In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. was a TV show from 1993-1994 that I very much enjoyed. I even acquired the box set. It has an 8.3 rating on IMDb and it’s a comedy/action/western.

Bruce Campbell plays a bounty hunter in the Old West, late 1800s, and he fights bad guys and uses a variety of futuristic-type gadgets. A bit anachronistic.

It’s very well written, full of clever banter and wit, couched in a decent Western action and adventure setting. The addition of sci-fi or steampunk elements made the show unique and helped it develop a large cult following. It is often compared to The Wild Wild West and Indiana Jones for its mix of action, humor, and adventure.

Unfortunately, it’s only available on DVD or to purchase via Prime Video or Apple TV. Here’s a trailer.

And here are a couple clips:

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Word to the Wise

Borborygmus – (ˌbȯr-bə-ˈrig-məs) n. intestinal rumbling caused by moving gas, “gurgling tummy”

Thoughts from the Nook

According to GasBuddy, the day of the week that gasoline is cheapest to buy is Sunday.

“Based on an analysis of daily statewide fuel prices over the past year, GasBuddy found that Sunday is the most consistently affordable day to fill up in most U.S. states, while midweek, particularly Wednesday through Friday, tends to be more expensive.”

“While price trends fluctuate with oil markets and seasonal demand, weekly patterns remain surprisingly consistent. In most states, prices gradually rise through the week before easing into the weekend, creating a reliable window for motorists to save simply by adjusting the timing of their fill-up. Buying on the lowest-priced weekday instead of the most expensive one can save drivers 4 to 9 cents per gallon with little effort.”

Exceptions: Monday is the best day in Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, and Ohio, while Saturday is cheapest in Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Montana is the only state where Tuesday offers the lowest prices.

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Trivia Espresso Shot

We’ve only explored 0.001% of the ocean floor. We have more detailed maps of the Moon than the deep seafloor, and the surface area of the Moon is only a tenth of the surface area of the deep seafloor.

Out of a total area of about 130 million square miles, scientists have explored less than 0.001%– roughly the same as Rhode Island. There have been over 43,000 records of dives deeper than 200 meters (656 feet) over the past 67 years.

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Reference Desk

The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City was founded by Pierpont Morgan in 1906. It’s both a research library and a museum, located in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan.

The collection has more than 350,000 objects, which include illuminated manuscripts, authors’ original manuscripts, books, and sheets of music. The Morgan also houses collections of drawings, photographs, paintings, maps, and other objects.

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Dad Joke Cupboard

Q. What did the tree say to Spring?
A: “What a re-leaf!”

Composer Corner

Rachel Portman is a British composer born in 1960 in Surrey, and she is the first female composer to win an Academy Award for best original movie score (for the movie Emma).

Portman studied Music at Worcester College in Oxford with Roger Steptoe. While there, she began composing for student films

She began composing at 14 years old and her career started out writing music for BBC movies. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2010, and is an honorary member of Worcester College, Oxford. She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.

Here is her IMDb entry, with 115 credits for movies and TV.

Chocolat | The Little Prince | Emma | Cider House Rules

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Apr 19 – National Garlic Day, National Rice Ball Day, National Amaretto Day

• Mon, Apr 20 – National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day, National Cheddar Fries Day, Lima Bean Respect Day

• Tue, Apr 21 – National Tea Day, National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day

• Wed, Apr 22 – National Jelly Bean Day

• Thu, Apr 23 – National Cherry Cheesecake Day, National Picnic Day, German Beer Day

• Fri, Apr 24 – National Pigs In A Blanket Day, Sauvignon Blanc Day

• Sat, Apr 25 – National Crotilla Day, National Zucchini Bread Day

• Sun, Apr 26 – National Pretzel Day

Recipe Card

Fish Stick Chowder

Simple, rich, and tasty

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes

• 1 medium onion

• 4 tsp butter

• 1 can evaporated milk

• 6 cups milk

• 1 can chicken broth

• 2 cans corn

• 1 bag of 60 fish sticks, cut into quarters

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp dill weed

• ½ tsp pepper

• ½ tsp thyme

• 1 cup milk

• ½ cup corn starch

Directions

1. Peel and dice potatoes. Boil for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, chop onion into large pieces and sauté with butter in stock pot for 5 minutes. Add milk, broth, corn, fish, and spices. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally. Try not to boil.

3. Drain potatoes and add to pot. Using the same saucepan the potatoes boiled in, add 1 cup milk and ½ cup corn starch. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Add to pot and stir well.

4. Simmer the whole thing for ½ hour, stirring occasionally.

(Note: Ingredient amounts may vary and should be tweaked to your preferences.)

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We are still in the middle of our Favorite Ice Cream Flavors voting bracket. 64 flavors of ice cream. We are in the Quarterfinal Round, with just 8 flavors left. Tomorrow will be the Semifinals, Wednesday the Finals, and Friday will see the winner and begin the next topic: Favorite Musical Artists of the 21st Century.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

The Pfunny Page

Marginalia

“Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.”
- Robert Heinlein

The Index

Today’s curated list: Top 10 Largest Movie Casts

Some of these are still debated between official and unofficial estimates.

1. Gandhi (1982)- 300,000 extras

2. The Sword and the Dragon (1956) – 106,000 extras

3. Metropolis (1927) – 37,000 extras

4. Waterloo (1970) – 17,000 extras

5. War and Peace (1965) – 12,000 extras

6. Ben-Hur (1959) – 10,000 extras

7. Spartacus (1960) – 8,000-10,000 extras

8. Quo Vadis (1951) – 7,000-10,000 extras

9. The Ten Commandments (1956) – 6,000 extras

10. Around the World in 80 Days (1956) – 6,000 extras

NOTE: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) had 20,600 extras overall, but I couldn’t find numbers for the individual movies.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Animusic

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Plague, Inc. is a game that was launched in 2012 by Ndemic Creations. It was based on couple movies and browser games that had come out in the previous years. It’s a real-time strategy simulation game where you create a pathogen that just infected “Patient Zero.” Your goal is to infect the entire world and bring about the end of humanity. In 2013, the CDC endorsed the game as an effective way to learn about how diseases spread.

Plague Inc: Evolved was a 2015 update for PC and consoles that included updates to gameplay that made it more fun.

Plague Inc. The Cure was a 2020 update that included a new game mode where you try to save the world by curing the disease.

Plague Inc. Outbreak Mode just came out in November 2025 that added another game mode which had daily challenges where you try to win with a preselected disease type, and also included modifiers that are both positive and negative effects.

You can get all of these on Steam, Google Play, the App Store, and more locations.

There are variations that are constructive rather than destructive, too. Like the Christmas variation where the world has been saturated by materialism and you’re supposed to infect the entire world with the Christmas spirit. 😊🎅

They also have a board game.

Here’s a video of a gameplay demo:

Word to the Wise

Sonder – (‘sahn-der) n. the realization that each passerby has a complex life full of experiences, emotions, and problems, just like you.

Thoughts from the Nook

When I was in high school, I learned a fun game to play with license plates while you’re traveling. I have no idea where it came from and I’ve never been able to find another reference to this particular version of license plate game.

Since it works one vehicle at a time, you can do it even when driving around town.

No, it’s not about states or words. It’s about MATH! :-D

You figure out how many points each license plate is worth.

Just add all the digits on the license plate together. If the result is two digits, add those together also. The resulting number is one digit and the number of times that digit appears on the plate is the number of points it’s worth.

If you’re playing with others, maybe set a 25-point victory threshold.

Examples:

Zero points:

One point:

Two points:

Three points:

Trivia Espresso Shot

Hot Honey has been a food trend for the last few years. It’s a sweet and spicy condiment made by infusing honey with chili peppers, creating a flavor profile described as “sweet-first” with “slow-building heat.”

It’s used to top pizza, fried chicken, roasted vegetables, and cheese boards, and is also incorporated into glazes, marinades, and even mixed drinks.

I first heard of it on Rhett & Link’s Good Mythical Morning:

Reference Desk

WorldCat is a free online global cooperative library catalog that combines the holdings of over 72,000 libraries in 172 countries!

WorldCat.org is a resource for locating unique, trustworthy materials that you often can’t find anywhere except in a library.

It allows users to search across thousands of library holdings simultaneously to find books, manuscripts, videos, and other materials, often linking directly to local library catalogs to check availability or facilitate interlibrary loans.

If you enter your location, WorldCat will even show you what the closest libraries are that have the item you searched.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q. Why type of socks do pirates wear?
A. Arrrrgyle

Composer Corner

John Williams is arguably the most famous film composer of all time. He was born in New York City in 1932. His father collaborated with Bernard Herrmann, where “Johnny” got his first exposure to rehearsals and film music. He later studied under Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. When he was in the U.S. Air Force, he conducted and arranged music for the Air Force Band.

During his time as an orchestrator for film studios, he worked with Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, and Alfred Newman. He was also a studio pianist for scores by Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and Henry Mancini.

He is listed as primary composer for 186 movies and TV shows. Check his IMDb entry for more details and info about all his movie activity. He also did compose pure classical music that was not for a movie. Some of those are listed below also.

Duel of the Fates | Olympic Fanfare | Imperial March | Raiders March | Jaws | Hedwig’s Theme | Violin Concerto #2 | Horn Concerto | Three Pieces for Solo Cello

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Apr 12 – National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, National Licorice Day

• Mon, Apr 13 – National Peach Cobbler Day

• Tue, Apr 14 – National Pecan Day

• Wed, Apr 15 – National Glazed Ham Day, Banana Day

• Thu, Apr 16 – National Eggs Benedict Day, Day of the Mushroom

• Fri, Apr 17 – International Malbec Day, National Cheese Ball Day

• Sat, Apr 18 – National Animal Crackers Day

• Sun, Apr 19 – National Garlic Day, National Rice Ball Day, National Amaretto Day

Recipe Card

Hot Honey

Ingredients

• 1 cup of honey

• 2 Tablespoons chili flakes

• 2 teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce

Directions

1. In small pot over medium heat, add honey and chili flakes.

2. Heat until small bubbles form along pan’s edges, then remove from heat. Do not allow honey to boil, it will quickly bubble up and boil over pot’s edge and become overly thick/sticky.

3. Allow chili flakes to infuse into honey for 5 minutes. If using hot sauce or vinegar, add now.

4. Strain the infused honey through fine mesh sieve into clean glass jar. If chili flakes aren’t removed, the hot honey will get spicier with age.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

On Friday we began the voting bracket of our Favorite Ice Cream Flavors. 64 flavors of ice cream. Tomorrow (Monday), we begin Round Two.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

The Pfunny Page

Marginalia

“You’ve been banging on your pots again, haven’t you? I’ve told you, if you keep on doing it, you won’t have any pots left.”
- Michael Caine as Lawrence Jamieson in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

The Index

Today’s curated list: Top 10 Funny Videos

Ten of my favorite funny viral videos

1. 1. Despacito Rubber Chicken (6.8 million views)

   2. Evolution of Dance (315 million views)

   3. Charlie Bit My Finger (11.8 million views)

   4. The Duck Song (680 million views)

   5. Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (106 million views)

   6. Mr Six We Like to Party (1.2 million views)

   7. Potter Puppet Pals: Mysterious Ticking Noise (210 million views)

   8. Manualist Plays Super Mario Bros (2.7 million views)

   9. Charlie the Unicorn (46 million views)

   10. Numa Numa (5.5 million views)

List of Most-Viewed YouTube Videos

Next Time in the Klatch

• Brisco County (Junior)

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

The world of handbells is often thought to be church music, but there are many groups that based in schools or communities. One of the best, most impactful and professional ensembles in the world is the Raleigh Ringers.

The Raleigh Ringers are a non-profit group as are many community groups. They’ve even been nominated for an Emmy. They’ve released 8 CDs and 2 DVDs. They are truly excellent in technique and musicality.

I have become friends with several of the members and there are some excellent musicians involved. They have auditions every year, and returning members must reaudition every year. If I ever was able to move near Raleigh, NC, I would TOTALLY be auditioning!

One of my favorite parts of their concerts is the “Rockin’ Raleigh Ringers” section, where they perform classic rock tunes on handbells. They leave for an intermission and come back dressed up in appropriate clothes and wigs and hats, and they play songs like Stairway to Heaven, Hotel California, Bohemian Rhapsody, Freebird, and Come Sail Away. Also some Trans-Siberian Orchestra music. Here are a couple selections.

• Their website

• Their YouTube channel (there are tons of videos on other channels, too)

Word to the Wise

Satsuma – (sat-‘su-muh) n. a Japanese variety of mandarin orange. The most common seedless mandarin oranges are satsumas, clementines, and tangerines.

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Thoughts from the Nook

This week, my youngest grandson turns ONE YEAR OLD!
His name is Rowan James Kili Pfitzinger. Happy birthday, Rowan!

Trivia Espresso Shot

Castoreum is an excretion from beaver anal glands. They combine it with urine to mark their territory.

BUT…

It’s also an ingredient in vanillin, which is a main flavor for vanilla ice cream!

It’s also used in some chocolate and some perfumes.

Yes, when you have most vanilla ice cream, you’re getting a little beaver anal gland secretion! 😋

Reference Desk

There is something about libraries, maybe the atmosphere or the quietness, that leads people to talking about them being haunted.

Pennsylvania has 17 reported haunted libraries.
Texas has 16 reported haunted libraries.

The most commonly reported haunted libraries in the U.S. are:

1. Willard Library – Evansville, Indiana

2. Houston Public Library – Julia Ideson Building, Texas

3. Peoria Public Library – Illinois

4. Westerly Public Library – Rhode Island

5. Sweetwater County Library – Green River, Wyoming

6. Osterhout Free Library – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

7. Guggenheim Memorial Library – New Jersey

Brittanica posted a blog series about haunted libraries. It’s not online anymore, but Archive.org saved a copy:

• Northeastern US

• Midwestern US

• Southern U.S.

• Western U.S.

• International

Sources:

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Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: Why was the Easter egg hiding?
A: Because it was a little chicken!

Composer Corner

Valerie Coleman is a composer and flutist who was born in 1970 in Louisville, KY. She studied at Mannes College of Music. Her composition teachers were Martin Amlin and Randall Woolf. Her flute teachers included Julius Baker, Alan Weiss, and Mark Sparks.

She is known for incorporating jazz into classical music, and she has won several awards and been nominated for two Grammys.

Revelry | Umoja | Fanfare for Uncommon Times | Red Clay & Mississippi Delta

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Apr 5 – National Deep Dish Pizza Day, National Caramel Day, National Raisin And Spice Bar Day

• Mon, Apr 6 – International Carbonara Day, National Caramel Corn Day, Fresh Tomato Day

• Tue, Apr 7 – National Beer Day, National Coffee Cake Day

• Wed, Apr 8 – National Empanada Day

• Thu, Apr 9 – National Gin And Tonic Day, National Chinese Almond Cookie Day

• Fri, Apr 10 – National Cinnamon Crescent Day

• Sat, Apr 11 – National Cheese Fondue Day

• Sun, Apr 12 – National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, National Licorice Day

Recipe Card

Easy-Peasy Pizza Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef, cooked

• 1 can spam, ground up or minced

• 1 small can spaghetti sauce

• 1 lb mozzarella cheese

• 1 tsp oregano

• ¼ tsp salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together.

2. Spread on hamburger buns or English muffins.

3. Bake open-face burgers at 400º for 10-15 minutes (also works in microwave).

Note: Feel free to substitute other ingredients if you like.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We are down to just 8 of our Favorite Dad Jokes in the current Voting Bracket. This topic will end on Friday, 10 April 2026, and then we will begin Favorite Ice Cream Flavors.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

The Pfunny Page

Marginalia

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.”
- Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey in Airplane (1980)

The Index

Today’s curated list: Top 10 Favorite Music Genres in the World

1. Hip-Hop / Rap

2. Pop

3. Rock

4. Country

5. EDM (Electronic Dance Music)

6. Latin

7. K-Pop

8. R&B / Soul

9. Jazz

10. Classical

Source

Next Time in the Klatch

• Plague, Inc.

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

The history of rum is quite interesting. It really does go back to the pirates of the Caribbean. In the mid-1600s, sugar was a primary commodity in the Caribbean. When you crush sugar cane, molasses is a byproduct. There are various theories about how it was discovered that molasses could be fermented and distilled, but the first recorded mention of rum was in a 1651 document from Barbados, that called it “rumbullion” or “kill-devil.”

