What Exactly IS a "Lolcat"?

A "Lolcat" is a picture of a cat - or kitten - that has a cute caption appended to it. The "lol" part of the name refers to the im shortcut which means "laugh out loud," which I do A LOT when I see these.  There's a certain new "lolcat" language that's developed too; it takes a bit to get used to it, but once you do it's great (and cute).  There are some wonderful ones out there: cute ones, funny ones, scary ones. Some of my favorites can be found on http://icanhascheezburger.com. This is a great site with thousands of funny pics, mostly of cats. Go there, have some fun, enjoy!

Big Black Dogs = Marshmallows (at least ours is!)

As you can see from the pic to the right, we have a big beautiful black doggy.  When our last (big black) dog died, and I became lonesome, I specifically looked for a large dark dog for our family.  I learned during that search that black dogs - specifically big black dogs - take the longest to get adopted out.  (Note: we're an "adopt" family; we didn't consider buying, as we think there are so many unwanted animals out there)  I was really amazed that so many people have a "thing" about black dogs, especially large ones, as I've found they've the best personalities and are great with children.   That's been my experience anyway.  And to point out how great they can be, I've tried to show people the big baby that is our dog.  He's sweet, energetic when he wants to be, swims better than most humans, and is not aggressive to other animals (he doesn't care about squirrels and is often scared by small dogs (really!!) ).  Relative to other dogs I know, he's the epitome of the well-trained family dog.

This article was in an area paper recently and it discusses the "black dog situation".  I hope you read it and consider a black dog the next time you go animal-shopping.  They're wonderful!

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080811/LIFE05/80811005/1006/LIFE

PS  Don't forget to look on Petfinder to see what animals are available to be adopted in your area:

http://www.petfinder.com/

Cheer Up Kids!

For whatever reasons, it's seemed to be a bit stressy around here lately.  So I've taken it upon myself to cheer you all up.

First off, a video from a classic movie, featuring two actors the likes of whom we won't see again:



And I thought of this last night, as the rain cleared and we chased a beautiful rainbow that seemed to end over the ocean:



Hope your day gets good!

The Name Game in Court

I don't think I could EVER do this to my child. I've just always liked fun but "normal" (read: boring) names for kids. I realize there are some that like to be more creative, but I wasn't one of them when it came to naming my three children. The first is named after his dad and grandfather, the second has his first name chosen by my husband and the second is my father's name, and the the third is my choice of first name and the second and third are after her grandmothers. Dull, boring, but for us, nice and thoughtful.

Here's why I bring this up. There was an item in the news today about a case out of New Zealand about a judge who placed a girl "under custodianship of the court" while a new name was chosen for her. Her legal ("given") name is, now sit down, and don't choke all of you "she must be named for a saint/family member" people, "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii."  Yeah, that's it.  That's her legal name. Hee hee hee. Can you imagine going around with a moniker like that? And she's 9. Can you imagine how the other girls would slay her if they knew? (They don't, though, 'cause she was so embarrassed that she told them to call her "K.").   And can you imagine what she thinks of her parents as a result of this?  She had to SUE to get a "normal" name.  That's bad.  Her therapy bills are gonna be B I G .

Although on the one hand I hope this is a hoax, on the other hand, it's been featured on the CBC (Canada), Reuters Africa, USA Today, the AP, and the BBC. If they've been taken in, then someone did a great job! Here's some story links:

http://africa.reuters.com/odd/news/usnSP5901.html
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/07/parents-lose-cu.html
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/24/talula-nz-name.html

and the best article on the whole thing:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523288

So the next time you think oddly of someone because of what they chose to name their child, just think of poor 9-year-old Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii and the other children mentioned in the articles (one named "Violence" and another named "Number 16 Bus Shelter") and you'll realize that the people you know are nowhere NEAR so bad.

And don't think this hasn't happened here. Just think of Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa, and Apple Martin (daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow). Ugh.

I wish I worked in a place like this...

http://view.break.com/521743 - Watch more free videos

'Nuff said...

(hee hee hee)

And I Thought Summer HERE Was Boring...

I think the Swedes need something new to occupy their time. Read on:

There's a discrimination issue that's raging in Sweden right now. It involves - sit down - birthday invitations. Yup. You read right. Birthday invitations (or their improper distribution) can cause discrimination. Did you know that? I didn't. I guess the rules in Sweden are different.

The details: in a school south of Stockholm recently, an 8-year-old boy who had given out invitations to his birthday party had the invitations confiscated by his teacher. The reason: he hadn't given them to everyone in his class. Two boys were not invited. Why? His father says one of the boys bullied his son, and the second hadn't invited him to his party. But as a result of not receiving the invitations, those two boys were discriminated against. Or so the school says.

Now, I've heard - and abided by - those rules at private pre-schools, and I thought they were pretty justified for a group of really little kids (and this was a PRIVATE school). But do we really need to have PARLIAMENT decide whether this is discrimination? And why is it discrimination? Because some children will have their feelings hurt 'cause they weren't invited to a private party? Well maybe there was some justification there. And how did the other boy get away with not inviting everyone? How come he wasn't bagged for discrimination?

I don't believe in a "big government" that has to make rules for everything. In fact I personally believe some things just shouldn't be legislated. And this is one of them. Social mores are based on current social custom, which, I think, should not be legislated. Prohibition, anyone?

And hey, don't people in Sweden have anything else to worry about? This is soooo silly, and for it to have reached the Parliamentary Ombudsman is ridiculous. I've always wanted to visit Sweden, and Norway, and Denmark, and Finland, but I gotta start wondering about a place that has to establish rules on who must be invited to a birthday party. Good Grief!!!

More Info:  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkBG46h2R7GP4O08d5vSYk416N0gD91JTSFG0

Devo Sues McDonald's Over Toy's Look - Duh!

Hey, kids!  Long time no read!  Sorry, but the end the kids' school year was a bit harried, and it took me a while to catch up with everything.

Did you see that the late 70's / early 80's band Devo is suing McDonald's?  Yup.  Apparently the fast-food monster aligned with American Idol and passed out toys representational of different musical eras, and the "New Wave Nigel" doll, which looks like this,


is apparently (obviously??) too close to Devo's standard stage costume as seen here:



Me, I think it's kinda obvious (ok, REALLY OBVIOUS) that McD's took the image from Devo. No question at all.  Four-tiered red hat on toy, four-tiered red hat on band members.  Clinches it for me...

The real issue, I think, is that not many people, myself included, knew that the Devo hat (dubbed "energy domes" by the band) is actually trademarked and copyrighted. Cool! I didn't know you could DO that! And they were pretty prescient on that too. Who knew 25 years ago that one of the biggest corporations in the world would step on that same trademark? Or that a hat would become so emblematic of a time and its music.  Woah.

Hey, trivia for you: did you know that Mark Mothersbaugh, the lead singer (I think) of Devo, wrote the music for the children's tv show "Rug Rats"? Yup. I guess we all grow up eventually.

And on that note, here for your viewing pleasure is a taste of what Devo became known for:



I can't find a nice clip of the opening Rugrats music, but I"m sure you can easily call it to mind. Bah bah bah baaaah bah bah baah bah bah bah bah bah bah...  :)