Lemurblogging

[LINK] This is one of the rare lemur triplets born recently in Florida. There are only about 1,000 left in the wild. Welcome to the world, little funny dudes.

Catblogging - sweet feets

Henry demonstrates that every bit of him is totally cute, even his hind feet.

Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at TBIFOC - Cats - Catblogging -

O'Reilly blames murder victims

It's his M.O., blaming the victims of violence and tragedy for their demise. Jessie Davis and the wife of Chris Benoit were to blame for their own deaths, and were bad mothers. [LINK from raw story]

Remember back in January when he tried to suggest that Shawn Hornbeck, abducted at age 11, prolonged his captivity on purpose? It's not just O'Reilly, of course. It's par for the course if you are a cold-hearted fascist like so many of the puppet mouthpieces in right-wing media. It's outrageous.

FE-ic

The design on the tee-shirt pictured is what started this little customer service email exchange that was included in the Despair.com newsletter (which is always entertaining!). I got a laugh out of it and wanted to share.

From: "Yvonne (removed)" <(removed)@(removed)>
To: "The Wailing List" (feedback@wailinglist.com)
Subject: Re: The Wailing List - TWO New Shirts
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 06:14:25 -0400

i don't get it. what does "Fe" mean? is it supposed to be "FEE"? if so, youre an idiot for spelling it wrong. talk about irony! try harder next time stupid.

xoxoxo,
yvonne (removed)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "The Wailing List" (feedback@wailinglist.com)
To: "Yvonne (removed)" <(removed)@(removed)>
Subject: Re: Re: The Wailing List - TWO New Shirts
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:28:46 -0400

Please unsubscribe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Yvonne (removed)" <(removed)@(removed)>
To: "The Wailing List" (feedback@wailinglist.com)
Subject: Re: Re: Re: The Wailing List - TWO New Shirts
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:02:03 -0400

youre are an idiot. im trying to help you guys out and yuo(sic) tell me to unsubscribe? way to go, igmo.

im writing a mail to dr kiersten(sic) to let him know how you respond to constrctive(sic) criticism. what is his address?

yvonne
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "The Wailing List" (feedback@wailinglist.com)
To: "Yvonne (removed)" <(removed)@(removed)>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Wailing List - TWO New Shirts
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:44:21 -0400

His email is unsubscribe@wailinglist.com. Please write him immediately.

And seriously, the last time I heard "igmo" used unironically was in 1985, when I was in junior high. It's time to update your vernacular. (Please tell me you don't also say "Butt smoke!" when you hear people get insulted...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Yvonne (removed)" <(removed)@(removed)>
To: "The Wailing List" (feedback@wailinglist.com)
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Wailing List - TWO New Shirts
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:02:03 -0400

nice try idiot but im not so stupid. i just called your customer "disservice" group and mike (mark?) somebody gave me his cell number so you might want to start searchng(sic) monster.com for a new job.. cause im raising hell about this.

Y
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "E. L. Kersten" <(removed)@despair.com>
Subject: Customer Complaint from Yvonne (removed)
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:09:56 -0500
To: (my real name) (removed)@despair.com>

(My name):

Please unsubscribe <(removed)@(removed)> from The Wailing List. I just spent 15 minutes trying to explain the Ironic Tee to her- unsuccessfully. She does not appear to have ever ordered anything from us- despite being on the Wailing List since 2003. So I don't believe she'll be missed.

Also, please remind Mark and the others in the call center not to provide my cell phone number to people who aren't either peers in industry or reporters with high-circulation periodicals. It is more than a little awkward to be discussing remedial chemistry with an incensed, sub-literate, non-customer while test driving a Lexus LX470 with the Lexus head of sales.

p.s. - In case your wondering, yes, I got the car. What a beauty- and truly a steal at $70,000!

p.p.s. - Please don't share the price of the car with other employees. Since that's more than twice the average salary here, I'm afraid it might be damaging to morale.

regards,
E.L. Kersten, Ph.D.
Despair, Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "The Wailing List" (feedback@wailinglist.com)
To: "Yvonne (removed)" <(removed)@(removed)>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Wailing List - TWO New Shirts
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:21:02 -0500

At Dr. Kersten's request, I am unsubscribing you from The Wailing List. Thank you.

p.s.- Butt smoke!

Despair, Inc. | 800 Interchange - Suite 102 | austin, tx | 78721

Son of God Zilla: the sequel

As a continuation of the last post, I googled up some more bizarro images and websites on the dinosaur theme, some poking fun and some dead serious -- all funny. This first one (found here) might be my favorite and is begging for captions.

...and you were expecting...who?

It's supposed to say "raptor", not "rapture". There was a typo. heh heh.

I found this one in lots of places, including here. I see that Jesus has his staff in a defensive position... just in case.

This one was all over the place too, but I pulled it from this evangelical watch site. To me this looks like "Rodeo Jesus". Yeeehaaww!!

