Month: June 2012

Yesterday I wrote about the dumbest job in the universe, wild crocodile wrestling (no experience necessary). I mentioned that there would be a lot of Floridians missing a limb or two. I did not mean to make that a challenge to see who would go first. But, yesterday, the 63-year-old Wallace Weatherholt, who must have been an idiot all his life to think this was a good idea, reached over the edge of an air-boat he was captaining to feed a wild alligator. The wild gator said “Why thank you…

Read More

My smell loving cat, Pumpkin, woke me up about 3:00 this morning. She was getting under my left bicep and then pushing my arm up until she could walk under it and drag my fingers across her back. Thinking she wanted to be petted, I started petting her. She immediately went down by my knees and stopped purring. So I closed my eyes and left my arm free. A couple of minutes later she came back, pushed up my arm and began doing it again. I have no idea why…

Read More

And still nothing about dinos. How sad. Some very strident people lately have been attempting to make America, and later the world, into a narrowly focused version of Christianity. It is a view that actually has little or nothing to do with the Bible. If they had their way Matthew 7:12 would end up on the cutting room floor and Exodus and Leviticus would be the law of the land. And while there’s no danger of them gaining real power any time soon there is a danger. And it is…

Read More

Summer vacation time is here. That wonderful time of the year when families go somewhere else to be a little pampered and avoid any real responsibilities. Oh, sure, there is the occasional parent who plans a tightly regimented vacation, thus destroying any sense of joy, but for the most part people are too lazy to be that efficient. And, for once, that’s a good thing. It’s not a bad idea to just chill for a bit. We all have enough to worry about on a day to day basis. Another…

Read More

I spent some time between jobs recently. In fact it wasn’t until this year that I was truly gainfully employed. Even so I did a ton of freelance and went on job interviews every week. The interviews were the worst part. One had me trot my happy butt all the way to Oakbrook (I live on the northwest side of Chicago) only to find out it was a sales job, with no salary, that required me to buy a car. Well, gosh, how could I possibly refuse? One talked effusively…

Read More

I have always had a problem with Tinkerbell. First there’s the Tinker part of her name. Tinkers are not widely respected people. They are the Irish equivalent of homeless gypsies who provide day labor when they have to. Looked at through that lens Tinkerbell becomes more than just a little creepy person who happens to be harboring runaways and abandoned infants. She becomes a really, really creepy person. Add in the fact that she helps kids fly by showering them in fairy dust and you may as well be talking…

Read More

There are times that I think people should not allowed anywhere near food. They just do bad things with it. For example, Anneli Rufus reports on the following ice cream flavors that you can buy in Japan; Squid-ink, charcoal, cuttlefish, chicken wing, crab, cactus, eel, octopus, shrimp and wasabi ice creams. Not to be outdone, Anneli also reports that Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco offers ice creams flavored with curry, foie gras, fungus and prosciutto. Given that Frisco allows naked people in restaurants, it may quickly become the least desirable…

Read More

Some days, no matter our original plans, just don’t work out. For example, I recently met very nice young lady. I bought her a drink. She bought me a drink. I made her laugh. She made me laugh. All was moving along nicely until I realized she was a guy. That put the brakes on the budding romance. Not that I’m a prude, it’s just that my tree doesn’t bend that way. A buddy of mine had one of those days recently too. He purchased a used car for his…

Read More

As regular readers of this blog know I like to take a moment here and there and set whimsy aside and look at what’s going on in the wonderful world of science. An article I wrote about the WOW signal prompted some interesting emails from people. Yes I got the usual array from the tinfoil hat wearing crowd, but I also got some very thoughtful ones from people who wondered seriously about the ramifications. For those too lazy to click the link this is pretty straightforward; in 1977 scientists discovered…

Read More

It’s been a weird week in culinary news. A guy in Florida, naturally, decided that a little trip on LSD would be great fun and ended up eating the face of a stranger after he stripped naked. Because, as any connoisseur knows, if you’re not naked when you’re literally sucking face you don’t get the full enjoyment of the cuisine. Of course, in the non-Floridian universe cannibalism is rare. Or so I thought. I mean it never comes up in my daily routine. Never once have I sat in the…

Read More