Through the Keyhole - October 2022

 

IT Services - Business Consulting - Digital Marketing OCT 2022 Through the Keyhole Take a break from your day... Not your typical company OR newsletter

"With a population of over 2 million people, this place used to be a real attraction in the 50's.  This place is still a big tourist attraction to Canadiens and Europeans but it's tough to get there legally from here.  With historic architecture and vintage cars, this city is one of a kind." Can you guess the location? October has arrived... You haven’t partied properly until you’ve been to an Oktoberfest in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It takes place annually, with usually more than six million attendees. It’s basically pure drunken chaos for 16 to 18 days, but that’s not all it’s known for. On another sort-of-related note, Germany has such a great language which tends to have words for phrases that Americans may have never thought of. For example, in Oktoberfest there’s “Festspezl” which roughly translates to having a best friend during the event. A best friend that you didn’t know beforehand, and you won’t see them ever again afterwards. Sort of like a ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ kind of thing. So it’s safe to assume that if you find some Oktoberfest girls and throw this word around, you may end up having a good time. Singing, smiling, and laughing all day, every day, is the culture that Oktoberfest has attracted, and you’ll find it easy to be welcomed into all the fun and games, surrounded by plenty of fun people! Oktoberfest girls and guys alike are there for one reason: to have a blast, or just to raise their glasses and meet some new people.  I personally have never been to THE Oktoberfest but I did go to Hans Bavarian Lodge Oktoberfest back in the 90s when it was still around.  Most people who graduated in the 80s from high school around here know of this amazing fest.  Back then, they had 4 weekends in September (due to better weather I suppose) where they erected a tent that held probably 5000 people.  It was like a high school reunion for a month.  I knew the parking attendants (rarely drove), waitresses in their St. Pauli Girl outfits, bartenders in lederhosen and often people in the bands.  They would have an "oompa" band who would wind up the crowd in between acts like Jonathan Brandmeier.  The restaurant was a sleepy little place with mediocre food but when this time of year came around, the place made bank.  Then, out of nowhere, the place was sold and the Oktoberfest was gone.  Those were some good memories.  Maybe some of you remember. This month begins our journey down the thermometer right into the Holidays.  So let's enjoy the fall weather while we have it and burn some leaves in the back yard (with a permit of course).   Although the 2022 update to Windows 11 has made it more appealing (drag and drop is back), we are still not recommending you upgrade to Windows 11.  It will get better as Windows 10 gets closer to its end of life (Oct. 2025).  Soon Windows 11 will become viable for business networks.  It's close.   Guess the Location Game Last month the winner of the guess the location game was Carolyn Kolssak (thanks Mom) who guessed the right answer.  I appreciate all of the participation.  THANKS FOR PLAYING! ANSWER: Alcatraz Island, California "Once a fort, then a prison, this 1.25 square miles of island is surrounded by some dangerous waters.  At one point, Indians occupied this land for nearly 2 years to protest the way the US was stripping them of their land and traditions." Alcatraz Island was the site of a notoriously harsh prison based off the coast of San Francisco, California, this isolated position earning it the name of “The Rock”. However, prior to becoming a prison, Alcatraz Island had a long history as a military base. Initially discovered by a Spanish explorer in 1775 (its name literally meant Isle of the Penguins originally), Alcatraz Island was first used by the US military in 1853, when it established a base there, transforming it into Fortress Alcatraz. This heavily fortified structure was completed in 1859. In the course of the American Civil War, the defences of Alcatraz Island were a Union stronghold used to ward off the Confederates. It was also at this time that Alcatraz was first used as a prison, to house Confederate prisoners of war. This military prison continued to expand and was used throughout the late nineteenth century to hold, amongst others, Native American prisoners and those from the Spanish-American War. Over the years, the army kept building more prison sites on Alcatraz Island to hold the increasing number of inmates. Alcatraz Island’s role as a site of imprisonment was cemented in August 1934. The US government had bought the site the year before and decided to use it as a federal prison, a function it would serve for twenty-nine years. During