wacky dictionary entry of the day

prune (v) (also pruned; prun·ing)
(from Latin pro- + rotundiare (around)
1: the act of cutting off or trimming overgrowth, overextension or overreaching parts of a tree, shrub or bush.
(see also 2006 ELECTION)

apologies to merriam-webster online

seen on the south end of a northbound '73 ford truck headed out of nashville at its top speed of 102. . .with a hound dog in the bed

time keeps on slippin' slippin'slippin' into the future*

an anonymous reader left this comment recently:

"just a question you will probably find annoying, but i must ask. how (and where) do you find time to do all this 'blogging'?"

it takes 15-20 minutes to compose a blog. it's all random stuff. . .not like I am writing a dissertation or anything. just stuff. sometimes yesterday's blog has nothing to do with today's, and sometimes there's a running theme. sometimes these running themes are spread over months or years, so i have to make them obvious by appending the titles with a part deux or somesuch kitsch.

in the two minutes it took to respond to an email on this subject, i could nearly have been finished with the text of this blog, but how, i wonder, do I find all this time to blog when I have all this sorting through fw:fw:fw:fw:fw:emails to do?

someday i'll figure it out.

and maybe, mother, someday you'll get it too.

*apologies to the steve miller band

futile?

rutgers university's football team was known for a long time as an exercise in futility.

no longer. they came out of oblivion and from behind and beat third-ranked university of louisville 28-25 yesterday. . .and they did it in front of a stadium record 44,111 home-field crowd in piscataway, nj. . .and in prime time in front of a national tv audience.

they are now one of four remaining undefeated teams, and are now in first place in the big east conference.

even new york has scarlet fever:
the empire state building was lit last night
in red in support of the LU v RU game

futility? methinks not.

next game: saturday, 18 november.
kickoff time tba.

photos copyright 2006
rutgers university
used with permission.

photo of empire state building
by associated press.

• • • • our second nominee into the• • • • second annual bored stiff geeks• • • • hall of fame

if someone has entirely too much time on his hands,
he (or she) must be a bored stiff geek.

we have another nominee with paper and scissors, but this fellow gives papercut boy a run for his money!

julian beever is an english artist who's famous for his art on the pavement of england.

it certainly is amazing what you can do
with a little chalk and an expanse of sidewalk!


yes, they're walking around the "hole" in the sidewalk!




both his feet are on flat pavement!


this drawing of a "rescue" is supposed to be viewed
with an inverting mirror.


spiderman to the rescue!


batman & robin to the rescue

you decide. . .papercut boy, or the beever?

• • • • the 2005 inductee
• • • • can be seen here

ready. . .aim. . .part trois

from what would have been the day after the election in november 2005 (if we had had an election in november 2005):

i used to think that people who left their W'04 stickers on their cars were gloating, and that they should get over it and move on. but i realized today that nobody sporting a W'04 sticker would consider "move on" as an option--sounds too much like moveon.org, i guess.

then a colleague of mine suggested this: don't people who sport W'04 stickers on their cars realize they're making themselves targets?

to which i replied: if people sporting W'04 stickers are of like mind with W, and W is of questionable mind. . .

-------------------------

my point: take off your campaign stickers if your candidate won (or lost), stop gloating (or sulking), and move the hell on. we have the future to think about, and we're all in this together, republican or democrat.

all the news that's fit to blog

we here at bored stiff geeks are proud to announce (really proud) that our little blog made news.

melissa mcnamara at cbsnews.com gave bored stiff geeks a moment in the spotlight on november 1 for a little commentary we made on october 28. look in the section called using the internets, about two thirds down the column.


we couldn't be more honored.

payback

jesuit high school's varsity football team made short work of the southridge skyhawks last night, capping an undefeated season and clinching the metro league title, a title which they had to share last year with southridge, the only team to defeat jesuit in the 2005-06 regular season, and that was in the season opener--21 games ago.

even more sweet is that they did it on a nationally-televised game on fox sports network's high school game of the week.

paul weatheroy runs
for yet another td

it wasn't even close. 38-nil.

what a way to seal the deal.

