I’m watching an episode of treasure hunters that are looking for the remains of German U-Boats from World War II. They have found several articles, including a pewter knife handle and what appears to be a broken porcelain dinner plate with a partial logo on the bottom.
I did a quick Google search and found a couple of logos and then fed them both into Gemini. In this episode the divers have a video call with another expert and he verifies that it is a Luftwaffe (air) plate.
Darrell Miklos
The logo on the right is almost spot on. The stylized eagle looks exactly the same, and the “U.V.” is on one shard of plate. There appears to be a “19” on one side of the logo, and “38” on the other. Probably the year 1938. This is what Gemini said about the image on the right:
The image shows a brown ink stamp or marking on a white surface. The central element is a stylized eagle clutching a swastika. To the left of the eagle are the letters “Fl.” and to the right are the letters “U.V.” Below the eagle and swastika is the year “1940”.
As identified previously, the “Fl. U.V.” stands for Flieger Unterkunft Verwaltung, which translates to Flight Barracks Administration of the German Luftwaffe during World War II.
The addition of the year “1940” indicates that the object bearing this stamp was likely property of or used by the Luftwaffe’s Flight Barracks Administration in the year 1940.
Eraser Pawns.Sharpener RooksA binder clip Bishop.An eraser Pawn and a sharpener Rook.A stapler King.A staple remover Queen.
I was in Dollar+ Tree today and happened to see these colored rubber pencil erasers. I thought that the would make excellent pawns for a chess set. Each side would have a single color and at the price for 40, I probably wouldn’t have to buy more than two packages.
So I struck up a conversation with Gemini (the AI) and asked if colored rubber erasers could be used as pawns for a chess set, and asked that it give me suggestions for the other pieces. One suggestion was to use pencil sharpeners for the Rook, and I liked that. This AI can call upon another program to generate an image with the various elements we have been discussing and instead of using the eraser shapes that I had showed it, it used the rectangular one shown above, and I liked that one even better.
“COMFORT” by Yotam Ottolenghi is a cookbook that offers a vibrant and modern take on classic comfort food. It emphasizes the following:
Elevated Comfort: The book presents familiar dishes like pasta, roasted vegetables, and baked goods, but with Ottolenghi’s signature twist, incorporating bold flavors, fresh ingredients, and creative techniques.
Emphasis on Vegetables: The images highlight the beauty and versatility of vegetables, suggesting that they play a central role in the recipes. Expect to find innovative ways to prepare and enjoy a variety of produce.
Rustic Charm: While the food is undoubtedly sophisticated, the presentation has a rustic and approachable feel. This suggests that the recipes are designed to be enjoyed in a relaxed and informal setting.
Communal Dining: The image of the shared meal emphasizes the social aspect of food and the joy of cooking for and eating with others. The book encourages readers to create meals that foster connection and bring people together.
Visual Appeal: The cookbook’s design and photography are vibrant and eye-catching, reflecting the creativity and energy of the recipes. The book itself is a beautiful object, as well as a source of culinary inspiration.
In essence, “COMFORT” offers a fresh perspective on comfort food, blending familiar flavors with Ottolenghi’s distinctive culinary style to create dishes that are both satisfying and inspiring.
The first one of these that I saw was “High Potential.” I liked it. But, then I came across HPI, and I realized soon, that it was the same show, different actors, and different, and I didn’t like it. I think I’ve read that the original show was a French Detective drama. *I’ve not found a French show, be it detective or otherwise that I’ve liked. The English know how to tell a story, but for me, the French do not.
And just now, I finished the first episode of “WildCards” and perhaps five minutes into it, I realized that this was an HPI-Type Show. And, it was.
You’ve got a very smart person, who hasn’t fit into society and is operating far below their potential because of their various quirks. But, because they are so brilliant, they help the cops figure out a difficult case, and then get asked on board to assist, perhaps with a probationary period involved. But, they continue to solve unsolvable cases.
