This Date in History - July 22

 

July 22.  What was Alex Trebek's birthday?  

838:  THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR THEOPHILOS SUFFERS A HEAVY DEFEAT BY THE ABBASIDS.

Abbasid sounds like an antacid.

1099:  GODFREY OF BOUILLON IS ELECTED THE FIRST DEFENDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.

He's in the soup now.

1456:  JOHN HUNYADI, REGENT OF THE KINGDOM OF HUNGARY, DEFEATS MEHMET II OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

I looked fast and thought that said Hyundai.

1499:  THE SWISS DECISIVELY DEFEAT THE IMPERIAL ARMY OF EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I.

Now the Swiss stay out of everything.

1686:  ALBANY, NEW YORK IS FORMALLY CHARTERED AS A MUNICIPALITY.

Because the state needs a capital.

1793:  ALEXANDER MACKENZIE REACHES THE PACIFIC OCEAN BECOMING THE FIRST RECORDED HUMAN TO COMPLETE A TRANSCONTINENTAL CROSSING OF CANADA.

Smart to do this in the month of July.

1797:  DURING THE BATTLE OF SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, REAR-ADMIRAL NELSON IS WOUNDED IN THE ARM AND IT IS PARTIALLY AMPUTATED.

A little more serious than Tommy John surgery.

1812:  BATTLE OF SALAMANCA - BRITISH FORCES DEFEAT FRENCH TROOPS.  

Any loss suffered by France is okay by moi.

1864:  OUTSIDE ATLANTA, GEORGIA, CONFEDERATE GENERAL JOHN BELL HOOD LEADS AN UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON UNION TROOPS.

Those cotton bolls are started to get rotten.

1908:  AUTHOR AMY VANDERBILT IS BORN.

The spoon goes on the right.

1916:  IN SAN FRANCISCO, A BOMB EXPLODES ON MARKET STREET DURING A PREPAREDNESS DAY PARADE.

Well, at least, they were prepared.

1923:  POLITICIAN BOB DOLE IS BORN.

Tell me again why your hand is like that.

1923:  WRESTLER THE FABULOUS MOOLAH IS BORN.

My grandmother always thought she was a dirty girl.

1928:  ACTOR ORSON BEAN IS BORN.

To tell the truth.

1933:  WILEY POST BECOMES THE FIRST PERSON TO FLY SOLO AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN PLUS DAYS.

Will Rogers wants to go next time.

1934:  OUTSIDE CHICAGO'S BIOGRAPH THEATER, PUBLIC ENEMY #1 JOHN DILLINGER IS SHOT AND KILLED BY FBI AGENTS.

These days, Public Enemies are what we call politicians.

1937:  THE US SENATE VOTES DOWN PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT'S PROPOSAL TO ADD MORE JUSTICES TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE US.

Just what we need...more clowns in black robes.

1940:  TV HOST ALEX TREBEK IS BORN.

I'll take July Birthdays for 600, Alex.

1942:  THE US GOVERNMENT BEGINS COMPULSORY CIVILIAN GAS RATIONING DUE TO WWII.

Hopefully, this is a one-time-only event.   Yeah, right.

1942:  THE SYSTEMATIC DEPORTATION OF JEWS FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO BEGINS.

As if such a dastardly act could be systematic.

1947:  ACTOR/COMIC ALBERT BROOKS IS BORN.

Doesn't get as much credit for his genius as he should.

1951:  DEZIK AND GYPSY ARE THE FIRST DOGS TO MAKE A SUB-ORBITAL FLIGHT.  

As opposed to one of those Russian female cosmonauts who was also a dog.

1967:  POET CARL SANDBURG DIES.

Now that all my work has been read, it's time for me to be dead.

1976:  JAPAN COMPLETES ITS LAST REPARATION TO THE PHILLIPPINES FOR WAR CRIMES DURING WWII.

They should did take the slow payment plan.

1991:  JEFFREY DAHMER IS ARRESTED IN MILWAUKEE AFTER POLICE DISCOVER HUMAN REMAINS IN HIS APARTMENT.

Spleen?  What spleen?

1992:  NEAR MEDELLIN, COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD PABLO ESCOBAR ESCAPES FROM HIS LUXURY PRISON FEARING EXTRADITION TO THE US.

Luxury prison????

2008:  ACTRESS ESTELLE GETTY DIES.

