What's a Little Hoax?

Spreading an untrue hoax is not harmless. It perpetuates the idea that lies do not harm. It allows conspiracy theories to thrive. It allows people to justify supporting someone who constantly lies. Shading the truth is a lie. Look, we all tell lies to protect someone we love or ourselves. We don't really want our auntie to know that her new dress looks like she is wearing part of a circus tent. So, we tell her something to spare her feelings.

But spreading a hoax on a social medium is not the same thing. If you accept one lie and offer it to others as harmless, you make the next one and the next one and on and on easier. This is how propaganda works. It starts with something innocuous and before it is all said and done, you are believing that entire groups of people are evil. Accepting a lie to justify the next leads you and what you may believe to accept that facts are capricious. Suddenly, alternative facts and fake news are acceptable.

Alternative facts are better known as lies, and fake news is both propaganda and a lie. Sadly, we have too many people who accept these terms as shadings of reality. They use these lies to confirm their bias. They accept lies to justify a moral choice. A moral choice using a lie to justify is immoral. If you get something born from this lie, is it not the tainted?

Acceptance of such then is the basis of power. There is then a moral consequence if you fail -- we fail to speak truth to power. Spreading of a simple, seemingly harmless hoax is but a beginning. Check that Facebook hoax before you post. It will just take a moment.  As we start a new time and examine and reflect, ask, "Have I spoke the truth or accepted a lie?"

Grandma's Popcorn Balls

These are, in my opinion, the best popcorn balls on the planet. This is not a kid-friendly activity. Like many of my candy recipes, this one comes from my grandmother, which means it’s from the South. I’ve only run across this recipe one other place and that was in a Christmas book which published mostly classic English Christmas stories and English recipes. What makes these unique is that a part of the recipe of sweet treat uses vinegar.

Ingredients: 2 cups of sugar, ½ cup of water, 4 tablespoons of vinegar, I tablespoon of butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 5 quarts (approximate) of unseasoned popcorn, food coloring of your choice.

Instructions: Over low medium heat, put water, sugar, and vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Once the syrup begins to boil, let the syrup heat up without stirring. The syrup will need to reach hard-crack stage (295°F-300° F)

While the syrup is reaching temperature, get the popcorn ready. You will need to put it in a large bowl or if you have it, on one side of a double sink. Line the basin of the sink with parchment paper at the bottom and then foil along the bottom and sides. You will want the popcorn close to cool water so you can keep your hands wet while forming the popcorn balls.

When the syrup reaches hard-crack stage, remove from heat and add vanilla and butter stirring until the butter is dissolved. Add several drops of food coloring to the syrup to color. We usually color it red or green for the season. We did try yellow color once and discovered that for popcorn balls, yellow is not an appealing color.

Making the popcorn balls: My grandmother made these by herself. I have no idea how. It takes both my wife and me to make the balls. Be careful while pouring syrup and stirring. This syrup will blister as soon as it hits skin.

Slowly pour the syrup over the popcorn while stirring it into the popcorn. Be sure you pour evenly as you stir covering the popcorn to the edges. It works best for us to have one person do the slow pour while the other person stirs.  As soon as all the syrup is poured, start balling the popcorn into baseball to softball sized balls. We keep a small stream of water running on the other side of the sink to keep our hands wet and cool as we from the popcorn balls. We wet our hands after every ball.  You can also use the stirring spoon to mix more syrup up from the bottom if needed. You must work very quickly to make the balls. Press the popcorn tight into the ball shape. And place into a bowl or bowls. The popcorn balls will set almost immediately.

Allow to cool and you’ll have a great sweet treat. Surprisingly, if done right, they are not sticky but sweet with a slight buttery and vanilla taste. 

If you don’t want to risk making them into balls, you could probably just let the syrup cool on the popcorn and then break up the popcorn into a bowl of sweet popcorn. 

Enjoy!

      1.      Soft-Ball Stage. 235° F–240° F.

      2.      Firm-Ball Stage. 245° F–250° F.

      3.      Hard-Ball Stage. 250° F–265° F.

      4.      Soft-Crack Stage. 270° F–290° F.

      5.     Hard-Crack Stage. 300° F–310°

If you don’t have a candy thermometer, here’s a link for how to tell hard-crack stage using the water method: https://www.thespruceeats.com/making-candy-without-a-candy-thermometer-520309

Divinity: It Takes Luck

Divinity is a meringue-style candy from the South. It is a Christmas treat that does take a little bit of time to make and is a cantankerous candy since even humidity can affect it. I have made it for many a year, and even though I follow the same recipe it comes out a little different every time. I also discovered that having a good mixer to fluff the egg whites makes divinity much easier to make as will having a decent candy thermometer.

