I’m a cold bastard, but this…
Permalink | Tweet This! | | December 25, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia
…this is just a little too cruel, even for me. Yule be in tears at Christmas (via DrudgeReport). There is a video accompanying the article of you want the full effect.
THERE can be only one thing worse than not getting the present you want this Christmas – and that’s finding your most wanted gift is just an empty box.
But that’s exactly what happened to this young lad – who thought he was unwrapping the Xbox360 console he had been dreaming of all year.Instead, his mother stuffed the Xbox packaging with a few winter jumpers, and the devastated young boy’s beaming smile quickly turns to tears.
His family can be heard laughing in the background as the boy’s mother says to him: “We can’t afford an Xbox”.
It’s emotional scars like that that turn people into great comedians, or axe murderers, later in life. The fact that he got a real Xbox 360 a week later does little to obviate the initial impact of the prank, I’m sure.
I should repo that comment…
Permalink | Tweet This! | | December 22, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia
Become a Lab Rat with a Shaven Head ????
Give me crazy (legal) ways to make money during this economic dowwwnturn…. Become a Lab Rat? Sell my Hair?
I hear locksmiths and repo men are making a killing these days…
(okay, okay, repo men always make a killing, but you’d be crazy to do that job…
Drink up!
Permalink | Tweet This! | | December 5, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia
In the US they are going to party like it’s 1933:
Tonight is the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition – of 5 December 1933 when Utah became the deciding 36th state to ratify the 21st amendment to the constitution, and restore to the country’s citizens the basic human right to go out and have a drink.
Look at that. Utah was actually good for something…
British Slang
Permalink | Tweet This! | | November 17, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia
The origins and common usage of British
The origins and common usage of British swear words. “Both Oxford and London boasted districts called ‘Gropecunte Lane’, in reference to the prostitutes that worked there. The Oxford lane was later renamed the slightly less-contentious Magpie Lane, while London’s version retained a sense of euphemism when it was changed to ‘Threadneedle Street’. Records do not show whether it was a decision of intentional irony that eventually placed the Bank of England there.”
Bollocks - More than you ever wanted to know
Permalink | Tweet This! | | October 28, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia, My 2002 Triumph Bonneville America
Regarding the vanity plate on my motorcycle, “Bollox” (usually spelled “Bollocks”):
“Bollocks” is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning “testicles”. The word is often used figuratively in British English, as a noun to mean “nonsense”, an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to mean “poor quality” or “useless”. Similarly, the common phrases “Bollocks to this!” or “That’s a load of old bollocks” generally indicate contempt for a certain task, subject or opinion. Conversely, the word also figures in idiomatic phrases such as “the dog’s bollocks” and “top bollock(s)”, which usually refer to something which is admired, approved of or well-respected.
It’s really quite versatile, perhaps more so than any American profanity, which also makes it difficult/tedious to explain when people ask.
A Nation Mourns
Permalink | Tweet This! | | October 15, 2008 by John in Consumer, Interesting/Trivia
Sad, sad economic news: Mother’s Cookies has shut down. Mother’s produced Iced Oatmeal cookies, Mini Chocolate Chip cookies, and the grand old favorite of many, the Iced Circus Animal cookies.
Iced animal crackers are like crack cocaine to me. It is a sad day indeed. Now excuse me while I run to the store…
UPDATE: J.D. at Get Rich Slowly adds the following:
All is not lost, however. The Naked Loon did some emergency grocery shopping and located two alternatives to Circus Animals: Keebler Frosted Animal Cookies and Franz Frosted Animals. The former weren’t any good, but the latter were almost as good as the real thing.
Whew! That’s a relief.
Unintended Consquences
Permalink | Tweet This! | | October 13, 2008 by John in In the News, Interesting/Trivia
Wave of abandoned youths sparks outcry in U.S. (emphasis mine):
The biggest shock to public officials came last week, when a single father* walked into an Omaha hospital and surrendered 9 of his 10 children, aged 1 to 17, saying that his wife had died and he could no longer cope with the burden of raising them.
In total last month, 15 older children in Nebraska were dropped off by a beleaguered parent or custodial aunt or grandmother who said the children were unmanageable.
Officials have called the abandonments a misuse of a new law that was mainly intended to prevent so-called Dumpster babies - the abandonment of newborns by young, terrified mothers - but instead has been used to hand off out-of-control teenagers or, in the case of the father of 10, to escape financial and personal despair.
*How’boutcha not have so many friggin kids in the first place, eh?
Trippy
Permalink | Tweet This! | | September 18, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia
“I don’t do humans.” -Ace Ventura
Permalink | Tweet This! | | July 7, 2008 by John in Interesting/Trivia, Pets
Prefer dogs to humans? You’re not alone (or unbalanced):
The field of psychotherapy has traditionally viewed those whose closest relationships are with animals as somehow lacking, their affections pathologically misplaced, their devotion a symptom of their inability to forge healthy connections with the humans around them.
But in recent years, researchers have begun to take far more seriously the bonds between humans and animals and to evaluate those relationships in a more positive light.
“There are whole segments of the population that prefer being in the company of dogs than people, and I’m not sure that’s such a negative thing,” said Joel Gavriele-Gold, a psychoanalyst in private practice in Manhattan…
[...]
To Gavriele-Gold, the intensity of the relationship between people and their pets is unsurprising.
“Humans tend to be very disappointing - notice our divorce rate,” Gavriele-Gold said. “Dogs are not hurtful and humans are. People are inconsistent and dogs are fairly consistent.”
“Live like you suck.”
Permalink | Tweet This! | | June 3, 2008 by John in Humor, Interesting/Trivia
- You’re super-freakishly happy.
- You think you’re all badass.
- You end up earning less than Schmo.
Why?
- Happiness makes you complacent with $$$.
- Instead of trying to improve yourself, you settle for “This is who I am! I am so proud of myself!”
- So, you continue doing what you’re doing — never really improving on how you financially live your life.
Using this logic I should be a multi-millionaire by now.