Rum quickly grew into a worldwide commodity. The British Navy actually gave their sailors daily rations of rum. This lasted until 1970!

Within 100 years, rum had become the unofficial national drink of America, eventually replaced by bourbon whiskey in the 20th century. The different kinds of sugar cane around the world can lead to different flavors of rum.

• Barbados has a distillery named Mount Gay that opened in 1703 and is thought to be the very first rum distillery.

• Cuban rum is generally a light rum, aged in oak barrels for a couple years and filtered with charcoal to make it lighter.

• Haitian rum is unique and made in small pot stills.

• Jamaican rum is famous, has a flavor similar to overripe fruit, and generally has a higher ABV.

• The Philippines also makes rum in a Spanish style, which is aged in old whiskey barrels.

• The United States has many distilleries, especially in New England. The molasses that is native to the U.S. gives U.S. rum a distinctive flavor.

Rum has recently been undergoing a kind of renaissance, fueled by craft distilleries and a shift toward premium aged rums. This movement has redefined rum’s image from a “cheap mixer” to a sipping spirit comparable to cognac and single-malt scotch.

Here’s a big ol’ list of brands of rum.

And another list with links and descriptions.

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Word to the Wise

Legal doublet – (‘le-gal ‘dub-let) n. a standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language consisting of two or more words that are irreversible binomials and frequently synonyms, usually connected by “and”, such as “cease and desist.” The order of the words cannot be reversed. It would seem odd to ask someone to “desist and cease” or to have property owned “clear and free” instead of the standard “free and clear” term.

Some other legal doublets include:

• Breaking and entering

• Part and parcel

• Fit and proper

• Wear and tear

• Law and order

• Sale or transfer

• Null and void

Thoughts from the Nook

Koyaanisqatsi is a full-length movie made in 1982 that was directed by Godfrey Reggio and featured music by Philip Glass. Described as an “essay in images and sound on the state of American civilization”, the film comprises a montage of stock footage, slow motion, and time-lapse visuals of natural and urban environments across the United States.

The word “Koyaanisqatsi” is Hopi for “life out of balance”, and the movie is basically a cinematic statement about how industry, war, and technology have disconnected humanity from nature.

There is NO dialogue in the movie. Just music and images.

The movie fundamentally altered visual storytelling by popularizing time-lapse, undercranking, and high-speed cinematography to “de-familiarize the familiar,” techniques that were previously rare in theatrical films and became standard in commercial media. Its influence is most visible in the widespread adoption of turbo time-lapses and accelerated footage in music videos and television commercials, often used to convey the frenetic pace of modern life or the simultaneity of globalization.

Here is the full movie. Don’t know why Substack is saying it’s “age-restricted.” There’s nothing in it to make it even PG. Maybe because the movie is unrated?

Trivia Espresso Shot

Pizza is one of the most common foods consumed in the United States. In the U.S., there are 350-400 slices of pizza eaten EVERY SECOND!

According to USDA data, the average American eats pizza 5.6 times per month and burgers 4.2 times per month.

Reference Desk

One of the fun literary occurrences from the Middle Ages was monks drawing doodles in the margins of books. Thus the name “marginalia.” Here are a few pictures from the margins of medieval books:

Dad Joke Cupboard

Why can’t a nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot.

Composer Corner

Wynton Marsalis is a trumpeter and composer, born in New Orleans in 1961. He is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

He studied classical music and jazz while he was growing up, and when he was 17, he was one of the youngest musicians admitted to Tanglewood Music Center. Then he attended the Juilliard School for a couple years, but left without a degree. He toured with different jazz ensembles for a few years and was instrumental (pardon the pun) in the promotion of jazz in various venues around the country.

He wrote Blood on the Fields in 1997, which was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Blood on the Fields | Citi Movement | Congo Square | All Rise

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Mar 29 – National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day

• Mon, Mar 30 – World Idli Day, National Turkey Neck Soup Day, National Sundubu Jjigae Day, National Hot Dog Day

• Tue, Mar 31 – National Tater Day, National Clams On The Half Shell Day, Oranges And Lemons Day

• Wed, Apr 1 – National Baked Ham With Pineapple Day, National Sourdough Bread Day

• Thu, Apr 2 – National Burrito Day, National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day

• Fri, Apr 3 – Intergalactic Fish Fingers And Custard Day, National Chocolate Mousse Day

• Sat, Apr 4 – International Carrot Day, National Ramen Noodles Day, National Chicken Cordon Bleu Day

• Sun, Apr 5 – National Deep Dish Pizza Day, National Caramel Day, National Raisin And Spice Bar Day

Recipe Card

No-Bake (Mock) Cherry Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

• ¼ cup white sugar

Filling

• 1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

• 1 12.5-oz can cherry pie filling (or other filling of your choice)

Directions

1. Prepare crust.

   1. Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar in a bowl until well incorporated and crumbly.

   2. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate, going up the sides as much as possible.

2. Make the filling.

   1. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and spreadable. NOTE: You can also use Cool Whip topping, instead of these 3 ingredients.

   2. Beat cream in a chilled glass or metal bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold into cream cheese mixture until smooth.

   3. Pour filling into the prepared crust, and smooth the top with a spatula.

   4. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 to 3 hours.

   5. Spread cherry pie filling over the chilled cheesecake.

3. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We are in Round Two of the Voting Bracket about our Favorite Dad Jokes. It was a double bracket, so Round Two still has 64 dad jokes.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

The Pfunny Page

Marginalia

“I don’t know karate, but I know kar-azy, and I will use it!”
- Owen Wilson as Roy O’Bannon in Shanghai Noon (2000)

The Index

Today’s curated list: 10 of my Favorite Comedians

The links are to some of their funny stand-up videos.

1. Emo Philips

2. Rowan Atkinson

3. Steve Martin

4. Ricky Gervais

5. Stephen Fry

6. Steven Wright

7. George Carlin

8. Patton Oswalt

9. Jim Gaffigan

10. Zach Galifianakis

Next Time in the Klatch

• The Raleigh Ringers

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Morality is a social construct that has developed over the history of society. Human moral behavior has developed as complex societies as developed, and generally includes minimizing harm caused to one another and maximizing benefits to the group. As societies have gotten larger, the importance of morality has grown, because it benefits the group. Social morality has been observed in other species besides humans, and individuals that only seek to benefit themselves and not the group have been observed being ostracized.

Certainly, religion affects morality. All religions have some kind of moral code, but it is generally incidental to the theology and acts as a guide to behavior that supports the beliefs of the religion. Morality has been observed in extant writings older than religion, and religion’s effect on morality seems to be mostly the addition of a supernatural entity working as a third party, observing behavior and enhancing guilt when the wrong behavior is acted out.

Evolved morality has led to legal systems in human society, so it is possible that morality has decreased in modern society as the legal system took its place.

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Word to the Wise

Lukewarm – (‘luke-‘warm) adj. moderately warm or tepid, also half-hearted. “Luke” originally meant “tepid” (c.1200CE), so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that lukewarm means “warm warm.”

• Source

Thoughts from the Nook

Horrible Histories is a fun British live-action historical and musical sketch comedy TV series based on the bestselling book series by Terry Deary. The show is hosted by a talking rat puppet and the sketches are all acted out in a performance that is educational without being overtly teaching.

The show often includes the weird and gross elements of history from around the world, the history that doesn’t often get taught in school.

There have been 154 episodes from 2009 to 2025. Many of the sketches are available on YouTube.

The ensemble cast has also worked together in other settings, such as the TV show Ghosts (UK).

One of my favorite sketches is called “Stupid Deaths.” “They’re funny because they’re true.”

• IMDb

• British Comedy Guide

• Best bits of the show on YouTube

Trivia Espresso Shot

A chicken once lived for 18 months without a head. Apparently when the head got cut off, the brainstem and jugular vein were missed, allowing the bird to survive. His name was Mike and he eventually died in March 1947.

• Source

Reference Desk

The Yusuhara Community Library in Kochi Prefecture (also called Kumo no Ue no Library) is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful libraries in Japan. It has been nicknamed the “Library Above the Clouds.” It was designed by renowned architect Kengo Kuma, who is also known for his design of the New National Stadium. The library makes extensive use of Yusuhara-grown timber, creating a relaxing space where visitors can enjoy the feel and smell of the wood.

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Dad Joke Cupboard

I have a horse named Mayo. It’s not a white horse, but sometimes Mayo neighs.

Composer Corner

Kaija Saariaho was a Finnish composer born in 1952 and who just passed away in 2023. She was based in Paris, France, and her music is characterized by rich, evolving soundscapes, dense textures, and a focus on timbre, color, and spatial effects. Later she began incorporating live electronics with the performance.

She studied composition with Paavo Heininen, Brian Ferneyhough, and Klaus Huber. Then she studied computer music with David Wessel, Jean-Baptiste Barriere, and Marc Battier.

In a 2019 composers’ poll by BBC Music Magazine, Saariaho was ranked the greatest living composer.

Lichtbogen | L’Amour de loin | Orion | Graal Théâtre | Nymphéa

• Saariaho.org

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Mar 22 – Bavarian Crepes Day, Coq Au Vin Day

• Mon, Mar 23 – National Tamale Day, National Chips And Dip Day, National Melba Toast Day

• Tue, Mar 24 – National Cocktail Day, National Chocolate-Covered Raisins Day, National Cheesesteak Day, National Tortilla Chip Day

• Wed, Mar 25 –International Waffle Day, National Lobster Newburg Day, Pecan Day

• Thu, Mar 26 – National Spinach Day, National Nougat Day

• Fri, Mar 27 – International Whisky Day, National Paella Day

• Sat, Mar 28 – National Black Forest Cake Day, Something On A Stick Day

• Sun, Mar 29 – National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day

Recipe Card

Cracker Barrel Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lean ground beef

• 1 small finely diced onion

• 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper (optional)

• 1 1/2 sleeves of crushed Ritz crackers (48 crackers total)

• 4 oz. shredded sharp cheddar or Colby cheese

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

For the topping:

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup ketchup

• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

• 1 tsp. mustard

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard. Place to the side. This will be used later as the topping.

3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, crushed Ritz crackers, cheese, milk, onion, bell pepper, salt and black pepper. Mix well.

4. Add the ground beef. Mix well just to combine. Do not over mix.

5. Form into a loaf and place inside a baking pan or baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven and spread the topping over the meatloaf.

8. Bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes or until the center is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

9. Let it cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We are in the middle of the Voting Bracket for Favorite Island-Based TV Shows. It’s the semifinals, with Gilligan’s Island, Fantasy Island, Black Sails, and Lost still in the running. This Wednesday we’ll be done and we’re going to start a DOUBLE bracket of Favorite Dad Jokes!

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

The Pfunny Page

Marginalia

“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.”
- Salvador Dali

The Index

Today’s curated list: My 20 Favorite Film Composers

There are many excellent film composers. These are some of my favorites, roughly ranked.

1. John Williams

2. Danny Elfman

3. Jerry Goldsmith

4. Ennio Morricone

5. Elmer Bernstein

6. Howard Shore

7. Bear McCreary

8. Michael Giacchino

9. Patrick Doyle

10. Bernard Herrmann

11. Max Steiner

12. Akira Ifukube

13. Dimitri Tiomkin

14. Basil Poledouris

15. Bennett Salvay

16. Franz Waxman

17. Miklós Rózsa

18. James Horner

19. James Newton Howard

20. Maurice Jarre

Next Time in the Klatch

• History of Rum

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

StarTalk is a podcast/show hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is widely respected as one of the most influential and recognizable astrophysicists in the world today, particularly for his exceptional ability to communicate complex scientific ideas to the public. He cohosts StarTalk with comedian Chuck Nice and occasional comic or celebrity guests.

It started out as a late-night talk show on the National Geographic Channel in 2015.

I enjoy it because he really does take complex scientific concepts and makes them understandable. So many fascinating episodes!

The podcast has its own YouTube channel and the description is as follows:

“Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!”

Here’s one of the most popular episodes:

Word to the Wise

Jettison – (‘jet-ti-son) v. to get rid of as superfluous or encumbering, to omit or forgo as part of a plan or as the result of some other decision; often refers to dropping cargo to lighten a ship’s load

Thoughts from the Nook

Hot Sauces are generally rated by the Scoville scale. It is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, primarily capsaicin.

Since Scoville ratings are defined per unit of dry mass, comparison of ratings between products having different water content can be misleading. One way to overcome the problem is to use a “D-value” that divides the total mass by the dry mass. This helps standardize the ratings. This is used for many different kinds of hot things, but hot sauces tend to have a similar water content.

Here is my list of over 100 hot sauces ranked by Scoville Heat Units. I’ve included some comparable peppers in the right column for comparison.

Trivia Espresso Shot

The Fish Doorbell is a crowd-sourced aide to migrating fish in Utrecht, Netherlands.

“Every spring, thousands of fish swim through Utrecht’s canals and waterways, searching for a place to spawn and reproduce.

“In the heart of the city lies the beautiful Weerdsluis, a manually operated lock. When the lock gates are closed, fish are forced to wait, wasting valuable time and energy – making them easy prey for birds and predatory fish.

“To help the fish, an underwater camera is installed at the lock. If fish appear on screen, you can press the doorbell! This alerts the lock keeper, who will open the lock when many fish are waiting.”

People watch the live feed and “ring the doorbell” when they spot a fish. Then the lock keeper can open the lock and let the fish through.

The Pfunny Page

Reference Desk

You’ve heard and may have used the phrase “the coast is clear.”

“The phrase first appears in print in 1531 where it describes a vessel which had safely cleared the coast, then later Shakespeare used it in ‘Henry VI’ as a reference to visibility.” It began as a literal maritime term, meaning that a shoreline was free of enemy ships, soldiers, or other threats, making it safe for landing or embarking.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1567 pamphlet warning about con men, where “the coast was clear” meant there were no observers. The idiom became popular in literature and everyday speech, used in contexts ranging from smuggling and espionage to children playing games or setting up surprise parties.

Dad Joke Cupboard

If you think swimming with dolphins is expensive, you should try swimming with sharks! It cost me an arm & a leg!

Composer Corner

Max Richter is a British composer born in 1966 who was born in Germany. He studied composition at the University of Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Music in London, followed by private instruction with Luciano Berio in Italy.

When he was young, he heard Kraftwerk’s Autobahn and that inspired him to learn about synthesizers and start listening to Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, and Vangelis.

He writes and arranges music for film, opera, and ballet and is known for postminimalist and contemporary classical styles.

On the Nature of Daylight | Infra | Sleep | Your Reflection | In the Garden

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Mar 15 – International Eat An Animal For PETA Day, National Pears Hélène Day, National Peanut Lovers Day, Espresso Martini Day

• Mon, Mar 16 – National Artichoke Hearts Day

• Tue, Mar 17 – National Corned Beef & Cabbage Day, National Green Beer Day

• Wed, Mar 18 – National Sloppy Joe Day, National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day

• Thu, Mar 19 – National Chocolate Caramel Day

• Fri, Mar 20 – World Flour Day, National Bock Beer Day, National Ravioli Day

• Sat, Mar 21 – National Corn Dog Day, National Crunchy Taco Day, National French Bread Day, California Strawberry Day, Maple Syrup Saturday

• Sun, Mar 22 – Bavarian Crepes Day, Coq Au Vin Day

From the Archives

Those of you who know me are aware that I’ve been involved with various handbell ensembles over the years. Handbell choirs are generally associated with church music, but there are plenty of groups that are based in schools and there are quite a few community groups as well. Those groups may play all kinds of music – certainly church music, but also classical, jazz, contemporary, film music, original music, and anything else they can find.

I’ve mostly played bass bells. They’re big and heavier. 😊 I’ve usually been a composer-in-residence as well. It’s always easier to write music when you’re part of a group that will perform what you write.

A handbell ensemble is like a living keyboard. It’s a group of people, generally between 8 and 15 people, playing one instrument, most of the time with a director. It’s a very unique musical experience.

Here is a list of my handbell compositions and arrangements with info and some links. I’ve separated them into original compositions, arrangements, and Christmas.

