It’s December 3, and 1-2 inches of snow is predicted this week for Chicago. I am sorry to inform you that it is National Peppermint Latte Day, just one more step in the ongoing conversion of coffee to a confection. (That happened years ago with granola bars.) I have never had one of those vile flavored lattes, and hope I never will. (Apologies to those of you who like them.) It’s also United Nations’ International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
On this day in 1910, modern fluorescent lighting was first demonstrated—at the Paris Motor show. In 1960, the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, with many great songs (“If ever I would leave you”, etc.), opened on Broadway, later lending an informal name to the Kennedy administration. The replacement of Robert Goulet on Broadway with Franco Nero in the movie and Julie Andrews with Vanessa Redgrave, makes the original cast album far superior to the movie. In 1979, Iran officially became a dictatorial theocracy as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was named the country’s first “supreme leader.” And on this day in 1984, a leak of methyl isocyanate from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India killed at least 6000 people and injured more than 100,000.
Notables born on this day include Sven Nykvist, famed cinematographer for Ingmar Bergman (1922), Ozzy Osbourne (1948), Daryl Hannah (1960,♥), and Katarina Witt (1965, ♥). Those who died on this day include Oswald Mosley (1980) and Lewis Thomas (1993). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is decrying the human condition, or rather the condition of humans:
Hili: According to my feline reasoning humans have lost any common sense.A: You might be right, but why do you assume that they ever had common sense?Hili: Your answer might be showing a fallacy in my reasoning.
Hili: Na mój koci rozum ludzie stracili zdrowy rozsądek.
Ja: Możesz mieć rację, ale dlaczego sądzisz, że kiedyś go mieli?
Hili: Być może twoje pytanie wskazuje na pewien błąd w moim rozumowaniu.
16 Comments
Your comment on peppermint latte’s is spot on. I wrote about how Starbucks is converting coffee (a healthy beverage) into a stealth dessert and likely contributing to obesity at http://theskepticalcardiologist.com/2014/04/27/how-starbucks-is-making-heart-healthy-coffee-into-a-stealth-dessert/.
Certainly. Start with this in the morning, then go to Coke by noon and you’re a type 2 by sundown. How did paying 4 or 5 bucks for coffee become fashionable?
Plus, they expect you to order in some faux Esperanto language. I wouldn’t say “brûlée macchiato frappuccino” if I had a mouth full.
True! And I refuse to use or learn the meaning of grande’ or vente’.
lolololol…
The snow will reach the East Coast by next weekend.
BTW, climate scientist Michael Mann:
“Climate change is not like other issues that can be postponed from one year to the next. The US and world are already behind; speed is of the essence, because climate change and its impacts are coming sooner and with greater ferocity than anticipated.”
“The replacement of Robert Goulet on Broadway with Franco Nero in the movie and Julie Andrews with Vanessa Redgrave, makes the original cast album far superior to the movie. In 1979, ”
I’ll second that!
re ” … … on this day in 1984, a leak of methyl isocyanate from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India killed at least 6000 people and injured more than 100,000,” just my hearing of this alone impacted me within my lifetime as do only a few other outrages*: I recall exactly at what time and at where I was standing when I first heard this news.
Blue
*An outrage is .not. a tragedy. If something horrid occurs, then a tragedy is that which could .not. have been prevented.
The Bhopal horridness ? That one was an outrage.
National Peppermint Latte Day?
No way! Coffee black, or not at all!
I drink my coffee black as well. But one can’t help wondering how Jerry can be so sure that flavored lattes are vile if he’s never had one. Is there some “other way of knowing” at work here?
On flavored coffee, less is more!! Coffee latte with just a hint of peppermint kinda works, but don’t overdo it. You’re supposed to supplement the coffee, not mask it!!
Irish Coffee, OTOH…
OK… I’ll grant you the addition of a wee bit of Irish whiskey.
Great minds…
I just adore Julie Andrews as Guinevere in Camelot, but am not quite as sold on Robert Goulet.
He’s actually extremely good on the cast album, but often in standalone performances sung on variety shows of “If Ever…” he’s annoyingly cloying.
Chalk up his more restrained & convincing delivery on the cast album to director Moss Hart.
I’ve seen both the 1980 revival version and the original 1960 production on stage (in reverse order). The 1980 revision incorporates some good new material from the film, but weirdly pushes back “If Ever I would Leave you” to really late in the show where it has far less dramatic impact (even if it’s a bit more logical given that it’s now sung after Lance and Guin have been discovered.)
The first time I saw it, they had Michael York as Arthur. He was quite good in the role, but his Guinevere was a trained opera singer with notably far better singing ability and vocal range. The bio of York in the program was long, long, long, but oddly omitted his stint in the TV sci-fi series “Babylon 5” in which he is a crazy person who thinks he is King Arthur.
I prefer my Coffee like my Chocolate, dark and bitter.On the very rare occasions I enter a Coffee Shop, the stuff on the chalkboard is double dutch, don,t understand a word of it.