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Internet privacy: Are you following me?

If you are like me, you may be concerned about the lack of online privacy. What one searches for online, where ones goes online, what one clicks on online, all these things, and more, are usually tracked.

Selecting "Do Not Track", blocking "pop-ups", and not accepting “cookies” in your browser options does little to protect your privacy. However, there are a few easy ways you can make it harder to be tracked online. It is about protecting one’s privacy. Privacy is worth protecting, especially online.

StartPage

StartPage gives you the best of two worlds: Google search results, with complete privacy protection.

Privacy Badger

Privacy Badger is a browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web.  If an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger automatically blocks that advertiser from loading any more content in your browser.  To the advertiser, it's like you suddenly disappeared.

HTTPS Everywhere

HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.

Opera

Fast, secure, easy-to-use browser…now with a built-in ad blocker, battery saver and free VPN.

Free, unlimited, no subscription required

Enhanced online privacy should be available to everyone. Our free VPN is built right into the Opera browser. You don’t have to download VPN extensions or sign up and pay for VPN services.

Works out of the box

To activate the free VPN in Opera, go to the browser settings and check the Enable VPN box in the Privacy and security section. You’ll see a button in the browser address field where you can adjust VPN preferences, turn the feature off and on, as well as see stats on data used.

Alternatively, you can choose to use the VPN feature in private windows only. Just open a private window, hit the VPN button in the address field and just click ‘Enable’.

Reduces online tracking

With the free VPN turned on, Opera will replace your IP address with a virtual IP address, so it’s harder for sites to track your location and identify your computer. It will also block many tracking cookies.

Shields your browsing in public networks

Airports, cafés, event venues - we all sometimes surf on public Wi-Fi. Using the browser VPN feature, you can shield your activity from being sniffed by other users on these networks.

Firefox

Seriously Private Browsing

The most powerful private browsing mode with added tracking protection.

Private Browsing

Firefox blocks online trackers while you browse and won’t remember your history after you’re done.

Tracking Protection

Some ads have hidden trackers that follow you online. Rude. We know. That’s why our powerful tool stops them cold.

Private Browsing now includes Tracking Protection, which actively blocks domains and sites that are known to track users.

Be sure to select the options in your browser regarding collection of data and use that increase your privacy.

© Trevor Dailey

Extreme Production Music: Christmas

I really do not much enjoy Christmas anymore, but with Extreme Production Music, I can still fake it when I want to.

It's Christmas

Made Of Gingerbread

When you view an album you can click the small musical note (sixteenth note) symbol at the top right to buy the music via iTunes. They have a lot of excellent music. Be sure to look around when you are there.

© Trevor Dailey

 

 

 

 

The American Women's Cook Book (1939): Poultry cooking

POULTRY includes all the domesticated birds that are used for food-chicken and fowl, turkeys, squabs and pigeons, geese and ducks. Game includes wild birds-ducks, geese, partridge, reed birds, quail, plover, etc., and animal suitable for food which are pursued and taken in field or forest, as deer, moose and rabbit.

The flesh of game, except that of partridge and quail, is dark in color and has a fine strong flavor. The flesh of wild birds, except that of wild ducks and geese, contains less fat than the flesh of poultry.

Seasons for Fresh Poultry and Game

Poultry in some form is available in the market at every season. Chickens weighing about one and one-half pounds, known as Spring chickens or broilers, begin to appear in the market during January. The height of the season for broilers, however, is May and June. The so-called milk-fed or early Spring chickens appear in the market in July and are available until August.

Roasting chickens begin to appear in September, and Philadelphia capons come into the market at about the same time. Fowl are in the market now-a-days throughout the year.

The season for turkey and ducks is the same as for chickens.

Goose about twelve weeks old, known as green goose, is available from May to September. Geese, also, may be found in the market throughout the year.

Fresh quail and partridge are in the market from Oct. 15 to Jan. 1. Cold-storage birds may be found much later. Grouse is fresh in the Fall. The cold-storage birds are obtainable throughout the year. Plover are in season from April to September.

Selecting Poultry and Game

There are a few general rules to be observed in the selection of young tender poultry and game.

They should be plump in appearance, have smooth, soft legs and feet and smooth, moist skin.

The lower or rear end of the breast-bone should be flexible, the skin should be easily broken when twisted between the thumb and finger, and the joint of the wing should yield readily when turned backward.

The eyes should be bright, the comb red, and there should be an abundance of pin feathers.

Birds with a yellow skin are likely to be plump, those with white skins are likely to be tender.

Bruised, dry or purplish skin is an indication of careless dressing and of age. Hard, dry, scaly legs, hard breast-bone and the presence of long hairs are all signs of an old and tough bird.

Avoid birds with a full crop. Buy dry-picked poultry whenever possible. Scalding the bird before plucking it impairs the flavor.

Poultry and game unless they are in cold storage, should not be kept long uncooked. They should be drawn as soon as purchased, and should be kept in a cool place.

Unless hen turkeys are young, small and plump, cock turkeys are more satisfactory.

Geese should have an abundance of pin-feathers, soft feet and pliable bills.

There is more meat in proportion to the amount of bone in fowls weighing five to six pounds than there is in smaller birds.

Broilers should weigh one to two pounds.

To Clean and Dress Poultry

Cut off the head and remove the pin-feathers with a sharp, pointed knife. Singe by holding the bird over a flame, turning on all sides until all down and hair have been burnt off.

If the feet and tendons were not removed at the market, cut through the skin around the lower joint or "drum-stick," one and one-half inches below the joint that connects the foot with the leg, but do not cut the tendons. Place the leg with this cut at the edge of the table and break the bone by pressing downward. Hold the bird in the left hand and with the right pull off the foot, and with it the tendons. In an old bird, the tendons must be removed one by one with a skewer or trussing needle.

To Prepare Poultry for Cooking Whole

Make a small incision below the breast-bone. Insert the hand and carefully loosen the internal organs, the entrails, the gizzard, the heart and the liver. Reserve the last three; these are known as the giblets. Care should be taken not to break the gall bladder, which is attached to the liver. The liquid content of the gall bladder is very bitter, and makes the flesh unpleasant to eat.

Remove and discard the lungs and the kidneys. Insert two fingers under the skin close to the neck and remove the windpipe and the crop. Pull back the skin of the neck and cut off the neck close to the body, leaving enough of the neck skin to fold down under the back if the bird is to be roasted. Remove the oil bag from the tail.

Clean the inside of the bird by running water through it and wipe the outside with a damp cloth.

To Stuff Poultry or Game—Fill the opening at the neck end with sufficient stuffing to make the bird look plump. Put the remaining stuffing in the body. If the body is full, sew up the opening; if not full, bring the skin together with a skewer. Do not fill the cavity too full. Allowance must be made for swelling of the stuffing especially when the stuffing is made with cracker-crumbs.

