Stupid Quiz Time

No thanks to John Scalzi, I now discover my true entree in life...

You Are Fish

You have a well formed palate and a daring appetite. If it's served to you, you'll at least try it. People are pretty scared of your exotic ways. But once they get a taste of you, they're addicted!

What Kind of Meat Are You?

Monday Madness on Tuesday...

Otto let fly with “Since this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd challenge you to do the following...

With the letters from Memorial Day, let us know what you did this past weekend.”

M – ostly, I hung out,

E – eating good grub

M – ade some steaks

O – r listened to music

R – ead some blogs and a couple of books

I – even walked the dog a few times

A – and gave the cat a good scritching behind the ears

L – oves it, he does.

D – id a few entries here in the Snooze

A – nd mostly kept out of trouble

Y – ou slow down when you get old, y'know?

Want to play along? Get yourself on Ms. Otto's mailing list and get with the program. Just click that banner up top to get started.

Monday Music Mambo - Week 101 Keep The Change!

Hi everyone! Have a good weekend? Today is Keep The Change Day, but I don't know how to make that into a musical meme. So we'll make a playlist instead.

A song you love a lot right now: My Humps – Black-Eyed Peas
A song that came out in your senior year of high school: White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
A song about a woman: Suzanne – Leonard Cohen
A song with curse words: Closing Time – Leonard Cohen
A song with a great guitar solo: The Star-Spangled Banner – Jimi Hendrix live at Woodstock
A song by a Canadian: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot
A song you hate: Macarena – Los del Rio
A song other people hate but you love: Nothing comes to mind. I like lots of things that some other folks dislike, but nothing comes to mind that everyone else dislikes. The joy of Jello for brains.
A song covered by at least two other bands or artists: Where Have All The Flowers Gone by Pete Seeger & Joe Hickerson, covered by The Lettermen, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Marlene Dietrich, Jackson Browne & Bonnie Raitt, etc.
A song without vocals: Classical Gas – Mason Williams

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've Mamboed. Be sure your Mambo is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can dance too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination and dance like crazy!

If you don't have a blog or you're an exhibitionist *woo hoo* feel free to Mambo right here in our comments section. There's absolutely no pressure ... although it's called the Monday Music Mambo you can Mambo on any day.

Until next time, this is your music-lovin' Mememeister saying have a good Monday and a good Mambo!

A Horrible Way To Die...

and it's all Orac's fault :

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?

You will swallow some tacks. You are a little weird, maybe not so much in a good way. Buy a yellow tie and wear it on your head.
Take this quiz!



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MEME: Sunday Seven -- Episode 39

Most Sunday newspapers contain a large real estate listing. You might want to have this close by when you tackle this week's question.

But first, Antonette, of "Jottings From Jersey," was first to answer last week's question about blogging pet peeves. Congratulations, Antonette!

On to the newest challenge!

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
Consider your "Dream House." Now name seven features, either of the house or the lot itself, that would be required for it to really be your "Dream House."

• Location: An isolated section of temperate coastline

• Style: Earth-sheltered modern concrete structure, utilizing passive solar as well as active solar; steel storm shutters over all windows capable of withstanding a Class 4 Hurricane in situ without suffering permanent harm.

• Overall Layout: A master sleeping wing isolated from main living area for reduction/elimination of noise and light intrusion; former children's wing converted to a guest apartment with it's own kitchenette and separate entrance to allow private egress.

• Kitchen: a wood-fired stove and oven in addition to modern appliances and surfaces.

• Utilities Room: Addition of a raised tub for dog washing in addition to the usual laundry and rest room functions; ability to isolate and heat only this area to reduce costs during winter months when traveling.

• Special Features: Fully functional 13R sprinkler system, an escape tunnel, protected and guarded with remote safety egress on surface.

• Detached 3 car garage/shop with a second story I could devote to model railroading.

  If you want to play along, click on the banner up above to snag yourself this week's questions and to leave a link to your answers in the comments at Patrick's Weekender. Just tell him “Wil sent me!”

Subliminal: Unconscious Mutterings -- Week 173

10 hours, 25 minutes ago

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Bounce :: back

2. Wasting time :: tarrying

3. Utility :: pole

4. London :: Bridge

5. Pregnant :: again?

6. Cranberry :: Isles

7. International :: border

8. Disappointment :: constant

9. Sponsor :: Our

10. Second :: fiddle

Want to play, too? Just visit La Niña, that crazy chica at La Luna Niña and grab the word list for yourself. Respond in your own blog or right in the comment thread where you got the words. You'll have a memorable time...