Great costume. It's a dino-headed Jesus: J-Rex no doubt. Found here (there are a bazillion photos at the link, all you dialups)

Raptor Jesus, went extinct for your sins: T-shirt. Get your own.

This is from a kid's fundy page where a naked Adam is riding his dinosaur, and as soon as you load the page, this animated dude that reminds me of Neo in the Matrix says "Jesus created everything"... and who would I trust more than The One?

Fundie Monday. Spoof, goof, or troof?

I found this on the sidebar of a right-wing blog. At least, it looked, for all the world, like a right wing blog. The content in some of the blogs is so preposterous that it's hard to tell if they are serious or creating a parody. I'm sure Texas Oasis fits that description for some folks.

Sing everybody:

He's got a baby T-Rex
In his hands

My theory on this graphic is that it was created as a parody, then misunderstood as being sincere and posted as a right-wing fundie banner. Then again... maybe not.

Captions, anyone?

Cool houses, Hot Fuzz, cool bug, and hot fun

Working backwards through the weekend, today we went on the "Cool House" tour, which is a tour of houses that have been built or remodeled for a maximum green factor... green energy, water conservation, recycled materials, etc., and as much of as a learning experience as it is, it's more fun just to get to do a lookie-loo at some of the most interesting houses around. One of the houses was the one featured on the PBS series This Old House as a green remodel. All the houses were wonderful, but there was one house that I wish I could be more creative in describing other than to say it was a dream house. It was part of a little "artist colony" at the end of a dead end road branching off another dead end road right in the heart of South Austin. The rock letters in these pics were just a small part of the wow factor. It even had a fabulous view.


Saturday I had a lot of work to do, but we did make it out to see Hot Fuzz, which gets two thumbs way up! It equals or surpasses Shaun of the Dead. Very funny stuff. Now I feel a strong urge to rent Bad Boys II and Point Break.

Friday afternoon I slacked and went to KGSR's Fan Fare Eldercare benefit at Threadgills. It's an annual event held around the Summer Solstice so it's always hot enough to remind people that if you are an older person on a fixed income with no A/C, a fan could be a life-saver. I was down there from noon until about 7:30. Saw Ruthie Foster, my beloved South Austin Jug Band, Dale Watson, Ray Wylie Hubbard (whose storytelling as as good as his songs, and that's a compliment for both), The Band of Heathens, Charlie Sexton, and Elana James (and the Continental Two). We hadn't seen Elana since The Hot Club of Cowtown. They used to have a regular gig at the Continental Club, then they went on tour opening for Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, then they broke up! Elana has been back touring with Dylan as one of his band members. 2 out of 3 Hot Clubbers are in this band but still it's not called that anymore. Here's the Heathens pictured below. Gordy Quist, second from left, just released a solo record and I bought it from him (my favorite way to buy CDs). It's a good one!

Here's Charlie Sexton getting ready to play. Coincidentally, Charlie also played in Dylan's band for awhile.


The sighting of the day was this magnificent giant bug. It flew into Threadgill's beer garden looking as big and making as much noise as 2 bugs. Landed right on my chair and scared the holy crap out of the woman behind me. And in the weirdest coincidence of the week, the guy sitting next to us spoke up and said he was an entomologist!! Of all the times when you really want an entomologist to show up and they don't... so here was this guy, who explained that this was a Cottonwood borer, a member of the Longhorn Beetle family. This picture really does not show off those antenae very well, but pics on this page do. That's his arm, but I did let it walk on me (that was a little too tickly for me and I told him to please take the bug) but he did hold it up to my ear so I could hear him hiss. I did read later that they can bite you if you mishandle them, so I'm glad I didn't do that.

Still recovering from the cloudburn I got on Friday -- cloudburn, that's when you stupidly think that because it's overcast that you aren't getting a sunburn, even though you should and do know better.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Hot Fuzz - beetle

Therrrrre he iiiiiiiiis..... [:singing::]

The World's Ugliest Dog for 2007. Click the link to see the contestants and read their stories.

[News link]

Catblogging - Jax, love can be heavy

Here's my pretty boy, Jax. He has become quite the lap cat lately! We never thought he would do this. We rescued him about 4 years ago and he was never the type to stay on your lap more than a nanosecond. But recently he really camps out there. Trouble is, he's big. Big-boned and pear-shaped -- weighs nearly 20 pounds. We've got him on a diet but he's not crazy about it, and who would be?

Here he is on my husband's "lap" below. Jax takes over the area no matter what. It's also not always wise to try and move him.



Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at This, That and the Other - Cats - Catblogging

Midsummer in Macheteville

It's June and in peak sunflower season at our house. We seem to have made our own hybrids unintentionally by favoring the seeds of the really tall plants. Most roadside sunflowers here are maybe 4 feet tall. A lot of these are 10-15 feet tall! This was the view out the back gate before that one storm beat a lot of them to the ground. These are not like the midwestern/northern sunflowers with the humongous flowers. I love those too!! Even more, actually. But those are not native down here and although they might grow if you work on them, we tried to favor the natives -- or whatever grows without much altered soil or extra water. See below our house from the street. (the back yard is much worse!)

