No, no -- that's not what we do

I don't care that he's a Nobel Peace Prize winner. That's a no-no outfit. Not to mention, the mixing of patterns is just, um, wrong.

McBomination

I dunno which is worse, the mouse-eared nuggets or the mouse-eared patty.

It's pretty awful what we do to other animals, particularly in the context of the fast food industry; but this is adding insult to injury:

Balding Eagle

via yojimbot

*snap*

It's *just* snow, people. Get a grip.

I'd been waiting and waiting for a great big snowstorm, since the last snowstorm that managed to shut anything down occurred back in '02 (in NYC). Wouldn't you know it, the minute I move away, the NE gets hit with not one but two big azz storms. Grrr.

As I type this, the Washington metro area is getting hit with significant snowfall; an actual blizzard. That said, it's just snow, people! Get a grip.

Is there a need for this:


Or this?

It's not like anyone's living in the middle of the woods, hundreds of miles away from their closest neighbor and/or civilization. If you really do run out of food (highly doubtful that there would be NOTHING left in your pantry after a day or two of being "trapped" indoors), I'm sure you could order in. If the pizza guy won't deliver, there's always Chinese.

Also, it doesn't help that even the WaPo is getting into it by declaring the current state a "snowmaggedon". Really, WaPo? Really???

MJ -- a failed tribute

photo by sea kay

Reason 93 (not in order of importance) as to why I do not miss the MTA

Not having to deal with random screamers:


That said, I'm surprised to see the identity of the screamer in the video. I used to see her all the time, at least once or twice a week, on the 4/5 between Brooklyn and midtown; but never heard her say more than her usual script of "sorry to disturb you, I don't smoke, do drugs, etc., but am homeless and need your help..." etc. Actually, I never saw her sit. A relatively mild-mannered panhandler as compared to other panhandlers on the MTA system, she was always moving from one end of the car to the other as she repeated her script. From the announcement towards the end it sounds like she was on her usual route of the 4/5. I wonder what pushed her over the edge, that is, other than her mother.

That's not a Q-Tip

For some other troubling (though I suppose a q-tip stuck in a bird's posterior is probably more troubling than what's pictured) as well as some cute in a non-disturbing-way photos go here.

Thinking waay too much about food, but I'm not the only one

Sometimes I wonder if I spend too much of my waking hours thinking about what I'm going to be eating next -- something that the B, Memphis and I have in common (though in their case, I hope they aren't wondering as much because really there isn't that much variety in what they're eating day-to-day).

Anyway, I think that's why I enjoy food blogs so much because those freaks are even more food-obsessed than me. Also, every once in a while I'll see something like the chart to the right that makes me smile (even if most of the food offered by these joints are strictly verboten). Still, it's a fun trip down the choose-your-own-adventure-memory-lane.

The original post appeared here.

B.R. 11/14/09 -- WPB Green Market

After procrastinating for the past three weeks, Olive and I finally made it to the West Palm Beach Green Market. Here's our route. The market is at Second and Narcissus, i.e. the highlighted square.

We were pleasantly surprised. It was bigger -- about two blocks long -- and more varied than I'd been expecting. There were stands selling farm-fresh produce, as as well as local products from honey (!) and alligator meat (which while intriguing made me sad nonetheless). The B was pleasantly surprised that although there were a lot of people and dogs, the ones that we met were all very well-behaved and generally her size. There's nothing the B likes better than to boss around another small dog. That's just how she is.

While there, the B and I shared a berry smoothie; and although she expressed interest in my conch fritters, I was not inclined to share them. Since I'd skipped breakfast, I'd thought about getting something pastry-ish at the green market, but figured that while in Rome.... The fritters were quite tasty, especially when I added, at the insistence of the vendor, "mama's special secret sauce". I don't know whose mama made that sauce or what made it so special secret but it was special delicious.

On our way home, we stopped over at Meyer Amphitheater where the B tried to sniff out the remaining fritters while I people watched:

Generally, the other animals we see on our walks, besides other people out walking their piaps, are small geckos and stray cats, though we only see the latter when we cross the parking lot of this nearby church. There is this boil of hawks (I think though they could be vultures -- it's hard to tell since they're so far away) that I see circling this one particular building downtown, but that's for another day. Anyway, as I was saying, we generally see only a few types of animals, which is why it was so startling when this bird hopped out of a bush right next to us and flew a few feet away to parking lot:

It looks like a cattle egret, but I'm no expert.

That's one thing I haven't gotten used to down there. There are no pigeons, but rather egrets and hawks (maybe vultures).

