenage Internet Addiction Symptoms Treatment Help

Teen Internet Addiction Overview

It’s no secret that many teens are big fans of video games and the Internet. But for some young people, what started as an interest in technology, a means of entertainment, or a way to keep in touch with friends may morph into a serious behavior disorder.

Teen Internet addiction is much more than just a strong desire to be online. As is the case with other behavior disorders — such as compulsive gambling — teen Internet addiction is marked by a progressive loss of control over one’s ability to avoid, regulate, or limit a behavior. In this case, the behavior in question is spending time on the Internet.  Almost the exact definition of drug addiction: a progressive loss of control over one’s ability to avoid drugs.

Though some people continue to regard teen Internet addiction as little more than a parenting issue, many experts in the field of addictions and compulsions have identified teen Internet addiction as a real issue that is deserving of continued study. In fact, Internet addiction was seriously considered for inclusion in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).

Though teen Internet addiction did not make it into DSM-V, the substance-related disorders work group (which evaluated proposed changes to the DSM) recommended that Internet addiction be included in the appendix of DSM-V, and called for further research on the topic.

Causes of Internet Addiction

As is the case with other compulsive behavior disorders, no one cause has been identified as definitively leading to teen Internet addiction.

As is also the case with other addictions and compulsions, teen Internet addiction is thought to be more prevalent among teens who are also struggling with disorders such as depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, poor self-image, and low self-esteem. 

For teens who become enamored with online MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online roleplaying games) such as World of Warcraft and Everquest, the likelihood of addiction may be greater because these games never end. With new quests and adventures continually being added to the game, the user never reaches a point where the game has been mastered or otherwise completed — thus, there is always the enticement to return for more.

For those who are at risk of developing teen Internet addiction, the rush of playing triggers a release of endorphins (brain chemicals associated with pleasure) that mimics what occurs in the brains of individuals who are addicted to alcohol and other drugs, or to behaviors such as gambling.  Exactly my earlier point.

For teens who are struggling with other mental health or behavioral challenges, and who have difficulty with “real life” social situations) the power, sense of community, and adrenaline rush of online gaming can be extremely enticing.

Symptoms of An Internet Addiction

The core components of teen Internet addiction are similar to those of any other addiction or compulsion. Young people who struggle with teen Internet addiction are likely to meet many if not all of the following criteria:

• Tolerance — Needing to play more and more in order to experience the same “rush”
• Obsession — Spending most offline time thinking about past online experiences and planning for future online sessions
• Frustration, anxiety, and/or irritability when not able to go online
• Abandoning friends and other hobbies in order to focus on online activities
• Continuing to spend time online even after negative repercussions (such as school problems, deteriorating relationships, and even health problems)  Sounds exactly like drug addiction to me.

The following are among the specific signs that could indicate the presence of teen Internet addiction:

• Most non-school hours are spent on the computer or playing video games
• Falling asleep in school
• Falling behind with assignments
• Worsening grades
• Lying about computer or video game use
• Choosing to use the computer or play video games, rather than see friends
• Dropping out of other social groups (clubs or sports)
• Being irritable when not playing a video game or being on the computer  Need I say more to the comparison of drug addiction?

But, what is to be done about it?

Well, China seems to feel they have more of a problem in this area than most of the rest of the world, and after watching the following video, I’m not sure that I can disagree.  See how they have tried to handle the problem and think about whether this type of therapy might not become more prevalent in the rest of the world.

Some of you are going to say that this is very harsh.  But think about our own programs of Scared Straight and such and I believe you will see a very large connection between the two.

As for me…is it harsh?  Absolutely!  But the bigger question seems to be, does it need to be?

What do you think?  I’d love to hear from you in either an email or a comment to the blog.

And until next time…

Ah! The memories that photo brings back! Me first trip to a pub & me first toast. Was barely old enough to hold me tippy cup I was. First time I ever cleared out a bar too. You’d think grown folks in a semi rural area would have more tolerance for the fragrances o’ nature!

But enough strolling down memory lane, ‘tis an issue  to be getting’ to the like of we have.

First Issue o’ Bidniz-

Things have been going way better today than I anticipated and UPS delivered far earlier than his norm allowing me to  have time to jump right onto my data recovery. As you can see by the font I am using some issues till need to be resolved /data retrievedbut I was able to recover enough material to get this out as well as my start of next week’s issue. I know its not up to normal standards and likely could use another day of polishing and refining but please remember I accomplished this in less than a day despite the computer failure so be gentle with your criticism of the presentation. As for the content, well as I have stated before, if you don’t like it go start your own blog and do better!

A lot going on in the Politics arena in the last week and a lot of great Editorial Cartoons concerning it. Too many are too good to just let pass by. Besides one two of the political developments have me plenty peeved and since you’ll never stand for an issue with a double Parting Shot I have to make my point about one of them in a (hopefully) humorous way.

Lets get started shall we? Make sure you coffee is topped off and the lid to your DL/LL Enterprises Commuter Mug is firmly seated. I expect the closet liberals to start sniping at the issue any second and as I ahve said its a bumpy issue!