MEME: Saturday Six - Episode 111

So I had my calendar a bit off last week. Though Sweeps did, in fact, end this past Wednesday, Katie Couric's departure from "Today" happens this coming Wednesday. Will you be watching? (No, that's not one of the six questions!)

But before the questions, it's time to recognize last week's "first to play," who turned out to be Cat of "Sweet Memes! Congratulations, Cat!

Here are this week's "Saturday Six" questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal...but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as "first to play," you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. What is the last museum you visited? What single item there most impressed you?
The Farnsworth Museum. That trip, it was the Alan Magee book covers collection.
2. What piece of computer equipment that you currently don't own would you most like to have?
A tape backup unit that had the capacity to back up my entire hard disk (160GB) on one tape in less than an hour.
3. Coca Cola has recently released a new drink called Coca Cola Blak, which is a mix of Coke and coffee. Have you tried it? Would you try it? What flavor of soda would you most like to see someone create?
No, haven't tried it, I have an inkling as to what it tastes like, having made the mistake many times in my past life to add coffee to what I thought was already coffee in my mug, only to discover it was the previous evening's Coke! Now that I'm a diagnosed diabetic, I think I'll give Blak a pass. They already make my favorite soda – diet Polar Half & Half – half grapefruit and half lime. Yowsah, yowsah, yowsah – that be tart, don'tcha know...
4. Take the quiz: Which flavor of tea are you? (Thanks to Charley.)

Which flavor of tea are you? (with images)

You are Green tea! Green tea is very healthy for you, and quite popular too.

It's not so much of a unique taste..yet it's not plain tea either.

When people have green tea, they are attached.

They usually drink it heal themselves as well.

Take this quiz!

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5. How do you like your tea? Iced or hot? Sweet or unsweetened? With cream or without?
Iced tea, no sweetening (How the pelican poop do you unsweeten tea without boiling it, condensing the steam and ruining the flavor? The usage is just plain wrong, Patrick.) Without cream, please. Just “black”. Lots of ice. Astringent, liquid cold sliding down the back of my throat to my wife's and my cardiologist's horror...

6. You see someone run out of a store with a wad of bills. Shortly afterwards, a store employee runs out of the store after him, but stops just outside the door when it appears that the person has run down the street towards a seedy-looking motel. If you assumed you had just witnessed the getaway in an armed robbery, would you drive into the motel parking lot in an attempt to find out what room number or what vehicle the person got into, or would you pay it no more attention?

Actually, I'd probably check to make sure no one in the store has been harmed during the presumed robbery. Then I'd wait until the cops arrived and give my statement. I no longer carry a gun on a daily basis, so chasing after the perpetrator, even if only to attempt to determine what room he might enter, is something I'd no longer feel confident undertaking.

Take time this weekend to 'Honor your dead, honor yourself'

"Honor your dead, and you honor yourself", it has been said. Not a bad piece of advice to keep in mind on this long Memorial Day weekend when the nation traditionally pays tribute to those who have fallen in service of their country.

Lord knows we have enough of them to remember. According to government records, more than 1.14 million Americans have died on military duty from the Revolutionary War through the current war in Iraq. For many of them, 'uncommon valor was a common virtue,' as Adm. Chester Nimitz said of Marines who died in huge numbers wresting control of Iwo Jima from the Japanese during World War II."{Click the link above to continue reading}

One Wrong Turn Deserves Another

I mentioned this last month in this post. Here's the follow-up:

Man sentenced for illegal re-entry
Saturday, May 27, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

BANGOR - Two men were sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Bangor in unrelated cases.

A Mexican national who had been living in Jonesport was sentenced Thursday to 35 days in prison or time served for illegal re-entry after deportation.

Emiliano Ponce-Villa, 29, was arrested last month after he and the woman driving the car in which he was a passenger were refused entry to Canada at Houlton, according to court documents.

He is expected to be deported to Mexico again. Ponce-Villa was deported in 1999, according to court documents, but returned to the United States illegally two years later near Tecate, Mexico, across the border from San Diego.
{Click the link above to see the whole Bangor Daily News story}

MEME: John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #113: Travel Books

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #113: Travel Books

John Scalzi, AOL's paid blogging cheerleader, noodge and all-things-blogging guru is off to the WISCon this weekend, a convention of feminist science fiction fans in Wisconsin. He had this to say about his Weekend Assignment:

“I'm running around like an idiot doing last-minute things before I hop on a plane, so here's a quick and hopefully fun Weekend Assignment for you:

Weekend Assignment #113: Someone you know is traveling. Suggest a book or two for them to read on their trip. If at all possible, pick a book from the last couple of years. Also, keep in mind that it's meant to be a recreational book; i.e., they're not really reading to change their life, here, just to have fun.”

