Not A Laughing Matter

Or should I say NALM?

A couple of days ago, Rush Limbaugh made reference to an article at U.K Telegraph which stated that, according to a survey, in the United States seventy percent of people between the ages of 16 and 24 had never heard of Mao Tse-tung and 40% of them had never heard of Joseph Stalin.

Perhaps that's why I received so little response to a MAO - LMAO meme I had posted on Facebook or the jpeg of Hillary Clinton dressed like the Chairman. I guess nobody understood the reference.

I'm reasonably sure that even though these young people might not know of Mao Tse-tung and all the horrendous things he did to the Chinese people, they should recognize Bernie and AOC.

Brunch at Cafe Mamia

Like every Thursday for ages, I met with a small group of American Expats for brunch at a local cafe today. At one time, we would find a suitable meeting place and return to the same place for weeks or even months at a time. Recently, however, we've taken to meeting at a different spot each Thursday.

Today, we decided on Cafe Mamia at the corner of San Jose Street and Sta. Catalina Street not far from Rizal Blvd. in Dumaguete. There were six Americans meeting this morning - one is a newbie -. Three of us had met at Cafe Mamia once before. We seemed to be in agreement that it had been two years since we were last there, but a check of photos that I had posted to Google Maps at the time show that we last visited the cafe in September 2018.

Today, we all agreed that the food was top notch. I had a bread pudding à la mode, which was absolutely delicious. With lots of creamer and brown sugar added, my coffee was not bad.

I had planned on trying a mango shake in order to add to my reviews. The menu listed mango smoothies rather than shakes, but no matter. Two of my companions ordered mango smoothies with their regular order, but I didn't want mine to come out with my coffee and bread pudding. I'd order my smoothie after the food arrived. Unfortunately, when I ordered my smoothie, I learned that my companions received had the last mango smoothies available. When it came to me, the cafe was "out of stock, sir".  One of the guys with me - who is also a regular reader of this blog wanted me to point out that he thought his smoothie was very good. We're planning on returning next Thursday, so perhaps I can have one then.

Something odd happened while I was paying for my food. The menu gives the price of brewed coffee as 55 peso, and the bread pudding à la mode as 105 pesos. The cashier had my bill and told me the total was 90 pesos. That's less than the price of the bread pudding - not to mention the brewed coffee. I pointed out to the cashier that the price was incorrect. She said the coffee was 55 and the bread pudding was 35. I was confused. When I told her that the price on the menu was 105 she looked confused as well, and said something to the waiter in Visayan. I'm hardly fluent, but I believe he must have explained to her that the à la mode increased the price.

If that's the case, then I'd hardly think that the addition of cream should raise the price by 70 pesos. I have no complaint because the menu clearly had 105 and the dish was delicious. I'm still finding it hard to believe that I could have had the bread pudding sans ice cream for only 35 pesos.

In addition to posting the photographs I took this morning, I'm including maps from Google showing the location. There will be two maps below. Google has two entries for the same location.....one given as Cafe Mamia and another as Mamia's Bar and Restaurant. There was a time when I would notify Google Maps of the duplication, but after seeing nothing being done to correct this in the past, I'm reluctant to point out the error now.

Male Piglets File Case In Court

According to an article at greenwichtime.com, Germany's male piglets become the latest animals to file cases in court.

Of course, it isn't actually the piggies filing cases with Germany's Federal constitutional Court , but rather PETA doing it on their behalf.
PETA is arguing that the castration of male piglets is in violation of German law, which states that animals shall not be harmed without reasonable explanation.

Regarding there being a a reasonable explanation for the need to castrate male piglets, one need merely go to porkgateway.org to read the following :
Removal of the testicles reduces the potential for odor and taint associated with male hormones in boars after puberty.

Clearly, pig farmers do not castrate piglets for sadistic pleasure, but because not doing so would give the meat of the grown pig an offensive odor.

I first learned of the need to castrate male piglets when I was nine or ten years old, when the father of one of my friends in the neighborhood had managed to capture a pig that some jokers had released unto Bankhead Hwy. near Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta. The boy's dad was keeping his treasure in a pen in their backyard and the boy explained to me that the pig had to get his "nuts cut off".

Being pretty much a city slicker, I had never witnessed the castration of a piglet until 2007,  while on a trip to visit my wife's family in Philippines. As I wrote in a blog post at the time :

There was quite a commotion outside behind the house. The pig were squealing loudly and even the dog and roosters were in some sort of stress. My wife told me that Papa was circumcising the piglets. My first thought was that, perhaps, if what she said were true, then it might be possible to make pork Kosher.
After I had explained the difference between the definitions of circumcision and castration she admitted that her choice of words had not been the right one.

At that time I simply watched my father-in-law, with the help of one of his sons-in-law, do the deed. Fully ten years would pass before I would assist in castrating piglets. These were my piglets, so I was obligated to help Papa.

Fortunately for me, there were only two male piglets at the time. Papa and I were sitting in chairs opposite one another. I was holding the squirming, squealing piglet while Papa performed the operation. The 2nd piglet was squirming so much that my chair toppled - I fell over, still holding on to the piggie.

About the age when male piglets are castrated, both males and females have another procedure done. Both sexes have to have their teeth cut. In Philippines, this procedure is done with large toe-nail clippers. I've assisted with this, and let me tell you, it's as difficult as the castration. I'm surprised PETA hasn't filed suit on behalf of the female piglets for this.

Sounds a bit sexist, if you ask me.

Photos from 2016

From time to time, I'll look over old photos saved on my hard drive to see if there's any photographs I might upload to Google Maps.

This morning I came upon some photos taken in May, 2016 which I think are of interest. These photos can't be uploaded to Google Maps, but I wanted to post them here. The photos are of a man cutting up a coconut tree into lumber, using only a chainsaw. I was very impressed with his skill when I took the photographs.

I've posted these photos onto this blog once before -[ The Banana Plants and Coconut Tree ]- but I see no reason why I can't re-post them now for those who might have missed the earlier post.

Bridges

While looking around for photos to post onto Google Maps, (after all, nine million views don't hardly seem enough.) I noticed that the Calabnugan Bridge going over the Okoy River had been located on the map. I had taken a few photos of the bridge and uploaded them to Google Maps.

I also have a photo of the bridge that crosses the Okoy in Sibulan on the National Highway. That photo is seen at the beginning of this post. Unfortunately, the bridge has not - at the time of this writing- been located on Google Maps.

I've put in a edit to remedy that, but it has not as yet been approved.

We shall see.