To Truss Poultry or Game for Roasting—Clean, dress and stuff. Tie a piece of twine to the end of the neck-skin and pull the neck-skin over the back. Slip the ends of the wings over the back and press the wings close to the body. Press the thighs close to the body, draw the ends of the twine back on each side and up over the thighs. Cross the twine between the legs, and tie it down under the tail.

If the poultry or game has little fat it should be larded with thin strips of salt pork or bacon laid across the breast. To prevent the burning of the legs, wind them with strips of cloth which have been dipped in melted fat.

To Dress Birds for Broiling, Frying, Etc.

For Broiling—Singe the bird, cut off the head and neck close to the breast and the legs at the knee joints. Beginning at the neck, make a cut through the back-bone for the entire length of the bird. Lay the bird open and remove the contents. Cut the tendons or break the joints. Cut out the rib-bones and remove the breast-bone, to facilitate carving.

To Make Fillets—Remove the skin from the breast and with a sharp knife make an incision close to the breast-bone, beginning at the end next the wish-bone and cutting through the entire length. Following the bone closely, remove all the meat, cutting it away from the wing joint. This fillet may be separated into two parts, the upper or larger muscle making the "large fillet" and the smaller “fillet mignon."

To Cut Up a Fowl—Remove pin-feathers, singe the fowl, cut off the head, tendons and oil-bag. Cut off the legs at the thigh joint. Separate the first joint or drumstick from the thigh. Cut the wings from the body. Cut off the tips of the wings.

Separate the breast from the back by cutting clear down both sides of the bird below the ribs. Remove the heart, liver, gizzard, entrails and fat all together. Remove windpipe and crop. Carefully remove the lungs and kidneys from the back-bone.

Cut back and breast into two pieces each, cutting crosswise. The back is sometimes further divided by cutting lengthwise. The wish-bone may be removed by inserting a knife under the tip and cutting downward, the knife following the bone.

To Clean Giblets

Cut the fat and membrane from the gizzard. Make a gash in the thickest part, cutting to, but not through the inner lining. Remove the inner sac and throw it away. Carefully separate the gall bladder from the liver and cut off any part of the liver that has a greenish color. Remove arteries and veins from the top of the heart and squeeze out the clot of blood.

Broiling is cooking over or under or in front of a fire of live coals or a gas or electric burner, or other direct heat.

Oven Broiling is cooking in a broiler pan (either with or without a rack) that runs close under the heat in the broiling oven of a gas or electric stove.

Pan Broiling is cooking in a hot griddle or pan greased only enough to prevent food from sticking.

Baking is cooking in the oven. The temperature of baking varies with the food to be prepared. A slow oven should be from 250° F. to 350° F.  A moderate oven should be from 350° F. to 400° F.  A hot oven should be from 400° F. to 450° F.  A very hot oven should be from 450° F. to 550° F.

Roasting as now used means the same as baking. Originally it meant cooking before an open fire and was similar to broiling.

Chickens

ROAST CHICKEN

1 roasting chicken
Stuffing
Fat
Salt and pepper
Flour

Wash, singe and draw the bird, rub it with salt and pepper inside and out, and stuff with any desired stuffing. Bread stuffing, chestnut stuffing and celery stuffing are particularly good. Truss and tie the fowl. Brush skin with melted or softened fat. Turn breast side down and cover bird with a cloth dipped in fat. Place in a moderate oven (325° to 350° F.). Cook uncovered breast side down about one half the total time. Turn breast side up. Place any strips of body fat removed in dressing over breastbone. Bacon or salt pork strips may be used. Baste with extra fat. The cloth may be removed toward the end of the cooking if the bird is not well browned. Allow 30 minutes per pound for small birds; 22 to 25 minutes per pound for larger birds.

BROILED CHICKEN

Unless you are quite certain the chickens are tender, it is wise to steam them before broiling. This may be done as follows: Set the dripping-pan in a moderate oven (350° - 400° F.) and nearly fill it with boiling water. Place two sticks across the pan, extending from side to side, and upon them lay the chicken. Invert a tin pan over it, shut the oven door and let the chicken steam slowly for thirty minutes. This process relaxes the muscles and makes the joints supple, besides preserving the juices that would be lost in parboiling.

Transfer the chicken from this vapor bath to a wire broiler, turning the inside to the fire first. Broil until the chicken is tender and brown, turning it frequently. If the chicken is small, it will cook in twenty minutes or less. Do not have too hot a fire. Lay the chicken on a warmed platter, spread it with butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.

PANNED CHICKEN

1 chicken
1/4 cup fat
Flour
1 cup hot milk
Cress
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon cracker or bread-crumbs
Onion-juice
Chopped parsley or tarragon

Prepare a chicken as for broiling and slightly flatten it with a rolling-pin. Place in pan, lay bits of fat upon it, and place it in a moderate oven (350° F.) allowing 15 to 20 minutes per pound. Bake uncovered. Baste with drippings every half hour. When it is nearly done, remove from the oven, salt and pepper both sides, strew once more with bits of fat, dredge with flour and return to the oven to brown slightly on both sides, the under side first.

When the chicken is thoroughly done, place it on a hot platter with the skin side uppermost, cover, and set it where it will be kept warm. Pour hot milk into the pan and add cracker or bread-crumbs. Season with salt and pepper, if necessary, and add a few drops of onion-juice or a teaspoon of chopped parsley or tarragon, as preferred. Stir the gravy vigorously, let it boil one minute and turn it over the chicken. Garnish with cress or parsley and serve.

CHICKEN, MARYLAND STYLE

2 chickens Flour

Salt and pepper
Bread-crumbs
1 cup milk or cream
1/2 cup butter or other mild fat
2 eggs

Clean and disjoint young chickens, leaving the breasts whole. Put the necks and giblets into cold water and simmer to obtain a cup of stock for the gravy. Sprinkle each piece of chicken with salt and pepper, dip in flour, beaten eggs and soft crumbs and place in a greased pan. Bake in a hot oven (480° F.) from thirty to forty minutes, basting frequently with one- fourth cup of fat melted in one-fourth cup of hot water.

When the chicken is done, make a gravy from the fat left in the pan, stirring in two tablespoons of flour, one cup of milk or cream and the cup of stock made from the giblets. If you like, add a few button mushrooms. Serve the chicken with the gravy poured around it.

