I Want One

Saw one of these parked in the motorcycle lot across from my building. I am now in love with and want one.

It's called a "Twike" When I first saw the one across from my building, I just glanced at the name and misread it as "Twinkie," which would be a better name, I think.

Xmas at the 5-Oh-7

Because I tend to get really grumpy about the holidays (I HATE shopping for gifts), I decided to talk Dr. Nate, Ph.D, into decorating the house...ya know - to get me into better spirits. And to make our trashy, little rental house look a bit less trashy. We went with some garland and bows on the porch (which plays off the lovely pink trim and teal shutters already on the house, don't you think?):

Internally, our "we bought it for $1.50 from the grocery store two Februarys ago" gold lame tree is, this year, enhanced by red ornaments!

And the cats were enhanced with antlers. One of them deigned to allow us to capture the moment:

Note the look of utter hatred.

So yeah, the whole decorating thing was fun while it lasted (pushing past the herds of wandering biddies at the place where we bought the decorations was not), but I'm pretty much back to being grumpy again, now that I have to start figuring out what to buy people.

Although, the holiday season does allow me the pleasure of cranking up Twisted Sister's "Twisted Christmas" on the stereo. For whatever reason, Nate won't allow me to play it all year long. Love that Dee Snider!

Warren Jeffs Sentenced! Yay!

Also in the news today: Evil mormons... Warren Jeffs, leader of the polygamous FLDS cult was sentenced to five-years-to-life for his role in the arranged marriage of teenagers. This sentence was meted out in Utah. He faces other, similar, charges in Arizona.

I think 5-years-to-life is pretty vague, don't you? He can be out in five years? Sheesh.

Other interesting things to note: Jeffs attempted suicide while awaiting trial. He also released a statement while in jail saying he was "immoral" with a sister and daughter when he was younger, and calling himself the "one most wicked men on the face of the Earth since father Adam's time." Sounds like someone is trying to earn himself a pity party and a bit of sympathy because--suddenly--he's remorseful, eh? (And doesn't admitting to perceived incest ALWAYS earn you a sympathy vote?)

Either way, the score now stands as: Evil polygamist mormons-0; Us normal folks-1

(Incidentally, when I don't capitalize "mormon," my Firefox spell check calls it misspelled. And the first suggestion it gives me for the correct spelling? "Moron." Right on, Firefox, right on.)

Be Glad We Didn't Live in the Silurian Period

Just read this AP wire (edited for time allotted and to fit on your screen):

By THOMAS WAGNER Associated Press Writer

Nov 21st, 2007 | LONDON -- British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever.

How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.

..NOTE: Love the comparison to a Smart car. I like Smart cars; I hate bugs...

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.

"We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.

...say it with me folks: GROSS!...

Disappointing Television

Thanks to Mike, Nate and I learned the wonders of a British t.v. program called "Ed vs. Spencer" wherein two roommates (the aforementioned Ed and Spencer) see who can win a given challenge. "Challenges" include: Who can survive in the woods the longest? Who can gain the most weight? Who do kids like more?

Wikipedia entry for Ed vs. Spencer

So, it was with great happiness that Nate and I anticipated the Comedy Central airing of "Kenny vs. Spenny," the Canadian show on which "Ed vs. Spencer" is based. Right at the beginning, I knew I was in for some disappointing t.v. Executive producers? The South Park guys. Now, I like South Park to a certain extent, but not so much that I want the sensibilities (a term which I use loosely here) of the South Park guys to be interfering with what is a good premise for a t.v. show.

So, "Kenny vs. Spenny"... we tried to watch the episode TiVo had recorded for us: 'Who can eat the most meat?' I don't think I actually saw any of the episode beyond the opening credits as it was so gross that I wasn't even watching it most of the time. See, I have a weird quirk about touching food or seeing food touched...too weird to go into (think of it as an anti-food-porn affliction) and just one of the many quirks I have. Another quirk being that I can't set my alarm clock to any number that it a multiple of 5, a palindrome, or looks the same right side up as upside down (think 6:59 on a digital clock). But I digress.... Besides, the show was simply unfunny.

So, yet another instance where the British version of something is better than the North American version.

Late-Breaking Story: A Cult in the News!

