I love Weird Al.
Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s Friday Night Open Thread.
What’s on your mind?
I love Weird Al.
Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s Friday Night Open Thread.
What’s on your mind?
From The Darwin Awards’ Tree Category:
Trees Might Be “Aware” of Their Size
University of Helsinki via Phys.org / Jan. 30, 2020Trees are known for their great, but not unlimited, trunk height and diameter. They have evolved to develop a heavy above-ground biomass, but this integral feature poses a challenge to the trunk’s stability.
…
“Even though the idea of plants sensing their own weight and thickening their stem accordingly sounds intuitive, our study is the first one to address this question in trees,” says Juan Alonso-Serra from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki.
One approach to understand how this weight-sensing mechanism works is by comparing normal plants with plants lacking this ability. The researchers took advantage of a naturally occurring birch mutant named elimäki. This exceptional tree grows upright for three months, after which its stem suddenly bends at the very base, and the whole tree collapses.
The researchers showed that, unlike normal trees, elimäki trees fail to properly adjust their width to their increasing weight, which makes them less stable.
What do you know? A living, breathing metaphor for government social programs.
Could the Next Willy Wonka Be a Woman? Warner Bros Are “Considering Casting Female Actress as the Titular Chocolatier in Upcoming Prequel”
UK Daily Mail | January 31, 2020Willy Wonka could reportedly return to screens as a woman in a new prequel film.
Bosses at Warner Bros. are allegedly considering taking on a female actress to play the role of the iconic chocolatier.
First in with the “Willy Woke-a” comment.
Source: Library of Congress
Per Gumbeaux:
Straight Line of the Day: Hillary’s dodging Tulsi’s lawsuit. The best way to gain access to Hilary would be …
Continuing the musical theme I was thinking about sad songs because sad songs say so much. [So turn them on, turn ’em on…] Are my platforms properly sequined? (Ok enough with Elton John already. The point and question I was getting to was who do you think can sing a sad the saddest? I always found that Emmylou Harris could really bring a tear to my eye when she sings about loss and regret. For example there is this cover of a Bruce Springsteen song that I find particularly evocative in a way that the Boss only hints at.
Red Dirt Girl had a few, here are two.
Bang the Drum Slowly
Red Dirt Girl
So, who is better? Let us know who can make you find it is getting dusty in here.
Following the news — not too closely, because I don’t want to catch whatever it is they got — I’m seeing arguments over how the Senate is conducting the impeachment trials.
It seems like they’re rigging the thing to acquit Trump. Kinda like the Democrats did to impeach Trump.
So, which is the worst?
That’s easy. Pineapple on pizza. Discuss.
Soul Asylum? They’re still a thing. Well, they’re still around. Wasn’t really a huge fan, or even a minor fan. Didn’t dislike their stuff, just thought it was okay. They’ve been around longer than I realized. This one is from 25 years ago.
What’s been on your mind? Got something you’d like to share? A topic to discuss? It’s Thursday Night Open Thread.
Who wants to start?
The official policy of IMAO is that we don’t like monkeys. It’s Frank J. that doesn’t like monkeys, but since he’s the boss, it’s policy. So, monkeys bad.
Still, we keep up with what monkeys are up to. It’s always good to know what your enemy is planning. That’s why we try to follow what Democrats are doing, even though they aren’t worth a bucket of warm spit.
So, what are monkeys up to? Painting.
Some of the painting appears to show some talent, which is interesting. Of course, the monkeys do go about it a little differently.
The description of one painting by Jacob explains that the chimp “especially enjoys painting, and he usually likes to taste each bright color before he puts it on his canvas.”
So, paint-licking monkeys retire to Florida. Sounds like Democrats.
Except for having talent.
Some artists only have one really big hit. Bobby Hebb was born in Nashville and was actually a member of Roy Acuff’s backing band and played on the Grand Ole Opry stage in that capacity. He learned guitar from Chet Atkins. And he wrote his biggest hit, “Sunny.”
He performed the song at Candlestick Park on August 29th, 1966. The band that had just finished playing their own set stayed on and served as his backing band for the song. That band? The Beatles.
Bobby Hebb had an interesting career.
What’s been on your mind? Got something you’d like to share? A topic to discuss? It’s Wednesday Night Open Thread.
Who wants to start?
This is a reposting of one of Harvey’s classics. There’s a link to the book in the sidebar. — The Editors
Welcome to Fun Facts About the 50 States, where – week by week – I’ll be taking you on a tour around this great nation of ours, providing you with interesting, yet completely useless and probably untrue, information about each of the 50 states.
This week, we’ll be singing our way through the cotton harvest as we visit North Carolina. So let’s get started…
That wraps up the North Carolina edition of Fun Facts About the 50 States. Next week we’ll be mortified to discover that the people in Fargo really DO sound like those people in the movie, as we visit North Dakota.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go join the “10-foot-high club.”
[The complete e-book version of “Fun Facts About the 50 States” is now available at Amazon.com. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download free Kindle apps for your web browser, smartphone, computer, or tablet from Amazon.com]
New Russian Weapon Can Travel 27 Times the Speed of Sound
AP | 11/27/2019
Straight Line of the Day: A new Russian weapon can travel 27 times the speed of sound. Unfortunately, all you can hear is…