What's With The Eggs?

Seriously, what's up with the ova? Sure, Easter is 'round the corner but you are panic buying far in excess of some multi-color hard boils. What in the world can you possibly be doing with all those eggs? You can't be baking that much Challah.

But since you're hoarding eggs, lest they go bad here is the way you cook a perfect hard boiled egg (courtesy Food Lab, as tested by TOD).

You will need a pot with enough water to cover six eggs. You'll need some ice, about ten of the typical automatic ice maker quarter moons. You should have some tongs and you are really going to need a good timer--any smart phone will do.

Bring the water to a boil. Put in the six eggs (here is where tongs come in handy). Boil hard for thirty seconds. No more. No less. Put the ice in the pan--boiling will stop. When it comes back to a simmering boil, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer/slow boil and boil for eleven minutes. No more. No less. Cool under running water or an ice water bath.

Don't let your good eggs go bad.

Existential Threats

The pandemic is serving up conflicting existential threats to businesses in the city and residents of the city. The nexus? City hall. They are caught between measures that would protect people's lives but at potentially great cost to businesses, many of which would not survive restrictions or temporary shutdowns. You would think this would be an easy call and you'd be right. You might be surprised how many at city hall have chosen their friends in the business community over the folks they claim to serve. You should remember that the next time you vote. Don't make the same mistake twice.

The Myth Of Local Control

Has been unmasked. By novel coronavirus.

Local politicians have done a 180 changing from (un)righteous indignation whenever the county or state even hints at anything usurping their unchecked authority to now all but demanding that the state step in taking over local responsibility regarding the current pandemic. If you think  this Smart City was vaccinated against terminal hypocrisy you would not only be wrong, you need to realize you're looking at the Typhoid Mary, patient zero, of hypocrisy. What we're hearing from our mayor:

"A group of us have asked the governor to please take action. Though he wants people to stay home and get takeout, he has yet to take a stand."

Why don't you buck up buttercup? Why don't YOU take a stand? Perhaps you're afraid you'll be held accountable for your actions, for your leadership, but that is exactly what should happen. You'll be first in line to take credit. After all, you are mayor aren't you?

Or maybe there is local control and not just a crisis of leadership and courage. Maybe those in control are the local businesses and those submitting to this local control don't have what it takes to stand up for the community if it displeases those really in charge. Maybe they'd much prefer that the governor "take a stand" and take the heat.

Maybe we all need to recognize that "local control" was all a big lie.

The Best Sanitizer

Not Lysol. Not Purell. Not bleach. It's sunshine. In politics it is not just the best, it is often the only option. 

In DeKalb we are in a unique limbo. Voters approved a strong measure to establish an ethics commission to help eradicate long standing corruption in local government. With so many politicians imprisoned and indicted the need is clear but by the same token the corruption is deeply entrenched with no intention of going quietly. The legal limbo surrounding appointments offers the a chance to gut the commission effectively ensuring that past political hijinks continue unabated. That there weapon of choice is a lie, the labeling of the commission lead as "judge, jury and executioner," suggests that before sanitizing we will need a good hard scrubbing at the ballot box.

How Long To Animal?

This is an oft-discussed topic in the prepper community: in a SHTF event how long before otherwise rational folks turn on one another, probably violently? In other words, how long will it take for people to become animals? If you've been paying attention during the current pandemic the answer is probably in minutes, not hours and certainly not days.

If you've been watching TV you probably noticed there are a significant number of cancer ads. Not selling cancer, but selling services, therapies and procedures. While there certainly have been significant advances in treatments and therapies one must conclude there is a big market and lots of patients. Some traditional therapies, though much improved, are still in the protocol, one of which is radiation therapy. Now, as you may know, radiation burns, it burns skin. Think sun burn. And these patients treat these skin burns much as you might a sun burn. With Aloe. Pure Aloe Vera Gel.

