Random

Gotta Love PetSmart

On Sunday, Mary and I were down at the PetSmart to get Caledonia some cat food. If you've ever been in a store like PetSmart, you know there's a lot of really weird stuff for sale.

For example, yesterday we found the Ferret Octo-Play, a toy where the point is for critters to burrow through the body of a rather freaked-out looking octopus. How creepy is that? I'm really beginning to think Giuliani might have had a point.

From a previous trip, I still remember cracking up when seeing a display for the rather straight-forwardly named Better Than Ears. That's a pretty bold claim, though — I wonder how they know?

Why I Love Flickr

It's not just the pictures, it's the community. Take a look at this photo, and read the first comment.

"Reform" on the Cheap

A couple of weeks ago I saw a story on the evening news about a poor rural school district in, I think, South Carolina, that was going to switch to single-sex classrooms in the hope of improving student achievement. My first reaction was, "That won't work, but they're trying it because the school is failing and they have no money to actually fix the problem." And indeed, a virtue of experimenting with single-sex classrooms is that it's basically free.

Now, I promise I will actually read Sunday's NYT Magazine cover story on "gender-based education" soon, but the commentary I've seen online does give some credence to my snap judgment. Bottom line — there simply isn't any solid evidence to suggest it will improve student performance. Now, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, as they say, so by all means let's study the issue further. At this point, though, what we have appears to be some snake oil being hyped by a self-promoting huckster. Let's not overreact.

Total Eclipse Tomorrow

Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there's only love in the dark. Nothing I can say, a total eclipse of the, uh, moon.

It's supposed to be mostly cloudy in Charlotte tomorrow night, but hopefully the odds of getting a good view will be better where you are.

They Never Learn

I think there are two lessons that we can take away from this story. First, you're going to sound ridiculous if you actually use the hackneyed expression "snotty-nosed little brat." Second, you're going to find yourself the flavor of the day on YouTube if you use that expression while leaving a minute-long harrangue on a kid's voice mail.

Seriously, did this woman learn nothing from Alec Baldwin?

A Box of Rattlesnakes

Nobody puts together a better obituary section than the New York Times, and today, when it really counted, the writers didn't disappoint. The Evel Knievel quote that they set off in the print version perfectly captures his life in 13 words: "I knew I could draw a big crowd by jumping over weird stuff."

And while we all know about his jumps over the fountain at Caesar's Palace, the London buses, and the Snake River Canyon, leave it to the Times to get the details of his first, somewhat more modest, but no less weird, attempt:

When he was 27, he became co-owner of a motorcycle shop in Moses Lake, Wash. To attract customers, he announced he would jump his motorcycle 40 feet over parked cars and a box of rattlesnakes and continue on past a mountain lion tethered at the other end. Before 1,000 people, he did the stunt as promised but failed to fly far enough; his bike came down on the rattlesnakes. The audience was in awe.

Weren't we all. Rest in peace.

Say What?

A few days ago, I overhead a commercial playing on the TV in the other room. It was for Aciphex, a new prescription heartburn drug. But I didn't hear Aciphex; I heard "Ass Effects." I bet I'm not the only one. How did this get past the focus groups?

Justice Is Served

Everyone should be relieved to know that you can't successfully sue your dry cleaner for $54 million over a pair of lost pants. At least not yet.

Voltron Gets Served

I was doing a little work for my day job involving Google Video when I came across this clip:

I was a fan of the Voltron cartoon back in the 80s, and the first thing you learn about the show is that Voltron should form the "Blazing Sword" at the start of the fight and immediately kill the Robeast. But no… Voltron always waits until he's gotten the shit kicked out of him before going for the quick-and-easy winning move.

Once again, Voltron would have done well to dispatch the Robeast before the contest got started, because this Robeast has the moves and totally pwnes Voltron. Kind of embarrassing, really.

Birthday Season

Did you know it's "birthday season?" Neither did I, not until I walked into Target yesterday to buy a birthday card for my father. Apparently, he was born in season, but I wasn't. This has me vaguely concerned.

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to prepare for birthday season. I'd hate to do something inappropriate or at odds with the spirit of the time. I suspect Target just wants me to buy lots of stuff at their store. Not the most expansive reason for the season, perhaps, but they did invent it so I guess it's their call.