Thank goodness for this. I had an opportunity to observe a pair of impressively large orb weaver spiders residing for several weeks in the outdoor corners of a picture window. For a while, each spun a web and kept to its corner. Then one day, one spider made its way to the other, envenomated it, and wrapped it.

I read a little about orb weavers, and learned that females frequently cannibalize males after mating, that they frequently mate with siblings, and that cannibalism of males is a little less frequent in this case.

In Plano, Texas maybe 1992, a dinner group of us took a shortcut across a vacant lot. The ground was littered with numerous Robitussin bottles. In around the same era, I was in a drugstore in Eureka, California buying clip-on sunglasses, when I overheard the pharmacist say "Susie, I can't sell you any more cough syrup on credit, until your mom pays the bill.'

My experience from some years ago using the low-rent combination of a Bialetti stovetop "espresso" pot and whirly-blade grinder, was that Sulawesi Kalossi tasted like Comet cleanser, but the same grind was excellent when brewed in a French press. These days, I go to a local shop with a real espresso machine and a good coffee supplier. This region is usually cool and damp, but when a streak of dry weather arrives, the espresso quality worsens: fast bitter shot with little flavor body, and poor crema, unless one of the more careful baristas adjusts the grind and packing,

Staticmaster, with delicious polonium, makes a fine Russian espresso.

This was a central theme in Dickens' Bleak House.

I would expect both of these sleazeballs to try to establish much of the juiciest evidence as trade secret.

"Off with everybody's heads!" -- The Queen of Hearts

"Money, it's a hit. Don't give me any of that goody-good bullshit.' -- also Pink Floyd

My neighbor was having a small event recently. I appeared outside to check the weather. He asked me if they were bothering me with noise. I said no, and if they heard me yelling obscenities, it was because I was watching the news on TV.

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" -- Howard Beale, "Network"

Meanwhile, in deep-Baptist no-gambliing except on football Texas: $4677 for 1 week of electricity

Those Windows are there to exploit the Bill Gates 5G nanochips from your Covid vaccine. Coming soon to a theater no longer near you: Windows the 13th: Soul Invader.

"I smell like I sound, I'm lost and I'm found; And I'm hungry like the wolf."

Apologies, I had a long commute when this came out, and it played incessantly.

SFGate just ran a story on the closure of their retail stores, with some company history, including the obligatory picture of some huckster "executive" wearing a headset with microphone. Allbirds

California needs a Molly Ivins.