Perking The New Day – Again

Returning to those good old days of yesteryear, I made coffee in one of my percolator coffee makers.  The deep flavors, the richness of the brew brought back memories of pre-Mr Coffee life.  That was around fifty years ago.

Percolator coffee maker
Percolator Coffee

Before the innovative Mr. Coffee was invented and mass produced in the United States almost all coffee was made using the percolator.  Bad coffee was rampant, good coffee was a delight.  Everyone knew what they liked and how to make it.  Making coffee was a skill.

I have percolators on my boats and at home.  If the power goes out or there is no electricity, like the boats at times, I can always have my cup of coffee.  Because I did not have to make coffee the old fashioned way in decades I thought it was about time to do it.

It took a few minutes reading to find the measurements of coffee and water, and how long to let it perk before it was done.  With knowledge and returning skills I set up my coffee pot and started cooking.  Yes, we called it cooking, which it is.  Nothing like drip coffee.

That first pot of rich and full flavor coffee did it.  I will be making my percolator coffee for a while.

Lamb Chops in Tomato Red Pepper Sauce

Sometimes, actually a lot, I will have something to eat (often found in freezer) and want to make it tasty.  Although I usually do lamb chops in teriyaki sauce this time I wanted something else. After rotating through the easy stuff, I came up with tomato cream sauce or mushroom cream sauce.  I really like the concept of tomato and red pepper sauce.

So that is what I am making.  Right now, I am boiling white potatoes.  I have the lamb chops getting ready for happiness. I have some tomato and red pepper soup that has been laying around for a while.  And, I have a lot of half and half and heavy cream.  I have a little sauce disk to put my spices in. So far it has a dry Italian mix, salt, pepper, powered garlic and powdered onion in the dish.  

Cooking the lamb chops is about two minutes per side and medium high temperature on your fry pan.  I will cook an onion in a little olive oil and butter, push it off to the side before adding the lamb chops. As soon as the chops are hot, I will add the spice mix in the tomato and red pepper soup, stir it well and then add a good splash of cream over it all. Stir that all together. 

Make it hot and happy, simmer a few minutes for the flavors to get together.  Plate and enjoy.  Oh, the mushy peas are on the side. The other option is to make succatash by mixing corn, red beans, tomatoes and chilies.

What Am I Looking At?

While watching Meidas Touch Network videos of the current trial involving former guy something seemed odd, at least to me.  Not really thinking about it until one of the talking attorneys was facing the camera.  What was tapping me with the hammer of “wake up it is staring you in the face”? Then I realized what it is. He is grey haired, with grey short beard, wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt.

 

Then I saw it. Right in front of my face, actually right on his face.  Green thick frame glasses.  Duh. Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z wear color frame glasses.  I have seen red, yellow green, blue and more colors.  Thick frames which we Boomers tried to never wear in public.

What that little revelation did was bring another layer of “our kids are no longer children” to my psychie.  My children are middle age now.  They are grey, or would be if they were not bald like their paternal great-great-uncles. Billiard ball bald.  But, it means Gen X and Millennials are in the driver seat of whatever is going on. 

Yup.  I am happy I turned the reins of my generation over to the kids. I can sit back and enjoy them dealing with the mess. But, looking good doing it.

Is It Time for Linux?

Something different – for several decades the personal computer has become a household product, similar to a television or telephone, if not a replacement of those.  And, there has been little change in how those tools or entertainment devices run.  Windows, Apple and Android made those devices do what they do. 

Computers and other things also can be run using other operating systems, such as Linux.  Long taunted as the replacement for Windows, it never has been.  As hard as Windows is to most people to understand, Linux was beyond comprehension.  A goal some Linux teams, there are different flavors of Linux, was to create that Windows replacement.  Many of the issues were from all the patents that Microsoft, Apple and other companies had on software and hardware. Many of the issues were from how Linux functions.

Those teams working on being a Windows replacement kept to the task, year after year.  The last four or five years started to yield results.  Installing and maintaining became easier, no need to understand how the operating system works.  The issue of lack of ways to make the computers work, drivers, is being closer to being resolved.  More software programs are designed for Linux. 

This week I installed the latest Linux Mint and am happy to say that for many people a replacement for Windows is now here.  No need for fiddly The office applications function without strange issues. Speed is very good. You can run MS Office on the web, not installed on the computer though. MS has some applications for Linux. The installed office programs are very good as a replacement. Everything is free too.

The reason I installed Linux on a laptop is the computer suffered a cup of coffee causing some damage to the screen.  It came with Windows 7 then updated to Windows 10.  It could never be a Windows 11 machine.  Once I realized how damaged the machine was I decided to turn it into a Linux computer.  That was in 2016. Since then I have put different versions of Linux on it.  No version was a replacement for Windows, until now.  Linux Mint Cinnamon does work very good.  If you have an old laptop you can install Linux and it will be usable for school or home or working on websites.

Key Bridge Removal Continues

Not much to say as this is a major disaster affecting not only Baltimore and the D.C. region, but much of the United States. These two shots are from April 6, 2024 by the U.S. Coast Guard.  They show the damage and the amount of bridge that is on the bow of MV Dali

MV Dali with bridge debris
MV Dali with bridge debris
MV Dali with bridge debris
MV Dali with bridge debris

Francis Scott Key Bridge Gone

In case you had not heard yet, a large container ship hit the supports for the Francis Scott Key bridge at the entrance to the Patapasco River which is where Port Baltimore is.  The bridge collapsed into the river blocking the port. The bridge was I-695, a major interstate of the mid-Atlantic region.  The port is one of the major ports of the U.S.

This disaster is massive for the region, and major for international trade to and from the U.S.  I have been reading up on what the people who analyze stuff for a living have to say.  First  it is a massive hit on the port and region, but for a limited time.  Second is the international trade will have a minor hit, with few issues in the short term.  Third is the Port of Baltimore was the major port for auto, truck, heavy equipment imports and exports.  Fourth is the port is one of only three on the east coast of the U.S. capable of handling the large freighters and container ships of the modern era; the immediate impact is a need to shift the current ships to ports which can handle them and the cargo.  And finally, the overnight thought is the port will be shut down for about three weeks, plus or minus a week or so.  Clearing the wreckage and the ship will be difficult, but not impossible.

 

To the interstate.  Right now there are three major routes through Baltimore of I-95. Two are tunnels which limit size and contents.  Something I did not know was propane tanks are limited to a max of ten pounds.  Normal grill uses a twenty pound tank.  So the two tunnels were at max capacity years ago and the I-695 bridge took that load off.  The third route is I-695 loop over the top of Baltimore which adds about thirty miles more to the journey.  It is often packed, similar to the Washington, D.C., Beltway.  All this means is that north south traffic along the East Coast is severely impacted getting through Baltimore.  Once the Port of Baltimore is functioning and ships are loading and off loading cargo again, the lack of the Francis Scott Key Bridge will impact cargo going south.

 

One good news is that the Biden infrastructure act has modifying and upgrading certain railroad tunnels, one in particular limits the height of trains leaving Baltimore going south.  That happening and the bridge rebuild  will provide greater movement of goods.

 

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