The signs in the yard have helped keep complaints down, especially the latest one: WILDLIFE HABITAT. A lot of people would say, "Wildlife? Looks like a good place for snakes!" and my response would be "snakes count!" The other sign is for the city's Green Garden Award for having a space that's green in the eco sense of the word. It's all Mr. B's doing. He does 99.9% of the work. I take a few pictures, give some advice, and dart back behind the mosquito screen ASAP. Occasionally I get out the clippers and play Edward Scissorhands.

In a couple of weeks we will harvest seeds and take out the sunflowers for the year.

Good solstice everybody! And if this doesn't look like the middle of summer, I don't know what does. I have gotten stubborn and refuse to call it the first day of summer.

New Berra-isms. Good luck and Bob's speed.

[LINK] I just ran across this today although it's from nearly a month ago, but, Berra-isms are classic and endure the test of time! This is Yogi accepting an Honorary Degree from St. Louis University and giving their commencement speech. He may be parodying himself these days, or someone is doing it for him. He sounds more like himself here than he never did before.

"Thank you all for being here tonight. I know this is a busy time of year, and if you weren't here, you could probably be somewhere else. I especially want to thank the administration at St. Louis University for making this day necessary. It is an honor to receive this honorary degree.

"It is wonderful to be here in St. Louis and to visit the old neighborhood. I haven't been back since the last time I was here. Everything looks the same, only different. Of course, things in the past are never as they used to be.

"Before I speak, I have something I'd like to say. As you may know, I never went to college, or high school for that matter. To be honest, I'm not much of a public speaker, so I will try to keep this short as long as I can.

"As I look out upon all of the young people here tonight, there are a number of words of wisdom I might depart. But I think the most irrelevant piece of advice I can pass along is this:

"The most important things in life are the things that are least important.

"I could have gone a number of directions in my life. Growing up on the Hill, I could have opened a restaurant or a bakery. But the more time I spent in places like that, the less time I wanted to spend there. I knew that if I wanted to play baseball, I was going to have to play baseball. My childhood friend, Joe Garagiola, also became a big-league ballpayer, as did my son, Dale. I think you'll find the similarities in our careers are quite different.

"You're probably wondering, how does a kid from the Hill become a New York Yankee and get in the Hall of Fame? Well, let me tell you something, if it was easy nobody would do it. Nothing is impossible until you make it possible.

"Of course, times were different. To be honest, I was born at an early age. Things are much more confiscated now. It seems like a nickel ain't worth a dime anymore. But let me tell you, if the world was perfect, it wouldn't be. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

"You'll make some wrong mistakes along the way, but only the wrong survive. Never put off until tomorrow what you can't do today. Denial isn't just a river in Europe.

"Strive for success and remember you won't get what you want unless you want what you get. Some will choose a different path. If they don't want to come along, you can't stop them. Remember, none are so kind as those who will not see.

"Keep the faith and follow the Commandments: Do not covet thy neighbor's wife, unless she has nothing else to wear. Treat others before you treat yourself. As Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt once said, 'The only thing you have to fear is beer itself.'

"Hold on to your integrity, ladies and gentlemen. It's the one thing you really need to have; if you don't have it, that's why you need it. Work hard to reach your goals, and if you can't reach them, use a ladder. There may come a day when you get hurt and have to miss work. Don't worry, it won't hurt to miss work.

"Over the years, I have realized that baseball is really just a menopause for life. We all have limitations, but we also know limitation is the greatest form of flattery. Beauty is in the eyes of Jim Holder.

"Half the lies you hear won't be true, and half the things you say, you won't ever say.

"As parents you'll want to give your children all the things you didn't have. But don't buy them an encyclopedia, make them walk to school like you did. Teach them to have respect for others, especially the police. They are not here to create disorder, they are here to preserve it.

"Throughout my career, I found good things always came in pairs of three. There will be times when you are an overwhelming underdog. Give 100 percent to everything you do, and when that's not enough, give everything you have left. 'Winning isn't everything, but it's better than rheumatism.' I think Guy Lombardo said that.

"Finally, dear graduates and friends, cherish this moment; it is a memory you will never forget. You have your entire future ahead of you.

"Good luck and Bob's speed."

I haven't fallen off the earth

Just spinning away in this wheel. Hope I'm getting somewhere but the road ahead looks a lot like the road behind. Hope to post a thing or two on Thursday.

Scary sight

I saw something frightening on a car bumper today.

Frightening because I'm thinking she could win if she ran. What do you think?

EDIT: P.S. - I am at least temporarily disallowing anonymous comments to prevent anon trollage fallout from another post. Apologies to unregistered folks that I know.