Chip S Tales

Joseph Malin loves his grandmother’s fried fish, which she makes according to an old family recipe. It’s so good, he thinks he might be able to make some money from it; money that his immigrant Jewish family desperately needs. He takes it into the marketplace of 19th Century London’s East End and calls out to passers-by: ‘Fresh from the ships, Hot n’ tasty fried fish'. Before long, people are coming from far and wide to try the delicious snack. But his success inspires a rival. Annette, the greengrocer across the street, sees an opportunity to hawk her own family favourite: Belgian-style fried potatoes. “Piping hot chips!”/So crisp, so delish”, she calls. And they’re a hit too. The competition between Joseph and Annette heats up as they try to outsell each other at the market. And then one day… crash! The two collide. Chips slip. Fish fly. It’s a disaster. Or perhaps not… This is the playful, fictional account of how the real-life Joseph Malin, a poor Jewish immigrant, invented fish and chips, the iconic British fish and chips dish.

Grandparents are story tellers. Early-day lessons are learned while listening in their laps . . . in the rocking chairs . . . by the winter fireplaces . . . on the summer porches. These pages just pass on some tales my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and others of their generation told. And a few of mine. The tales were sent one at a time via e-mail to my children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends scattered from Texas to California, Canada, Virginia, and Florida. As the yarns were received and read, the readers responded, provided critical comments, and helped compose a book of remembrances for those yet to come. There may have been some enhancement in the lore and spiel of those who came before me. There might be a wee stretch in some of my contributions. But mostly this is the way it was.

Silicon Valley University of Evolutionary Computation (SUEC) has been established in 2022 in a secluded location in the hills above Redwood city, California. Evolutionary computation is an area of computer sciences that uses principles from biological evolution to solve computational problems. Many of the tech tools developed and explored at SUEC are years ahead of what is available anywhere else. For example, SUEC researchers developed brain-chip-interfaces, which exponentially enhance human brain capacity. On May 24, 2032, newly developed brain chips were stolen at SUEC University. This incident led to 10 major injuries, 5 hospitalizations and 3 deaths. Dr. Lili Pham, radiologist at SUEC hospital, and an FBI investigator team started a race against time to rescue a young student from a ruthless killer, retrieve a national treasure and prevent an implosion of the most eminent University in the world.

When Maurice takes the last chocolate chip cookie at the table and his mother tells him to offer it to everyone else first, he travels around the world and into space to fulfill that requirement.