"Long Live the Post Horn!"

"The Post horn is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument used to signal the arrival or departure of a postrider or mail coach. It is associated with the postilions of the 18th and 19th centuries.

"The instrument has a circular shape with three turns of the tubing. Mozart, Mahler, and others incorporated the instrument into their orchestras for certain pieces."

Perhaps the post horn could be the new cowbell. Dying to hear some post horn action? Then you'll want to check out The Hungarian Post Company's page of post horn calls.

Beer for your dog

"After a long day hunting, there's nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt.

"'Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the veranda and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it,' she said.

"Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised it as 'a beer for your best friend.'"

Not heading to the Netherlands any time soon? Dogs in the U.S. can get their fix from Happy Tail Ale.

Fed comics

Via the WSJ: Move over, Spiderman. Step aside, Batman. Your adventures don't hold a candle to the pleasures of reading about inflation:

"The Federal Reserve System, it's safe to say, has not inspired a great deal of humor. Stand-up comics rarely riff on monetary policy, and I can't think of a sitcom that features a central banker.

"It may therefore come as a surprise that our nation's central bank, in addition to issuing sober reports and press releases, publishes comic books. That's right: For about 50 years now, the New York Fed has been cranking out comics aimed at educating high-school students about banking, foreign exchange and other kinds of financial information that is anathema to youth."

Badges?! We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!

Finally, thanks to Kevin Bacon-affiliated Six Degrees site, we can find out which celebrities are for killing the babies of poor people and those that believe that some animals are more equal than others.

"A lot of people are really, really strongly connected to what celebrities are doing," Bacon said.

If only they listed celebrities that Netizens really cared about like the pretty ones from Veronica Mars or One Tree Hill.

Don't be fooled

Via WASAW: "The Hershey's Kisses Mini-Cookies packaging is as misleading as a Publishers Clearing House $10 Million 'you may already be a winner' sweepstakes mailing in the hands of bankrupt pig farmer after a tornado has passed through town. Here's an idea - let's not only mislabel this tiny butter cookie as a Hershey Kiss cookie, let's put a HUGE Hershey Kiss chocolate image on the package so customers believe there must be tons of chocolate in these cookies. A Hershey Kiss so big, it looks like the black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey - the mini-cookies dancing around it representing the apes seeking greater knowledge, truth, and delicious marketing savvy."

Son of Mask

After seeing the headline "'Son of the Mask' Has Most Razzie Nods" I had a brief moment where I forgot about the Jamie Kennedy disaster and assumed someone must have followed through on the terrible idea of making a sequel to Mask - that Cher flick from the 80s.

After giving it some additional thought, I've come to see that this idea is so terrible that it has to happen. And, as Hollywood has yet to go into production on "The Littlest Lawnmower," I should have some free time to consult on the project. In any case, following a brief flashback that reveals Eric Stoltz and Laura Dern consummating their camp romance, I envision a light-hearted comedic affair in which Stolz's son engages in a variety of zany adventures among blind camp kids. He'd probably learn some valuable life lessons along the way, but those can be edited in later.

Not unlike the "Beatitudo" concept, I'm positive this will be a sure-fire hit.

Build an orgonite dodecahedron

"Pythagoras saw the dodecahedron as a high spiritual principle, the quintessence itself. Buckminster was ingesting the quintessence whole and placing it everywhere in the landscape.

"For the Orgonite Dodecahedron the plan was to maximize the energy to facilitate physical, psychic and spiritual healing. This space would be uncomfortable for someone who wishes to remain spiritually asleep. With the last piece of orgonite suspended by string from the top I felt a zing through the third eye and saw that this sphere should be on a mountain top, not locked away in garage or house.

"As I drove away I could feel fairies, pixies and gnomes playing on their new Jungle Jim set. The larger sylphs were wishing that it was outside already. Some humans want to use it too."

The End of Every 80's Movie

Malt liquor reviews

40ozMaltLiquor.com claims to be "the largest website dedicated to malt liquor," and the creator claims to own "the world's largest 40oz collection, currently at 294 different bottles, with more on the way." Along with access to an extensive list of reviews, visitors can also join the 40oz Crew and sign a petition to bring back 64oz bottles. Over 7,000 64oz fans have already signed. What's your excuse?

Thanks for the heads up, Mac.

Saving the world through fashion

"The premise of the Joy Apparel project is to celebrate humanity, while helping to promote peace and equality on a global scale. Every face found on a JOY t-shirt has been inspired by a real person living somewhere throughout the world.

"After purchasing a Joy T-shirt, you are then encouraged to become an active participant in this global project, by submitting a photo of yourself , which will then be made into a T-shirt for the rest of the world to wear."

Given these guidelines, the Flair Wear store serves a similar function. Celebrate humanity, buy yourself a Victor Lams shirt.

Ride in style

Via Boing Boing: "The HeHe Association in France have produced concepts and prototypes of personal transportation vehicles utilising unused train and tram tracks in cities."

The Milton Friedman Choir

Via Catallarchy.

Totally inappropriate attire

Sitting behind Marius Paulikas and his variety of "Co-ed Naked" t-shirts through multiple classes in college convinced me of one thing: the best ideas have staying power. So, in honor of Mar, a new shirt is now available at the Flair Wear store..."Co-ed Naked Divinity School - Seminarians Do It Systematically." Supplies are unlimited.

Video chat with Drew

Are you lonely, technologically adept and in love with web comics? Then this is your lucky day. Drew from Toothpaste for Dinner is looking for a few good video chat partners:

"I don't really want to text-chat with people (sorry guys) but I do want to video chat, because I can't ever get it to work. So if you have a fancy computer with a webcam and iChat AV, why don't you add my screen name to your iChat AV, and I'll video chat with you.