Recipe Card

Easy Ground Beef Tortilla Wraps

Ingredients

For the Beef Mixture:

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon onion powder

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• ¼ cup water (optional, for moisture)

For the Toppings:

• 8–10 flour tortillas (small or large, depending on preference)

• 1 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

• 1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)

• ½ cup chopped green onions

• ¼ cup sour cream (optional, for serving)

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef (or turkey) and cook until browned, breaking it up into small pieces.

2. Add chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Stir well to coat the meat evenly with the spices.

3. If desired, add ¼ cup water to keep the mixture moist. Simmer for 3–5 minutes until fully cooked and flavorful.

4. Warm tortillas in a dry skillet or microwave according to package instructions.

5. Assemble wraps: place a portion of the beef mixture on each tortilla. Top with shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, green onions, and optional extras like lettuce, avocado, or sour cream.

6. Fold or roll tortillas and serve immediately.

Serving and Storage

• Serve the wraps warm with a side salad, chips, or salsa.

• Leftover beef mixture can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

• Assemble wraps just before serving to keep tortillas soft and fresh.

• You can also freeze the cooked beef mixture for up to 2 months and reheat before use.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

The winner of Favorite Birds of North America was the Northern Cardinal. We’ve just begun voting on Favorite TV Shows Set on an Island! It’s a half bracket, with 32 TV shows in the first round.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.”
- Golda Meir

The Index

Today’s curated list: 10 Most Scenic Train Trips in North America

1. Amtrak Coast Starlight: Seattle – Portland – San Francisco – Los Angeles

2. Grand Canyon Railway: Williams, AZ – South Rim, Grand Canyon South Rim – Williams

3. Amtrak California Zephyr: Chicago – Denver – Salt Lake City – San Francisco

4. Amtrak Empire Builder: Chicago – St. Paul/Minneapolis – Glacier National Park – Spokane – Portland/Seattle

5. Rocky Mountaineer Rockies to Red Rocks: Denver, CO to Moab, UT

6. Alaska Railroad Coastal Classic: Anchorage, AK – Girdwood – Seward, AK

7. Amtrak Southwest Chief: Chicago – Kansas City, MO – Albuquerque – Grand Canyon – Los Angeles

8. Napa Valley Wine Train: Napa Valley, CA

9. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad: Bryson City, NC – Nantahala Gorge – Bryson City

10. Alaska Railroad Denali Star: Anchorage, AK – Wasilla – Talkeetna – Denali – Fairbanks

I have a list of the top 60 scenic train trips that averages 34 ranked lists I found online.

Have you traveled much by train? What are your favorite trips? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• The Evolution of Morality

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

In 1965, Frank Herbert wrote the book Dune, a sci-fi landmark novel that eventually had 5 sequels:

• Dune (1965)

• Dune Messiah (1969)

• Children of Dune (1976)

• God Emperor of Dune (1981)

• Heretics of Dune (1984)

• Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)

Dune is one of the best-selling sci-fi novels in history! Dune is widely regarded as the definitive science fiction epic, blending political intrigue, ecological themes, and deep philosophical questions. It has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and is often compared to The Lord of the Rings in scope and cultural impact. The series is set over 20,000 years in humanity’s future.

It took Herbert six years of research and writing to finish the first book. He wrote many other books and essays, but we’re focusing on Dune today.

I first tried reading Dune when I was in 8^th or 9^th grade. There was so much specialized vocabulary that Herbert included a glossary at the back of the book. I spent so much time going back and forth that I gave up. It took me years to get around to trying it again, and then I really enjoyed it. Enough to continue through the series. The last couple books did get a bit weird. Maybe it’s time for me to read through the series again.

There were also movies and TV series based on the Dune series:

• Dune (1984) – the first movie, starring Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Patrick Stewart, Sting, Jürgen Prochnow, Brad Dourif, Linda Hunt, Sean Young, Max von Sydow, & Freddie Jones. Often ridiculed, but a cult favorite.

• Dune (2000) – a three-part miniseries starring Alec Newman, William Hurt, Saskia Reeves, Ian McNeice, Julie Cox, and Giancarlo Giannini.

• Children of Dune (2003) – a miniseries sequel to the 2000 miniseries, starring Alec Newman, Julie Cox, Ian McNeice, James McAvoy, Steven Berkoff, Edward Atterton, and Barbora Kodetová.

• Dune: Part One (2021) – 1^st installment of Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy, starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.

• Dune: Part Two (2024) – 2^nd installment of Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Anya Taylor-Joy, Christopher Walken, and Austin Butler.

• Dune Prophecy (2024) – 6 episodes, a prequel to the two newer movies

• Dune: Part Three (2026) – 3^rd installment of Denis Veilleneuve’s trilogy coming this year, based on Dune Messiah, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Momoa, and Robert Pattinson.

Word to the Wise

Desultory – (‘des-ul-to-ry) adj. marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose; not connected with the main subject

Thoughts from the Nook

The Asylum is a film company that is famous for its knockoffs of famous movies (“mockbusters”) and low-budget, direct-to-video movies. The movies are generally not meant to be taken too seriously, but they are often fun and are decent for low budget films. My personal favorites are the movies about giant sharks, piranhas, crocodiles, etc. 😁

The Asylum is often considered controversial because of their blatant knockoffs, often released at about the same time as the original, but they are quite prolific, having released more than 500 films, including 300 original films.

Compare:

• Transmorphers / Transformers

• Top Gunner / Top Gun

• Snakes on a Train / Snakes on a Plane

• Paranormal Entity / Paranormal Activity

• Da Vinci Treasure / Da Vinci Code

• Tomb Invader / Tomb Raider

• Princess of Mars / John Carter of Mars

More history of the company in the Wikipedia article.

You can find many Asylum movies on most free-streaming services including Tubi and Crackle. They also have their own YouTube channel.

Here’s a ranked list of the top 250 movies from The Asylum.

Trivia Espresso Shot

Wind direction is named based on the direction from which the wind originates.

It may seem logical to describe the wind by the direction it’s blowing, but the standard term is the direction it’s coming FROM. A nor’easter, for example, blows from the NE to the SW. A west wind comes from the west.

The Pfunny Page

Reference Desk

The official dictionary for playing Scrabble casually is the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD), published by Merriam-Webster. This is also used as the basis for the NASPA Word List, with modifications to help with tournament play. That’s used for USA, Canada, Thailand, and Israel. In other countries, tournaments use the Collins Scrabble Dictionary.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: What did the pirate say on his birthday?
A: Aye, matey!

Composer Corner

Bear McCreary is a composer I just discovered a couple years ago. He was born in 1979 in Bellingham, Washington. He studied composition under Elmer Bernstein, graduated from USC Thornton School of Music, and worked under Richard Gibbs.

He is a pianist and also plays the accordion, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, and more. He has been nominated for 6 Emmys and won 1.

Outlander | God of War | Battlestar Galactica | Black Sails | Agents of SHIELD

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | The Walking Dead

His official website

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Mar 8 – National Peanut Cluster Day

• Mon, Mar 9 – National Crabmeat Day, National Meatball Day

• Tue, Mar 10 – National Pack Your Lunch Day, National Ranch Dressing Day, National Blueberry Popover Day

• Wed, Mar 11 – National “Eat Your Noodles” Day, Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day

• Thu, Mar 12 – National Baked Scallops Day, National Milky Way Day, Popcorn Lover’s Day

• Fri, Mar 13 – National Coconut Torte Day, National Ginger Ale Day, National Chicken Noodle Soup Day

• Sat, Mar 14 – National Potato Chip Day

• Sun, Mar 15 – International Eat An Animal For PETA Day, National Pears Hélène Day, National Peanut Lovers Day, Buzzards Day, Espresso Martini Day

From the Archives

The book that I first remember purchasing on my own as a child was Mr. Tucket by Gary Paulsen. There are five books in the series now, but the first was published in 1969 and the rest were published between 1995 and 2000.

“Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is heading west on the Oregon Trail with his family by wagon train. When he receives a rifle for his birthday, he is thrilled that he is being treated like an adult. But Francis lags behind to practice shooting and is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses, hostile tribes, and a mysterious one-armed mountain man named Mr. Grimes to help Francis become the man who will be called Mr. Tucket.”

Recipe Card

Rice Krispie Treats with Variations

Basic Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

• ½ stick (1/4 cup) butter

• 10-oz bag mini marshmallows

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add marshmallows and stir until melted.

3. Remove from heat and stir in salt and vanilla.

4. Press into buttered 8x8 pan and cool for at least 30 minutes.

Variations

• Swap half the cereal with Fruity Pebbles.

• Replace the cereal with S’mores cereal and add some chocolate chips.

• Replace butter with peanut butter and add some Reese’s pieces or PB chips.

• Swirl some salted caramel into the mixture and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.

• Add dried fruit, toasted nuts, or pretzel bits.

• Brown the butter first for a nutty taste.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

The current topic in our voting bracket is Favorite Birds of North America. We’re down to the top 8 favorite birds. Tomorrow (Monday) we’ll have the final four and on Friday we’ll announce the winner. Our next topic, starting on Friday, will be Favorite TV Shows Set on an Island!

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last 7.5 years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
- Thomas Jefferson

The Index

Today’s curated list: Best Movies from the 1980s!

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

2. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

4. Back to the Future (1985)

5. The Shining (1980)

6. Die Hard (1988)

7. Raging Bull (1980)

8. The Breakfast Club (1985)

9. Blade Runner (1982)

10. Ghostbusters (1984)

11. The Princess Bride (1987)

12. Do the Right Thing (1989)

13. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

14. Aliens (1986)

15. Stand by Me (1986)

16. The Terminator (1984)

17. Blue Velvet (1986)

18. Airplane! (1980)

19. The Thing (1982)

20. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

My complete list of 450 best movies from the 80s is on my List Obsession website.

What are your favorite 80s movies? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Star Talk

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. They invite people to measure and submit their night sky brightness observations.

At set time periods within each year, the project asks people to count the number of stars that they can see from their location and report it to the project’s website.

They collect all this information and create a public, freely available map of global light pollution.

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Word to the Wise

Epitome – (e-‘pit-o-me) n. a typical or ideal example, and example that represents something very well

Thoughts from the Nook

I’ve always enjoyed Magic Eye Pictures, also called Stereograms. They are 2-D pictures that allow you to see a 3-D picture when you focus correctly. Generally, I can look at one and focus farther away and see it.

If you have difficulties, try these steps:

1. Hold the image close to your nose.

2. Focus beyond it, as if you’re looking at something in the distance.

3. Slowly move the picture away from you.

4. Keep your eyes relaxed.

5. They’re generally easier to see when they are larger, so try a computer or print one out.

Here are a couple to try:

If you want tons of different pictures like this, just do an image search for “magic eye pictures” or “stereograms”.

Trivia Espresso Shot

The largest fungus in the world is an Armillaria ostoyae and it was discovered in 1998. It is believed to be the largest organism in the world and is estimated to be 2,400 years old, but could be over 8,000 years old. It’s located in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon, and it covers 3.5 square miles! The second biggest is 91 acres in northern Michigan.

It has an underground root system and the fungus spreads through rhizomorphs: black, shoestring-like filaments that grow through soil, bridging gaps between food sources like tree roots. These rhizomorphs allow the fungus to parasitize and kill trees by decaying their root systems, then continue feeding on dead wood.

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The Pfunny Page

Reference Desk

NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is the official United States scientific and regulatory agency tasked with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US.

NOAA was officially formed in 1970, merging several related agencies.

The National Weather Service is part of NOAA, providing weather, water, and climate forecasts and warnings. They also had a 17% personnel reduction because of DOGE, the legality of which is still unresolved.

The NOAA Open Data Dissemination (NODD) Program makes tons of NOAA environmental data from many sources publicly and freely available over a variety of platforms. This is one of the main sources of info that weather apps use.

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Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: How do you throw a party in space?
A: You planet.

Composer Corner

Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian composer and pianist born in Turin 1955. He is especially known for his film and TV scores.

He started out composing music as a teenager on a folk guitar. Then he studied composition at the Conservatorio Verdi and learned orchestration from Lucian Berio. Later he collaborated with Ballaké Sissoko from Mali and Djivan Gasparyan from Armenia.

In 2005, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Nuvole Bianche | Doctor Zhivago | Elegy for the Arctic| The Water Diviner

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Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Mar 1 – National Fruit Compote Day, National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, Sandwich Day

• Mon, Mar 2 – National Banana Cream Pie Day

• Tue, Mar 3 – National Canadian Bacon Day, National Irish Whiskey Day, National Mulled Wine Day, National Moscow Mule Day, National Cold Cuts Day

• Wed, Mar 4 – National Pound Cake Day

• Thu, Mar 5 – National Absinthe Day, National Poutine Day, National Cheese Doodle Day

• Fri, Mar 6 – National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day, National Frozen Food Day, Oreo Cookie Day

• Sat, Mar 7 – National Crown Roast Day, National Cereal Day, National Flapjack Day

• Sun, Mar 8 – National Peanut Cluster Day

From the Archives

Alcoholic beverages have been around probably as long as humanity. Here are the best estimates I could find of the years each different type was invented.

• Absinthe: About 1792

• Baijiu: About 900; modern version: mid 1300s

• Beer: About 3500 BCE

• Bourbon: About 1787

• Brandy: 1313

• Cognac: Mid 1500s

• Gin: Mid 1600s

• Hard Cider: 55 BCE

• Mezcal: 400 BCE; modern version: about 1600

• Pisco: About 1600

• Rum: Early 1600s

• Scotch: 1494

• Tequila: About 800 BCE; by name: about 1750

• Vodka: About 250; by name: about 1750

• Whisky (general): 1000-1200CE

• Wine: About 6000 BCE

Recipe Card

Magic Chicken Ranch Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

• 4 oz. cream cheese

• 16 oz. bag frozen peas and carrots (or your choice of mixed vegetables)

• 8 oz. sour cream

• 1 oz. packet of ranch seasoning mix or 3 tbsp. of this homemade version

• 1 small bunch of green onions, thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

• 1 tsp. dried dill

• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1 cup flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 9 x 13” baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken to hot skillet, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Sauté until mostly cooked on the outside, about 5 minutes.

3. Add cream cheese and stir until melted and chicken is coated. Stir in frozen vegetables, and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Turn off heat and add sour cream, ranch mix, and green onions. Stir well to combine, then transfer chicken and vegetable mixture to the prepared baking dish.

5. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vegetable oil, dill, garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Add flour and whisk for about a minute until smooth. Pour batter evenly over chicken mixture.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until topping is puffy and starting to brown.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

The current topic in our voting bracket is Favorite Birds of North America. It’s a double bracket, so the current Round Two has 64 birds.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”
- the French taunter in Monty Python and The Holy Grail

The Index

Today’s curated list: Funniest B-Horror Movie Monsters!

1. Rubber

   

2. Night of the Lepus

   

3. Killer Klowns from Outer Space

   

4. Four-Headed Shark Attack

   

5. Velocipastor

   

What are your favorite B-movie “monsters”? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Dune – the books and movies

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

So many cereals have been tried and discontinued over the years. Presumably because they didn’t sell well or became less popular because of the name or the branding. Super Sugar Crisp and Sugar Smacks, for example, were rebranded because it became unpopular to emphasize the sugary nature of the cereal.

One that I remember from when I was about 4 years old was Pink Panther Flakes. They were like Frosted Flakes, but they turned your milk pink. I can’t remember if they actually tasted strawberry or they were just pink. I was enthralled (and four).

Here are some of the more popular cereals that were discontinued over the years:

• Fruit Brute (1975-1983)

• Pink Panther Flakes (1972-1974)

• C3POs (1984-1986)

• Donkey Kong Cereal (1981-1989)

• Strawberry Honeycomb (1983-2002)

• King Vitaman (1968-2019)

• Mr. T. Cereal (1984-1993)

• Pac-Man (1983-1988)

• Ghostbusters Cereal (1985-1990)

• Fruity Yummy Mummy (1987-1993)

• Dunkin’ Donuts Cereal (1988-1989)

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal (1989-1995)

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Are there other cereals that you miss? Please share in the comments.

Word to the Wise

Penultimate – (pen·’ul·ti·mate) adj. next to last

Thoughts from the Nook

I enjoy watching scary movies. Many people do. Horror is one of the popular genres of movies. Based on ticket sales, it’s #6 of movie genres, and horror has become more popular in the last couple decades. But why do people like scary movies?

