Fruhliches Geburtstag!

This nice German Owl would like to wish Kevin a happy birthday. Both the owl and I are very happy that Kevin got borned back in the day, and that we are now friends. Amen!

Friendship, Unlikely Style

Sometimes this week we think about what it would be like if had never met some of our BFFs.

Here's some other BFFs, out in the wild. This is on top of the tale Amber told yesterday.

This one has a dummy foreign narrator (and a 5 second ad the beginning), but otherwise is cute, and allows me to use my Otters tag.



I love Orca!, starring Charlotte Rampling, in which the titular killer whale burns down a seaside town, that they forgot to bomb, bomb bomb. In other news, this Orca likes pooches.


I wonder if this only happens in Canada?

Here's one that doesn't have a happy ending (hee hee):


Right in the Peppercorns!

And For The Win? Here's Raquel Welch, star of Myra Breckinridge, & Miss Piggy covering Miss Peggy Lee. God Bless, America.

Rats! Science! Giggles!

Now, some folks might recall that I went to Charleston on vacation a few weeks back. As always with a visit to David, SCIENCE was involved.

Normally I wouldn't find his Rat Science so interesting. Here's an example of what it often looks like:

BUT in this case, it involved RATS and GIGGLING.

David learned through Science that rats giggle when you tickle them. How do you confirm this?

First you, take a Bat Sonar Detector. This is a little device with headphones and an amplifier - when used properly you can hear the high-pitched screeching these little pajaros del noche use to communicate with each other.

When used improperly you can hear rat giggles!

If you start tickling the little buddy (I did it with Subject #5, who was my favorite) while you have the Sonar Device on, you can actually hear screechy giggles.

David pointed out that all the other rats hear the giggling too, and they get more and more excited to come out of their cages for all the fun times.

I had no idea that so much fun could be had with a lab rat.
Thanks David, and Subject #5, for teaching me that Science is Fun!

Birds of a Feather

One thing I like is Tradition. I like when things that I like repeat - whether it's Awesome Club every Tuesday, or River House almost every year, or Birthday Fancy Feast - I like knowing that fun things will reoccur.

Herewith an example. My Birthday Fancy Feast partner and I have a tradition of flipping off Amber at the River House ever year.

The first time this happened was in Summer 2002. Kevin and I drove up to the River House in a rental SUV. Along the way we listened to The The, and rear ended (hee hee) some Jamaicans which prompted me to make a pun that I am still proud of to this day. The evening prior, Sarah and I had gone to see Miss Dolly Parton at Irving Plaza, after eating at KFC with Kevin.

At the show I bought a concert t-shirt. When I was making my selection, I asked Sarah "Is this too nelly?" and she replied "It's a Dolly Parton Concert t-shirt. It's not going to be butch."

Anyway, when we got to the house, Amber greeted us on the deck. Here's our spontaneous pose.

In Summer 2005, we went to the house again. This time we all drove up together in a rental SUV, and the highlight meal of that weekend was not KFC but Chicken Selects(TM) at McDonald's. Here's that year's spontaneous pose:

This year Kevin and I took different routes to the River House. I took a bus that mysteriously crossed the international dateline for 45 lost minutes, Kevin came later that evening on a different, more timely bus. It was too dark by then for our outdoors spontaneous pose, but it's never too dark in the house.

I am proud of Tradition, of River House, of Flipping The Bird, and of the amortization of that Dolly Parton t-shirt. Because I'll be danged if I wear that in public anywhere outside of River House.

Comics, Cons, & Good Times

If you were looking for me on Saturday, you could have found me at the Javits Center, at...COMIC CON. Comic Con used to have a "nerds & trekkies" stigma, but now it's super cool to go, and it makes you nifty.

Here are some of the friends I met along the way.

I saw this cool toy of Hawkgirl, perhaps my favorite member of the Justice League:


I met this Cylon buddy, who is in this new program called "Battlestar Fantastico" which I just discovered and am teaching Amber all about.

I saw this Albino Batman, which reminded me of the Albino Alligator that Sarah I and saw in San Francisco.

This toy was perhaps my favorite. They didn't have a doll for Six Million Dollar Man, but they did for Six Million Dollar Man's Boss. How disappointed would you have been in 1978 to find this under the Christmas tree?

My favorite part? Well, it might be meeting this person, whom I was only 80% sure was a drag queen. She was in a weird space suit with a fish tank on her head, and had a long line of people waiting to meet her. Maybe she's famous? I dunno, but it was nice times anyway.

Thanks for the memories, Comic Con!

The Penguin Suit To Beat All Penguin Suits

WHAT a little cutie Pierre is.


Pierre first came to my attention this summer, when Sarah shared his story at Cape Cod Club.

Pierre is not just another pretty Penguin Face. He's a 25 year old African Penguin who lives at the California Academy of Arts & Sciences. Yep, that's right, the same CAS that Sarah and I visited back in November.

Well, a few years back the CAS was closed for its big renovations, and Pierre and all his chums were moved to a temporary facility. Sadly, Pierre didn't adjust so well, and his nervousness at the new digs manifested itself with bald patches all over. Now, you may recall from Penguin Class that their waterproof feathers are what keep them warm and buoyont in the pool, so this was more than an aesthetic problem for our buddy - he wouldn't be able to play any of regular Penguin Games, which clearly wouldn't do.

So what happened? Well, some nice lady who worked with him called some nice company, and they created a one-of-a-kind wetsuit for the little buddy!

He used the wet suit for a few months, and lo and behold he calmed down and all his feathers came back!

I just think this is just the sweetest story I've ever heard. God Bless you, little penguin buddy!

States of Grace

Happy Birthday, Miss Princess Grace Kelly.

What is it about her? Even before she was a princess, she was royalty. I love her in everything - in the great Hitchcocks: Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, To Catch A Thief. In High Noon, Mogambo, High Society - everything she did.

Some buddy made this nice tribute to her on the internet, set to Sir Andy Williams' music. Why? I'm not sure, but it's pretty.

Homing Parrot

Yosuke sure is one smart parrot.

I'm wondering if Zach can learn his name & address.

Lost parrot returned to owners after reciting name, address
Associated Press
May 21, 2008 at 5:14 AM EDT
TOKYO — When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.

Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbour's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.
“I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura,” the bird told the veterinarian, according to Mr. Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke,” Mr. Uemura said.

The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.

But Yosuke apparently wasn't keen on opening up to police officials.

“I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me,” Mr. Uemura said.

Best Dancing Bird Ever

Birds of a Feather

Amber and I both like it when the little birds smoke cigarettes. Their tiny lungs fill up with smokey love.

Sometimes Amber and I do the same things, like blogging. Her blog is cool on account of all the ampersands.