Oh, I almost forgot. There is a disgruntled police officer, of the opposite sex who initially does not want this new, outsider, who is operating outside the box to intrude on cop work. But they just can’t stand the Tsunami of intelligent solvitude that floods in.
“Riddle & Brantley: is listed on the “Riddle & Riddle” web site as having been founded in 1985. Gene Riddle founding member of “Riddle & Brantley” Law Firm, earned his J.D. in 1985 from Wake Forest University. Dean, Gene’s twin brother, earned his law degree in 1985 from the UNC School of Law.
Jessse Christopher Brantley
Jesse Christopher Brantley is listed as a founding partner at Riddle & Brantley.” This law firm has changed it’s name to “Riddle & Riddle” Injury Lawyers. He graduated in 1989 from ECU with a B.A. degree. In 1993, he graduated with his J.D. degree from Campbell University.
“He is a proud member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an exclusive organization limited to personal injury attorneys who have secured verdicts or settlements of $1 million or more.”
Since “Riddle & Brantley” he is now with the Miller Law Group.
Alex Riddle came to work with her dad’s law firm directly after she passed the Bar in 2020. In 2024 she became a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. “According to the Million Dollar Advocates Forum itself, less than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members, meaning only a very small percentage of attorneys are admitted to the forum.” And AI’s 2¢, “Lawyers must have secured a verdict, award, or settlement of at least one million dollars for a client to be eligible for membership.“
Dwayne Johnson should do a sequel to his movie, “San Andreas,” and call it “San Andreas. It’s Still Not My Fault.”
… and is Julia Louis Dreyfus related to Richard Dreyfus?
And the answer might be self evident, if I actually had known how to spell both names correctly:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Richard Dreyfuss, and “No, they are not related.”
So I’m puttering around this morning, fixing another breakfast of Fried Apples and Bacon, with some Hazelnut Coffee. I think I saw the name “Baton Rouge” on something, either on the TV or on a web page, and I said the name out loud, emphasizing the first part as “Bey Taun” and then “Rugge,” as in Luge. And that led me to recalling that Moulin Rouge meant “Red Windmill,” to which my processing went, then Baton Rouge must mean “red stick.”
I’m not sure if I’ve ever thought this through before, but laughing slightly to my first thought, that “Baton” sounds like “baton” which is a form of stick… or something that a cheerleader once twirled, throwing it up into the air and then catching it before it hit the ground. I then said to myself, “well stranger things have happened,” and “Baton Rouge” might just mean “red stick.” So, I googled for the answer and sure enough, “Baton Rouge” means “red stick” which according to the Web, a red pole (marker) delineated the border between two Indian hunting grounds (I may have remembered that correctly.), and a French explorer seeing this came up with the name “Baton Rouge.”
Sometimes things like this remind me of other like occurrences. Once, I was taking a “Biblical Hebrew” language course and the whole class was translating a long Bible passage. The woman instructor was walking around “looking over our shoulders” to see how we were doing. I had translated a good portion of the text but then had come to a problem. A certain word seemed to mean, “one who travels about the hills & valleys tending sheep,” but this didn’t seem to fit with the meaning of the rest of the passage. The teacher stopped me and then suggested I say the word audibly. “D-V-D”. It was then that she pointed out, this wasn’t a word, but actually the name for “David,” who by the way was a tender of his father’s sheep.
What are the tasks that are required by the DMV staff to perform?
How can each task be performed the most efficiently?
Is computerization possible?
Will computerization make performance more efficient?
If a task can be completed remotely
Which tasks cannot be performed remotely?
If a task can’t be performed remotely, how can it be performed most efficiently “in office?”
What are the most time consuming or labor intensive tasks?
Why are people standing in line?
Can certain tasks be performed, or partially performed by people, while they stand in line?
Can a person standing in line use a phone to perform processing tasks?
