respublica

Not so soft styling

The New York Times has a story on the Paris fashion show featuring the men's collection for spring 2009.  The reporter doesn't care much for the entries and describes them as "soft-touches, too heavy handed and meaningless."

Looking through the photos of the clothing worn by the male models in the show, I'd be more inclined to call the collection cartoonish.  The print version of the NYT's has many more examples from this show than the website, but the online version is enough to see the designers entered the world of the absurd this season.

Understand apostrophes or else

A cabbie somewhere in the Bournemouth, England area, has been banned from working as a cab driver because he doesn't know how to use apostrophes.  Yes, one of the questions on the cabbie license test is where to put an apostrophe.

This reminds me of one of the essays on "Stuff White People Like" I posted yesterday.  Grammar.

"White people love rules.....but without a doubt, the rule system white people love the most is grammar.  It is in their blood not only to use perfect grammar, but also to spend significant portions of time pointing out the errors of others."

Those smart smart squirrels

So we got one of those baffles for bird feed polls which are touted as being squirrel proof.  The idea is they cannot get up the poll and past the baffle so only the birds get the seed.

The baffle is hollow so the squirrel goes right up the baffle and not up to the seed.

However...

It doesn't always work, as usual squirrels are really smarter than people.  Not all squirrels can reach the seed, but two or three have figured out a way.

You say homeless shelters...

Philadelphia says

Overnight Cafes.

You may have missed this

Some odd or interesting things you may have missed this week:

A new political phrase via Stephen Colbert to describe the democratic primary fight:  Democralypse Now.

From the Seattle Times, a report on motorcylists riding at "absolute insanity" speeds, 164 mph, on the interstate.

The Dallas Morning News shares a recipe for Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies.

ESPN asks, "Where is Quin Synder?"  Snyder being the former Duke assistant and Missouri head BB coach.  He's in Austin, Texas, coaching the local NBA development league team, the Toros.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch features 7 uses for used coffee grounds.  Earth Day must be coming.  Body scrub is one suggestion for the old grounds.

Who's in first place?  The Cardinals and the White Sox.

What is with these people?

Hillary Clinton makes another 3 in the morning ad.  A sequel, this time scaring people into thinking she can handle the economic problems. 

Ted Turner comes out of hibernation and says "we'll be 8 degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow.  Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

Rush Limbaugh overstates even for him on why women/feminist women are behind Hillary Clinton. 

Illinois state representative Jay Hoffman goes on an angry tirade in the statehouse during discussion of a recall amendment, uses bad language.  The Belleville News-Democrat prints the swear words unlike most papers which left it to our imagination. 

Anyone else have too many phone books?

We just found another phone book dumped by the front door.  We have received so many of these things the past few years that we don't even save them anymore, they go right in the trunk of the car to be recycled.  They come in all sizes and contain white pages and yellow pages, regional info and local info.

There must be money in it somewhere for someone, but for us, it just means more clutter.  We keep the small local ones and that is it.

150 years of pencils

Yesterday marked the day the pencil was patented by Hymen Lipman of Philadelphia.  Locally, the world's largest pencil resides in the St. Louis City Museum downtown and is presently being reassembled.  Reassembled? You might ask?  The pencil is 76 feet long and 21,500 pounds.

The City Museum also owns a pair of the world's largest set of underwear.

It might be worth a trip to the City Museum.  They have what looks like a really cool gift shop.

This country might just be too rich if a frosted flake shaped like the state of Illinois can get a bid of $200,000.  eBay took the flake down yesterday, but it is back up today with a bid of $116.11.

Make believe world

Marion Cotillard who won an Academy Award last week for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, seems not to have shaken herself out of her make believe world.  The other day she used her Academy Award platform to announce that the 9-11 attacks were fabricated by the United States for political ends.

"The towers, planned in the early Sixties, were an outdated "money-sucker" that would have cost more to modernise than to rebuild altogether, which is why they were destroyed.

She said: "It was a money-sucker because they were finished, it seems to me, by 1973, and to re-cable all that, to bring up-to-date all the technology and everything, it was a lot more expensive, that work, than destroying them."

All of us in America can sleep better tonight knowing the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania plane weren't really crashed into by people who hate us.  Glad we didn't waste our money going to see her movie.