games people play

Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
Never saying what they mean
--- Joe South

based on Magie's 1924 US patent

Hasbro, current owners of the Monopoly game, plans to introduce a Cheaters Edition to their popular board game.  

A number of times over the years, they have updated both the game and game tokens. I bought a PokeMon version for our grandson who was immersed in PokeMon at the time. That version played the same except that the tokens and names on the board were all different.

My initial reaction to this cheater edition can be summed up as; we don't need to promote cheating. 

This article on the Fortune.com site, quotes Hasbro:

“We’re excited to see what fans can get away with and how they’ll react to the new sneaky twists in the game.”

Adding a new twist to the game rules should be called an enhancement not cheating. By definition if the rules allow it then it's not cheating. I don't care for them marketing a game revision with spreading the idea of cheating.

In a recent post I mentioned that I started reading the book “Wonderland” by Steven Johnson. The main theme of the book is that play and delight drives innovation. In his chapter on games he tells the story about Lizzie J. Magie's game called The Landlord's Game (notice the Monopoly similarity in the above picture).

Lizzie J. Magie, a Quaker, was granted two patents on her game. She designed the game as a teaching tool. Parker Brothers discovered the patents and bought her out for $500 flat and a promise to manufacture some sets under its original title.

Often the details behind a story can change the whole story. Parker Brothers did (still do) a thorough public relations job of pushing their Charles Darrow game inventor story. Other than in court case you will not find them telling the public about Magie's game. I found this interesting write up that adds more detail beyond the Lizzie Magie game - Link.

I agree with Joe South's wish of God granting me the serenity to jus' remember who I am.

Look-around tell me what you see.
What's a-happenin' to you and me?
God grant me the serenity to jus' remember who I am.
'cause you've given-up your sanity for your pride and your vanity,
turn your back on humanity;
Oh and you don't give a da da da da da.

(disclosure - all I have received from Steven Johnson’s “Wonderland” book was good information while having an enjoyable read.)

I made something this summer

Inspired by an instruction video and watching our grandkids enjoy the water tables at a children's museum (don't you think "museum" is the wrong word for these places?) I decided to build our own portable water table.

The main parts:

• plastic storage bin
• fountain water pump
• PVC pipe and elbows

The most expensive item is the submersible water pump. I bought one from Home Depot for $29. The pump sits on the bottom of the bin and just needs to be covered by water. I did notice that typically after 30 minutes of play more water needs to be added. I found the 1/2 inch size pipe was the easiest to use. Leaving the pipe connections not glued allows the "water system" to be configured a variety of ways. Small plastic cups and stoppers add to the fun.


Two of my water table testers:

Both water table testers gave it their sign of approval.

roundabout

There's a feeling I get when I look to the youtube,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In those videos I have seen strange things through the clips,
And the voices of those who comment weirdly.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

What is really making me wonder is the meme I stumbled on (stumbling on youtube doesn’t hurt my bones unlike my other stumbling) during a recent youtube excursion.

So what was the meme that caused this bustle in the hedgerow? Don’t be alarmed now. It’s really just an very odd thing in my opinion.

The video gamer subculture created a meme using the beginning of the Yes song, “Roundabout”. (for your listening pleasure which you might need after this reading displeasure, you'll find the song clip below)

Are you as confused as I am? Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven has do wah diddy to do with the Yes song. They might only be related in my mind’s playlist. Led Zeppelin just filled their song with great phrases so it often pops up in my thoughts. (Note last year I discontinued all my telepathic services so maybe this doesn’t confuse you at all)

Even though I know better, while I was listening to the “Roundabout” clip I browsed the comments (it is a very long song). If you find my blog posting odd, then you should read youtube comments sometime. They are a whole level worse than fakebook comments.

You'll find about 20,000 comments on this clip. That seems odd and many of them are very recent. The song came out in 1971.

I noticed references to “GTA”, “JoJo”, and "To Be Continued” in many of those comment threads. Hmm, what odd things are these?

So with time on my hands and fingers on the keyboard I went searching. GTA is Grand Theft Auto which in my opinion is one of the worst games for impressionable teens (why they flocked to it?).

When the badass player steals a car in GTA the radio plays a radio station. Now there are tens of stations loaded in the GTA cars. The song “Roundabout” is played on one of those stations.

