Especially when designed by committee.
I hardly need words, as images tell this tale so well. So let us start with one of my top contenders for mascots who are clearly serial killers, and paedophiles to boot. Je presente Bonhomme Carnival:
He is the living incarnation of the snowmen that have enchanted [haunted, ed.] children of Québec City for generations. Bonhomme is the ambassador of this celebration to foreigners and he is the symbol of the festivities during this joyous period of the year. Bonhomme proudly wears the traditional red hat and belt. Bonhomme was created in 1954 and since 1955, the date of the first annual edition of the Carnival, he has personified [snowmanified, mascotified, ed.?] the “joie de vivre” associated with this winter celebration.
What a nice imagination these PR types have. All those words defeated by one look into his soulless plastic eyes. I’ll give them the traditional belt, though. The coureurs de bois did use woven belts to support their backs and to use, presumably, as tump-lines when portaging. [The fur trading companies looked especially for short, illiterate, men to paddle the canoes, and I think one can see the short stature still reflected in the populace. Not to mention the smoking pregnant mamas. But that is a cultural difference that seems impregnable, unlike the youth of Quebec.]
But back to soulless mascots, how about those delightful beasts from the London olympics?
Are these cyclopean fiends not the stuff of nightmares?
And then let me just die of embarrassment at this lame attempt not to offend anyone, except perhaps for the uni-ocular.
Is it any wonder they had to give them out for free? Isn’t the Wonderbread logo a nice corporate touch? Almost as healthy as MacDonalds, the official olympic restaurant or something like that. Is Miga’s mitten a piece of toast? Many Canadians identify with the name Quatchi of course, and Sumi clearly reflects our cultural history. The missing side-kick, Mukmuk, was the best of a bad lot:
And you’ll be happy to know you can buy that particular Mukmuk [did you notice the very clever word play on mukluk, ed.?] on eBay, if you have a child you would like to confuse.
There is a terrific, odd, Canadian movie, Bad Cop Bon Cop, in which the bad guy [whose motives one sympathizes with greatly, if Canadian] dons a beaver mascot suit as a disguise:
What more does one need for proof?
Mascots and clowns. Dreadful creatures.
But I feel better, having shared my horror.
i’m usually the one that kills the thread. i’m going to get the hell out of here right now. i’m going to just watch and see how ya play it EO. it’s your move. 🙂
Really? I didn’t chase you away with the intricacies of the King’s Indian Defense?
Well, then I must subject you to…
This is pretty much how I play the banjo. I blame Pete for this. I could have learned a different way, but once my hand got used to this I couldn’t change anymore.
Still, when I’m in good form I can do things with this style that people don’t expect. I’m real open minded too. One time when I broke my left wrist and had a cast for 6 weeks ( don’t ask, alcohol was involved) I just laid the banjo on my lap and played it that way. Almost like a mountain dulcimer. I link a vid on that next.
So, with my broken left wrist, I couldn’t wrap around and make good chords, so I laid it down on my lap and played it like a mountain dulcimer. Here’s how a mountain dulcimer is played. You’ll just have to imagine that’s a banjo laying there instead.
Sticking with the meme, more dulcimer.
I’ve been thinking of getting a dulcimer for years. Maybe I aught to just do it. Life is too short to sit around thinking about shit like that.
Well, my sauna is hot. Time to go sweat for a while.
I’m usually online sipping my tea on Sunday mornings. See you then.
always loved this song and consider the side boob a bonus.
i’ve been trying to get on this thread for hours but EO went for total control, i am now totally convinced that he is a member of the cabal…damn..thought i knew ya man. and good evening
Hey Pete, good to see you.
So, you have a lot of time to think while you are sitting in the sauna, so I’m thinking if the goldbug/doomsayers are right, and everything has turned, and metals have bottomed, and stocks and bonds are heading for their date with destiny at zero, then why is silver still blowing chunks all over the place? Answer me that. Why is the GSR still rising? Huh? Answer me that, bitchez. Just maybe there might be a hole in your theorem somewhere, but you sure as hell can’t admit to that because I believe you are being paid to maintain otherwise.
Just slapped that big rotten fish right there on the table. There it is. Now what?