People like scary movies because they offer a safe way to experience intense emotions like fear and excitement. The brain’s “fight or flight” response is triggered during a horror film, releasing adrenaline, dopamine, and endorphins—chemicals that create a natural high and a sense of exhilaration.

After those feelings (and chemicals) are aroused during a movie, they tend to linger after when the movie is done. They can transform into positive feelings that reward the viewer. The combination of fear and excitement is a rare way to get negative and positive reactions at the same time.

To be fair, I also enjoy B-movies and probably the most common genre among B-movies is horror. 😁

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Trivia Espresso Shot

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a unique place. It’s physically connected to Wisconsin, but is part of the state of Michigan. It borders three of the Great Lakes. At first it was part of the Michigan Territory that eventually included Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. Then the bulk of the U.P. was given to Michigan in exchange for ceding the Toledo Strip to Ohio in 1836. The U.P. was not ceded to Wisconsin because the federal government had already committed it to Michigan as part of the statehood deal. Had Ohio not claimed Toledo, Michigan might have ceded the U.P. to Wisconsin, but that never happened.

The Mackinac Bridge connects the upper part of Michigan to the lower part. That has led to the Yoopers nicknaming the others “trolls” because they live below the bridge. 😁

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The Pfunny Page

Reference Desk

Search operators are special symbols or commands used in library databases and search engines like Google to refine and control search results. If you know a few of these, it can make your searching and research quicker and more effective.

Here are some examples:

• * - an asterisk is a wildcard that represents one or more unknown characters. Most easily used at the end of the root of a word, leading to results that use suffixes, plurals, etc.

• “ ” – quotation marks search for an exact phrase

• - – a minus sign excludes a term from the search results

• OR – using “or” finds results using either of the terms

Google also has many terms it uses like this to help control the search.

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Dad Joke Cupboard

I’m like a jumbo kosher pickle.
I guess you could say I’m a pretty big dill.

Composer Corner

Hildur Guðnadóttir is an Icelandic composer and cellist. She was born in 1982 in Reykjavik and attended the Reykjavik Music Academy, the Iceland Academy of the Arts, and the Berlin University of the Arts, where she studied composition and new media. She began playing cello at the age of 5.

She has released a couple solo albums and has composed music for plays, films, and TVshows. The most well-known movies she’s composer for include Joker, Tár, and A Haunting in Venice. She played cello for the soundtracks of The Revenant and Candyman.

Joker | Without Sinking | Tár | Saman | A Haunting in Venice

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Feb 22 – National Margarita Day, National Cook A Sweet Potato Day

• Mon, Feb 23 – National Tootsie Roll Day, National Banana Bread Day

• Tue, Feb 24 – World Bartender Day, National Tortilla Chip Day

• Wed, Feb 25 – National Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day, National Clam Chowder Day

• Thu, Feb 26 – National Toast Day, National Chili Day, National Pistachio Day

• Fri, Feb 27 – National Strawberry Day, National Kahlua Day

• Sat, Feb 28 – National Chocolate Soufflé Day, Open That Bottle Night

• Sun, Mar 1 – National Fruit Compote Day, National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, Sandwich Day

From the Archives

This week I discovered the British TV show called Taskmaster. It’s a funny show where five comedians are set challenging tasks in a competition. They usually have time limits and to win, they really have to think outside the box and use their creativity and wit. And sometimes the way to succeed is tricky and hard to figure out. There are different comedians in each season. The show started in 2015 and is still running. But I’d never heard of it before.

It’s a simple basic premise, but it’s compelling and you want to keep watching. The first task of every show is that they have to bring in something described ahead of time, such as an important document or coolest blue thing or an item they think will impress the taskmaster. The winner of the episode gets all the things the people brought in.

Some of the tasks they’ve had to attempt included:

• Eat as much watermelon as possible in 1 minute

• Paint a picture of a horse while riding a horse

• Do something that will look impressive in reverse

• Destroy this cake in the most beautiful way

• Make a big block of ice disappear (and what does “disappear” mean?)

• Use a GPS tracker in a field to draw a picture that the taskmaster likes

The entire run is available on YouTube!

Six seasons are also free to stream on PlutoTV.

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Recipe Card

Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden (crock pot)

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage (pref. spicy)

• 1 Tbsp garlic

• 1 onion

• 4 potatoes, diced

• Pinch salt and pepper

• 4 cups chicken broth

• Water

• 1 bunch kale

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown and crumble Italian sausage, about 5-8 minutes. Add onion and garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Drain grease.

2. Add it all to a 6-qt. crock pot along with the diced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then pour chicken broth over it to cover the potatoes. Gently stir.

   3. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours.

3. Add kale and cream. Stir to combine.

4. Cover and cook on high for an extra 30 minutes.

5. Serve with shredded Parmesan on top.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We’re in the Semifinals of our voting bracket about our Favorite Academic Subjects. Tomorrow (Monday) we begin the final round. On Wednesday we’ll announce the winner and begin our next topic: Favorite Birds of North America.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing.”
– Emo Philips

The Index

Today’s curated list: My Top 10 Favorite Pies!

1. Coconut Cream Pie

2. Apple Pie

3. Pecan Pie

4. French Silk Pie

5. Banana Cream Pie

6. Cherry Pie

7. Key Lime Pie

8. Chess Pie

9. Grasshopper Pie

10. Mississippi Mud Pie

What are your favorite pies? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• The Globe At Night

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

The Cornetto Trilogy is a collection of three of my favorite movies, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End! They are three British movies unrelated by story but related by similarity. They’re directed by Edgar Wright and they star Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy, and Rafe Spall appear in all three movies and several others are in two of them.

Hot Fuzz is one of my all-time favorite movies, if not #1.
It’s currently free to stream on YouTube!

Besides having largely overlapping cast and crew, all three movies have mentions of Cornetto. In the United States, those are close to what we call Drumsticks. Thus the nickname of “The Cornetto Trilogy.”

The Cornetto (Unilever) is often perceived as having a more delicate cone and fewer toppings, and has origins in Italy, introduced in 1959.

The Drumstick (Froneri/Nestlé) is known for being sturdier with substantial nutty toppings, and was created in the US in 1928 and exported to Australia in 1963.

In typical American style, the Drumsticks are heavier, crunchier, and are more topping-heavy. Cornettos are more about the ice cream itself.

Anyway, each of these movies makes reference to Cornettos, whether going to the shop to get one or visually highlighting one. It’s just in passing and is easy to overlook. What’s fun is that the type of Cornetto in each movie is related to the theme of the movie.

• Shaun of the Dead – zombies – strawberry (red)

• Hot Fuzz – police – vanilla (blue)

• The World’s End – aliens – mint chocolate chip (green)

Trivia: Cornetto was director Edgar Wright’s favorite hangover cure and he first threw it in as an Easter egg for his friends.

Trivia: Cornetto supplied ice cream for the Shaun of the Dead after-party. Wright and Pegg joked that they should add Cornetto to the next movie in the hopes of getting more free ice cream. 😁

Word to the Wise

Fidelity – (fi-’del-i-ty) n. the quality of being faithful; also accuracy in details, exactness

Thoughts from the Nook

Many people say “I could care less” when they really mean they could NOT care less.

Think about it! If you COULD care less, that means you do care a little bit, because it could be less than you currently care.

So when you don’t care at all, say, “I couldn’t care less!” 😊

Trivia Espresso Shot

Los Angeles County has a population of about 9.8 million people.

That means it has more residents than 40 of the U.S. states! The only states that have more people than Los Angeles County are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, & Michigan.

The Pfunny Page

Reference Desk

Zotero is a free, open-source reference management tool designed to help researchers collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share their sources. It acts as a personal research assistant, streamlining the process of managing your research. Whether you’re a student or a professional researcher, Zotero can be a helpful tool. It’s completely free and private.

Zotero has an extension for your web browser called Zotero Connector, that automatically saves citations from library catalogs, research databases, and websites (like Google Scholar, JSTOR, or Amazon) with a single click.

It can also store full-text PDFs, ePUBs, web pages, images, and audio/video files alongside citations. Using collections, tags, and saved searches, Zotero can help you keep your research organized.

Find out more at https://www.zotero.org/

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: What do barber shop serve in winter?
A: Cold cuts! (with ice shavings on the side)

Composer Corner

Philip Glass is a minimalist composer born in 1937 in Baltimore. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20^th century. His mother was a librarian and he studied the flute at the Peabody Institute as a child. When studying keyboard and composition at Juilliard, his fellow students included Steve Reich and Peter Schickele. His teachers included Vincent Persichetti, William Bergsma, and Darius Milhaud.

His compositions include 15 symphonies, 15 operas, 12 concertos, 9 string quartets, and many film scores and other pieces. He has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards.

In 1968, he founded the Philip Glass Ensemble to perform his experimental minimalist music.

Koyaanisqatsi | Violin Concerto No. 1 | Metamorphosis | Glassworks

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Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Feb 15 – International Gumdrop Day, National I Want Butterscotch Day

• Mon, Feb 16 – National Almond Day

• Tue, Feb 17 – International Pancake Day, National Cafe Au Lait Day, National Cabbage Day, Indian Pudding Day

• Wed, Feb 18 – National Drink Wine Day, Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day

• Thu, Feb 19 – National Chocolate Mint Day

• Fri, Feb 20 – National Cherry Pie Day, National Muffin Day

• Sat, Feb 21 – National Grain-Free Day, National Sticky Bun Day, National Boxed Brownie With Chocolate Frosting Day

• Sun, Feb 22 – National Margarita Day, National Cook A Sweet Potato Day

From the Archives

The very first blog I ever made (about 30 years ago) was called Coffee Klatch.

I thought I’d share a link to an archived version of it, so I searched online. I didn’t find any saved archives, but, you know how you often get an AI summary at the top of your search results? I got one that referred to THIS SUBSTACK! 😁

“The Curiosity Klatch, a weekly miscellany by Scott Pfitzinger, is a modern take on the idea of a “klatch”—an informal gathering for conversation. While not a coffee shop, it embodies the spirit of a coffee klatch by offering thoughtful, engaging discussions and tidbits in a relaxed, accessible format. The name “Klatch” draws from the tradition of casual, coffee-fueled conversations, echoing both the German Kaffeeklatsch and the Discworld-inspired Klatchian coffee references popularized by Terry Pratchett. This connection highlights how the term has evolved across cultures and contexts—from social gatherings to literary in-jokes and contemporary digital newsletters.”

Pretty sweet!

Recipe Card

Banana Blueberry Pie

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese

• ¾ cup powdered sugar

• 1 8-oz container Cool Whip

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1 10-inch baked pie crust, cooled

• 3 bananas, sliced

• 1 can blueberry pie filling, chilled (other toppings also work)

Directions

1. Blend cream cheese with sugar. Fold in Cool Whip and lemon juice. Refrigerate until set.

2. Line crust with banana slices.

3. Pour filling over bananas. Top with chilled blueberry pie filling.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We’re in Round Two of our voting bracket about our Favorite Academic Subjects. It’s about what you like to (or would like to) learn about and it’s broken into four divisions:

1. Humanities

2. Social Sciences

3. Natural Sciences

4. Applied/Professional.

Tomorrow (Monday) we begin Round Three.

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“The difference between life and the movies is that a script has to make sense, and life doesn’t.”
– Joseph L. Mankiewicz

The Index

Today’s curated list: Top 10 Valentine’s Day Movies. These include movies about Valentine’s Day and movies recommended to watch on Valentine’s Day.

1. The Notebook (2004)

2. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

3. Valentine’s Day (2010)

4. The Princess Bride (1987)

5. Titanic (1997)

6. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

7. Your Place or Mine (2023)

8. Pride & Prejudice (2005)

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

10. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

If you want more, I found 31 ranked lists online of the best movies for Valentine’s Day and averaged them all to create a list of the 250 Best Valentine’s Day Movies.

What are your favorite Valentine’s Day movies? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Discontinued Cereals

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly miscellany, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

One great source of stories for movies is books by mystery authors. Mystery novels are focused on plot and storytelling, and their core elements involve clues, red herrings, suspense, and a nice wrap-up, which work well in movies. The focus in mystery movies is usually on logical deduction, a limited number of suspects, and a reveal at the end (whodunit). And movies are both visual and auditory mediums, which makes it possible to introduce clues and details without overtly talking about it.

Mystery stories often include elements of suspense, thriller, and adventure movies. Many mystery movies contain various combinations of these genres.

On my website of lists, I have a page with links to lists of movies based on authors’ works.

Here are some of the mystery authors I’ve included on my site:

• Agatha Christie (92 movies)

• Dashiell Hammett (21 movies)

• Edgar Allan Poe (59 movies & 60 shorts)

• James Patterson (11 movies)

• John Grisham (13 movies)

• Michael Crichton (25 movies)

And a few authors that overlap on the mystery genre:

• Alistair MacLean (18 movies)

• Dean Koontz (17 movies)

• H.G. Wells (40 movies)

• Ian Fleming (30 movies)

• Stephen King (81 movies)

I also have a list of the best mystery movies in general.

Word to the Wise

Frowsy– (‘frow-zee) adj. having a musty or stale smell, also having a slovenly or uncared-for appearance (used since the late 1600s)

Thoughts from the Nook

Every morning I post a few things on social media: interesting holidays on that day, movies released on that day, and some other topic. Last year I was posting cartoon character birthdays. This year I made a new list of birthdays, this time of authors, so I post names and years of authors born on each day: https://www.listobsession.com/author-birthdays/

On my website, I also have some subsets of interesting holidays, focused on one type of holiday. Here are a few examples:

• Beverage Holidays (over 160)

• Cat & Dog Holidays (over 100)

• Chocolate Holidays (almost 70)

• Food Holidays (almost 600)

• Name-Based Holidays (over 400)

Trivia Espresso Shot

The Super Bowl is today. It’s #60 (Super Bowl LX) and it’s the Seattle Seahawks vs. the New England Patriots. Here is some trivia about the Super Bowl so you can amaze your friends! 😊

• The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots have both won the Super Bowl 6 times.

• The teams that has been in the most Super Bowls are:

  • New England Patriots (12 times)

  • Dallas Cowboys (8 times)

  • Denver Broncos (8 times)

  • Pittsburgh Steelers (8 times)

  • San Francisco 49ers (8 times)

  • Kansas City Chiefs (7 times)

  • Green Bay Packers (5 times)

  • New York Giants (5 times)

• The following teams have never been to the Super Bowl:

  • Cleveland Browns

  • Detroit Lions

  • Houston Texans

  • Jacksonville Jaguars

• In 2026, Super Bowl ads cost almost $8 million for a 30-second commercial.

• All ads for 2026 were sold out by September 2025.

• The very first Super Bowl in 1967 only cost $37,500 for a 30-second ad.

• The Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings have both been in the Super Bowl 4 times, but have never won.

• The Minnesota Vikings has played in 4 Super Bowls, but has never had the lead.

• Miami and New Orleans have both hosted the Super Bowl 11 times.

• The Lombardi Trophy weighs 7 pounds.

• The lowest-scoring game was in 2019: NE Patriots 13 – LA Rams 3

• Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have both won the Super Bowl with two different teams.

• Carol Channing was the first singer to perform in the halftime show.

• Gloria Estefan and Justin Timberlake have both appeared in 3 Super Bowl halftime shows.

• Many of us think “Weird Al” Yankovic should be chosen to perform in the halftime show.

• Here are the Top 25 favorite Super Bowl commercials.

In 2007, the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl. I was a member of the Circle City Ringers and we got our picture taken with the Lombardi Trophy.

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Next week we’ll return to the “trivia espresso shot” rather than this “extra-large coffee with a couple espresso shots” 😁

The Pfunny Page

Reference Desk

Libraries don’t just contain the mysteries of the universe, through the knowledge in their books and other resources. They sometimes contain other mysteries. Here are some libraries that have secret rooms:

• The Central Library in Rochester, New York, has a hidden reading room that is accessed through a concealed door in the children’s section of the library. That reading room contains the George W. Cooper International Doll Collection, over 200 dolls from around the world.

• The Iowa Law Library in Des Moines has a false bookshelf that hides a secret room that served as a secure space for rare legal documents. It was built during the Cold War to protect legal documents, 1^st-edition commentaries, and more.