Yes, this really is my Divinity

So, this is the recipe given to me by my grandmother with one little twist that I added which seemed to help.

Ingredients: 2 cups of sugar, ½ cup corn syrup, ½ cup of water, 2 egg whites, 1 ½ teaspoon of vanilla, ¾ cup of chopped nuts (I use walnuts or pecans) Optional ¾ cup of candied cherries.

Instructions: In a saucepan mix the following: sugar, corn syrup, and water. Bring to a slow boil over low medium heat, stirring until dissolved. Once the syrup begins to boil, do not stir. If you bring the syrup to a boil too quickly, it will burn.

While the syrup reaches temperature, in mixing bowl, whip egg whites until stiff (egg whites will form peaks). Coat a pie pan with butter. I prefer to use a ceramic or Pyrex pie pan. It will make the release easier.

Now for the twist that grandma didn’t tell me, dividing the syrup:

Once the syrup reaches between soft-ball (235° F) and hard-ball (250° F) stage pour approximately ½ of the syrup into the stiffly beaten egg whites and continue to mix.

Return the remaining syrup to the stove and continue heating until it reaches soft-crack stage (265-270° F).

Pour the remaining syrup into the mixer. Mix until smooth. Last, add vanilla and the chopped nuts or optional candied cherries (maraschino cherries will cause the divinity to turn pink and may add to drying time).

Let it dry: Pour/scrape the divinity into the pie pan and allow to cool at room temperature. Once the divinity sets usually several hours, you can cut into squares and place on wax paper to dry. To store, put into a sealed container in the fridge separating layers with wax paper. Keeping the divinity sealed and cool will help prevent it from becoming too hard.

You can also put the divinity in mini-baking cups instead of the pie pan.

Something I have not tried is the drop method which I might try next time I make divinity. According to one recipe I found is in the final stage mix the candy until it reaches the point that it can be dropped by the spoonful to create small divinity pieces.

To determine when to do this, the recipe recommends two tests to tell when the divinity is done. “The first test is by just turning off your mixer and lifting the beaters.  If the candy falls back into the bowl in ribbons that immediately merge back into themselves, the divinity is not done and you need to keep beating.  Eventually, the divinity will lose its glossiness and sheen and stop being so sticky, which means it’s ready.

“The second test is even easier, I think, because all you do, if you are having a hard time telling whether the divinity is still glossy in the first test, is to go ahead and stop the mixer, drop a teaspoonful of candy onto wax paper, and check whether the candy will hold its shape.  If it puddles, the divinity isn’t ready, but if it holds a peak and stays in a nice mound, you are good to go.” (https://houseofnasheats.com/old-fashioned-divinity-candy-recipe/)

 If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can use the cold water method. My grandmother and mom used it for years. Here's a link to a site on how to do it. 

https://www.thespruceeats.com/making-candy-without-a-candy-thermometer-520309

      1.      Soft-Ball Stage. 235° F–240° F.

      2.      Firm-Ball Stage. 245° F–250° F.

      3.      Hard-Ball Stage. 250° F–265° F.

      4.      Soft-Crack Stage. 270° F–290° F.

      5.     Hard-Crack Stage. 300° F–310°

Labor Day: Means More than Firing Up the Grill

The first Labor Day Parade was held in lower Manhattan in 1882. The first state to recognize Labor Day as a holiday was Oregon in February 1887. During that same year, the holiday was recognized by four more states: Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.

There is some debate as to whom first proposed the holiday, but it is agreed that it was the result of early leaders of Unions. They were Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and/or Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, NJ. It is not clear who first suggested the celebration.

It was the hard-fought protection of laborers which culminated in a bloody, almost "a revolution" of railroad workers who went on strike in sympathy when the Pullman Car Company cut wages by 25%. Nearly 125,000 railroad workers quit rather than handle Pullman cars. The strike culminated in a violent and deadly end on July 7th, when the National Guard shot into a crowd of 6000, killing as many as 30 people.

A short time later in 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the Labor Day Law making the first Monday of September a Federal holiday, possibly in hopes of trying to make peace following his ordering of the National Guard into Chicago. The law is just 83 words long and was rushed through Congress following the end of the strike on July 20th.