JoJo and To Be Continued are related to the same Japanese anime, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Apparently in that series they play the intro to this song, freeze the scene and flash, “To Be Continued”. Fans took to their smartphones and started creating clips of some odd action about to happen. They added this intro music then shared their “creative” clips on the various video sharing services. It became a meme for others not me. I’ll admit I found a few were America’s-Funniest-Videos funny.



I find all this meme stuff very bizarre. All of this reminded me of another song, “Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma” but I’m not going off on that tangent today.

that hodgepodge game

While I don’t often play along with the Wednesday Hodgepodge meme/game (hosted by From This Side of the Pond), I like this week's questions. While I strive to expand my vocabulary I'm still going to refer to this as a game or maybe a blog game. Here's the last time I played along - post link.


1. What does retirement mean to you? 
Are you planning for it, not thinking about it, looking forward to it, or dreading it?

I’m in it. I didn’t plan to be in it as quick as I did. Dread it? Oh come on, lighten up. Thank God we are healthy so those problems could be something to dread I guess. It’s fine, not great all the time. Time - now that’s something which is very different that before. If time really was money - I would be a billionaire. You do need to think/plan about how to spend it. I have a few hobbies one of which is blogging. It has allowed us to spend much more time with grandkids (honestly I believe you need to be careful not to become a permanent babysitter). Oh, learning about social security options, retirement account tax issues, Medicare, etc., helps your planning. Matinee movies, time to read the morning paper, youtube videos, read books - great benefits

2. It's International Guitar Month...do you play? Does anyone in your family play? What's a song you especially like to hear played on the guitar or a favorite song featuring the guitar?

Two of my favorite artists are Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana (oye como va). Thanks for this question - I'm listening as I finish this post. I do have in-laws that can play but I can only carry a tune when I have my I-pod in my pocket.

3. What's your comfort food? 
Now this is an example of question I would skip. A better question I think is “what’s your uncomfort food?” For me that would be sushi - can’t stand it.

4. What's one activity or area of your life where you absolutely never procrastinate? 

This question, #1, and #2 are the reason I decided to play along today. The answer is strongly related to #1. In retirement you should allow yourself to procrastinate. The hell with schedules, deadlines and shaving. Most things will still be there when you get around to it. That said there are certainly two things that typically need timely attention, bills and taxes. I don’t procrastinate in those areas. I’ve finished my taxes before the month of April for many many years. Now the laundry, cut the grass, etc. - hey I told you I was retired.

5. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Does your local store bag the groceries for you or is it a do-it-yourself kind of place? Do you like someone packing your groceries?

Probably 90% or more is fortunately done by my wife. You know my answer to #4 could be a problem for me in this area. When I do venture out into the crazy aisles of supermarket (I can remember long ago there were called just markets then they became super) I typically go to a-bag-it-yourself place (note, there are few bags needed on my trips). Yeah, someone packing the bags - great idea. Oh I hate those completely robotic self checkout lanes - save those jobs for humans.

6. What's the coolest thing you've seen in nature?

Many things - nature is wonderful. One experience that is wonderful to recall is lying on hill far from any city, one vacation night with daughter and wife as we watched the full brilliant Milky Way raise over us.

7. Share a favorite quote about home.

Hey get off my lawn. No just kidding. Actually the hostess of this game has a few great thoughts on this in her post.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I typically read the posts generated by this game more than I play it. Mostly because the questions go over my attention span (you pay attention to things that interest you). But the nice part of this game is it always includes the open question, "insert your own random thought".

Hodgepodge reminds of two things. One is not a thing but a person, my uncle Hodge who I mostly lost contact with due to his divorce long ago. Divorce does have wide spread effects that you don't realize for a long time. Secondly it reminds me of Dodge as in "get the hell out of Dodge". I've felt that way many times and I don't even live in Dodge. Yeah it's just an expression but sometimes it's a feeling.

football fragments less than super

The big game is almost here.  It seems the superbowl gets more super every year.  Not that the game itself is getting better.  There has a been many years when the game wasn't a close match and slightly boring.  There is really two competitions - football and ads.

This blog has some international readers and I'm curious what they think of our hyped-up superbowl game.  Please leave comments below.