There’s an app for that! NC DMV APP…
If documents of proof are required, could someone check each person in line before they actually come through the office door? Would this speed up the process, once they get inside and start to be processed?
Should a special ID or account be necessary to perform tasks online? If so, can a nationwide account or ID be used, instead of having to create a State specific account? How do we know who we are dealing with?
How can tasks or partial tasks be delegated to be more efficient?
Can a task be performed by staff remotely? Working from home or otherwise?
Hours of Operation? Can hours of Operation extend beyond 9 -5?
Can tasks that can’t be completed remotely, or more efficiently remotely, still be performed remotely to speed up the tasks that must be performed “in office?”
Could a mobile unit provide services more efficiently? Like a mobile library, could NC DMV services be driven “to the customer?”
Could empty facilities be used as “temporary” NC DMV locations?
Could kiosks be used to facilitate tasks?
Can payments be made online or remotely?
How are other states performing their DMV tasks?
What is working elsewhere, and can it be performed the same for NC DMV, or modified to work better for NC DMV?
Look at other States’ DMV web sites to compare with NC DMV’s site.
I currently like the Sanderson Farms Chicken Livers (and Gizzards) sold at IGA, and specifically the IGA in Eutah Village Shopping Center in Fayetteville. Why? Because they keep the white plastic containers free from blood on the outside of the container. Hey, I know that livers are soaked in blood, but it is unsightly to not wipe off the outside of these packages before putting them on the counter for sale.
There are enough livers in each container for about 3 helpings, and I currently like to fry them up, with a little onion, in my electric wok. They cook quickly and I can cook more than just one meal’s worth, and store the rest in a Rubbermaid container in the fridge. They reheat well in the microwave.
I put some oil, Olive or Avocado, or even mixing one of those with some Toasted Sesame Oil in my wok. I add some garlic powder and S&P while frying them. I flip them over a couple of times, and cut them with the edge of the rubber spatula. I have two of these heat resistant spatulas, one with a blue blade and one with a red blade. Even though they are made of a flexible rubber, their edges are sharp and will cut chicken or a chicken liver if needed. *The chicken that I use when fixing a Chicken Stir Fry.
I find that after the chicken livers and onions are cooked, I can just slide them up and over the edge of the wok and onto a plate, or into a storage container.
There are two other sides that I like to eat with my stir fried chicken livers. One is Stir Fried Green Beans and the other is an Asian Cucumber Salad.
The Asian Cucumber Salad has Toasted Sesame Oil, Spicy Chili Crisp, Soy Sauce and a little sweetener. This salad with the sweet vinegar helps cut the heaviness of the green beans and chicken livers.
The Stir Fried Green Beans may have some onion, sesame seeds, garlic powder, S&P, powdered ginger and a little sweetener. I might even use Toasted Sesame Oil to fry these beans.
I fixed a chicken stir fry last night and this time I added some steamed green beans which added color to the red bell pepper & orange carrots.
Well, here is something that I hadn’t thought about, and am surprised is possible. I had come across the image of the “brown rice vinegar” label that was written mostly in Korean. I hadn’t researched the translation of the characters, until now. I found that one small set of characters on the label represented the phrase “100% fermented vinegar.” So, I took the characters representing the word “fermented” ( 발효 ) and added them to the name for Pu’er ( 푸에르차 ) is a “fermented tea” ( 발효차 ), with ( 차 ) being the symbol for “tea.”
The thought came to me, whether I could save a file using Korean characters. Could I find an image file related to tea, and then save that file with the Korean characters for “tea” ( 차 ). So, I tried it, and darn if it didn’t work flawlessly.
Here was the image file named with the Korean characters for “tea.”
And once the above test worked, I asked myself if I could incorporate Korean characters into my naming of meals in my “MyFitnessPal” site. And I was pleasantly surprised a second time when it worked flawlessly.