PLANKED CHICKEN

2 large broilers
1/4 cup fat
1 teaspoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon minced green pepper
1 teaspoon lemon-juice
1 teaspoon minced onion
Salt and pepper
1 pint sautéed mushrooms
1 quart seasoned mashed potato
Garnishes for plank

Make a savory fat by rubbing the minced parsley, green pepper and onion into the fat. Flavor with lemon-juice, salt and pepper. Split the broilers, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put in a pan. Pour over them a little oil or melted fat and bake them (400° F.) until nearly done (about twenty minutes).

Prepare a plank of proper size, oil it, garnish with a border of potatoes forced through pastry-bag and tube, place the chicken in the center of the plank, arrange around it sautéed mushrooms and spread over the chicken the savory fat. Place the plank in a very hot oven (500° F.) to brown the potato border and to give the chicken the final cooking. Planked dishes are invariably served on the plank. They may be elaborately garnished with stuffed tomatoes, green peppers and fancifully cut vegetables.

FRIED CHICKEN

No. 1 —Southern Style

2 small chickens
Salt and pepper
Flour
1/4 cup fat

Cut each chicken into four or six pieces, dip each piece quickly in cold water, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roll in plenty of flour. Sauté the chicken in a little fat until each piece is brown on both sides, and admits a fork easily. Drain the pieces well and arrange on a warm platter, setting the dish in a hot place to keep the meat from cooling while the gravy is being made, as on page 279.

No. 2—

Dip the chicken into fritter batter and fry in deep fat (375°-390° F.) until brown. Transfer to a casserole or baking dish and bake in a moderate oven (250° F.-3 50° F.) for 30-60 minutes. If the chicken is not young, parboiling before cutting will shorten the baking time.

SMOTHERED CHICKEN

2 small chickens or 1 large one
Salt and pepper
2 or more tablespoons fat
Flour

This is one of the most delicious ways of cooking chicken. Take off the neck and split the chicken down the back, wiping it with a damp towel. Season inside and out with salt and pepper, and dredge on all sides with flour. Lay the chicken,with the inside down, in a small baking-tin, and add a very- little water. The pan should be very little larger than the chickens, otherwise the gravy will be too quickly evaporated. Set into a rather slow oven (300°-350° F.) and cook for one hour in a covered baking-pan or, if baked without a cover, baste every ten minutes after the first twenty minutes.

Should the chicken be decidedly lacking in fat, add fat as needed. When done, place the chicken on a hot platter, add enough water to make two cups gravy and thicken with two tablespoons flour. Should the chicken be quite fat, remove all but two tablespoons of the oil from the pan before making the gravy. Season with salt and pepper, pour it over the chicken and serve at once.

BOILED CHICKEN

In Winter there is no better way to prepare chickens than to simmer them whole and pour over them oyster or parsley sauce. The chicken should be well secured in a wet cloth that has been generously sprinkled with flour, then plunged into boiling water and simmered (not boiled) gently until the chicken is done. Allow twenty to thirty minutes to each pound of chicken. A large, tough chicken may be made very palatable by preparing it in this way.

STEAMED CHICKEN OR FOWL

1 fowl (about 5 pounds)
1 onion
1 bay-leaf
Salt and pepper
Flour

A chicken is more tender than a fowl and is to be preferred for light cooking, but a fat fowl a year or two old has a richer and finer flavor, and if steamed properly, will be perfectly tender. Singe and wash the fowl, draw and dress it as carefully as for roasting and wipe it dry inside and out. Rub it inside and out with salt and pepper, place an onion and a bay-leaf
inside and tie the fowl into shape as for roasting.

Then flour a cloth and wrap it about the fowl. Lay the chicken, back downward, in a steamer and allow it to steam continuously for three to four hours, according to its age and size. If properly steamed it will be as good as a roasted chicken. Serve with celery, oyster or parsley sauce. Steamed chicken may subsequently be browned in the oven if desired.

STEAMED WHOLE SPRING CHICKEN

1 chicken
1 cup oysters
1 tablespoon fat
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup cream or milk
3 hard-cooked eggs
Minced herbs

Prepare a full-grown Spring chicken as for roasting, season inside and out with salt and pepper, stuff with whole, raw oysters and place it in a steamer with a close-fitting cover, and steam until the chicken is done, then place the chicken on a warm dish and make a gravy as follows: Put the fat into a saucepan with the minced herbs and flour and stir until the mixture bubbles; add the liquor in the kettle below the steamer, the cream or milk, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils. Add the eggs, chopped fine, let the whole boil, pour it over the chicken and serve at once.

CHICKEN POT-PIE

1 chicken
3 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Clean, singe and cut up the chicken, place it in a pot and nearly cover with water. Cover the pot and simmer gently. An old fowl will require at least three or four hours' slow cook- ing, but a year-old chicken should be done in one and one- half hours. Remove the cover during the last half-hour of cooking, to reduce the gravy to about one and one-half pints when done.

Three-fourths of an hour before time to serve, make Dumplings No. 2 (see Index). When the dumplings are ready to serve, add salt and pepper to the chicken and make the gravy by adding to the liquor in the kettle three tablespoons of flour stirred to a paste in one cup of milk. Skim out the chicken, lay it on a platter, place the dumplings on the top and pour over them the gravy.'

PRESSED CHICKEN

1 chicken
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon gelatin to each pint broth

Clean, singe and cut up a chicken. Place it in a kettle with a little water, cover closely and simmer until the meat will fall from the bones. Lift the pieces from the kettle with a skimmer and scrape all the meat from the bones, separating the white meat from the dark and taking out the pieces of skin. Season with salt and pepper.

Soften gelatin in two tablespoons of water for each tablespoon of gelatin and add to the boiling chicken broth. Place the meat in the dish it is to be pressed in, laying the white and dark in alternate layers, and adding from time to time a little of the broth to moisten all well. When all the meat is in the dish,^ pour over it enough of the broth to cover it; lay a plate on top of it; place a heavy weight upon the plate and set away in a cool place. This makes an attractive dish for luncheon, sliced and garnished with parsley.

FRICASSEE OF CHICKEN

WHITE

1 chicken
2 tablespoons fat
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk or cream
1 egg-yolk
Salt and pepper
Herbs
Salt pork
Rice or dumplings

Singe, clean and cup up the chicken. Brown in a pan with the fat. Cover with boiling water, add salt, pepper, herbs and a few slices of salt pork. Simmer until tender (about an hour) strain and thicken one pint of the liquor with the flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little cold water; add the milk or cream beaten with the yolk of the egg. Heat again until slightly thickened, pour over the chicken and serve with rice or dumplings (see Index for recipe).

