Al's Blog-o-Sphere

The only thing weirder than Americans is how the rest of the world perceives us.

Two stories from Germany’s Der Speigel online illustrate this. Both have a really weird way of paying tribute to Barack Obama. Above, in an article about traditional “falla” sculptures in Valencia Spain, they show Obama as a bride, being courted by other world leaders.

The other one is a story about a totally politically-incorrect product that actually came out in Germany – Obama Fingers. Read about it here.

It’s definitely going to change how people look at us, if we go around wearing these things…

The Future Now: Sixth Sense Technology May Change How We Look at the World Forever.

So how DO we decide which toilet paper to buy, without one?

I wonder if these people could tell me how to make our robot follow a colored square with it’s camera?

It kind of reminds me of the jokes that went around – A guy goes into a bar and he sticks his thumb into his ear and his pinky in front of his mouth and starts talking.

“What are you doing” asks a guy at the bar. “Oh, I’m talking on my bionic cell phone implant.”

We won’t get to the punch line here, but it involves the rest room, toilet paper and printing a fax.

Maybe we should choose our toilet paper by whether it’s for ink-jet or laser…

I recently ordered an item online. I do that every once in a while and have become pretty comfortable doing so. Usually, I get an email to confirm the order and they are usually pretty dry. This one, though, was great, so I thought I’d share it with you.

The merchandise I ordered was pretty mundane, but the place that I found with what I needed, at the best price, was one of those knife places that sell everything from tasers to nunchucks, to pepper spray, as well as knives. I was only ordering some replacement rubber bands for my wrist-rocket slingshot, which I use to put lines up into trees to hold up antennas. The slingshot has a fishing reel mounted on it and you shoot the sinker over a branch to pull up a rope.

Reading their site, I found out that my wrist-rocket slingshot is considered in New York State to be a dangerous weapon and is a misdemeanor to own! Well, I hope with the fishing reel attached, it is clearly a tool, not a weapon and I don’t intend to let that stop me.

Here’s the order confirmation I received. It’s a hoot. Sensitive information has been changed, but otherwise it is untouched. Continue Reading…

This past weekend was the annual Olcott (NY) Lions Club Polar Bear Swim. Although it’s been going on for 40 years, I’ve never gone to it. And I like cold weather. But I hear it’s a great time.

Olcott’s got nothing on this polar bear escapade, though. These people seem to be enjoying a sunny day in Sosnovka, Kyrgystan, while a religous leader performs a baptism.

[Photo from article at Boston.com ‘s Big Picture]

[Olcott Polar Bear Swim video at WIVB]