Schmidt Meister's Grab Bag

[Schmidt Meister]

My version: Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Jacked Up Ball Of Fur. Angry Kitty, Pissed Off Kitty, Grr, Grr, Grr

Big Bang version: Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Little Ball of Fur. Happy Kitty, Sleepy Kitty, Purr Purr Purr.

[Schmidt Meister]

Can you find the snake and identify it?

[Schmidt Meister]

This one is much easier.

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Much harder.

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Easy.

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McDonalds in Roswell, NM.

[Schmidt Meister]

[Schmidt Meister]

[pipedreams]

16 hours ago, railfancwb said:

If white people fleeing the racist South African government were allowed to enter the United States as refugees, the picture on the left would become relevant. 

Russia has accepted many of the white farmers fleeing South Africa.

[railfancwb]

10 minutes ago, pipedreams said:

Russia has accepted many of the white farmers fleeing South Africa.

Australia has as well, I think. 

[miketx]

16 hours ago, railfancwb said:

If white people fleeing the racist South African government were allowed to enter the United States as refugees, the picture on the left would become relevant. 

They should stay where they are and fight.

[Schmidt Meister]

Hebrew Archeology 
 
Written across the wall of the cave were the following symbols:
It was considered a unique find and the writings were said to be at least 3,000 years old. The piece of stone was removed, brought to the museum, and archaeologists from around the world came to study the ancient symbols. They held a huge meeting after months of conferences to discuss the meaning of the markings. The president of the antiquities society pointed to the first drawing and said:
“This is a woman. We can see these people held women in high esteem.
You can also tell they were intelligent, as the next symbol is a donkey, so they were smart enough to have animals help them till the soil.
The next drawing is a shovel, which means they had tools to help them.
Even further proof of their high intelligence is the fish which means that during a famine, they sought food from the sea.
The last symbol is the Star of David which means they were evidently Hebrews.” The audience applauded enthusiastically.
 Then an old Jewish man stood up in the back of the room and said,
“You educated idiots, Hebrew is read from right to left. It says: ‘Holy mackerel, dig the ass on that chick”.

[Schmidt Meister]

I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said, Lola, L-O-L-A, Lola, lo lo lo lo, Lola.

[Schmidt Meister]

The desert is blooming ... I was told these are Indian Paintbrushes.

[Schmidt Meister]

And these are Ocotilla Blossoms

[Schmidt Meister]

Mac & Cheese is a superfood, your body cannot survive without it.

[Schmidt Meister]

Southern Living article on how to pronounce PECAN. I don't want to eat anything that has any pronunciation that starts with pee-. I've always referred to them as pah-kahns.

While the pecan itself is a tasty, rather unassuming nut, the question of how to pronounce it can rile up even the most mild-mannered of Southerners. This is one divisive pronunciation.
How do you say pecan? It's an eternal question, much like "Do you put sugar in your cornbread?" or "Where is over yonder?" Pecans aren't just part of our favorite pies. They're part of the Southern landscape and the fabric of Southern agriculture. You can scarcely have Thanksgiving in the South without a pecan pie, and you can scarcely drive a few miles on the interstate without seeing a roadside stand selling pecans in autumn (the same stands that sell easier-to-pronounce peaches in summer).
Pecans (Carya illinoinensis) are a species of hickory tree in the genus Carya (from "karyon," which is "nut" in ancient Greek). Pecan trees are native to Mexico and the southern United States. Top producers of pecans include Georgia and Texas, though you'll find heirloom pecan pie recipes up and down the region from the Texas Hill Country to the Gulf Coast, through Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland, too. There's not a Southern state the pecan hasn't permeated, which makes our culinary landscape slightly crunchier, and leagues more delicious.

To the question at hand: What accounts for the differences in pecan pronunciation? It's not a regional difference or a state difference, because if you visit any neighborhood in the South, you're sure to find next-door neighbors who pronounce the word differently. The way we see it, or hear it, in this case, there are six widely used pronunciations for the word pecan. (But if you have others, we'd love to know.) In no particular order, they are:

pah-KAHN
puh-CAN
PEE-can
PEE-kahn
pee-KAHN
pee-CAN

Whew. That's quite a few options, though of course are countless more possibilities out there. Which pecan camp are you in? Do you pronounce the rounded vowels of puh-KAHN or the smiling annunciation of PEE-can?
Now, this isn't scientific. We don't have full-fledged polling data to back it up, but we did ask the Southern Living office, and pronunciations here are rather varied. Of those polled, 10 people say puh-KAHN, 4 say PEE-can, and 2 say puh-can or puh-CAN, a hybrid of the former pronunciations with two similarly stressed syllables. That doesn't quite match up with the findings of the National Pecan Shellers Association. When they conducted a pronunciation poll, they found that 45 percent of Southerners and around 70 percent of Northerners say PEE-can.

Although, to avoid the pronunciation issue, you could always just call them Carya illinoinensis, though, admittedly, not everyone will be in the know. Also, "Carya illinoinensis pie" isn't nearly as catchy to say as pecan pie (or as easy to spell).
No matter which way you say it, or which way you slice it, pecans make perfect pies, and they provide plenty of conversation once you hear a differing pronunciation. That's the beauty of pecans. We all have our own inflections and emphases, but they're delicious all the same. There are a million and one ways to say it, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

https://www.southernliving.com/culture/pecan-pronunciation

[GT4494]

We always used pahcons to make peecan pie....  

[Schmidt Meister]

Need to roll this Jubilee over and check for that pale bottom to see if it's ripe ... damn good paint job, btw ...

[Schmidt Meister]

[Schmidt Meister]

Downtown Main Street, Stroud, Oklahoma on old Route 66. This photo was taken in about the 1940s. You can see a US 66 shield on the right corner on a light post. The town of Stroud is "Oklahoma's Winery and Grape Capital" and is the site of the famous, historic Rock Café. Disney's Radiator Springs character Sally Carrera is based on Dawn Welch, proprietor of Rock Café. The movie mentions her in the final credits: "Dawn Welch, The Rock Cafe, 'Home Of The Fried Pickle Spears', Stroud, OK."

[Schmidt Meister]