Caption: Owl vrs Mouse

This photo, from National Geographic, begs for some inventive captions. Any suggestions?

Eg....
"Sometimes you're the mouse; sometimes you're the cheese."

Hippo Tales

Think you know everything about hippos?

Here's a hippo primer in the Daily Courier.




(Photo Credit)

His father's name was Hymie

Dick Gautier is a man of many talents. Don't recognize the name? Would you believe, he's one of the characters in this photo? In addition to his many acting talents, Dick is a great caricature artist. Check out the art on his web site. I'll post a link to the story and interview with him here, when it's published shortly. Anyone remember this show? Hint - KAOS vrs CONTROL.
               Update: Story now in the Best of Times.

Hilary from the Smitten Image reminds us of the TV show Dick starred in called "When Things Were Rotten." Basically, it's Mel Brooks running amok in Sherwood Forest. The show was released on VHS but so far not on DVD. Only 13 episodes aired on ABC in 1975. The show featured some other greats. Talk about men in tights!

And Dick shared this story with me. He has a cane collection which, he says, he has developed more of an appreciation for due to a bad back:    

“My cousin came down from Canada and asked me what cane I would really like to have in my collection. I said I’ve always wanted the cane that Claude Rains used to kill Lon Chaney Jr., in the original Wolf Man (1941). It was a beautiful cane, and the top was a wolf’s head. Well about a month later [my cousin] walked into my house and handed me the cane! I said ‘Wow, how did you get that?’ He said there was a guy named Bob Burns who has all sorts of movie memorabilia, including the original cane which was made out of foam rubber and was sprayed silver – so that Claude Rains wouldn’t really kill Lon Chaney Jr.! So my cousin had someone make a mold of the original cane in brass and chrome, and made a beautiful cane for me. It’s amazing and looks just like the one in the movie.” Now that's my kind of cousin!

Restaurants with Themes

Oh dear. The Heart Attack Grill, in Las Vegas, recently claimed another victim. But not all themed restaurants require their customers to eat like a whale. Here's a look at some of the nation's oddest themed restaurants in the Mesquite News. Are there any restaurants near you that have cool themes?

New Pope on the Block

 Fellow chemists may find this interesting. First, it seems Pope Francis has a master’s degree in chemistry. Very cool! Second, how do they get the black smoke so black and the white smoke so white in the Sistine Chapel chimney smoke signals? For black, they use a mixture is potassium perchlorate, anthracene and sulfur. For white, potassium chlorate, lactose and a pine resin. Very exothermic! This fellow looks like a keeper.

I Could Care Less

Do you grind your teeth and spit infinitives every time you see or hear someone use the term "I could care less"?

You are not alone.

See story in the Richmond County Daily Journal.

Sheldon's Greatest Bits

Do you watch CBS's Big Bang Theory? Who's your favorite character? Here's some of Sheldon's best lines:

• Sheldon (to Raj): Interesting. You’re afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic.

• Sheldon (to Leonard): Please don’t take this the wrong way, but the day you win a Nobel Prize is the day I begin my research on the drag co-efficient of tassels on flying carpets.

• Sheldon (to Penny purchasing vitamins): There’s some value to taking multivitamins, but the human body can only absorb so much. So what you’re buying here are the ingredients for very expensive urine.

Read more in the Richmond County Daily Journal.

My Subway is short

When is a Footlong not a foot long? The answer, apparently, is when it’s a Subway sandwich. It seems these tasty, elongated snacks haven’t been measuring up to vigilant customers’ expectations lately.

Armed with their trusty yardsticks, pernickety patrons aross the country have resolutely sunk the Sub’s promotional promise of being one foot long (or exactly 12 inches for the dimensionally challenged). Many of the $5 Subway sandwiches have been “weighing in” at a stunted 11 inches.

Full article in the Mountain Democrat.

Kooky Conspiracy theories

I recently wrote about the crazy conspiracy theory folks out there (including Florida professor James Tracy who thinks Newtown was a hoax). Seems my story, which was about the current python hunt in the Everglades, was picked up as being REAL by some foreign sites. I guess parody doesn't translate too well.

Recognize this guy?

Are you old enough to recognize this guy?  So did he steal milk from your front doorstep, too?