Old Crank
Old Crank's JournalCollection of Trump gift memes.
You've seen some of these I'm sure. Hope the link works.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AAQa8Fsa8/
Bought a griddle for my induction stovetop.
Most Sundays I cook pancakes for breakfast. The frying pans available have steeper sides here is Germany than in the US.
And I can only do 4 at a time. So I have been on the lookout for a griddle.
Found one that is smooth on the use side and a bit lighter than cast iron and more durable than the thin aluminum models.
My induction cooktop has 4 square burners and a big center one. The griddle can be used on either side and the burners sense pot size.
This one is cast aluminum and is not magnetic. At least not to my test magnets. Has 4 little silicon feet that keep it just of the glass. It worked like a charm this morning. I have no idea how they got cast aluminum to work with induction.
I guess that having to comply
with the law doesn't extend to Bondi and the Epstein files.
This is disgusting.
Laws need to change.
Speeding, texting, suspended license, killing. Probation. No jail time.
https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2026/01/billerica-man-receives-suspended-sentence-for-2024-bicyclist-death/
If I don't wear blinkers when I go to the grocery stores
near me.
The gravitational pull is some times too great.
Top is apricot streusel cake, right, Strawberry, left, Mandarin orange cheesecake w=on poppyseed layer.
New dinner this evening
Chicken with Shallots, lemon and garlic.
Read this a couple of days ago in the NYT.
4 chicken legs, or 8 thighs or drum sticks, I used legs and cut them into thighs and drumsticks
8 or ten shallots, I cut the tips, halved them and peeled the brown layer off leaving the root end.
8 garlic cloves, peeled, whole
1 lemon, quartered, I cut it into 8 pieces.
Preheat oven to 390F
Put the veggies into a sheet pan with some olive oil to coat them, and salt and pepper.
Season the chicken pieces and distribute in the pan. Use a generous amount of Herbs du Provence on the chicken.
Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup vermouth to the pan.
Into the oven until chicken is cooked.
I served with rice and made a small pan sauce with the drippings .
The Skoda Roomster is back.
Popular but discontinued in 2015 because it didn't fit brand image. New metal and looks.
Now we have another funny named car. Dacia is now producing the:
BIGSTER
All the good names are gone.
BLueberry prices
I'm in Munich and I hit my closest grocery store for a few things. Was not going to buy blueberries today but I will need them for Sunday's pancakes. 2.99 euro for 500 grams. That is right about $2.75 per pound.
From Peru. Peru. How do they do that?
That is a lot of work from field to transfer station to reefer ship, to Holland, and trucked to my store 300 meters down the road.
Unreal.
Any news on Vance saying that the Good killer
has absolute immunity?
Just saw a screenshot of a TV news feed.
No other information.
Donnie"s oil pipe dream
Here is a short blurb from an Economist newsletter I get via email.
It is about the Trump follies of trying to make money and control the global market of oil.
They estimate that at current prices for oil Venezuela only has the world's 17 largest amount of oil reserves.
This is largely because the reserves were inflated and their crude is crude.
Mr Trump’s team is now high on hydrocarbons. On January 7th his energy secretary said that America would “market” Venezuela’s oil “indefinitely” and deposit the proceeds into “accounts controlled by the US government”. Combining Venezuela and Guyana (where American firms have a big presence) with Uncle Sam’s own stash, JPMorgan Chase notes that America could soon have 30% of global oil reserves “under its influence”. Others observe that, should Mr Trump bring more producers in the Americas under his thumb, “Donroe Doctrine” nations could come to account for 40% of global output—more than all members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries combined. Enough, perhaps, to control prices, rule global energy markets and starve China of fuel. The prospect has the MAGA world giddy with excitement.
Will the Don’s great oil empire pan out? This week I assessed his chances. My first step was to look at Venezuela’s geology. I quickly discovered that the country’s oil reserves are vastly overstated. As Priya Walia of Rystad Energy, a consultancy, told me, the official figure reflects volumes booked under highly optimistic price assumptions in the late-2000s oil boom. Those estimates have hardly been revised since, despite big falls in prices, the imposition of harsh sanctions and plenty of operational difficulties. The true amount recoverable in Venezuela today, Ms Walia says, is closer to 40bn barrels than the 300bn often suggested. And a lot of the untapped oil, deemed “extra heavy”, is hard, costly and polluting to extract. To be bankable, Venezuela’s biggest new projects need Brent, the global price benchmark, at $80 a barrel. This year Brent is forecast to fall towards $50.
When you are pitching to America’s oil giants, a risk-averse bunch, that’s not a good start. And Venezuela, which confiscated many of their assets in 2007 without compensating them for the trouble, has other problems. It lacks the type of sound legal system, stable politics and functioning economy that foreign companies like to see before opening their wallets. So my next step was to gauge whether, despite all this, American oil firms might be willing to take a punt. I found that a few mavericks may well raise some private money to snap up Venezuelan assets. But to move the needle, Big Oil needs to return, and insiders told me the majors, which spent decades trying to solve their PR problem, are wary of becoming involved in Mr Trump’s project. During talks with American officials yesterday, oil executives insisted they would need “serious guarantees” from the White House before unleashing capex.
Still, for the sake of argument, I assumed the majors could be persuaded. A new question emerged. To whom would the extra oil be sold? Today the world is awash with petroleum and may well be so for the rest of the decade, owing to new production from Brazil, Guyana and elsewhere. Beyond 2030 global oil demand is set to peak as the world economy electrifies. And few refineries other than America’s, and a handful of China’s, are designed to process the type of gloopy crude that Venezuela cranks out. Perhaps many more Bolivarian barrels can be pumped. But it’s not clear anyone wants them.
Profile Information
Name: RalphGender: Male
Current location: München, DE
Member since: Tue Nov 14, 2017, 06:17 AM
Number of posts: 6,713