Wednesday, January 31, 2007

High noon with the dog


Wikipedia: Unusual Articles


These articles are valuable contributions to the encyclopedia, but are somewhat odd, whimsical, or something you wouldn't expect to find in Encyclopædia Britannica. If you wish to add articles to this list, a broad consensus amongst contributors has identified two main guidelines.

The article is something you would not expect to find in a standard encyclopedia.

The article contains some form of juxtaposition that most people would find unusual. eg Killer Cockroach, Henry VIII in Space, edible computers.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Good outdoor gear, cheap.

Sure, the particular offering when you open the page may not interest you but if you subscribe to the RSS feed or check the page often they have some great deals. Good brands and good stuff. Check the left side of the web page - it shows how many are left for each size.

Salomon Warm Motomesh Hoody Jacket - Men's

Wear the Salomon Men's Warm Motomesh Hoody Jacket alone on a cool weather hike or layer it under a shell when the weather turns nasty for super comfortable warmth. This Salomon jacket's actiTHERM insulating fleece regulates your temperature while you work up a sweat. It retains a comfortable amount of warmth when you need it, and breathes incredibly well when you heat up during intense activities. Plus, the Warm Motomesh Hoody Jacket looks good enough to wear to your wedding. Your wife-to-be might not be too happy, though.

Price: $42.71 (64% Off!)
Regularly: $119.95

Monday, January 29, 2007

Today, the knowledge of humans just got greater.

"Mozart, an iguana with an erection that has lasted for over a week, will have his penis amputated this weekend. The good news for Mozart and his mates is that male iguanas have two penises."

ZE FRANK says:
" In other news, CNN reports that--wait. Did they just say iguanas have two penises? This story has everything. You know what that means?! There are more penises than creatures that have penises. The penis ratio is greater than one!"

Click the link for more.

Stupid Headline of the Week

"World’s oldest person dies for the second time in two weeks."

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

"While most game shows measure how smart you are, this is a show that will measure how dumb you are," said Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment president.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Thriller Wedding Dance

Wisconsin School Bans 'USA' Chant at Athletic Events

One Wisconsin high school is catching flack for banning the use of the chant "U-S-A" at athletic events.

Baraboo High School officials have banned the chant after hearing that it had a double meaning for some students, the Capitol Times in Madison, Wis., reported Tuesday.

Citing the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association code, Baraboo administrators banned "U-S-A" after learning it meant "U Suck [explicative]" to some students.

The WIAA code only allows positive cheers supporting one's own team and bans put-downs and other cheers fraught with innuendo, the paper said.

The decision to ban "U-S-A." had parents crying foul at a school board meeting last week, the Times reported.

"Any cheer you can come up with, if you want, can be perceived differently," parent Mary Williams told the paper. "In my opinion, it stands for 'USA.'

Don't like my driving? Call 1-800-US-ARMY

The Brick Testament


The Bible, as illustrated by Legos.

Find and unused FM frequency

How to beat cabin fever - go snorkeling

Saturday, January 27, 2007

The best Super Bowl Commercials - of the past

A bit slow loading but kind of fun to drive the "Wayback Machine"

How to check out of a hotel room

Stay tuned until after the "Pretty Princess."

Want It!


"Powered by a four cylinder Chevy engine, all hydraulics, tucked neatly inside the body cavity. The elephant literally skates along at speeds of up to 20 mph."

Nica and I will be playing hide and seek this afternoon.

Kill the rich

Billionaire Tim Blixseth is aiming to set a new record. He's building the world's most expensive spec house at The Yellowstone Club near Big Sky.

The $155 million, 10-bedroom, stone-and-wood mansion will include 53,000 square feet of living space.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Headline of the Week - "Man shoots horse-harassing emu"

A Park County man shot and killed a neighbor's emu that was on his property Wednesday evening.

Mike Goetz, of Meigs Road, called the Park County Sheriff's Office and told officials he shot the emu because it was "harassing his horses."

