'We could poke the jar with a stick,' Emily says.

'This is a proposal with many possible outcomes,' Sid points out.

Emily considers. She glares up at the jar

I have discovered something wonderful. It is called Hitherby Dragons. It's like the legendary Fafblog, but deeper... or something; my descriptioning is inadequate. Try this: if you like Fafblog's little philosophical vignettes (which I wish they did more of), you'll probably like Hitherby Dragons.

I know what I'm doing at work tomorrow.

via Ticklish Ideas:

Start your humming:
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day,
for a three hour tour,
a three hour tour

Now, switch lyrics but keep the same tune:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see
Was blind but now I see

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

It works on hymn-influenced verse too, see:

Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.
We slowly drove—He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility—
-Emily Dickenson

Oh how I love me some Gilligan's Island.

Just this morning I was telling myself I knew a lot of apple varieties. I was fooling myself.

I found these cartoons, last night, on the back of an old Esquire pinup (shown here as the "Sentimental" cartoon) which I bought at a used book store years ago. There's no date on the page, but I'm guessing they're from the late 40's early 50's.

And then there's this crazy Camel ad from 1936:

"It's swell the way they make food taste better and set better."

Indeed.

I bought this ad at the same time I bought the pinup, above. And like that one, I hadn't seen the back side until last night. When I took this one out of its little plastic sleeve, I looked on the back and saw that it apparently ran on the inside of the front cover of a magazine called the "Nonsenser". Couldn't find any info about it on the web, though.

Because we successfully finished a project for a large and important customer, our manager took us out to lunch at a Brazilian steakhouse yesterday. Contrary to what I was expecting, there was no waxing involved. Instead, there was a large salad bar full of things you don't find in the typical salad bar: fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, eggplant, etc.. It was really more of an antipasti bar than a salad bar, since it was intended as a small first course, not as a way to fill up on lettuce and gobs of creamy ranch dressing.

After we finished our salads, we turned the handy "Yes, Please", "No Thanks" discs next to our plate to "Yes, Please", as instructed. And at that point, the Parade of Meat began.

First, a guy came out with two huge meat-laden skewers: one with small pork sausages, one with pieces of chicken. I took one of each. Delicious! Then another man appeared with a huge grilled and skewered leg of lamb; he carved me off a slice of that. Lambtastic! A couple minutes later, a man came out with a skewered flank steak; I had a slice of that. Garlicky! Then another guy with a huge grilled skirt steak - I was starting to feel very very full, so I asked for a small piece; instead, he gave me a huge 3/4lb chunk of very rare, blood-dripping, flesh. The tablecloth was splattered with drops of hot blood. My corner of the table looked like a crime scene. Nonetheless, I started in on it. Then I flipped my disc to "No Thanks" and began to moan, engorged. Then a guy came out with bacon-wrapped filets; now how could I say no to that ? Then, another guy came out with the final meat, the restaurant's specialty: steak! Top sirloin steak, in fact. It was excellent! So, that makes seven meats, not counting the salmon and pork (from the black beans, pork and rice) I got from the salad bar. Then there was dessert.

I didn't eat another thing for 19 hours. I am a true glutton.

(title thanks to Hilkka)