So just to remind you, Labor Day has not always been the official end of summer vacation or a day just to barbeque on. Labor Day was created through the labor movement to recognize the importance and accomplishments of labor and the American worker.

Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom...Try not to Think About It

Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom is the second in the reboot of the Jurassic Park movies. It is a predictable thrill ride. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt are back as is a brief two-scene appearance by Jeff Goldblum as the original Jurassic Park's Dr. Malcolm at the beginning and end of the movie.


There is nothing surprising in the movie. It's a fun and exciting with some nice moments of humor. It also has a few moments of CGI that come across as pretty obvious CGI. Bad guys are immediately identifiable and so you know exactly who will get eaten by the end of the movie. Let me tell you that the dinosaurs are extremely well-fed. There is also the appearance of the true/accidental bad guy in the Jurassic Movies which has been, Dr. Henry Wu. It is Wu who is creating these creatures. He is clearly driven by his obsession and not the chaos theory of life will always find away. BD Wong who plays Wu, and has since the 1993, will most likely be back for Jurassic World 3.  

As you watch the movie, just let it wash over you. You'll have a much better time than trying to figure out things like:

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

the time line of having the partner and long-time friend of John Hammond from the original movie being basically the same age of Hammond but now twenty plus years later and having a ten-year-old granddaughter who is actually not his granddaughter being the cause of their "falling out" so many years before her creation;


trying to understand how anyone could think that a dinosaur, even a highly trained one, that can be killed by poisonous gas, tranquilizer darts, or bullets would make a good weapon;

that no one seems to get the idea that dinosaurs are not an endangered species but a created one;

that messing with the natural order is never a good idea;

why a T-Rex mus stand above it's prey and roar in the same exact stance after every kill;

making your own species of dinosaur is also not a good idea;

and neither is opening an amusement park on an active volcano...


You get the idea. If you think about anything other than the thrill that is Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, you will find yourself questioning your judgement. Of course that is pretty true of most of the Jurassic movies.

Just sit back and enjoy. I will likely not buy the Blu-ray.

Solo Is a Bit Hollow

I really wanted Solo: A Star Wars Story to be a great add-on to the Star Wars saga. It's not. 

Forget the number of problems the production had with director Ron Howard being brought on board to direct in 2017 after the project's original directors parted ways with Lucas Film. Howard shot (or re-shot depending on who you read) at least 70 percent of the movie. The movie had problems and it shows despite Howard's effort.

Forget that Solo was a movie which really no one asked for. Most fans felt that between books and movies they had enough info on the backstory of Han Solo and his partner Chewbacca. Solo is really a "fanboy" movie. It's one that fans didn't demand but should want to see. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story is an okay movie. Generally, it is enjoyable, and it is largely forgettable. The problem is that it often seems disjointed. Enjoyable scenes are shoehorned together in order to fit all of Han's backstory that we know from the Saga into one movie. How did he meet Chewbacca? Check. What was the game like when he won the Millennium Falcon? Check. What is the story between the somewhat strained relationship between Han and Lando? Check. How did Han become the good guy rogue that we all know and love? Check. How many cliché type scenes can we stick in one movie? Check. Can we have a robot with an attitude like we had in Rogue One? Check. Can we fit in yet another bar scene with strange aliens? Check and Check again. Do we have a love story in the movie? Check.

SPOILERS  SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS  SPOILERS SPOILERS 

Problem is as the checklist scrolls through some of them fail. Take, for example, the love story element of Solo. Han (Alden Ehrenreich) in escaping his horrid past must leave the girl he loves behind. She is Kira (Emilia Clarke). He must find his way back to save her. While on his quest to save her, he meets the rogue Beckett (Woody Harrelson). It is his adventure with Beckett that more or less brings all the other elements of Solo's back story into existence. Instead of the quest though for Solo to save Kira, he and Beckett go to a party (cue bar scene) and voila there's Kira. Kira has become the lieutenant and property of the main bad guy, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). Solo, Beckett and Kira go off to do his bidding meeting Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) along the way in another bar scene. After all this, the true love of Solo and Kira seems to be uhm not so much. Kira chooses power. It fails. The true love we see in other movies just not there for us. 

The problem is that there are so many opportunities to tell us an original story. Solo announces that he wants to become a great pilot. Two scenes late, he is. There is a story there. One we do not know. Beckett's team is fun and amazing and gone. There is a story there too. Even the fact that Solo speaks the Wookie language is a story we don't get. Even the robot L3-37 wants to be the robot we come to care about, but it is in the movie for so little time that we cannot really get an attachment for Lando's copilot. In fact, the only character that we get to know is Beckett. His character is not particularly original and what happens to him in the movie isn't really original or unpredictable.

