Entries Tagged 'Humor' ↓

As I mentioned in the comments to last week’s post, we had a bit of a culinary adventure with our supposedly 10-12 pound, precooked Thanksgiving turkey. They didn’t warn us it would be frozen and would need to be defrosted. It would have been nice to know that when we ordered it.

I did manage to get it defrosted in time and we thought it would then be ready to eat. No such luck. It was only partially cooked… blood ran out when we got halfway to the bone. On top of that it was more than 12 pounds…it wouldn’t fit in our roasting pan… so we had to cut it up and finish cooking it in three separate batches. We were more amused than upset but decided we wouldn’t try that again. We were hoping for something a more carefree.

But our experience was nothing compared to the Army cooks in Afghanistan told to deep fry their unit’s Thanksgiving turkey. They had never fried one before so looked on the internet for a recipe. They were greeted by warnings like these:
 


 
They did manage to cook the bird without burning down their little shack of a kitchen and the soldiers loved it. So it was presumably worth the few nervous moments. Still, I’m not about to try it here.

What about you? Have you ever prepared an unusual meal? How did it turn out?

 
It’s not only gurus who are becoming obsolete. Some phone companies are no longer giving out phone books for residential numbers unless the customer requests one. Banthephonebook.com says if all phone companies adopt this idea it will save 5 million trees and $17 million in recycling costs each year.

People who opt out of getting the thick phone books will be able to look up numbers on the internet or can request a CD-ROM. I think it’s a great way to help the environment. What do you think?

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been having trouble like the fellow above. Mostly I tune out ads, but when I do notice it’s more like this gal:
 

What about you?

 
Of course not everyone thinks the campaign season is the scariest time of the year. According to Andy Borowitz 55 million people have applied for Canadian citizenship since Tuesday evening…99.99% of them from the U.S.

Which do you think is scariest, the campaign season or the aftermath? I’m afraid I find them both a bit depressing. Do you think there is any chance we will have a reprieve for a while?
 

Last week I said I didn’t go to the Stanford-in-Germany reunion because I don’t like parties. That’s not quite true. It’s just that my idea of a good party is different from most people’s. Here’s a picture of one of my all-time favorites:

And last night my husband and I had a good time playing Sudoku. (To step through an example puzzle click here.)

Yes, we Browmans do get wild sometimes. What’s your idea of a good party?

 
Last week I said my husband and I didn’t want obituaries when we pass on. Actually I don’t care one way or another, but my husband bristles at the idea of having one.

Why? Well, let me tell you a story. When my daughter was a teenager the three of us were sitting around the dinner table one evening and she said, “Father, when I grow up I’m going to make a lot of money and I’m going to give some of it to a university for a building. The building will be named after you and inside there will be a big picture of you. Underneath the picture there will be a plaque that says

Fools’ names, like their faces
Always appear in public places.

My husband and I roared with laughter because that was one of his favorite expressions, learned from his mother who also felt strongly about avoiding publicity. So I wouldn’t think of dishonoring him by publishing his obituary.

I, on the other hand, don’t mind being a fool. If I did I wouldn’t have my two blogs as well as plastering my gravatar on other people’s sites. And I would miss out on a lot of fun.

Foolishness is underrated.

Last week I used this cartoon by Parker and Hart:

Then this week they published:

Do you get the impression they aren’t looking forward to the future?

What about you? Do you think about the future very much? Are there things you look forward to? Things you dread or worry about? On the whole does the future seem positive, negative or neutral to you?

 
I thought of this cartoon this morning when I read (Washington Post article) that investors are rushing to take money out of the Kabul Bank, creating worries that there might be a panic and the bank might collapse. The bank holds the assets that are used to pay teachers, policemen and soldiers. Just one more threat to the stability of Afghanistan.

Apparently Washington is wondering if it should help shore up the bank but is worried about the political backlash. Well, yeah. The idea sure does rattle the bars of my cage.

What do you think?

 
bikehikebabe told me about this video. The little otter resisting his swim lesson reminds me of the many times I dragged my feet over learning some new life lesson. Have you ever felt that way?

wikimedia.

We’ve been talking about loopholes that people use to get around the spirit of laws. My favorite is Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor and a saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Byzantine Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.

Constantine didn’t get baptized until he was dying because baptism wiped away all one’s previous sins. He was a violent man…for instance he had one of sons killed with a slow poison and left his wife to die in an overheated bathtub…and he worried about going to hell. He wasn’t about to change his lifestyle so he waited until it was clear he could sin no more. He did manage to get the timing right. I don’t know if he made it to heaven, but he was awarded those sainthoods.