Ah - I love me a good religious cult story. Just noticed this one while perusing CNN.com. To summarize:

There's this doomsday cult in Russia called the "True Russian Orthodox Church." The 29 members are holed up in a self-made cave and are threatening suicide if the authorities try to remove them from their cave. The cult members are living in the cave while they await the apocalypse (no word on whether said apocalypse is a zombie apocalypse or just an apocalypse of the regular variety), which is supposed to take place in May. They have supplies to last them until Spring. Four children are in the group.

Heck, I say let 'em hang out there until Spring. Who wants to live in a cave in Russia all winter long? The cult's leader certainly doesn't, and is trying to persuade the others to leave (they won't listen to him, as they believe he is under the influence of the Russian government). I bet they'd get bored and cold and hungry and just leave on their own in about two weeks, if left to their own devices.

More Television I Love To Watch

Thanks to the Cyberninja for pointing out I'd left off Man vs. Wild (even with all the disclaimers that they add in now, Bear still eats various gross things on the show and gets naked fairly often which makes it tops in my book). Besides, I also saw Bear in what might arguably be a show even better than Man vs. Wild, called "Escape to the Legion."

Which lead me to think about all the other great shows I'd forgotten to mention. Mostly these shows are thanks to our digital cable subscription which includes Sundance, IFC, and BBCAmerica:

#1. John Safran vs. God: How could I have forgotten about this one?! I LOVE "John Safran vs. God" (even though it apparently ran for only one season and I think I've seen all of them). Plus, it's pretty apparent that John Safran does not like Mormons any more than I do.


#2. Peep Show: Saw an episode or two when we were in Ireland this year and loved it. Found out that the first season is on DVD and That's Rentertainment had it. Now I just have to either buy a Region 2 DVD player to watch the other seasons or wait patiently until they are released on Region 1 DVD.

#3. Shameless: Cuz they know how 'a throw a ppppaaaaaa-AAAAAA!The simple fact is that the Brits have better t.v. than we do. 'Benny Hill' being an exception (and I never really cared for any of the Rowan Aktinson vehicles). 'Peep Show,' 'Shameless,' and my one, true love 'Top Gear' are all British. And admit it--'Coupling' was far better than 'Friends.' Besides, British television brought us the best evil entities ever: Daleks!


Seek, locate, and exterminate!

Hair Band Boys Do Not Age Well

I've noticed, while watching television and coming across various "reality" shows (usually on VH1), that the hair band pretty boys of my teenage dreams do not age well at all. For instance:

Bret Michaels before:
Bret Michaels after (note the bad eye job):


Sebastian Bach (one of the prettiest of all the pretty boys) before:


Sebastian Bach after:
and:

Surprisingly, two who have actually held up extremely well were two of the most notorious of them all (most noted for heroin usage and dying once or twice):

Nikki Sixx:
Slash:Okay, you can argue that Slash was never in a hair band and/or was never considered a pretty boy. Either way, he's held up well, considering the substance abuse and flatlining...

Obviously

Because everyone knows that the finest red tinsel is Cambodian...

Home Depot Cambodia Red Prelit Tinsel Tree

Miscellany

Nate is at a science! conference so I went home to visit my parents and, on my way west on I-72, came across new Guns Save Life signage. I didn't see the first of the signs, but can paraphrase the others: "...in Darfur Sudan...all started with...a gun ban...GunsSaveLife.com." Ha. Gotta hand it to the redneck milita-types: those guys can rhyme!

Other things of note: a new Nova, the title of which is "Intelligent Design on Trial." Now, I can only assume that Nova will shred the intelligent design theory to pieces, and I will be really disappointed if they don't. Then again, often I hope for programs to cut down various idiots and am disappointed at the results. I was home early from work a few Fridays ago and, flipping through the channels, and noticed that Oprah was doing a show on polygamists. Yippee (even though I can't stand Oprah, I relented for this)! But no, she was soft on 'em (so was Lisa Ling, who did some of the interviews, and whom I usually like). Lisa and Oprah even went so far as to use what they called the "politically correct" term for polygamy--"plural marriages." What the hell?! Since when has polygamy been politically correct?! Damn mormon fundamentalist.

Anyhow. One can only hope Nova does some proper intelligent design-bashing. I may have to stop giving money to PBS if they don't.

And now, your "Random picture of one of our cats" image 'o the day: