Hale Bopp...holiday image...

This is what I found as Hale-Bopp's image....ah, ah, ah....well, you know....

Toad...never to be missed!!!! Here he is with his partying friends!

A regular party-reptile...that's for sure....wait is that kk in the background....ahem!!

Beejay's Christmas Photo

Yes, this is what I look like after a day of biking on my pink bike!

Pew News IQ Score

Pew News has a quick little 12 question news quiz I just took. Happy to say I got all 12 right. Only one geography question I had to stop and visualize the map in my head to figure out (fortunately I knew the geography of that part of the world well enough).

At the end of the quiz, they show your score and a little graph with some demographic info (I didn't copy all the questions).

The scores are the average number out of 12 (hence my 12). Men tend to score higher than women overall which is a little surprising. Not surprisingly, college graduates score higher than others (no category for grad school) and older people score higher than younger.

After taking the quiz, you can read their report on how their sample did as a whole.

Just curious how we all do. Take the quiz before looking at comments or you might get spoiler!

Four for Fridays

Hello everybody! For some reason, I almost drew a blank for this week's question. My mind has been elsewhere like Christmas shopping...so this week's questions are about Christmas shopping!

1) Did you go Christmas shopping?

2) For whom are you shopping for?

3) Are you shopping online or going directly to the store?

4) Have you gotten your place all decked up for Christmas?

Enjoy your weekend folks!

And not to forget FUNGI!!!!!~

And can you believe it, he was with SER at Victoria's Secrets...what is the secret that Victoria has, guys????? And wait is that kk with him??? What's up with that one?

Straight from Sssa's Diary

REVISED
The fulls size pics are a little to scary...Sassa told me these are 12 of her past blind dates
...no wonder she she is single

Aaaah, see who I found baking up a storm

Wonder what she is adding to her goodies?????

My Wish for You

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

For the Love of Mrs. Brown

Caution: Language Advisory. Adult Language, Adult Humor.



"Short piece of video taken from the play For the Love of Mrs. Brown. Log on to http://www.mrsbrownsboys.com/Mrs_Brown/Welcome.html. Mrs Brown's Boys now to be a BBC Television Series."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSaWW9vuow


I thought that was funny, but there was too much f-word. Do some Brits really talk like that at home? Even when I was drinking in dive bars, I don't think I heard it that much.

Logjam...oh my how did I find this pix!

Yes, siree, I'm on a roll....see the resemblence??? And so it goes.....am I close to blogging queen of the day? Tee-hee. I'll stop for a bit now....

See who else I found wandering around the mall??? Good grief....is nothing sacred. Masquerading as Santa...tsk, tsk. And why were you at Victoria's Secrets anyway???

What Orbs really looks like

This is his true appearance without utilization of the special powers granted to Orbs by Mme Zoltar.....

Send a Message to Venus

NASA has frequently had campaigns where you could send your name to various planets on their spacecraft. This time it is JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency getting in on the act. You can send a message to Venus on Akatsuki.

The do put limits on it, of course. Your message can only be 40 characters (assuming you are using our alphabet...you only get 20 characters if you use Japanese characters) so this is even a bigger challenge than twitter. So let's make it a game. Post a comment with your best 40 character message to Venus.

A little backgroun, Akatsuki is an orbiter that will study Venus's climate. Venus has an very thick carbon dioxide atmosphere with sulfuric acid thrown in for good measure. Thick clouds keep us from seeing the ground, where it is so hot lead would melt. Not exactly a good environment for life or even landing a spacecraft!

I have sent my name all over the solar system with NASA and am happy to say this will be my first mission with JAXA.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

sharing some more music

I have always appreciated Peter Gabriel, but I just found this song, which is already a few years old. I just thought it was really pretty. There is one part in particular that I really like which is:

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know

the emphasis on the line And things we're all too young to know..

sorry I couldnt find a real video of this song so it's just something that someone put together but that's not the important part. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.





The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing
But I
I love it when you read to me
And you
You can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I
I love it when you sing to me
And you
You can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know
But I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
You ought to give me wedding rings

Here in balmy Florida

Sorry you guys are getting a bit of winter...although it sounds like Racine missed the brunt of the storm...thank goodness for that.

Since I am not battling any pythons or giant lizards today, it is wonderful day in Florida... The picture is of one of our normal sunsets.....

I would send some of my palms swaying in the breeze, but I'm afraid of the consequences of such an action on my part....by you on your part....

Stay warm, my friends and have a wonderful Holiday....

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my slushy snowbirds! How are you? I suppose that may depend upon where you live. The last I heard, Mother Nature was planning to dump 4-8 inches on us overnight, but she was changing her mind every ten minutes. She is so fickle. (Please don’t tell her I said that.) However it turns out, I predict that it won’t be something we haven’t seen before in winter in Wisconsin.

Our glorious and effervescent Packers pillaged the Ravens Monday night and I look forward to them doing the same this Sunday to the much-loathed Bears. The way it’s going with Mother N, the weather may well be a big factor in that game, too. I hope those sample vials of special, traceless enhancers that I sent to the players gets to them. One hit of that stuff and our team will burn Chicago down again. (Confidential to Ms. kkdither: The elusive Mr. Farve apparently has skipped out on his debt to me. If you can nail him down, you’re welcome to him. His arm isn’t the only thing that needed surgery. But I’ve heard that some girls prefer the pump. Viva le difference!)

There were no snowballs in the inbox. (And if there were, wouldn’t they melt? I’m sorry; I’ve had a sip or two of port wine to warm me up. If I don’t make sense, blame the grapes, not me.)

