December 2010
13 posts
3 tags
Minnesota Nice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_nice
Syl Jones suggests that Minnesota nice isn’t really about being “nice” at all. It’s more about keeping up appearances, maintaining the social order, and keeping people in their place.
When I was growing up, my mother (who is not from Minnesota, but may as well be) used to rant on and on about the importance of being a...
2 tags
Ken Jennings (After Jeopardy!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jennings#After_Jeopardy.21
Taking advantage of the notoriety that Jennings’s losing Final Jeopardy! answer afforded, H&R Block offered Jennings free tax planning and financial services for the rest of his life. H&R Block senior vice president David Byers estimated that Jennings would owe approximately $1.04 million in taxes on his winnings.
...
2 tags
Novelty Item
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_item
Novelty items are generally devices that do not fit into another category such as gadgets, by virtue of being impractical, but this distinction is often blurred. Toys for adults are generally classed as novelties.
“Toys for adults,” you say? That could have two meanings, the way I see it. The first is literal. Sold by catalogs like Archie...
3 tags
Nunchucks (Legality)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunchucks#Legality
If, and only if it were upheld by a senior court, this ruling would have the effect of making it an offence to import, manufacture or sell nunchaku in the UK. It would also criminalise hundreds of thousands of martial arts enthusiasts who own a set of nunchaku. Their usage was, in the 1990s, censored from broadcasts of American children’s...
3 tags
Cruella de Vil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruella_de_Vil
In the original story, Cruella is a pampered London heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies through school. She was a notorious student with black and white plaits. She was later expelled for drinking ink.
That hardly seems grounds for expulsion, in my book. If you’re going to get expelled for drinking something, at least make it...
4 tags
Microwave-Related Injury (Baby Injuries)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave-related_injury#Baby_injuries
There have been two alleged infant deaths caused by microwave ovens. In both cases, the babies were placed within microwaves and died of subsequent injuries.
That’s because babies are stupid, and if they don’t die in microwave-related injuries first, they grow up to be stupid adults who need WARNING: FOR BEST...
1 tag
Fuck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck
“Fuck” can be used as a verb, adverb, adjective, command, interjection, noun, and can logically be used as virtually any word in a sentence (e.g., “Fuck the fucking fuckers”). Moreover, it is one of the few words in the English language which could be applied as an infix (e.g., “Am I sexy? Absofuckinglutely!”;...
5 tags
Silver Bells
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bells
Silver Bells started out as the questionable “Tinkle Bells.” Said Evans, “We never thought that tinkle had a double meaning until Jay went home and his [first] wife said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?’” The word is child’s slang for urination.
Sounds like “Golden...
1 tag
J. Wellington Wimpy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Wellington_Wimpy
Wimpy was one of the dominant characters in the newspaper strip, but when Popeye was adapted as an animated cartoon series by Fleischer Studios, Wimpy became a more minor character; Dave Fleischer said that the character in the Segar strip was “too intellectual” to be used in film cartoons.
Wimpy loves to eat hamburgers, and is...
2 tags
Three Men and a Little Lady
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Men_and_a_Little_Lady
A third film, tentatively titled Three Men and a Bride, is in development. Guttenberg, Danson and Selleck have all been approached by Disney to return.
WHUT
2 tags
Globster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globster
A globster, or blob, is an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water. The term was coined by Ivan T. Sanderson in 1962 to describe the Tasmanian carcass of 1960, which was said to have “no visible eyes, no defined head, and no apparent bone structure”.
It’s too bad the definition is...
1 tag
Fastest Recorded Tennis Serves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastest_recorded_tennis_serves
Andy Roddick, 155 mph (249 km/h), 2004 Davis Cup
Roscoe Tanner, 153 mph (246 km/h), 1978 Palm Springs
Andy Roddick, 153 mph (246 km/h), 2004 Queen’s Club
Ivo Karlović, 153 mph (246 km/h), 2007 Nottingham
Andy Roddick, 152 mph (245 km/h), 2004 U.S. Open
Andy Roddick, 151 mph (243 km/h), 2009...
3 tags
Sportsmanship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship can be conceptualized as an enduring and relatively stable characteristic or disposition such that individuals differ in the way they are generally expected to behave in sport situations. In general, sportsmanship refers to virtues such as fairness, self-control, courage and persistence and has been associated with interpersonal...