Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Surfacing: 2nd Attempt

It's just me again, linking to other people's stuff...

Today's victim: My iGoogle page.



Not only is this photo spectacular, but I just love giraffes. Maybe it comes from a lifelong desire to be tall and skinny... Thankfully, clicking on it did not lead me to a story of environmental gloom and despair as this widget often does. Nope. Only an anecdote about being in the right place at the right time. Very nice.


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My Sesame Street Terror Alert System would like for us to know that

Today's Threat Level is Brought to You By:


Don't know about you, but I long for a world that's at a nice Oscar and/or Cookie...


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I inadvertently celebrated National Pecan Day Eve last night with a piece of chocolate chip pecan pie for dessert. It was damn good. Useless fact of the day - the pecan tree is the only nut tree native to North America. Interesting, no? And the Pecan Pie? Definitely wins for native pie of the South. Heaven in an aluminum tin.

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Today in History: John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln.


Not much to say there. But it did remind me of Sarah Vowel - one of my favorite writers, humorists, irreverent historian, AND the voice of Violet in The Incredibles. She wrote a book, Assassination Vacation that chronicles her various road trips to visit sites associated with presidential assassinations. It's brilliant. And what's even better? The audio book features Conan O'Brien as Robert Todd Lincoln and Jon Stewart as President Garfield.


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The English Word of the Day: Chafe.

The Italian Word of the Day: Eta. (Age)

The Font of the Day: Alpha Echo

The Saint of the Day: St. Lydwine
Patron Saint of sickness. And stigmata. Excellent. Any day you can work "stigmata" into the conversation is a good day.

And let's not forget the Quote of the Day: "They called it golf because all the other four letter words were taken." - Walter Hagen.

I think this guy was a professional golfer and this is supposed to be one of those "ha ha - we're over-privileged white men joking about golf - aren't we hilarious!?!" kinds of sayings that you have on an apron that you bought from one of those catalogs in the pocket of your seat on an airplane and that you wear while you're grilling something on a fancy grill. I don't know beans about Walter Hagen, so I shouldn't assume or associate him with that image... but I do know that this quote is fitting for an entirely different set of reasons - mainly because I despise golf and because I thought I was going to unleash a series of four letter words on Easter if I had to listen to any more people talk about The Masters. Seriously. I'd rather watch NASCAR.


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From gocomics.com: a Tom Toles' political cartoon

I used to have several political cartoonists on a feed with other cartoons from gocomics.com, but he's the only one who continuously astounds me with his ability to convey such a profound thought with a simple drawing. So, I pared down and now it's just him and Doonesbury and re-runs of Opus and Calvin & Hobbes.


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And finally, from the news feed for the New York Times, BBC, Salon.com, Grist, Enviro-link and Nature:

Well... you know... the economy sucks, icebergs are melting, everyone hates each other, the president's getting a dog, etc. BUT apparently someone is trying to make a substitute for Styrofoam out of mushrooms. Good news!

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Well, I think that covers it. Happy Pecan Day!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well heck, you sure found some interesting stuff on the net. I despise the whole hushed holiness of the Masters too. Right there with ya.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Pecan Day! Gotta go make a pie!