I created a multi-item meal & saved the name using Korean characters for “tea” ( 차 ). See above. I checked the box beside the name “차” and then clicked on “Add Checked” and it did.
And here is what the URL for a WordPress page named with Korean characters looks like:
표 “Pyo” which means “mark” or “label” as in brand, but it can also mean “table.”
현미 brown rice 식초 vinegar
Several years ago there was a Korean Market located across town (Fayetteville, NC) near where the original Thai Pepper Restaurant was located. I bought a couple of bottles of Korean Brown Rice Vinegar there and really liked the mild, but distinctive flavor. The vinegar was slightly tinted. The problem was that after I finished using the second bottle and went back, they no longer had this brand of vinegar. I went looking and it seemed that the company might have stopped exporting their vinegar to the United States. I did keep the label and took a picture of it and I just came across that label again.
The label from the original Korean Rice Vinegar.샘표 is Sempio in Korean.
It was only since I started translating the Korean symbols above that I can understand that the first two labels, from the left, are for the same company, so both these vinegars should be the same.
I also bought and enjoyed some “drinking vinegar” from this Korean grocery. I don’t recall the flavor, but it was a sweetened, flavored vinegar that was pleasant to drink.
I found the following online at Amazon, but it is a 5 pack of vinegar for about $67 before tax.
The last time I was in Asheboro, North Carolina, I found a health foods store, “Samson & the Lion Natural Foods” and went in to see what they had. I ended up buying a bottle of “Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Refreshers” (ginger, lemon & honey flavored vinegar) and a package of Frankincense Resin Gum.
The vinegar, which was mostly water, had honey, ginger and lemon for flavoring, and I really liked those flavors together.
I later bought a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar at a Food Lion and when I was back home made my interpretation of the flavored vinegar. I came close enough to the original that I have made it a couple of times and keep some in the refrigerator door. I’ve added Turmeric also.
SCLAFANI BALSAMIC VINEGAR OF MODENA
The shop where I bought the vinegar is no longer located in Grove Arcade.
Years ago, and I don’t actually recall where I first bought and tried this particular balsamic vinegar, but I tried Sclafani “Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.” I liked the sweetness, and ended up buying some for myself, and later as perhaps Christmas presents for friends & relatives.
I’m not sure that I could buy this, in this type of bottle, any more. It’s not currently available at Amazon. I do recall finding it for sale in a store in the Grove Arcade in Asheville, North Carolina.
POMPEIAN RED WINE VINEGAR
The Pompeian Red Wine Vinegar has been my favorite for several years. I’ve tried a few other “red wine” vinegars, but this one satisfies me.
I bought a 6 pack of this vinegar from Amazon, but have gone through it already. I may use this vinegar in cooking almost as much as I use onions.
I am perfectly happy with the Pompeian Red Wine Vinegar that I can get at Walmart, and so I am not really sure why I came up with the idea to try and make my own vinegar at home. It could have been something as simple as trying to explain the meaning of “the mother” regarding vinegar. *You never saw “the mother” in bottles of Apple Cider Vinegar when I was growing up. You probably would not have bought it if you had, thinking it spoiled. **I guess this is something like not having any color of sweet bell pepper other than green when I was growing up. And, I’m not sure what I would have put diced green bell pepper in other than spaghetti sauce, or maybe a salad. Not sure if this fits, but how about the McCormick’s Ground Black Pepper that came in the red & white tin can. I am thinking that we kept one at least 10 years, if not longer. And now, I grind an Indian Long Pepper or mixed red, white, green & black pepper freshly each time.
