NBC Today Show

I am probably the only person, as a grad student, who is around and who watches the Today show. I just like having something on in the background. I have noticed many things about the show, which, despite my watching it fairly often, drive me nuts. First of all, why do they always say, "That's what's happening in the rest of the country, now here's what's happening in your neck of the woods." even when they haven't just told us what it happening in the rest of the country? They will say this after discussing some actors love life, or some cake recipe, but often not following the weather or national news...which makes the statement not make much sense. They also say, "This is today on NBC." all the time. Which just annoys me because of course it is....But besides these quirky sign offs, what really gets my goat is that every day they have to have what I can only call, "The freaky accident/nature attacks segment." Watch and you will see that every day they have one of these segments involving an interview with those involved (usually accompanied by stupid props). I have seen several on shark attacks, a truck driving through a living room, and I just saw a teaser for tomorrow morning: a kid who got a deer antler stuck in his head. Now that is what I call important news!! If they did this once in a while fine, but the fact that they do it everyday just puts the nail in the coffin. Mix it up a little, try doing a story on something that matters: environment, poverty, politics...and I am not talking about Mat Lauer interviewing penguins at the North poll.

Moist...

If this word drives you crazy....you are probably a woman. Check out the post about this over at Mollytics. Pretty funny and true.

Dreams of my youth...

Tecmo Super Bowl was the best sports game ever...back when controllers were simple, graphics sub par, and music slightly annoying. I only had about five games for my Nintendo, which I won selling popcorn for the Boy Scouts (over share?), but Tecmo Super Bowl was probably the best. Bo Jackson was unbeatable and the Reverse Fake Z-Post, was the unstoppable play. I spent many a Saturday evening with a hand curled like a hook because of "Nintendo thumb syndrome." Check out the link...it's pretty funny. Any Nintendo memories from your youth?

kind of funny...

"Jesus loves you on vacation."
My brother took this picture.

I am thankful for....

Dog, looking big and asleep.

Dog in a bag.

Well, today being Thanksgiving and all I though I should say that yes I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for Sarah, friends and family. I am thankful for my dog (because I have pictures I will share them), my nephew Hunter, and my niece Noe (OK, technically she's not my niece, but basically the same thing). I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. On Wren's blog you can read about what he does with holiday leftovers. My suggestion, via my uncle, is thanksgiving shepherd's pie...take all the leftovers and make a shepherd's pie.

Seen any funny typos lately?

Ok, fine...here's a post I have been thinking about for a while. Has anyone seen any funny typos, misspellings, or ungrammatical mishaps on signs, in the media, or anywhere lately? (Besides on this blog of course, where I take certain liberties with the English language, sentence structure, etc...I have no copy editor so cut me some slack.) I don't have any good examples right now, but I am sure someone out there has seen something that has made them first shake their head and then laugh.

Answer

Here's the answer to the trivia question that no loyal reader wanted to answer. Publius was the name used by the writers of the "Federalist Papers." They were by the way John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

Fox News Anchor or Porn Star?

Saw this on another blog, thought it was pretty funny. Can you identify who is a fox news anchor and who is a porn star? Link. Also, has anyone else seen that really hot White House assistant press secretary?

Trivia 2

Of course, since I am studying history, all trivia must involve history. Here is a soft-ball question: Where in American history does the name "Publius" come from? (Not the original Roman origin) Hint: This blog has not really lived up to the name yet. (Perhaps it will as the election draws nearer) If nobody else, I figure Wren always appreciates trivia.

Trivia

Without cheating...who was the only president to have served on the Supreme Court? (Masaki and Sarah you are disqualified, since I already told you guys.)

Haiku

The beach in winter,
more relaxing than summer,
waves lapping cold sand.

Any haiku writers out there?

Random Pictures, 'cause who likes "reading"

Cute child, you happy now? I couldn't figure out how to rotate it.

Beach being rebuilt at Bethany.

Another picture of my cute dog Quinn and her favorite toy, the hedgehog.

Video of baby watching dogs and real dog also watching dogs.

To the political scientists out there..

And as far as know there is only one or two of you...I have a deep question that verges on the philosophical or perhaps Zen: If an election happens in Baltimore and nobody votes, did it really happen? In the interest of full disclosure I should say, I did not vote. I know, I know, (Molly, you are probably so disappointed right now) but lets be honest, what is the point of voting in an election where many people ran unopposed, and the mayor won by about 70% of the vote. Here are some ideas for increasing voter participation (some mine, some stolen): when you vote you get entered in a lottery for a million dollars, actually have some competition (you know the whole two party thing), allow everyone to vote by mail, or lets just abandon this whole democracy thing and have those who score in the top 10% on the SATs vote. We will force them to vote, they are smarter than me (I think, I don't remember my percentile), and then the rest of us don't have to bother paying attention. I believe that these people should also be the ones to be forced to serve on juries, that way the rest of us don't have to. Haha, that will teach those damn smart people and force candidates to actually act smart, not dumb it down. Anyone else have some reform ideas?

Big Explosion on My Street

So enough complaining about dog poop on my lawn...a house exploded on my street today. No joke. I was sitting at home with Quinn when there was a really, really loud boom, some stuff fell over in my house, and the dog looked at me like, "what the *!@# was that?" I ran outside and there was complete chaos...kids running around drenched in blood, women screaming, seriously, it was intense. I tried to help one kid who was bleeding from the back of his head, but he kept running around and I couldn't get him to sit down. Luckily the fire fighters and paramedics showed up quickly and it turns out no one was critically injured, which is a miracle considering three houses were destroyed and the whole front of one house was blown apart. Some guy somehow managed to blow up a propane tank in his house. Although my first reaction was meth lab. Anywho, after it was clear that everyone will be ok, and everything was under control, I took a picture or two and was interviewed on one of the local news channels (WJZ, you can go to WJZ.com and see a clip of me being interviewed, looking all scruffy). It is seriously a miracle that no one was killed.

Why do dogs keep crapping on my lawn?

We have like a ten ft. square lawn and some dog, or dogs, keeps crapping on it. Once I could forgive. I have, myself, been caught without a plastic bag on a few occasions. But now it is starting to look like someone is training their dog to poop on our lawn. I mean come on people! What is the best way to deal with this situation? I have considered sitting on my porch with a shotgun twenty-four hours a day...but I have no shotgun and it is getting cold. I could make a sign, which the dog owner would promptly ignore. Plant cacti in my lawn? I am at a loss. There is certain dog etiquette that needs to followed in a civil society. What is the world coming to when shit can be left anywhere? In the privacy of my own backyard, fine, I will leave crap festering for a few days, but on the front lawn, by my walk? That is a slap in the face. Suggestions anyone? And by the way what the heck is "curbing your dog"? I assume it means pick up their crap, but where did the phrase come from?

Three of my favorite things.

No I am not Oprah, nor am I particularly a fan of the "The Sound of Music." However, in this picture are three of my favorite things. Scout (the dog), Hunter (the nephew), and the Good Food Store (The Yellow Menu: the name says it all, we don't have this kind of hippy food store in B-more). I guess you could include the rocking flannel shirt. Why do hippy sandwiches and wraps taste better?