And don’t start in with that crap about how it’s all on account of corruption and manipulation and the “real” price is higher somewhere in China or India or some dark cash only exchange somewhere. Oh my god, do you even hear yourself? Whoever is bankrolling you aught to provide you with better material. Oh, baby, how many times have we heard about that game changing Chinese metals exchange, or whatever?
Even the phone banks selling kitchen gadgets are given a better script than that. Order now, and we’ll double your order! Just pay separate shipping and “handling”, lol.
MIght as well post this now, in case I sleep in tomorrow, heh heh.
from MBTI surfing, cool-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz2NyGvWka0
Tramadol… ugh, painful to quit, kind of an anxious feeling… hope you are better soon Xty B, or switched to hydrocodone. America’s finest have worked hard to make the best opiates available to the world. Would want nothing less for our neighbors to the north.
covert Au reval fireworks imminent,
Winter weakening, good times ahead, hope everybody’s feelin it !!
So, Seahawks or Broncos today? I don’t have a strong pick or preference, but with Russell Wilson being a former Wisconsin Badger, I have to pull for Seattle.
I’m not in any pools, so no needs in that department either.
Honestly, I’ll probably be watching something else most of the time. My family likes to tune in for the first half, just to watch the commercials, but I think that’s a bit silly.
And…Good Morning!
well DN, not according to Punxutawney Phil. the little rat bastard saw his shadow. 🙂
Ah, screw Phil. We have our own Jimmy the Groundhog here in our area. Same result though. 😯
http://www.groundhogcentral.com/
I was looking at the 10 day forecast. Blech! No relief in sight. 😥
It seems a bit silly for us here though. Six more weeks of winter, or an early spring? Well, around here, six weeks, to mid march, IS an early spring. The whole legend might work better in a more temperate clime.
When we were younger adults the only people who bought IPA did it so no one would drink it on them at a party. I have trouble with all beer. Cold lager on a hot summer day, and certainly when sailing. But it just doesn’t sit well on land. Oh and when golfing, speaking of ‘how bad can it be?’
i have not changed my mind on the metals. i just wasn’t cynical enough. what i mean is that i never believed that the FED could get away with printing money. maybe i should say i naively thought the American public was better informed of history. every fiat money has died. everyone that i can think of died shortly after a final bout of printing money to pay the government’s bills. (isn’t that in essence what QE is?)
i have a pile of German inflation money. i counted it once. i have many trillions of marks. i also have a few quadrillion dollars, Zimbabwe inflation style, and also some Hungarian notes, from their fiat fail. then i also have some old US gold and silver certificates. everyone American should be aware of these, hold them, know what they look like, know what they mean. they don’t. i have a 20 dollar gold certificate that i received in change. i worked in retail in high school, and college. my first 50 ounces of silver or so, i received in change. even recently i intercepted a stupid kid who was going to pay for a pack of cigarettes in part with a Morgan dollar. i wanted to scream. (i bought the kid cigarettes for the bargain price of $1) i also have some old US gold. one American in 100 has held a circulated gold coin. again, how sad.
no EO, you were not wrong, just early. hope you do not sell it all. if i could afford it, i’d help you unload.
i am not a beer snob. IPA has an interesting history. the extra hops, and alcohol content kept the beer good on long ocean journeys. i just can’t drink more than one at a time. i like Guiness too. and i do like some ales, especially Irish ones. i tend to drink the heavier beers in the winter. on hot summer days there’s nothing like a Dos Equis, a Corona, or a Sol. my Dad who is 100% Kraut, just cannot understand.
sorry as usual for rambling. going to have a busy day, and it’s all good busy!
i do not care who wins the Superbowl. i’m not even going to pay much attention. today just can be a fun day to hang with family and friends. football is just the excuse! 🙂
RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman
I still hold out currency failure as a possible scenario that has to be factored in. What I’ve come to utterly reject is any sense of inevitability about it, at least in any practical time frame, such as a lifetime. I also reject the view that such a failure is necessarily proper justice for some perceived monetary sin.
We’ve had a very instructive real world laboratory these past several years. Opposing economic theories were put to the test. Stimulus worked. Austerity failed. I’m glad I live in a country that got it right.
