Taylor Swift Tea Party

I saw this picture and -- now I know what I want for Christmas:
A tea party with Taylor Swift!

Photo By Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

Roy Clark or Charo?

Have you ever asked yourself "Who plays a better version of Malagueña? Is it Roy Clark or Charo?"

I'm partially biased, I've had a crush on Charo since I was 5 years old. But I liked Hee-Haw also, and I've seen Roy Clark perform several times, so I am definitely a fan of his.

But Charo is a lot sexier (at least she was when I was 5 years old!)

Charo was classically trained. Look at the video. I like how she bends those strings. She is no wimp!

Both appear to be concentrating hard. To me, Charo seems to appear more confident. After playing something really complicated Roy Clark often has a look on his face like he feels lucky he got through it.

Comments? Who do you think is better?

Justin Bieber's New Tattoo

Justin got a new tattoo - on his leg. OMG! Has he gone all Jerry Bergevin on us?

No matter what you think of tattooing, you would think someone as rich as Justin could afford a better Jesus rendering. Look at the close-up below. Is Jesus looking at his underwear showing, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of his low waist line? Pull up those pants young man, Tattoo Jesus is watching!

Another strange picture was found on the Daily Mirror site. A man standing next to Justin is either picking his butt or removing a wedgie. Shouldn't he have asked permission first before having this picture taken. Maybe he did get permission, who knows...

What are you looking at!

Pickin' Butt Next to Justin

Republican Rep. Jerry Bergevin is a Dork

New Hampshire State Representative Jerry Bergevin has introduced a new house bill, 1148 which would require that evolution is:

“taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists’ political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism.”

It sounds like this is not so much about the theory of evolution, but the religous views of the proponents of evolution. In short - he has a bone to pick with them.

"I want the full portrait of evolution and the people who came up with the ideas to be presented. It's a worldview and it's godless. Atheism has been tried in various societies, and they've been pretty criminal domestically and internationally. The Soviet Union, Cuba, the Nazis, China today: they don't respect human rights."

"As a general court we should be concerned with criminal ideas like this and how we are teaching it. . . . Columbine, remember that? They were believers in evolution. That's evidence right there"

Gee.. I guess America returning back to it's Nazi roots would not be very good. Maybe he has a point?

One must wonder why he didn't mention the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Should this be taught in schools also?

All this religious talk in politics makes me nervous.

Quotes are from the Concord Monitor article HERE.

Submerged Church in Italy

This 14th century church in Graun, Italy was submerged by a dam in 1950. More than 160 residents were forced to leave their home to make way for the reservoir. The only evidence that a town existed there is the church tower that sticks out of the water. What once was the villages of Graun and Reschen, now is Reschensee, or Lake Reschen. Very erie.

One wonders if there are people still alive that remember living right there and going to church there, as a child. Do people ever use this as a dive spot?

You can walk out to it in the winter!

Photos from Wikipedia.org
Top Picture: Photographer: Markus Bernet
Ice picture: Frederik Schulz

Woman Jumping Out of a Cake

I was recently discussing idle topics with teenagers. The topic of women jumping out of a cake came up. Surely they didn't know what that was referring to?

They all were familiar with the scenario:

At a decadent party, they wheel out a large cake. The a beautiful woman pops out of it. Everyone is shocked and delighted.

Everyone seems to know of this scenario. As I remember, it was a common gimmick on TV shows when I was a kid. Among all the things in the world we should be interested in or pay attention to, women jumping out of cakes has risen near the top. So much so, that Duffy Lyon, who does sculptures out of butter for the Iowa State Fair, did a sculpture of herself. See the picture above-left. I assume that almost everyone who saw it knew the woman jumping out of a cake scenario, didn't think twice about it.

How did all this woman jumping out of a cake business get started?

Stanford White

Stanford White was a big time architect in New York. He designed a lot of things, like Madison Square Garden. You can read up on him at Wikipedia. The cake story is not exactly clear, and it is strange the Wikipedia article does not cover the "cake" incident. In 1895 a picture taken at a party of his was printed in a New York newspaper. The picture was of a woman jumping out of a cake. After that, cake jumping became all the rage. All it took was one picture, and the rest is history. 11 years later Stanford was murdered by a jealous lover of one of his flings, the trial was a news sensation.

I wonder if he was plagued by the woman jumping out of a cake picture and the legacy it inspired. Was he questioned about it all the time? Was he sick of hearing about it? I can imagine friends nicknaming him "Cake". Sort of like Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson, my favorite Monty Python sketch:

Arthur "Cake" White?

Can anyone provide any more information about the famous origin? Is this just an urban legend? Why can't I find the famous picture that was the spark of it all? A mystery! Please comment....

Eating Dirt

Geophagy is the act of eating earth - clay or chalk like substances. This is different than the disorder Pica. Geophagy is not considered a disorder, just something people do.

There seems to be 2 reasons people eat clay or dirt, if they do not have a mental disorder like Pica. One reason is that clay in your system can leach out dangerous toxins in food. The other is that some people just crave it!

You can actually buy dirt for eating, see http://whitedirt.samsbiz.com/. Yum!

Eating clay is prevalent in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Southern United States. According to a 1986 article in the New York Times:

To this day, many rural Southern blacks dig clays with the desired sour taste from local pits, often from subsoil in roadbanks, Dr. Vermeer said. ''In Alabama, damage to roadbanks in some places has been so extensive that the highway department has posted signs requesting local residents not to dig into them,'' he noted.

The clay is baked and often mixed with vinegar and salt. In northern cities, some women who crave clay have their favorite types sent by Southern relatives, while others consume Argo starch, which has similar properties, as a substitute.

Some poor whites in the South also eat clay despite strong social pressures not to. Although American physicians tend instinctively to condemn the practice, ''no current evidence indicates that normal consumption of clays in the American South is either beneficial or harmful,'' Dr. Vermeer said. Eating of excessive quantities can cause intestinal blockage.

OK, that is weird, but it is considered within the range of normal human behavior, unlike harvesting and ingesting bear bile and monkey brains!

Potatoes originated from South America. The original varieties contained poisonous toxins and could only be tolerated by the consumer eating the vegetable with clay that leached out the toxins. Even today these types of potatoes can be found in South American markets, and you can buy jars of clay that you are to coat your tongue with before eating the potatoes. Potato affectionados claim the poisonous ones are the best tasting ones.

Pregnant women are known for craving strange food. Coincidentally pregnant women are the largest consumers of clay.

Eating clay in Sierra Leon

Now that you know geophagy exists, and that it is not harmful, wanna try some?







http://www.magneticclay.com/eating-clay.php