St. George Likes Dragons that can Sing.

Modern civilization's dependency on oil and gas really began with the internal combustion engine, and developed over a period of several decades to the point that our entire civilization would collapse without this raw material.

Our dependency on computers began with the development of mainframe computers for business and science, and has developed over a period of several decades to the point that our entire civilization would collapse without them.

Civilization is very fragile. Barbarism and anarchy don't need much; just a bunch of fun guys with swords and spears, tearing up the neighborhood on fast horses.

Everything regresses to the statistical mean.

Here are some chocolate Christmas cookies that are said to be easy to make. When the barbarians come, offer them some of these cookies. They might spare your house. And they might ask for more.

Here's a picture of a Hitachi demolition machine taking care of business. True demolition experts, unlike barbarians, plan their campaigns thoroughly, only destroy what needs to be destroyed, take pains to avoid collateral damage, and recycle much of what they tear down. So let's hear it for the demolition guys!

And that's our show for today.....

St. George will Like me When I'm a Parrot.

How to win friends and influence people--become a parrot!

Here's a little something for people who can't get enough chocolate, or find themselves bored with ordinary chocolate bars--it's a 22-ft chocolate sculpture of the Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building.

Chef Alain Roby made it with over 1,000 kg of chocolate, and it's now in the Guinness Book of Records.

If you like this, there are a few more chocolate sculptures, along with lots of information about chocolate, on the Chocolate Work site.

For those of you who would like a close-up view of a demolition shear attachment at work--and who wouldn't, really!--here is one from the World News Site.

Hydraulic shears are used for cutting steel, concrete, and other tough items, particularly on sites where there is a risk of fire. So if your neighbor has an oil refinery in his backyard, you might want to use shears to cut down his house, rather than good old cutting torches.

It's off to work we go.....

Beware the Aulds!

Sometimes you just have to forget about parrothood, and settle for being the best dragon you can be.

Speaking of breakfast, here are some chocolate waffles to start the day, or eat at lunch, or have for supper, or demolish any time of day. The recipe is here, on the Ghirardelli site, and I should get extra points for spelling that name correctly.

Did I hear the word 'demolish'?

Here are some great pictures from the northerntrack site, featuring demolition attachments grinding, crushing, shearing, and generally having a good time. Imagine sitting in the cab of some big demolition machine and destroying everything around you! Does it get any better than this!

Ahem. It's never too late to think about Valentine's Day. Here's a heart-shaped box of chocolates from Godiva that will inspire images of sweetness and light, love and marriage, horses and carriages etc.

And here's a picture of a rutabaga, in case you want to give rutabagas instead of chocolates.

Hang on, Sloopy.....

Watch for Falling Dragons, Next Ten Kilometres

Dragons are anarchists--what they want, they take; what they don't like, they flash roast. They're vulnerable to the common cold, however; it puts out their pilot lights.

Here is a German chocolate cream pie, posted on the ifood.tv site. Looking at this picture will help you to contemplate infinity; you'll feel harmonious and oceanic for the rest of the day.
There's a recipe, in case you want to engage in the full, Zen-like experience of making and eating it, and there are videos about food on the site.

That's enough about food. Here is an extraordinary picture of a long-necked demolition unit assaulting an apartment block. This is from the RM Penny demolition company, which works in the south of England. If you go to the site, you'll find on their home page a nice picture of some trucks and demolition equipment gathered together for a quiet chat.

I find pictures of heavy construction and demolition equipment very soothing.

That's enough about demolition.

Here's a splendid chocolate bunny from Lake Champlain Chocolates. Remember, he's watching you--he knows whether you've been bad or good.

Don't count your chickens until they've crossed the road....

Fun-Loving Dragon Seeks Adventurous Human

No one has ever found any fossilized dragon bones, nor any dragon footprints, dragons embedded in amber, or portraits of dragons by famous dragon artists.
And yet, everyone knows what a dragon looks like: it's big, it has long ears, buck teeth, powerful hind legs for jumping over things, and it eats carrots.
So that explains everything.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, the evil clothes dryer has started beeping at me for no reason at all. Because it lives in the utility room where I work, this is a problem that has to be resolved. The service technician quoted me a price that blew a few circuits in my brain and left me speechless. So I'm thinking of hiring an exorcist to chase the demons out of the dryer. Then I'll ask Elvis to bless it.

In case you'd like to eat a chocolate dragon cake, here's one from the Dinner With Julie site, featuring pictures and recipes. This one was made for a child's birthday party, but I don't think you have to be under 12 to eat it.

This book isn't made of chocolate, but it features dragons and adventures, and it's a good story by a fine author, although I prefer her earlier book, Inkheart.
I'm also reading a collection of Monty Python skits to see if I can find what exactly happened, and why I'm here, but so far, no luck--except I've learned how to disarm frenzied lunatics brandishing fruit.

There isn't any more today, because I'm waiting for something else to happen. I've got one eye on the dryer in case it attacks, and one eye on the cat, who has been looking for a place to deposit a hairball. You can always tell when a cat is thinking about exhuming a hairball--they think out loud.

No worries.