I always felt that QE was the right thing to do. QE or No QE was an easy choice for me. Possible inflation versus certain deflationary depression. And then the inflation never came. On top of that, global bond markets demonstrated clearly that they prefer a currency that has a fully functional printing press. They would rather be sure of payment, even in freshly printed currency, than take a chance on not getting paid at all, i.e. default. I think this is the single most interesting lesson of these past few years, and it flies in the face of hard money dogma. The Austrians got it wrong.
i have always understood the end of paper to be about loss of confidence. that is how i see the game being played now. it is all smoke and mirrors. it will not end well.
but today i have been tackling lighter issues. i found out that the groundhog really is basically a great big rat. and try to read the intro to this article and not crack a grin.
“The groundhog, also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or in some areas, land-beaver…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog
so Pux Phil and Jimmy have already weighed in. time for a report on the other guys, but i’m not going to do your work Xty, or yours DN.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiarton_Willie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Beauregard_Lee
Cute little buggers they are though, you have to admit.
they are cute until you have one eating your garden. they will mow down almost anything. i found out today that they get all their water from eating plants – so that explains it. wish i would have known that a few years ago when we had a really dry summer. a neighbor ultimately live trapped the thing and gave it a ride out of town. turns out that it had built a nice big condo under his garage.
btw, i decided that i’m rooting for the Seahawks now.
Clear winner in the Super Bowl commercial wars. When that multi-lingual Coke commercial was done, my family was just stunned, saying “That…Was…Spectacular!”.
Even better, the loons were chiming in about how they didn’t like it.
I think I go buy some Coke today, just to piss off guys like Allen West.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-america-the-beautiful-conservatives-boycott
ps: pretty much a rule for daily living. If guys like Allen West are outraged, it has to be good. 😉
didn’t i just post about the hypocrisy of the far right? doesn’t Coke (the corporation) have the right to advertise their product to the widest audience possible? does not Coke (the corporation) have the right to free speech? (or is it only if it is in English) i could continue, but what’s the point? you cannot reason with hate. all i know is my wife and i are home sick with the flu, it’s well below zero outside again, and this…
Hope you and the wife feel better soon DP. If you get energy enough, your next objective should be clear now- add two coolers to your beach scene, one with 24’s for the big kids and one with Coke for the little kids.
EO, we missed that one, after watching the first 10 or 12 we just weren’t impressed enough to continue. And that 10 or 12 is about as many as we watch in a month or two as we dvr everything and watch it later so we can buzz through those pesky interruptions. Now youtube is getting ad crazy and even though most times you can skip in 5 sec, it is still a major pain. I put together a playlist for our grandson a couple of years ago but hadn’t visited it lately since he is old enough to sit still for a movie. Not so with his little sister so I decided to revisit the playlist with her yesterday. I find now that many vids are missing due to copyright and the ones that do play are cluttered with ads on exactly every other one. Example follows.
i know this is awful, but i’m sick. 😳 anyone that wants to can add to it.
Pabst – now you are talking my kids’ teenage language. The cheapest beer you can get, and the drinking age is 18 in Quebec where their eyesight is incredible bad apparently when it comes to checking id.
For what it’s worth, I feel like poop and so does my mum.
I thought the ad was pretty good – the notion that we are all immigrants seems to have skipped some people. That tweet about only knowing English reminded my of a scene in Nicholas Nickleby, in which an uncle is questioning the value and moral soundness of teaching his nieces and nephews French.:
I am ready to hear, if Mr Johnson is ready to commence, my dear,’ said the collector, assuming the air of a profound critic. ‘What sort of language do you consider French, sir?’
‘How do you mean?’ asked Nicholas.
‘Do you consider it a good language, sir?’ said the collector; ‘a pretty language, a sensible language?’
‘A pretty language, certainly,’ replied Nicholas; ‘and as it has a name for everything, and admits of elegant conversation about everything, I presume it is a sensible one.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Mr Lillyvick, doubtfully. ‘Do you call it a cheerful language, now?’
‘Yes,’ replied Nicholas, ‘I should say it was, certainly.’
‘It’s very much changed since my time, then,’ said the collector, ‘very much.’