• The Strahov Monastery Library in Prague, Czechia, has a Philosophical Hall with two secret passageways hidden behind bookshelves with fake books. These lead to private areas with ornate carvings, gilded trim, and a Cabinet of Curiosities.

• The Admont Abbey in Admont, Austria, is an 18^th-century Benedictine monastery. It’s library has a secret door and staircase hidden within bookshelves, leading to a choir boys’ sleeping hall, proof of how libraries have long served as both intellectual and private sanctuaries.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and asks, “Does this taste funny to you?”

Composer Corner

Florence Price (1887 – 1953) was the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer AND, in 1933, whose work was played by a major orchestra. She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music with George Whitefield Chadwick and Frederick Converse and graduated with honors in 1906. She went back to Arkansas, but after some racial incidents including a lynching, the family moved to Chicago. There she studied composition with Arthur Olaf Andersen, Carl Busch, Wesley La Violette, and Leo Sowerby.

She wrote over 300 compositions of all kinds. Here are some of her most famous pieces:

Symphony No. 1 | The Oak | Piano Sonata in E minor | Violin Concerto No. 2

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Feb 8 – International Scotch Day, National Potato Lovers Day, National Molasses Bar Day

• Mon, Feb 9 – National Pizza Day, National Bagels & Lox Day, Oatmeal Monday

• Tue, Feb 10 – National Cream Cheese Brownie Day

• Wed, Feb 11 – National Peppermint Patty Day

• Thu, Feb 12 – National Plum Pudding Day

• Fri, Feb 13 – National Cheddar Day, National Tortellini Day

• Sat, Feb 14 – National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day

• Sun, Feb 15 – International Gumdrop Day, National I Want Butterscotch Day

From the Archives

Sometimes in older movies they show a newspaper with a headline related to the story. Sometimes the newspaper spins to reveal the headline. Many of those newspaper are stock. They have the same stories and headlines except for the primary one that’s the focus of the story.

The Earl Hays Press stock newspaper, used in hundreds of films and TV shows since the 1960s, features recurring generic headlines on its pages. These are reused across productions because the text is rarely scrutinized on screen.

Some Example Headlines

• New Petitions Against Tax

• Building Code Under Fire

• Court Seeks Adjournment

• Increase in Commuter Fares Denied

• Million Dollar Highway Repair Underway

• Valley Area Records Record Growth

Next time you see a closeup of a newspaper in a movie, look for these headlines.

Recipe Card

This recipe is a copycat recipe, copying the dish served at Yats Cajun Creole Restaurant. It started in Indianapolis and has spread to quite a few locations around Indiana. This is my favorite dish from Yats and the recipe is decently similar. So good!!

(There are a lot of ingredients, but many of them are tiny amounts.)

Chili Cheese Etouffee

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1 cup chopped green onions, plus more to garnish

• 1 cup diced celery

• 1 cup diced bell peppers

• 1 cup diced onions

• 2 tsp. minced onion

• 1 cup Rotel Original diced tomatoes (with or without green chilies)

• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

• 1 Tbs. tomato paste

• 1 tsp. dried basil

• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

• 1/4 tsp. white pepper

• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 3 cups chicken stock

• 3 cups shredded aged cheddar

• 8 oz. half-and-half or heavy cream

• 1 tsp. chili powder

• Pinch ground coriander

• Pinch ground cumin

• Pinch ground cloves

• Dash Worcestershire sauce

• Dash sriracha or Tabasco sauce

• 1 pound salad shrimp or cooked crawfish

• Cooked white rice, to serve

• Dry sherry, to garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Make a roux by heating the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat and then blending in the flour, consistently stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet. Cook until the roux is a golden color.

2. Add the green onions, celery, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes and cook until the onions have browned.

3. Add the thyme, tomato paste, basil and peppers (black, white, cayenne).

4. Add the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer until the mixture becomes thick.

5. Add the cheese, half-and-half, chili powder, coriander, cumin, cloves, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce, then stir until the cheese and half-and-half are blended in well.

6. Gently stir in the shrimp/crawfish and serve over fluffy white rice.

7. Garnish with chopped green onions and drizzle with dry sherry if desired.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

We’re in the semifinals of our current voting bracket topic of Favorite Pasta! The winners of each division are facing off now. Tomorrow (Monday), we’ll begin the final round. Then on Wednesday we announce the winner and begin the next topic: Favorite Academic Subjects!

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world who would like to participate, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.”
- Carl T. Rowan

The Index

Today’s curated list: My Top 10 Favorite Breakfast Cereals (don’t judge 😉)

1. Raisin Bran Crunch

2. Frankenberry (or the others in the family)

3. Honey Bunches of Oats

4. S’mores Cereal

5. Crunch Berries (Cap’n Crunch)

6. Honey Nut Cheerios

7. Reese’s Puffs

8. Lucky Charms

9. Frosted Mini Wheats

10. Cocoa Puffs

What are your favorite breakfast cereals? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• The Cornetto Trilogy

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

It is important that beliefs are based on evidence. Evidence-based belief is the foundation for rational thought.

Evidence-based belief refers to the practice of forming or holding a belief based on verifiable evidence, logical reasoning, and empirical support. It is a foundational principle in science, law, and critical thinking, where claims must be backed up by objective data rather than personal feelings, tradition, or faith alone. It is also an important principle for life.

A belief is considered evidence-based when it is supported by reliable, consistent, and testable evidence that increases the likelihood of its truth. A related concept is that propositions must be falsifiable. That is, to claim something is true, it must be possible to prove that it is false. If something cannot be proven to be false, it cannot be proven to be true.

Examples of falsifiable claims:

• All frogs are green. (Finding a purple frog would falsify the claim.)

• Aliens don’t exist. (Finding an alien would prove this claim false.)

• Bread rises in ovens because of the color of the oven. (Testing breads in different-color ovens would show whether this is true or not.)

• Prayer can lead to healing. (Repeated, controlled studies would show whether there is a difference in healing rates between people being prayed for and people not being prayed for.)

Examples of unfalsifiable claims:

• There are invisible, intangible gremlins in my freezer. (Any attempt to observe or interact with them would fail due to their supposed invisibility and intangibility.)

• The earth is really only 6,000 years but was created to appear older than it is, with fake fossils and misleading geological data. (This claim is unfalsifiable because any evidence (like fossils or radiometric dating) can be dismissed as part of the deception.)

• One day, humans will be able to breathe hydrogen gas. (There is no way to check all possible future times to prove it false.)

In life, people generally rely upon evidence in making their decisions, such as where to shop for cheap groceries, what doctor to use, and other everyday decisions. That standard is just as important for larger decisions like religious beliefs, career paths, and other life decisions.

And as Christopher Hitchens famously said, “What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” And the more extraordinary the claims, especially supernatural, religious, or social ones, the more extraordinary evidence is required to prove it to be true. Personal experiences may be real, but cannot be objectively tested or proven false by others, so they are not evidence for dogma.

And government leaders need to provide evidence when they make claims, too, whether about fraud, the economy, or Venezuelan boats carrying drugs.

Evidence-based belief is not just about having evidence, but about using it responsibly to form beliefs that are credible, testable, and aligned with reality.

Further reading

Further reading

Further reading

Word to the Wise

Proscribe– (pro-‘scribe) v. to condemn or forbid as harmful or unlawful; prohibit

Thoughts from the Nook

This week I met with a retired professor in our library to help him learn how to access research articles and journals now that he is emeritus faculty. On his laptop wallpaper was the photo of a baby. I asked if it was a grandchild and he told me about his daughter and her family and how they had moved to Phoenix in the last couple years and he and his wife had just spent this last Christmas with them out there.

Turns out that they live just a mile from where I grew up! Small world!

Then I mentioned that I had several grandchildren as well. Right then, my laptop beeped and I had a chat message from my son Camber with a 9-second video of him and his 9-month-old son Rowan. Talk about timing! 😁

Trivia Espresso Shot

Cheese Trivia!

• There are more than 2,000 different kinds of cheese in the world.

• Archaeologists have found cheesemaking artifacts that date back to before 5,000 BCE.

• Mozzarella is the most-eaten cheese in the world. Probably due to pizza.

• Cheese, eaten in moderation, is an excellent source of protein, calcium, and phosphorus.

• Eating Cheddar, Swiss, Monterey Jack, Blue Cheese, Brie, Gouda, or processed American Cheese after a meal can help reduce tooth decay.

• It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.

• The Greeks eat an average of 60 pounds of cheese a year. The French eat an average of 57 pounds of cheese a year. Americans eat an average of 34 pounds.

• About 1/3 of the milk produced in the United States goes into making cheese.

Source article

Source article

Source article

Reference Desk

Back in 1997, Lore Fitzgerald Sjöberg published The Book of Ratings. The subtitle was “Opinions, Grades, and Assessments of Everything Worth Thinking About.” Back before the internet made these kinds of things widespread, Sjöberg wrote an entire book of ratings on all kinds of things, from cryptids to breakfast cereals to Deadly Sins. There is an annotated and expanded edition that was published in 2024. I found it to be a delightful and humorous book! For each entry, the author would list 6 or 7 examples of that kind of thing, discuss them briefly, and give them a letter grade.

Examples:

• Breakfast Cereals “Cookie Crisp: Lame. It was a good concept, it could have gone somewhere, but the fact is that the cereal bits bear no closer resemblance to chocolate chip cookies than Fruity Pebbles do to actual rocks. Also, this Cookie Crook character is shamelessly derivative of the whole Trix Rabbit Cereal Theft genre, only instead of the kids looking after their own damn cereal they have an animated figure of authority to protect it for them. I am, however, an advocate of pouring milk on Chips Ahoy and eating that for breakfast.”

• Hostess Products “Twinkies: The quintessential Hostess food, similar to foods you might create in your own kitchen, but profoundly different. Yes, the outer coating bears a passing resemblance to sponge cake, and the “creamy filling” might have once read a book about a dairy product, but overall it has that quality of taste and texture that can only be found on the snack food aisle.”

• Classic Video Games “Pac-Man: The real tragedy of Pac-Man, aside from a sequel addiction that made the Friday the Thirteenth movies seem restrained, was that the key to the game was not skill, reflexes, or even intelligence, but rather memorization. The video games section of Waldenbooks was filled with books that told you the exact moves to make at the exact time, making mastery of Pac-Man only faintly more impressive than memorizing the first hundred digits of pi.”

There were also some quizzes, asking you to identify entries in a list, whether they were the name of a porn star or a My Little Pony, or a Star Trek episode or Christian metal band. Funny stuff! :-D

Lore Sjöberg was also one of the creators of Brunching Shuttlecocks, an early humor website that ran from 1997 to 2003, and which featured these lists of ratings among many other things.

Archived website for The Book of Ratings

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: Why are piggy banks so wise?
A: They’re filled with common cents!

The Pfunny Page

Composer Corner

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was born in Washington, D.C. He was a composer and conductor, known primarily for his marches. He is known as “The March King” or the “American March King”, to distinguish him from his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford.

He studied under John Esputa, Jr., then he worked in the U.S. Marine Corps, helping develop the Marine Band into “The President’s Own,” leading that band under five different presidents.

He wrote over 130 marches, 15 operettas, 11 suites, and much more.

Stars & Stripes Forever | Semper Fidelis | Washington Post March |
The Liberty Bell | El Capitan | The Last Days of Pompeii

Official website

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Feb 1 – International Gruit Day, National Dark Chocolate Day, National Baked Alaska Day, British Yorkshire Pudding Day

• Mon, Feb 2 – National Frozen Yogurt Day, National Tater Tot Day, National Heavenly Hash Day

• Tue, Feb 3 – National Carrot Cake Day

• Wed, Feb 4 – National Homemade Soup Day, National Stuffed Mushroom Day, Pork Rind Appreciation Day

• Thu, Feb 5 – World Nutella Day, National Chocolate Fondue Day

• Fri, Feb 6 – National Chopsticks Day, Bubble Gum Day

• Sat, Feb 7 – National Fettuccine Alfredo Day, Ice Cream For Breakfast Day, Pisco Sour Day

• Sun, Feb 8 – International Scotch Day, National Potato Lovers Day, National Molasses Bar Day

From the Archives

Back when the Internet was still pretty young, a game arose, called Googlewhack. It started in 2002 and was basically a challenge to enter two words into a Google search and get exactly ONE search result. It had to be two words found in the dictionary and both words had to be in the resulting webpage. If you found that, it was called a Googlewhack and you could even upload it to a website that tracked and shared Googlewhacks that people found. Googlewhacks generally no longer exist due to changes in Google search indexing.

Archive of the original Googlewhack website

Recipe Card

This is an easy and tasty dessert. Try experimenting with other pudding flavors.

Pistachio Nut Dessert

Ingredients

• 40 Ritz crackers, crumbled (~5 oz.)

• 1 stick butter, melted

• 2 3.4-oz. packages instant pistachio pudding

• 2 cups milk

• 1 quart vanilla ice cream

• 1 8-oz. tub Cool Whip

Directions

1. Mix crackers and melted butter. Pour into 13 x 9 pan, pressing into the corners.

2. Mix pudding and milk. Mix in softened ice cream. Fold in Cool Whip.

3. Pour onto crust and freeze.

You can sprinkle chopped pistachios or Heath Bar bits on top for an extra crunch.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. Here’s a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Pasta! We’re in the second round today (Round 3 begins tomorrow, Monday) and this topic is proving pretty popular. The bracket is broken into four divisions:

1. Long Pasta

2. Short/Shaped Pasta

3. Stuffed Pasta

4. Regional/Specialty Pasta

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world who would like to participate, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“I am of an age where I know what I like and what I do not like. What I like, I enjoy enormously. What I dislike, I cannot abide.”
- Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

The Index

Today’s curated list: Top 10 Scenic Train Trips in North America

1. Amtrak Coast Starlight: Seattle – Portland – San Francisco – Los Angeles

2. Grand Canyon Railway: Williams, AZ – South Rim, Grand Canyon – Williams

3. Amtrak California Zephyr: Chicago – Denver – Salt Lake City – San Francisco

4. Amtrak Empire Builder: Chicago – St. Paul/Minneapolis – Glacier National Park – Spokane – Portland/Seattle

5. Rocky Mountaineer Rockies to Red Rocks: Denver, CO to Moab, UT

6. Alaska Railroad Coastal Classic: Anchorage, AK – Girdwood – Seward, AK

7. Amtrak Southwest Chief: Chicago – Kansas City, MO – Albuquerque – Grand Canyon – Los Angeles

8. Napa Valley Wine Train: Napa Valley, CA

9. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad: Bryson City, NC – Nantahala Gorge – Bryson City

10. Alaska Railroad Denali Star: Anchorage, AK – Wasilla – Talkeetna – Denali – Fairbanks

My list of the Top 60 Scenic Train Trips in North America

Have you taken scenic train trips? What are your favorites? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Mystery Movie Authors

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Did you know that there’s an annual competition for beards and moustaches?

The World Beard and Moustache Championships happens every other July and is held all over the world, most frequently in Germany. It’s all about lengthy and highly styled facial hair.

There are three brackets of facial hair: moustache (6 categories), partial beard (7 categories), and full beard (5 categories), plus a few ladies’ categories.

Here are a few more photos:

More info

Word to the Wise

Cajole– (ca-‘jole) v. to persuade with flattery or gentle urging, especially in the face of reluctance

Thoughts from the Nook

The use of the word “myself” in a sentence is for reflexive use. That is, you are performing the action on yourself.

If something is done by me and by Jim, I do not say “done by Jim and myself” but “done by Jim and me.”

Similarly, you would not say “Bob and myself went to the store.”

If you’re not sure, remove the other person and see how it sounds. “Done by myself” makes no sense, because it is done by me.

Key rule: If you can replace “myself” with “me” and the sentence still makes sense, use “me.” Use “myself” only when “I” appears earlier in the sentence.

• Source article

• Source article

• Source article

Trivia Espresso Shot

“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” refers to the distance traveled, not the depth.

In the ocean, a league generally refers to a distance of 3 nautical miles (5.5 km). The average depth of the entire ocean is about 2 nautical miles. The deepest part of the ocean, in the Mariana Trench, is about 6 nautical miles.

The entire earth at its thickest is less than 8,000 miles. So, clearly, 20,00 leagues (or 60,000 miles) cannot be how deep they went, but how far they traveled while underwater. (For reference, the circumference of the Earth at the equator is just under 25,000 miles.)