Dear John,

Funny how this sort of stuff pops up when we are frantically searching for our speech notes or hunting down that other dress sock or chatting up our wife on the phone while packing crap in our bags before heading out the door. Me, I blame Murphy. She's the cause of all this mess (yes, Murphy is a “she” -- what male in his right mind would screw so much stuff up, so badly, at the most inopportune time? Except maybe Satan, if you're so inclined.)

OK, this is different than recommending a book to read on vacation. For that purpose, I'd recommend Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Samuel Delaney's Dahlgren or maybe Stephen R. Donaldson's series about Thomas Covenant, especially his latest one, Runes of the Earth (only 20 some years in the making).

But, you want something light, fun. Hmm. Not much of that in my library. OK, anything by Terry Pratchett. Or Carl Hiaasen. Both of those are safe and funny, in an adult way. Definitely not something you want someone serious to see you reading. Then there's Charlaine Harris' vampire-infested waitress, Sookie Stackhouse.

I think you won't go wrong with any of those, so long as you won't be meeting any important people, like your editor or someone.

Of course, if you have Krissy along, she might like the slightly more romantic Even Vampires Get The Blues which is Katie MacAlister's fun, sexy bit of fluff for a plane ride or a holdover at O'Hare.

There you go. Or as they said in the 60's, add those to your peace pipe and smoke it!

wil

Tags: Weekend Assignment, travel, books, Scalzi

Wednesday Mind Hump – a day late and a dollar short

Rfduck, mememeister and musicologist extraordinaire, had this to say about that: “Hi everyone! Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, cause it's Night Baseball Day!”

1. Do you prefer baseball games during the day or at night? Why?
I'm a night owl – so night games are right up my alley.
2. What's your favorite baseball team?
The Boston Red Sox – was there ever any doubt?
3. What's your favorite baseball park treat?
Beer. But, since I no longer drink, I'm down and jiggy with a Boston Red Sox “Red Hot” – that's a long hot dog in a natural casing that is dyed a bright red, the color of arterial blood when it's hit the oxygen in the air. Sadly, Tyson Foods bought them out and promptly closed their Portland, Maine, plant, ending the production of Jordan's Red Hots. Now all you can get at Fenway Park is a Hebrew National Kosher Frank. Very tasty, but not the same. Not the same at all...
4. Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds are in a home-run hitting contest. Everything's the same - bats, balls, etc. Who are you rooting to win?
Babe Ruth, hands down.

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've humped. Be sure your hump is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can hump too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination!

If you don't have a blog or you're an exhibitionist *woo hoo* feel free to hump right here in our comments section. There's absolutely no pressure ... although it's called the Wednesday Mind Hump you can hump on any day.

Stealing My Mind

Rob, aka "Acidman", sole proprietor of the officially ostrasized blog Gut Rumbles had a most remarkable entry recently. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd swear he stole from me! But he's been too sick. Read it and see that I am NOT ALONE:

I'm alive, part II: "I want to make a couple of announcements here:

#1-- I DO NOT HAVE CALLER ID!!!! No, unlike every other 'civilized' person on the face of the planet anymore, I don't know in advance whothefuck is calling me until I pick up the phone. That's why I OFTEN DO NOT PICK UP THE PHONE!!! It ain't no personal insult delivered at YOU.

#2--- I DON'T LIKE TO TALK ON THE PHONE!!! That's why I OFTEN DO NOT ANSWER WHEN IT RINGS!!! If you listen to the message on my answering machine, it is simple, honest and to the point. 'I'm not answering the phone right now. You know the drill: Hear the beep, leave a message.' If that pisses you off, I'm sorry. Get over it, or don't call back.

#3--- I WILL call you back if you left an important message. You know how often THAT happens? About once in a blue moon. 99.9% of the phone calls I receive are from telemarketers, 'friends' just wanting to bullshit because they are bored, or fucking WRONG NUMBERS!!! THAT'S WHY I don't jump through my Cracker ass to answer every time the phone rings.

#4--- I spent about 20 years of my life feeling my blood run cold every time the phone rang at home, especially at night or on weekends. That's because I received A WHOLE LOT of calls from work, and those were NEVER good news. In fact, a LOT of them involved a crisis bad enough that I had to crawl out of my warm bed, get dressed and drive to the plant [ wil = to a fire or building collapse ] at 2:00 AM. Like Pavlov's dog, I developed a conditioned response to phone calls. But unlike the dog, I learned to expect SOMETHING OTHER than a treat when I heard one. That's why I still DO NOT like phone calls today.

