Humor break: Dramatic … whatever

At least this one is correctly identified as a lemur!



Props must go to the Dramatic Chipmunk, which is actually a prairie dog, for being the first in the Dramatic category. The short version of Dramatic Lemur is also good.

Gustav making its way to New Orleans

The poor folks along the Gulf coast are still trying to recover from Katrina, and now three years later almost to the day they have Gustav bearing down on them. The hurricane is all over the national news, so FEMA won't be able to get away with turning a blind eye this time, though they seem to be better prepared. Of course, anything would be better prepared when compared to "great job Brownie".

For our own family, we're happy to see that Gustav has largely bypassed the Keys. Fay was a lingering headache — Anhaga told me it rained for days and days after Fay was supposedly gone. Hopefully the approaching Tropical Storm Hanna (!!) won't become a hurricane, right now Hanna seems to be making a straight approach toward the Keys. Fingers and toes crossed!

We've been Technorati'd ! !

Queenee has been pining for a song she had on a tape in the Lincoln, a Bonnie Raitt song called Feels Like Home from the soundtrack to the movie Michael. In my travels around the web looking for it, I left a comment in another blog that had a top 100 drinking songs list. Mind you, I arrived very late to this particular party; the post itself was over a year old. Regardless, the most recent comment was from a couple weeks ago, so I left a link to one of my faves, the previously discussed Fifteen Beers Ago by Ben Colder, aka Sheb Wooley. The recording I found available online was a different version from the one we had on the "Live and Loaded" album that PopPop bought all those years ago in North Dakota. btw, we still have that album and it's worth more than PopPop paid for it. Anyway, I thought I'd keep going through Google and see if I could find our version.

When I got to the second page of Google links, in the 19th spot, I saw a quote that sounded very familiar. The link was to Technorati, a blog-post aggregate site, so I clicked on the link. Lo and behold, five links down, there we were!

This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but this being a family blog, I post things that are of interest to me or to the immediate family (at least that's what I shoot for) and pretty much don't think about the world at large. In a million years I never thought anything here would hit Technorati. Evidently the link back to the NY Times obit for Eddy Arnold combined with the Ben Colder reference bumped us up for that particular search term, and there we are! In case those links expire or change, as I expect they will, I have screenshots!

Ok, you can all stop laughing now.

Tony Bennett

Queenee and I saw Tony Bennett last night at the South Shore Music Circus. His daughter sang a few songs to open the show… alas, she was slightly off-key most of the time. Tony came out to a big ovation and a photo session. You aren't supposed to take photos, but he had the house lights brought up and let people snap away, so people took photos throughout the show, me included. Without flash, none are any good, but they are very impressionistic, right?

Anyway, at 82 years old, he is in great shape and still has that wonderful voice. He forgets an occasional lyric, but he fluffs it like the pro he is and who cares anyway. He's Tony Bennett, he's a legend. He didn't sing my favorite song, I Wanna Be Around, or Queenee's favorite, Cold, Cold Heart, but we enjoyed every minute.



Then came the long escape from the parking lot. I don't understand why people are in such a panic to leave, you never get out of that parking lot in less than half an hour. We had a decent spot near the front, so Queenee didn't have a whole lot of walking to do.

Speaking of walking, she has an appointment with an ankle specialist on September 3. I'm still trying to get her in somewhere sooner, but there aren't many ankle specialists and nobody is booking appointments before late October. She got the 9/3 appointment because the surgeon who did the emergency surgery pulled some strings. She might have gotten in sooner had the insurance company not dicked us around for a week. Now we have to wait because the ankle doc is going on a lecture tour and won't even be in town. I have one more doctor to try, but at least she has a definite appointment.

Dead Parrot Sketch, 419-style

Anyone who spends any time on the Internet and has an email account knows about 419 scams. You get an email from someone claiming to be the widow of a world leader, or dying of cancer, or whatever, and they are looking for money. Often they already have a vast fortune and just need your help getting it out of some country, for which you will receive 10% or more. These scams are primarily run out of Nigeria, because they have good internet connections and lots of unemployed young men, and are named after Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal code. Millions of dollars have been lost and people have died because of these scams. The US State Department and FBI have webpages devoted to internet crimes largely because of the 419 scam.

