Beware Your ATM

I had no idea people made devices that fit over ATM card slots to suck all the information (and PIN) out of your card. But they do. Here's a picture of one. Here's another. A related device was found in December 2009 on a gas pump right across the river from me in Vancouver, WA. I guess I'll try to get my money from the inside of the bank from now on.

Just In Case You Thought You'd Seen Everything....

Take a look at this "organic armour". Paul Hersey crafts these pieces from rubber and adorns them with glass baubles and metallic finishes. He makes a variety of pieces to order and designs custom items as well. So if you have been looking for "fantasy" or medieval breastplates, bras, bracelets, crowns or similar items for yourself, your partner or your dog(!), you have found the right place.

This pooch sure is a head-turner in this regalia!

Bye bye brokerages

The Brazilian stock exchange is now allowing trading without using a brokerage; the trading allowed uses the awesomely cool algorithms that previously were only available through extremely expensive hedge funds. Wow. I'm trying to get my head around this.

Here's a bit of the Bloomberg article:

International algorithmic trading will allow investors to trade using computer programs though UBS without going through a brokerage, Switzerland’s biggest bank said in a press release. Zurich-based UBS began so-called direct market access in Brazil on July 2008, allowing stock traders to complete orders anonymously without going through a brokerage.

Don't Get Me This For Christmas

This is for people who want to run outside, but are frustrated that their treadmills are indoors and stationary! Hmmmmm, how could a person manage to run outside?

Ta-dah!



I could be wrong, but it seems like the whole thing is filmed on a piece of road that is running very slightly downhill. Can you imagine the embarrassment of being stranded halfway through the workout, unable to muster the force necessary to get this heavy machine back up the hill?

In one important respect though, the actual product performs better than in the advertisement------the runner would not be subjected to the incredibly insipid music. (Have they done studies? Does this kind of upbeat music really make people want to buy crud? The answer must be yes; after all, they use it in virtually all infomercials.

Blue Lobsters

(photo by Leslie Ricker)

Blue Lobsters are caused by a mutation that creates an excess of a certain protein. They used to think that such lobsters were a one in a million occurrence, but now believe they are twice as rare as that (one in two million).

Many years back, my husband got a postcard of a blue lobster from a friend who suffered from depression. On it it said that one in a million lobsters were blue, and on the back she added, "I wish I were blue once in a million lobsters!"

Brilliant!

BTW, isn't that lobster a looker?

Vintage Treasure

My mom has always said that I am super lucky-----and I'm happiest when I believe her. Here is the latest piece of evidence that she is on to something: a lucky find. At a local vintage shop, I found this terrific lariat necklace, probably from the twenties. It is quite long and in good repair.

Damage to the old pocketbook? $6.00 !!!!!! (Don't confuse my exclamation marks with factorials, all you math enthusiasts.) I've been happy about this goofy find for days. It's silly, but why not be happy?

Giant Seagull Steals the Show

As the newscaster read the news, a seemingly gigantic seagull strolled past.

The explanation?


The backdrop of the city for the show is not just a fixed shot. An outdoor camera mounted high up on a building streams the backdrop for the show. Apparently it is right next to the ledge that this seagull was strutting around on.

Green Pumps!

They even go well with my green purse.



Too bad they're just earrings.....

Another Unfinished Project Looming?

I guess I am just too fond of certain shades of green. When looking for handbags just recently, I found one in a green that I just could not resist. But it had unappealing brown handles, and a positively eye-zorching shade of rust for the lining. Rust with that gorgeous fresh green????

I felt I had an obligation to rescue the green suede from it's ignominious coexistence with those poorly chosen materials. I bought it, and grabbed my seam ripper. Here in the pictures it is already partially dismantled. See what I mean about that lining?





I am debating between blue or black for the interior and handles. Navy blue would make it perfect to pair with any of my three favorite scarves, but the green positively sings when paired with black.

Now that I have blogged about it, I have to finish it, right?

Think You've Seen Everything?

I posted this just because it is such a peculiar oddity. Who would have thought that people would spend time doing this? I suppose if you wanted to listen to tango music while unicycling that could be fun, but pretending that their routine is some sort of tango is preposterous. Although the guy struts out boldly with a proper tango attitude, that's the closest thing to footwork in the entire thing. And because they are on wheels, they lose all snap in their motions. What is tango without footwork and snap? It's whatever that ill-conceived performance above was.

Don't get me wrong, I think that they are both very good at unicycling. But there is clearly a reason why this has not caught on as a spectator event. Unicyling may be fun and challenging, but it is unsatisfying to watch.

Two to Tango?

This exciting piano tango was composed by Edgar Ordóñez. Although the melody sounds very traditional, his composition exhibits intriguing counterpoint and novel textures. I find myself wondering if it is in fact a duet. Or maybe he has three or four arms....

He has also written several fugues, nocturnes, and interesting arrangements of both Eleanor Rigby and the Pink Panther theme.

Not Men In Bear Costumes After All

A commenter suspected that the picture for the following post had men in bear costumes. I wasn't so sure.

I guess this clinches it. They are real.

Schoolchildren singing Nixon's, Bush's praises

Glenn Beck and various other life-forms are foaming around their mouth-like openings because a couple of videos of schoolchildren singing songs to Obama have surfaced. This is not brand-new behavior. Here's a school choir singing to Pres. Nixon (with Henry Kissinger conducting ftw):

Even more tantalizing is this report from the Washington Wire in the aftermath of Katrina:

At the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, children from the stricken Gulf Coast region serenaded First Lady Laura Bush with a song praising the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency. To the tune of Hey Look Me Over, about 100 young children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sang:

Our country’s stood beside us
People have sent us aid.
Katrina could not stop us, our hopes will never fade.
Congress, Bush and FEMA
People across our land
Together have come to rebuild us and we join them hand-in-hand!

More Beck insanity:


"I've been on food stamps and welfare, did anyone help me out?" Uh, yes, someone did help you out, the Government. Perhaps Glenn Beck and Craig T. Nelson believe foodstamps come from the foodstamp fairy and welfare arrives courtesy of Santa Claus.

h/t to the fine commentators at pharyngula for the links.

How come my crayon set didn't come with "flesh of Christ?"

This charming phylum

Turns out, everybody's gay! Well, to be more exact, some members of (pretty close to) all animal species exhibit gay behaviors. Dolphins, giraffes, and sheep are especially likely to be found in the Castro when visiting S.F. fwiw.

Read about it here.

Those two penguins are, of course, gay.

"Heartwarming" isn't always a swear word

Sometimes a heartwarming story is just what one needs. I spent the last two days in bed basically unable to move, except for the trip to the dentist, and don't we all look forward to such outings, all?

However, my head feels clearer, and I'm out of bed, so I'm tentatively typing in time today, or something not quite so alliterative.

Anyhoo, happy squirrel!

Fun Stuff! European Genetic Map

The above map, from the deliciously named website strange maps, shows the genetic overlap of European populations. One of the hypotheses concerning the findings is that the English (and Irish) population still consists of the desecendents of the original pre-Celtic, pre-Danish, and pre-Norman invasions. Being mostly English, myself, I find this oddly comforting.