An emu is a large, flightless Australian bird that resembles an ostrich, but is smaller, weighing up to 130 pounds.

The shooting is the county's second neighborly animal shooting in 10 days. The first involved a mother who shot a neighbor's dog that was growling at her three young children.

Goetz said the emu was near the horses' barn, where their food and water was, preventing the horses from eating or drinking.

He tried to chase the emu away, but it wouldn't budge, so he shot it with a 44 magnum pistol, according to Sheriff's Department Sgt. Ed LaCombe.

"I'm hopefully not going to cite anyone for anything," LaCombe said. "(Goetz) was within his rights to protect his property."

According to LaCombe, Department of Livestock representative Ted Wall said Goetz's neighbor, Cindy Miller, could be cited for liability of owners for trespass and animals running at large.

LaCombe said Wall told the Livingston/Park County 911 dispatch center that killing animals to prevent an injury is not illegal.

The owner of the Montana Emu Ranch in Kalispell, Penni Collins, said depending on the age of an emu, a bird's value can range from $500 to $2,000.

Emus are typically valued for eggs, feathers, leather, meat and oil, Collins said.

Emu oil is used for personal care and therapeutic products, and is one of the only food sources that contains the fatty acids Omega 3, 6 and 9, she said.

A gallon of emu oil can sell for $400.

Neither Goetz or Miller could be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Traveling back from Miles City




Thursday, January 25, 2007

Neoligisms

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly
answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are
run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.


The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year's winners:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very,very high.

5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease.

9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10 Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:

16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an a--hole.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

How to verify a credit card

This document outlines procedures and algorithms for Verifying the accuracy and validity of credit card numbers. Most credit card numbers are encoded with a "Check Digit". A check digit is a digit added to a number (either at the end or the beginning) that validates the authenticity of the number. A simple algorithm is applied to the other digits of the number which yields the check digit. By running the algorithm, and comparing the check digit you get from the algorithm with the check digit encoded with the credit card number, you can verify that you have correctly read all of the digits and that they make a valid combination.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Fun Memory Game

I got 35%.

As Hunter Thompson said, "I've courted brain damage like some courtesan of darkness."

Monday, January 22, 2007

Moving me closer to cancelling my satellite subscription

ABC has all of their cool shows available on the Net. You can't download, but you can watch them in realtime (kind of like TV).

Ugly Betty rules.

Andy Griffith explains how the law works



It's a damn shame when a 40 year-old TV program has to explain rules our president violates.

Deer on a train


A young mulie buck survived a jump from the I-15 overpass above Helena’s Sixth Ward train depot onto a boxcar last week, but had to be destroyed after being further injured by a leap from the boxcar to the ground.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Another supposedly smart idea I will never do again.



When putting cookies on the back deck to cool, either keep the dog inside or put the cookies on a taller table. I'm glad she enjoyed just one.

I"ve found a new scam, I mean job.


JesusPets Customer Agreement


This document is an agreement between {customer} (“CUSTOMER”) and JesusPets.com (“JESUSPETS”) under the following conditions:

a. JESUSPETS is engaged in the business of providing comfort to proprietors of domesticated animals by establishing plans for the caretaking of such animals in the future event of THE RAPTURE.

b. CUSTOMER desires to obtain the comfort provided by JESUSPETS.

It's Flicky

A video update of a classic song.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for the Venture Motor Inn

They're Norwegian or German or something. You can get polska keilbasa as your breakfast meat.
This picture really doesn't reproduce the lovely red color of the bathroom counter. I want a bathroom at home that has the Kleenex holder built into the counter top.

A great retro feature is the beer bottle opener mounted on the side of the bathroom countertop. Earning quadruple extra bonus points is that the maids position the waste basket so that all bottle tops fall directly into the waste basket. Now THAT'S service.

