It Wants Your Soul

This is from a simple child's toy - a bubble wand in the shape of a butterfly. I'm sure it would have made some interesting bubbles, although certainly not in the shape of a butterfly. We'll never know, because the cheap thing snapped off of its wand on the first wave before it could ever be dipped in the soap.

Just as well, though, because if by chance that face had been rendered in three dimensions, it would have been terrifying. I think whoever designed this must have had a run-in with the Mothman as a youth. Look at that mouth!

The Eyes Have It

I've mentioned before that a local bar in an old building has funny pictures painted on some of the ground floor windows that have been covered up. This one, if you can't tell, is supposed to be Tom Cruise from his Top Gun days (kind of stunning to realize that was now 28 years ago - the guy has staying power). Recently someone decided to enhance the painting with googly eyes.

Steve's Pretty Song

RIMPY'S PINKEYE

More Like "Juggernautweed"

I think I found the king of all tumbleweeds. To be honest, I don't know if this dried out husk of a plant is the one of the types that makes tumbleweeds. I do know that it is one plant - it had a one central stem, and although it was about the size of my car (seen in the background of the second picture for scale) it weighed only a few pounds.

We do have tumbleweeds in this area, but this behemoth was in an orchard, far from where they are normally found. I suspect that it tumbled off of a gardener's truck or trailer as it was being hauled to the dump or burn pile.

I can't tell you how tempted I've been to try to tumble this thing down the road by pushing it with my car, but I wouldn't want to end up like these poor bastards...

Cleek to make beeg

Life Hacks, Sort Of

So called "life hacks" (what we oldsters would call "useful hints and tips" in our funny old-fashioned way) are popular on the internet. Often there are some good ideas among them - the kind that make you say, "Why didn't I think of that?", but sometimes...

The following photos were culled from an article at a site called Twisted Sifter, which some friends shared on Facebook.  While some of the ideas are sound, the author(s) of the captions didn't seem to be paying good attention. And some of the ideas are a little...well...dumb.

A good idea, but I can't help pointing out that those are binder clips, not paper clips - as they noted later in their own article:

Moving on...

Some fifty years ago, my dad showed me that increased capacity can be achieved by putting the opening of the cup against your mouth with your palm on the bottom and gently blowing into it. The bottom expands without decreasing the integrity of the rim.

If you don't mind faintly ketchupy-flavored pancakes. Have you ever tried to thoroughly wash out one of these porous plastic containers? It's impossible.

...if you're a dick.

...if you're an alcoholic dick.

Those are screws, not nails, but point taken. And what's with the capitol P in plugs?

You can also buy little colored rubber things that slip over the head of the key for next to nothing, but I guess if you're on a super-strict budget and don't mind wasting your expensive nail polish, then, by all means, go for it.

For those rare homes that have neither a tub or shower.

This is great, but I still can't do it. Nope. Just gonna wad that fucker up and shove it in the closet.

Free Pager with 3-Night Stay

There's a funky old motel called the Matador in College Town. It looks like it was probably built in the '50s. It's pretty run-down now, and looks to be mostly of a residential nature. My favorite thing about it can be seen in a closer view of its sign:

"Daddy, can we stay there? They have touch-tone phones! We can play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'!Pleeeeease?!"

I love how they are still using a technology that became the standard in the 1980s as a draw. I think it would be cooler if they went retro and installed rotary-dial phones in their unintentionally throw-back motel. They'd probably get a lot of hipster business.