Tinfoil + Raccoon

Neighborhood Rift Over Green House

While I'm very sorry for the grief it's bringing to my online acquaintance Beth, I am fascinated by her ongoing saga of the petty, pissy, and insane machinations of her homeowners' association. The saga starts here, and Beth is updating as she contacts the neighbors who signed the petition.  She and her husband sprung for a paint job, and were promptly presented with a petition from neighbors. 

We, the residents of . . .  are firmly requesting immediate action to be taken to have the occupants change the exterior color of their home.

We ALL feel this pistachio looking green color:
1.reduces the value of our homes
2.renders the ability to sell our home more difficult
3.extreamly [sic] diminishes the beauty of this neighborhood AND is a sever [sic] eye sore.

We look forward to your response and appropriate action in the next few days.

It's such an alien existence to me.  There's no way I'd survive in a community like that.

Monster Moon

Tonight, (June 22), when you look up in the sky, you'll see what appears to be a larger-than-normal moon. If fact, it will appear to be larger than any moon we've seen since 1987. It's an optical illusion, but impressive nonetheless.  More here from Undernews. Tip, courtesy, Mr. R. Procyonidae.

Life as a Chicken Fight

This CNN article on the bust-up of what may have been one of the largest cockfights ever (with 144 arrests) is notable for the following quote from one of those arrested:

David Webb, a gamecock owner from Rhea County, said he lost more than 20 chickens valued at $150 each during the raid. "I've been around this stuff all my life. Everything I've ever known is a chicken fight," he said.

That's the stuff of tragedy.

Quote of the Day

It's not an accordian headache.

--Juniorette, while arguing with Juniorina about whose turn it is to torture the household with the toy accordian. When I pointed out that she had just said she had a headache, and wondered why she was playing the accordian in the first place, she gave the above answer.

Never Meme

Ignoring the chain-letter aspect of this tag-you're-it meme, here I go with my list of 10 things I've never done.  Thanks Matthew for so burdening me.  I choose to tag Skully, Ankah and, and, and....an as-of- yet-to-be-determined recipient Urric the Blogless.

1. Never met my birth father (don't even know who he is), but I found my birth mother.
2. Never successfully executed a pull-up or climed the rope in gym.
3. Never finished an assigned reading of Moby Dick.
4. Never done a cartwheel (bad internal gyroscope).
5. Mile high club--not even close.  I did once hold hands with a stranger who got very freaked out about landing.  He could have used a Valium.
6. Never lived in a house with a dishwasher (the face, it's aged well...just don't look at my hands).
7. Never been outside of the North American continent, and barely out of the US.
8. Never been to Spain, but I kinda like the Beatles.
9. Have never applied wax to body hair.
10. Have never had more than a week go by without some sort of headache.

My Vintage Toaster

At my house, we don't eat oversized bread, fat bagels or frozen thick belgian waffles, because we do not have the correct toasting device.  I don't have a lot of appliances to which I am emotionally attached, but I (heart) my toaster.  It is a shiny, two-hole Sunbeam, given to my parents as a wedding gift in October 1959. While it works just fine, I discourage guests from using it unsupervised because you have to get to know it.  For the first toast of the day, you have to pop the bread up manually before the the auto-pop up, otherwise it will burn. Subsequent toastings can go through the process without interference.  Yesterday, I gave the ol' Sunbeam a good cleaning. I polished and degreased and scraped 40 year-old gunk out of crevices.  I had a vague fear that I would somehow upset the delicate balance of such an old and venerable piece, as if all the gunk I scraped was precisely what made it more than a beautiful hump of chrome. I'm relieved to say that the ol' gal is newly shiny and good to go,  toasting bread products that are neither too wide nor too thick.   My mother, by the way, has been through at least two new-fangled, distinctly inelegant, toasters since passing this one along to me 15 years ago.      UPDATE: 5/16--Here's a nice site, Toaster Central, that shows and sells vintage toasters and other small appliances.  Shiny!

Barbershop Quartet Honor Roll

While doing a name search for a patron doing family history research, I stumbled on to this barbershop quartet honor roll, going back to 1940, and got the biggest kick out of the pictures and names.   Best quartet names:

• Clef Dwellers
• Pitch Blendaires;
• Treble Makers
• Acoustical Persecutin' Four (?!)                                                   
• Air Males; and the very forward-thinking group
• Hi Tech (1987)                                                               
  

What a hoot!  And I mean that in a laughing-with-them, rather than at-them sort of way.

Elvis Impersonators; A. Lincoln Ones, Too

That's right. Elvis, not Elvish.  Searching for links to the Elvish language, I stumbled on to some interesting Elvis sites (that damn, disappearing "h").   I like this one, on Elvis impersonators, best. 

Did you also know that there is a professional organization for Abraham Lincoln impersonators?  Except they prefer to be called "presenters."  I've always wanted to go to their convention.  I came up with the idea a few years ago, and was all fired up to get a press pass and cover the event, when I opened up an Atlantic Monthly to find that someone else had beat me to it.  At least I learned that I have good story instincts. I still think there's another story to be written about it. I mean, do these guys have groupies?  Next chance, 2006 in Cincinatti.  I talked to a Lincoln presenter once, while he was being Lincoln at the David Davis Mansion, and it was sort of like meeting a rock star. I felt a little woozy, as if my corset had been laced up a bit too tight.

Coke can + Candy bar = Fire!

I try not to post too much stuff from Boing Boing, because I assume so many people already read it, but this is too cool for words.  If you find yourself lost and shivering the woods with nothing but a pop can, a candy bar and a cloud-free day, you can start a fire.  Original post and discussion here a Tracker Trail.

I think I find myself captivated by this story not because of its oddness, but because I'm intrigued that someone decided to try this in the first place. I've not read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, his examination of why intuition and snap decisions can turn out to be absolutely brilliant, but this story has prompted me to get my name on the waiting list. 

Space Age City

No reason to post this link to Space Age City, other than I love the look and layout, Tiki Village and Googie Architecture Online in particular.  And, I guess the Ray Bradbury page is appropriate, given that Fahrenheit 451 is the book we're using for our city-wide reading initiative this month.