#5--- Unlike most other "civilized" people today, I don't have a phone in every got-dam room of my house. I have ONE PHONE, in my living room [ wil = in my office ]. (When I retired from work, I swore that I NEVER would have a fucking phone in my bedroom again, and I kept that oath-- see the reason above.) I also keep that ringy-dingy-thingy turned down as low as it will go so that I CANNOT HEAR IT when I am asleep in my bedroom. I do that for MY BENEFIT, not to INSULT YOU!!!

#6--- I've had some really bad health problems over the past few years. I just went through another one. I personally think that a lot of you people have incredible nerve to call someone VERY sick just to ask, "How are you doin'?" Would you REALLY feel better if I crawled to my ONE FUCKING PHONE, while I vomited and shitted all the way, to tell YOU that "I ain't doin' so good?" So that YOU could reply, "AW... I'm soooooo sorry, you poor baby."

#7--- If I need YOUR help when I'm sick, I'll call YOU!!!! Is that a concept so foreign to people with phone addiction that they can't understand it? If YOU feel a tremendous nursing impulse, an instinct you simply cannot deny, then try something TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!! Come to the patient's house, ring the doorbell and see if he WANTS your help, before you bug the living shit out of a sick man at all hours of day and night with PESTIFEROUS PHONE CALLS!!!

#8--- I am certain that all you people who bugged the shit out of me with pestiferous phone calls when I was deathly ill, MEANT WELL--- but you did me a lot more harm than good. Please---- don't EVER do that again."

Amen, brother. Amen.

Now why didn't I think of that?

Boing Boing: Dog bowl designed to keep dogs from eating too fast

Monday Music Mambo - Week 100 – Boogie Woogie Day

Rfduck, mememeister of the highly successful Monday Music Mambo, joyfully exposited the following into your dossier: “Hello fellow Mamboers! Ready for another week of music? This week's theme is great - it's Boogie Woogie Day!!”

“Boogie Woogie developed as a highly percussive piano-bassed music in the late '20s, and was characterized by a constant repeating rhythmic figure played by the pianist's left hand freeing the right hand for melody improvisation. Sometimes called "barrelhouse" piano, it helped popularize the "walking bass' form of accompaniment, still heard in the rock piano styles of pioneers like Jerry Lee Lewis. A danceable and joyful kind of music, boogie woogie included among its prime practitioners Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson.” - from the history-of-rock.com entry on Boogie-Woogie music.

1. Name a few songs that make you want to boogie in your seat.
Honky-Tonk Train Blues, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B, Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie
2. Name a few artists who never fail to make you want to get up and boogie.
Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, and Big Joe Turner.
3. Drums, bass, attitude, speed - what do you think is the key ingredient to a great, boogie-woogie'ing hit?
No, no, no, no, NO! It's all about the piano. If there's no piano, it can't be boogie-woogie music.
4. Recommend a song to your readers to get them up and boogie'ing.

The DBG'Z - Bang Bang Boogie
Provided by VideoCodes4U.com

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've Mamboed. Be sure your Mambo is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can dance too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination and dance like crazy!

If you don't have a blog or you're an exhibitionist *woo hoo* feel free to Mambo right here in our comments section. There's absolutely no pressure ... although it's called the Monday Music Mambo you can Mambo on any day.

Until next time, this is your music-lovin' Mememeister saying have a good Monday and a good Mambo!

MEME: Monday Madness -- Simple Things

Simple Things...

Otto said, “Since we're remodeling, and have been for several months now, there are several things - simple things - that I have learned to appreciate more. Now for this week's challenge...”

“How many simple things have you learned to appreciate more, for one reason or another? Please list them and feel free to elaborate on each.”

Here goes:

• Breathing – such a simple thing, you don't even notice it most of the time. Suddenly have a lung collapse, though, and it's a whole 'nother ball game, let me tell you. Nail beds turning purple, gasping and flopping around like a fish in the bottom of the boat – it's ALL bad.

• Working -– being recognized as a worthwhile human being, validated by that blue-green pay check every week – that's something you don't grasp until it's gone.

• Sex – it matters not if you're rich nor poor, fat nor slim, beautiful or ugly – having sex is wonderful on many levels, all of which are missed when it is gone.

• A reliable car – getting in on a sub-zero morning, inserting the key and having that puppy turn over and fire up. I don't miss having to keep a vehicle plugged in so battery and oil pan heaters function, having to haul out a kerosene fueled salamander, trying to get THAT fired up so you can heat your pickup truck's engine – I don't miss it one little bit.

