Overheard

"Anybody know where we are?"
"I told you to take the left fork."
"Yeah, yeah."

Not only is it Monday, it's January 24th!

From an article in the London Guardian:

...today is the most depressing day of the year.

And if you want scientific proof, then Cliff Arnall of Cardiff University has it.

He settled on January 24 after using an elaborate formula expressing the delicate interplay of lousy weather, post-Christmas debt, time elapsed since yuletide indulgence, failed new year resolutions, motivation levels, and the desperate need to have something to look forward to.

In short, all that's left of Christmas today is credit card bills and a pervading sense that the next holiday is months away...

And I thought it was just one more gray-wool Michigan day that was depressing me!

Yahoo! It's a boy!

From CNN's Offbeat News comes this heartwarming story:

A Romanian couple named their son Yahoo as a sign of gratitude for meeting over the Internet, a Bucharest newspaper said Thursday.

Daily Libertatea said Cornelia and Nonu Dragoman, both from Transylvania, met and decided they were meant for each other following a three-month relationship over the net.

They married and had a baby this Christmas, whom they decided to name after one of the worldwide web's most popular portals. "We named him Lucian Yahoo after my father and the net, the main beacon of my life," Cornelia Dragoman was quoted as saying.

It's all about recycling . . .

From CNN:

Brothers recycle birthday card for 29 years.

... It's a card-swapping tradition that started in 1975, when Floyd first received the birthday card from his brother.

In it, Linus of the Peanuts comic strip tells the reader, "This is the age of ecology! Don't throw this card away. Recycle it to a friend."

Floyd took the advice and sent it back to Earl. Earl followed suit the following year. And so on and so on.

For 29 years the brothers have kept their same-card exchange going, freshening the card up with one-line messages that now have taken up most of the card's open space.

Floyd, 80, receives the card each year around his December 10 birthday, then kicks it back to Earl, 73, in time to acknowledge his birthday on January 31.

"It's getting worn out a little bit," Floyd said.

Happy Holidays!

While this is a little late, Bliggity Bloggity Blog wanted to acknowledge the beginning of the New Year. Aren't these little people cute??

They were photographed at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their names are interesting and creative. From left: Karen Granados, 4 days old; Kennedy Mae O'Neill, 3 days old; Diego Novoa, 1 day old; Victoria Irizarry, 1 day old; Luke Harrison Insana, 3 days old; Spencer Bennett Kerr, 1 day old; and Trinity Belle Analambidakis, 4 days old.

My favorite is Trinity Belle (with thanks to CNN's Offbeat News).

Alleged sausage theft could be a call for help

We woke up Monday morning to find the dog scratching to be let into the house from the porch. There, lying on the floor of the porch was a big ol' sausage, at least a pound-and-a-half, if not two pounds. It looked like Cisco had begun nibbling on one end of it.

S just called me, alerting me to an article in the Free Press today entitled, "Alleged sausage theft could be a call for help."

Now, along with everything else, we have to worry about our kleptomaniac dog???

Whale sings lonely song

From CNN :

"LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A lone whale, with a voice unlike any other, has been wandering the Pacific for the past 12 years, American marine biologists said Wednesday.
Using signals recorded by the U.S. Navy to track submarines, they traced the movement of whales in the Northern Pacific and found that a lone whale singing at a frequency of around 52 hertz has cruised the ocean since 1992.
Its calls, despite being clearly those of a baleen, do not match those of any known species of whale, which usually call at frequencies of between 15 and 20 hertz.
The mammal does not follow the migration patterns of any other species either, according to team leader Mary Anne Daher.
The calls of the whale, which roams the ocean every autumn and winter, have deepened slightly as a result of aging, but are still recognizable.
The study by scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, appears in the New Scientist magazine."

How very sad! I wonder if the whale has lost its way? Its pod? Is it looking for another lonely whale?

Hairy toes under the stall -- Ewww! --

Police in Jamestown, North Carolina, report a peeping Tom was caught in the women's locker room at a local "Y." A woman in a neighboring shower stall spotted his hairy feet and called for help.

David Herbert Witham is charged with six counts of peeping. Authorities say he used a small mirror to catch glimpses of the women in the shower and undressing.

From this site.

What do you want for Christmas?

All I want for Christmas is . . .

This image is from this site.

[Friday, Dec. 17th UPDATE: Last night, I was sitting in our pied-a-terre, knitting madly away, with Christmas music on the radio in the background, when what should I hear???? . . . but "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!" Not once, but twice over the course of the evening! Who woulda thunk it? :-D]

Extra! Extra! Minnie smacks Mickey!