"It doesn't matter who you are or if you have anything in particular to say. I just like talking to new people and I guess I like seeing their faces and hearing their voices."

Acronym Finder

Via The WSJ: "Do your MP3s get tangled in your BVDs? Have you confused an ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) with an ETF (Effluent-Treatment Facility)? Do you ever order a QPC (Quarter Pounder with Cheese) by mistake at KFC?

"If so, you might want to check in with Mike Molloy, USAF, Ret. On the World Wide Web, he puts out an exponentially expanding dictionary consulted by bureaucrats, translators, doctors, weapons designers and anyone else who needs help decrypting the wide world's daily output of acronyms. Its HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is www.AcronymFinder.com -- AF for short."

Surprisingly, Pieces of Flair isn't actually listed as one of the meanings for POF. Probability of Failure, on the other hand, is a highly ranked entry.

UPDATE: Mike Molloy pops in to let us know POF is now listed as Pieces of Flair in the Acronym Finder - also, the title of the post is now correctly spelled.

Wonder What She Did With Her Golden Globe Gift Bag

The Washington Post reports:

Myanmar's military junta has accused democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in prison or under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years, of tax evasion for not spending her Nobel Peace Prize money inside the country.

BTW, Naypyidaw is the new Yangon (which was the new Rangoon).


Credit: Misty

Colorado : Finland

Some business consultant/jazz musician put together this amusing cartographic tidbit. I'll let the economists on this blog tear apart its premise and execution.

American states' economic output is analogized to another country's GDP.

Credit: The Big Picture via Joel

Geostationary Banana Over Texas

"[A]n art intervention that involves placing a gigantic banana over the Texas sky."

Science Connection

Libertarian Passions not panning out? Perhaps you're targeting the wrong audience:

"The world is a crowded Petri dish, and yet for those of an intellectual bent who happen to be single, it's not easy, especially past university age, to find that certain microbe for a great symbiotic relationship. Enter Science Connection."

Backstage with Michael McDonald

Fun with Sulphur Hexafluoride via Neatorama: "Turns out, if you inhale the gas, it gives you the opposite effect of inhaling helium."

I Smell a Field Trip

Welcome to Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, Ohio. A grocery store that looks more like a theme park, the sprawling mecca for foodies has over six acres of shopping under one roof.

Hosting more than 50,000 shoppers a week, it's a world tour of food fantasy from the Fabled Sherwood Forrest to Gilligan's Island. Displays include dancing animatronic animals, an authentic shrimp boat, aquariums, wine cellars and even a fire truck suspended over 1,000 different hot sauces.

...

Stew Leonard's, a small chain of three supermarkets on the East Coast, entertains families with petting zoos, bulk purchase options and tours of their dairy plant.

A more mainstream chain called Wegman's was recently rated the best supermarket in America by "Consumer Reports" by focusing less on the entertainment value of the store, and more on convenience and a more pleasant shopping experience: broader aisles and more attendants to help you shop.

Some Wegman's stores even have child play areas where they watch your kids so you don't have to.

The popular grocery store chain Publix in Atlanta recently outfitted shopping carts with TVs to keep the kids busy so mom and dad could focus on buying.

At Jungle Jim's, there's a monorail under construction and a hotel is being planned for the future.

Disease Doilies

Now's the time to order the influenza version as a way to celebrate flu season:

"The design of each doily is based on the structure of a different virus. I begin with a digital image of the virus, which I then base a design on in a graphics editor. The design is then imported into computerized embroidery software and the stitches are laid out and manipulated. Finally, the designs are output from a computerized sewing machine."

Post-Tentacles

Edible squid postcards. via BoingBoing

Land Shark

One of my all time favorite SNL skits.

Grad school senior photos

I was speaking recently with a fellow student about how unfortunate it is that more grad schools do not carry on the proud tradition of senior photos. This seems like yet another missed opportunity for people to share their passions in an awkward and public manner. Sure, you'd still have the bulk of folks going the traditional staid and formal route, but every once in a while you'd come across a gem - an econ student baring a supply and demand graph tattoo, for instance. Props and mementos are key. Seminary should be no exception, so I was pleased to discover this militant Quaker getting a jump on things with the above snapshot. In any case, here's to grad school yearbooks.

Heaven on its way to Maine

All the libertarians are heading to New Hampshire, but they're missing out on the real action:

"In the town of Farmington, Maine, a new state of affairs will soon exist which the world has never seen before. This change will occur within the next few years.

"Thereafter, there will be no death and no illness (except the remnants of earlier illnesses which will go away in three days or less) within the municipal limits of Farmington. Nor will there be any crime or bad behavior. You will be safe in Farmington; nothing will harm you here. The rest of the world will still be the way it has been for millennia, so if one goes outside the borders of Farmington at that time one will not be protected in this particular way, though one will be no worse off than before."

Live Action Web Browsing

via M&C.

Star Wars Floats in The Rose Parade

Yeah, I'm a dork.

Ayds will help you keep that new year's resolution

"Ayds was an appetite-suppressant candy which enjoyed strong sales in the 1970s and early 1980s... However, public awareness of the disease AIDS beginning around mid-1981 caused problems for the brand due to the similarity of names. Initially sales were not affected, but by 1988 the chairman of Dep Corporation announced that the company was seeking a new name because sales had dropped as much as 50 percent due to publicity about the disease."

It Speaks To Me

Death by Oreos, 2006

For anyone who has eaten the whole box, or bag, or carton the photographs in this series make light of our secret binges. Here, the consequences of indulgence are tabloid or monster movie deaths. Daniela Edburg’s Drop Dead Gorgeous both mocks and satisfies our cravings.