Wacky news that makes you go "wtf?"

[MooMoo2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRj34o4hN4I

Give him a few years, and he might be good enough for the US gymnastics team....

[Dr Sardonicus]

According to news accounts, e.g. This L.A. Times story,

Moore campaign officials said a review of write-in ballots could narrow the margin enough to trigger a mandatory recount.

I don't see how this could happen. Both Roy Moore and Doug Jones already had their names on the ballot. So, I don't see how reviewing write-in ballots could add a single vote for either candidate.

Perhaps a write-in vote for a candidate whose name is already printed on the ballot would be discarded, thereby costing that candidate a vote. (I doubt this happens much.) But a write-in for a candidate whose name is not on the ballot would, I believe, either be recorded as a vote for that candidate, or else discarded (say, if the write-in was a fictitious character like Donald Duck).

In this election, most of the write-in ballots seemed to be for Republicans other than Roy Moore. A review might cause some of them to be discarded. I don't see any of them being changed to votes for Roy Moore, or nullifying any votes for Doug Jones.

[ixfd64]

http://foxnews.com/food-drink/2017/1...all-clams.html

[The Carnivore]

A guy I met told me of a rather unusual restaurant he once visited. I don't quite remember the exact name, but it was either "Wilson's Top Foods", "Willy's Top Foods", or something very close to that. You know, WTF.

Upon first glance, the restaurant did not seem to be out of the ordinary. The decor was fairly cliche, and it served the standard Americana fare. Ribs, steak, burgers, chicken wings, and so on. That is, until you opened the hard-to-find flap on the inside cover of the menu and pulled out the following sheet that was sandwiched in between many blank pages:

Odd items.
A selection of our unique culinary delights.
- 5 crocodile skewers.....$XX
- 7 oz filet of whale.....$XX
- 9 oz kangaroo steak.....$XX
- 3 ostrich jerky strips.....$XX

There were many other exotic items on the menu, including rabbit meat, venison, eel, yak, emu, raccoon, maybe even bear or horse. And if that wasn't strange enough, flipping over that page would give you this:

Even items.
The same items as the reverse, but in even quantities.
- 6 crocodile skewers......$XX
- 8 oz filet of whale......$XX
- 12 oz kangaroo steak......$XX
- 4 ostrich jerky strips......$XX

He did not recall the exact pricing but did remember that it matched the odd/even theme. Prices for the odd items were listed as $7.99, $15.99, $33.99, and so on, while prices for the even items were listed as $8.00, $24.00, $40.00, and so forth.

Being a true carnivore, I eagerly Googled the address he gave me as soon as I got home, but was disappointed to find that it was now a hardware store. Perhaps the original owners struck it rich, sold it off, and then retired to an island in the Caribbean. Or perhaps that place was shut down by pissed off vegans who didn't like seeing Bambi and Bugs Bunny on the menu. But in any case, I regret that I didn't have the opportunity to eat there, and it certainly gave the palindrome "Never Odd or Even" a whole new meaning.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by The Carnivore

A guy I met told me

And you know he wasn't pulling your leg because...

of a rather unusual restaurant he once visited. I don't quite remember the exact name, but it was either "Wilson's Top Foods", "Willy's Top Foods", or something very close to that.
<snip>

... and you don't remember the exact name. Also, no mention of when this outfit is supposed to have been operating. Okaaaaay...

That is, until you opened the hard-to-find flap on the inside cover of the menu and pulled out the following sheet that was sandwiched in between many blank pages:

Odd items.
A selection of our unique culinary delights.
- 5 crocodile skewers.....$XX
- 7 oz filet of whale.....$XX
- 9 oz kangaroo steak.....$XX
- 3 ostrich jerky strips.....$XX

There were many other exotic items on the menu, including rabbit meat, venison, eel, yak, emu, raccoon, maybe even bear or horse.
<snip>
Being a true carnivore, I eagerly Googled the address he gave me as soon as I got home, but was disappointed to find that it was now a hardware store.
<snip>
Or perhaps that place was shut down by pissed off vegans who didn't like seeing Bambi and Bugs Bunny on the menu. But in any case, I regret that I didn't have the opportunity to eat there, and it certainly gave the palindrome "Never Odd or Even" a whole new meaning.

Amusing story. I don't necessarily take it seriously, but just for fun:

Assuming this place was (supposed to have been) in the USA, I note that

(1) WRT whale meat, "when" is important. Starting around 1986, it became illegal to sell whale meat in the USA.

(2) "Wild" game sold in US restaurants has to be raised commercially -- like livestock or poultry -- and inspected, in order to be legal.