I don't suspect there will be a superbowl of Friday Fragment posts.  Mrs. 4444's blog would be the place.  I'm please FF posting is not competitive.  I like relaxed posting for the fun of posting.

an ad from a superbowl long ago

Are you serving deflated balls at your superbowl party? This NFL Patriots ball controversy - All I know during my career I hated working with guys that had over-inflated balls. They were typically full of hot air and BS too.

Here’s a funny play on the deflated balls I found on youtube:





How big is heaven? Plenty of room to move around and check out new people and places? I hope so. Perhaps it would be best if she-who-owns-our-calendar and I don’t both end up there at the same time. We could use a little break. Our modest home has been our home over our whole marriage. Now I spend more time within its walls than ever. The cold of winter makes it more confining than the rest of the year. Business travel use to offer breaks occasionally during the year. I’m sure whoever arrives in heaven first will greet the second one with “what the $#&% are you doing here already?”.

I've hit a recent low on new ideas.  While pondering I recalled that it has been over a year (fall of 2013) since my last gadget video clip.  Well let me know if I have dropped even lower.  My first 2015 clip:
 




Regular readers know I love trying my hand on a parody. I don’t typically mess with recent hits but I might.

Because you know I’m all about that blog,
about that blog,
no twitter!

a reliable hodgepodge

I’ve been distracted from blog posting lately. While I don’t often play along with the Wednesday Hodgepodge meme/game (hosted by From This Side of the Pond), it is nice that you can pretty much count on it being there for you to join. (here’s the last time I played along)

Here's my entry for this week's list of questions.

1. I'm celebrating a birthday this week so a question relating to aging feels appropriate. Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, 'You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.' Would you agree? If not, why not?

Ahh, sorta agree. Attitude is certainly important. Being positive is much healthier than being negative. However, you can’t stop the overall aging process.

2. What remarkable feat, interesting piece of trivia, or historical event occurred on your birth day and month? Not necessarily your same birthyear, just the same date/same month.

Without internet searching, I know that George Washington was born on the date after my birthday. My brother has his birthday next to Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. These facts helped me remember my brother’s birthday all these years.

3. Describe a time or circumstance where you wanted to 'have your cake and eat it too.'

Had I known this question was coming I would have baked you cake. Well that’s a lie. I have never baked a cake in my life. I would rather have my pie and eat it too. I suspect most people would like to have their paycheck and spend it too. 

4. What's something you do that makes you feel young? Something that makes you feel old?

Playing with grandkids.  Recovering after playing with grandkids.

5. When did you last do something that was 'a piece of cake'?

This morning making and eating my bowl of cereal. I don’t understand why more people don’t eat cereal. Could it be that it is not cake?

6. Beef, wine, and cheese all improve with age. What else would you add to that list? (not necessarily food or beverage)

Wisdom, but not all the time which is similar to beef not always aging well at least in our fridge.

7. If I were to have a giveaway when we hit Volume 200 in the Hodgepodge, what should I give away? By my calculations we'll hit Volume 200 on November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving, which means whoever wins would have whatever it is by Christmas.

Wow 200 - maybe something related to 200? (a box of 200 paperclips)

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Oh yeah, the random thought - I have an abundance of random thoughts. Most of them disappear quicker than I can type. I have been wondering about my hobby of blogging. I still consider it a good hobby for brain activity but not so much for physical activity.  What do you think?

Hodgepodge thing/game/meme/whatever

In my blog following I've often read this Wednesday Hodgepodge meme hosted by "From This Side of the Pond".  The first time I joined in and answered the set of questions was back in 2012 (here's the link if you are interested).

Now this whatever you want to call it (blog thing, game, meme?) certainly has staying power.  I've tried to get a game going on my blog a few times.  I just don't care for schedules much and so my attempts don't last long.

Also to be honest I often find the Hodgepodge list to be too gender specific (nice way of saying a chic-thing?)

1. Under what circumstances do you do your best thinking?

No question about it - the shower. On a few rare incidents I’ve figured out things while dreaming. All I can say is I had this work related problem when I went to sleep once and had an answer when I woke up (not the most exciting dream?)

2. Are you a risk taker? What's one big risk you've taken?

Yes, but not a big just-jump-don't-look one. I try to think first before taking the risk. I enjoy and have benefited from the stock market, so that's a big risk I've taken.  I'm surprised but some of the extreme sports people do today.

