Note the cute little wheel and the teeny tiny cannons! … you know, this may be about the right size for Lego pirates….
Yarr! The Pirate Bundt Cake Pan!
2
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Logan Adams, Superhero!
Most of you probably don’t know this, but we get most of our AP news via a satellite that sits on the roof of the Daily Globe. Occasionally when the weather is really bad in the winter, it gets all full of ice and snow and someone has to go up there and brave the uck to get it off of the satellite dish.
I don’t do this, but other more dedicated (and less cowardly) Globe staffers have.
These are things they don’t tell you when you take a job.
Apparently the Jamestown Sun has the same problem with snow, because poor Logan Adams of our brother blog It’s Good to Be in N.D. had to tramp up to the roof to wipe off the satellite dish.
Despite several feet of snow up there. Make sure to put the audio on for this one, folks.
I hope his colleagues said thank you!
The History of the Snowman
I never thought about it until I saw this article from the Smithsonian, but the snowman has a long and quasi-illustrious history.
The article compares the snowman to WC Fields.
I can say with complete honesty that the comparison never occurred to me.
A Pirate Christmas, Arrrr!
We already opened Christmas presents from my parents, and I wanted to note that I got the coolest surprise ever from them this year.
A Bundt pan shaped like a pirate ship.
Really.
I’m going to take a picture of it when I get back from my grandparents’ house in Austin, Minn. (the SPAM Capital of the World!) and whenever I can, I’m going to bake a cake in it. Not sure what I’m going to do to frost it; I’m usually too lazy to do anything special but I could maybe figure something out for the little cannons on the deck.
On Butt-Kicking Contests
From James Lileks of the Star Tribune:
I don’t know why they say “busy as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest,” because he would have fallen over right away and been six arses behind by the time he got up. “Busy as a two-legged man in a butt-kicking contest mostly dominated by four-legged men” would be more accurate, especially if the four-legged guys were configured so they could simultaneously kick in three directions. Right? But then it would be difficult to imagine how anyone would have kickable butts. So they’d have to bring in people to be the kicked butts. Can’t see how that would work. Unless they were running around, trying to avoid the four-legged ass-kickers. You couldn’t blame them.
And no, there’s not really any context.
Obama changes his mind on National Guard’s role?
The National Guard does not expect to make changes when Barack Obama becomes president.
This has the Daily Republic’s reporter, Seth Tupper, wondering whether he has changed his mind since a previous interview with Tupper.
Earlier, Tupper wrote about Obama quitting smoking.
Morning Links: More Weird and Wild News
A tech blog discusses the possibility of using a GPS device to get out of a speeding ticket. I think I’d just prefer to not speed, personally.
We learn that making decisions really does make your brain tired. It’s not just your imagination.
We also learn that mosquitos have now have an actual use. Scientists have been inspired by them to develop painless hypodermic needles. Now if they could just introduce itchless mosquito bites, life would be good…
IBM is helping to save a historic computer landmark, Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park was the "nerve center for cryptography programs" during World War II.
And finally, students are working on creating a real-life Batman suit.
Morning Links: Odd News
Some of these news links are a bit old, but they’re all so strange and esoteric you may have missed them the first time around.
First, a New York Times article examines the dark psyche of the Internet’s persistent painful pests, trolls. While I wish I could say trolls are just people with stunted consciences soaked in evil, I suspect I know a few people who have trolled. For which they should be poked with pointy sticks, mind you.
No one should be surprised when Las Vegas sells out in any sense. However, this is a news channel, and they have elected to make a couple bucks by putting fake coffee on their desks during broadcasts.
If I were them I’d have asked for real coffee.
And a CBS affiliate reports people getting extremely personal searches at airports. This is horrible, but I can’t help but wonder who thought their nipple rings would make it through the metal detector in the first place.
Finally, a mental illness in which people sincerely believe they are constantly being videoed for a TV show of their lives is getting more and more common. Very sad.
Am I alone in believing my life would make the most boring TV show ever?
Sad News for Star Trek Fans
Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the actress who played Nurse Chapel, Lwaxana Troi and the voice of the computer (she’d already recorded the voice work for the next movie), is dead.
She was a cool lady and she was also a wonderful actress.
Holiday Links: In the Mood for Christmas
Here’s a neat little photo essay about hiking to get into the Christmas mood from Far Side of Fifty, another AreaVoices blogger I like.
I get into the Christmas mood by listening to Christmas music, both of the good variety and of the horrible, awful, OMG-BAD variety.
I have a friend from college who sends me a Christmas card and a new CD of bad Christmas music every year, which always makes me giggle. (Note that Star Wars should never, ever have produced a Christmas special. EVER.) I treasure these CDs.
Some people get into the spirit of the season by watching A Christmas Story. Although the movie resonates best with baby boomers, seeing it constantly as we were growing up made it formative for my bunch too. I like it because it’s heartwarming without being gooey like "It’s a Wonderful Life." And it has no embarassing black-face scenes like "Holiday Inn."
I also love "White Christmas," which has absolutely more snappy tunes than you can shake a stick at and also Rosemary Clooney, whose voice is pitched low enough that I can sing along. Unfortunately for anyone in the vicinity, I usually do sing along.
Some people get into the holiday mood by making children weep for faux snowmen cupcakes. Although frankly, most kids would just eat the cupcake all the faster for the tragic dying snowman on top.
And finally, some people can be in the cheery spirit of Christmas and still be smart-alecky, as these delightfully caustic Christmas cards indicate. Scroll down a bit and be sure to click on the Wise Men and the Shepherds cards.
