I Want One Of These

If you watched any of the morning news shows as you were getting ready for work this morning, than chances are you saw the news article about some fool that tried to jump into the Popemobile yesterday.  A German man jumped over the barricade from the second or third row back, and grabbed onto the back of the Popemobile.  Pope Benedict XVI didn't even notice it, and kept on waving to the crowd as the security people wrestled the guy to the ground.  The guy didn't have any weapons, so the Vatican officials don't think he was trying to harm the Pope; they think he just wanted to get into the Popemobile with the Pope.

What fascinated me about this story is not the fact that they had excellent video footage of the guy jumping over the people in front of him and grabbing onto the back of the Popemobile before the security people took him down; I'm fascinated over hearing the news guy on "Good Morning, America" refer to the Pope's car as the Popemobile.  Until then, I thought that only people like us called the little car the Popemobile; I had no idea that the term was universally known.

When I got to work, I asked my co-workers if they'd heard about the incident, and then we got into a discussion about the Popemobile.  A co-worker did a quick search on Wikipedia, and lo and behold, there was a lengthy entry about the Popemobile.  I just had no idea that was what it was officially called.  In case you're wondering, the current Popemobiles used at the Vatican are converted Mercedes-Benz SUVs. Most have bulletproof glass, but the one the Pope was in yesterday was open. 

You Can't Call Nobody?

I read today that a Guinness world record was broken on Sunday afternoon, and nobody called to ask me to participate.  Yes, I could have been a world record breaker if only I'd gotten the memo.

On Sunday afternoon at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kansas, 1,683 guitar players gathered together and played a world record version of a song that was the first many of them learned to play.  The players, ranging from kindergarten kids to folks in their 80s, played Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water".  The previous record for the most people playing the same song simultaneously was 1,323, set in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1994.   If only I could have been there. 

Kansas isn't all that far, and if I'd known about this ahead of time, I would have tried my best to be there and be a record breaker.  Thank goodnes they didn't all play "Stairway To Heaven" or else I wouldn't even considered it.  But "Smoke On The Water" is a different story.  People that don't even play the guitar, nor have any desire to play, will pick up a guitar and attempt to play the opening riff of the song.  I beg to differ.  The first time I picked up a guitar, I tried to play the opening riff to Heart's "Barracuda".  After learning that, then I decided I wanted to play the opening to "Long Cool Woman."  But you can still visit music stores all across America today, and kids who've never heard of Deep Purple will be holding a guitar and playing the opening of "Smoke On The Water" - the same way that people who can't play the piano will sit down and start pounding out their version of the ever popular "Chopsticks."   

 

Mullet Watch

We've had a dry spell with mullet sightings for the past month or so, but the warmer weather is bringing them out in public.  The latest sighting is brought to us by my friend, co-worker and faithful reader JMc. 

As my family and I were walking into the redneck mecca, aka Casa de Wal-Mart (the Outer Loop and New Cut Road location), I told my wife to look to her left at the fluffy mullet this dude was sporting.  It was light brown with a little gray, but it sure was fluffy; full and fluffy like he'd just washed and conditioned it with Pert. 

Mullet count: 18

Thank You, AOL

I'm very happy to report that the photos posted in TWIT are back to their normal status - no more having the pictures moving all over the page, zooming in and out and messing with your mind.  TWIT would like to thank AOL and their technicians for giving us bloggers the option of posting photos the old way.  TWIT would also like to thank the faithful readers for putting up with the craziness while the pictures were moving all around. 

Link Of The Week

If you're fortunate like me and have your own blog, you can write anything you want to.  You can write about anything - what you like, what you don't like, what hacks you off, etc etc.  You can even write about anything that you think is the Best Of, which I've done on occasion in TWIT.  If you don't have a blog, never fear - because I found a website this week where you can post your very own Best Of.  Just vist http://bestof.com and start posting.  You can post your own Best Of, or if you want you can post your comments about someone else's Best Of.  I'll be checking the site frequently to see if any of my faithful readers has TWIT listed in The Best Blog. 

Hog Wash

I'm sure by now you've heard either on the news or read online about Hogzilla II being caught. Yep, yet another story about rednecks paying to hunt at a commercial hunting preserve.  This time it was a redneck boy that killed the gigantic hog.  An 11-year old boy used a $1500 .50 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver to kill the hog, which weighed an impressive 1,051 pounds and measured 9 feet 4 inches long.   This one is even bigger than Hogzilla.   If the claims are accurate,  this boy's hog would be bigger than Hogzilla, the famed wild hog that grew to seemingly mythical proportions after being killed in south Georgia in 2004.  Hogzilla originally was thought to weigh 1,000 pounds and measure 12 feet in length. National Geographic experts who unearthed its remains believe the animal actually weighed about 800 pounds and was 8 feet long.

Now we find out that Hogzilla II, aka Monster Pig, was not a mutant gargantuan feral hog, but just a giant hog that was raised on a farm and was named Fred.  Fred was owned by a couple from Anniston, Alabama, and they sold him along with all of the hogs on their farm to the owner of the hunting preserve where Fred was killed.  Fred and the other hogs were sold just 4 days before he was killed by the redneck boy.  The couple said they didn't want wrong information being told about Fred.  "He wasn't a wild pig," they said. 

I looked at the photos on the internet of Fred, and I'm sorry to disappoint you, faithful readers, but I just can't bring myself to post the photos.  No matter what the redneck boy, his father, or the Alabama Department of Fish and Wildlife say, I still think the pictures have been Photoshopped.   You can do a search and find the pictures easily.  The one in question is the main photo making the rounds in the newspaper and websites.  It shows the redneck boy standing behing the hog, apparently leaning against it.   The redneck boy's website said that he is 5 feet 5 inches tall.  I'm sorry, but given that information, then based on that picture the hog should be about 20 feet long.  I'm not buying it. 

Flashback Friday

I grew up in a house with a grandmother who crocheted.  She could make anything with her crochet needle and some yarn.  One winter, she even got a contract from a local sporting goods store to crochet ski caps for their stores.  She made all kinds of things, but one thing that really sticks out was the year she made hats from aluminum beer and pop cans.  I wish I could have found my awesome white and red Coca Cola can hat, but it's somewhere down in the basement, but from the photo above, I'm sure you remember what I'm talking about. 

I don't remember her getting many orders to make the can hats, but I do remember she made a few of them for Mom to take to work to sell.  Being the Baptist that she was, I don't believe she ever made the hats from beer cans, but I remember seeing quite a few beer can hats when we would go to the Catholic church picnics to collect the aluminum cans for recycling. 

If I could crochet, I'd get a pattern for the hats and make them.  I bet I could sell some on eBay.