Google is about to allow anyone to effectively have your  email address.

Big Internet companies have a bad habit of launching new features that completely undermine your privacy. This time around, it’s Google’s turn. It made some tweaks that let total strangers email you – even without knowing your email address.

This tweak only affects you if you use both Gmail and Google+. Before you stop reading, however, know that if you have any Google account – such as a YouTube account – you also have a Google+ account whether you use it or not. Anyone can find it if they look.

To see your Google+ account, open Gmail and look in the upper right corner. You’ll see your name with a “+” in front of it. Click that to see your Google+ profile. In YouTube, click your profile icon in the upper right corner and click Google+.

So, how does this new system work? Google now includes Google+ friends in your Gmail address book. That way you can send email to a friend without needing to remember their address.

However, if someone is following you on Google+, which anyone can do without your approval, they can also send you an email. The email will show up in the Social inbox tab in Gmail.

It is important to note that the sender won’t get your email address. You have to respond or add them to a circle for that to happen. So, your best bet is just to ignore anyone you don’t want to talk to and they’ll go away.

Still, this limitation might not stop people from randomly following users on Google+ and harassing them. Scammers could also use it to contact you pretending to be an old friend “just joining Google+”, or a similar phishing scam.

Fortunately, Google did include a setting that lets you opt out.

In Gmail, click the gear icon in the upper right corner and select Settings. Scroll down to find “Email via Google+” and set it to “No one.”

If you don’t see that option, it means Google hasn’t brought this feature to your account yet. When it does, you’ll get an email explaining the change. At that point you can go in and change the setting.

See?! I told Impish nicking Santa’s cookies and milk when he was helping the jolly fat man out would come back to bite him in the tail! Santa takes his cookies & milk very seriously! Just ask Alton Brown if you doubt me!

 

Seems like every month is designated ‘something or other’ month by somebody or other. Most of the time it seems to be an advertising stunt when it comes to foods. the month rarely if ever has any relationship with regards the what month or season it is. However this month is one that actually makes sense to me given how cold its been for most of you.

January is National Soup month.

I love soup, I could eat it everyday. In fact I have eaten it, for lunch at least, everyday during the cold winter months when I lived in Connecticut. It’s warming, its comforting, its versatile. Relatively inexpensive and very easy to make, it can extend your food budget or make leftovers into something new and different. Some even insist it is the cure for that bane of winter, the common cold and possibly even the dread flu. Some even revere its psychological benefits

However since I expect there are some of you out there who do not hold soup in the same high regard I do, I have included an oven prepared meal that is almost as easy and fast to make as soup

Taco Twist Soup

Prep 10 min.

Total 35 min.

Serves 4

Servings: about 1 3/4 cups each

Cook: 25 min.

This family-friendly recipe mixes pasta with the great flavors of tacos to make a hearty and delicious soup.

 

What You’ll Need

1 pound ground beef
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 3/4 cups Beef Broth (Regular or 50% Less Sodium)
1 cup Picante Sauce
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup uncooked corkscrew-shaped pasta
Sour cream

How to Make It

• 1 Cook the beef, chili powder and cumin in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring often to break up the meat. Pour off any fat.
• 2 Add the broth, picante sauce and tomatoes. Heat to a boil. Stir in the pasta. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes or until done, stirring occasionally. Garnish with sour cream.

I usually add either Pinto or Black Beans (drained & rinsed) and a handful of corn. If you like it chunkier use Salsa instead of Picante though you’ll probably need more of the Salsa to account to the chunks messing with the measuring. If you get a Salsa with Black Beans & Corn in it already you don’t need to add them separately. I like to serve chopped green onions sour cream and shredded either cheddar or jack cheese for every one to garnish with.

Spanish Chicken and Rice Soup

Prep 15 min.

Total 1 hr. 5 min.

Serves 6

Servings: about 2 1/4 cups each

Cook: 50 min.

Warm up with a bowl of this comforting chicken soup that gets kicked up flavor from chicken thighs, crushed red pepper, tomatoes, green olives and saffron yellow rice.

 

 

What You’ll Need

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
2 large onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced
crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
8 cups Chicken Broth

1 can (about 14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup pitted green olives, sliced
1 package (about 5 ounces) saffron yellow rice mix with seasoning
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves
Additional shredded fresh basil leaves, for garnish

How to Make It

• 1 Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 6-quart saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until it’s well browned, stirring often. Remove the chicken from the saucepot with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• 2 Add the remaining oil to the saucepot and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, garlic and red pepper and cook for 3 minutes.
• 3 Stir in the broth and tomatoes and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
• 4 Stir in the rice and olives. Return the chicken to the saucepot. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Stir in the basil. Garnish with additional basil, if desired.

Helper: To shred fresh basil, select leaves that are not bruised or wilted. Stack the leaves and roll up. Slice with a sharp knife into very thin strips.