Solo: A Star Wars Story has its moments especially aboard the Falcon. It is fun enough but its weak plotting and not particularly strong character development keeps the movie from really being anything more. It is not the next great addition to an icon of American pop culture. It is really just a "fanboy" movie.  I am undecided if I will buy the Blu-ray. 

Thou Shalt Not Cliffhang and then Cancel

With the ending of another year in TV, cancellations are about to occur. And there should be a few rules about cliffhanging and storylines that serve no real purpose. I know. The writers of TV land are really concerned about what I think. Still, one can try.

Rule 1: Any television series in its first three seasons should not have a season ending cliffhanger.

Let's face it any television series is a gamble at the beginning. It doesn't really reach any real security until it passes that magical third year when a series finally has enough episodes to be syndicated on a regular basis. Any series can be cancelled, but we know that most will have it happen especially in the first three years. Cliffhangers in that time is unfair to the few fans a series may garner, and a cliffhanger does not guarantee a next season. People are roaming around wondering what happened the next season in Alphas. It was serious enough, The Big Bang Theory actually included it in an episode.

Rule 2.: Any television series that has a cliffhanger and is cancelled, must be given one episode after its cancellation to resolve the cliffhanger.

If you are going to allow a cheap trick like cliffhangers, you should at least give the fans the opportunity to see it settled. If the studio wants to make money, I suppose they could include a final episode on the digital or DVD release. It is only fair to those people who sit through all the advertisements and other crappy shows that should have been cancelled after episode 2. Take for example the last episode of Castle. When the show received its notice that there would not be a next season, the writers had an end scene ready to shoot to solve the obvious cliffhanger they'd planned. Was it a good conclusion? Not really, but the fans got closure albeit a bit trite.

Rule 3: Cliffhangers are cheap and lazy writing and should be avoided.

I hate the cliffhanger as a season end grabber. It's cheap. If a show is so bad or melodramatic that it has to get its viewers to watch by cliffhanging episodes, especially to try and get to the next season, the writers of the show need to rethink their life choices. Cliffhangers in TV, movies, and books is quite simply poor writing and a gimmick to sell more. In writing, if every chapter of the book is a cliffhanger, then the book is plot driven and just dragging the reader along. I've had this problem with cliffhangers in books and shows for a long time. Climactic writing at the end of a chapter should make the reader want to go to the next chapter. It differs from cliffhangers which more or less forces the reader to the next chapter. It's one of the reasons I still despise The Stand. It uses a cheap and lazy plotting technique. The same is true with cliffhangers at the end of a season. It's cheap and lazy. It means you don't care enough about the characters to stay with the series.

The best example of true climatic writing on TV was the Star Trek Next Generation episode called "Best of Both Worlds." That's the episode where Picard is turned into a Borg. It works because fans care and are invested in the characters of the show. The other reason is that the season ender wasn't a gimmick that was used every single season up to that point. True all seasons following used the technique and unfortunately, it was an occasional gimmick used even by one of my favorite shows that I could've lived without.

Rule 4: If a series is a crime solving series, it should solve crimes. If it is a law series, it should have a trial with an outcome. If it is a super hero series, it should have a battle between the hero and the villain.

Not staying with the series premise is known as "jumping the shark." When I watch Elementary or Monk, I want them to solve a mystery. That's the premise. Any series that doesn't stay in its premise or genre, is jumping the shark. I really don't care what so and so's home life is like. It's time filler. Backstory is an important part of developing character, but only as it relates to the premise. If writing never ties that backstory, then it's poor writing.

Rule 5: Additional scenes which give other characters depth (and actors something to do in the episode) but have nothing to do with the plot or central premise of the show is cheap and lazy writing and should be avoided.

Along the same line as Rule 4, we don't really need to add to supporting characters extraneous storylines. I really don't care about Supergirl's human sister’s love life unless that love life has direct bearing on a storyline which is related to the premise or genre of the show. I get that actors have been hired and they want to work. Adding stories that have nothing to do with the central story is wasted film. If a show doesn't have enough plot to support an hour (actually 42 minutes) of story, then maybe the show be thirty minutes long. I don't know how many times shows like Criminal Minds have five minutes of show following the resolution that has nothing to do with premise. "Oh look, they've run out of plot again."

And I still want to know the resolution to season 2 of Alphas.