Here is what the AI said about the vinegar making process:
$3 for 16 oz.Vinegar with Mother 16 oz.Cheap Red Wine $4.40 for 24 oz.Wide Mouth Glass JarCheesecloth
Making vinegar at home from cheap wine (Winking Owl from Aldi’s – Cabernet Sauvignon $4.39 750 ml 12% ABV) is fairly straightforward and requires just a few ingredients and some patience. Here’s the general process for turning wine into vinegar: *It already looks to me that making vinegar at home will not be worth the time (up to 6 weeks) & effort. If there is little to no loss of wine being converted into vinegar, the cost per ounce is about 18 cents, which is the approximate cost of commercially produced red wine vinegar. **And then I found that I might have to dilute the wine, with water, to reduce the ABV from 12% down to about 9%. Now we are producing a larger volume of vinegar because we’re necessarily adding water to the mix for a total liquid volume of about 45 oz.
🧪 BASIC OVERVIEW
Vinegar is made by converting alcohol (ethanol) into acetic acid using acetic acid bacteria (mainly Acetobacter). This is called acetous fermentation.
🍷 WHAT YOU NEED
Cheap wine – red, white, or even a blend. Avoid wine with sulfites if possible (see note below).
Unpasteurized vinegar with “mother” – Bragg apple cider vinegar or any live, raw vinegar will do.
Wide-mouth glass jar, ceramic crock, or food-grade plastic container.
Cheesecloth or clean cloth + rubber band – to cover the container and allow airflow.
A warm, dark place – ideally 60–80°F (15–27°C).
🧂 OPTIONAL
A vinegar mother (a cellulose mat of bacteria) from a previous batch or commercial source – this speeds up the process.
A pH meter or pH strips – to test acidity (vinegar is around pH 2.5–3.5 when ready).
🧃 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: De-sulfite the wine (if necessary)
Sulfites can inhibit bacterial activity. If your wine has sulfites (most do), let it sit open for 24 hours before using, or pour it back and forth between containers to let them dissipate.
Step 2: Mix wine and vinegar starter
Mix 1 part water to 3 parts wine to get ABV from 12% down to about 9% ABV.
Mix about 3 parts water/wine to 1 part unpasteurized vinegar (e.g., 3 cups wine + 1 cup Bragg’s ACV).
Pour the mixture into your jar or crock until it’s about 2/3 full to leave room for airflow.
Step 3: Cover and store
Cover the container with cheesecloth or a clean towel, secured with a rubber band.
Place it in a dark, warm (not hot) place with good air circulation.
Step 4: Wait and watch
Let it ferment for 3–6 weeks, or longer depending on temperature and strength of the wine.
You may notice a gelatinous blob forming — that’s the mother of vinegar. It’s a good sign.
Step 5: Taste test
After 3–4 weeks, start tasting once a week using a clean spoon or straw. When it’s tangy and no longer tastes like alcohol, it’s vinegar!
Step 6: Strain and bottle
Once it’s fully fermented (no alcohol flavor remains), strain out the mother and any sediment.
Bottle the vinegar in clean jars or bottles. Store in a cool, dark place.
🧫 SAFETY NOTE
Smell is important: Vinegar should smell pleasantly sour. If it smells rotten or moldy, discard it.
Mold: Sometimes a white film (kahm yeast) forms on top — this is generally harmless, but black, green, or fuzzy mold means contamination, and the batch should be thrown out.
🧪 HOW TO KNOW IT’S DONE
You can be more precise with:
pH testing: Vinegar should be around pH 2.5–3.5.
Smell/taste: Sharp, tangy, and acidic with no alcohol burn.
🥫 BONUS: Reuse the “mother”
Save the mother to kick-start future batches. You can also gift or compost it.
I used the cheap red wine from Aldi’s, Winking Owl, and added water. I put cheesecloth over the mouth of the jar, and fastened it with a rubber band. Basically I left it on the top of my refrigerator for more than a month. I’m still not sure if the product is vinegar or wine. It is pleasing to drink if I add a little sweetener to it. As warned there is a whitish scum that forms on the top of the vinegar/wine, and I just strain it off through my coffee filter as I pour from the carafe into the wine glass. I noted that the Winking Owl wine was only $3.95 today (09/26/25).
Bill Gibson, II 