Sheer brilliance on the Golden Girls.

2013:  ACTOR DENNIS FARINA DIES.

The actor, not the Little Rascal.

2025:  MUSICIAN OZZY OSBOURNE DIES.

Must have been a bad rat.

2025:  MUSICIAN CHUCK MANGIONE DIES.

Feels so bad.

Dinner last night:   Salad.

Water, Water Everywhere

 

With not a drop to spare.   Or however that little rhyme goes.

You may have seen this on the news.   A major part of West Hollywood became a Six Flags water slide as a result of a water main pipe breaking.   It was over 100 years old and my guess is that's it had no attention or upgrading in the last 50 years.

Sure, money has been allocated for just this maintenance but I am sure the water dollars simply flowed into the pockets of the scummy politicians that always seem to be running this city and state.  And they said there was no water to fight last year's devastating fires.  Well, it's there.   It's just that morons like Governor Newsdum and Mayor Bass As In Ass didn't know where to look for it.

Well, here's a hint now.  You can find plenty of H2O in a variety of places.

Small businesses.

Apartment garages.

Sinkholes on major roads.

Peoples' living rooms.

One more time.   If you live in California and ever again pull a lever for this current contingent of assholes in charge, I hope your belongings float away into the ocean.

Dinner last night:  Leftover flank steak.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - July 20, 2026

 The water's fine?

Dinner last night:  Flank steak and pan roasted cherry tomatoes in balsamic glaze.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - A Twisted Summer

 

I love pretzels.  I have since I was a kid.  With all the snack choices possible, pretzels are my absolute "go-to."

Back when I was a tyke, it was those Mister Salty boxes that captivated me.   I used to dunk them in milk.   I'm not sure that's the ideal destination for a pretzel but it was for me.  I'd eat some pretzels and drink some milk right before bedtime.  I'd dream then of more salt-covered twists dripping with milk.

As I got older, I would branch out beyond the tried-and-true Nabisco brand.  For the longest time, I eventually settled on the Snyder variety of large sour dough pretzels.   The key with me is the crispier and more brown, the better.  I'm not one who relishes the pretzels sold on the streets of Manhattan.  Those big doughy twists that lay in your stomach for days.  No dice.   If I'm going to bite into a pretzel, I need to hear the snap and the crunch that result in a plethora of crumbs cascading down my shirt.

Snyder's fit the bill for me all these years.   When I moved to the left coast, I was delighted to see that Snyder's had distribution here.   But I made a noteworthy discovery.   In Los Angeles, these damn things tasted different.  Snyder's, like all good pretzels, were manufactured in Pennsylvania.  But were the Los Angeles editions actually produced here using different water in the mixture?  Something made it taste a little different and, sadly, not as good. 

I'd go back to New York and buy the same Snyder's Pretzels and enjoy them like they were brand new.  Yes, the east coast version was better than the west coast.  For all of the annoyances we all have in our individual lives, this was one of my biggest.  I was so confounded by it all that I actually wrote to the folks at Snyder's Pretzels to find out why there was such a disparity in flavor.  They essentially told me that there was no difference and, oh, by the way, here's a couple of coupons for my next purchase.

So, I kept buying Snyder's Pretzels in Los Angeles but enjoyed them a little less.  Like a married couple that was feuding but never got divorced.  I was still a pretzel fiend but missing the glory of a really, really good one.

So, one day, I was buying some toiletries in Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I noticed that this chain was now including in its store a grocery section stocked by the Cost Plus World Market chain.  Cost Plus offers you a wide variety of food products, but none of them have name brands.  I wandered past the snack section and noticed the bag of pretzels you see adorning today's blog.  I was vapid enough to fall in love with its look immediately.  Toasted brown.  Almost burnt.  Pennsylvania Dutch pretzels from some outfit called Uncle Jerry's in Pennsylvania.   I peered inside the clear bag.   These pretzels were loaded with tons of salt.   I was intrigued.  A bag came home with me.

That night, it was unusually hot and humid in Los Angeles.  I sat in the living room with the fan blowing on me.  With the Dodger game on TV and a frosty glass of diet root beer at my side, I decided to try these newfangled pretzels.

One.  Then two.  Then three.  Before I knew it, half the bag was gone.

It was sensory perception all over again.  I was suddenly a kid again.  Having a wonderful summer night's snack.  Baseball.  Ice cold soda.  An electric fan with its cool breezes.  And the best damn pretzel I have ever tasted in my life.  Crap.  How do I get more and now?