Ham, Potato & Cabbage Soup

Prep 30 min.

Total 1 hr. 10 min.

Serves 6

Servings: about 2 cups each

Cook: 40 min.

Mouthwatering, traditional flavors come together in this satisfying soup reminiscent of grandmother’s kitchen.

 

What You’ll Need

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 clove garlic, minced
6 cups Chicken Broth

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups shredded green cabbage
1 large potato, diced (about 2 cups)
1/2 of an 8 ounce cooked ham steak, cut into 2-inch-long strips (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)

How to Make It

• 1 Heat the oil in a 6-quart saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
• 2 Stir the broth, black pepper, cabbage, potato and ham in the saucepot and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the potato is tender.
• 3 Stir in the parsley and caraway seed, if desired.

Save yourself some time and effort. Use a prepackaged coarse shredded Coles Slaw mix for this. You save time you and get a little carrot as well. Any leftover goes well in salad or stir fries. Other wise use Napa or Savoy Cabbage as the heads are smaller and you’ll have less left over. Of course if you’re like me you’ll just double the recipe and use the whole head. IF I do that I generally add a smoked turkey leg to the pot, not for the meat but for that smoky flavor that goes so well with ham and cabbage without all the fat and grease.

A couple times I have not had the fresh potatoes when making this and have substituted cavatelli pasta or gnocchi.

Baked Tortellini with Broccoli & Spicy Sausage Sauce

 

 Prep 15 min.   Total 55 min.

 Serves 4 | Serves: about 2 cups each

Bake: 40 min. | Cost per recipe: $10.18

Using prepared Italian sauce, frozen tortellini and broccoli makes for an easy and delicious weeknight dinner your whole family will enjoy!

 

 

 

What You’ll Need

Vegetable cooking spray
1 jar (24 ounces) Prego® Spicy Sausage Sauce
1 package (16 ounces) frozen tortellini
3 cups fresh or thawed frozen broccoli florets
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

How to Make It

• 1 Heat the oven to 350°F.  Spray an 11x8x2-inch baking dish with the cooking spray.
• 2 Stir the sauce, frozen tortellini and broccoli in a large bowl.  Pour the tortellini mixture into the baking dish.  Cover the baking dish.
• 3 Bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover the baking dish.  Sprinkle with the cheese.
• 4 Bake uncovered for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

I left the branding for the sauce in this one simply because its not the recipe without it. However I don’t buy that specific sauce when I make this. I use precooked Italian sausage chunks I keep in the freezer. I buy mine in the long links from a meat market because its leaner and better tasting. When I get home it goes right in a pot with a  half cup of water per link and a lid. I simmer it until the water is gone then remove them cooling just long enough to cut them unto 1 inch pieces which I return to the pot to brown and insure complete cooking. I then remove them to paper toweling ( I use a single layer of paper towel across a brown paper bag to drain off any excess grease) Once cooled I transfer to a silicone mat on a 1/2 cookie sheet and allow them to freeze before transferring to a gallon ziploc bag. This allows me to remove only what I need when ever I need it. I do the same thing with meatballs.

 

 

Government Spent $172M on Penis Pumps

At double the retail price per pump

By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff | Posted Jan 14, 2014 11:30 AM CST

(Newser) – Between 2006 and 2011, Medicare spent $172 million on penis pumps, according to a report out yesterday by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services. That figure is outrageous for a reason other than that you might think. As NBC News reports, penis pumps, more properly known as vacuum erection systems, are actually one of the “few viable treatment courses” for men with erectile dysfunction, per the National Institutes of Health. So it’s not the coverage of the item for some 474,000 men over those six years that’s the problem, but the amount that was spent: Each claim cost Medicare an average $361—more than double what the pump would have cost if the user just bought it online. (And OIG verified this by … Googling. It reports that “research on 22 different Web sites yielded pricing information for 105 VES … the average Internet price … was $164.74.”)

And if Medicare had adjusted its “grossly excessive” coverage amount to be in line with what a non-Medicare consumer pays (and, the report noted, what the Department of Veterans Affairs pays), the government would have spent an average of $14.4 million less per year for each of the years under review, reports Reuters. And the savings wouldn’t end there. Beneficiaries are responsible for 20% of the cost of the pump, plus any unmet deductible, which worked out to an average $90; a Medicare fee adjustment would have saved them roughly $3.6 million a year. It could have come to pass, had the issue been dealt with when it previously came up—in 1999, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suggested changing the VES fee schedule, reports the Washington Free Beacon.

OK this is almost too easy but it needs to be said… Well that explains why Washington and Congress in particular is populated with a bunch of big pricks bent on screwing WE THE PEOPLE!

 

 

Umm I kind of thought Texas already had the been there done that T-shirt for that. Seems to me we done that deed already, the name Enron springs to mind.

 

 

Ok in the interest of making this fast so that I can get this up while it’s still Wednesday and then go cook dinner before Molly decided to take a bite out of me I’m not posting the article which are generating the bulk of today’s Parting Shot comments just listing the you’ll have to exercise your mouse clicking fingers at the appropreate time.