The flip side of the 419 coin is scam-baiting. There are people who make a hobby out of scamming the scammers. The idea is to waste as much of the scammers time as possible, because while they are going round and round with a scam-baiter, they are not scamming some hapless fool. Scam-baiters are very creative and get scammers to go through humiliating rituals… and everything must be photographed or videotaped, of course. You can imagine the results, or you can see them for yourself on websites like Scamorama or 419 Eater.

Which brings us to this video… the recipient of a 419 email convinced the sender that he was the CEO of a video production company looking for creative people to make videos, act in videos, whatever. All they had to do was send a sample of their talent and he could surely get them a large grant. He suggested they recreate the classic Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch. This is what he got.



If you want to see the original for comparison, you can find it here.

OMG

The Beijing Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics have begun. So far, it's been a pretty good show on China's part. What I saw of the opening ceremony was spectacular and the venues are stunning, especially the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Nothing was left unfinished, as happened in Athens. China was prepared and then some. The Chinese spectators have been more than gracious to all participants, even their long-time enemies, the Japanese. It promises to be a memorable Olympics.

There have been some amazing performances so far, but the most inspiring moment for me was seeing Lin Hao walking alongside Yao Ming in the opening ceremony. Lin Hao is 9 years old. He was at school in YingXui, one of the hardest hit areas of the recent earthquake in China. Only ten of his thirty classmates survived when their school building collapsed, trapping him and two friends in a corridor during the quake. According to the BBC he said, "The corridor collapsed as I was walking. Two of my classmates were trapped beside me. I tried as hard as I could to climb out, and after I had climbed out I pulled a classmate out." After getting that unconscious classmate to safety, he went back and carried the second friend, also unconscious, to safety. When asked about his heroism, Lin Hao replied that he was the 'hall monitor' and it was his responsibility. According to some reports, he encouraged his fellow surviving students to sing songs in order to keep up their spirits while they awaited rescue and aid. Then, having lost both his parents, he left the area with his two sisters, hiking seven hours to Dujiangyan. Wow. In the aftermath of the horrific devastation for the people of Sichuan province, it is heartening to hear at least one story of hope.

There are a couple old broads competing, against the odds. The US women's swim team includes 41-year-old Dara Torres, and the German women's gymnastics team has 33-year-old Oksana Chusovitina. This is Chusovitina's fifth Olympics, and she qualified for the individual competition in the vault. Imagine still being competitive in a sport where the average athlete is washed up by the time they are twenty. Amazing. The US women got a silver in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. Not too shabby.

Miss P's hot friend

In honor of Miss P's birthday, I thought I'd post her good friend Paris Hilton's new political commercial:



It warms my heart to see that Paris has a good sense of humor. It scares me to realize she has a better energy plan than the wrinkly white-haired dude.

Miss P's magic birthday!!

Happy magical-number (080808) Birthday, Miss P!!

Lyrebird

I don't suppose everyone is as crazy for birds as I am, but the lyrebird is truly something else. This is a clip from the David Attenborough series called The Life of Birds. The chainsaw imitation is remarkable. Years ago I had a cat who came running to the television whenever she heard Attenborough's voice; she knew there would be birds or insects or tigers to see and she was fascinated.

These days, everything is up for remixing, and this clip is no exception. The fine folks at Waverly Films made this clip to promote Wind River Gear, an online outdoor-supply store.

Queenee's ankle, pt. 2

Remember the x-rays from this past Friday? It gets a bit worse.

The screw that was bent last Friday is now broken. The remaining two screws are still straight, but the tibia might shift without that third screw if Queenee isn't careful. We looked at the x-rays from late April and they looked very good; everything was in place and healing well. Sometime after that something moved. Maybe she took a bad step, there is no way of telling, but she'll need to have more surgery for sure. So far there is no redness or heat, but infection is always a concern.