this time, Alcatraz held some of the US’s most infamous criminals, including the gangsters Al Capone, Robert Stroud and George Kelly. Many inmates attempted to escape Alcatraz Island and, although no prisoners have “officially” escaped, one of the fourteen recorded attempts resulted in the disappearance of the escapees, Frank Morris and Clarence and John Anglin. Presumed drowned, their bodies have never been recovered. In the 1960s, Native Americans claimed sovereignty over Alcatraz as a spiritual retreat – they occupied Alcatraz for a number of months following the US government’s refusal to acknowledge Native American claims to the land. Public support for the campaign meant that eventually President Nixon was forced into strengthening indigenous rights and restore some Native territory. Alcatraz Island is today managed by the National Parks Service, and remains a popular tourist attraction. Ferries depart regularly from Pier 33: there are multiple tour options available. Bring your own earphones for the audio tour, and expect a visit to last at least hours (including the ferry to and from the mainland). It’s an eerie yet fascinating journey into the workings of this famous site, and exploring Alcatraz Island’s varied and often dark history is a memorable experience. Capone couldn’t risk spending his one hour of free time in the prison yard, as the threat of attack was too great. Instead, he spent his days in the shower room, “twanging” his banjo. But the thing is, nearly a century later, many, many sources have reported hearing banjo music coming from the prison shower room. One of the people who heard the music was ranger Lori Brosnan, who said that visitors have also reported a “cold chill” in the room. Brosnan also reported that at times when every door in Alcatraz was locked up for the night, and she was the only one with the keys, doors were heard slamming, and whispers lingered down the halls. Spooky. ~11 minutes  ~ 9 minutes 6 Creepy Ghost Stories ~10 minutes October Fails... Intoxicating Magic... Cool Magician.~5 minutes Good Excuse ~1 minute Skydiving Prank...  ~4 minutes What's the price of a Beer? Grabbing a pint during a professional football game can cost a pretty penny. Depending on your stadium of choice, a measly 16-ounce pour could set you back as much as $15. As the 2022 football season kicked off earlier this month, sports betting platform Bookies.com compiled a list of costs by stadium location. The website gathered beer prices from every NFL stadium, converting them to a 16-ounce size for the sake of consistency, and found the NFL average to be $9.56 per pint. On top of the money spent on tickets and game day snacks, a couple brewskies can rack up the bill — especially for those in Pennsylvania. When cheering on the Eagles, a couple of fans might pay $29.33 for two 16-ounce beers — the highest in the country. That’s almost $15 per beverage. Things aren’t much cheaper for those attending Los Angeles Rams home games, where grabbing a single beer could run you up to $13.75. Falcons fans are in luck, though; a similar beer costs around $6 at the Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta.   Team 16-ounce beer Philadelphia Eagles $14.67 Los Angeles Chargers $13.75 Los Angeles Rams $13.75 Las Vegas Raiders $12.00 San Francisco 49ers $11.50 New Orleans Saints $11.50 Jacksonville Jaguars $11.50 Miami Dolphins $11.00 New York Giants $11.00 Washington Commanders $11.00 Tennessee Titans $10.50 Seattle Seahawks $10.50 Carolina Panthers $10.50 Green Bay Packers $9.50 Dallas Cowboys $9.50 Pittsburgh Steelers $9.29 Chicago Bears $8.80 Buffalo Bills $8.80 Tampa Bay Buccaneers $8.63 Kansas City Chiefs $8.50 New England Patriots $8.40 Arizona Cardinals $8.13 Cleveland Browns $8.13 Baltimore Ravens $8.13 Houston Texans $8.00 Minnesota Vikings $8.00 Indianapolis Colts $8.00 Denver Broncos $7.50 Cincinnati Bengals $6.59 Detroit Lions $6.25 Atlanta Falcons $6.25 New York Jets $6.25 Random... Weather Truthers... ~2 minutes Edgy. More Stuff... Italian Wedding Soup Ingredients   ½ pound extra-lean ground beef 1 large egg, lightly beaten 2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese ½ teaspoon dried basil ½ teaspoon onion powder 5 ¾ cups chicken broth 2 cups thinly sliced escarole 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta ⅓ cup finely chopped carrot Directions   Combine ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, and onion powder in a bowl; shape into 3/4-inch balls. Heat broth in a large pot over medium-high heat until boiling. Stir in escarole, orzo, carrot, and meatballs and return to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook at slow boil, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, until pasta is tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 minutes.  All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 210 S. Milwaukee Ave. Wheeling, IL 60090 USA