Month: December 2010

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The Weirdest Story EVER!

In July 1975, a 17 year-old British man named Erskine Lawrence Ebbin died in Hamilton, Bermuda. He was riding a moped and was fatally struck by a taxi driver.

That’s not an especially interesting story.

But what if I told you that in July 1974 Erskine’s older brother Neville, then also 17 years-old, was also killed on a moped in Hamilton, Bermuda… on the same street, by the same taxi driver, who was carrying the same passenger. And Erskine was riding the same moped that Neville was.

It sounds made up, but I promise you that it’s absolutely true (see item #3 on the linked page from The Independent, a respected British newspaper).

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Internet Stupidity

So… Duran Duran released their new single yesterday as a free download from iTunes. Although I still have a $29+ credit at the iTunes store and will make every effort to buy the full album when it’s released on December 21, I’m still a greedy pirate at heart. I wanted to know if the album had leaked online yet, and to do that I searched Google for “duran duran” site:blogspot.com. (“duran duran” is in quotes so Google will know that I’m search for the English pop band, and not boxer Roberto Duran or diver Cassius Duran; “site:blogspot.com” tells Google to only search the blogspot.com domain, once a haven for free music shared via sites like RapidShare).

Anyway, most of the top results were to blog posts linking to the new single at iTunes, but I also found this gem in a review of some new Koss headphones. These cans don’t “leak” very much, the review says, so you can listen to them without annoying the people around you. Or, as the reviewer says:

“Fellow commuters will never know that you are really listening to Duran Duran instead of Lincoln Park.”

First of all, it’s “Linkin Park“, you moron.

Secondly, and most importantly… in what possible universe is listening to Duran Duran worse than listening to Linkin Park? I mean… seriously!

It’s not just me, is it?

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Turkey Noodle Soup

When you think of “holiday traditions”, it’s easy to think of long-established ones instead of newer ones. When I think of Christmas, for example, one of the first things I think about are sausage balls, a Christmas morning treat my mom has been making as far back as I can remember. But I’m really starting to look forward to one of my newest traditions: turkey noodle soup!

turkey_noodle_soup

For the past two years, Lisa and I have been tasked with making the turkey for the Wilson family Thanksgiving. Following Alton Brown’s foolproof recipe, I’ve made a delicious bird each time. And since the turkey is “ours”, I get to take home all the leftovers. Last year I was puzzling over what to do with the giant turkey carcass, when I noticed that we had a lot of leftover celery and carrots too. Soup instantly popped in my mind… and it was so good!

It sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn’t. To make your own turkey noodle soup from scratch, all you need is some leftover turkey, some vegetables, a few spices, some spare time, and a little bit of love.

Continue reading “Turkey Noodle Soup”

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Krispy Kreme FAIL

Lisa and I were out shopping last night when her blood sugar started to fall. She needed something sweet, and when she saw the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign lit up at our local Krispy Kreme, she decided that a hot glazed doughnut would do the trick.

I pulled up to the drive-through and started to order a dozen glazed… but then I saw this adorable little guy on the menu:

Krispy Kreme Snowman

Awww! Cute, huh? I couldn’t say no to his cute lil’ snowman charms, so I added one to our order. Imagine my surprise when I carefully opened the bag and saw this:

Crappy Snowman

Folks, I swear on a stack of King James Bibles (the good ones, with the Apocrypha) that I didn’t alter the doughnut or photoshop this picture in any way. There was a small smear of icing on the inside of the bag (you can see it at the lower right of the doughnut); this would seem to correspond to the poor lil’ snowman’s face. Other than that, it looks as if the rest of him hasn’t been altered at all.

I’m glad I don’t have a young child who eagerly wanted one of these doughnuts… the one I ended up with looks more like a Halloween snowman than a Christmas one!

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The HATE Post

Just wanted to pop in to say…

No Ravens

HAHAHAHAHA! The Ratbirds went down!! Granted, the Steeler offense didn’t look that great, but let’s keep things in perspective: ever since the Ratbirds beat the Steelers earlier this season (when Reed missed two FGs and Charlie Batch was the QB, mind you), the Ratbirds have defeated five teams with a collective record of 19-36 (the Broncos, Bills, Dolphins and Panthers), and lost to the Pats and Falcons, who are 18-4. And you can make that 27-7 with the loss to Pittsburgh.

Continue reading “The HATE Post”

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-05

  • Whew! GO STEELERS!! #
  • Reason #7 Your Car Smells: Grandma’s “quilt collection”. Enter Conan's #20PinetreeAirFresheners Sweepstacular @ http://bit.ly/an50kt #
  • RIP Irvin Kershner… director of the best Star Wars film (by far!) #
  • Reason #8 Your Car Smells: Tuna breath. Enter Conan's #20PinetreeAirFresheners Sweepstacular @ http://bit.ly/an50kt #
  • Home from Chattanooga. Total drive time: 8h 16m. Avg. speed 42.8 mph. I HATE torrential downpours… on curvy mountain roads.. in the dark! #
  • Reason #9 Your Car Smells: Jack-o-lanterns don’t keep. Enter Conan's #20PinetreeAirFresheners Sweepstacular @ http://bit.ly/an50kt #
  • Belatedly hanging the Advent calendar… yum! #
  • Her name is Rio, she don't need to understand… #
  • Last night's #psych was AWESOME! Loved the "Twin Peaks" homage! #
  • @wicketsteve I think you missed the joke about the #psych intro music #
  • Reason #10 Your Car Smells: Yes, it’s your feet. Enter the Chevy Cruze #20PinetreeAirFresheners Sweepstacular @ http://bit.ly/an50kt #
  • The Panthers are going through QBs like Spinal Tap goes through drummers! #
  • Kids in bars… awesome! Sarcasm. Thanks a hell of a lot, NC smoking ban! #
  • OMG! Sir Ed's new jukebox has Saint Etienne! #
  • Reason #10 Your Car Smells: Yes, it’s your feet. Enter the Chevy Cruze #20PinetreeAirFresheners Sweepstacular @ http://bit.ly/an50kt #

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A Damn Fine Homage

One of my guilty pleasures is the USA Network show Psych. It’s about a late-20s slacker named Shawn Spencer (James Roday) who was taught to be hyper-observant by his police officer father (Corbin Bernsen). After Shawn solves a series of crimes in his native Santa Barbara by finding overlooked clues in newspaper photos and TV news reports, the police suspect him of committing the crimes. Under questioning, he pretends to be psychic to get the police off his back. After he solves yet another crime, he forms a “psychic detective agency” with his best friend, Burton “Gus” Guster (DulĂ© Hill), and the two work as police consultants.

If it sounds like The Mentalist… well, that’s because the two shows are quite similar, although Psych was on the air first, a fact that’s occasionally joked about on the show. But what makes them different is that Psych is much funnier and is aimed at a younger audience. Almost every episode is packed with 80s and 90s pop culture jokes. Even better, there are theme episodes: Psych has spoofed everything from Alfred Hitchcock and John Hughes films to Mexican telenovelas.

But one of their best homages aired two days ago, when Psych played tribute to the great early 90s show Twin Peaks. There were a references aplenty throughout the episode, and I thought I’d write up a quick post summarizing them.

Continue reading “A Damn Fine Homage”