Father’s Day is tomorrow. Perhaps this is a PSA for some but it’s not too late. Look at the picture. I’ve often said that Mother’s Day means taking Mom out to some place nice then on Father’s Day everyone expects him to grill out. Instead of being served a nice meal, he has to cook for everybody. I say that and most people smile and mention how right that is. Truth be told, it’s a very dad thing to do. Stereotypes exist because they are based on some element of truth to them in most instances. I do go to sleep on the couch watching TV and then claim “I was watching that” when someone changes the channel. I could wear a different tie every day for a month (even though I seldom wear one at all anymore). And talking me into cooking out on the grill is not very hard to do at all. The grill I have now was a Father’s Day gift four years ago. I can take a hint.

This gets passed around on Facebook every now and then. My response is “cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion.” Then I would add ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise because those are condiments, not toppings. One FB friend told me I would make a good lawyer.

This is one of those stories I decided to look into myself. Sometimes even when the story is true someone has just cut and pasted a stock photo to use as clickbait. Nope, that’s really the guy. He donated blood plasma, not whole blood, twice a week for years. Finally, at the age of 81, he made his last donation because that is the policy in Australia.

The one about Morgan Freeman turning his 124 acre ranch in Mississippi into a bee sanctuary is unsubstantiated. He mentioned in a late night talk show interview back in 2014 that he has gotten into beekeeping. Forbes reported in 2018 or 2019 that Freeman is now a beekeeper and may have started the rumors about transforming his ranch but that article cites the 2014 interview. No new information is presented and we have not heard anything from the actor himself about it in nearly a decade.

Here’s the state of our economy. New cars were scarce for a while and the value of used cars went up. Inflation has now raised the cost of everything and the rise in interest rates to combat the inflation makes it more difficult (expensive) to borrow money. Whatever you are driving right now, take care of it. It’s going to have to last a while.

Sales of carbonated beverages (which we call soft drinks in the South but you may know as pop or even soda pop) are down. The major manufacturers have divested into bottled water and sports drinks and the next desperate grab for market share is to bring premixed cocktails to store shelves. Pepsi launched a hard Mtn. Dew earlier this year through its partnership with Boston Beer, maker of Sam Adams. Coca-Cola will soon begin selling sugar and no sugar versions of Jack-and-Coke. Brown-Forman, this distiller of Jack Daniels, has been selling a Jack-and-Coke product for years made with a generic cola. Both companies hope to benefit from the name brand recognition of their signature products. I was excited about Coke with Coffee several months back but a 12 oz can of that costs more than buying one can of Coke and a cup of coffee separately.

Zoo Atlanta has successfully hatched a bog turtle. Glyptemys muhlenbergii is the smallest turtle in North America and is critically endangered. This is the first time a bog turtle has hatched at Zoo Atlanta since 1992. The zoo needed a win since their most famous resident passed away back in 2000. Willie B was a western lowland gorilla that lived at the zoo from 1961 until 2000 when he passed at the age of 42. He was as much of a celebrity in Atlanta as Hank Aaron (or any other person you associate with Atlanta).

Schrodinger’s Cat is our optical illusion of the week. This may or may not have been intentional. The cat is in the box (in the reflection) and not in the box (in actuality) at the same time.

Ethan Peck, whose full name is Ethan Gregory Peck, is the grandson of Gregory Peck. He played Spock on season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery and is now a regular on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. SNW takes place during the Captain Pike era of the USS Enterprise and is more episodic (self contained one hour story lines) with much less serialization than other modern Trek shows. We happen to like it. It you have watched it and do not like it that’s fine as well. We also like Obi Wan Kenobi. What I will not accept is the uninformed opinions of those who have not watched any of the new shows, do not plan to, and tell me that they are all garbage and I shouldn’t watch them either. Anyway… Gregory Peck’s grandson plays Spock now. Let me leave you with that.

iMonk Radio episode #93 was published this week. I was supposed to go with him to Asbury Seminary for his talk about blogging but something came up. Some sports team needed a bus driver at the last minute or some fire had to be put out, I don’t remember those exact details. He goes ahead and mentions me by name in that episode; calls me his friend and recommends my blog. The Master’s Table was pretty new back in those days and I was very green.