  If you want to play along every week, just visit the Monday Madness World Headquarters and Recycling Center to pick up this week's questions and to leave a link to your answers in the comments there.

Cougar Sighted in Waldoboro

Lincoln County News:
Story date: 05/17/2006
By Paula Roberts

"On May 6, the last thing Joanne Campbell, of Old Rt. 1 in Waldoboro [Maine], expected to see when she got up shortly after 5 a.m., to retrieve the daily newspaper was a mountain lion in her yard."

Maybe that's where all my wild cats are disappearing to...

From "Damned if you do -- Damned if you don't" Files

Massachusetts Man Allegedly Kills Wife Over Religion Choice

According to a report on WLBZ-TV2, "A man who didn't want his wife to become a mormon is accused of killing her and her son."

First you give them the vote. Then you kill them for making contrary choices ... what's a man to do?

MEME: Sunday Seven - Episode 38

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
List your top seven blogging pet peeves.

Here goes:

1. Small print – these tired old eyes just can't take it anymore. Sometimes it is the fault of the software, sometimes the author. Regardless, STOP IT! Anything less than 12 for regular entries is relegated to “fine print” status and is only of interest for contracts and prize awards.

2. Blogging to hear yourself think out loud – sorry for the scrambled metaphors. Far too many of us assume the world is really interested in our brain farts. If it ain't funny, it just ain't so, kiddos.

3. Broken links to images.

4. Images that are too small, but aren't thumbnails – this is akin to #1 above. Tired eyes, etc.

5. Failure to give credit where credit is due. We are all guilty of this to some extent, but some of us are chronic offenders who need to get our heads out of our asses and realize that plagiarism can result in real world consequences (lawsuits, jail time, assassination attempts, death).

6. Music or video that I can not turn off. This was really bad with dial up. Still, I have no desire to listen to some gangsta hip hop at 4AM when I'm blog jogging because I can't sleep. The wife doesn't appreciate it, either. Better bet: make it an opt-in situation and we all win.

7. Browser blind side -- Failure to consider what your template may look like when viewed by browsers other than IE6 (boo, hiss). There are a lot of other, much better browsers out there, starting with the grandaddy of them all, Mozilla, and going on to Netscape, Opera, and more esoteric entries. If you are doing anything other than a plain vanilla template with black type on a white boundary, get the rest of the browsers and at least look at your blog to see if there are any obvious problems.

Whole hole and nothing (mostly) but the hole

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #112: Things You Have Other People Probably Don't

We all like to think we're a little different, and now here's a fun way to prove it: Weekend Assignment: Show off a personal possession of yours that you are reasonably certain other people don't have. Note this is limited to possessions: Don't haul up the spouse and go "neener-neener." Pets are also off limits unless it's a truly bizarre pet: We're talking like a hyena or an ocelot or something like that. Otherwise it's best to stick to physical objects. Also, as I've done a similar Photo Shoot in the past: don't recycle. Come on, you've got more than one odd thing in your house. Extra credit: Pictures! I mean, obviously.

Dear John,

You are really getting close to the edge with this merde. What you been spiking that Diet Coke® with lately? What do you mean, “What?” This “showing off” stuff crapola, that's what! You plan on making a career change as a second story man and need a few hints where to start?

OK, so I hate this “whole my stuff is unique” idea. Then it occurred to me. That which I have, that I'll lay dollars to doughnuts (Dunkin Donuts, is there any other kind? No, don't even go there, Krispee Kreme Machine...) no one else participating in this little gynogenesistic exercise has – a hole over his head.

Probably should have used this as an entry in last Monday's “Photo Shoot” exercise, insomuch as it involved lying back in my big, comfy, nap desk chair, looking up and snapping a picture. But no, not me. I couldn't be that creative, so didn't participate. Instead, it's the unique “thingy” for this week's “assignment.” Any toad in a storm – without further ado, the whole hole and nothing (mostly) but the hole:

Meme: Unconcious Muttering -- Week 172

Week 172

4 hours, 19 minutes ago

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Yours :: truly

2. Charcoal :: briquette

3. Platitude :: Do unto others...

4. Graduation :: nightmare

5. Hungry :: starving

6. Somewhere :: Over the rainbow...

7. Nurse :: wife

8. Freak :: show

9. Unbelievable :: lie

10. Walk :: funny

    What kind of place is my mind in this week? Explore your subconscious by playing along. Just swing by La Luna Niña's place and snag the word list to bounce your mind off of. It's so easy, your baby sister could do it with both hands tied behind her back! Really! I've seen her do it...