I’m sure by now you’ve all gathered that I’m irked over the Democrats and their media lap dogs attack on presumed 2016 front runner Chris Christie.

Aside form confirming my dislike of basically every politician in Washington and distrust of every News outlet this concerted and concentrated attack has prove3n 2 other things to me. First that the Democrats wrote the  Political Dirty Tactic and Character Assignation play book that Christie’s underlings were taking their cues from. Secondly, that the Democrats are knee quivering, pants crapping,  involuntarily bladder voiding, chicken shit scared of Christie’s 2016 chances.

 

Now on to the second thing that is bothering me, namely Obama’s ‘Year of Action’. We all (unless you’re one of our resident Liberal Crackpots who like so much to snipe at us from the shadows) remember Obama’s comments to Putin to the effect that he would “have far greater leeway once into his second term”. Clearly this is a demonstration of what that “leeway” comment actually means. He intends to circumvent every one of the Checks and Balances between himself and Congress while ignoring the will of WE the PEOPLE to accomplish the goals of his Socialist Obama Vision for the destruction of America.

Think I’m kidding? Peruses these little gems. Just keep in mind while you do that the Lamestream Liberal Media approves of Obama and his socialist agenda (so if you think this is bad, just imagine how bad the whole truth really is!) Go a head I’ll  go put some water on for tea and dinner while you do.

http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/01/15/obamas-year-action-burn-constitution-any-means-necessary

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/01/14/obama-on-executive-actions-ive-got-a-pen-and-ive-got-a-phone/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/14/aide-obama-plans-more-executive-orders-advance-age/

 

Oh I see a lot of unhappy irate faces! More than a few queasy ones too, those must be the bankers. Several good questions about the legality of Obama’s announced actions and whether or not this premeditated flagrant and intentional misuse of the Executive Order constitutes an Impeachable Offense were raised in those articles and we need to keep those dialogs going. While I am forced to concede that Congress is gridlocked and incapable of passing a resolution saying if it was day or night outside due to all the partisan bickering and I will also stipulate that the Republicans have successfully blocked most of his agenda with their insistence on fiscally responsible governing from where I sit Obama’s issue is with his party and Congress. He wants to fire off Executive Orders let him fire off some motivational ones at them. Require then to work overtime, extended hours, nights, weekends , holidays and breaks until they actually get something accomplished. Order deadlines and penalties unless they do get something meaningful accomplished but do not continue to demonstrate your distain the the Constitution.

 

Otherwise since Congress cannot seem to do much of anything but vote them selves perks raises and  pad the deficit WE the PEOPLE just might have to show you why the Second Amendment is there, necessary and relevant in modern society- namely to protect again the usurpation of rule by despots, tyrants, Communists, Islam and would be Kings overly fond of issuing Royal Decrees under the guise of ‘Executive Orders’

 

 

Good Morning Folks.

As you can tell nothing is right about this brief message. The font and color are wrong, the layout and graphics are not up to par and its not your regular issue of rhetoric and wit. That is because last Thursday morning I suffer a catastrophic failure of the CPU and Motherboard which turned my Lap Top into an expensive snack tray. Regardless of Impish’s faith in my skills even I cannot fix that, well at least not on a budget that makes any sort of financially responsible sense for a 4 year old machine.

 

Now this didn’t come as a total surprise I had stated in a plea for any help you folks could render by belief that it was on its way out back around Halloween. The fact I managed to nurse it along well over 60 days is in itself miraculous but I had no choice. I cannot afford another until at the earliest the end of February.

 

For the mean time I have managed to coerce a fussy power supply into functioning in a more or less stable manner so that I can use Molly’s old (circa 2006) lap top since her schooling required us to buy her a new one recently.

 

The problem is most of the software I was using to create the blog posts doesn’t want to work on this older machine, I’m having to find workarounds, install them, and then figure them out. The hard drive on my lap top is a technological generation ahead of my drive hacking set up which I didn’t know until Saturday when I removed it from the dead lap top to transfer all the work I had done last week for the blog over to this machine (Sunday is my regular backup day). I ordered one immediately but it will not be here until sometime late today. Realistically we’re looking at at least the weekend before I get everything I need to transferred over and am at least semi capable of resuming publishing weekly and they still will not be up to par for a while until I can get a newer machine.

 

If I’m not up and running by next week I’ll check in and give you an update. Until then you’re stuck laughing at with Impish.

 

Good Morning My Friends!

As you may be able to guess from the header, today’s issue is VERY video heavy!  There are some outstanding videos to watch.  So, follow the link, go to the website and watch the movies!  It’ll be fun!

Well, it’s been an interesting week.  Remember the snowpocalypse from last week?  Well, this was the other day:

“Doo, Doo, Doo Lookin’ out my back door!” Another inch yesterday and another 2 to 4 inches tomorrow.  Normal annual snow average for Indiana is 26.2 inches.  As of yesterday, we’ve had 28.1 inches and the season is just about half way over. 