If the operators were violating these rules and got caught, that would probably have gotten their license revoked. Selling whale meat after around 1986 could have gotten them prison time.

If you have a time frame, you might be able to find records of licenses to operate a business at that address at that time.

There are other possible lines of inquiry, of course.

[Batalov]

Curiosity ... kills the cats. Humans are fine.
When in Australia, we ate a meal of roos and gators (with my friend we ordered one of each and shared. Both tasted like chicken!)

But it was in Switzerland that we saw an elephant steak on the menu, and couldn't resist the curiosity. (Notably we spent more in the restaurants then on slopes. It was actually very weird. The year was 2001, it was remarkably cheap (for Zermatt), there were very few people on slopes - we went for the week just after New Year, and ...there is nothing to do after 4PM, except sauna and dinner.) The sound that we heard shortly after the order was that of a microwave. Of course, we tried to console ourselves that it was only to thaw the frozen meat. They don't give you a choice of which of the two elephants that they have to kill for your dinner, as they would for a fresh fish/lobster or something. They probably get a shipment once a year and keep it in the freezer. We don't think they cheated on the actual meat origin. That would be illegal. I thnk.

[masser]

Around 2010, I visited a restaurant in Pittsburgh that had shark soup on the menu. Very non-pc and possibly illegal. I asked the waiter about the item. He looked at me for a few seconds, then excused himself, went into the kitchen, came back and declared they were all out of that item. All sort of suspiciously. I figured that item was for local regulars only.

[retina]

Originally Posted by Batalov

When in Australia, we ate a meal of roos and gators (with my friend we ordered one of each and shared. Both tasted like chicken!)

Why pay more for things that taste like chicken when you can just eat chicken for much less?

[kladner]

But it was in Switzerland that we saw an elephant steak on the menu, and couldn't resist the curiosity.

Ludwig Bemelmans, best known for his Madeline stories, in 1966 wrote "The Elephant Cutlet". In this short story, two men decide to open a restaurant where they will offer cutlets of any kind. One of the partners does have doubts. His fears come true one day when his waiting on a gentleman who orders an elephant cutlet. He rushes to the kitchen and start babbling at his partner that all is lost. The partner goes to the table and says, "Monsieur has ordered an elephant cutlet. How many cutlets would monsieur like? Only one? I am terribly sorry, but for one cutlet we cannot cut up our elephant."

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by retina

Why pay more for things that taste like chicken when you can just eat chicken for much less?

The following is from Rising from the Plains by John McPhee. It is among many reminiscences of geologist David Love.

People like that came along with such frequency that David`s mother eventually assembled a chronicle called 'Murderers I Have Known.' She did not publish the manuscript or even give it much private circulation, in her regard for the sensitivities of some of the first families of Wyoming.

As David would one day comment,

"They were nice men, family friends, who had put away people who needed killing, and she did not wish to offend them so many of them were such decent people.

"One of these was Bill Grace. Homesteader and cowboy, he was one of the most celebrated murderers in central Wyoming, and he had served time, but people generally disagreed with the judiciary and felt that Bill, in the acts for which he was convicted, had only been 'doing his civic duty.'

"At the height of his fame, he stopped at the ranch one afternoon and stayed for dinner. Although David and (his brother) Allen were young boys, they knew exactly who he was, and in his presence were struck dumb with awe.

"As it happened, they had come upon and dispatched a rattlesnake that day - a big one, over five feet long. Their mother decided to serve it creamed on toast for dinner. She and their father sternly instructed David and Allen not to use the world 'rattlesnake' at the table. They were to refer to it as chicken, since a possibility existed that Bill Grace might not be an eater of adequate sophistication to enjoy the truth.

"The excitement was too much for the boys. Despite the parental injunction, gradually their conversation at the table fished its way toward the snake. Casually while the meal was going down the boys raised the subject of poisonous vipers, gave their estimates of the contents of local dens, told stories of snake encounters, and so forth. Finally, one of them remarked on how very good rattlers were to eat.

"Bill Grace said, 'By God, if anybody ever gave me rattlesnake meat I'd kill them.'

"The boys went into a state of catatonic paralysis. In the pure silence, their mother said, 'More chicken, Bill?'

"'Don`t mind if I do,' said Bill Grace."

If you want exotic, read The Specialty of the House by Stanley Ellin.

[retina]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

The following is from Rising from the Plains by John McPhee. It is among many reminiscences of geologist David Love.

Shame about the poisonous/venomous mistake. If rattlers really were poisonous then it wouldn't matter much what they tasted like, you might not live long enough to care.