I first Googled this Uncle Jerry character and found the company website.  Indeed, it's some old guy who started his own pretzel company in Pennsylvania two decades ago. 

I mean, does this not look like the man who could bake the best freakin' pretzel ever??  According to the company history, his pretzels were voted Best in Philly and, heck, those people usually hate everything.  Thanks to Jerry's young daughter, Misty, the company dove big time into social media.   And, yes, I immediately "liked" them on Facebook.

More importantly, I needed more and fast.   I went back to the Cost Plus at BB and B.  They were gone.  Per the clerk, we get them in sometimes and then sometimes not.

I wanted to strangle her on the spot.  Instead, I went to three other Cost Plus markets.

"We've never heard of them."

Audible scream.  How does one of your stores sometimes have the product and others do not?   Aren't you a fucking chain?   Don't you people talk???  

It had been only a week, but I was already an Uncle Jerry's Pretzels addict.

I went back home to seek out help from the company website which was now one of my bookmarked sites on Mozilla Firefox.  Oh, look, Len, you can buy them on line.

I immediately started to load up my virtual shopping cart with the Extra Dark variety of these freakin' pieces of heaven.  Six pound boxes.  Hmmmm.  Will eighteen pounds last me into the fall? 

This was a great plan until I hit "shipping options."  There was only one.  UPS.   And, to get these blasted twists from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, it was going to cost me thirty bucks.

Even junkies have their limits.   I needed to rethink.  Could I possibly get a job as a purchasing agent at the closest Cost Plus Market? 

But, wait.  In the top right corner of the website, there was a button.

STORE LOCATOR.

I clicked it immediately.  And promptly said a prayer that it wasn't going to point me to the three unhelpful Cost Plus Markets I had just visited.

Indeed, in Los Angeles, there was one single location.  The Farmshop gourmet store in Brentwood. 

I was there the next day and found my fix.  There were seven bags of the "stuff" on a counter.  I picked them all up and plopped them down on the checkout table. 

"Will there be anything else?"

No. 

"These pretzels sell fast.  Lots of people come in for them."

Oh, yeah, well, screw them.  I'm in the way now. 


This is just one of three bags I bought.  I now order them myself on-line.  Again.  And again.  And again.  

I have found my perfect pretzel.

Dinner last night:   Pizza.

Classic TV Theme Song of the Month - July 2026

Sixty years ago, this sitcom was getting set to premiere.  And Vin Scully was the announcer!

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

Summer Fun?

 

The happiest place on Earth.  Usually.

The Marc Chagall family on vacation.

"It's bad enough we walked to Chicago.  Can we at least get the bus home?"

Wow, South Dakota.  Gee, thanks, Mom and Dad.

I hate these people.

I went to Niagara Falls with my family.  We would never have posed for this picture.

Please close your windows during the jungle safari.

Look at what I brought home from the San Diego Zoo.

They're all set for a water landing.  Just in case this plane is from Malaysian Airlines.

There isn't enough Celebrex in the world for me to do this with my leg.

What was this family's destination?  A new theme park devoted to Ingmar Bergman?

"You told me we weren't gonna get wet!!!"

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

Len's Recipe of the Month - July 2026

 

Talk about a flavor explosion in your mouth.  This Southern Italian dish is called Pepperonata and it makes the most of summer vegetables.  I learned about it from UTube chef Giovanni Siracusa and the time was impeccable.   I had decided to eat more veggies following my little cardiac scare.   Plus I had made a visit to my local farmer's market.

Bang zoom.   Cue the deliciousness.

First off, grab some small red or Yukon gold potatoes.   Halve and quarter them. Heat up some EVO in a pan or Dutch oven.   Start the potatoes cooking.

Now grab two peppers...preferably red or yellow.   Slice them and lay them on top of the potatoes.   Let them cook for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, slice up a small onion.   I myself used two shallots and that worked wonderfully.  Then get a pint of cherry tomatoes and slice them in half.  Add the shallots and the tomatoes to the cooking vessel.   Now you can stir them around.   Add some salt, pepper, and chili flakes to taste.

And finally...splash in some Balsamic vinegar to heighten the sweetness of the dish.

One more time...you're welcome.

Dinner last night:  Leftovers of above photo.