BROWN

1 chicken
2 or 3 small slices salt pork
2 tablespoons flour
1 pint boiling water
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon onion-juice, if desired

Cut in pieces as directed for white fricassee. Place salt pork in a frying-pan, and when hot put in the chicken, leaving plenty of room to turn the meat; cook until each piece is a rich brown. Remove the chicken and keep it warm. Add the flour to the fat in the pan, stir well and when it has cooked two minutes, add the boiling water. When the gravy is smooth and boiling, replace the chicken, season with salt and pepper, cover the pan, and simmer gently until the chicken is tender, then add a teaspoon of onion-juice, if desired, and serve at once. The gravy will be thick enough, and if the pan has a tight cover, it will not be diminished, even after long cooking.

CHICKEN PIE

1 chicken
Pie paste
Salt and pepper  
Flour
Milk

Clean, singe and cut up chicken as for fricassee. Place in a kettle and add enough hot water to cover. Put the cover on the kettle, and simmer slowly until the chicken is tender, adding a little more water if needed. Make a gravy of the stock, using two tablespoons flour for each cup of stock. Use for the crust puff paste, or a good pie paste, rolled a little thicker than for fruit pies. Line the sides of a deep baking-dish with crust; invert in the middle of the dish a small cup or ramekin; put in part of the chicken and season with salt and pepper, then add the rest of the chicken, and season the same way.

Put in the dish two cups or more of the gravy made from broth in which the chicken was cooked and cover the top with crust. The cup or ramekin will hold the crust up and will prevent evaporation. Most chicken pie is too dry; therefore, use a generous amount of the broth. Bake in a hot oven(450°F.) until crust is done (one-half hour).When serving, after cutting the first slice, carefully slip the knife under the ramekin and release the gravy which is held there by suction. Additional gravy should be served in a gravy-dish.

CURRY OF CHICKEN

1 chicken ( 1 1/2 or 2 pounds)
1 teaspoon salt
2 onions
1 egg-yolk
2 tablespoons fat
1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons curry-powder
1 tablespoon flour

Cut up the chicken as for fricassee, put in a saucepan with sufficient water to cover it, and simmer until tender, keeping the pan closely covered. Remove from the fire, take the chicken out and pour the liquor into a bowl. Put  the onions into the saucepan with the fat and sauté until brown, then skim them out and put in the chicken; fry for three or four minutes, then sprinkle over it the curry-powder. Next pour in the chicken liquor, stew five minutes longer and stir in the flour mixed until smooth with a little cold water. Stir the mixture until it thickens; add the beaten yolk of egg, adding a little of the hot mixture to the egg first. Serve with a border of hot boiled rice.

SAVORY CHICKEN

1/4 cup fat
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 chopped carrot
1 slice turnip
5/4 cup flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups strained tomatoes
Salt, pepper and paprika
1 chicken
Salt-pork fat
1 cup button mushrooms
2 tablespoons chopped olives

Make a savory sauce by melting the fat and cooking in it chopped onion, carrot and turnip cut in small pieces. Stir in flour and add gradually boiling water and tomato, previously stewed and strained. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.

Cut up a chicken, dredge with flour, and sauté in salt-pork fat. Remove from the pan, place in a saucepan and cover with the savory sauce. Cook until the chicken is tender. At the last moment, add the mushrooms and chopped olives. Ar- range the pieces of chicken in the center of the platter and pour the sauce around them, garnishing with triangles of toast and stuffed olives.

SCALLOPED CHICKEN

2 cups cooked chicken meat
1 pint broth in which chicken was cooked
Fat
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper
Bread-crumbs
2 cups sliced, cooked potatoes

Cut the cooked chicken meat into dice. Thicken the broth with a paste made of the flour and two tablespoons of fat and season with salt and pepper. Fill a pudding-dish with alternate layers of bread-crumbs, chicken and potatoes. Cover the top with crumbs. Pour in the gravy and add a few bits of butter or other fat and bake fifteen to thirty minutes in a moderate oven (3 50°-400° F.).

CREAMED CHICKEN

2 cups cooked chicken
2 tablespoons fat
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk or cream
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon parsley
1 egg-yolk

Make a white sauce of the fat, flour and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Add the parsley and chicken and cook until the sauce is thoroughly hot again. Beat the egg-yolk, adding two tablespoons of milk, and pour into the mixture. Cook two minutes, stirring constantly, and serve in a border of riced potatoes or in croustades.

Creamed chicken may be varied in a number of ways: by substituting mushrooms or chopped cooked eggs for part of the chicken or by adding chopped pimientos and olives.

Capons

Capons are large, plump young roosters, especially fattened for the table. They are prepared for cooking in the same way as chickens. For stuffing, choose a delicate flavoring such as oysters or chestnuts. Mushrooms or truffles are especially good with capon.

Turkeys

ROAST TURKEY

Dress as directed for roast chicken and roast in an uncovered roaster in a slow oven (300° F.) allowing 15 to 25 minutes per pound, depending upon age and size of bird. The larger birds require less time per pound than the small birds. Baste the bird at half hour intervals. Serve with giblet gravy.

BRAISED TURKEY

1 turkey
Stuffing
1/2 pound salt pork
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup turnip
4 cups water or stock
Salt and pepper

This is a very satisfactory way of cooking an old turkey that is unfit for roasting. Stuff the body and breast with any desired stuffing, and truss. Spread thin slices of salt pork over the breast and legs, and cover the turkey with a strong sheet of oiled paper, fastening the paper on by passing a string around the body. In a double roasting-pan large enough to hold the turkey, spread sliced salt pork and the chopped vegetables. Lay the turkey on this mixture, with the breast up, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover the pan tightly, and place in a moderate oven (350° - 400°F.). Allow twenty-five minutes for each pound.

At the end of thirty minutes, add water or stock. During the last half-hour take the cover from the pan, remove the paper and pork from the turkey. This permits the meat to brown lightly. Serve with mushroom sauce, or with the gravy in the pan, strained and thickened.

FILLETS OF TURKEY WITH RICE

Breast fillets
Egg and crumbs
1 cup white stock 1 cup rice
6 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon onion-juice
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon grated cheese

Skin the breast of a plump turkey, and slice. The slices should be nearly half an inch thick, and as nearly uniform in size as possible. Dip in beaten egg, then in crumbs, again in the egg, and once more in the crumbs. Set in the refrigerator. Put the white stock into a saucepan; add rice, onion-juice and one-half teaspoon salt and simmer slowly until the liquid is absorbed.
When the rice is tender, add butter and grated cheese, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and let it stand at the side of the fire until the fillets are ready. Heat salad-oil or cooking fat slowly in a frying-pan to 375°-390° F., and cook the fillets to a nice brown. Mound the rice in the center of a hot dish and arrange the fillets about it.

BROILED YOUNG TURKEY

Young turkeys may be broiled or panned, like chickens. A young turkey is easily distinguished by its smooth, black legs and white skin.

Pigeons and Squabs

Pigeons need long, slow cooking to make them tender. Squabs are tender and are usually broiled.