Reference Desk

The Strahov Monastery in Prague was founded in 1143. Its library was completed in 1679 and has frescoes by Siard Nosecky and Anton Maulbertsch on the ceiling.

• 3D Tour of the Library

• Official Site

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: What do you call fossils that just lie there?
A: Lazy Bones!

The Pfunny Page

Composer Corner

Albert Glasser (1916-1998) was a film music composer for over 200 movies, 300 TV shows, and 450 radio programs. He was born in Chicago, studied at USC, and learned composing while working as a copyist at Warner Brothers under Max Steiner and Erich Korngold. Between 1944 and 1962 (18-19 years), he scored 135 movies!

He is best known for his B-movie scores and he worked primarily with Bert I. Gordon, one of Mystery Science Theater 3000’s favorite movie directors.

The Amazing Colossal Man | The Cisco Kid | Tormented
Attack of the Puppet People | HUK! | Beginning of the End

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Jan 25 - National Irish Coffee Day

• Mon, Jan 26 – National Peanut Brittle Day, National Pistachio Day, Green Juice Day

• Tue, Jan 27 – National Chocolate Cake Day

• Wed, Jan 28 – National Blueberry Pancake Day

• Thu, Jan 29 – National Corn Chip Day

• Fri, Jan 30 – National Croissant Day

• Sat, Jan 31 – National Hot Chocolate Day, National Brandy Alexander Day

• Sun, Feb 1 – International Gruit Day, National Dark Chocolate Day, National Baked Alaska Day, British Yorkshire Pudding Day

From the Archives

When I was kid, one of the card games we’d play, especially when we went camping, was Rack-O. The game was originally released in 1956.

You get 10 cards that are put in the tray in the order received. Then you take turns taking a card, either from the draw pile or the discard pile, to replace one of the cards in your tray. The goal is to get all 10 cards in your tray in order from lowest to highest. Not by switching them around, but by replacing them with cards from the middle.

The first player to get 10 cards in ascending order calls “Rack-O!” and wins the hand.

You can still find this game on Amazon, Toys R Us, and other online or brick-&-mortar stores.

Recipe Card

While the most common monkey bread seems to be cinnamon and sugar, there is also this excellent savory variation.

Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread

Ingredients

• · 2 cans (16.3 oz each) refrigerated tube biscuits (e.g., Pillsbury Grands)

• ½ cup butter, melted

• 4 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)

• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• ¼ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease a bundt pan with cooking spray or butter.

2. In a large bowl, combine melted butter, minced garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and half the Parmesan cheese. Mix well.

3. Separate the biscuits and cut each one into four equal pieces.

4. Add biscuit pieces to the butter mixture and toss until every piece is evenly coated.

5. Place the coated pieces into the greased bundt pan in a single layer. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and parsley. Repeat layers, ending with a final sprinkle on top.

6. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until golden brown.

7. Let cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Pull apart and enjoy warm.

Serve with marinara sauce, garlic butter, or a cheesy dip for dipping.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Val Kilmer Movies. We’re in the semifinals. The final round will begin tomorrow (Monday). On Wednesday, we will start the next topic: Favorite Pasta!

Our Voting Brackets are open to anyone in the world, and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“May I take your trident, sir?”
- Ian McDiarmid as Arthur the Butler in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

The Index

Today’s curated list: Words that sound dirty but aren’t

1. Masticate – to chew

2. Titivate – to make neat or spruce up

3. Vagitus – a newborn baby’s first cry

4. Copula – a grammatical linking verb (like “is” or “was”)

5. Diptych – a painting or artwork made of two hinged panels

6. Aholehole – a juvenile fish, also called Hawaiian Flagtail

7. Boobyalla – an Australian willow tree

8. Assart – the act of removing trees to clear forest land and make it arable

9. Cock-a-leekie – a soup made of chicken and leeks

10. Slagger – a worker who removes slag from furnaces

What are your favorite similar words? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Evidence-based belief

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Crown shyness is an amazing phenomenon that happens with some species of trees growing near each other. It’s where the tops (or crowns) of the trees give each other a little space and don’t grow into each other.

One popular theory as to why this happens is the “abrasion hypothesis”, which says that the trees try to avoid rubbing against each other when it’s windy. Another is “shade avoidance,” where trees use their phytochrome receptors to detect when they are not receiving full sunlight. If there are no gaps at the top, the lower branches of the tree won’t get the sunlight they need.

• Source Article

• Source Article

Word to the Wise

Hypethral (sometimes hypaethral)– (hy·PEE·thral or hy·PAE·thral) adj. having a roofless central space, open to the sky. While generally referring to ancient buildings like temples that had a central area open to the sky to allow natural lighting, the term can also be used for modern buildings with similar structure.

Thoughts from the Nook

More and more I see this phrase in commercials: “Up to 100% effective” for whatever they’re advertising

This phrase is TOTALLY MEANINGLESS!

Everything is up to 100%! Example: if diapers keep baby “up to 100% dry,” they could totally leak all over and still be “up to 100%.” 🙄 If headache medicine is up to 100% effective, it could be useless and still have the statement be true.

Using this terminology exaggerates the benefits of the product to manipulate people into buying it. And whenever I hear this kind of language, it makes me want to NOT purchase their product!

Trivia Espresso Shot

Bananas are slightly radioactive!

Due to being rich in potassium, every banana contains the natural isotope potassium-40. Interestingly, your body contains around 16mg of potassium-40, meaning you’re around 280 times more radioactive than a banana already. Any excess potassium-40 you gain from a banana is excreted out within a few hours.

Source

Reference Desk

Would you like to see a list of the best movies from the year you were born?

https://www.listobsession.com/best-movies-from-each-year/

This list I made goes all the way back to 1919! It uses IMDb ratings and it’s actually a live search, so when you click the link, it searches the current list of movies from that year with the overall ratings as of the time you clicked the link.

The top 10 movies from the year I was born were:

1. Once Upon a Time in the West

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

3. Rosemary’s Baby

4. Planet of the Apes

5. Monterey Pop

6. Prescription: Murder

7. Night of the Living Dead

8. The Lion in Winter

9. Where Eagles Dare

10. Romeo and Juliet

With notable entries below the top 10 being The Odd Couple, The Party, Oliver!, and Yellow Submarine.

Sometimes the ratings can be higher than expected because there are fewer votes. If you like, you can limit the results to movies with at least 5,000 or 10,000 votes using the left sidebar.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: What did the icy road say to the car?
A: “Want to go for a spin?”

Composer Corner

Ennio Morricone is one of the best movie composers of all time, and one of my favorites.

He wrote more than 400 film & TV scores and over 100 classical works. He received two Academy Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, eleven Nastro d’Argento, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and the Polar Music Prize in 2010.

Morricone was born in Rome in 1928 and died in 2020. He learned music first from his father, then he entered the Saint Cecelia Conservatory when he was 12. He completed their 4-year harmony program in six months and he studied under Goffredo Petrassi.

He composed the music for all of Sergio Leone’s films and Giuseppe Tornatore’s films.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly | The Mission | Novecento | Se telefonando
The Untouchables | The Hateful Eight | The Thing | The Battle of Algiers

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Jan 18 – National Peking Duck Day, National Gourmet Coffee Day

• Mon, Jan 19 – National Popcorn Day

• Tue, Jan 20 – National Cheese Lovers Day, National Buttercrunch Day

• Wed, Jan 21 – National Granola Bar Day, New England Clam Chowder Day

• Thu, Jan 22 – National Blond Brownie Day, National Southern Food Day, National Hot Sauce Day

• Fri, Jan 23 – National Sticky Toffee Pudding Day, National Pie Day, National Rhubarb Pie Day

• Sat, Jan 24 – National Peanut Butter Day, Eskimo Pie Day, Lobster Thermidor Day

• Sun, Jan 25 – National Irish Coffee Day

From the Archives

Mind Your Language is a British sitcom that aired from 1977 to 1979 on ITV (Channel 3 on British TV), the main competitor of BBC. The show is about people of different countries with different social backgrounds, religions, and languages in a class together learning English as a foreign language. It’s a very funny, intelligent, and wholesome show.

I found the DVDs on Amazon many years ago and my kids grew up watching this as a family, often during dinner. 😊 The show is insightful regarding how languages and cultures relate to each other, but not in a pedantic way. It’s much more subtle. Example: Juan from Spain understands hardly any English, while Giovanni from Italy does. So when Juan needs clarification, Giovanni says the word in Italian and Juan understands it because it’s so similar. Then he repeats the word in Spanish, and goes on to answer the question.

And it’s a sit com, so it’s funny for various reasons and situations over the 3-season run. The way the individuals interact and how they learn English and English culture is terrific and always good for a laugh. Yes, it’s a little dated and does have many stereotypes, and I certainly wouldn’t teach English that way, but the show was made in the 1970s and was intended as a comedy, so they’re trying to be funny, rather than realistic.

I highly recommend checking out the show. There are plenty of videos on YouTube, usually one episode per video, but I just found this one, that combines ALL of the episodes into one 12-hour-long video! 😍

The show also has its own YouTube channel.

Recipe Card

Reuben Crescent Bake

Ingredients

• 2 tubes (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls

• 1 pound sliced Swiss cheese

• 1¼ pounds sliced deli corned beef

• 1 can (14 ounces) sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained

• 2/3 cup Thousand Island salad dressing

• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

• 3 teaspoons caraway seeds

Directions

1. Unroll one tube of crescent dough into one long rectangle; seal seams and perforations. Press onto the bottom of a greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

2. Layer with half of the cheese and all of the corned beef. Combine sauerkraut and salad dressing; spread over beef. Top with remaining cheese.

3. On a lightly floured surface, press or roll second tube of crescent dough into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle, sealing seams and perforations. Place over cheese. Brush with egg white; sprinkle with caraway seeds (optional).

4. Bake for 12-16 minutes or until heated through and crust is golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

Makes 8 servings.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle. This one is a picture of Halstatt, Austria, one of the top places to visit on my bucket list!

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Val Kilmer Movies. Since he passed away this last year, our voting bracket is a kind of memorial. We’re in Round Two, with the 3rd round beginning tomorrow (Monday). The next topic, which will start in just over a week, will be Favorite Pasta!

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“The willingness to change one’s mind in the light of new evidence is a sign of rationality not weakness.”
- Stuart Sutherland

The Index

Today’s curated list: My top 5 favorite free online personality tests

1. Kingdomality – see what kind of job you might have had in the Middle Ages

2. Myers-Briggs FOUR QUESTION Test – gets right to the heart of each category

3. Enneagram – covers 9 different personality types

4. Color Quiz - just click on the colors “in the order they make you feel the best”

5. Personality Quiz: Shapes – pick the shape that appeals to you (quite a few other personality tests on this site)

What are your favorite personality tests? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Beard Championships

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

The Wilhelm scream is a famous stock sound effect of a man screaming. It originated in the 1951 western film Distant Drums, where it was recorded during post-production for a scene in which a soldier is dragged underwater by an alligator. It was named for a character called Private Wilhelm in the 1953 movie The Charge at Feather River, where it was used for Wilhelm getting shot in the leg with an arrow.

This is probably my favorite sound effect. I’ve even made a webpage where I’ve made a list of over 200 movies that use it, with links to IMDb.

Once you hear it a few times, you’ll start to recognize it every time you encounter it. The effect is a favorite of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. The use of the Wilhelm Scream in Star Wars and other Lucas-associated projects, such as Indiana Jones, helped make it one of the most iconic sound effects in film history.

Here is a compilation of clips that you may recognize:

Word to the Wise

Collude – (kuh-LOOD) v. to work with others secretly, especially in order to do something illegal or dishonest

Thoughts from the Nook

I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. In the winter, it wasn’t all that cold. We had green lawns and I remember my dad seeding the lawn with a different type of grass seed for the winter, so we’d have that green lawn. I remember putting grass seed on the lawn with manure to fertilize it. And sometimes hanging small foil pie tins to keep the birds away while the grass seed took root.

Some people kept their front yards as desert landscapes so they didn’t require that level of maintenance. A few even tried to blend the two ideas by filling their front yard with gravel, sometimes even green-colored. 😊

It’s a totally different place now. I haven’t lived in Phoenix since 1986. Dang! That’s 40 years!!

When we moved out there in 1972, we lived just a couple streets away from the open desert. The city has grown incredibly since then. Now you have to drive for a half hour from that same spot to get out of the suburban city. The lawns and landscaping are quite a bit different now, too, but you do still have people maintaining green lawns, as you can see from the above photo from Google Maps.

Trivia Espresso Shot

You probably know I’m a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Occasionally when there’s a crowd milling around, the host and bots would mumble “rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.”

This was a technique in making movies, where a group of people was all talking at the same time, having simultaneous conversations. To create the audio equivalent, sometimes the actors would all say “rhubarb rhubarb” or similar words, making the conversations unintelligible but not requiring the extras to learn lines. And the word “rhubarb” is used because it has no sharp consonants and blends together smoothly.

This is also the source of the name of the British TV show Rhubarb Rhubarb.

Reference Desk

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

We hear this in movies, but what did it mean?

A newspaper extra was a special edition that was published later in the day, or at least outside the normal schedule. Usually because some important news story broke and it was too late to make it into the regular edition. Thus the “extra.”

Starting in the 1930s, radio made it possible to issue “breaking news bulletins.” That grew with television. But before this, it was newspapers. And “extra editions” were how the special news was announced. This became a catchphrase in movies for when some dramatic event occurred.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: Why did the dinosaur cross the road?
A: Because chickens hadn’t evolved yet.

Composer Corner

Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer born in 1813 and died in 1901. It’s funny how Verdi seems older, but he was alive in the 20^th century! He was best known for his operas.

He had his first composition lessons at the age of 12 with Ferdinando Provesi, then later with Vincenzo Lavigna.

Verdi wrote a total of 28 operas during his career. He also wrote songs, some sacred works, and a handful of instrumental pieces.

Some of the best books about Verdi are biographies by Julian Budden, Frank Walker, and Mary Jane Phillips-Matz.

Requiem | Rigoletto | La Traviata | Aida

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Jan 11 – National Hot Toddy Day, National Sunday Supper Day, National Milk Day

• Mon, Jan 12 – National Glazed Donut Day, National Curried Chicken Day, National Marzipan Day

• Tue, Jan 13 – National Gluten-Free Day, National Peach Melba Day

• Wed, Jan 14 – National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

• Thu, Jan 15 – National Strawberry Ice Cream Day, National Bagel Day, National Booch Day, National Fresh-Squeezed Juice Day

• Fri, Jan 16 – International Hot & Spicy Food Day, National Fig Newton Day, National Bouvier de Flandres Day

• Sat, Jan 17 – National Hot Buttered Rum Day

• Sun, Jan 18 – National Peking Duck Day, National Gourmet Coffee Day

From the Archives

Back in 2007, BBC America launched a TV show called Primeval. It ran for five seasons and was a fun sci-fi / time travel show. These “anomalies” start popping up around England, gateways to the distant past that allow dangerous creatures to come through. So it was kind of a dinosaur show with a technology base, as they combat the creatures and try to predict where the next anomaly will appear. The CGI was pretty decent and the characters were all interesting and complex. And the show made liberal use of the Wilhelm Scream. 😁

I recently discovered that all five seasons of Primeval are free to stream on Tubi, PlutoTV, and the Roku Channel. It’s also on Hulu, Peacock, and Prime Video if you have a subscription.

Link to Primeval on Tubi

Trailer:

Recipe Card

Creole Pecan Praline Bars

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 2 cups flour

• 2 ½ cups large pecan halves

  Topping:

• 1 ½ sticks butter

• ⅓ cup packed brown sugar

Directions

1. Line a 13 x 9 pan with aluminum foil (shiny side up). Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Beat butter until soft. Mix in salt and sugar. Add flour and beat for 1-2 minutes until mixture is crumbly and holds together when pressed together with your fingers.

3. Turn mixture into pan and press/spread firmly. Place pecan halves flat sides down onto base in rows.

4. For topping, place butter and sugar in medium saucepan and cook over high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture comes to a hard boil over the whole surface. Continue to stir over the heat for 30 seconds longer. Remove from heat and pour over the pecans.

5. Bake for 22 minutes. Cool and slice.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle. This one is a picture of Halstatt, Austria, one of the top places to visit on my bucket list!

