Coffee and Provocation

Walking stick with terrier going to ground in the pedical of a red stag antler.

Lobster Rights?
Come March 1, it will be illegal in Switzerland to throw a lobster into a pot of boiling water.

Bottle Water Is Mostly for Idiots
64% of bottled water comes from a tap. I have often joked that I wanted to start a business selling tap water as "ethnic water" in which one actor (me) would knock of half a dozen accents extolling the virtues of global rivers: "Zambezi, the pulsing heart of Africa".... "Shannon, a little bit of Ireland in every drop"... "Danube where vodka finds its strength." Ethic water would be sold in six packs with amzing story verbiage on every bottle which would be clearly labeled NEW YORK CITY TAP WATER.

Will My Adventurous Daughter Try This?
My smart, tough, kind, and beautiful daughter, who has been all around the world on her own dime and is now doing very well in a in New York City, is traveling to Oaxaca, Mexico. I just sent her the coordinates to a place there that sells corn tortillas with deep-fried grasshoppers called chapulines. Seasoned with chile and lime they are said to taste like “salt and vinegar potato chips, but a bit wetter."  I may have to double-dog dare her to try one.

Saint Ollie of Eire
Oliver Plunkett, a 17th-century Irish martyr, became Ireland’s first new saint in nearly 700 years after being canonized in 1975. In 1997, he was made Ireland patron saint of peace and reconciliation. As befits his title, his pickled head is kept in a glass jar in a shrine inside St Peters church in Drogheda.

Another Reason to Put the Plug in the Jug
Alcohol is the biggest risk factor for early dementia.

Not Forgotten
Peter Wang, the JROTC member who was shot multiple times while holding the door so others could escape the AR-15 shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, was awarded the JROTC Heroism medal at his funeral and was also posthumously admitted to West Point, which was his dream. He was 15 and in uniform while holding the door so others could escape. The Army Cadet Command also approved Junior ROTC Heroism Medals for 14-year-old cadets Alaina Petty and Martin Duque who were also killed by the gunman.

Do We Need Re-Wilding?
 Lucy Purdy writes: "We don’t often think of ourselves as being domesticated. The word falls easily from our human lips when we talk of animals and plants, but are we ourselves also tame? As the natural world has been eternally altered by mankind’s intervention, have we curtailed human nature in the same way?" Read the whole thing. I explore a similar theme here. Meanwhile, in London, the city council is considering fining kids £500 for climbing trees.