BROILED SQUAB

6 squabs
Salt and pepper
Toast

Split the birds down the back, flatten the breast, wipe inside and out with a damp cloth. Put on a broiler, season with pepper and salt, and when nicely browned, pour a generous amount of melted butter over them. Serve on toast.

PIGEON AND MUSHROOM STEW

3 pigeons
1 tablespoon fat
1 pint stock or gravy
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 cup mushrooms
2 tablespoons mushroom catchup
Salt and pepper
Cayenne

Clean and cut pigeons into small portions and let them cook a short time in the fat in a saucepan, being careful not to brown them. Next add to the contents of the pan the stock or gravy, the mushroom catchup, and salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Simmer an hour, or until tender, add the mushrooms, simmer ten minutes more, and then stir in the cream. Arrange the mushrooms around the pigeons on a hot platter.

POTTED PIGEONS

6 pigeons
3 slices bacon
Any simple stuffing 1 diced carrot
1 diced onion
Chopped parsley Hot water or stock
1/4 cup fat
1/4 cup flour
Buttered toast

Clean and dress pigeons, stuff, truss, and place them upright in a stew-pan on the slices of bacon. Add the carrot, onion, and a little parsley, and cover with boiling water or stock Cover the pot closely and let simmer from two to three hours, or until tender, adding boiling water or stock when necessary. Make a sauce of the fat and flour and two cups of the stock remaining in the pan.

Serve each pigeon on a thin piece of moistened toast, and pour gravy over all.

PIGEON PIE

6 pigeons
Bread stuffing
Salt and pepper
Fat
Flour
Rich pie paste
3 hard-cooked eggs

Stuff each pigeon with bread stuffing. Loosen the joints with a knife, but do not cut them through. Simmer the birds in a stew-pan, with water enough to cover, until nearly tender, then season with salt and pepper. Make a medium thick gravy with flour, fat and liquor in which pigeons have cooked and let it cool. Line the sides of a greased pudding-dish with rich paste and cut the hard-cooked eggs in slices. Put successive layers of egg, pigeon and gravy into the dish until it is filled, put on a cover of paste and bake (at 450° F.) for one-half hour.

Wild Ducks

Nearly all wild ducks are likely to have a fishy flavor, and when dressed by an inexperienced cook are often unfit to eat. This flavor may be much lessened by placing in each duck a small peeled carrot, plunging the fowls in boiling water and simmering them for ten minutes before roasting. The carrot will absorb some of the unpleasant taste. An onion will have somewhat the same effect, but unless a stuffing with onions is used, the carrot is to be preferred. When there is an objection to parboiling (as when the ducks are young) rub them lightly with an onion cut in two and put three or four uncooked cranberries in each before cooking.

ROAST WILD DUCK

Clean, wiping inside and outside with a damp towel. Tuck back the wings, and truss. Dust with salt, pepper and flour. If not fat, cover the breast with two thin slices of salt pork. Place duck in a baking-pan, and add one cup of water, and two tablespoons of fat. Bake in a very hot oven (500° F.) from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to rareness desired, basting frequently. Reduce the heat after fifteen minutes. Serve with slices of lemon or orange and a brown gravy or with olive sauce. Currant jelly may also be served. Wild ducks are served rare and are seldom stuffed when roasted. An old saying is that a young wild duck to be well cooked should only fly through a very hot oven.

CANVASBACK DUCK, DELMONICO STYLE

This bird is in season from the last of November until March. As it feeds mainly on wild celery, it requires no spices in cooking. Its flavor is best preserved by roasting quickly in a very hot oven (500° F.) so that it will be brown on the outside and under done on the inside. Dress it in the usual way and wipe with a wet towel. Truss its head under the wing, place in a dripping-pan and roast one-half hour, or twenty minutes if liked underdone, basting often. Reduce the heat after fifteen minutes. Season with salt and pepper and pour over it the gravy in the baking-dish.

MALLARD WILD DUCK

These ducks, in season during the Fall and Winter, are very dry when roasted. They are good if stuffed with bread stuffing, then well sewed up, tied in shape and placed in a large kettle with a couple of slices of onion, a little thyme, and a small quantity of water and cooked slowly for one hour. Turn the bird frequently during the cooking; replenish the water if necessary, but use only enough to keep the ducks from burning.

CHICKEN OR TURKEY BONE SOUP

Never discard the bones of turkey or chicken as they always will make a delicious soup. Scrape the meat from the bones, break the bones, pack in a kettle, and cover with cold water, adding a small onion. Cover closely and simmer very gently for three hours. Strain and cool. One-half hour before it is to be served, return to the fire and for every quart of stock add one cup of the cold meat, season and keep hot till needed. This soup may be greatly improved by adding to it, three minutes before serving, ten oysters to each quart of soup.

TURKEY CURRY

6 tablespoons fat
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 large apple, peeled, diced 1 large can mushrooms or
1 pound fresh mushrooms
3 cups turkey, diced
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 1/2 cups turkey stock and top milk, or cream

Cook onion, apple, mushrooms, and turkey in the fat until onion and apple begin to be transparent: 10 to 15 minutes. If fresh mushrooms are used, sauté several minutes before adding to other ingredients. Remove from heat, add salt, flour, and curry powder and stir thoroughly. Add liquid, and cook until thickened throughout. Set over hot water, cover and cook 15 minutes longer to blend the flavors. Taste and add more seasoning if desired. Serve with hot boiled rice. Little or no salt is added in cooking rice.

Goose

ROAST GOOSE WITH POTATO STUFFING

1 goose (about 8 pounds)
Potato stuffing
Salt pork if goose is not fat
Salt and pepper
Flour

Select a goose that is about four months old. An old goose is better braised than roasted. Singe the goose, wash it carefully in hot water, and wipe it dry on the outside; then draw it and clean it thoroughly inside. Flatten the breast-bone by striking it with a rolling-pin. Partly fill the cavity with potato stuffing, stitch up the openings and truss the goose. If it is not fat, lay thin slices of pork upon the breast, but if the goose has considerable fat, omit the pork. Bake in a hot oven (500°F.) for forty-five minutes. Remove it from the oven, pour out all the fat, sprinkle the bird all over with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and return it to the oven. Reduce the heat but do not let it get below 350° F.

When the flour is a good brown, pour one cup of hot water into the pan and baste the goose often, dredging it each time with a slight sifting of flour to absorb the fat. Allow twenty minutes to the pound for a young goose and twenty-five for one that is old. Remove the goose from the pan, add a cup of hot water to the gravy and thicken it, if necessary, with browned flour. Garnish the goose with parsley and serve with giblet gravy.

Apple sauce is often served with roast goose.