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Lighthouses from around the world. We’re in the Semifinals, and the Final Round begins tomorrow, Monday. On Wednesday we’ll announce the winner and begin the next voting bracket topic: Favorite Val Kilmer Movies. Since he passed away this year, our voting bracket will be a memorial.

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“Why is the rum gone?”
- Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies

The Index

Today’s curated list: My top 10 Mystery Science Theater 3000 shorts.

The shorts are short films that they riffed on at the beginning of the episode because the movie wasn’t long enough. I’ve also posted my complete ranked list on my website. The links are to YouTube videos of these shorts.

1. The Chicken of Tomorrow

2. Johnny at the Fair

3. Out of this World

4. Young Man’s Fancy

5. What to Do on a Date

6. A Date with your Family

7. Circus on Ice

8. A Case of Spring Fever

9. Here Comes the Circus

10. Junior Rodeo Daredevils

Are you fan of MST3K? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Crown Shyness in Trees

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Vocal Fry is the lowest vocal register, characterized by low, creaky, or rattling sounds. Bass singers sometimes use it to produce a strong voice an octave lower than normal. But what I find most interesting is how vocal fry has become part of normal speech in the U.S.

I frequently hear it used by announcers in commercials, but it’s becoming more common in general. It’s often used at the end of sentences or to convey some level of emotional depth to the statement being made. Once you start recognizing it, you’ll hear it everywhere.

Apparently, it is particularly prevalent among young female speakers of American English, with studies showing they use it at a rate four times higher than men. There have been some articles written over the last 10 years or so that talk about how the use of vocal fry can be perceived in the professional world.

While vocal fry is a natural part of the vocal spectrum and not inherently harmful to the voice, its excessive or habitual use can lead to vocal strain, hoarseness, or even contribute to voice disorders such as vocal nodules or laryngitis. However, when used appropriately and in moderation, it can be a beneficial tool for vocal expression, particularly in voiceover work, singing, and performance, where it adds depth, emotion, and character to the voice.

• Example 1

• Example 2

• Example 3

• Example 4

Word to the Wise

Tenacious – (tə-ˈnā-shəs) adj. aggressively persistent in holding onto or seeking something valued or desired; enduring especially when challenged

Thoughts from the Nook

One of my favorite little-known actors is Al Leong. He isn’t the star in too many movies, but you see him in TONS of movies! He is trained in Karate, Wushu, Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Kali, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. He’s an amazing martial artist and very agile, so he frequently plays a member of a gang, and he’s developed a cult following.

He was Genghis Khan in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), but he’s been one of the bad guys in so many movies, like Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Lethal Weapon (1987), and Die Hard (1988), and he’s often uncredited. Check his IMDB listing for all the movies and TV shows he’s been in.

Here’s a fun interview with him.

Trivia Espresso Shot

Fewer vs. Less – In general, use “fewer” if you can count the number of things, and use “less” if you measure the amount. If you can count it, use “fewer,” if you can’t, use “less.”

Examples: fewer M&Ms, less candy, fewer glasses, less water

• Source Article

Reference Desk

Colon classification is a library catalog system used primarily in libraries in India. It was first published in 1933 by Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan and it uses facets to describe subjects with different punctuation marks to separate the facets. It started with just colons, which is where the name came from.

In Colon Classification, facets describe “personality” (the most specific subject), matter, energy, space, and time (PMEST).

As an example, the subject “research in the cure of tuberculosis of lungs by x-ray conducted in India in 1950” would be categorized as:

• Medicine, Lungs; Tuberculosis: Treatment; X-ray: Research. India’ 1950

This is summarized in a specific call number that uses codes to represent the various facets: L, 45; 421: 6; 253: f. 44’ N5

• More details

• More details

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: How does a penguin build its house?
A: Igloos it together.

Composer Corner

Ruth Crawford Seeger was an American composer and musicologist. She was born in 1901 in East Liverpool, Ohio. She mostly composed in the 1920s and 30s, then focused more on studying folk music until her early death in 1953, becoming a major influence on the new field of ethnomusicology.

She studied at the American Conservatory of Music under Adolf Weidig, then later with Charles Seeger, whom she married a couple years later.

Her compositions also reflected the influence of Scriabin as well as the ultramodernist movement in which she participated. She extended serial treatments to other musical elements besides pitch, and she also employed dissonant counterpoint.

String Quartet 1931 | 2 Ricercare | Suite for Wind Quintet | Three Chants

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Jan 4 – National Spaghetti Day

• Mon, Jan 5 – National Whipped Cream Day, National Keto Day

• Tue, Jan 6 – National Shortbread Day, Bean Day

• Wed, Jan 7 – National Tempura Day

• Thu, Jan 8 – National English Toffee Day

• Fri, Jan 9 – National Apricot Day

• Sat, Jan 10 – National Bittersweet Chocolate Day, National Oysters Rockefeller Day

• Sun, Jan 11 – National Hot Toddy Day, National Sunday Supper Day, National Milk Day

From the Archives

Back in 1989, I was an R.A. in a college dorm. CDs were a pretty new technology and I had just bought my first CD player.

One of the responsibilities of RAs in the dorm was keeping noise down, especially during designated quiet times. One time I heard some incredibly loud music blaring from a room down the hall. So I had to go tell them to turn it down. And possibly issue a fine, as was my responsibility.

So I went down the hall and knocked loudly on the door, then let myself in because the music was too loud to hear me beating on the door. The speakers were huge and the music was Verdi’s Requiem, specifically the Dies Irae sequence. I was so impressed by the music that I just stood there and let the experience wash over me. It was AMAZING!

And I just listened until that track was over, then quietly told the guys to turn the volume down now and walked out. 😁 And then I went and bought the CD.

Here is the actual track from the actual CD. Enjoy! (crank up the volume!)

Recipe Card

Bacon Beer Cheese Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

• 6 slices bacon, diced

• 1 lb. ground beef

• 1 small onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 cup beer (your choice of type)

• 1/2 cup ketchup

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• Hamburger buns, for serving

Directions

1. In a large skillet, cook the diced bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove the cooked bacon from the skillet and set aside, leaving the bacon grease in the skillet.

2. In the same skillet with the bacon grease, add the ground beef, diced onion, and minced garlic. Cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon, until the beef is browned and the onions are softened.

3. Drain off any excess grease from the skillet.

4. Return the cooked bacon to the skillet with the beef mixture.

5. Stir in the beer, ketchup, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix well to combine.

6. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and the flavors have melded.

7. Once the sauce is thickened, sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese over the top of the beef mixture. Cover the skillet and let it cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

8. Stir the cheese into the beef mixture until well combined.

9. Serve the bacon, beer, and cheese sloppy joe mixture on hamburger buns.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle. This one is 2,000 pieces and barely fits on my table. It’s also taking a bit longer. 😐

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Lighthouses from around the world. It’s a DOUBLE bracket, so there were 128 choices in the first round. We’re in Round Three right now, and we have a week and a half left to go.

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“Wait! Where are you going? I was going to make espresso.”
- Gene Hackman as the blind woodcutter in Young Frankenstein

The Index

Today’s curated list: My top 10 favorite birds of North America

1. Great Blue Heron

2. American Goldfinch

3. Great Gray Owl

4. Pileated Woodpecker

5. Chipping Sparrow

6. Common Raven

7. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

8. Tufted Titmouse

9. Belted Kingfisher

10. Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

What are YOUR favorite birds? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• The Wilhelm Scream

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

The geography around La Crosse, Wisconsin, is rather unique. The western border is the Mississippi River. The eastern border is a chain of bluffs.

This results in the La Crosse metro area being long and narrow. It also has a very real effect on the weather. Not quite lake-effect, but the river is big enough to create a microclimate. The river increases humidity in the region, which moderates temperature extremes and contributes to the high frequency of precipitation during the spring and summer, when 60% of the annual rainfall occurs.

Additionally, the river and bluffs can influence local wind patterns and even make major storms go around the city. Climate change projections suggest that warmer temperatures and increased precipitation will continue to impact the river’s dynamics, potentially exacerbating these weather effects in the future.

This part of Wisconsin (and corners of MN and IA) has been called the Driftless Area or the Blufflands since the 1880s. The Driftless Area was never covered by ice during the Last Glacial Period, so the area lacks the characteristic glacial deposits known as drift: the silt, gravel, and rock that can be found in other parts of Wisconsin. Its landscape is characterized by steep hills, forested ridges, and deeply carved river valleys, instead of being flat like areas to the east and north.

Sources:

• WPR.org

• Driftless Area Magazine

• Wisconsin Historical Society

• Mississippi Valley Conservancy

Word to the Wise

Hogamadog – (‘hog-ah-mah-dog) n. a large ball of snow formed by rolling a smaller snowball through soft snow until it grows significantly in size, often used as the base for a snowman.

Thoughts from the Nook

One of my main web-based activities is posting unusual holidays. I put them on a website and I post them every morning on social media. I’ve included almost 3,300 of them!

I made one webpage for each month and use an “ordered (numbered) list” to list each day of the month while keeping the file size of the pages as small as possible so they load quickly.

Since the holidays are listed by date, I have to update many of them during this week between Christmas and New Year’s. Many holidays are not on the same date every year, but are on the second Tuesday of the month, or that kind of thing. Like Thanksgiving, Easter, Labor Day, and about 350 lesser-known holidays like World Whisky Day, Bubble Gum Day, and National Napping Day.

Yesterday I just finished all of these updates, so the holiday lists are ready for 2026!

https://www.listobsession.com/interesting-holidays/

Trivia Espresso Shot

Twelve Grapes – a New Year’s tradition!

It started in Spain but has spread to many Latin American countries. The tradition is known as “las doce uvas de la suerte” (the twelve grapes of luck).

This custom is celebrated across Spain, with families gathering at home and at restaurants offering the grapes as part of their New Year’s Eve menus. The most iconic location for this tradition is Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, where thousands of people gather around the clock tower to eat the grapes as the clock strikes midnight.

The grapes are traditionally eaten one at a time with each chime of the clock at midnight, symbolizing good luck for each of the 12 months of the coming year.

• Source: Atlas Obscura

• Source: Spain.info

Reference Desk

Chatsworth House is a country house in Derbyshire, England, built in1553. It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549.

The library at Chatsworth contains much of the scientific library of Henry Cavendish (1731-1810).

The library is beautiful in its own right, but it’s even better when they’ve decorated for Christmas.

Here is a virtual tour of the Chatsworth House and Gardens.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Not to brag, but I already have a date for New Year’s Eve.
It’s December 31st.

Composer Corner

P.D.Q. Bach is a fictional composer created by American musical satirist Peter Schickele (1935-2024) as part of a five-decade-long performance career. Schickele portrays P.D.Q. Bach as the “long-lost 13^th son” and the youngest and oddest of Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty-odd children, born in Leipzig on April 1, 1742, and died on May 5, 1807.

The name “P.D.Q.” parodies the three-part names common among Bach family members, such as C.P.E. Bach and J.C.F. Bach.

Peter Schickele wrote the music and attributed it to P.D.Q. Bach, including parody classical music conventions, musicological scholarship, and Baroque and Classical styles, often incorporating slapstick comedy and absurd instrumentation like the tromboon, kazoo, and pastaphone. Like most musical parody, it’s clever and funny, while still being enjoyable music. Schickele also wrote over 100 original compositions that were his own and not related to P.D.Q Bach.

I’ve gone to see him in live concerts and they are a blast. When I was in college and switched to become a Music Major, I had to take Music History classes. Since I had already been listening to P.D.Q. Bach, it was sometimes during Music History class that we listened to some classical music, and I started laughing because I finally got the joke! 😁

New Horizons in Music Appreciation | 1712 Overture | Art of the Ground Round

Classical Rap | Peter Schickele on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show

A Little Nightmare Music | Missa Hilarious | Oedipus Tex | Schleptet in Eb-Major

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Dec 28 – National Chocolate Candy Day

• Mon, Dec 29 – National Pepper Pot Stew Day

• Tue, Dec 30 – National Bacon Day, National Bicarbonate Of Soda Day

• Wed, Dec 31 – National Champagne Day

• Thu, Jan 1 – National Bloody Mary Day, National Black Eyed Pea Day

• Fri, Jan 2 – National Buffet Day, National Cream Puff Day

• Sat, Jan 3 – National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day

• Sun, Jan 4 – National Spaghetti Day

From the Archives

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has captured the imaginations of moviemakers throughout the history of movies. The very first movie about this story was Scrooge; or Marley’s Ghost, made in 1901. (The link goes to the IMDb entry.) 1901! It’s one of the earliest movies ever made, and it’s only 6 minutes long, but covers the basics of the story. The movie was silent, of course, since the first “talkie” was The Jazz Singer, which premiered in 1927.

Recipe Card

One of my family’s breakfast standards has many different names. We always called it “One-Eyed Eggs,” but I think the most common name is “Egg in a Hole,” but “Egg in a Basket” is also common. “Toad in a Hole” is NOT the name, because the “toad” is usually a sausage link, and the name can also refer to a larger British breakfast.

Basically, you butter both sides of a piece of bread, cut a hole in the center, then fry the bread in a pan, cracking an egg into the center. The timing depends on the heat and how well-done you want the egg and the bread.

You can also use half a bagel. Or even use two slices and make a grilled cheese version.

• More info

• More info

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle. This one is 2,000 pieces and barely fits on my table.

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Christmas Carol Movies, but today is the last day of the final round. Tomorrow (Monday), we’ll announce the winner and then also start our next bracket: Favorite Lighthouses from around the world.

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“I think age is terribly overrated. You’re okay as long as you don’t grow up. By all means grow old, but don’t mature. Remain childlike, retain wonder, the ability to be flabbergasted by something.”
- Billy Connolly

The Index

Today’s curated list: Top 5 words with delightfully odd etymologies

1. Quarantine - origin: from Italian quaranta giorni meaning “forty days.”

   Story: During the Black Death in the 14th century, ships arriving in Venice had to remain isolated for 40 days before passengers could disembark. This practice gave us the word quarantine.

2. Nightmare - origin: from Old English mare meaning “goblin” or “evil spirit” + night.

   Story: Originally, a nightmare wasn’t just a bad dream—it was believed to be a malevolent spirit sitting on your chest while you slept, causing distress. The “mare” part has nothing to do with horses!

3. Salary - origin: from Latin salarium, which comes from sal (salt).

   Story: Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt or given money to buy salt, a precious commodity. That’s why your paycheck is linked to seasoning!

4. Disaster - origin: from Italian disastro, based on Greek roots: dis- (“bad”) + astron (“star”).

   Story: In ancient times, calamities were thought to be caused by unfavorable positions of the stars. So a disaster was literally a “bad star.”

5. Berserk - origin: From Old Norse berserkr (“bear-shirt”).

   Story: Viking warriors called berserkers fought in a trance-like fury, often wearing bear skins instead of armor. Their wild rage gave us the modern sense of “going berserk.”

What are YOUR favorite etymologies? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Vocal Fry

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Note: Due to the length of this week’s Recipe Card, a couple of the regular sections have been omitted. They’ll return next week.

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

One of the oldest traditions around the Christmas holiday is ghost stories. The Smithsonian Magazine says that “the tradition of holiday ghost stories goes much, much farther back—farther, perhaps, than Christmas itself. When the night grows long and the year is growing to a close, it’s only natural that people feel an instinct to gather together. At the edge of the year, it also makes sense to think about people and places that are no longer with us.”

It’s not general horror, even though Christmas Horror movies have become rather common. The stories were more about appearances of ghosts because the veil between the living and the dead was thought to be thinnest around the winter solstice, the darkest time of year.

Some stories were inspired by older Scandinavian and Celtic folklore, such as tales of revenants—undead corpses returning to terrorize their communities—sometimes linked to Christmas or the winter solstice.

• Source: Smithsonian Magazine

• Source: Book Riot

• Source: Oxford Castle & Prison

• Source: History.com

Word to the Wise

Crawmassing – (‘kraw-massing) v. gathering up or going through the remnants of a Christmas meal, such as leftover food scraps, often to enjoy them after the main feast.

Trivia Espresso Shot

The tree topper that is most commonly used on a Christmas tree is a star.

Squire’s Garden Centres in the UK did a survey and 46% said a star was their favorite. Angels were second with 27%. Third place was a fairy at 18%.