Can I say it just this once?  “Global Warming My ASS!!!”

Some bad news, our dear friend Lethal Leprechaun may be off line for a while.  He had a major technological meltdown at Keebler Towers.  It all started when the Liberals launched a coordinated land and air attack right after Michael Moore (The FAR Left dumbass film maker) came out publicly saying that Obama care was a mess. We both knew the end was near at that time.  Most everyone escaped from Keebler Towers and the Dragon Lair safely, we’re still checking for survivors and such; there are some Dwarves and Orcs that are unaccounted for.  A bugbear or two that are MIA and one pet firedrake that may have flown off on it’s own, but there are no definite dead at this time.  At any rate, poor Lethal’s laptop didn’t survive the assault. 

We’re fairly sure that it is dead beyond recovery, but Lethal is a true magician when it comes to I.T. electronics and my money is on him.  Otherwise, he’s afraid that it could be up to 8 weeks before he can acquire a new laptop.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that it may just be me for a few weeks.  I know how disappointing that is to a lot of you, but you’ll have to put up with it.  There isn’t a lot we can do about it unless someone has a spare laptop laying around somewhere.

Anyway, for those interested, the knee is doing better.  Physical therapy 3 times a week and doing as much as I can around the house and I’ll be back at work sooner than I really want to be.  LOL!

Okay, so let’s get this party started!

Here’s a great video to start with.  Very timely.  Even though all of my favorites have now been knocked out of playoff contention, it’s still football…and there ain’t nothing better to do then watch a game, with family and friends, eating football food (PIZZA!!!) and beer!  Enjoy.

Here’s another great video, even if a bit embarrassing for me.  Yes, I’m the one who thought it was a giant bowl of Cocoa-Puffs!  There is a picture floating around somewhere of the “Monster of Lake Michigan” with a large silver hump on its back.  Well, that was just me with my cereal spoon tucked under my wing.  To all the newspaper reporters out there who treated that as a real story, I’m truly sorry for the confusion.

Lake Michigan is full of these weird ice balls

If you live near the Great Lakes, you may have seen these super-strange balls of ice near the shoreline. They form as layers slowly build up around smaller chunks of ice. The waves shape them into spheres until they look like a gigantic, surreal bowl of Cocoa Puffs washing up on shore.

Well, it looks like today is going to be a video day, cause here’s another one.  This one is a bit more serious than the others.  Immigration reform explained with gumballs.  Watch this one.  It’s important.

This one was sent by my dad.  Thanks for the enlightenment, Dad.

When Jane initially met Tarzan in the jungle, she was attracted to him and, during her questions about his life, she asked him how he had Sex.

“Tarzan not know Sex,” he replied.

Jane explained to him what Sex was.

Tarzan said, “Oh ….Tarzan use knot hole in trunk of tree.”

Horrified, Jane said, “Tarzan, you have it all wrong, but I will show you how to do it properly.”

She took off her clothing, and lay down on the ground.

“Here,” she said, pointing to her privates, “you must put it in here.”

Tarzan removed his loin cloth, showing Jane his considerable manhood, stepped closer to her, and kicked her in the crotch!

Jane rolled around in agony for what seemed like an eternity.

Eventually, she managed to gasp for air, and screamed, “What did you do that for?!”

Tarzan replied, “Check for squirrel.”

 

I’ve got nothing more to say about that…well…except…ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION, AMERICA???!!!

 

So, anyone out there still texting while driving?  Well, this idiot is…

And the whole thing is caught on the cops dash cam!

 

We try very hard to be non-political around here…well, in the sense that we haven’t, as yet, chosen a candidate to back.  Now, everyone also knows that I’m from New Jersey.  (Yes, for all of you out there cracking jokes, I’m a Jersey Dragon) So, it would not have been odd at all for Chris Christie to give me a call for some advice.  We’re both Jersey boys and go way back.  Anyway, there was this picture and the press took it completely the wrong way.  And…well, let me show you the picture:
Anyway, as you can see, it looks a lot like I’m defending or supporting him, when in fact, all I did was step outside for a quick cigar.  You just can’t see the cigar because I’m right handed and it’s behind me in the picture.  So, no support, just advice and a complete and total misunderstanding.

I hope we are ALL clear on this subject now.

 

This has got to be the best marriage proposal video, EVER!  That’s saying a lot, since you can go to YouTube and search for marriage proposals and you get about 488,000 results.  This one may not be THE best, but it’s the best I’ve ever seen.  I hope you enjoy.

Hee, Hee, Hee!  I’ve got to admit, this is probably my favorite section!

I laughed so hard at this next video!  11 month old Husky pup named Blaze is behaving just like some of our children (you know the ones that I’m talking about) when told it’s time to go to bed.

California Governor Jerry Brown has ruled out a run for President. He is
75 years old. If he runs in 2016 even John McCain is thinking about running
against him on a youth movement.

