The Befouled Weakly News
12 October 2008 Well, good morning to you all and my sincere and abject apologies for spoiling your weekend a day earlier than usual. I neglected to mention that we are off this weekend to our friends on the south coast today (Saturday) and won’t be back until late on Sunday. So, if you are going to get your usual dose of the Befouled Weakly News it had to be today or not at all. And, for those of you who wish it was “not at all” all I can say is that I sympathise. I have to admit I was wrong – we have had another visit from the Indians and enjoyed some most pleasurable and pleasant weather this week. Although one can easily deduce that it is decidedly autumn, once the morning mist has cleared we’ve had some beautifully bright and clear sunny days with almost shirt-sleeve-like temperatures. There is something about autumn light, particularly in the late afternoon as the sun dips low in the sky. Apart from the goldenness, it always seems so clear and sharp. Let’s hope it stays fine for our expedition to the south coast. Thanks to those of you who provided some feedback to my dilemma about hoisting the Dodgers’ banner and gloating at our friend and neighbour Pete’s disappointment at his Cubs’ failure in the postseason once again. Basically, the most commonly expressed view was to suggest that Pete just needed to tough it out and wait until next year (again). I have to confess, though – there does seem to be some injustice in a team playing 162 games from April through September, compiling the best record in the National League and then to be knocked out of the playoffs in three games. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem fair. I suppose I could comfort him with the fact that the Angels had the best record in all of baseball and they too had a short postseason but somehow I don’t think he will be particularly consoled. I was delighted to see the results of the Ig Nobel prizes this week – the usual collection of calculated madness – and this year the Brits seems to have done particularly well.
What intrigues me about the Ig Nobel awards is that these people seem to be able to make some sort of a living conducting research on such unusual subjects. For example, what on earth possessed someone to conduct research on the relative jumping capabilities of dog-fleas and cat-fleas? And why oh why do longer ropes, cables, etc. get more and more tangled – something we’ve all experienced and probably subconsciously known but how to explain it? Well, if we read the research we now can explain it (provided, of course, that we can understand the research in the first place which in my case is certainly not assured). Excuse me while I just untangle my iPod earphone cable (again). Love to you all, Greg Nick very kindly provided the following two items – they are both sufficiently familiar that I think we’ve had them before but who knows. And, in any event, they’re still pretty funny: Get thee behind me, Satan! God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds. A cowboy is driving down a back road near Cotulla, Texas. A sign in front of a restaurant reads: Happy Hour Special... "Lord almighty" he says to himself, "my three favorite things!" I was walking down an alley last night, when I heard, "Help! Help!" coming from behind a dumpster. Two thugs were trying to steal an old lady's handbag, but she was putting up a hell of a fight and wouldn't let go. I wondered if I should get involved, or keep walking and pretend I didn't see anything. I finally decided that I should help. She was a tough old bird, but the three of us finally got that handbag.
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