Just for Fun!

This is the topic just for fun.

No, not that kind of Fun, I mean just stuff to have fun with.

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Permalink Reply by Mean Chunga (Putz) on January 27, 2015 at 9:56am

Secret WMDs of all Public Places

Starring: Me

We've all been there in some form or another, trying to get from one place to another in a crowd. When all of the sudden ...

Out of the blue you're taken out.

Did someone drive a bus through here and somehow only manage to hit me? Have I stepped on a mine? All I can tell you is no, and no but I can tell you that you have been mowed over and you're wiser for the experience now.
No? You don't know what happened?
Okay I'll tell you

You see, you've fallen victim to today greatest and least spoken of weapon of mass destruction: The hurried parent with a stroller.
You heard me, that parent and stroller have essentially turned the mall, park, grocery (don't get me started on carts!), or theme park into their own personal Normandy Beach and they are storming it and no amount of soft fleshy legs are going to get in their way.

     Worry not, they are completely avoidable.
     First off, if you are in their zone you will almost always hear them coming if you know what to listen for. Much like a rattlesnake shaking its tail in warning the Strollercutioner will attempt to warn their potential victims with an "excuse me" or a "pardon me" or something along those lines. Now you will have to hear it ahead of time because the Stormstroller may be building up a head of steam and will start "excusing" and "pardoning" post blast. That is why you need to listen, if you hear 3 (or more) in a row, from the same person, going in the same direction you may now consider yourself warned and a good idea is to head for high ground to get above the strollinator.
    I bet you would like to know how to use this to your advantage, wouldn't you?
    Well for starters you could very simply take advantage of the path they have cut out of the crowd. Those people on the ground clutching their ankles should have gotten out of the way, right? You did.
     Got an annoying member of the party? You know what to do ... Tell them you'll swing back by and check on them in a little bit.
    Simply by following these steps you can avoid being another victim in the Strollerwars.

Until the Next Time

Have a Magical Day

Mike

Permalink Reply by Mean Chunga (Putz) on February 2, 2015 at 9:11am

A Lesson in Coffee

Hello everyone! Let me introduce you to a friend of mine

This is a green coffee been

These aren't moldy or anything like that, this is what coffee looks like before it is roasted. Here is an interesting side note: In the days before Folgers, Starbucks, instant coffee, and those new K cup thingies people used to not only roast their own coffee beans but it was a matter of pride to the woman of the house as to how well her coffee tasted over her neighbors. Now don't get mad at me, those were the times.

Women of the day would get their green coffee beans and bring them home and place them in their coffee roaster, Which in some homes would have looked like this:

In the large bucket went hot charcoal and in the drum went the coffee, they had to not only maintain the heat, keep it even, but also sit right by it and crank the handle on the drum so the beans would keep moving and roast instead of you know, burn. Now I am sure this could make some good coffee but I am sure it could make some just terrible coffee as well.

People want easy, fast, and consistent with just about everything they have and preroasted, prepackaged coffee hit the shelves in the not-too-distant future.

Now here is where things get interesting. Let's look at the next example. These are all of the recognized coffee bean roasts

And they are

Green - Which we know is raw
Light Roast
Cinnamon
Medium Roast
High Roast
City Roast
Full City Roast
French Roast - Which is for all intents and purposes, burned (These two are the choice roasts of Starbucks)
Italy Roast - Which is for all intents and purposes, also burned

I'm sure I know what you are doing, looking at that Italy roast and thinking "Wow, that must be really strong! That would make me super hyper if I drank that."

To which I say: "Sorry, it is just bitter. There is hardly any caffeine left."

You see, roasting the coffee eliminates the caffeine from the bean and even though you cannot get rid of it all and therefore none of these beans will ever be considered decaf (that is a whole other process) but you can get rid of most of it and in Starbucks there is hardly any caffeine left. So just keep that in mind the next time your friend says "I got a double shot of espresso in my drink, I am so hyper!" Truth is, that is probably about the same amount of caffeine as about half of a regular cup of coffee but it is a whole lot of super strong coffee flavor. So when they do that, smile, pat them on the head, and say "I'm sure you are."

Now please, stop paying $4 for a cup of burned coffee that has no caffeine at all

Until the next time

Have a magical day!

Mike

Permalink Reply by Aurora on February 12, 2015 at 3:17am

I've roasted coffee before. Beans from different countries have different tastes and quality as well. It's really quote an interesting art.

Permalink Reply by Mean Chunga (Putz) on February 13, 2015 at 8:53am

It is something that I've wanted to do, but I have just never gotten around to doing it. It is one of those things that I am afraid that I would really like and then I get all obsessed with it and spend a bunch of money hahaha