Okay, even when I’m running late with Dragon Laffs, I’m almost never running this late.  And the whole reason is that I can’t seem to write today’s Last Word the way I want.  It’s almost midnight on Friday and I’m getting pretty damn salty because what I want to say is, “What the hell is going on in our schools!”  But, I know it’s not really the schools.  It’s the whole damn country.  It just so happens to be manifesting itself in our schools right now.

What am I talking about?

I’ll tell you what I’m talking about, a 12 year old kid is being bullied enough that he feels he has to take a shotgun to school to fix the problem?  I’m talking about the 12 year old boy in Roswell, New Mexico who shot two kids before school who were hanging out in the gym with a bunch of other kids to stay warm.

12 years old.

The same age as my dragonette. 

Kids that age very rarely have a clue about the true consequences of their actions.  Hell, they are just barely past the age of believing in Santa Claus.  They play their x-boxes where if they get killed, their avatars stand right back up again.  And they talk to each other and watch the news where more and more school shootings are becoming so much more common.  As I’m writing this, the app on my tablet is telling me of a boy and a girl, aged 15, who were shot this afternoon in a gym in a Philadelphia school.

What is our society, us, as parents and examples, what are we teaching these kids?  I say “we”, but find it very difficult to associate myself with the idea of the adults on the edges of these situations who haven’t secured their firearms, set a bad example, or perhaps did everything right but were just the victim of circumstances.  Too often, our parental influence is no longer as enforcing as we think or hope.  Our children are learning so much more away from home than they are AT home. 

Even watching the news with my daughter in the morning before school, trying to stay informed of world, national and local events, they are reporting the horrible things that are going on in our country right now like it’s just business as usual, there’s nothing to be upset about, it’s perfectly normal for kids to be killing kids, murders in the multiples being reporting from overnight.

Like it’s nothing!

Like it’s normal!

And I’m appalled about a kid my daughter’s age shooting two other kids my daughter’s age at school?  Gee, what the hell is wrong with me?  Let me just put my daughter on the bus for school and hope that people at her school are paying enough attention to watch out for another kid bringing a weapon to school. 

And she does complain about being bullied and picked on at school…

And she’s not even old enough to put herself on the bus down the block yet.  Simply because it is a long block and neighborhoods just aren’t what they were when I was a kid, I usually watch her get on the bus for school….

…and yet a kid her exact age shot two other kids her exact age…

…with a sawed off shotgun….

…at school…

Yeah, I get it.  What the hell IS wrong with me?

Nope haven’t gone off my rocker or chugging ‘round the bend to my second childhood thought I do already have that plotted out. Nerf Guns and Legos/Kinects all the way when I’m not too busy living a Calvin like philosophical exploration of life along with my stalwart Dragon companion . [Yes Impish when I go crazy I’m taking you along fore the ride in revenge you Typhoid Mary of Insanity!]

Ahem! no, the opening graphic is rather my way of commenting on our weather for about the last 5 days and in general since the first of the year here in Houston. In the space of 3 days I’ve gone from heat and wearing bundled in fleece and fingerless gloves to  the A/C and wearing nylon track pants and short sleeved T-shirts! I swear old Mother Nature is in bloody menopause and alternating between hot flashes and the chills! Our temperature goes up and down the mercury like a bloody Yo-yo!

So what do you say we get the ball rolling before I have to make another temperature driven wardrobe change?

Oklahoma man charged with ‘atomic wedgie’ murder of stepfather

By Heide Brandes | OKLAHOMA CITY Wed Jan 8, 2014 5:46pm EST

(Reuters) – A 33-year-old Oklahoma man has been charged with killing his stepfather by giving him an “atomic wedgie,” that caused the victim to suffocate on his own underwear.

Brad Lee Davis was charged with murder in the death of 58-year-old Denver St. Clair in a drunken family fight at a residence just east of Oklahoma City, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office said in an arrest affidavit obtained on Wednesday.

Police arrested Davis on Tuesday. The affidavit said he “grabbed St. Clair’s underwear and gave him an ‘atomic wedgie.’ Davis allegedly pulled the elastic waistband of St. Clair’s underwear over his head and around his neck.”

Oklahoma Medical Examiner spokeswoman Amy Elliott said the cause of death was asphyxiation and blunt force trauma.

Pottawatomie County Sheriff Deputy Travis Palmer said Davis and St. Clair were drinking beer on the night of December 21 at the older man’s residence when St. Clair began speaking ill about his wife, who is Davis’ mother.

Investigators said St. Clair’s elastic waistband was stretched over his head and that it left ligature marks around his neck. Blood splatter was also found in the kitchen, the living room and on the living room ceiling.

Davis was being held in Pottawatomie County without bond. His lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

Yeah if I was representing an adult so reduced in mental capacity as to resort to having to apply an Elementary School Atomic Wedge to my parent in order to drunkenly respond to an argument I’d be unavailable for comment too. His lawyer should learn to have some standards and refuse to represent anything lower than another lawyer

Off-duty firefighter puts out fire with beer

Author: Kimberly O’Neal, Web Editor, Click2Houston.com Updated On: Jan 10 2014 12:14:38 PM CST

HOUSTON – An off-duty Houston firefighter’s quick thinking helped save a burning beer truck.

