Red, White And Blue

We should all know that the stars on the United States flag represent the current fifty states and the red and white stripes the thirteen original colonies.  But do you know why these particular colors were selected?

• Red stands for hardiness and valor
• White symbolizes purity and innocence
• Blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice

The flag is usually displayed from sunrise to sunset, but the locations below fly Old Glory 24 hours a day 

• Fort McHenry, National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland
• Flag House Square, Baltimore, Maryland
• United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia
• On the Green of the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
• The White House, Washington, D.C.
• United States customs ports of entry
• Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

More on the interesting history of our flag can be found at the link below.

https://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/history/old-glory

10X

At the bottom of the picture below, which appeared for less than a second on a commercial for some humanitarian fundraiser I don't remember, is a line that caught my attention.  I had to "rewind" the commercial to quickly snap the picture. It states your donation "can" be used to get government money and that it "can" multiply its impact by ten times.  I suppose that also means it could be a great waste of money and only benefits grant writers or lobbyists.

What irks me more than anything is the use of the huge "10X" which I'm sure is meant to distract you long enough that you wouldn't notice anything else on the screen before it passed.  When an organization tries this hard to get you to miss what I'm sure a line their lawyers said had to be included, I'm inclined to believe I'm wasting my money on this one.

Am I just getting more distrustful the longer I live, or am I just getting smarter?

Mascarpone Limoncello Pie

If you closed your eyes and tasted the Mascarpone Limoncello Pie pictured below, you could easily mistake it for the best Key Lime Pie ever.  The crust is ground-up toasted pecans and coconut crisp cookies blended with butter and sweetened coconut.  The filling starts by whipping heavy cream to soft peaks and then whisking in mascarpone, condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and Limoncello.  The filling and crust are combined and placed in a freezer for at least 3-4 hours.  We're not big dessert eaters, but there wasn't a crumb left.

Argon

Way back when Gourmet Chef Elaine and I were dating, we played trivia with a group of friends at a local watering hole named Bosco's.  One of the questions was "What's the third most gas that makes up air" to which I immediately wrote down "argon".  She looked at me and asked, "How on earth do you know that!?"  Well, I'm a geek, pure and simple, and that was my value to our trivia group.  She brings a vast amount of medical knowledge and each member of the group had their specialties, and we always did well.  

The name "argon" is derived from the Greek word meaning 'lazy' or 'inactive', as a reference to the fact that the element undergoes almost no chemical reactions.  And I just had to buy the coffee mug shown below as a remembrance. 

Android Camera Delay

For those of us smart, lucky, or handsome enough who have Android phones, we also have the option to set a camera delay like I posted yesterday for iPhone folks.  Launch the Camera app and click the gear icon to bring up the screen below.  Like the iPhone, there are the same 3 and 10-second delay options.  Pick one, return to the app, and press the shutter to start the countdown.  That's how it works on my Pixel 7 and that varies on the type of Android phone you have, which is talked about in more detail at the link below.

https://www.alphr.com/set-timer-android-camera

iPhone Camera Delay

Perhaps your fingers are so talented that you can take an arms-length selfie while simultaneously firmly holding your iPhone and pressing the shutter button, but the rest of us are at serious risk of taking a terrible picture or worse, dropping our phone.  After recently witnessing a near-disaster I asked myself if there might be a way to use a countdown timer and avoid pressing the shutter, and sure nuf, there is.  As the link below will explain in more detail, you just launch Camera, tap the up-arrow icon at the top of your screen, and tap the timer icon at the upper right.  That will bring up the screen you see below where you can select either a 3 or 10-second delay.  After tapping the shutter button a timer will count down to zero when your picture is taken.

https://www.howtogeek.com/833693/how-to-use-the-iphone-camera-timer

Locking Your SSN

The recent data security breach at National Public Data exposed 2.9 billion records, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and Social Security numbers—pretty much everybody.  As a result, we created free (I love free) accounts at the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and froze any access to our credit reports.  In addition, we used the U.S. government's myE-Verify service (link below) to prevent access to our Social Security Numbers, which stops anyone from using your SSN to apply for a job and having their wages reported under our numbers.  

Setting up accounts at the credit agencies is pretty straightforward, but tedious.  Setting up a myE-Verify account requires answering four questions that are designed to prove you are who you say you are and those can be pretty difficult, so I suggest you pull one of your three credit reports and have it available when answering those questions.  

https://myeverify.uscis.gov

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Originally published on March 31, 2017.

This crock pot is filled with pork shoulder, spices, onion, lime juice and a squeezed orange, and then the orange is thrown in to boot. Eight hours later the meat was shredded and broiled to a crisp, then put on tortillas with guacamole, sour cream and cheese. Shortly after that, I was in the most pleasant food coma.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/scottloitsch/carnitas

1977 Dayton River Corridor Classic

Originally published on May 23, 2018.

My first half-marathon was the inaugural Dayton River Corridor Classic, held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 29, 1977.  My pace was about 8:08 per mile over those 13.1 miles and not being used to that kind of distance, I was sore for several days after.  The soreness fades, but being part of Dayton's running history lasts forever.

Mike Leach On Weddings

Originally published on November 29, 2017.

This is a perfect summary of what happens during wedding planning, with some advice on how us men can cope, delivered by Washington State football coach Mike Leach.  Spot on funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGIap2_tmng