They have slowly started updating the room furniture. In the past it was all dark wood heavy furniture with 1970's lamps and bed covers (think of a Sears catalog in 1972). One time I put a beer bottle down on the table and I swear I felt my dead aunt grab the back of my neck and say, "Why are you putting a drink on the table without a napkin, Douglas!?"

Another retro feature? I have to charge my laptop in the bathroom because there are only two other outlets in the room and they're buried behind the bed and the dresser.

In Montana, A Clash of Populism and Property Rights

Bernie Nowack, a Wisconsin logging contractor turned real estate investor, came to Montana ten years ago to hunt elk and fell in love with the place. He bought a ranch near Philipsburg, and now owns, by his own estimate, some $9 million to $10 million worth of land in the state.

But his hunting dreams have run into a snag, one that infuriates many of the wealthy out-of-state landowners who are transforming the rural landscape of the Big Sky state: even though he owns a lot of property, he has to enter a lottery for a non-resident hunting license if he wants to pursue game on his land.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The truth

I want a . . .


Avalanche?
Opel?
Brat?
Ram?
Eclipse?

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

As we topped the ridge there were two short howls from the valley below us.

Need to do something with those old records and cassettes?


Record Your Old LPs or Cassette tapes to Audio or MP3 CD

Record Your Old LPs and Cassettes to CD, MP3 or your iPod
Capture from any analog audio source: cassette, turntable, TV or radio
Capture audio using Roxio CD Spin Doctor 3 & convert with Apple iTunes
Burn high quality Audio or MP3 CDs

Just plug the Instant Music into a USB port on your Mac and you are ready to begin recording from any analog audio source in AIFF format using Roxio® CD Spin Doctor® 3. Convert the AIFF audio into the most popular digital audio formats available such as MP3, AAC or Apple® Lossless using iTunes®

I have one and it works well.

Tunisia? Is that good?


Each state has been renamed for a country with a similar Gross Domestic Product.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Kill the tasteless rich

Goodbye "Woodsy the Owl"


1. Incinerate the complete costume with the oversight of an official USDA Forest Service law enforcement officer*.

2. The entire Woodsy Owl costume including each of the separate pieces is to be destroyed beyond recognition.

* If you do not have access to an official USDA Forest Service law enforcement representative, arrangements will be made for dealing with your costume by contacting the USDA-FS Washington Office at:

Woodsy Owl
C/o National Symbols Program
P. O. Box 96090
Washington, D. C. 20090-6090

Fun with flash mobs - Japan


Turn the sound off to ignore the annoying laugh track.

I now live on a street with $250,000 houses


I could probably buy it, but I won't.

At least that price will keep the riff-raff out.

Eagle vs. Fox - the full series

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Who will be president?

This is either very cool OR the wrong picture


Product Description
Includes table 6 legs 6 seats 2 removable ice chests with lids 1 aluminum pole. For use floating in the pool or as standard patio furniture. Make the pool THE entertainment area. . Does not include umbrella. Great for children to rest without leaving the pool. Leather look and pleasant to the touch makes it practically scratch free Unsinkable and strong enough to support 6 heavy adults both in the pool and on regular ground. Will not tip because the legs provide a ballast system. 7 degree incline will occur with just one person on table in pool (correctable).

Qoute of the week

Dude, if Americans tolerated as much shit in their socks as they do in their president, they'd have mushrooms growing out of their fucking ankles."

Friday, January 12, 2007

Watch the Legislature

We're excited that we are able to connect Montana schools with the Legislature in a very economical and efficient way. It will help our students to better understand how a bill becomes a law. We will be streaming four channels for this session. Each channel will play the House, Senate floors and two independent selections from the seven Legislative Committee hearing rooms. The 60th session of the Montana State Legislature can be viewed by visiting http://opi.mt.gov/streamer/Legislature/

2007 Things to Do - visit all the Mint Bars


They've updated it a little bit since the photo. Wonderful food - sea bass, perch, tuna, mahi-mahi on a Tuesday night.

