Phil, this one’s for you…

This morning I drank French Market Chickory Coffee, medium-dark roast, brewed via pourover.   I’ll hit the pros first:   1) five bucks a can at most chain grocery stores,  2) it’s pre-ground, so you don’t need to burn those precious watts or calories grinding the beans., and 3) the chickory flavor does actually stand out.

Chickory aside, as a medium-dark it was a bit of a departure from my normal coffee routine.   To me, it tasted like a dark-dark, and I thought the darkness of the coffee overwhelmed the taste.   It was like burnt toast…really burnt.  Like the toaster got stuck in the “on” position while you binge watched all seven seasons of Game of Thrones.   That’s really a bummer….all the characters die, and then you get burnt toast.

Drunk black, I give it a thumbs down, but mostly because I thought it was too dark.   So….halfway into the cup I caved and added a healthy dose of half-n-half.   The cream took the edge off, and it turned out as quite an enjoyable cup of coffee, although it still had a kinda strange aftertaste.   Perhaps this (with cream) is how it’s meant to be drank.   The chickory gives it a distinct and pleasantly sweet taste, almost like I added sugar.   For the price, it’s worth a try, just to taste something different.  If you do, I recommend brewing it strong, and then throwing in generous amounts of cream.

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SMLR is still alive, but writing inspiration is not quite what it was when I started six weeks ago.  Because I’m kind of in crunch mode trying to finish my masters thesis by late Nov,  I don’t have a lot of extra capacity in the old brain-piece right now.  And,  since I’m not running and not really doing any personal reading, time for reflection is much less than I’d like.  But sometimes you gotta buckle down, and now is one of those times.

Therefore, and as you may notice, the quality and depth of the posts may dip a little in coming months.  Case in point #1:

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I grilled some burgers last night.  I’m pretty sure I could open a burger restaurant and do pretty well.   These wouldn’t be normal burgers though…. mine are different.   These are f#&%ing good burgers.   I don’t want to give away all the trade secrets, but there are a few things that would make my burger joint stand out:

1) My burgers are big and round.  Min 1/2 lb, meatball-like

2) No lean ground beef.  The fattier the better.

3) Extra ingredients are mixed into the ground beef.  Not set on top of it, like some jerk just threw a bunch of veggies on your plate.  And by the way, for ingredients I’m not talking about your boring old tomato, lettuce, onion combo.  I have bigger plans.

4) Don’t even ask for a bun.  That will get you kicked out of the restaurant.

5) You cannot eat these burgers while driving.  You’ll make a complete mess of yourself, and possibly gum up your steering wheel and gas and brake pedals with gobs of ground beef.  It’s just not safe.

6) I use butter as a bonding agent.   If four tablespoons of butter per burger is too much for you, I’ll consider offering a “light” burger, which will have only three tablespoons of butter.

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Just found out Graham Hancock is dropping a new book in April, called America Before https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250153735/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

If you’re not familiar with Graham Hancock, he is a British author who explores and writes about alternative accounts of deep human history.  More of a freelancer than a scientist, he combs through ancient archaeology looking for patterns or things that don’t fit traditional explanations.  His first two:  Fingerprints of the Gods, and Magicians of the Gods,  both hypothesize that human civilization is much older than the accepted historical theories would have us believe.  In Fingerprints he proposes that ancient civilizations share commonalities in their myths and stories, and that ancient astronomical patterns and symbology indicate that civilizations were far more advanced than we give them credit for.  If so, it begs the question, what happened to all that ancient knowledge?  In Magicians, written 20 years later, he uses recent archaeological findings to support his earlier thesis, proposing that a meteor impact ~12,000 years ago wiped out what was a sophisticated human civilization, and destroyed much of the evidence of its existence.  Hancock believes there are echos of this ancient civilization in archaeology and in ancient myths, but you have to be willing to go against the grain of conventional history to see them.

Again, not sure I am sold on all his theories, but they sure are interesting to read about and to contemplate.   Even if he doesn’t convert you to his radical views of history, they are fun to read and worth considering.   You can read them through a lens of skepticism, or you can read them through a lens of “hmmm…what if?”    If true, his ideas would turn our whole idea of human civilization history on its head.     I learned a lot about astronomy from Fingerprints, and I’d recommend anyone who’s interested to read that one first.   I’ll definitely pick up a copy of his new one, and look forward to seeing what new ideas he’s got.

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Have a great week!