Atheistic Evangelists

Here kitty kitty kitty....

What a novel idea! This guy affixed a "cat-cam" to his kitty's head. Amongst other feline activities, I would like to see what cat is walking on top of my truck at night, leaving kitty footprints everywhere. But, I'm not hear to discuss my pet peeves.

Now, what if that cat was eaten by this? Can you imagine the carnage that the cam might see? Nature is cruel. But nature can be even crueler - imagine that the cat does have 9 lives, and let's further imagine that cats are eligible for reincarnation. Let's continue our fantasy and imagine that the cat came back as this, and then eats the coyote! It's a dog eat dog world after all, and kitties too.

Exercises for the Manly Man

Heather Havrilesky (isn't that a great name?) talks to us about the the romanticization of the working class, springing from the self-loathing loins of a spoiled, flaccid nation in decline (her words). I love her writing. She tells us that:

The hardworking men and women of America are what make this country great! We'd thank them ourselves, if we knew any. Sadly, all we know are soft-assed nitpickers and middle-managing mouth-breathers and tender-pawed desk ornaments with hair-trigger tempers. But you can be sure that we'd slap a hardworking fella on the back for a job well done -- if we weren't surrounded by
overeducated hothouse flowers, lily-livered second-guessers, arrogant pencil pushers and self-proclaimed experts with corn-chip breath.

Wow! Maybe Heather should switch to decaf. She points out though that the success of recent shows like the Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, and Ice Road Truckers as testimony to honor our working class roots.

But Heather is not alone in her idolization of physical work. Witness the lyrics of a popular Brooks & Dunn song:

I'm a hard workin' man

I wear a steel hard hat

I can ride, rope, hammer and paint

Do things with my hands that most men can't

I can't get ahead no matter how hard I try

I'm gettin' really good at barely gettin' by

Early in my career I worked as an automotive machinist, electrician and then back to a machinist/parts rebuilder of air brake systems. Those were good days, when I could look at a pile of freshly machined cylinder heads or see a light bulb come alive as electricity flowed through wiring and switches that I had installed and see the fruit of my labors. My collars were blue, I spit wherever I wanted and poured out my cold coffee wherever I happened to be standing. Maybe I should write lyrics for Brooks & Dunn. Now that I'm an office worker I can appreciate Havrilesky's sentiments.

There is a need for us office workers to get into shape and return to the joys of physical labors. However, to jump right into such a job would likely injure a flabby body. However, someone has come up with a solution that can be a gateway back into the hard working man mentality - behold the Shovelglove!

Lest you laugh and think this is a wimpy device, behold the Shovelglove upgrade.

The Religion of In-N-Out Burger

I love In-N-Out Burger. Every time I go to California offers the opportunity for a Double Double. I rarely pass this opportunity up!

On a recent trip my mom pointed out the most curious thing. In tiny print on the bottom of the hamburger wrappers and drink cups were Bible verse addresses.

Not something you see very often. Being curious I sent a note to In-N-Out headquarters, here is the reply:

In response to your question, our owners have placed references to scripture on some of our packaging for many years as it is something they enjoy doing. Our customers' feedback indicates the subtle positioning of these references has made them somewhat of an In-N-Out Burger® tradition. They have been likened to our popular non-menu items such as the Animal or Wish burgers, in that customers who know they are there and want to see them are able to do so, while other customers may never notice or can choose to easily ignore them. Any specific message is left, if desired, to the reader.

Clean up your room!

A familiar refrain from my childhood that extends down the corridor of time to the present. First uttered by my mother, now the anthem has been adopted by my wife. And I still make messes out of my office and our bedroom. And the garage.

I have to admire this little girl's solution to her mothers insistence and apparently repeated injuctions to clean up her room. From The Scotsman:

Messy Room Leads to Police Raid

A nine year old German girl was so upset about having to tidy her room she put up a sign in her window urging passers-by to call the police for help. Officers rushed to the scene to discover the girl had rowed with her mother about tidying her room.

Not having maternal instincts myself, It's hard for me to imagine what I would do in that situation. However, I have to give credit to this mom for her way of dealing with the messy room.

Mom Reaches Breaking Point, Goes On Strike

"I'm quite tired of the bickering and I'm quite tired of talking and not being heard or listened to at all," she said. So, Toussaint pitched a tent on the front lawn of her east-end London home Wednesday and set up a sign reading, "Mom on strike." Since her job action began, Toussaint has returned to the house to help prepare some lunches and make sure the three dogs are taken care of, but says the rest is up to the kids. There has been a little progress so far. Toussaint said the upstairs bedrooms looked like Hurricane Katrina had swirled through when she left, but now resemble the aftermath of a tropical storm.

I bet my mom wishes she had thought of that!

QOTD

From Woody Allen:

I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy next to me.

Highway Haiku

Man in rain, arm out!

Raindrops splattering his sleeve

Oh! Cigarette smoke.

Gasoline too high

Must consider options

Shall I buy a horse?