Here's an image that takes me right back to being five. That would have been the mid-fifties, Ike was in the White House and the Cold War was heating up. Black-and-white television was the newest toy in the American toybox and Mickey Mouse was king of the heap.

This image is from this site.

Exercise your rights as an American citizen!

Grrrrrwly Grrrrrl!

She could give Tony the Tiger a run for his money. Cute little tiger!

A Pumpkin Tree!

I LOVE the idea of carved pumpkins growing on trees! How cool!

And thanks to The Castle of Doom for this cool image.

Like the plant that ate Chicago?

From the web, uh, somewhere . . . :

Swiss scientists have discovered what they think may be the biggest mushroom in Europe, a monster fungus the length of eight football pitches and mostly lurking underground.

The mushroom, which covers a whopping 35 hectares [86.5 acres] in a Swiss national park near the eastern town of Ofenpass is thought to be more than 1,000 years old, forestry experts say.

The mushroom, which is 800 metres long [874 yards or about a half-mile long] and 500 metres wide [546 yards or just under a third of a mile long], is of the armillaria type, according to the Swiss Federal Institute Forest, Snow and Countryside Research (WSL).

It consists of a vast network of sometimes very thick filaments which reach out along the path of tree roots in the mountainous, wooded region.

The visible parts of the mushroom that poke out above the ground or on the boughs of trees are the tip of the iceberg, representing a tiny part of the vast undersoil organism.

Some species within the family are formidable parasites which invade trees, gradually strangling them.

They have been blamed for the widespread destruction of pines within the national park, a WSL statement said.

One reason why the fungus may have survived for so long undetected and untroubled is that it is only edible when young, and even then is not a favourite with lovers of mushrooms.

--AFP

Sounds like a great idea for a scary movie! (And thanks to this site for the metric to English conversions . . . otherwise, I would have had NO idea of how big this big-ass fungus truly is!)

. . . the grass is always greener . . .

With the election coming up, all the ponderous debates, hateful charges being hurled from the right to the left (note the one-way street), the efforts of Bliggity Bloggity Blog become more apparently necessary.

Where is the love these days? Where is the silliness these days? This is a time to laugh and enjoy how silly we can all be.

Arrrgh!

Take this for example:

The Sunset Hills Memorial Park cemetery is giving up grass in favor of artificial turf.

It's a move owners believe will save as much as $180,000 in water and maintenance costs over the next three years. The cemetery is the final resting place for cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

"I actually believe it will revolutionize the cemetery industry eventually," said Sunset Hills co-owner Chet Hitt. He knows of no other cemetery that uses artificial turf.

Hitt originally started selling artificial turf just to people who wanted it for their family plots, but has gradually begun to put it down throughout the cemetery. He expects he'll have to replace it about once every eight years.

Artificial grass has several benefits besides saving money on water and maintenance costs, said Dave Hepburn of the Interment Association of California, the state's largest cemetery trade association.

Real grass can discolor tombstones and grow into graveside flower vases, damaging them, Hepburn said. Heavy watering can also damage concrete walkways and discolor headstones over time.

"The most important thing for a cemetery is to look good at all times, to look beautiful inside," Hepburn said.

I wonder if the Fischer brothers have heard about this?

drink, drank, drunk

For a new source of silliness, we have Modern Drunkenness Magazine. Here are some nuggets of wisdom from their aptly titled, "Winos of Wisdom:"

“Oh, I’m not a drunk. I’m a drank. As in, I just drank all my beer. But I’m willing to be a drunk if you buy me a drink.”
Joan B., playing with words and men’s emotions outside the Carioca Cafe.

“I want all the booze in the world in this glass right now. All of it. Mix it up. I’ll drink every damn drop. Of course, I’m going to need a bigger glass.”
An ambitious yet pragmatic Tom H. wanting it all at the Lion’s Lair Lounge.

“Give me another glass of wine, and pour it strong this time.”
Annie G., 24, attempting to squeeze booze from a turnip at the Streets of London Pub.

“You’re not drunk if you can lay on the floor without holding on.”
Scott Q. while desperately clawing at his living room carpet.

“Give me well scotch and top shelf water.”
Mary K. worrying about the wagon instead of the mule at Southpark Tavern.

