Rubber-Necking

The grossest thing I've read about in a very long time?

A 63-year-old woman became 'pregnant' with 12 baby squid after eating calamari, according to a claim in a bio-tech report. 

The real-life 'octo-mum', from South Korea, was eating a portion of cooked whole squid when she felt a sharp pain in her mouth.

The bizarre claim has been made in a scientific paper from the National Center for Biotechnology Information in Bethesda, Maryland. 

The lady told doctors that she could feel something in her mouth which they described as 'bug-like organisms'. 

When examined, the doctors found 'baby cephalopods' attached to her mouth. These are small pods, covered in a cement-like material to make them stick. 

Inside the pods is an 'ejaculatory apparatus' and sperm - with the apparatus expelling the sperm quite forcefully. 

After the victim of the 'attack' was hospitalised, doctors removed the baby cephalopods from her gums, tongue and cheek. It was only then that the pods were formally identified as 'squid spermatophores.'

Eeew! (I'll be having nightmares about this for days.)

In Passing

The boxer who first made me fall in love with the sport has passed away. 

Vaya con Dios, Señor Stephenson...

"And They're Off!"

A gazillion years ago while driving to work I heard a radio ad so funny I should have pulled over because it made me laugh so hard I could barely keep my eyes on the road.

For some reason "And heeeeeeeeeeeeeere coooooooooooooooomes MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANIAC MAN!" ended up romping around in my noggin again tonight. Argh!

I noodled around Google for a while and finally discovered that this was one of several ads in a National Thoroughbred Racing Association campaign called "And They're Off!" I can't find a link to "Golf" (without paying $39 for a month's access to all the ads in the campaign), but I did find this link (scroll down to "Yoga") for the ad that won a Golden Lion award in 2005.

 While I'm at it:

 

Glad to finally be able to prove that I wasn't imagining things.

Engine Knock

Quote of the Day:

"Bitch needs to pull out his payroll sheet and erase the name of the ho who keeps buying his wigs at Leonard Nimoy's yard sale."

Nearly peed myself laughing!

Cuppa Jumpstart

Woke up with this background music to my dream...

Revving The Engine

If Mr. Rogers had to be autotuned, this is a loving and lovely way to do it:



(Yes, a snippet or two in there are a bit creepy, but overall a cool thing.)
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Glad to see there's another warm-hearted, generous person who isn't bamboozled by panhandlers.  For example:

"My brother-in-law works at a hospital and EMS there brought in a 'homeless' man that needed treatment for a minor injury. This man placed his belongings in a hospital locker and among those belongings was $2,367 in singles. He was, as he described it, 'A Professional Panhandler.' He made that figure in two days. That's more than what the doctor treating him makes in two days and he's saving lives and Sh#t."

Seriously, be choosy about your generosity.
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This story just plain pisses me off.  There's a special place in hell for people who steal pets, and I truly hope that bitch karma catches up with this thief.

If you know someone in the Chicagoland area who has just acquired a red Macaw, keep in mind that Sam can say "Nick!" and "I can talk.  Can you fly?"  If you hear those words, you might just recommend that your friend get the bird checked for a microchip -- they may just have purchased a purloined parrot.
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What's the real fallout from the Wisconsin recall election?  According to Peggy Noonan:

"By the way, the single most interesting number in the whole race was 28,785. That is how many dues-paying members of the American Federation of State, County and Municiple Employees were left in Wisconsin after Mr. Walker allowed them to choose whether union dues would be taken from their paychecks each week. Before that, Afscme had 62,218 dues-paying members in Wisconsin. There is a degree to which public union involvement is, simply, coerced."

That's huge.
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Precipitation Ahead

If you can watch this entire video without your eyes moistening, you don't have a beating heart:



Matt W. -- my new hero!
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Update:  Another hero?  You bet.

Street Views...

... both literal and figurative...

... in Althouse's back yard this weekend.  How'd she miss this?

From the brain trust that led to my most unshakeable ear worm ever:



Don't like it?  Rub a little bacon on it.

(You're welcome.)

Can't See the Forest...

It just occurred to me that I don't have a family tree -- I have a small family forest.  Huh.

Street Music

Need a smile?

 
 
This little guy had me dancing in my chair!

Bus Fumes

I haven't had a haircut I've hated more since the dreaded Mithter Larry (heavy makeup, leopard skin stirrup pants (remember those?), lamb's wool vest (no shirt), Captain Jack Sparrow 10 years before the movie came out and thigh-high leather boots). Who knew he had a (thissor) thister and she was equally dangerous? Urk. I'm cropping it short again. Damn.

Weather Conditions

The thermometer hit 90 degrees for the first time in 2012 here in Chicago. It's actually hotter inside than it is outside at the moment!

Rubber-Necking

Quote of the Day:

[D]ignity is not cheap, apparently

Whoa, Nelly!

How is this whole NATO-in-Chicago thing going?

"There are more helicopters in the air than cars on the ground." - R. Seams

It's a ghost town in my little neck of the Loop.
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Another great quote from the Trib's Eric Zorn:

Sounds far-fetched, but done right, protests have been effective. Rallies, marches and demonstrations launched the civil rights revolution, the ACT UP campaign that awakened the nation and the medical establishment to the tragedy of AIDS, and the tea party movement, to name just three modern domestic examples. 

Done wrong, however, protests can impede change by turning onlookers into enemies. 

As one whose job gives him a built-in opportunity to attract attention, I'm conscious of sounding like a condescending "millionaire" dispensing advice to the poor on how to live within a budget. 

But look: Chanting "F--- the police" at Chicago's men and women in blue, as a group of protesters did during a march earlier this week, is going to raise gorges, not awareness of whatever that slogan is supposed to raise awareness of. 

Shattering storefront windows, if that's on the agenda here this weekend as it has been at other gatherings of world leaders, is no way to shatter complacency. 

And you might as well lie down and throw a tantrum as throw rocks and bottles at The Man if your goal is for something good to come out of the news coverage of the NATO summit. 

Be disruptive. Be noisy. Be outrageous. Even those who may not agree with any or all of the various causes you represent will admire the profoundly democratic spirit that you're bringing to these proceedings, and they'll at least secretly be glad for the illustration that we live in a country where groups of angry people are free to raise a mighty ruckus in the streets of a major city so long as they keep it peaceful. 

But be strategic. You will have our attention. Don't squander it.

Amen!

The Music in My Head

Blame it on John Kass.  (I don't know about you, but it'll take me a week to get that one out of my head, and it'll probably pop right back in between my ears every time I see a picture of FLOTUS in the news.)

Screw Loose

You try sitting next to a black guy who treats you to monotone versions of American Pie...



...Tracks of My Tears...



... and My Way...



...in a deep, gravelly, Leon Redbone mumble...



...and those little ditties coming between discussions with invisible people on the subjects of Don McLean, Jon Bon Jovi, the Rat Pack (and especially "The Chairman of the Board" -- "I like that cat."),  and keep a straight face.

Just thought I'd share...

Giggle of the Day:

Quick Stop

Suzette has also ordered the latest Robert Caro biography in the Lyndon Johnson series:

My note to her:

"I wonder if George R.R. Martin is Robert Caro in disguise. After all, they both write about politics, power and characters who display both noble and ignoble characteristics. And they both take for freaking evah to write the next volume of a series.  Hmmmm...."

For those in the know, which one of them said this?

"Nobody believes this, but I write very fast."

Okay, after you've picked yourself up off of the floor and stopped laughing, go here to see.  But really, it could have been either one of them.

On The Radio

Ear Worm of the Day:



I have no idea where that came from.