The menfolk are standing around watching the video of the poor soul who won $500 for drinking a bottle of syrup of ipecac.

A shelter was closed Saturday when more than 20 people became ill with dysentery-like symptoms. More who were not at the shelter were also sick with diarrhea and vomiting. Doctors suspect they did not heed their warnings to avoid using or drinking the water.

Zeb Hogan, a biologist, is searching for giant fish in rivers such as the Nile and Amazon, but also the Mississippi. And oh, the stories he’s heard. The severed tails he’s seen. In Cambodia, it’s rumored that a huge stingray, the 1300-pounder, glides through the Mekong River.

In the sauce: ketchup, garlic, honey, apple cider vinegar, and soy sauce.

Lots of leftovers for tomorrow.

One of the presents was Super Scrabble, which features a larger board, and more letters. I misunderstood, and thought each player got double letters. Because we started late, one of us suggested using ten letters to make what would be a long, long game shorter.

It made for a very interesting game, although we were exhausted afterward.

There will be two racks of ribs, basted with a ketchup-based sauce, which are now in their fourth hour, the last stage, the one which involves caramelizing of the sugars. Garlic-cheese bread spread with garlic butter. A new dish of cherry tomatoes sauteed with fresh corn kernels. A pureheart watermelon.

The birthday cake of choice is chocolate, and there is a large amount of it. Ditto chocolate frosting. Two kinds of ice cream, also with chocolate, the often mentioned fudge tracks, and French silk, which I’ve not tried yet.

It is 500 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, and so far, does not seem to pose any land threat.

During the last session of a day-long orientation for parents at Cal, the student leader for our group read an account of a family’s long drive to deliver their student to Berkeley. Happy and excited at the outset, they were enthusiastic and full of jokes and affectionate teasing.

As they got closer, the mood changed. It got quieter. As they pulled up to the dorm, they were silent. Separation loomed very close, and it was awful.

Most of the moms in the room cried. Even the ones who were veterans at this kind of thing.

You’re so very proud they got in. You’re so heartbroken that they got in, and are leaving you.

A Thai art student creates realistic body parts from bread dough, then paints them with lifelike colors. His parents own a bakery.

Either they are very proud, or very appalled, or a mixture of both.

If all goes well, thanks to advice from British management experts, the manufacture and packaging of cocoa products may well end the crippling poverty of Madagascar.