Capt. Craig Moreau from Station 41 was driving back from Austin with his wife on Monday night when he saw an 18-wheeler catch fire.

All the truck driver had was a small fire extinguisher.

When Capt. Moreau realized that wouldn’t work, he started using the Coors beer in the back of the truck to put out the flames.

Moreau said the foam and spray from the 16 oz. ‘tall boys’ helped put out the fire and ultimately save the truck.

Moreau and the driver were not injured, but said their clothes smelled like beer, smoke and burnt rubber.

>>Click here to watch a portion of Local 2’s interview with Moreau.

The only reason as an Irishman I’m not crying ‘alcohol abuse!’ over this report is that this is about the best use for Coors  or any canned beer I have ever heard of IMCO.

 

 

 

I was cleaning out my Blog file and noticed I had one of these leftover. I’ve gotten away from this feature because of the lack of appreciation or response other than from Impish

 

The sad thing is, I’m pretty sure all of these “jokes” are based on actual statistics from the US Census. The other sad thing is, I bet the 95% of us who couldn’t name half of the color blocks when looking at a blank map, could easily score 100% when given the prejudiced hints listed here to help us out. Except maybe Ohio. Ohio is dubbed “Swingers.” Can we get a Wikipedia explanation of that one? Aren’t there hella Amish in Ohio? I mean, maybe not Pretzelreich quantities of Amish, but you’d think enough to counterbalance Buckeyes’ apparent penchant for non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree to engage in decidedly un-Amish activities with other couples for recreational purposes. People of Ohio, what is wrong with wood carving and buggy rides?! Oh…or maybe it’s just that the rest of us misinterpreted what those sneaky Amish minxes and gallants actually meant by wood carving and buggy rides….

Rock on, Ohio.

Missouri, Mississippi, don’t get any more ideas.

Ok, you got me. ‘Tis true enough the Super Bowl isn’t until Feb 2nd. However do you really want to serve last minute discovered untested not personally refined by you foods to a crowd of crazed football fans with high expectations?

Do I really need to bring up the fondue fiasco of ‘77? The Baked Brie Bombing of ‘83? Must I mention The Tamale Tragedy of ‘91 What about the Hot Wings that weren’t of 2003? The Not-so Nachos of 2008?

Yeah I thought you’d sort of start seeing it my way.

Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites with Spicy Sour Cream Dipping Sauce

If you can find tiny new potatoes, those would be even more aesthetically precious. But chunks work fine, too. Just be sure to dice the potatoes smaller than you might think. We found that the smaller chunks actually had a better potato-to-bacon ratio. They were dangerously poppable.

With the creamy wedge of potato and the crunchy bacon, the sour cream dip is what pushes this appetizer over the edge. Again, mixing some hot sauce into the sour cream is a no-brainer, and yet that’s exactly what makes the dip addictive. If you swirl the hot sauce into the sour cream instead of fully mixing it in, you’ll get a roulette of spicy and cool bites.

Makes about three dozen bites

1 pound small or medium red potatoes
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
12 ounces to 1 pound thick-cut bacon
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1-3 teaspoons hot sauce
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Wash and dry the potatoes. Chop them into 1-inch pieces, keeping the chunks roughly the same size even if they aren’t the exact same shape. Put the potatoes in a medium pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Season the water with 2 teaspoons of salt. Once the water begins to boil, cook the potatoes for 3 to 4 minutes, until you can stick a fork into them without too much resistance. You want the potatoes to be almost, but not fully, cooked through so they won’t fall apart during the next steps.

Drain the potatoes and put them in a large bowl. Add the rosemary, olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of pepper, and toss until the potatoes are evenly coated.

Cut the strips of bacon into thirds. Wrap each potato bite in a piece of bacon, securing it with a toothpick. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil spaced an inch or two apart. You may need to cook the potatoes in two batches.

Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, then flip each piece. Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is cooked through and as crisp as you like it. Mix the sour cream and hot sauce in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pile the potato bites on a plate and serve alongside the dip.

 

Baked Spinach Dip Mini Bread Bowls

Ingredients

13.3 oz roll of refrigerated French bread loaf, I used Simply Pillsbury

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 Cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

3 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 Cup light sour cream

2 Tablespoons fresh shredded parmesan cheese

1/8 teaspoon Ancho Chile Pepper

1/8 teaspoon Onion Powder

1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Direction

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray 10 muffin cups with non stick cooking spray.  Unroll package of French bread loaf and slice into 10 equal size slices, about 1 inch thick.  Press each slice into about a 3 inch round, I did this by pressing in between my hands.  Press into the bottom and up sides of the muffin cup.  Set aside.

2.  Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat.  Cook and stir spinach until wilted, about 3 minutes then add garlic, cook and stir for another minute then turn heat off.