3. Some of the most common phobias according to the National Institute for Mental Health are-fear of spiders (arachnaphobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), heights (acrophobia), fear of spaces from which escape is difficult (agoraphobia), fear of thunder and lightening (astrophobia), fear of dogs (cynophobia), injections (trypanophobia), social situations, flying (pteromerhanophobia) and fear of germs and dirt (mysophobia). True phobias affect only about 10% of adults, but of those listed which would you rate as your greatest fear?

I don’t care for snakes much and find it strange that people have them as pets. I like a good thunderstorm - amazing display of nature’s power.

4. Are you settled or do you feel the need to move somewhere new?

I’m settled and maybe too settled.  I'm easily shaken.

5. What is something you find annoying when dining in a restaurant?

Too much background noise. Of course, there are many types of restaurants. I don’t like it when you need to shout over the music/game at some brewpubs/sportsbars to have a conversation.

6. Daffodil yellow, sunset orange, spring green, or sky blue...your favorite color this time of year?

Rainbows maybe after a thunderstorm.

7. If you were going to take a holiday all by yourself, where would you go?

Years ago I traveled to many places on my own for business. If the question implies no cost restrictions - the mediterranean or maybe South Africa.  However, there are a few places you could not pay me enough to go.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I find myself noticing word usage more and more. The words random and ton get misused often today. I believe language is a living changing thing so the different usage of words should be expected, however, I still notice it.

mammas don’t let

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mammas!

A great post title should always receive its deserved recognition. The other day Pearl (cat lady of Minneapolis?) had an award winning title. Here’s the title linked back to her post.

Ode to a Locked Document; or Mama, Don’t Let Your Spreadsheets Grow Up to be Password-Protected

In addition to providing me a smile, her title caused a few synapses to fire off. A brainwave of an idea crashed around in my brain. Regular readers might recall what results from these flashes of a far off brainstorm. Yes yet another Lisleman idea.

Let’s play a blogger game. Hey you might consider it a Mother’s Day game. Sure if it gets repeated enough call it a meme.

Using the Grammy award winning song title, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys", we can create an easy game.

Just fill in the blank(s). 

Two blanks: Mammas don’t let your ___ grow up to be ___ 

or just one blank: Mammas don’t let your babies grow up to be ___

I’ll go first. 

Mammas don’t let your babies grow up to be bloggers.

Mammas don’t let your FB page grow up to be a mommy war.

Please play along in the comment section.

all fragments day

It’s a Friday. It’s a new month. Around this part of blogland it is also a day of celebrating fragments of post. Mrs. 4444’s blog is the center of this fragment celebration.

It also turned out to be frustrating Friday and if I could have just skipped the problems of today I would be happy and our kitchen drain would do what it is design to do - drain. I'm probably more frustrated that my hours and purchase of a 15 foot springy reamer thing to unclog it has been futile.

The plumber has been called.  I didn't yell at the plumber as depicted in the cartoon figure.  However, my tone of voice was certainly not cheery.
 

yes I repeated it

I suspect the following has happened to you at sometime. The universe plays a trick on you or worst yet, knocks you on the side of head. Whatever it is, it bothers you and puts you in a bad mood. THEN you realize your bad mood is not really justifiable. Now you are angry at yourself for letting the universe put in a bad mood.

do monkeys ever confront a clogged drain?

Last Friday I came up with a contest idea for the blog. Have you seen it? As of this posting there are three brave creative readers that have entered the contest. You can see their entries by scrolling through the comment section (where the action is on my blog) of the contest post. a contest Lisleman’s way

Are you familiar with the expression, “jumped the shark”? I’m wondering with my contest if I have jumped the clown. Take a look.  The contest is still open.

If I were simian I would fit under the sink better

Sitting in a Pep Boys waiting room recently, I was thankful for the wi-fi invention. They change oil and they have free wi-fi for the customers. The old ripped up magazines scattered around often fail to entertain while waiting on your car. Such a difference from the pre-internet and pre-mobile days.

Just a wild guess but I think travel times for daily commutes and chores are way up. I’ve noticed that blog comments are down. Perhaps these are related. This past week I might have danced into the danger zone of blog topics. I posted about the double standard on aging. when I grow up again
 
pet peeve - Drivers that race through shopping area parking lots. It’s a parking lot not a highway. (Do you have a peeve that’s not a pet?)

Those of you that have operated a VCR will enjoy the following historical clip.



