Well, we're gonna have to try this one: Starting a fire with a can of Coke and a chocolate bar.

posted by Chris at 11:40 AM Permalink |

 
I am posting this here only because it's the same fraternity that I am a member of - I was never a frat boy, but I did join Pi Kappy Phi fraternity's Alpha Omicron chapter shortly before leaving Iowa State for California pastures. The worst the members did to us pledges was to lock us out of our rooms while we were visiting a different chapter and freeze all of our underwear together in a 30-gallon trash can full of water that they put in the walk-in freezer. Excite News - Hazing at Berkely.

posted by Chris at 11:07 AM Permalink |

 
Well, this is interesting. Several states are suing the Bush administration over funding issues with programs required by the No Child Left Behind act.

(As you may remember, I ran for our local school board last November because of budget problems in our district that continue to threaten our elementary schools, and I think this is a good sign of things to come.)

posted by Chris at 10:20 AM Permalink |

 
I was never a big fan of the recently late Mitch Hedberg, but that was only because I'd never heard of him. There are some jokes over here that are really quite funny, and I highly recommend reading through all of them, but my favorites are probably:

I used to do drugs. I still do drugs. But I used to, too.

I think Pringles' initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day that the rubber was supposed to show up, a big truckload of potatoes arrived. But Pringles is a laid back company. They said "Fuck it. Cut 'em up."

My friend said to me, "You know what I like? Mashed potatoes." I was like, "Dude, you have to give me time to guess. If you're going to quiz me you have to insert a pause."

posted by Chris at 11:47 PM Permalink |

 
This is interesting - I took a grammar/usage test that I saw over on Maya's blog, and I noticed as I went through it that there were several things that I say differently after 20 years out West, vs. when I was a kid growin' up in Iowa, towit:

Kid in Iowa:

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

10% Midwestern

0% Dixie

0% Yankee

Now:

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

20% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

I should also mention that there were some questions in this test that didn't have an accurate answer for me, like I tend to say "Gym shoes" now vs. the "Tennis Shoes" that I grew up with or the "Sneakers" that they provided as the only other option.

posted by Chris at 2:40 PM Permalink |

 
This is cool. Elwood "Woody" Norris has invented a couple of neat things. The link to an article about him in Popular Science appears to be broken, but here is a link to his website.

posted by Chris at 11:36 AM Permalink |

 
I continue to be astounded by these stories of "miraculous" appearances of the Virgin Mary in the most unlikely of places.

Perhaps I need to go reread William James's essay The Will to Believe.

posted by Chris at 10:28 AM Permalink |

 
So we went to Florida and visited Disneyworld™, and Emily had a blast. She said her favorite ride was the Haunted Mansion™. Here are a bunch of pictures of stuff that we did and saw. I was pleased to learn that the daycare center onboard the ship had the same name as my office, "The Funzone."

I bought a new digital camera (Canon Powershot A85) to take on the trip, and I'm very happy with it. It takes movies as well as pictures, and our new host, Network Solutions, has streaming Windows media, so I'm going to test posting three movies: Homosassa Manatee, Palm Beach in Aruba, and Emily makes a Sand Angel.

Obligatory Mickey Mouse Shot.	Gator Pond	Gecko and Gator
Cool or over-the-top?	A Manatee	Florida's got Flamingoes
Emily Drives a Golf Cart	Us with Sol & Mickey Scott	Care for a spot of tea?
Emily Drives Formula 1	Emily Guards St. Thomas Sandcastle	St. Kitt's has Monkeys.
Big Boat	Emily in her bunk	Emily's Point of View
The on-board playcare center.	The dread pirate Emily.	Ever seen a sand angel?

posted by Chris at 11:30 PM Permalink |

 
We are back at last from a 2-week vacation of Florida visits and Caribbean cruising, and I have a huge set of updates planned, complete with picture posts, but in the meantime, I want to share a joke I made up at dinner the other night:

Q: How do you catch a jellyfish?

A: Put peanut butter on the hook!

posted by Chris at 9:12 AM Permalink |