Anti Plague Demon

Japanese businesses/government/people like to use mascots for pretty much everything so it isn't surprising to find that they've trotted out a 19th century anti plague demon named Amabie who is depicted as a humanoid fish like creature. In the 19th century the creature promised to make people who saw or drew her likeness to be disease free,fast forward to the current era and she is representing hope during the Covid 19 virus in the form of puddings,beer,and doughnuts to name a few of the items all offering the image as a relief. What the heck,it's worth a try but keep wearing a mask just to be safe!

Karen Campaign

It seems fairly well established what a Karen is (a person of privilege who thinks their wants come before anyone or anything else). I'm not sure how Karens got their name but I'm guessing the first Karen recorded really was a Karen. Domino's pizza in Australia started a Karen contest,the rules ask that those Karens who are nurses,teachers,or just people who do the right thing to submit an application proving their name is Karen and the first 100 non-Karen Karens will receive a free pizza.  I believe the idea to reward the nice Karen factor is a good idea,though I'm not convinced a real Karen would be aware of her Kareness.

Emu Eviction

A pair of local emus were banned from a pub in the outback for improper acts,including stealing food and defecating on the floor. The Yaraka Hotel in Yaraka,Queensland (permanent population 18) posted a sign stating that Kevin and Carol (the emus) were no longer welcome. The main reason was their droppings which are extremely large,smelly and leave terrible stains. The pair still hang out thinking they may be able to slip in unnoticed. What they don't realize is because of their size the chances of them sneaking in are pretty much slim to none.

Not a Leg to Stand On

An amputee went tandem skydiving over the weekend (sounds like the start of a bad joke) and was so excited and pumped up on adrenaline that he didn't realize he had lost his prosthetic leg. He went on Facebook with a plea to people in the area to please keep an eye out for his leg. His plea was answered when a Vermont soy farmer found the leg intact after it falling 9,500 feet. It was fortunate for both the farmer and the skydiver as if it had went undetected in the field it would have been ruined by the combine at harvest time,not to mention the damage it would have caused to the machine and of course it saved the amputee the cost and wait for a replacement.

Who's There?

I just found out there's a group called "Who's There",it's surprising how many groups have used Who in their names,but I digress. I should probably issue a fair warning: arachnophobes may not want to read beyond this point. An Australian man was awakened by his doorbell at 2 a.m. which is always a scary time for doorbells and phones. He checked the doorbell camera only to find the porch empty but before he looked away the hairy leg of a huntsman spider came into view. Apparently spiders are attracted to the warmth from the infrared light so it's not unusual for them to hang out around the doorbell. Fortunately for the spider the man isn't bothered by spiders as he knows they eat bugs,in fact he often catches them in containers and releases them outside,so no spiders were killed in the writing of today's post!

Trading Up

I'm not sure if this is an attempt to bring back bartering or simply to prove it can still work,but either way two different people in two different areas proved it was possible to start with a small,insignificant item and end up with a house as the final goal. First to document his trades was a Montreal man who started with a red paperclip,traded for a fish pen,traded for a homemade doorknob,traded for a camp stove,traded for a 100 watt generator,traded for an empty beer keg and Budweiser sign,traded for a trip for 2 to B.C.,traded one of the spots on the trip for a box truck,traded the box truck for a recording contract,traded the contract for a years rent in Phoenix,traded that for afternoon with musician Alice Cooper,traded that for a KISS motorized snow globe, traded for a role in "Donna on Demand" which allowed his final trade for a two story house. Now it is a 29 year old San Francisco woman's turn. she is starting with a bobby pin. 

He's Back!

If anyone is capable of bringing some much needed humor into this year of utter (or more appropriately udder considering the source of the humor) it would be none other than Gary Larson! He retired in 1995 as he'd lost his joy of creating "The Far Side" and no longer wanted to produce a cartoon just to meet a deadline. Long story short...every time he would get his pen out it would be clogged so he decided to test drive a digital tablet and found the fun and adventure that he used to experience with drawing. So far he has only published a few cartoons and isn't committed to doing more but that still ranks as number one on my best things to happen in 2020 list.

The Nose Knows

Today's post is of the accidental variety in that I was looking for something else totally unrelated,what can I say? Stuff happens. First I saw "The human nose can remember 50,000 different scents" and I thought,"That can't be right." And it isn't right,the real number is now 1 trillion,up considerably from only a few years ago when the estimated number was only 10,000. Then I was curious about where this new information put humans in regard to other well known sniffers but unfortunately I wasn't able to find any listings that agreed so I'm guessing either comparisons with the new information haven't been completed or the recent findings put all the previous finding out of whack. At any rate,breath deeply!

Some Perks for Mask Wearers

Other than the obvious reasons for wearing face masks (protecting others and somewhat yourself) there are some lesser known perks. For instance you no longer have to worry about having a booger hanging from your nose,nor do you need to give a second thought to having something stuck in your teeth,of course by the same token you don't have to worry about your smile looking sincere,though your eyes may give that away. Then there are the things you may have thought a face mask would help but don't,such as blocking unpleasant smells though the upside to that is if you can still smell you probably have avoided the virus up to this point! Hang in there,it really isn't that bad...yet.

Seen It All?

It seems like it's time for a distraction,or at least it is for me. Feel free to submit captions for all or any of the following strange shots.

Bird Brain

An African gray parrot named Griffin recently showed off his superior memory skills when he beat 21 Harvard students in 12 out of 14 trials of a shell game successfully determining the correct location of the pom poms hidden under the cups. Griffin also competed against 21 children age 6-8 besting them in all 14 games. The results showed the researchers that the use of memory manipulation in both the humans and Griffin suggest that there may have been a common ancestor millions of years ago. With that thought in mind  add in that birds are the closest living relative to the dinosaurs how is it that humans have made it this far?