3.  Place cream cheese, sour cream, cooked spinach and garlic, Parmesan Cheese, Ancho Chili Powder, garlic salt, salt and pepper into a medium bowl.  Mix until well combined.  With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dip into each of the centers of bread bowls.  Top evenly with shredded cheese and bake for 15-17 minutes until just turning brown on edges.  Remove and let cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from oven.

10 mini spinach dip bread bowls

Much as football fans might like to think and say different, man cannot live on munchies (even my 1st rate munchies) alone. Women even less so. So here is one for after the game or for the women to have in the kitchen with a soothing glass of wine while the men in the den get in touch with their inner Neanderthal

Creamy Chicken Sausage and Spinach Pasta

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes | Yield: 4-6 servings

I used pre-cooked chicken sausage in this recipe so it really only takes a couple minutes of warming in the pan before it’s ready to eat. If you use fresh/raw chicken sausage, sauté the links until cooked through then slice and add the slices to the pan with the spinach.

Ingredients

    ½ lb dry pasta shapes
    2 tbsp olive oil
    1 small onion, diced small
    ½ tsp Kosher salt
       3 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tsp dried oregano
    ½ cup dry white wine
    1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
    12 oz chicken sausage, sliced into rounds
    5 oz fresh spinach
    1 cup mascarpone cheese
    2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

    Cook pasta according to package directions; reserve ½ cup of the pasta water and then drain.
 

   Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions with the salt for 5-7 minutes, until they start to soften. Mix in the oregano and garlic; cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping the bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir the tomatoes, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

    Add the sausage and spinach to the top of the mixture and cover the pan for 2-3 minutes to allow the spinach to start wilting. Start stirring the sausage and spinach into the mixture and recover for another minute. Once all of the spinach has just wilted, stir the mascarpone and Parmesan into the pan until melted and creates a creamy sauce. Stir the pasta into the mixture until well-coated with the sauce. Stir in up to ½ cup of the pasta water if the sauce seems too thick. Serve hot.

 

It’s well known within the firearms industry that gun shops are often the first line of defense in any potentially nefarious transaction — and that extends to companies who make firearms and accessories. If something seems shady (and could get them in trouble down the line) it’s within their right to refuse the sale and stave off an potentially disastrous outcome.

What’s not so common is a retailer or manufacturer getting public credit for it — often the story is instead about the gun shop who unwittingly sold a firearm to an evil doer, or the brand he used to commit the crime.

Utah gun manufacturer refuses sale to Pakistan

By Natalie Crofts KSL.com  January 3rd, 2014

WEST VALLEY CITY — A local gun manufacturer is gaining attention after announcing its decision to turn down a multimillion-dollar deal to legally supply Pakistan with precision rifles.

Desert Tech was approached with the opportunity to sell precision rifles to Pakistan in November. The company turned the deal down this week because of fears the guns could eventually be used against U.S. troops.

“The company was founded on the principle of keeping Americans and our allied forces safe,” said sales manager Mike Davis. “We’re not saying that Pakistan would get the weapons and do anything bad with them, but there’s just a heavy set of unrest over there.”

The contract would have been lucrative and the current United States administration supports foreign military arms sales to Pakistan forces, but Davis said after internal discussion they decided it wouldn’t be a good fit for their company. Some of the employees are veterans who have been to the Middle East and seen the situation first hand. Other employees have family members and friends currently serving in military engagements in the region.

“As a business owner you always want to be successful, but I think ethically and morally you want to go about it the right way and stick behind your founding principles,” Davis said.

A post by founder Nick Young on the company’s Facebook page on Tuesday has gone viral, with more than 2,000 likes and 1,000 shares so far. In the post Young asked readers if they thought the company’s concerns about selling rifles to Pakistan were legitimate.

Even though Young and other employees felt turning down the deal was the right thing for the company, Davis said it was a difficult decision to make because of the amount of money involved.

“(Young) made that decision and he put the post out there, I think, because he wanted to see if he made the right choice,” Davis said. “Sometimes going with your heart and what you feel about something is the hardest thing to do.”

Weapons sales to allied nations are nothing new but it can be complicated, especially in a country with an al-Qaida presence.

“Pakistan is an ally,” said Colonel Steven R. Watt. “We do put a significant amount of aid into Pakistan. There’s a continual struggle about the amount of support and assistance we actually get. I’ve got to admire Desert Tactical for potentially turning down what could have been a very lucrative contract in the interest of protecting American service members.”

Davis said they were surprised by the response they received and have been very humbled by the support.

“The feedback has been tremendous — we’ve had literally thousands of emails and shares from military members (and) everybody just really respecting the decision we made,” he said.

The guns — precision bolt action center fire rifles — can change caliber within minutes and have the capacity to shoot as far as 3,000 yards.

The arms, ammunition and training company contracts with private citizens, law enforcement and agencies worldwide. Desert Tech has had some military contracts with other countries but declined to reveal specifics.

Desert Tech, formerly known as Desert Tactical Arms, was founded in 2007 and is located in West Valley City.