In keeping with Owl Chatter’s mission to provide information that is both tedious and of interest to nobody, here is a map showing the density of pig farms in Europe. Special thanks to Mark Anderson of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) for posting it.
Gerry Tait: Stunning.
Barry Fitzgerald: Why are some of the countries grayed out? Switzerland, for example.
Sean Boon: The Swiss hate pigs.
Barry: Maybe they don’t want to admit they have any?
Graham Haddow: Surely, this is a map of midges, not pigs.
Frank Higgins: If so, it has Scotland wrong.
Barry Fitzgerald later posted the following:
Regarding the European Pig Farm map put up by Mark Anderson recently, I can confirm that Switzerland actually does have pigs. It has over 1.4 million pigs, with breeds like the Swiss Edelschwein and Swiss Landrace being the most common. This is similar to the amount of cute cows in said country.
Roger Collier: How many camels are there in Holland?
Barry: I’m sure there is a map for that.
Avi Liveson: The missus and I were over there recently and did not see any camels. If that helps. . .
David Henderson: As a pig farmer, I was surprised at the low number in Aberdeenshire. Yorkshire and Norfolk were both shown to have many which wasn’t a surprise but King Arthur’s county seems to be under represented. His empire had pigs located at 90 farms 30 years ago!!
Ashley Gray: Is it true that it’s against the law in Switzerland to have only one Guinea pig cos they’re sociable so need a buddy or two ?
Barry: Of course. And once you own them you are trapped in a loop of continual guinea pig ownership as you are required to get a replacement to keep the grieving survivor appeased.
Donald Hall was born September 20 (yesterday) in 1928, and died in June, 2018. This poem of his was shared with us by The Poetry Foundation and is called “Ox Cart Man.”
In October of the year,
he counts potatoes dug from the brown field,
counting the seed, counting
the cellar’s portion out,
and bags the rest on the cart’s floor.
He packs wool sheared in April, honey
in combs, linen, leather
tanned from deerhide,
and vinegar in a barrel
hooped by hand at the forge’s fire.
He walks by his ox’s head, ten days
to Portsmouth Market, and sells potatoes,
and the bag that carried potatoes,
flaxseed, birch brooms, maple sugar, goose
feathers, yarn.
When the cart is empty he sells the cart.
When the cart is sold he sells the ox,
harness and yoke, and walks
home, his pockets heavy
with the year’s coin for salt and taxes,
and at home by fire’s light in November cold
stitches new harness
for next year’s ox in the barn,
and carves the yoke, and saws planks
building the cart again.
Today’s puzzle was a paean to Kit Kat bars. Well, Kit Kat minis, at any rate. There were 5 squares in which we were to squish KIT going in one direction, and KAT in the other. E.g., 23A was clued with “Traditional form of Japanese drama,” and 18D with “Regular at a park with half-pipes, informally.” So KABU[KI T]HEATER crossed S[KAT]ER RAT at the KIT/KAT. That happened five times. And the name of the puzzle was “Gimme a Break!” Pretty clever and nicely done, Adrianne Baik.
Hey, here she is! Hi Adrianne!
At 30A, the clue was “Far from conscious,” and the answer was IN A COMA. Son Volt shared this tune with us on it. (“I know, I know — it’s serious.”)
Getting back to the KIT KAT bars, here’s the famous jingle:
Surprisingly, not everyone has it down.
Now, get this:
Forty years ago when an ad agency pitched a jingle to a client, it needed not only the one it put the big bucks into, but a throwaway jingle as well, giving the client the illusion of choice.
The agency brought composer Michael Levine in, asked him to come up with the alternate jingle, and on the elevator trip down, he came up with the jingle we all know. The agency didn’t give him much of a budget, so during the recording session, instead of hiring singers, he had the band do the singing.
The client picked the throwaway, and after the jingle came out, sales skyrocketed to where Hershey had to build a larger Kit Kat facility.
Have you seen many Sandra Bullock movies? I think I’ve just caught a couple. She’s good though. She dropped in to the puzzle today, via her film THE NET (“1995 Sandra Bullock cyberthriller”).
Sandra’s a Virginia girl, 61 years old now (ouch). Before her failed marriage to some no-name, she dated Troy Aikman, Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Gosling. She’s been popular among lunatic stalkers, one of whom committed suicide. She has two adopted kids. People magazine named her “Most Beautiful Woman” in 2015.
Our photographer Phil refused the assignment, mentioning something about a restraining order. Figures he’d be one of her stalkers. So we got this shot off the interweb.
This is nice: At 99D the clue was “What the ‘dalai’ of Dalai Lama translates to.” It’s OCEAN. Dalai Lama means Ocean of Wisdom.
Egs complained about the clue at 64D. It was “Public health agency,” and the answer was CDC. Egs says the clue should say “former.”
At 100D, for “Broken piece of pottery,” I filled in SHARD without hesitation and it was correct. But Anony Mouse says it should be SHERD. And she’s right! News to me (and the NYT puzzle department). Sherd specifically refers to a broken piece of pottery, especially when found at an archeological site. Shard more generally refers to a sharp, broken piece of anything, e.g., glass. It includes ceramic, but is not as pointed a descriptor.
Thank goodness I went out for a walk and missed the weekly anti-excitement of the Jets snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They actually came back from the dead to grab a lead with two minutes left via a blocked field goal returned for a TD – a rare “block six,” to coin a phrase. Of course, they couldn’t stop the Bucs from marching down for a game-winning field goal with time running out. They are 0-3 now. How many more to go? Groan.
See you tomorrow! Thanks for popping by.
The Wellington Files 