Thursday, September 27, 2018

Happiness is the product of just one field

 
 
Give me, ye gods, the product of one field,
That so I neither may be rich nor poor;
And having just enough, not covet more.

-- John Dryden

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Happiness is in nothing too little and nothing too much

 
 
Avoid extremes, and shun the faults of such
Who still are pleas'd too little, or too much.

-- Alexander Pope

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Happiness is Curly as Field Marshall Herring saying "it's now in the middle of Novonder and we ain't there yet!"

Dictator Heilstone: "Now, that we have captured all of Starvania, we must take Great Mitten!"

Field Marshall Herring: "Yah-Yah!"

Dictator Heilstone: "Yah!"

Minister of Propaganda: "Yah, you were gonna Blitz-Kreeg Great Mitten by the middle of August!"

Field Marshall Herring: "Then you said, Septober, then Octember, it's now in the middle of Novonder, and we ain't there yet!"

Dictator Heilstone: "Well, Novonder, I didn't say what year!"

Minister of Propaganda: "I don't understand it, it's only twenty miles!"

Field Marshall Herring: "Yeah, I could skip it!"

Dictator Heilstone: "Then, skip it!"

-- from The Three Stooges, "I'll Never Heil Again", July 11, 1941



Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Happiness is June Carter and Johnny Cash singing "Darlin' Companion"

A great performance, here, from 1971. The song's composer, John Sebastian, performs it with Mama Cass, here, in 1969.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Happiness is culture, the tradition of enjoyment which knows how to make much out of little

"Culture [is] the tradition of enjoyment which knows how to make much out of little . . . and cannot be had for money. ... [T]heoreticians, poets, and musicians . . . these alone can thrive on no money."

-- Oswald Spengler, The Hour of Decision, 1934

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

For the book lover, happiness might be a library cake

I content me,
And from the sting of famine fear no harm,
Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts that feed
Me hung'ring more to do my Father's will.

-- John Milton

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Happiness is chicken for 77 cents per pound

On rainy days alone I dine,
Upon a chick and pint of wine:
On rainy days I dine alone,
And pick my chicken to the bone.

-- Jonathan Swift

Friday, August 17, 2018

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Monday, August 13, 2018

Happiness is a homemade bean burrito, perhaps the best for you and cheapest meal you can make for yourself

I reckon the most expensive thing is the tortilla itself, while the whole shebang is something just north of 72 cents:

Flour tortilla: 33 cents
1 oz. sharp cheddar cheese: 18 cents
2/3 cup prepared pinto beans (13 cents) and basmati rice (4 cents): 17 cents
0.11 oz. spice mixture I prepare from bulk purchased salt, onion and garlic powders, chili powder, crushed red pepper, oregano leaves and cumin: 4.6 cents.

I can season a one pound batch of beans, which makes nine burritos, however I like for 41 cents doing it this way instead of 79 cents for an unadjustable store purchased packet, a savings of 48%.

The price of the beans shown is for a store purchased one pound bag at $1.19. At Sam's Club you can cut this to 63 cents per pound by buying the 12 lb. bulk bag. Per burrito that's 7 cents instead of 13 cents, bringing the whole enchilada down to 66 cents.

The price of a little canola oil for frying is not included.

Toppings are another matter entirely, which with the salsa are really the salad part of the meal.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Happiness is heart healthy sweet bing cherries, on sale last week for $1.99/lb

This week they're $3.99, alas.

A serving is about one dozen cherries, giving you 12% of your daily dietary fiber and 16% of your vitamin C. You also get vitamins A and K, folate, potassium, calcium, zinc, iron and copper, and some important anti-inflammatory compounds.

The dark red color of cherries comes from anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins, which are compounds that help decrease inflammation in your body, according to Michael T. Murray, author of "The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods." A 2006 article published in the "Journal of Nutrition" reports that Bing cherries can reduce inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease and stroke. The study also suggests that eating cherries can lower your cholesterol. The beneficial compounds in cherries can ease the discomfort of arthritis as well, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.

More at the link.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Happiness is homegrown, if you know when to strike

It is many a man's case to tire himself out with hunting after that abroad, which he carries about him all the while, and may have it better cheap at home.

-- Roger L'Estrange



Saturday, July 28, 2018

Happiness is a Rush Limbaugh sendup

Rush Hudson Limbaugh,
a febrile font of faux pas,
everyday, from his throne,
behind a golden microphone,
grifts millions spoutin' hoo-ha.

-- Johnny

Friday, July 27, 2018

Happiness was the plumber Alan Longmuir, founder of the Scottish supergroup Bay City Rollers

From the obituary here in the UK Guardian:

“Just a plumber from Edinburgh who got lucky” was Alan Longmuir’s dry assessment of his career. ... In their peak year, 1975, they had two UK No 1 singles, including the signature hit Bye Bye Baby; the end of that year saw them top the American chart with the stomping Saturday Night . . .. Alan and his younger brother, Derek – the Rollers’ future drummer – went to Tynecastle high school, which Alan left at 15. After a year of office work he was apprenticed as a plumber, but the job was secondary to his yearning to be a musician. ... He returned to working as a plumber and from 2000 until retirement was a bylaws inspector. ... He viewed the 70s with wry humour, saying in 2008: “I remember sitting at the bar of the Beverly Hills hotel – there was Patrick Magee, Barbra Streisand, David Soul – and Alan Longmuir, the plumber from Edinburgh.”

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Omega-3 supplements found to be just as inefficacious as vitamins

Tim Chico, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Sheffield University, said it was unlikely any one element of the diet could alone prevent heart disease. “Previous experience has shown that although some types of diet are linked to lower risk of heart disease, when we try to identify the beneficial element of the diet and give it as a supplement it generally has little or no benefit,” he said. It happened with vitamins and now the Cochrane research had shown the same thing with omega-3.

“Such supplements come with a significant cost,” he said, “so to anyone buying them in the hope that they reduce the risk of heart disease, I’d advise them to spend their money on vegetables instead.”

More here.