How Not to Dispose of a Whale

At the Oregon coast right now there is a sad little whale who was washed up on shore and found his final resting place. As always, there is some discussion as to the best way to move such a large and smelly carcass. That same discussion back in 1970 led to a rather hilarious, albeit messy, result.

Who Knew?

For some reason I find this oddly fascinating. I look forward to my next drive in the country to see if it is true of the Oregon species as well (note to self: take into account the wind conditions). Don't snicker - this is important research, people!

Walking With Blinders

This week there was a terrible story out of Kent, Washington where a girl was killed while crossing train tracks that run through her neighborhood. It appears that Angelina was so engrossed in a cell phone conversation that she didn't hear frantic warning honks from a witness in a car or even the train whistle as the giant came barreling at her. Angelina lived next to the tracks and there is speculation that she had become so used to the sound that she no longer heard the massive locomotives rumbling by each day.

I couldn't help but see a parallel to our life journeys. We get used to our everyday surroundings and become comfortable taking risks. Even though signs point out a safe passage just a short distance away, we choose to cross at our own risk. We get so absorbed in our own selves and so used to the presence of danger that we don't hear the warning sirens as the force of sin comes to destroy. We often don't even know what hit us.

So stay alert! Keep your eyes up. Don't take the easy path, which can be fraught with danger. Listen to others' warnings. Be careful out there today.

Don't Believe a Thing You Hear Today

I am not an April's Fools Fan. I don't particularly enjoy Punk'd or any event where someone is made to feel stupid for someone else's pleasure. BUT, there have been some good pranks pulled out there. And I'm not just talking about the rubberband that the kids and I put on the kitchen spray nozzle so it shot straight at Allan when he turned the water on this evening.

* A few years ago when I was listening to NPR, they did a long story about changing the Boston Celtics (seltics) to the Celtics (keltics), to be culturally sensitive to the Irish. They interviewed players, people in Ireland and Boston - giving all points on both sides. I was shocked - Can they change the pronunciation of such an institution? It wasn't until the next day that I realized that I had been snookered [other yearly spoofs include last year's iBod, federal health care for pets (2002), and advertisements projected onto the moon (2000)].

* Today I was checking in with one of my regular reads - Tim Ferris and his 4-Hour Workweek. Part of his regular message is smart workflow and outsourcing pretty much everything (he has even outsourced his dating - seriously). Yesterday, which he reasoned was April's Fools somewhere in the world, he wrote a post about how he was confessing to have outsourced the writing of his blog for the past year. People were outraged and disappointed - until he fessed up today.

* In 1996, Taco Bell announced it had bought the LIberty Bell, renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. A White House spokesman furthered the joke by stating that the LIncoln Memorial was now the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

* In 1998, Burger King introduced a Left-Handed Whopper. It had the same ingredients, but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of left-handed customers. They received thousands of requests for specific handed Whoppers.

* In 1957, BBC made an extensive report on spaghetti trees, which remains one of the most well-known April pranks.

Looking to November 2008

I am a bit of a news junkie; I like to know what is going on in the world. It is not very long that I have been awake each morning when I check my news feeds to see what has happened overnight. Each morning's check is accompanied by a slight buzz of anticipation, since it seems many of our big news stories have hit us on the West Coast during that morning hour (e.g. Oklahoma, 9/11, tsunami). Then there are those lesser news stories that may have contributed to the phrase "ad nauseam". I think we have all had more than our fill of Anna Nichole and Brittany lately.

I read this headline earlier this week: Only 468 Days Until the Election. Really?? The way it has been all over the headlines made me think the election had to be just weeks away! We know copious amounts of info on the black candidate, the woman candidate, the Mormon, the hero, the boring, the repeat, and few dozen others. How are any of these people doing the jobs that they are currently being paid for when they are running for President of the United States of America a full two years in advance? Crazy.

I, hereby, proclaim that no one shall declare their intent to run for President until one year before Election Day. All in favor?