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The World Wide Weird

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Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 30th, 2009

You know your kids are getting older when their friends start pulling their Halloween costumes straight out of the headlines:

And no, that’s not my son.

(Hat tip: Lisa Rafal) 

Categories: Family Matters, The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Happy Halloween!

Arnold Flips the Legislature the Bird

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Fifty governors, but only Schwarzenegger can pull this off:

Seems like a pretty innocuous veto, until you read down the left-hand column of letters, that is. ;-)

(I had to scale the image down to make it fit on the blog. Click on the image itself (or click here to see a clearer version of the note).

Categories: Political Rantings, The World Wide Weird | 4 Comments »

Ikea Takes an Allen Wrench to its Branding

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

What could cheap furniture maker extraordinaire, Ikea, do that would create reactions like this?

“Ikea, stop the . . . madness!” – Tokyo

“Horrific!” – Dublin

“It’s a sad day” – Typophile Online Forum

“The . . . community feels betrayed. If a company like Ikea can make this mistake, you have to wonder who is going to lead . . . ” – Bucharest

“Words can’t describe my disgust. It’s a bit like using Lego to build a skyscraper, when steel is clearly a superior choice.” – Melbourne

“It’s like taking the family sedan off-road. It will sort of work, but ultimately gets bogged down” – London

What have they done? Have they made faulty furniture? Supported an unpopular political candidate? Employed child slave labor to write cryptic instructions in Swedish for unsuspecting American bargain hunters? What could Ikea have possibly done that would surpass the death of Ted Kennedy on Twitter’s Trending Topics page?!?

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories: The World Wide Weird | 4 Comments »

A Fool to Some of the People, All of the Time

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Time Magazine Poll:

Categories: News and/or Media, The World Wide Weird | 2 Comments »

Two Funny Deaths…

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Yes, I know – it’s never funny when someone dies.

Except maybe this guy from two years ago.

And then there’s these two from this week:

Oscar Mayer Dies at 95

Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener;
That is what he really used to be…

Man Falls Into Chocolate Vat; Dies

Oompa Loompa doompadee doo;
I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you.
Oompa Loompa doompadah dee;
If you are wise you’ll listen to me.

What do you do when your worker falls flat?
Tumbling into a chocolate vat?
Why didn’t he stay away from the side?
Then he would not have slipped and died!

(All covered with chocolate)

Oompa Loompa Doompadee Dah;
If you’ve good balance, you will go far.
You will live in happiness too
Like the Oompa Loompa doompadee do…

Categories: The World Wide Weird | 2 Comments »

Hugging Epidemic?

Friday, May 29th, 2009

From the New York Times’ Style section:

There is so much hugging at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, N.J., that students have broken down the hugs by type:

There is the basic friend hug, probably the most popular, and the bear hug, of course. But now there is also the bear claw, when a boy embraces a girl awkwardly with his elbows poking out. There is the hug that starts with a high-five, then moves into a fist bump, followed by a slap on the back and an embrace. There

Categories: The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Hugging Epidemic?

Is it Real?

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

The Onion has a long history of classic headlines, such as Misbuttoned Coat Makes Perfectly Sane Woman Look Like Raving Lunatic and For Gay Couple, Fulfilling Lifelong Dream Of Marriage Not Worth Moving To Iowa.

Occasionally, one comes upon a real headline and figures it must have been from a wayward Onion story that escaped and found it’s way into a real newsfeed. Case in point:

London mayor shocked at ‘fat’ waxwork model
LONDON (AFP)

Categories: The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Is it Real?

Some Advice for President Obama

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

[You should not exercise] excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state

Categories: Money Talk, The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Some Advice for President Obama

Colbert Nation launches into orbit

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

As disturbing as my last TV-related post was, this one really makes me smile.

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s hilarious Colbert Report, has made a habit of asking his viewers to write in his name in a variety of public naming contests. To date, he’s managed to get a Hungarian bridge, a San Francisco Zoo-born eagle, a hockey team mascot, a species of trapdoor spider and a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor named after him.