Goslings may be roasted in the same way, allowing, however, only fifteen minutes to the pound for cooking.

ROAST GOOSE WITH BAKED APPLE

1 eight-pound goose
2 cups bread-crumbs
1 chopped onion
2 tablespoons fat
1/4 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper
6 to 8 apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 sweet potatoes

Cook the giblets until tender, chop and add to stuffing made by mixing bread-crumbs, onion, fat, sage, salt and pepper. After cleaning and washing the goose thoroughly, stuff, and sew the neck and back. Roast for fifteen minutes at 500°F., then reduce the heat to 350°F. and cook about three hours. Wash and core six to eight apples; sprinkle with brown sugar, stuff with mashed and seasoned sweet potato; bake until tender and serve hot with the goose.

DEVILED GOOSE

1 goose
Potato stuffing
1/4 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons made mustard
1 tablespoon salt

After cleaning the goose and wiping it well with a damp cloth, plunge it into a kettle of boiling water, and simmer for one hour. Take it from the kettle, drain well, and wipe it dry. Partly fill the body and neck with potato stuffing, sew up and truss, and roast in a moderately hot oven (350° - 400° F.), allowing fifteen to twenty minutes to the pound. Pour over it a mixture of the vinegar, pepper, and made mustard, and baste frequently. Serve with giblet gravy.

An old goose that can not be made eatable in any other way may be cooked in this way, two hours instead of one hour being allowed for the simmering.

Ducks

ROAST DUCK

Epicures prefer young ducks rare, and without stuffing. Some people consider that ducks have too strong a flavor, and to absorb this flavor lay cored and quartered apples inside the body. These apples are removed before the duck is sent to the table. Celery and onions also may be placed inside the duck to season it and improve the flavor, two tablespoons of chopped onion being used to every cup of chopped celery, which may consist of the green stalks that are not desired for the table. This stuffing is also removed from the bird before it is sent to the table. Should filling be preferred, use potato stuffing, putting it in very hot.

Truss the duck, sprinkle it with salt, pepper and flour, and roast in a very hot oven (500° F.) fifteen to thirty minutes, provided the duck is young and is desired rare.

Full-grown domestic ducks are roasted in a moderate oven (350° F.) allowing 20 to 25 minutes per pound. Bake uncovered. Baste every half hour with drippings in pan. Serve with giblet gravy and applesauce or grape or currant jelly. Green peas should also be served with roast duck.

BRAISED DUCKS

1 brace ducks
3 slices bacon
1 carrot
1 onion stuck with cloves Thyme
Parsley
Salt and pepper
1 small turnip, diced
Oil or cooking fat
Flour

Prepare ducks as for roasting, put them into a large stew-pan with the bacon, carrot, onion and a little thyme and parsley; season with salt and pepper and cover with water. Simmer over a low fire until the ducks are tender, then remove them from the pan. Cook the turnip in the fat until brown, then drain and cook in liquor in the stew-pan, until tender. Strain the liquor, thicken with flour and pour the gravy thus made over the ducks. Garnish with pieces of turnip.

DUCK À LA CREOLE

2 cups cooked duck
2 tablespoons fat
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons chopped ham
2 tablespoons onion
Chopped celery
Chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
Paprika
1 1/2 cups consommé or bouillon
1 clove
1/4 teaspoon mace
Chopped sweet pepper

Melt the fat and add the flour, then stir in the ham. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, onion, celery, sweet pepper and parsley. Stir for two minutes, add the consommé or bouillon, the clove and mace. Simmer one hour. Strain this sauce and stir in the cooked duck, cut into cubes. Cook just enough longer to heat all thoroughly. Serve with diamonds of fried hominy or mush.

STUFFINGS FOR FISH, MEAT, POULTRY AND GAME

STUFFING does not necessarily have to be baked in the fowl or meat. If the bird is small or if there is some stuffing left over, it may be baked or steamed in a well-greased ring mold, loaf pan or individual molds. Fill center of ring with vegetables. Croquettes of stuffing, made by the usual method, are served in a circle around the bird.

BREAD STUFFING

No. 1.

1 1/2 cups bread-crumbs
1/4 cup butter or other fat
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg

Moisten the bread-crumbs with the egg slightly beaten and the melted fat. Season and mix well. This makes a rich, moist dressing.

No. 2.

2 to 3 tablespoons melted fat
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 cup dry bread-crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or stock
1/2 teaspoon each sage, chopped celery, parsley

Melt the fat in the frying-pan; add the onion, and sauté until tender. Add the bread-crumbs and seasonings and mix well. Then add the milk or stock. This makes a loose, light stuffing much preferred by many to the soft moist or compact type. It can be varied by leaving out the onion or the sage, by adding chopped celery or by adding two tablespoons of seeded raisins.

No. 3.

1/2 cup milk
2 cups grated bread-crumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons melted fat
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
1/2 teaspoon chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon summer savory

Pour the milk on the crumbs and let stand about one hour, then add the seasonings, the fat, and the egg slightly beaten.

CRACKER CRUMB STUFFING

1 cup cracker-crumbs
2 tablespoons butter or other fat
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Melt the fat and mix with the crumbs. Add the water, and then the seasonings. When this stuffing is used, a greater allowance than usual must be made for swelling.

POTATO STUFFING

2 cups hot mashed potato
1 cup bread-crumbs
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sage
4 tablespoons melted butter or other fat
2 tablespoons onion-juice

Mix the ingredients in the order given.

CELERY STUFFING

2 cups chopped celery
2 tablespoons fat
2 cups stale bread-crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon pepper

Chop the celery fine. Melt the fat, add the crumbs and mix well. Add the celery, salt and pepper.

OYSTER STUFFING

2 cups oysters
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups dry bread-crumbs
1/4 cup fat

Mix the oysters well with the bread-crumbs and seasoning, and add the melted fat.

PINEAPPLE-NUT STUFFING

4 cups stale bread, 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 cup celery, finely chopped
3/4 cup pineapple, small pieces
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1 teaspoon paprika
1 pimiento
Dash cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs

Combine bread, celery, walnuts, pineapple, pimiento, and seasoning. Melt butter, remove from heat, stir in unbeaten eggs, add to bread mixture. Toss lightly. Use as stuffing for turkey, chicken, duck, veal roll, lamb chops or pork chops. Substitute crisp bacon cut in small pieces for nuts, reduce salt one-third and add grated onion, or substitute red or green bell pepper for pimiento.

SAUSAGE STUFFING

1/2 pound sausage-meat
2 cups dried bread-crumbs
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon onion-juice
1 tablespoon minced parsley

Mix sausage and crumbs, then add seasonings.

