Author: Kim du Toit

Easy Listening

Music

Speaking of music — actual music, now — I’ve talked about Georgian hottie and pianiste extraordinaire Khatia Buniatishvili before, and I might even have posted this performance of ol’ Sergei’s 2nd before.

But one thing I have heretofore missed about this particular video (and I’ve watched it many times) is the performance of the conductor, Italian maestro Gianandrea Noseda.  Small wonder that he’s so in demand.

If I were ever to aspire to being a classical orchestra conductor, I’d want to be like him.

Extraordinary.

My Ideal Watch Collection

Toys

…as defined by this week’s Chewsday Challenge.

The problem with limiting yourself to one brand with a price ceiling is that few watchmakers offer much in style variation.  To be frank, all Rolex watches look pretty much the same to me.  And just offering the same watch with different face colors or metals (gold, steel whatever) doesn’t really qualify as variation, as such.

Vacheron Constantin, for example, has several lovely watch types and variations, but only if you’re not averse to having your nose suddenly start bleeding.

So here’s my choice of watch brand:  Omega — specifically, these variations, all of which are available new, i.e. unworn:

I am somewhat constrained by my unshakable insistence on manual-wind operation, and it seems that for watches costing less than $25,000 (much less, in Omega’s case, bless ’em), there are precious few choices of brand.  Sure, most offer many variations, except for that manual-wind thing.

Still, the above three are nice-looking and of decent quality, and I’d be happy to wear any one of them on my wrist.

Incidentally, if I were to go for used (secondhand [sic]), there’s always Patek Philipe:

…each of which is so beautiful they make my mouth water.  I don’t even want to think what they would cost new — assuming Patek even still made them with manual-winding operation, that is.

And there you have it.  My (post-Lotto) watch collection(s).

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News Snippets

Education

From various sources:

Georgia Teacher Wore ‘Jesus Loves You’ Sweater in Video
While Having Sex with Student
...wasn’t it Jesus who talked about “suffer the little children to come  into  unto me”?  [/atheist ignorance]

Male Texas Teacher Charged With Grooming 16-year-old with
Talk of ‘Threesomes’ With Other Men
...like all good socialists, he’s sharing the wealth with that kiddie-diddling thang, huh?

New York Teacher Pleads Guilty to Having Child Porn that
Included ‘Infants and Toddlers’
...looking ahead at the “farm” team, no doubt.

Seems like all the states are getting in on the action, so to speak.

Just A Point, Here

Military

Talking about making America’s military great again (MAMGA?), this was said:

“The White House is seeking expanded manufacturing commitments from defense contractors, [and] is pressing automakers to convert spare production capacity to defense.”

Ummm the way I see it, the only “spare production capacity” that U.S. automakers have right now — because they sure as hell ain’t gonna quit making SUVs and pickup trucks — is in EV.  And I’m not so sure that the Dept. of War is looking for EV stuff unless it’s drones.

As always with Salamander, it’s a fine article.

Not Raw

Food & Drink

This pic reminded me of something:

It reminded me that I don’t like eating raw vegetables.  In fact, if I think of it, the only ones I don’t mind eating raw are tomatoes and cabbage (i.e. as cole slaw, with Marzetti’s dressing).  All other vegetables are only palatable if cooked.  (Cabbage gets a special mention, here.  I only eat it raw because cooked cabbage makes my stomach turn, violently — by both smell and taste, thank you boarding school.)

Even pickled vegetables get the stinkeye from me, except jalapeño peppers.  And don’t even think of sauerkraut, ugh.  (No wonder the Germans were once so aggressive, if that was a feature of their daily diet.  Ditto the Irish and boiled cabbage.)

Needless to say, this attitude does not endear me to the salad-eaters, who can’t stop rabbitting on about the joys of said foul stuff.  Nope.  Lettuce has no taste, and is really just a water-delivery vehicle, as is cucumber;  cauliflower is tasteless (cooked or raw), and as any baby will tell you, carrots are foul in any manifestation:  cooked, raw or pureed.

And raw broccoli has a special place in hell because not only is it bland-tasting, it leaves those little buds lodged in between the teeth for future discomfort and smile-disfigurement.  I can just barely tolerate it cooked.

Yeah, I’m mostly a meat-and-potatoes/rice man.  Surprise, surprise.

Okay, plus eggs:

And if we’re going to go all exotic on the meat thing:

And if I’m forced (at gunpoint) to become a vegetarian:

I think I need to pay a visit to my kitchen now.  And my apologies if this post has created a similar urge among y’all.