By now you're probably wondering what cancer has to do with "going animal." Fair enough. Even though most people know more people with cancer than the Corona Virus it is the virus that is rocking their world, turning them animal, raiding local stores leaving shelves looking like a Soviet bakery. This is more than forcing Touch Down Al to economize on toilet paper, hand sanitizer disappeared almost instantly. Again, what does this have to do with cancer? Ask yourself, "what is the average self-absorbed ass-hat going to do when he cannot buy this?" He will Giggle how to make his own even though health experts advise against it. Like the best things in life, scotch and water, gin and tonic, there are but two ingredients: alcohol and aloe. Since isopropyl alcohol, called for in most recipes, is only 70% alcohol the result doesn't reach the 60% concentration needed to be effective. You're better off washing with soap and water, but you should already know that. Or use Everclear and at least you'd have something to drink.

But these ass-hats are not very bright, so not only is hand sanitizer MIA, so is Aloe. Now if this did not have serious implications for those undergoing cancer treatment it would almost be funny. We've got folks who a couple of weeks ago thought nothing of making a deposit in a public restroom, returning to the dinner table without washing their hands, to eat a burger and fries with those very hands. One virus later they're hoarding a resource to make something that doesn't even work. If there is a God in heaven and justice on this earth these animals will soon find this out.

Parking Lot Partay

Somebody has been demanding open containers in Dunwoody Village and the City Council has dutifully complied. Too bad mere residents/voters are not so well connected. Now you'll be told that there will not be rampant drinking in the lots. You'll be told how they have to pour your to-go into a plastic cup with an appropriate sticker (funny how signs don't need a sticker, eh?). This sticker will make it all right.

But what you know is that no one is going to check the cups or stickers. That would require policing. The kind of policing that would put a cop in the community. Not the way this city operates. Here in daVille speed is checked by radar signs that tell you what you already know: you're going too fast and no one is going to do anything about it. Your neighborhood is patrolled by your neighbors' doorbell cameras. Speeding in a school zone? Taken care of by a for-profit company that pays a "franchise fee" to the city for permission to operate. That worked pretty well for Atlanta parking enforcement, didn't it?

So if you see folks going all freaknik in daVille, handing out cups of joy juice to fellow celebrants, you can bet they'll get away with it. Because there is no one in this city that is going to stop them. 

Deer Santa

Not On My Watch!

Which Is It?

Is it "what you don't know won't hurt you" or "you cannot manage what you don't measure"? Well, if you're an educrat, both mesh quite nicely. They must be quite pleased that their fans at the state house are removing test requirements meaning they can to what they do, or don't do, without any transparency, without any accountability. Somehow they still get to pick our pockets.

Dunwoody's Drug Problem

They're getting high in daVille. 

The soon-to-be-wealthier developer has pushed aside his Developers' Authority and the shills at City Hall to brag directly about the money maker he's branded High Street. We are treated to his ambitious goal of launching this grand development with 600 apartments. After all, there is a lot of money to be made in apartment rentals and being built the way they are there is guaranteed re-development in about a decade. Of course there will not be traditional retail-that is soooo last millennium. Instead the trend du jour is food courts and movie theaters. You're forgiven if you mistake this for being redundant to what already exists AT THE MALL but what you don't understand is this new, with a trendy look much like all the new trendy apartment developments just over the line in Sandy Springs. Go look. There also will not be a traditional anchor-store model since traditional isn't exactly trendy. Instead it will be a clutter of shops and restaurants below, around and between the main event--apartments. Again, forgiveness if you think this is redundant to what you'll find just a short walk up the street at the Manhattan. But if you think about it, that housing complex has a Target-a traditional anchor-very much a trend a decade ago, but totally out of vogue these days.

If you just insist on being a Debbie Downer please keep your negativity to yourself. No one needs to hear your thoughts on how all these same things already exist in the very same area. Nobody wants to hear whining about traffic or your silly insistence on No Parking Spaces simply because you cannot accept that "Transit Oriented Development" is effective branding, not a ban on cars. Don't you dare say "lipstick on a pig."

And everyone, particularly the folks at City Hall, are fed up with your constant, obsessive fixation with schools and overcrowding. Seriously did you really expect the developer to find space for a school? Look at the plan, would you please? Do you see anywhere a school could be built? Every square inch is already dedicated to apartments, parking, some retail and a few sidewalks. If you want a school then build one in your backyard. Oh and you can pay for it too, since High Street is not going to pay any taxes.

So if you cannot find something nice to say about High Street, why don't you just move?