MUSHROOM STUFFING

3 cups stale bread-crumbs
6 tablespoons butter or other fat
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme
1 teaspoon minced parsley

Mix ingredients in the order given.

RICE STUFFING

1 cup milk
1 cup soft bread-crumbs
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter or other fat
Salt and pepper
4 cups cold boiled rice
1/2 pound sausage
Sage
Parsley
Sweet herbs

Pour the milk over the crumbs. Cook the onion in the fat until brown, then add the rice, the soaked crumbs, the sausage, and seasonings to taste.

CHESTNUT STUFFING

No. 1.

1 quart chestnuts
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper

Shell and blanch chestnuts and boil one-half hour in water enough to cover them, then drain. Do not chop or mash them. Add to them the butter, salt and pepper.

No. 2.

1 quart chestnuts
1/4 cup bread-crumbs
2 tablespoons butter or other fat
2 tablespoons cream
Salt and pepper
Onion-juice, if desired

Shell and blanch the chestnuts and cook in boiling water until tender. While they are still hot, rub them through a coarse sieve or colander. Add other ingredients in order given.

RAISIN-NUT STUFFING

2 cups stale bread crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped seeded raisins
1/2 cup broken walnut meats
1 teaspoon salt
1/8  teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage

Mix ingredients together lightly with fork. Yield: 2 1/2  cups stuffing.

WILD RICE AND MUSHROOM STUFFING

1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 pound sausage meat
3 cups boiled wild rice
1 teaspoon salt

Sauté onion in 2 tablespoons butter 5 minutes, or until lightly browned, and remove from pan; add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and mushrooms, and cook 5 minutes, then remove from pan. Fry sausage meat until lightly browned, stirring constantly; remove from heat and stir in onion and mushrooms; add wild rice and salt, mixing lightly. This makes a light goose stuffing. Yields 5 cups stuffing or enough for 1 (10 lb.) goose.

GIBLET GRAVY

Giblets and neck of fowl
2 tablespoons chicken fat
2 tablespoons flour  
Salt and pepper

Place the giblets (liver, heart and gizzard) and the neck in a saucepan and cover them with cold water. Simmer slowly and when they are tender remove the flesh from the neck and chop it fine with the giblets. Save the stock in which the giblets and neck were cooked. Heat the fat in a small saucepan on top of the stove and when it is hot stir in the flour. Cook two minutes, then add one cup of the stock pouring it in gradually so that it will not thin the gravy too much. If the gravy seems too thick, add a little, hot water. Last, put in the chopped giblets and season to taste with salt and pepper.

TO CARVE POULTRY

Roast Turkey or Chicken

Let the bird rest on its back on the platter, with the drumsticks pointing toward your left. Grasp the carving-fork firmly in the left hand, with the tines pointing toward the bird's neck and the tips turned from the bird. Insert it into the leg so that one tine goes diagonally through the drumstick and the other through the second joint.

Cut all around the hip joint. Press against the side of the bird with the flat of the knife and use the fork as a lever to bend the leg back. This will separate the hip joint and the leg can be lifted off without difficulty.

Without removing the fork, lay the leg down flat, with the open end pointing, toward the left, and insert the knife from right to left between the tines of the fork. Press the knife down and it should go through the joint. At first you may have to do a little feeling around to locate the joint, but with practice you will learn how to insert the fork so that when the knife is placed between the tines it will fall directly over the joint.

Next thrust the fork into the side of the bird, rather low down, and cut the breast downward in thin even slices.

Slice the meat from the second joint and serve a slice of white meat and a slice of dark meat to each guest.

If more portions are needed, turn the bird so that it is lying with the carved side down. Separate the second leg in the same way you did the first, and slice the breast.

If the wings are needed they may be cut from the bird and divided in the same manner as the legs.

Ordinarily the tips of the wings and the drumsticks are not served with the roasted bird but are reserved for other uses.

Roast Ducks

Follow the same method as for turkeys and chickens, but keep in mind that a duck's joints are much farther toward the back than those of turkeys and chickens.

With Wild Duck, only the breast is served. Half a breast is usually removed in one portion and served to one person.

Broilers

Arrange the bird on the platter so that the neck is toward you. Insert the fork in the second joint; cut the flesh around the hip joint; bend the joint over sharply with the knife and separate it from the body. Separate the drumstick from the second joint or leave them together, as you prefer. Split the breast in two. Serve half the breast and a second joint or whole leg to each person.

Source: The American Woman's Cook Book, Culinary Arts Institute by Consolidated Book Publishers, Inc., Chicago Illinois, 1939

© Trevor Dailey

 

One man fighting scams

Each year, scumbags, calling from outside of North America, perpetrate fraud against Canadian and American citizens through the telephone by impersonation of  Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stealing money from individuals by using intimidatory tactics.

Because I am not satisfied with the CRA’s response to this crime, I am pleased to find a private citizen, an American, doing something about it. He combats both the IRS and CRA fraud, and other frauds, and posts the humorous and effective results on his YouTube channel he calls The Hoax Hotel.

America is the greatest country in the world.

The scammers steal money through fraud. The CRA and IRS steal money through force.

Abolish income tax.

© Trevor Dailey

The other Canadian anniversary: 100 years of income tax

History of the US Income Tax

 

Have you heard of Hunter Harrison?

With more than 46,000 kilometres of tracks…the rail transport industry is an important element of Canada's transportation system. In Canada, the rail transport industry generates approximately $10 billion per year—95% of which comes from rail freight operations…”

Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) are the two dominant freight rail operators in Canada and are both Class I railways, meaning their revenues exceeded $250 million in the past two years.

CN generates annual freight revenues in Canada on the order of $5.5 billion, and employs 22,000 people here…

…CPR...generates almost $4 billion in annual revenues in Canada; it has roughly 15,000 employees system-wide.

SOURCE: Transport Canada: Rail Transportation

During his tenures as chief executive of Canadian National Railway Co. and later at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., Harrison turned both into efficient railways that boasted record operating ratios, a metric key to his model that involved running trains on a strict schedule, regardless of whether they are empty or full.

Before CN’s $2.4 billion purchase in 1998 of Illinois Central — the railway where Harrison had began his executive career at — CN’s market capitalization was $5.76 billion while adjusted revenues topped $4.35 billion. Harrison became chief executive in 2003 and by the time he retired in 2009, market capitalization sat at $27.01 billion while adjusted revenues were $7.38 billion. CN’s operating ratio, which measures expenses as a percentage of revenues, fell from 89 per cent in 1998 to 61 per cent in 2006.

