What To Do With Broken Cookies.

Posted on by
Reply

parfaitI knew a boy who cried whenever his mother gave him a broken cookie. What do you do with broken cookies? Sometimes, all of the cookies in a batch come out broken. The same thing also happens to brownies, cupcakes, and many other baked goods. Quite often, there is no apparent reason why they broke. If cookies are burned, toss them out; however, if the only thing wrong with them is that they are broken, freeze them and use them to make parfaits. Take a wine glass or tall clear juice glass and layer fruit yogurt, whipped cream, or mousse with pieces of broken cookies and berries,  It is very easy to turn a kitchen accident into a beautiful and delicious dessert.

 

What Should You Do If You Find A Homeless Person Sleeping In Your Yard?

Posted on by
3
This is a common problem here in Berkeley. A few weeks ago, I found a homeless man lying in my front yard. He appeared to be sleeping. This was not the first time that this has happened. What should you do if you find someone lying motionless in your yard, apparently asleep? It is sometimes hard to know what the right thing to do is. I never disturb or try to wake up a homeless person lying in my yard. I don’t know anything about this person. Most homeless people are harmless and try to avoid trouble with homeowners and entanglements with the authorities, but some homeless people are mentally ill, and some are violent. Also, this person could be sick or having some sort of medical emergency, like a heart attack. All homeless people wind up with serious medical problems. Living on the street is a very unhealthy way to live.

If you find someone sleeping in your yard, my advice is to wait a few minutes and then if the person is still there, call 911. The police will come out and talk to this person. If he needs medical attention, they will send for an ambulance. If he is OK, they will get him on his feet and ask him to leave. The police will not arrest someone for simply sleeping or lying down in your yard, so you don’t have to worry that you are going to get the person into trouble with the law.

There are a lot of homeless people living in Berkeley. It is impossible to know exactly how many, but estimates range from 800 to 1500. That’s a lot for a city with a population of just 100,000 people. There are many reasons why there are so many homeless people in Berkeley. Many people assume that it is because Berkeley is full of ‘bleeding heart liberals’, people who are more inclined than most Americans to give money and food to panhandlers. Well, Berkeley does have a lot of ‘bleeding heart liberals’, but that’s not the only reason. There is also the climate. We have very mild winters. Climate explains why there are a lot of homeless people in sunbelt states but very few in New England. Relatively few homeless people live on the streets of Detroit, despite that city’s widespread poverty. The reason is that most people couldn’t survive even a winter sleeping on the streets of Detroit.

Many years ago, I found a homeless woman sleeping on my front porch, blocking the stairs. I left her alone for a little while, but after an hour, I woke her up and asked her to leave. She flew into a rage and threatened me. She pointed to me, shook her finger, and yelled angrily: “I’m going to get a knife and shoot you with it, you bastard!” She gathered her stuff together and stormed off in a huff. I never saw her again. She was obviously mentally disturbed (and also confused as to how a knife works.) Since that experience, I no longer wake up sleeping homeless people.

How Come You Can’t Take The Batteries Out Of Your Smoke Detectors?

Posted on by
Reply
All of the smoke detectors in my buildings have sealed battery compartments in them. That means that you cannot replace the batteries or remove them without tearing the smoke detector apart and destroying it. I use smoke detectors with sealed batteries for your safety. Tenants often remove the batteries from their smoke detectors, and that is dangerous. What typically happens is this – a smoke detector goes off while someone is cooking, a tenant removes the batteries from the smoke detector but never puts the batteries back in. This has led to many, many deaths, including a few here in Berkeley. If you have a smoke detector that is not working properly or not working at all, contact me, and I will replace it immediately. Do not try to open the smoke detector or throw it in the trash. Smoke detectors are considered toxic waste, and you can be fined for putting one in your garbage can.

What U.S. President Did Not Speak English As His First Language?

Posted on by
Reply
Martin Van Buren grew up in a Dutch-speaking home in the town of Kinderhook, New York. He did not learn to speak English until he began going to school at the age of 5. Remember, New York City was originally called New Amsterdam. Van Buren was the first U.S. president born a U.S. citizen. All of his predecessors were born British subjects. When Martin Van Buren ran for president in 1836, his supporters handed out thousands of campaign buttons that said ‘For For OK’, a reference to Van Buren’s nickname ‘Old Kinderhook.’ This popularized the expression ‘OK’ and made it part of the English language. During his presidency, a  number of newspapers noted that when Martin Van Buren became angry or emotional, he spoke English with a Dutch accent. Although Van Buren was a lifelong Democrat, he broke with his party in 1860 and endorsed Abraham Lincoln for president because of his opposition to slavery.

What U.S. President Started An Elephant Stampede In Maryland?

Posted on by
Reply
George Herbert Walker Bush was the youngest pilot in the history of the U.S. Navy. He flew combat aircraft at the age of 17 during World War 2. While he was training at an airfield in Maryland near Washington, D.C., Bush liked to swoop down in his plane and look at women sunbathing on a beach along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. One day, a circus set up next to the beach. When Bush buzzed the beach the next day with his airplane, an elephant went berserk and ran away, stomping through nearby residential neighborhoods. After the elephant was recaptured, Bush was reprimanded by his commander. George H.W. Bush often tells people that he holds the honor of being the only pilot in the history of the U.S. Navy to be grounded for starting an elephant stampede. George H.W. Bush flew 58 combat missions during World War 2, was shot down by the Japanese, and received numerous medals and citations for bravery.

(P.S. – I lived in Maryland for 27 years, and I can assure you that elephant stampedes are not an common problem there. People in Maryland do not wake up in the morning, go to their living room windows, look around, and say: “There don’t seem to be many elephants stampeding this morning.”)

