Alcoholic intake

NYT Science section reveals that elephants really can't handle their liquor. They lack a key enzyme that we humans enjoy. It goes back to a time when living changed from arboreal to terrestrial when diets changed and (ready) "....richer in fallen, fermenting fruit on the forest floor." As to the latter the story told is that birds gorged on fermented berries so that "there wasn't  a tern left unstoned." (Groan)
tjs
NYT 5/26/20

Pub Crawl

The NYT proposes "Will Britain's Pubs Survive?"   The current Covid virus has caused a lockdown that has everyone imbibing at home. Noel Coward, the famous British playwright, was asked to write a song that was intrinsically British and he decided to write about his favorite Pub, the Rose and Crown. It goes something like this:
-Saturday night at the Rose & Crown is quite the place to be - soldiers and sailors, tinkers and tailors, out on the town for a bit of a spree - if you're tired of life with your husband or wife and the kids are getting you down - things will all come right - on Saturday night - at the Rose & Crown! Hail Britannia!
tjs

Quotes of the mid-week.

About POTUS: The pandemic has left him shaken, not stirred. - Jennifer Senior. I thought she was describing James Bond.

-Trump's new catch phrase - "Transition to Greatness" - you can expect to hear it again, and again - right out of Madison Ave.

-"I may never get an obit......from the New York Times" - (The late Jerry Stiller) (He did get a half page 5/12/20)

- Catch phrase II - "We have met the moment and we have prevailed." (DJT) Not quite "Mission Accomplished". It recalls Pogo's famous "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Anyway it would seem that POTUS has a new ghost writer.
tjs

Pachydermia

Today's NYT crossword puzzle contains the clue "16th century pope who owned a pet elephant". Answer is LeoX from the di Medici family who was elected in 1513. The Indian elephant's name was Hanno and was a gift from Manuel, king of Portugal, to curry favor with the Vatican. The story was written by the Smithsonian in 2015. For Hanno's first appearance before the Pope it is alleged that he (Hanno) bowed and then showered the assembly with water. The "pet" is buried in the Vatican courtyard minus his tusks(?)  and his skeleton was discovered during recent excavation.
Crossword puzzles can be so "puzzling" but also educational.
tjs
(NYT 5-1-20)

Breaking Bad-ly

As a lad I worked in a pharmacy - the old fashioned name was apothecary with the jars of red and green liquid in the window. (Sort of port and starboard arrangement.)  New York State has enlisted hundreds of pharmacists to perform Covid tests which makes us all proud of these professionals. So I was dismayed to read in the NYT datelined Auburn, Nebraska of a pharmacist dealing in opioids conspiring with a drug dealer. His establishment was called "Family Value Pharmacy". He needed more drugs to keep his side business going so he/they planned to firebomb a rival pharmacy and steal opioids and increase the amount of drugs he could order. Apparently, Covid hasn't reached Auburn yet. As the Chicago BlackSox young fan cried "Say it isn't so, Joe!" One bad apple in the barrel.
tjs
(NYT 4/23/20)

Sheltering in Place IV

-Calendar of events - cancellations.

-The National Spelling Bee - so now we don't have to fret trying to spell all the virus terminology.

-The Running of the Bulls at Pamplona, Spain. (July) So I guess it depends on "whose ox is gored."
- The Oktoberfest in Munich, Bavaria. This means no Oompah music and we can put those steins back on the shelf.

Still scheduled -

-  The NFL draft but maintaining social distance.

- Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Show. Vouched by Mayor de Blasio. This on the heels of Macy furloughing 100,000 employees nationwide.
tjs

Sheltering in Place III

-The Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave. pays a monthly lease of $268,000 to their landlord General Services Administration (GSA) who is part of the Trump Administration. Since all the lobbyists and hangers-on have disappeared, the Trump organization is seeking some relief.

-The NYT crossword puzzle for 4/22 clue reads "Orangish shade" eight letters - the answer is "coralred" so Potus' hairdresser might want to get updated on the tint of his pomade.
tjs