for the story as seen
in the oregonian,
click here

kitsch is dead

well, at least the pink flamingo is dead. after 49 years, its manufacturer is ceasing production of the venerated-and-yet-reviled lawn ornament.

couldn't they have waited just one more year and had a 50th anniversary edition of the pink flamingo?

nah. that'd be too kitschy.

i can't believe i ate the whole thing

i am trying something new this year. i am setting a reminder on my doorstep for all those little ankle-biters who will be ringing my doorbell on halloween how they will feel the morning after eating all that candy.

i wish i were homewhere the buffalo roamand the deer and the antelopedon't stay the coursebut i never said stay the course

george w. bush said on cnbc this week, that he "sometimes goes on the google to pull up maps like. . .I kinda like to look at the ranch. it reminds me of where i wanna be sometimes." (click here for the youtube clip.)

and seriously, he told stephanopoulos that, "when it comes to Iraq policy, we've never been 'stay the course'!" (click here for the abcnews clip at thinkprogress.)

i beg your pardon?

go to your own white house home page, dubya, and enter the term "stay the course", and see how many hits you get.

if you don't remember how many times you said "stay the course" in the last two years, then perhaps you should go back to the ranch and stay there, instead of looking it up on "the google."

geeez.

• • • • our first nominee into the• • • • second annual bored stiff geeks• • • • hall of fame

if someone has entirely too much time on his hands,
he (or she) must be a bored stiff geek.

it certainly is amazing what you can do
with an x-acto knife
and a single sheet of paper!

• • • • the 2005 inductee
• • • • can be seen here

thanks to scandalous
for the pictures

i like a little roughage with my lettuce

it's either this or e. coli with your spinach. your choice.

click the picture for the urban myth answer

thanks to scandalous
for sending this to me

bill maher's new rules

you can't call yourself a think tank
if all your ideas are stupid

watch the video
quicktime • windows media

read the transcript
here or here

courtesy of crooksandliars.com and hbo.com

'nuf said.

paging speaker hastertpaging speaker hastert

what did speaker hastert say to mark foley?

"lets be sure we're all on the same page."

the skies will rendand the earth will shake'cuz there's a rumbleat the hukilau tonight*

the hawaiian islands were doing a hula all their own today, and my wife's parents were there for the whole ride. you see, they live in honaunau, south of kailua-kona, just a few miles from the epicenter of the quake.

they were at morning mass when it struck. they were at a very old place called the painted church--quite a marvel, really, more than a hundred years old, built of wood and painted in rather ornate murals. everything's original--even the windows.

the crucifix, pictures and other stuff fell off the walls, the building shook, and there remained rather a mess to clean up. that is, except for the windows.

they're intact.

blows the mind.

*new testament, book of pele, chapter 4, verses 6-9

--------------

a tip: if you ever visit the place, be sure to buy something at the gift shop. it will help pay for the restoration and upkeep of the church.

horsing around

my goodness, how they grow up. one moment they're falling off bikes with training wheels, and next they're riding horses.

and to think that in only 4 years she'll be driving a car.

may we please go back to horse and buggy?

happy birthday to peggy. . . .

welcome to the other side of 39.

young as ever, i am sure you are.

regards to murray and the kids.

best wishes. . .

six months have passed since i left the world of slinging sheetmetal and rubber and joined the ranks of the mortgage professional. seems like yesterday.

there were some fellas who were shocked to see me go, and who were genuinely concerned for my welfare, and who are happy to know that i am making a success of the new career.

there were one or two schlubs who thought i wouldn't make it, and who thought i'd be crawling back on hands and knees, begging for my old job back, but i think i have done well for myself, from all indications, and i sincerely hope they are happy for me.

whether you were a well-wisher or a schlub, i wish you well in your careers and the best in your lives.

six months. my my, how time flies.

values, schmalues

a republican florida congressman was caught sending emails with sexual overtones to teenage boys on the capitol hill staff.

said republican was chair of a house caucus on children and family issues--that is, until recently, when he resigned in shame.

other republicans in the house of representatives knew of the emails weeks ago, but are only now admitting knowledge of the offending communications after their knowledge of said communiqués was uncovered in an investigative news report.

smells like a cover-up to me.

and the republicans tout themselves as the party of family values?

values, schmalues.