What Is More Secure: Cloud Storage Of Your Computer Files Or A U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex?

Posted on by
Reply

SisterRiceAnswer: It’s your computer files. In February, 2014; Sister Megan Rice, an 84 year old Roman Catholic nun was sentenced to 3 years in prison for breaking into a nuclear weapons complex in Tennessee and defacing the secure area of the complex with anti-war slogans that she painted on the walls. The complex in Oak Ridge holds the U.S. government’s principal supply of bomb-grade uranium. Although heavily armed security guards patrolled the front gate, the elderly nun was able to enter the control center by going in an unguarded and unlocked back door labeled ‘Do Not Enter’, which private contractors apparently felt was adequate to prevent unauthorized entry. The contractors have since been fired. The government prosecutor asked the judge to sentence Sister Rice to 30 years in prison, but the judge sentenced her to just 3 years instead due to her advanced age, history of good works, and the fact that she didn’t take any uranium or plutonium out of the facility. Sister Rice’s story has been closely followed by the press in the Middle East. I think that if I was in Al Qaeda, I would find this story very interesting!

 

Box.com. 8 years ago, my nephew Aaron Levie, started a cloud storage business in my back yard, Box.com. (Aaron is actually my first cousin once removed, but I tell people that he is my nephew because I don’t want to have to explain to people what a first cousin once removed is.) Box.com has become the 800 pound gorilla in the corporate cloud storage market, with over 95% of Fortune 500 companies using it. Like a lot of successful dot-coms, Aaron started up on a shoestring, which is why he and his partners were living and working in my backyard cottage  for 10 months, from January to October, 2006. It was their first office as well as their home. I am sure that Aaron’s business would never have gotten off the ground if Box.com was as secure as Oak Ridge. So Yes, it does appear that cloud storage is a lot more secure than the government’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

When Is The Rent Due?

Posted on by
Reply

Your rent is due on the first of the month. That is written into all my leases. This means that I am supposed to receive your rent by the first of the month. I usually don’t ask my tenants for the rent until the third day of the month. As a result, some people mistakenly assume that that there is a 3 day grace period; however, there is no grace period on the payment of rent, like there is on credit card statements. If I receive your rent after the first of the month, it is late. This is not just the way that I do business. This is the way rent works everywhere. I have never seen a lease that contained a grace period for the payment of rent. If you are mailing your rent check to me, you should send it at least 3 days before it is due. If I receive a rent check from you before the first of the month, I will not deposit it before the rent is due without your permission.

Will Berkeley Become The First City In The U.S. To Tax Soft Drinks?

Posted on by
Reply

The Berkeley city council is planning to put an initiative on the ballot in November to tax soft drinks. The tax will be 1 cent per ounce. Several other cities have already voted on similar ballot measures, but none of them have passed. Coke and Pepsi spent huge sums of money to defeat similar measures elsewhere.

Taxing Sugar. After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the biggest problem facing the new government was that it was broke. The U.S. Treasury was empty. What little money was collected in taxes mostly went to state governments. When George Washington was president, Congress spent much of its time trying to figure out how to get money to pay for basic government services, like paying the salaries of soldiers and lighthouse keepers. John Adams argued that Congress could and should finance the federal government by taxing liquor, tobacco, and sugar. Adams argued that nobody needs these products and that most people would be better off if they consumed less of them. Congress did tax liquor and tobacco, but they never taxed sugar. Prior to the passage of the 16th Amendment (Income Tax), the U.S. government got over half its total income from liquor taxes, and much of the rest came from tobacco taxes. I don’t know why Congress never seriously considered taxing sugar. During World War 1 and World War 2, sugar was severely rationed, but it was never taxed. Nevertheless, what John Adams said over 200 years ago about sugar is still true. Nobody needs it, and most people would be better off if they consumed less of it. (Sorry if I dwell too much on history. I teach American history at Orinda Intermediate School.)

 

 

Mozzarella Cheese.

Posted on by
Reply

Some foods do not freeze well and taste awful when they are defrosted. I am looking at you, Mr. Broccoli! Mozzarella cheese, on the other hand, freezes very well. When tightly wrapped in plastic, mozzarella cheese tastes and melts fine even after months in the freezer. Mozzarella cheese is much cheaper in big blocks than small ones. A 2 pound block of Galbani mozzarella at Costco costs $2.60 a pound. A 1 pound block of the same brand at Safeway costs $6.60, more than double the price. Don’t buy shredded mozzarella. Admittedly it is convenient, but it doesn’t melt well. That is because packaged shredded mozzarella is coated with sawdust in order to prevent it from sticking together in the bag. Yes, you read that right. I did say sawdust, and almost all brands have it. Some brands of mozzarella call the stuff ‘cellulose’ on the list of ingredients, but that’s just a fancy way of saying ‘sawdust.’ It isn’t just shredded mozzarella that has sawdust in it. Almost all packaged shredded cheese is coated with sawdust. Sawdust is also in most grated cheese, like Kraft Parmesan.

The Bear-Proof Food Locker.

Posted on by
Reply

bearproofcoolerIn last month’s newsletter, I offered a bear-proof food locker in my list of Freebies. I was amazed at the number of people who said that they needed or at least had use for a bear-proof food locker. I’ve lived in Berkeley for 40 years, and I’ve never heard of anyone seeing a bear anywhere in the bay area. Nevertheless, 9 people asked for the bear-proof food locker. Five of them came to my house within a day of my sending out the newsletter, each hoping to be the first one to get it. Unfortunately, I only had one bear-proof food locker. I think that it is highly unlikely that I will get another one, but you never know.