‘Was it a dismal one in your time?’ asked Nicholas, scarcely able to repress a smile.
‘Very,’ replied Mr Lillyvick, with some vehemence of manner. ‘It’s the war time that I speak of; the last war. It may be a cheerful language. I should be sorry to contradict anybody; but I can only say that I’ve heard the French prisoners, who were natives, and ought to know how to speak it, talking in such a dismal manner, that it made one miserable to hear them. Ay, that I have, fifty times, sir—fifty times!’
Mr Lillyvick was waxing so cross, that Mrs Kenwigs thought it expedient to motion to Nicholas not to say anything; and it was not until Miss Petowker had practised several blandishments, to soften the excellent old gentleman, that he deigned to break silence by asking,
‘What’s the water in French, sir?’
‘L’EAU,’ replied Nicholas.
‘Ah!’ said Mr Lillyvick, shaking his head mournfully, ‘I thought as much. Lo, eh? I don’t think anything of that language—nothing at all.’
‘I suppose the children may begin, uncle?’ said Mrs Kenwigs.
‘Oh yes; they may begin, my dear,’ replied the collector, discontentedly. ‘I have no wish to prevent them.’
Having more than one official language is a nightmare, however. But fearing foreigners, or recent immigrants, finding your country beautiful in any language is just silly. Willful ignorance, held up as a moral virtue.
nicely said Xty. i wonder what would happen if overnight everyone spoke the same language, and identified themselves as part of a some larger whole. nah. must be the meds. sorry.
didn’t realize that Quebec had a sensible drinking age. interesting. a touch of the libertarian among the socialist.
what do you mean? Pabst Blue Ribbon is top shelf beer. you can get way under that around here. 🙂
who else is stuck in the house? can’t believe no one has mentioned the stock market. i don’t think Janet Yellen is having a very good first day.
you go girl. man, i just hate fucking wing-nuts. oops, again, it’s the meds.
i know. i contradicted myself. get over it.
wish m44 would stop in. i need some help with you tube. i will not pay for cable – if i continue to be forced to watch commercials i will soon swear off you tube also. most of these songs have been fully depreciated already. i doubt much of the money is going to the artists either.
come back Xty. i’m bored and i’m sick. sorry for the outburst before. 🙂
After 50+ years of telling the barber to trim my sideburns equal to that ear thingy (as I point to it), I finally had enough ambiguity and looked up the term- tragus. I learned a 2nd new word while waiting my turn there as well-dongle. Only $35, I think I’ll get one.
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/14/honest-chromecast-review/
OK, so the Dow broke under it’s 200 day avg today. No signal for me since all my stuff is based on other indices and sectors, but yes, maybe some trades are getting near.
The S&P is at 1741, and the 200 day is 1707. That’s a much bigger bogey to watch. It’s been on an uninterupted buy signal since Nov. 2012, at around 1400. An epic run.
hey DP, it’s probably all that PBR that’s killing you. Switch to Hamm’s 😛
EO- you outed me. I have some cheap beer on hand to stretch my supply. Can’t afford a steady diet of the good stuff. But check out the dark one, it has oysters in it. That’s a new one for me. I’ve had cherry, blueberry, apple, maple syrup, vanilla, cocoa, and pumpkin and I’m sure I’m leaving out something, but damn- oysters!
I’ve been getting Hamm’s when I go out for fish fry. The place has the old signs all over the bar. It’s actually pretty decent for one of the cheapest beers you can buy.
I got a longneck bottle of PBR the other day at a pizza place, just in peckerwood’s honor, and I couldn’t even finish it. Sorry! I thought it was really terrible.
I’m drinking a 16 oz can of Hamm’s at home right now as I type. 😀
Did anyone else think the Red Hot Chili Peppers really stunk up the joint last night? That was awful. Put your shirts on for godsake. Better yet, just STFU entirely. If my teen daughter is any sort of indicator, the RHCP’s just lost an entire generation of customers. I wonder how many people just put them on mute, or changed channels entirely at that point.
good news folks! beer is staying down! the bad news is my wife is sicker than me, so i can’t send her out to get more. 😡
yikes Dude. that oyster beer is gross in more than a few ways. but it looks like you have everything you need to make a black and tan.
edit: EO – the Chili Peppers in the early days used to perform just wearing socks, and not on their feet either!