So, she is back to wearing the big brace and looking for a specialist. We had picked up a smaller brace this past Saturday, which turned out to be a very good thing, but she should probably have stayed off the leg longer than she did. She has the names of three or four specialists, but none seem to be covered by her insurance (at least online - we'll make some phone calls tomorrow). We'll find one, though. She may be looking at fusion now, but that is yet to be determined.

Driving while texting

I didn't realize that Massachusetts already had a law on the books prohibiting talking on a hand-held cellphone while driving. It is jurisdictional, meaning that it may vary in the details from one county to the next, but essentially you are not supposed to be holding a cellphone and talking while driving. It is considered a primary driving offense, meaning you may be ticketed without any other violation occurring. However, I believe you will not get points on your driving record, which makes it a small fine and no real damage done to the offending driver. I might be wrong about that, but it sounds par.

Many states have a novice driver provision, stating that drivers under a certain age may not talk on a cellphone or a speakerphone. Note that the novice driver is classified by age, not experience; if you are forty and just learning to drive, you are not, in the terms of this law, considered a novice driver.

There are exceptions. Truck drivers are allowed to hold a cellphone and drive, for some reason. You may call 911 or report an emergency while driving. Passengers are free to chat away.

Here is the part I don't understand. There is nothing preventing you from *dialing* a cellphone. Is it me? Isn't it more distracting to have to take your eyes off the road and fumble with those tiny buttons than it is to actually hold the phone and talk? Is holding a phone and talking really more distracting than holding and smoking a cigarette? And what about texting? Nothing in the law prevents a driver from texting.

Maybe someone with teenagers at home should have a shot at rewriting this law.

Buh-bye, Manny

I hope Manny Ramirez gets what he wants in LA - a team that appreciates him for being the great player he so clearly is. Here in Boston he was expected to run out his hits and try to field balls hit in his general direction. I mean, can you imagine the gall, expecting him to do the whole job he was being paid for, not just the part he enjoyed? No wonder he wanted out of here so bad. We actually expected him to play baseball for millions of dollars a year as part of a team. Ridiculous.

Poor Jason Bay, what a sucker. It looks like he might actually be a team player who will do his best in every game. He won't have Manny's home runs, or style, or piss-poor attitude, but what can you expect for a player who earns so much less than Ramirez.

LOL!!!!

I was very happy, and not surprised, to see Bay get a warm welcome from the Fenway faithful. I've been sick of Manny being Manny for a few years now, and it looks like a lot of other people have come around to the same opinion, including every other MLB team. He has been poisonous in the clubhouse and selfish from the get-go. No doubt he'll bust his ass this season, because he isn't the youngest guy on the block anymore and he's going to want a multi-year deal at the end of this season. But as for me, I'm delighted to have Jason Bay. He'll fit in nicely. Let Manny be Manny on the left coast.

Rat ladies

 

I'm known in certain circles as a lover of rats. I love rats about as much as a person can. As an outside observer, I'm sure this would be absolutely fascinating - to be able to watch rat behavior on a daily basis would be very interesting. However, I feel sorry for these folks who bought what was no doubt a very pricey house with no warning whatsoever from those in the know, particularly the real estate folks. Surely this must fall under full disclosure?

 

Hey Anhaga, does this bring back any memories?

My dream present

Now *this* is a gift! WOW!!

See all the images here.

Queenee's ankle

So, is this looking good or what? Not so good at all. It has been six months and she is still in a good amount of pain - and now we can see why. One of the screws is bent, another is working its way out. The "dusted" fibula has pointy ends. Ignore the bright white spot in the middle image, that's the camera flash.

She'll need another surgery for sure, those two straight screws have got to go. I think the bent one will be ok, it isn't doing any harm and it can't work its way out.

She sees the surgeon Wednesday afternoon, so we'll know more then.

Her knees look great, as does mine, so that's something to be thankful for. This series of x-rays was taken by the knee surgeon, just so he could see what happened. He thinks she'll be referred to an ankle specialist and says there is a very good one here in Boston, so maybe she'll be able to get this taken care of in September. Fingers crossed.