"Politics is the attempt to achieve power and prestige without merit." - P.J. O'Rourke

Some literary humor for your Thursday.

This product is too cool. I don't know why the video isn't on their web site because it's impressive.
Magic?
And I see all kinds of applications for this technology. Got a toddler acting up? Set a larger version on the floor, drop the brat on the thing and PRESTO, problem solved!
Car seats! Cats! Let Mr. Kitty jump up onto the kitchen counter to one of these! That'll teach the beast.
If you go to their home page you'll see they have some (not all) other neat products in other departments.

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It's interesting that we say "upside down" instead of "downside up." Do they say the latter in Australia?

A couple of months ago we got a pair of cast iron fry pans. Our small, cheap, non-stick pan that I used to cook my eggs in the morning was getting scratched and losing its non-stickiness, I'd read about the wonders of a seasoned cast iron skillet, and Pam had coupons for a pair of them already on sale at Fred Meyer's.
They were "pre-seasoned" but we still did the normal initial seasoning: a liberal coating of veg. oil and then placed upside down in a 250 degree oven for an hour.
We also knew to expect that it would take repeated use and repeated seasonings before they became truly non-stick. After every use I'd wash with just water and rub more veg. oil into the pan. Sure enough, in a few weeks the 9" I use was more non-stick than the one that got pitched.
Except....
If I fried my bacon and then did my three eggs fried the eggs would stick so badly that I couldn't turn them without making a mangled and essentially scrambled mess. I always drain off the bacon grease that will pour out so there wasn't excessive grease in the pan when I put the eggs in. And the next morning when my (slightly anal) schedule called for scrambled eggs and sausage I didn't have the same problem. No sticking.
A couple of weeks ago I experimented and fried me eggs and then did the bacon. Boom! The eggs did not stick, flipped easily, and came out of the pan over medium just the way I like.
WHY does bacon grease make fried eggs stick to the pan?? I expected just the opposite.

I'm glad to have a solution but I prefer to cook my bacon first and then my eggs so the latter are hot when I eat them. Cold BACON is still BACON! Cold fried eggs are yucky.

When I went to check the water and feed in the coop I found a dead hen on the floor. No idea why because there was no sign of trouble.
The other hens didn't seem to be grieving at all. They just stepped over her cold dead body to get to the feed I'd just put in the hopper.
Cold hearted birds.

I also drove 20 miles north to Junction City to pick up the three windows I ordered two weeks ago. I need a dry day to install them and there's no sign of that happening over the next 10 days.
Related: Sally's new carpet should be delivered tomorrow. The instruction video I watched online said to expect it to be wrinkled and that a couple of hours laying in the sun should eliminate them.
June install?

I went to the gym this afternoon for the first time in almost a week. I needed to get the floor pans in so I'd have use of the car (and Pam would have use of the Blazer) and then there were extra meetings at church that kept me tied up through most of the afternoon.
Another symptom of aging seems to be a more rapid loss of fitness and strength. I'm feeling the week off.
Time for some pizza with BACON on top!