“Go ahead and unload on me, man. I’m pretty sure I’m blacked out right now and won’t remember nothing.”
An extremely loaded, yet intensely self-aware patron at the High Street Speakeasy.

“You’re hard to remember, but easy to forget.”
Trish C., 24, dishing out a sweet burn at the Lion’s Lair.

"I want four stupid fruity shots. Stupid and fruity as you can make ‘em. Your choice. And a Jack Daniels neat.”
Name unknown, attempting to rescue his forsaken masculinity four shots too late at the Bar Bar.

“Grab hold me, boys! I’m about to rear up on my hind legs and take a bite outta the fuckin’ moon!”
Raymond L., 52, losing his composure but not his dreams at the Landmark Tavern.

Top Ten Bush Tax Proposals

From CNN:

Democrat John Kerry joked Monday on "The Late Show with David Letterman" about changes under President Bush's tax plan.

Kerry's "Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals" are:

10. No estate tax for families with at least two U.S. presidents.

9. W-2 Form is now Dubya-2 Form.

8. Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to Halliburton.

7. The reduced earned income tax credit is so unfair, it just makes me want to tear out my lustrous, finely groomed hair.

6. Attorney General (John) Ashcroft gets to write off the entire U.S. Constitution.

5. Texas Rangers can take a business loss for trading Sammy Sosa.

4. Eliminate all income taxes; just ask Teresa (Heinz Kerry) to cover the whole damn thing.

3. Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent.

2. Hundred-dollar penalty if you pronounce it "nuclear" instead of "nucular."

1. George W. Bush gets a deduction for mortgaging our entire future.

... flush with comments ...

Get this . . . talking toilets!

As an artistic venture, Leonard van Munster, an artist in Amsterdam, has outfitted public toilets with sensors that, upon sensing a person's presence, then start talking.

"You might consider sitting down next time," the toilet told a male Reuters reporter politely in a female robot voice. The next user was told that "The last visitor did not take heed of basic rules of hygiene."

Depending on circumstances, the toilet might remind you to wash your hands or ask you to lift the seat.

"It could suddenly start coughing and warn you about the dangers of cigarettes, or name all the cool movie stars who smoke. It just depends what mood it's in," van Munster said referring to people who sneak off to secretly have a puff.

Talk about an invasion of privacy!

Sometimes, I go to the bathroom to clear my thinking. In fact, I get some of my best ideas while in the bathroom! No talking toilets!

From CNN's Offbeat News.

". . . screwed, blued and tattooed . . ."

Are you feeling screwed, blued and tattooed because the man slipped it to you? Like, stay loose, hit the pad and share a thumb with your pash.

Huh?

If that made no sense to you, check out "The Hippie Dictionary" by John McCleary. Using the new book to translate, readers come up with the more conventional: Are you feeling mistreated by the authorities? Relax, go home to bed and share a very large marijuana cigarette with your significant other."

Those expecting the dictionary, published by Ten Speed Press, to be a stodgy reference work are in for a jolt.

McCleary's book is chock-full of pointed editorializing, slang and swear words culled from the vernacular of the 1960s and 1970s hippie youth, who questioned authority and created their own counterculture.

. . . among the book's entries are such gems as "hey man" (the most prevalent greeting of the era) and "swacked" (high on drugs or alcohol).

One of the more amusing entries is found under "like," which McCleary calls an unnecessary word that along with "you know" and "I mean" has come to dominate U.S. speech.

"What is strange about these exclamations is that, even though they have no real bearing on the conversation, they indicate a desire ... to communicate with clarity and understanding."

. . . the book's entry for the term "hippie" says, "The true hippie believes in and works for truth, generosity, peace, love and tolerance. The messengers of sanity in a world filled with greed, intolerance and war."

. . .McCleary has no apologies for expressing highly subjective views in what is ostensibly a reference book.

In his entry on President John F. Kennedy's assassination, he wrote, "It is interesting to note that liberals are the ones who are killed in their prime, and conservatives die old in their soft beds. This world would be a better place in which to live if John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., had lived to die in their soft beds."

McCleary said his editorializing is necessary because the hippie era was a very opinionated period and some of the themes he touches on help illustrate the hippie philosophy.

-- from CNN's Offbeat News.

Not acceptable!

From a website called In The News:

December 19, 2003 -- A feisty teller thwarted a bank heist by balling up the robber's demand note and throwing it back in his face.

"I can't accept this!" the teller at BB&T bank in Chesapeake, Va., told the man, who was so startled, he did a fast about-face and fled empty-handed.