All my daughter had to say about them was “eewwww”, and then something about “old people, showing off their flabs”.
different kind of black and tan beer theme
Sorry to vanish – what a hideous sickness – I guess it can cross borders. I am often up at night but this was ridiculous. I couldn’t even bear to type yesterday. Mum seems to have turned a corner though – I was seriously considering the hospital – she cannot support her own weight, and has been in bed for two days – but this morning she seemed much cheerier and all her liquids stay down.
Because I don’t serve her oyster beer! I had the greatest Caesar ever though in St. John New Brunswick, that comes with a lobster claw garnish. There is no way to defend drinking clam juice until you do, so if I can stomach clamato I shouldn’t sneer at oyster beer!
And that dongle looks very cool. And only $35.
Yes, Quebec is a very odd mix of libertarian, socialist and mafia. Now with triads and something going on with Haiti that may or may not be all innocent. If they weren’t so hostile to les anglos it would be much more attractive.
and Good Morning. But I don’t think any of the words in my mind right now are good for word of the day – maybe going for inner-ear bones would open the field up!
Oh and what a cute puppy. I love how the older dog finally let’s her sniff its bum, but only on its own terms.
It was Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives who said mirepoix, and I caught him at it yesterday. He uses it to mean celery, carrots and onions DP’s sacrilegious Holy Trinity. (But who is the ghost?) I like the show, but the yelling and the convertible and especially the glasses worn backwards on his head are a bit much. At least no one has to win.
And how does the r become a t? Pronounced Fieti instead if Fieri? Is it real or an affectation? We bemoan the fact that there are no places like that close to us. At one time I think we had something like 76 of those shows on our dvr.
Oh, good morning! Off to the dentist, should be a non event with only cleaning and an admonition to floss more. I have learned not to trust just any old dentist. It seems I have teeth with beaver-like strength, so if I am told I have a cavity, I simply move on to the next dentist who gives me the all clear. Get your boat or vacation home payment from someone else.
Absolutely – I was once told by a dentist, when in my late teens, that I had five cavities. I didn’t go back to a dentist for ages, and when I did I was told everything was tickety-boo.
Now it isn’t such an obvious call – but I am beginning to dislike our current dentist. The last shyster used to take an awful lot of golfing vacations while screwing up my kids orthodontic work.
Back now, all good as predicted. Recalled this on the way there. I once had a dentist tell me that I needed to have my wisdom teeth pulled about 35 year ago. He said my top two wisdom teeth had not erupted completely thus leaving space for the bottom two to continue to grow upwards. “Pretty soon you won’t be able to close your mouth all the way.” Bye-bye!
On the radio on the way home,this gal was being interviewed about her new book. http://www.wpr.org/shows/marketplace-marvelous-strange-origins-modern-medicine
She was describing how the early settlers looked to the Native Americans for instruction on useful “BOE-tanicals”. Really?
glad to have you back Xty. might i suggest cruciferous (botany) as today’s word. i have my reasons.
the “Holy Trinity” actually consists of sauted onion, celery, but bell pepper instead of carrot. i have a fondness for the New Orleans style of cooking. plenty of butter, and plenty of spice. more info here…
http://southernfood.about.com/od/cajuncuisine/a/Creole-And-Cajun-Cookery.htm
i cannot bring myself to put to word my past dentist horrors.
all but the most modern medicines were discovered in the natural world first. right off the top of my head – aspirin, penicillin, digitalis, warfarin, and of course dope.
that was a quick and nasty flu bug for me, and the wife too. just some aches and pains today, and savage hunger.
Silly me, all this time I thought you were saying “Holy Trinity” as some weird german play on the whole “kinder, kuche, kirche” thing, and I never had any idea of what components you were talking about. Plz just delete about 50 emails from months back…
Hank Snow? Hells Yeah! Off to run dogs. You guys just put these Hank Snow tunes on repeat ’till I get back. Oh, how I’d love to rip into this one on karaoke night. Hank wuz a Canuck btw…
for m44, und auf Deutsch…
Ein hundert?