His most recent target was the new node (i.e., room) on the International Space Station, which NASA has asked the public to name via on online poll. NASA’s suggestions were “Serenity,” “Legacy,” “Earthrise,” “Venture,” and the dreaded write-in vote. So enthusiastic are Colbert’s fans (which he has dubbed the “Colbert Nation”) that as of a few weeks ago, the write-in suggestion “Colbert” was beating it’s closest competitor (“Serenity”) by nearly 20,000 votes. NASA wisely reserved the right to ignore the poll results and pick an “appropriate” name, should they be unhappy with the public’s selection.

Well, as it turns out, after 1.2 million votes were cast, NASA went with “Tranquility,” one of the Top Ten suggestions in the poll, in honor of the upcoming 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic moon landing at the Sea of Tranquility.

In a nod to Colbert Nation, though, NASA has dubbed a treadmill that will eventually reside in the new node the “‘Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill,” or C.O.L.B.E.R.T. for short. Astronaut Suni Williams made the announcement on “The Colbert Report,” two years after running the Boston Marathon in space on a station treadmill similar to COLBERT.

Incidentally, the logo on the left is the actual image posted on the actual NASA page announcing the name of the new space station node.

Kudos to Steven Colbert for keeping the public enthusiastic about the space program, and kudos to NASA for not taking itself so seriously as to ignore the taxpayers that fund their important research.

Categories: Primetime TV, The Future is Now, The World Wide Weird | 1 Comment »

The Official Blog Post of the New York Yankees

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

With the Yankees and the Mets sporting new stadiums this year, the opportunities for new sponsorship deals were numerous. Apparently, both teams took full advantage.

Some examples from the Yankees:

  • Benjamin Moore is the Official Paint of the New York Yankees
  • Amtrak is the Official Rail Fare of the New York Yankees (not the trains, mind you, just the fare)
  • Met Life is the Official Life Insurance of the New York Yankees (despite the word “Met” in their name)
  • Hess is the Official Gasoline & Convenience Store Retailer of the New York Yankees
  • H&R Block is the Official Tax Preparation Company of the New York Yankees
  • StubHub is the Official Secondary Ticketing of the New York Yankees (for those who are wondering, there is no “Official Scalper of the New York Yankees.” Coincidence?)

So, if you want to show your Yankee pride while you buy life insurance or pay your taxes, you have that option now.

The Mets are similarly opportunistic:

  • Davis Vision is the Official Eyecare Provider of the New York Mets
  • Geico is the Official Auto Insurance of the New York Mets
  • Kozy Shack is the Official Pudding of the New York Mets
  • Landmark Concessions is the Official Fried Dough of the New York Mets
  • Send In The Clowns is the Official Party Provider of the New York Mets

So, if you want to have a party, and serve pudding and fried dough, you can do it all while supporting your hometown boys from Flushing, Queens.

It gets better: both teams have official hospitals (Yankees: New York Presbyterian, Mets: Hospital For Special Surgery). Nathan’s is the Offical Hot Dog of the New York Yankees, and the Non-Kosher Hot Dog & French Fry of the New York Mets (one assumes the Mets no preference on kosher hot dogs and the Yankees don’t care what kind of french fry you eat…) The Yankees have Official Life Insurance (Met Life) and Official Health Insurance (Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and the Mets have Official Auto Insurance (Geico) and an Official X-Ray Equipment Provider (NY Imaging). So you can get sick and/or die as a Yankee fan, but if you crash your car or break a bone, you better be rooting for the Mets.

Oh, one more thing: Zales is the Official National Jewelry Retailer of the New York Yankees. The Mets have no Official Jewelry Retailer. I guess they don’t expect to be buying rings anytime soon.

<grin>

Categories: New York, New York, Sports Talk, The World Wide Weird | 1 Comment »

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