Still to come: Martinsdale, Shelby, Raynesford, Malta, Plains, Pony, Belgrade, Box Elder, Libby, Froid, Livingston, Townsend, Chinook, White Sulphur Springs and (maybe) Opheim.

Traveling Around


Best Mash-ups of 2006


My favorites are:

3. DJ M.I.F. – Tricky Sandman (Run-DMC vs. Metallica)

4. DJ Jay-R – Sweet Sovereign (Lady Sovereign vs. Eurythmics vs. Shiny Grey)

BBC Hamsters


A collection from the BBC of stories about hamsters.

iPhone Countdown


I want one.

A pool filled with non-Newtonian fluid

Want It!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Spiders on drugs and alcohol

"In the 1960s, Dr. Peter Witt gave spiders various kinds of drugs and alcohol to observe the effects on their webs. The results were pretty interesting."

This video is more interesting.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Monday, January 08, 2007

Postal Experiments from The Journal of Improbable Research

We sent a variety of unpackaged items to U.S. destinations, appropriately stamped for weight and size, as well as a few items packaged as noted. We sent items that loosely fit into the following general categories: valuable, sentimental, unwieldy, pointless, potentially suspicious, and disgusting.

Helium balloon.
The balloon was attached to a weight. The address was written on the balloon with magic marker; no postage was affixed. Our operative argued strongly that he should be charged a negative postage and refunded the postal fees, because the transport airplane would actually be lighter as a result of our postal item. This line of reasoning merely received a laugh from the clerk. The balloon was refused; reasons given: transportation of helium, not wrapped.

ZIPcode Finder

Type in a ZIP code and see it's boundaries.

ZIPscribble Map

What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order? Is there a system behind the assignment of ZIP codes?

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Biking has always been Sam Kavanagh’s true love.


Kavanagh, 27, is a ranked athlete living in Bozeman. He has competed against some of the top cyclists in the world. He’s training for the national championships in June and hopes to earn the chance to compete against the world’s best in Beijing in 2008.

His current success is the result of a backcountry skiing accident that could have cost him his life.

Instead, it took his leg.

Sign up for free service now! Cancel anytime!


"To evaluate how difficult canceling an online service can be, I signed up for and then canceled 32 accounts, each at a different site. About a third of the services in my sample made the seemingly simple goal of canceling very hard to achieve (see the "Big Hassle" entries in "Want to Cancel That Service?").

Not all of my experiences were negative. Services such as a monthly New York Times TimesSelect online subscription and a monthly Consumer Reports Online account took only minutes to cancel and without lingering strings. But some others made me feel as though I'd joined the Sopranos' family business: Once I signed up, there was no quitting!"

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Sexy and banned in Brazil


A few months Ago a model / tv show host and (specially) Ronaldo´s ex-wife, Daniela Cicarelli was filmed having sweet, sweet sex on the beach, and I´m not talking about the drink.

Somehow the lawsuits were accepted by Court, and the sites had 24 hours to remove the video or pay a US$116.000/day fine. The decision meant NADA to sites like Rapidshare and the whole P2P gang, and of course, YouTube.

More sexy than NSFW

Want It!

Wanders of a Well-worn Skeleton November- December 2006

They're Back!

On the 3rd day of the Legislature:

Lawmaker apologizes for comments
Winifred's Butcher referred to Indian colleague as 'chief'

HELENA - Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, was made to apologize Friday on the House floor after referring to an American Indian lawmaker as "chief" and asking the lawmaker if a committee chairman's gavel wielded by Butcher constituted a "war club."

Friday, January 05, 2007

2007 Things to Do

Here is what I want to do this year.

1. Spend the night wandering around in a few towns I've never stayed in.
Of all the cities with motels in Montana, I've stayed in 90% of them. I want to spend a non-work night wandering around in towns I've never stayed in.