Harrison’s transformation effort at CP was quicker, and more drastic. Under Harrison’s leadership, the company’s operating ratio fell to 58.6 per cent in 2016, from 81 per cent in 2011. Before he arrived in 2012, CP’s market capitalization was $11.73 billion, with adjusted revenues of $5.12 billion. By the time he left at the end of 2016, the company’s market capitalization grew by $16.29 billion, with adjusted revenues reaching $6.2 billion.

SOURCE: Financial Post

Hunter Harrison died on December, 16, 2017. CP lowered flags to half mast across it’s network to honour the memory of Hunter Harrison who turned both CN (former Crown Corporation) and CP from two of the worst operated railways in North America to two of the best operated railways in North America. Not surprisingly, I have not heard even a mention of Hunter Harrison's passing from any federal politician in Canada given all he did.

Is it because Hunter Harrison was American? Is it because Hunter Harrison showed private corporations are better than Crown corporations? Is it because Canada is more of a socialist country than most people believe? All of the above?

© Trevor Dailey

Facebook dislike and LinkedIn disillusion

During my endless reading about advice on how to find a job, and I mean endless because it is never ends, LinkedIn usually comes up. LinkedIn, claimed to be where you go to get a job, because professionals are on LinkedIn. Create a profile on LinkedIn and get noticed by the major employers. That’s what I did. I am now what one might call disillusioned.

I am not certain when LinkedIn changed into Facebook, but it did change somewhere along the way. The reason LinkedIn gives for the change is because people are accustomed to Facebook, so LinkedIn wants to be like Facebook. Raising my hand, I would ask the question, why does LinkedIn want to be like Facebook?

One thing I have learned about business is a business tends to beat its competition by doing what its competition is not doing. If LinkedIn is like Facebook then why would someone choose LinkedIn instead of Facebook? They likely would not.

Facebook is something I left behind years ago. The reason I dumped Facebook was largely because of privacy issues, but I also just really disliked Facebook in general. I still really dislike it. I will not even visit Facebook. Now that LinkedIn is trying to be Facebook, I am disliking LinkedIn.

Maybe someone will come up with a new idea, and when asked why they don’t do it like Facebook or LinkedIn, the answer will be, we are not Facebook or LinkedIn.   

What do I know?

Update: I have since closed my LinkedIn account.

© Trevor Dailey

Aviva Water Protection: fearmongering and deception

My insurance broker sent me a letter asking me if I was interested in added coverage to my tenant insurance. The added coverage was for overland flood and sewer back-up. I live in a high-rise apartment; however, I looked at the pamphlet from Aviva included with the letter.

Why you need Aviva Water Protection.

Weather patterns are changing worldwide, a trend that’s affecting Canada directly.

Over the past 60 years, average temperatures have increased by 1.3°C, and average rainfall has increased by 12%.

The end result is staggering: Canada now has 20 times the storms and floods that we had just two decades ago, and major floods represent almost 40% of all natural disasters ever recorded in the county.

Did you know?

Canada has an average of 20 more rain days a year than in the 1950s?

Severe weather events that used to happen every 40 years can now be expected to happen every six years.

Because I am immediately sceptical of predictions of doom, I began to look over the pamphlet to find the source of these statistics so that I could verify them. Nowhere in the pamphlet is there a source for this information.

I looked up the historical weather data from Environment Canada regarding temperature and rainfall, and the Water Management for London, Ontario. Nothing I found even came close to matching the claims made by Aviva. I am not surprised.

The pamphlet is on its way to the garbage where it belongs.

© Trevor Dailey

Foray Into Fiction: The Big Bad Wolf (IV)

[SCENE]

[Young girl, teenager, high school age, secretly following werewolf in human form at a distance along a city street in early evening. She secretly observers him and takes photos as he travels along alone. She knows what he really is. No one else does. He is unemployed with a disheveled appearance. Clothes are worn. He takes no notice of the girl, seemingly unware of her. She becomes distracted for a moment and has lost him. She walks faster, runs, slows back to a fast walk as she desperately tries to find where he has disappeared to, and at the same time she in an amateur way tries not to blow her cover. She stops by an alleyway she thinks he might have gone down. She sees nothing. Giving up, she is starts to leave. He grabs her by the back of her collar and jerks her hard back into the alley. Grabbing and holding her from the front he angrily confronts her.]

[Werewolf] They’re sending kids now?! [Shocked]

[Girl is silent. No expression. A paralyzed state.]

[Werewolf] Who sent you!  

[Girl remains the same. He grows more angry. Pulls girl close to his face.]

[Werewolf] Who are you! [Demanding.]

[He catches a scent of her that surprises him. He freezes.]

[Flashback begins]

[An approximately 5 year old girl standing alone against a wall inside. Resembles teenage girl. Sounds of violence, but it is unclear what has occurred. Child is unharmed. Werewolf in wolf form suddenly is up close face to face with the blank faced and motionless child. Werewolf sniffs her, gives her a single dog lick to her face, and then disappears.]   

[Flashback ends]

[He lets go of her with a slight push, and she stumbles back as she loses her balance, and collapses to the ground unhurt. He leaves. He disappears. She does not follow him.]

[SCENE]

[Woman in her 20s. Resembles teenage girl. Has man in 40s or 50s bound and restrained in a standing position and gagged. Woman softly sings menacingly as she loads an automatic handgun.]

[Woman] Hush little baby, don’t you cry. Mama’s gonna buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird won’t sing, Mama’s gonna buy you a DIAmond ring!

[On “die” emphases she pulls down the gag on the man and forces the barrel of the handgun into his mouth.]

[Woman] You know the rest of the song?

[Man makes panicked unintelligible sounds]

[Woman pushes gun more into his mouth. Brings her ear close his mouth.]

[Woman] I’m sorry, I didn’t get that. What was that?

[Women stands up straight and is going to fire. Expressionless she pauses.]

[Woman. To werewolf in human form off out of sight. Not looking away from her victim.] I thought you might show up.

[No response.]

[Woman] I am going to kill him.

[No response]

[Woman] You can’t stop me.

[No response]

[Woman] I am going to kill him. [Pause] Just like you kill.

[Werewolf] I kill to survive. [Calmly]

[After a few moments woman removes the gun from the man’s mouth. She unloads the gun, and places it on the ground. Slides the gun and the loaded clip towards the werewolf with her foot. She hangs her head. A look of cocky high self confidence appears on the man’s face. He thinks he has won. He laughs at her. She suddenly pulls a hidden large calibre revolver from her clothing and shoots the man, holding the gun with both hands, pulling the trigger as fast as she can. The gun empties, the man is dead, but she continues to pull the trigger. The gun clicks and clicks with a rapid sound. Werewolf slowly and gently takes the gun from her hands. He embraces her. Putting his arm around her, he leads her away.

[Werewolf] Are you going to be alright?

[Woman] I’ll survive. [Calmly]

(c) Trevor Dailey