A recent survey of 3,778 U.S. adults found that the star is the most popular Christmas tree topper, with 49% of respondents choosing it, compared to 34% who prefer an angel.

• Source Article 1

• Source Article 2

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: How much does Santa pay for parking?
A: Nothing, it’s on the house

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Dec 21 – National Coquito Day, National Fried Shrimp Day

• Mon, Dec 22 – National Date-Nut Bread Day

• Tue, Dec 23 – National Pfeffernüsse Day

• Wed, Dec 24 – National Eggnog Day

• Thu, Dec 25 – National Pumpkin Pie Day

• Fri, Dec 26 – National Candy Cane Day

• Sat, Dec 27 – National Fruitcake Day

• Sun, Dec 28 – National Chocolate Candy Day

From the Archives

Four years ago, James Veitch gave a Ted Talk that resulted in one of the funniest videos on YouTube.

Recipe Card

Back in December 2021 (four years ago already!), our Voting Bracket topic was Favorite Christmas Cookies. Iced Sugar Cookies were the winner, with Snickerdoodles coming in a close second. I also shared a collection of links to online recipes for most of the cookies we were voting on. I tried to use different websites and to find the ones with the best reviews.

Rather than sharing a single recipe this week, here is that collection of links to recipes! If you’re thinking about making cookies, these are some great ideas!

• Butter Pecan Cookies

• Chocolate Biscotti

• Chocolate Crinkles

• Chocolate Mint Crinkles

• Chocolate Rugelach

• Chocolate Thumbprints

• Christmas Biscotti

• Christmas Macarons

• Coconut Macaroons

• Danish Butter Cookies

• Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

• Forgotten Cookies

• German Sour Cream Twists

• Ginger Snaps

• Gingerbread Men

• Hermit Cookies

• Holiday Haystack Cookies

• Holiday Monster Cookies

• Holiday Oreos

• Iced Sugar Cookies

• Italian Anisettes

• Italian Fig Cookies

• Italian Rainbow Cookies

• Jammie Dodgers

• Lace Cookies

• Lebkuchen

• Lemon Bars

• Linzer Cookies

• Lofthouse Cookies

• Meringue Kisses

• Molasses Cookies

• Nanaimo Bars

• Orange Almond Cookies

• PB&J Thumbprints

• Peanut Butter Blossoms

• Peanut Butter Cookies

• Pecan Sandies

• Pecan Tassies

• Peppermint Meltaways

• Peppermint Meringues

• Pfeffernusse

• Pillsbury Shape Cookies

• Pizzelles

• Poinsettia Pinwheels

• Red Velvet Crinkles

• Rosettes

• Rum Balls

• Salted Caramel Cookies

• Sandbakkels

• Seven-Layer Cookies

• Shortbread Cookies

• Snickerdoodles

• Snowball Cookies (Russian Tea Cakes / Mexican Wedding Cakes)

• Speculaas Cookies

• Spice Drops

• Springerle

• Sprinkled Sugar Cookies

• Spritz Cookies

• Stained Glass Cookies

• Swedish Kringla

• Viennese Crescents

• White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

• White Chocolate Dipped Oreos

• White Chocolate Haystacks

Do you have a favorite holiday cookie recipe? Please share it in the comments!

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Christmas Carol Movies. Round Three ends today and the Quarterfinals begin on Monday, December 22. We’re definitely getting down to the more familiar movies.

Since most of us probably haven’t seen many of these movies, I’ve put together an online table of all 64, with details like year, IMDb rating, duration, and what actor played the Scrooge role. It also has links to view most of them: https://www.listobsession.com/christmas-carol-movies-voting-bracket/

Our next topic will be Favorite Lighthouses from around the world.

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“Fezziwig once said to me, ‘Ebenezer, when happiness shows up, always give it a comfortable seat.’”
- Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1999)

Next Time in the Klatch

• La Crosse Geography

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

Spider plants are one of the most popular houseplants. Probably because they’re so easy to grow and hard to kill. They don’t require much light or water. The Farmer’s Almanac has a guide to growing and propagating spider plants.

Spider plants are also noted for filtering carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and benzene from the air. They are a fantastic oxygen-producing indoor plant. The NASA Clean Air Study confirmed their effectiveness in removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from indoor air, supporting their role as natural air purifiers. Not a huge difference, but apparently measurably good at this, and it would take quite a few of these plants in your home to produce any real benefits.

It’s also interesting how they propagate. They produce long, wiry stems called runners or stolons that carry offshoots known as spiderettes, plantlets, or spider plant babies. You can snip them off and grow them as separate plants. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

Word to the Wise

Garland – (gär-lənd) n. a decorative braid or circular or spiral arrangement of intertwined material (such as flowers or leaves)

Tinsel – (tin(t)-səl) n. very thin strips or threads of a glittering material

So when talking about Christmas decorations, tinsel is the shiny stuff and garland is the string that is draped on a tree or other objects.

Thoughts from the Nook

I’ve always enjoyed making paper snowflakes. Once you get the hang of the process, it’s simple and you can make all kinds of varieties. We use them in my library to decorate the tree I set up and to stick all over the windows.

Here’s a nice step-by-step instructional website.

Here’s another with examples.

Trivia Espresso Shot

You can actually use a yo-yo in space! It works because a yo-yo mainly relies on the laws of conservation of angular momentum to perform tricks, which, provided you keep the string taut, apply in microgravity too.

Source: BBC Science Focus

Reference Desk

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams was originally conceived as a radio sitcom broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1978 and 1980. He turned the first four episodes into a book which grew into a series and media franchise. The book became a trilogy. Then, as he added more books to the story, the subtitle became “The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Trilogy”.

Britannica says “The saga mocks modern society with humour and cynicism and has as its hero a hapless, deeply ordinary Englishman (Arthur Dent) who unexpectedly finds himself adrift in a universe characterized by randomness and absurdity.” Click the link to see their summary.

Links to some of the recordings:

• Original radio series from 1978

• 1981 TV series (clips)

• 2005 movie (on Hulu) (trailer) (rent on YouTube)

• The first book in the series, read by Douglas Adams

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: What kind of pizza is Santa’s favorite?
A: One that’s deep-pan, crisp and even.

Composer Corner

Steve Reich is an American composer born in 1936 in New York City. He studied composition privately with Hall Overton, then at Juilliard with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti, and then at Mills College with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud. He is known for being a pioneer in minimalism.

Reich worked with the San Francisco Tape Music Center along with Pauline Oliveros, Ramon Sender, Morton Subotnick, Phil Lesh, and Terry Riley. He was involved with the premiere of Terry Riley’s In C and suggested the use of the eighth-note pulse, which is now standard in the performance of the piece.

Piano Phase | Music for 18 Musicians | Clapping Music | Double Sextet

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Dec 14 – National Biscuits And Gravy Day, National Bouillabaisse Day, National Screwdriver Day

• Mon, Dec 15 – International Hot Tea Day, National Gingerbread Latte Day, National Lemon Cupcake Day

• Tue, Dec 16 – National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day

• Wed, Dec 17 – National Maple Syrup Day

• Thu, Dec 18 – National Roast Suckling Pig Day, National I Love Honey Day, Bake Cookies Day

• Fri, Dec 19 – National Hard Candy Day, Oatmeal Muffin Day

• Sat, Dec 20 – National Sangria Day

• Sun, Dec 21 – National Coquito Day, National Fried Shrimp Day

From the Archives

Kaiju movies began in 1954 as a genre of Japanese movies that feature giant monsters. The original kaiju movies were made by Toho Co. The Japanese word “kaiju” originally referred to monsters from ancient Japanese legends. Then Toho turned them into a popular film genre.

The most popular kaiju monsters are Godzilla and King Kong. There have been 38 Godzilla movies made.

Recipe Card

We’re having a cookie exchange at work this week. Here is the recipe for the Rum Balls that I’m bringing to the exchange.

Rum Balls

Ingredients

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• ¼ cup baking cocoa

• 1 box (11 oz.) vanilla wafers, finely crushed

• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts

• ½ cup light corn syrup

• ¼ cup rum

• Extra powdered sugar to roll them in

Steps:

1. Combine powdered sugar and cocoa in large bowl until well blended. Add vanilla wafers and walnuts and stir well.

2. Combine corn syrup and rum in a separate container, then stir into the dry ingredients.

3. Shape into 1-inch balls, then roll in additional powdered sugar.

4. Store in an airtight container.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Portrait Paintings. We are just finishing our DOUBLE bracket of Favorite Portrait Paintings, and the winner is Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer.

Our next bracket begins tomorrow (Monday): Favorite Christmas Carol Movies! Since most of us probably haven’t seen many of them, I’ve put together an online table of all 64, with details like year, IMDb rating, duration, and what actor played the Scrooge role. It also has links to watch most of them: https://www.listobsession.com/christmas-carol-movies-voting-bracket/

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 150 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“If you require the threat of punishment or the command of a god to be a good person, then you are not a good person.”

The Index

Today’s curated list: My top 10 favorite comedy movies

1. Hot Fuzz (2007)

2. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

4. Murder By Death (1976)

5. The Impostors (1998)

6. Clue (1985)

7. Violent Night (2022)

8. Airplane! (1980)

9. The Blues Brothers (1980)

10. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

What are YOUR favorite comedy movies? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Christmas Ghost Stories

Until next time, stay curious!

In this weekly newsletter, each issue opens a drawer to reveal something fascinating, funny, or thought-provoking. It’s part archive, part adventure!

Cabinet Drawer of the Week

In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote a novella called A Christmas Carol. It was published on December 19 and the original run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve. Since then, this story has captured the imagination of the world.

Since movies began to be made, A Christmas Carol has been one of the stories that has attracted filmmakers. The first film version of A Christmas Carol was released in 1901 and there is a new reimagining of the story directed by Ti West and starring Johnny Depp and Ian McKellen coming out next year (13 Nov 2026), called Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol. Here is an update about it.

Last year, I watched as many versions of this movie as I could find. I ranked 25 of them in a list on my website.

Our next Voting Brackets topic is going to be Favorite Christmas Carol Movies, and, yes, I found 64 to include in our bracket. To help people prepare to vote on them, I made a separate webpage with a sortable table that has details and links to stream most of them. See the “Voting Brackets” section below for more info.

Word to the Wise

Cornicione – (kor.niˈtʃo.ne) n. the raised, airy edge or rim of a pizza, especially a Neapolitan-style pizza. Generally called “the crust” while eating a pizza, but the crust is technically the whole bread part.

Source: https://thepizzaheaven.com/pizza-cornicione/

Thoughts from the Nook

One of the things I enjoy about being a librarian is working with college students. I’ve been a university librarian since 1997 (with a few years off working in I.T. to help teach faculty how to teach with technology) and I’ve mostly worked with Public Services, the parts of the library that are out front and interact with the public.

My current library at UW-La Crosse staffs the front desk with two students whenever we’re open, about 100 hours per week. That usually results in about 20-30 students every semester. Many of them stick around for 2-3 years because we work hard to make it a supportive and collegial work environment.

That gives me the opportunity to build relationships with many of them as well as help them become better students and better library support for other students. I’m not as good at the connections as Liz, one of my Access Services staff, though. She is so good at connecting with the students that they often come to visit her when they no longer work in the library and after they graduate, and I’ve heard more than one refer to her as “mom.” 😊

But I still enjoy getting to know them and helping them become better at what they do (without being pedantic). That also gives me insights into fashion, music, movies, and more, which I’d never get without these kinds of interactions.

I think the best part, though, is knowing that I’m investing in people and making an impact on their lives in some small way.

Trivia Espresso Shot

Platypuses sweat milk. This is because it doesn’t have teats. Milk appears as sweat on a platypus, but it’s an aquatic mammal so it doesn’t actually sweat at all.

Source: BBC Science Focus

Reference Desk

Here is another beautiful library: the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This library was established in 1837 by Portuguese immigrants to Brazil who wanted to promote or preserve Portuguese culture. This actual building was designed by Rafael da Silva e Castro in the Neo-Manueline style, was built between 1880 and 1887.

The library contains over 350,000 books, including rare items and original and it functions as a public library and cultural center accessible to visitors. Here is a link to their website.

Dad Joke Cupboard

Q: Why did the snowman go to the vegetable garden?
A: To pick his nose.

Composer Corner

Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995) was a Hungarian-American composer who studied and Germany and became best known for his film scores. He was already composing and performing on the viola by the time he was 8 years old. They say he was reading music before he was reading words. He later studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and received his doctorate in music in 1930, at the age of 23.

IMDb lists almost 100 composer credits for Rózsa.

See his website for much more information.

Spellbound | Violin Concerto | Ben-Hur | Cello Concerto | Tripartita

Food Holidays This Week

• Sun, Dec 7 – National Cotton Candy Day

• Mon, Dec 8 – National Brownie Day

• Tue, Dec 9 – National Lebkuchen Day, National Pastry Day

• Wed, Dec 10 – National Lager Day

• Thu, Dec 11 – National Teriyaki Chicken Day, National Noodle-Ring Day, National Have A Bagel Day

• Fri, Dec 12 – National Ambrosia Day, Gingerbread House Day

• Sat, Dec 13 – National Cocoa Day, National Popcorn String Day

• Sun, Dec 14 – National Biscuits And Gravy Day, National Bouillabaisse Day, National Screwdriver Day

From the Archives

One of my favorite classes from my undergraduate years, and probably the one that I still remember the most from, was Ornithology. I enjoy birdwatching and much of that probably started during that class.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a leader in this field. They’ve developed an excellent app for identifying birds based on their sounds. And their website has some amazing resources for looking up birds from around the world and learning more about them.

This week I discovered their FeederWatch webcam on YouTube. It’s a live stream of a fully stocked bird feeder in Sapsucker Woods, Ithaca, New York, on the shore of the large pond right next to their Lab. They also have bird cams in Ontario and Panama and partner with other groups to provide many more bird cams around the US and the world.

I watched their main one at Sapsucker Woods yesterday for a while and observed cardinals, blue jays, chickadees and tufted titmice, mourning doves, three different kinds of woodpeckers (downy, hairy, & red-bellied), and a couple different kinds of sparrows.

If you like having something on your TV for background noise, I recommend this webcam. It’s like bringing the outdoors into your home and gives you a chance to see many kinds of birds up close.

Recipe Card

I got this recipe from a library coworker many years ago. The amount is for when you need to bring something for a party, but you can easily cut it in half for your family.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients

• 3 - 4 cans (about 20oz each) of cooked chicken breast, drained (I use 4 cans)

• 8 oz cream cheese

• 8 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce

Steps:

1. Since the chicken is already cooked, the crock pot works really well for this recipe. Just combine it all in the crock pot and wait until warmed through.

2. You can also cook it in the oven until the cheese is melted (about 30 minutes at 350) and it gets browned on the top.

3. Serve with Frito’s dipper chips

There are many recipes online, but this one is simple, tasty, and popular at parties.

Puzzle Pause

I always have a jigsaw puzzle going at home. This section has a photo of the current state of my current puzzle.

Voting Brackets

Our current voting bracket topic is Favorite Portrait Paintings. It’s a DOUBLE bracket of Favorite Portrait Paintings. 128 paintings of portraits from throughout time and in various styles. This will take us to Monday, December 15, when we announce the winner and begin the next topic. It will be Favorite Christmas Carol Movies! Since most of us probably haven’t seen many of them, I’ve put together an online table of all 64, with details and links to view them (or at least a trailer): https://www.listobsession.com/christmas-carol-movies-voting-bracket/

Our Voting Brackets are free and open to anyone in the world and we have a website for it: https://votingbrackets.com/. New rounds begin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have completed more than 140 brackets over the last seven years. Here is a full list of all the results back to the beginning.

Marginalia

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.”

- Dennis Wholey

The Index

Today’s curated list: My top 10 favorite Christmas Movies

1. Violent Night (2022)

2. It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

3. A Christmas Carol (1999)

4. Christmas Story (2007)

5. A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)

6. Red One (2024)

7. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

8. A Christmas Story (1983)

9. Elf (2003)

10. The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

My top 20 are posted on my website: https://www.listobsession.com/my-favorite-christmas-movies/

What are YOUR favorite Christmas movies? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Next Time in the Klatch

• Spider Plants

Until next time, stay curious!