2. Northwest Montana Float Trip
I want to spend a couple of days north of Missoula floating rivers I haven't done before or haven't floated in the last five years. These would be the Clark Fork, North Fork of the Flathead, Kootenai and ???

3. Take a ferry across the Missouri.
There are three. Soon there will be none. I've never ridden any of them.

4. Backpack across the Pintlars.
It's been too long since I've done a backpacking trip. The Pintlars are close, little used and have a couple of hot spring resorts. Maybe a backpack from Elkhorn to Jackson Hot Springs?

5. Eat at all the sushi places in Montana.

6. Sit in a radon health mine.

7. Play in the Big Hole Cow Pasture Open Golf tournament.
It's been awhile since I did so and I want to do it in memory of a friend.

8. Read a book a month.
I spend too much time on the internet.

9. Pick up a marble with chopsticks.

10. There a few ski resorts in Montana that have summer trams/ski lifts to the top of the mountain. I want to hike to the top of each and ride the tram/ski lift down.

11. Eat at every restaurant in the Helena Yellow Pages. In reverse alphabetical order.

12. Use every piece of sports gear I own, in the shortest time possible.
This will be in the last two weeks in May. Here is what I have to use:
dogpack, day pack, kayak, raft, running shoes, volleyball, racquetball, x-country skis, snowshoes, folf frisbee, hackeysack, mountain bike, backpack, tent, croquet set, golf clubs, football, hiking boots, fly rod, spinning rod, snorkel and fins.

13. Visit all the Mint Bars.

Let me know if you want to come along.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

2006 Things I Did!

At the end of 2005, instead of posting New Years Resolutions I decided to make a list of Things to Do. It was a lot more fun. So here is what I did and didn't do in 2006.

1. Float five different rivers.
Did the Missouri and Blackfoot. Hoping to add the Smith, Clark Fork and Jefferson this year. I know a great sandy beach for lunch on the Clark Fork, call me.

2. Have a drink at the fabulous Sip-N-Dip Tiki Lounge.
Maybe it would be better on a weekend. It's awkward being the only person in a piano bar when the piano player is playing.

3. Rent a Forest Service cabin.
Nope. Changed a bit for 2007.

4. Ride the Hiawatha trail.
Nope. But I may be able to tie this into a 2007 resolution.

5. Play golf on 10 different courses.
Eh, I played 2-3. It was a rain-outed spring and a too-hot summer.

6. Visit all of Montana's hot springs resorts.
Best Resolution Ever! I visited 9 out of 15 - I missed Norris, Bozeman Hot Springs, Fairmont, Lolo, Saco and Potosi. I'll visit the first four in 2007. Chico remains the best, Symes Hot Springs is the one I most look forward to visiting again.

7. Run two 5 kilometer races.
Nope. But I'm going to carry this one over to 2007.

8. Sail more on Canyon Ferry and Flathead Lakes.
Three times on Flathead, none on Canyon Ferry.

9. Kayak to and have a picnic on Flathead Island.
Nope. Still doable though. I just need someone to say, "Let's do it!"

10. Visit all of Montana's breweries.
The second most fun after, "Visit all the hot spring resorts." I visited 12 out of 18. It will remain a passion for 2007. The Neptune had the best beer wench, the Blackfoot had the best beer, the Big Sky were the cheapest bastards (two eight-ounce glasses per day, and that's it), the Glacier Brewery sucked the worst but the Milestown Brewery could have sucked as bad if I had had a second type of beer.

It was a good set of resolutions. I'll soon post my 2007. I hope you will join in.

Buffalo vs. Griz - Mike Tercel, photographer






The pictures were taken in Fountain Flats, which is about 10 miles from Old Faithful.

The pictures appear in chronological order. The bear walked across the road in front of me and started chasing the buffalo herd across the field.
Eventually one of the bulls challenged the griz and ran him off. The last picture shows how the bull and bear were running in parallel circles around the herd, with the bull on the inside track.