36 Comments
User's avatar
K.C. Knouse's avatar

Hallelujah! Donuts are back. I was afraid churros had taken their place. I always get a kick out of your stock photo stories.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Thanks, K.C. Donuts and Churros are close cousins. 🤓

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

A low bar, to be sure. But that's what I signed up for.

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

My point, exactly!

Expand full comment
Colin Devonshire's avatar

All good fun.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Thank you, Collin. Fun is good for you. 🤓 Unlike donuts. 🤣 🍩

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

And as your running mate, I think that's effectively saying it's factual.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

As factual as any politician statement. 🤣

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Haha! What a great little twist at the end of the cowboy story. And you’ve officially inspired me to want to eat about a dozen donuts.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Thanks, Justin. Pace yourself with the donuts. 🤣

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

I forgot to mention that this Spanish politician was a Seville servant.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Was he also a barber?

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

He wore many hats. Maybe to cover his unruly hair. He wouldn't even go to a barber in that city. They all thought they could sing.

When he traveled out of town, people always asked him that. He tried to outlaw barbers. Said they were all barbarians.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Yeah, being a barber was a whole different thing back in the catgut days.

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

Straight razors and absinthe were all the rage.

Expand full comment
Caro Henry's avatar

Love the donut puns! I also wondered where the word “catgut” originated and thanks to John K Adams, now know. The history of the English language is filled with these quirky tales.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

John has a vivid imagination. I wouldn't write an article based on that story. 🤣

A quick search says it is a mispronounciation of the word kitgut, which is a fiddle string. Another possibility is it is a combination of cattle and gut (intestine.)

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

It could be true...

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Absolutely. Who can say it isn't? There are no witnesses left to refute it.

Expand full comment
David Perlmutter's avatar

In honor of my favorite doughnut: "Give me some cream, Boston".

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

I don't know if I can bear claw it. 🤣

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

The legend goes that a local politician in Seville, Spain wearied of a local minstrel always singing derisive but humorous songs about politicians making sausages. This politician, who owned a sausage company decided to get even. He contracted with his cousin, who had a guitar shop, to use animal intestines when stringing his guitars. To everyone's surprise, the new strings were resilient and held a beautiful tone. The guitar strings became wildly popular and what had been intended as an insulting name, alluding to cats howling in the night, became an ironic honorific.

Incidentally, the joke about violinists differing from cats in that 'cats know when to stop scratching,' and the phrase 'cat gut your tongue?' derive from this same innovation.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

And that answers that questions. History is so fascinating. A good legend works also. 😉

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

You seem to have a real handle on the world of do-nuts, Mark A man after my own heart. Now - how about a song about do-nuts next time? I loved Charley's advice to the dude. Very wise.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

I would say a good donut (doughnut) song is long overdue. Maybe I will do that.

I am not sure if you are aware, but I adopted the "donut" spelling of the word because I type it a lot and eliminating those three letters gives me more time to eat donuts. 🤓🍩

Expand full comment
Coleen Theiss's avatar

Mark, Time to make the donuts😋🍩

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

I am not that guy. 🤣

I just eat them.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Makes sense to me.

Expand full comment
John K Adams's avatar

Every day, my cat walks by my guitar and thanks me for using nylon strings.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

🤣 I wonder where the phrase "catgut" came from. Maybe it sounded more palitable than goatgut. Or maybe the inventor was a cat hater. And how did they think of using animal intestines to make guitar strings?!

Expand full comment
Jack Herlocker's avatar

The behavior of the LED bulbs is actually a side effect of the AC-DC adaptors they use to fit in the old sockets. At some point, lighting systems will go to a plan DC setup (we have one for the lighting in our garden — low voltage, low amperage, instant on/off) and GenZ will explain to their kids how lights used to work in the same way Boomers talk about dragging their finger in a circle to make a phone call. Meanwhile, though, yes, it's a nice effect.

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Another bit of magic dies... 🤣 You are a bit like Andelbert in Baron Britpop Balstfurnace. A whole library of knowlege in your head. I love it!

I suppose you really are a "Jack of all trades." 🤓

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

This is what came to mind! :)

https://youtu.be/gs8QEYiDdHE?si=pYp-gfeVFOhKyWLB

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

Nothing like a good cowboy song. Even a romanticized one. I also like Amarillo By Morning by George Strait. Although he is a rodeo cowboy.

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

I’ve watched Yellowstone. Those rodeo cowboys are tough!!!

Expand full comment
Mark Starlin's avatar

The toughest. I can't imagine riding bulls. No thanks. 🤠

Expand full comment