The B's plan for New Year's

Enn reports:

"the B fully excepts to have on a new year's hat, noisemaker, and champagne to ring in the new year. she's even planning to have memphis draw decorative patterns on her fur w/ elmer's glue (using his 2 paws) and then she'll roll around in glitter. i think the baby is hoping he will draw hearts, stars, and snowflakes – but he'll probably draw only things he likes: fish, poo, etc. won't the baby be shocked when she looks in the mirror after rolling around in the glitter."

Now, I had some questions about the B's plans:

Me: where is she going to get elmer's glue?

Enn: from a CVS, she says.

Me: and why wouldn't she and memphis just use wet food as the glue?

Enn: b/c she has more class than that, she says.

*******
Guess I got told.

The Mysteriously Balding Bear

Not as sad as sad rat>, but pretty sad nonetheless... I give you the mysteriously balding bears of the Leipzig Zoo -- well, one anyway:


I hope their keepers provide them with some coats for the oncoming winter, and maybe some faux skin rugs.

Big Head

Baby Shannon has a big head.

What?

It's true.

One of the best (and saddest) Gothamist thread ever

About a rat trapped (and died) while trying to make it out of a crack in a sidewalk on the UWS:


Try as I could, I couldn't help but laugh at some of the photoshopped pix of Sad Rat here and here. The Larry King one is classic.

RIP Sad Rat.

I hope you died a quick death.

Random Look-a-like

Perez Hilton and Jonathan Holmes.

Who?

Um, that's why it's random.

The B's failed attempt to stay awake

On our way back from Jupiter, the B, in a failed attempt to stay awake so as to keep an eye on me and Enn, fell asleep with her head in a very awkward position -- with her head twisted backwards. She actually fell asleep with her head hanging out of her carrier. If she wasn't so cute, she'd be ridiculous.

Actually, I should say that she's ridiculous, but thank goodness she's so cute because if she wasn't she'd be even more ridiculous.

TARP -- the movie!

Who wants to see Elizabeth Warren being played by Maggie Gyllenhaal??? I know I do. I mean, they're like twins -- practically.

So very very wrong

I don't recall what it was that I was reading when I came across this weird site that had matching slutty outfits for women and their dogs. Now I'm all for empowering women to express their sexuality, even for those who use Halloween as their excuse to be extra ho-y. That said, there's got to be a line drawn. What weirdo would want to slut up their dogs in matching outfits??? And what kinda site would promote such a site with pics like the ones below (esp the one on the left -- ewww):


Now I'm sure some would say that it's all harmless fun, and that the dogs don't know any better. Well, I'm not so convinced that's true. This particular pup below seems to be know that something don't seem right:


Those are "help me" eyes if I've ever seen them.

Tonight

It's been a while since I've posted. I could blame it on the general upheaval caused by the relocation, but that's only part of it. The truth of the matter is that sometimes I can be as lazy as the laziest loaf-about you've ever met. So, upheaval + laziness = no posts. Oh well. That's what you get for free entertainment.

Anyway, here's a shot from tonight -- about 20 mins ago:


The only thing that's changed in the intervening time is that Olive somehow moved herself even further away from Memphis so that she could be closer to my foot. I dunno how she did it, esp. since she never got up or unfurled herself or did anything else that would have been necessary to effect such a move. She's got some piappy mojo, either that or she managed to learn how to take flight with those chicken wing legs of hers.

Hypocrites are bad, but liars are worse

It's been over a month since the Queen of Locovores, Alice Waters, announced to the world that out of all the foods she would choose as her last meal shark fins soup. This in itself was somewhat amusing giving Ms. Water's philosophy of eating locally; and it would've been just that if she'd left it there. However, when Anthony Bourdaine quipped that this was not "local", she responded, "[n]ow, I don't know, I've never gone out there, but we know there's sharks off the California coast. I'd be getting someone to take those fins off." Um, ok. So, shed get someone to go cut off fins from sharks just so she can have someone make her some shark fin soup???

Unsuprisingly, the hypocrisy of her response, not to mention the inhumane tone of it, landed her in hot PR water.

And here is where I get really annoyed.

Through a press relase through the Humane Society, Ms. Waters claimed that she'd only recently learned that "every year tens of millions of sharks, their fins brutally sliced off, are thrown back into the ocean to die." Um, Alice, wasn't this very thing you said you had wanted someone to do for you? Not to mention, how believeable is that that a well-traveled and experienced chef, esp. one in SF with its sizeable Chinese population, didn't know where shark fins come from?

It's one thing to say something surprisingly ignorant, it's another to later lie about it. The lying really gets me. That's probably why I had such a visceral reaction upon seeing her photo for an article she'd written about her start-up days in SF. Goodness I wanted to punch that smiling face of hers.