geek boy goes to the moon

I was listening with rapt interest to a podcast of the SETI institute’s “Are We Alone” show, when an ad came up, “Fly your treasures to the moon! That’s right. You can send personal mementos, business cards, and more into space to be placed in an indestructible container on the moon. The only private company [...]

don’t hurt me, ms. mantis

Round up of some events from the weekend:
“Deadly Mantis” (1957). Re-dubbed soundtrack by JetCity Improv. Not one of their better efforts, but what a majorly wretched B-movie. It was a poor imitation of the great ant film, “Them!”
Folklife Festival: Bicycled downtown for the always wonderful Folklife. Visited food booths, survived a contra dance, went [...]

squab, squid, and squib

I was in a Chinese restaurant last week and my friends were ordering squab and squid, among other things. The squab (pigeon) was served with a quartered head of lettuce. You peel off lettuce leaves and stuff them with squab, then dip in hoisin sauce. Naturally, I started thinking about this “squab” word. Where does [...]

beware the zogg

I think the doctored captions on this children’s book are well-worth the brief reading time.

i, curmudgeon

Today’s complaint: sappy liberal bumper stickers. Yes, I’m a liberal-type person myself, but these annoy me:
War is terrorism
War is not the answer
You might as well spread some oatmeal on your bumper. Next we’ll have:
- You know, I sort of don’t like war
- War is yucky!
- Will you guys stop having wars, please?
Liberal bumper stickers [...]

porky poetry fills the air

Discussing an upcoming show by the Pork-Filled Players, Scot told me he was unsure of committing to a pork-filled night this weekend. That inspired me to rewrite Dylan Thomas:
Do not go gentle into the pork-filled night.
Rage, rage, against the next big bite.
This inspired Scot to rewrite Lewis Carroll:
Jabbaporky

‘Twas Bacon and the oily jowls
did fry [...]

a pink, slimy substance

Thanks to Maggie for this delicious link. Health authorities threatened to shut down an airline catering company because of “live cockroaches, dirty utensils and an oozing, pink slime.” There’s more disgusting detail in the article. What the hell does it take to actually shut a food service down if this doesn’t do it?

the obligatory star wars post

It’s in my blog contract.
Yesterday was Norwegian Independence Day, which is a big parade event here in the Ballard neighborhood. Today, of course is the midnight screening of the new Star Wars movie, and I received an offer of a ticket from an acquaintance who had a pair of them (at least he had [...]