I love the Christmas season dearly. In keeping with the holidays (and because I’m sorely pressed for time to do all of my errands), I’m going to post some of my favorite Christmas songs. (I apologize to the omnidirectional Ms. kkdither because she will not be able to view these until she gets home from work later today. I am so sorry, my dear, but I got stuck in line at the post office and then the mall was a disaster. I’m lucky to be in one piece.) First is John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over):”



Next up is Elvis Presley singing “Santa Claus is Back in Town.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good video to accompany the song. Just close your eyes and pretend the King of Rock ‘n Roll as Santa:



Finally, here is “25th December” by Everything But The Girl. This song always makes me think (as does the band’s name):



Thank you all so much for reading my blog. Please be extra cautious on those treacherous roads. We have to shift into winter driving mode now. Everything starts to move in slow motion. Relax. Enjoy the scenery.

Don’t forget to send your movie scripts and Hollywood gossip to madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Have a wonderful week, each and every one of you, my adorable Irregulars. Victrola!

The Dakota

Following up on Stu's post, a song by Christine Lavin (one of my favorites) about that day 29 years ago.

29 years gone

John Lennon was murdered 29 years ago today, and a great voice was silenced. RIP John.

COME ON LADIES!!

Come on ladies, we're behind!!
I'm pulling out the pompoms and need to get
us catching up on those boys!!

This months challenge is boys against the girls.

Stats so far...
Ladies 17
Gentlemen 25

We've got some work to do.

What's on your mind?
What's driving you crazy?
Anything?

Come on ladies, we can do this!!

Killer plants, is nothing safe????

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside... wow...

killer potatoes!

(1st try at a link, hope it works :) )

Old Cars on Old Transporters

These photos are from the The John Jurkowski Collection , feel free to visit his site for many more great photos.

Economic Stimulus paymen

Sometime this year, we taxpayers will "again" receive an Economic Stimulus payment. This is a very exciting program.

I'll explain it using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers..

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a
high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of Asia ?
A. Shut up or you don't get your check.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by
spending your stimulus check wisely:

1 If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, your money will go to China .

2 If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to Saudi Arabia .

3 If you purchase a computer, it will go to India .

4 If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico,
Honduras and Guatemala .

5 If you buy a car, it will go to Japan or Korea .

6 If you purchase useless plastic stuff, it will go to Taiwan .

7 If you pay off your credit cards, or buy stock, it will go to pay
management bonuses and be hidden in offshore accounts.

Instead, you can keep the money in America by:

1 spending it at yard sales or flea markets, or
2 going to baseball or football games, or
3 hiring prostitutes, or
4 buying cheap beer or
5 getting tattoos.

These are the only wholly-American-owned businesses
still operating in the US .

Conclusion:

The best way to stimulate the economy is to go to a ball game with a
prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day until you're drunk
enough to go get tattooed.

Remember "I've fallen and I can't get up!" ?

OK, this kid looks like he's totally having a blast.
Have you ever just had one of those years
when gravity has it in for you??
I mean REALLY in for you???

They tease me at work alot, as this past year I've taken
WAY too many tumbles. So much as that they insisted
that I should blog about it.

Let's see how my memory goes on this -

Early in the year I fell getting out of my car at work,
on ice, I did the splits in the most ungraceful way possible.
I actually tore my back leg muscle.
(Special thanks to Abby for taking me to the DR!)
Not long after that, I had a mishap with
an unseen piece of ice, same leg.
I didn't fall but it did cause my bad leg
to shoot forward and really tick off the torn muscle :(

I recovered from that, hoping that would be the end of it.
OH NO....
Not for me....
Maybe I should audition for the elderly lady's spot??

Again at work, I went to the basement to get something,
lights were off, and before I could get to the light switch,
fell hard on a very wet floor...
my knee took the brunt of it, and quickly
it swelled up - huge.
Hmm, never saw anything like it!

I recovered from that,
( like I'm the energizer bunny or what???)

We were getting ready for a big one day promotion,
so we had stuff everywhere.
Good to be prepared, right??

Not for me...
As I was trying to get around a pile,
my shoe, of all things, gets stuck on the corner,
and you guessed it,
down she goes....
Starting to feel like the born loser here!!
oh, that one was mostly to my 'good' knee....

All is going well and fine, til 2 weeks ago...
I was heading back to get change for someone,
when my right foot found a small, flat piece of
cardboard, that it mistook for a skateboard....
of course, unknown to the rest of me....
and down I went, just like a cartoon mishap.

Honestly, somebody has it in for me,
this has NOT been my year.
I'm sure there were more.
but I think I have a mental block!!

This next years resolution is to
STAY UPRIGHT AT ALL TIMES!!

DON'T POINT AT RATTLESNAKES

This one is for Beejay.........

December 7, 1941- a day which will live in infamy

THANK YOU VETS FOR KEEPING US FREE!

The Trials of the Wisconsin National Guard in Iraq...

Things are tough in Wisconsin. There is the economic downturn, winter, and annoying Vikings fans gloating over Brett Favre's stellar season. Now comes word that Iraqi detainees are piling on, adding insult to injury as they taunt members of the Wisconsin National Guard with he Favre situation. Even with their limited knowledge of English, they noticed the Packers decorations and at least one of them knew about Favre and it went downhill from there.

Turns out Vikings fans are as bad as Iraqis (or vice versa). Hope we don't get another case of detainee abuse. Even liberals in Wisconsin would probably defend the guards with the justification that "They were Viking fans. They deserved it!"

Monday Morning Grin with Ron White

Romantic Sleigh Ride