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Monday, August 29, 2005
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I sent my name to Pluto....
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and I have the certificate to prove it (Certificate No. 267174). And you can too! Log on to here before September 15th, enter your name and it will go on a CD that travels to Pluto on a NASA probe that leaves in 2006, and passes back by earth in about 50,000 years. Cool! |
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| thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 10:17 PM | |
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Saturday, August 27, 2005
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I want to learn to SCUBA dive
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I found this on the web. Makes me want to buy SCUBA gear: MONTREAL Search for vanished cheese goes sonic. Elusive fromage dropped into river; Using Saguenay as part of ripening process was meant to revolutionize the industry. ALEX DOBROTA The Gazette Friday, August 26, 2005 CREDIT: ROCKET LAVOIE, CP After five hours of searching in Baie des Ha! Ha! in Saguenay yesterday, divers were unsuccessful in locating barrels of cheese that had been dropped in the river a year ago. Cheese producer Pierre Boivin has enlisted the aid of sonar equipment to help find the missing food. The search for the elusive cheese dropped into the Saguenay River was taken to new depths last week with the arrival of $5,000 worth of sonar equipment. That technology should succeed where a team of divers failed, said Pierre Boivin, the cheese producer who dropped 2,000 pounds of cheddar into the river in a bid to revolutionize the cheese-making industry. Ten months, a frantic search and a bout with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency later, the cheese is still missing. And Boivin's tab is growing heftier - $15,000 so far, including the sonar equipment but not counting the net $10,000 worth of cheese. But the third-generation cheese-maker, who made headlines around the world for this unprecedented initiative, is far from losing hope. "We're still looking for it," said Boivin, who owns a cheese factory in La Baie, 250 kilometres north of Quebec City. "We're not discouraged." The idea to ripen cheese in the waters of the Saguenay was inspired by a fisherman who told Boivin about a tasty block of cheese he fished from the bottom of a lake a few years ago. Encouraged by recent U.S. studies that suggested cheese ripens best when subjected to high pressure, Boivin sealed nearly one tonne of cheddar in barrels and dropped it in the Baie des Ha! Ha! That was October. Fast-forward to July, and the buoys attached to the barrels had mysteriously vanished, with divers finding only traces of it. The bay is about 45 metres deep, and Boivin suspects the barrels were carried away by strong underwater currents to areas of the river that are more than 60 metres deep. To make matters worse for Boivin, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has categorically refused to allow the product on the market, citing health and safety concerns for consumers. "The river is not a controlled environment," said Normand Giguere, the agency's dairy program specialist for Quebec."So the company cannot apply to get an authorization to market this product." That is, if the cheese is found and brought to surface in the first place. If it isn't, Boivin is willing to start all over again. If only for the worldwide publicity it generated, the stunt was worthwhile, he pointed out. "If we don't find the cheese, we'll redo the experiment next year," he said. "We'll attach electronic chips to the barrels, so we trace them." |
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| thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 8:40 AM | |
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
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That reminds me...
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My good old friend, John from Pennsyltuckey, left a comment on my July 22 posting here on Fetafilter. Part of that comment read: "Amazing how un-mannered people have become. I'm just like you I know all the folks at the local WaWa and the local diner by name and always say thank you. Interesting story from days past. Christine held the door at the King of Prussia mall for a black gentleman, probably in his 50's - maybe older. The man stopped dead in his tracks and just looked at my wife. Christine could see his eyes wet as he said to her, "Nobody has ever held a door open for me before." She offered to be the first then and, through he went." It's amazing how such a small act of kindness, or even just good manners, can dramatically affect the recipient." That reminded me of a similar story a friend of mine told me. He was working in New Orleans on a construction job. One of the laborers on his crew was a older black guy. This guy always showed up early for work dressed like he was going to church. He would then go into the trailer, change into a workshirt and overalls, work all day, then wash up and change back into his dress clothes for the ride home. One day this guy was saying that his car, an always impeccably clean old Cadillac, was making a funny noise. My friend, Larry, offered to take a look at it with him after work. At the end of the day, they took a ride around the block, Larry (who can fix anything) looked under the car and told him that it was just the U-joint, and not hard to fix at all. The guy told him he did not know how to fix that, so Larry told him to bring it by his place over the weekend, and he would help him fix it. That Saturday he came by, larry took the u-joint out , replaced it and reinstalled the new one, good as new. When the guy went to leave, he pulled out his wallet and started to count some bills out. Larry stopped him and (in his thick "I-put-a 'tater-in-tha-oven-fer-ya" accent) said "I don't want your money, just trying to help a guy out." Larry told me that the guy looked stunned, and all he could choke out was "Thank you, Mr. Larry" which was how he always addressed him, in spite of Larry telling him repeatedly that just "Larry" was fine. He said the guy then turned and sobbed, out loud, all the way back to his car, and drove off. I asked Larry why he thought the guy reacted like that. He said, "I don't know, but I suppose no white person ever done nothing nice for him before." |
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| thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 6:40 PM | |
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Sunday, August 21, 2005
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Yes, Bwana...
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 While stalking about the woods with my camera recently, I spotted and managed to get this shot of the fabled "Great White Hunter." Who would have guessed it would be a woman? Are you paying attention, Drewey?? |
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| thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 7:58 PM | |
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Tuesday, August 09, 2005
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From the "Bad news travels fast" Dept.
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We got word last night that our very dear friend SJ was injured rather badly in a car accident last night. Good news is that there appears to be nothing life threatening. Bad news is that she is really banged up badly, the doctors are still working to determine the extent of her injuries. She is being well cared for, but your prayers are, of course, most needed at this time. I got word today that the King of the Internet has set up a special email address to send your wishes for a speedy recovery to Sarah. Please flood it with hundreds of messages, (tell all of your friends!) they will be sent along to her when she is again web-enabled. The Special Email Address is: sj.ouchie@gmail.com |
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| thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 5:07 PM | |
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Monday, August 01, 2005
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inspiration
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I am glad to see that my poetry has stimulated much reaction, as all great art should. While I am not at liberty to discuss details, what I can tell you is that I am currently in negoation with several major publishing houses who are in a sort of bidding war for first North American publishing rights. Anyhow, I am certain that many of you are wondering what inspired such provocative prose. It was this famous photo, by a well known photographer, a veratable "King" of his genre. It is aptly titled: "Embryonic Omelette"  Captivating and thought provoking, wouldn't you say? |
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| thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 9:58 PM | |
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