Grab-bag and Danish Art

One of the bonuses of watching Quicksilver and seeing Southern Belle twice a day is that I have an outlet for food when I get carried away in the kitchen.

As a working woman, Southern Belle is delighted to take 2/3 of a pan of lemon bars off our hands. Ditto for a pot of beans or a pan of cornbread. That saves Mrs ERJ and I from eating cornbread and beans for seven days straight and gives her a break.

Data

I am officially throwing up my hands in disgust over "data". Politics and the fog-of-war triumphed, at least temporarily, over data-integrity.

I "get" that public figures must deliberately obfuscate their intentions during times of war. Biden screwed up when he allowed the actual time-table for the withdrawal from Afghanistan to be made public. U.S. military suffered 13 KIA in August of 2021 due to that "honesty".

Russian demographic pyramid. "Excess" males in the circled area is likely over-stated. Data from 2025.

Russian and Chinese data is always suspect. Russian data even more-so since the Ukrainian war. For instance, their demographic pyramid (Christmas tree, if you prefer) shows no indication of any casualties of young men. That is highly suspect.

With regard to the interesting comments that appeared in an earlier post, it was reported circa 2022 (and might even be true) that something on the order of 150,000 "Russian prisoners" were "recruited" and sent to the front-lines in Ukraine. It is speculated that the recidivism rate for those prisoners who volunteered will be very, very low.

A conversation with a baker

I had a conversation with a person who runs a bakery. I brought up the possibility of a spike in the price of sugar and asked if he had ever considered "options" or buying ahead.

He said they had done that several years ago but it didn't work out. Sugar storage requires temperature and humidity (especially humidity) control or the bags of sugar turn in to rocks.

Many of his products require dusting with sugar or measuring out precise amounts. Lack of precision in measuring results in runny glazes or sugar crystalizing out of the frosting. He paid more in labor and still got poor results...so he is back to 2x a week deliveries at whatever the spot prices are. 

Danish Art

I had a request from a reader to feature some Danish Art on the blog. I am happy to oblige:

 Random photos

A large chicken egg, top-center, bracketed by duck eggs. Duck eggs weigh about 80 grams vs about 55 grams for chicken eggs.

 

Every day is an Easter Egg hunt in some places