I like to end on a puzzling question:
Is it wrong to play music like “Theme from A Summer Place” at a Christmas party? How about “Kokomo”?

a contest Lisleman’s way

I was thinking if I were to run a contest I would …. 

Then it hit me. Why not just run a contest. Worse I could do is look foolish and God knows that has happened repeated times in my life. Here it goes - the A Few Clowns Short first ever contest.

Enter for your chance to WIN today!

You can’t be a winner if you don’t try.

The prize will be either

$1000.00

OR

Lisleman's escaped escape key

Lisleman’s escape key **

IMPORTANT - read the ** note about additional important contest rules.

• Easy to enter. 
• Take a clean piece (no grease stains please) and write the following words: Lisleman is the man 
• You may write the phrase multiple times if you just can’t control yourself. 
• Now draw near the phrase, a figure of your appreciation for the blog A Few Clowns Short. Be creative. Be nice. The drawn figure could be symbol, a stickfigure, your worst nightmare, sunshine, rainbows, whatever. 
• (pretend like this is going well) 
• Take a digital picture of your contest entry. (Note: if you created the entry via some digital application, then I’m impressed and of course you don’t need to take a picture because you already have it. duh) 
• Next in the comment section of this post (below) upload your entry picture in your comment. Note: not on any post, you must add it to this post. Posting your entry on your blog is great but how will I know it’s a contest entry? Posting, printing or whatever else you think of doing with your contest creation is up to you (a roadside billboard would be nice). I can’t tell you what to do on the internet. May I remind you that those exciting social media applications like Facebook, Google+, and twitter offer great ways of sharing your photographic skills.

**The Prize awarded to the winner will be determined at the complete discretion of Lisleman. The winner does not get to choose. Just because you are a winner don't let it go to your head.  Lisleman’s decision is the final decision. No arguments. Lisleman will do the judging. Thanks for following directions. 

Contest entries are limited to people over 18 years of age. Multiple entries are nice but does NOT increase your chances of winning. Submitted entries/pictures must be original and owned by the contestant. 

Contest ends on November 7, 2013. I would not be surprised if there are only a few if any entries but I guess I need to stop waiting eventually and move on so I set a date. I hope I remember the date.

In order to notify the winner I'll need you to use a real email address when you leave a comment.  Don't worry I don't send out spam and wouldn't know how to sell your email if you twisted my arm.

scary agent of change

Oh one more thing this whole contest is subject to change at any moment.  Life is about changes what can I say?

self imposed pressure

I received this unique photo in my email.

Blogdramedy

If you look closely you can figure out where it came from.  The blog diva at Blogdramedy offered it to me.  You can read the comment/reply exchange that lead up to it on her post.  Her post was not about playing monopoly (great game that I have not played in long time) but about the new US $100 bill that was issued the other day.

is it raising or falling?

Long long ago in internet time (2011) I took up the seasonal challenge offered by Blogdramedy. She called it Blogfestivus. It was 12 days of racking my limited creative mind to write posts about that goofy song. Looking back I know it would have gone better had I stocked up on eggnog and rum first.

This mostly self-imposed challenge (makes me think she is the competitive type) was much easier since only one post was on the table monopoly board.  I think this post gets me out of jail.

Any monopoly players reading this?  How much did a player (games are fun because we are all players) pay to own a railroad?

sign

I don’t think my latest idea will be as popular as creating a online harass/flirt name like Carlos Danger. (My preferred choice would be Liam Lips. I tried the name generator and sorta like its offering for me, Cesar Trouble. It reminds me of problem salads.) However at the same time this idea is not as career/image damaging as a potentially scandalous online name.

What’s your sign?

Here’s the idea: If you were a street/road sign which one would you be?

(signs came from Manual of Traffic Signs web site)

I can’t decide. Here’s my top five:

• Exit Only 
• Falling Rocks 
• Be Prepared To Stop 
• Rest Area Next Right 
• Road Closed Ahead

I’ll take test ride for $50

Sounds like I’m playing jeopardy. ( if you like, you can play the theme song below)

No jeopardy game (jeopardy can be just driving down the highway right?) for me. Toyota (oh they are loaning me a new car for a year for this post - yeah right. you believe that, then send $20 with your name on it and I'll send you even more lies)
--- that was such a long parenthetical remark I forgot what I writing.

Oh yeah, Toyota invited to test drive a car recently. If I did the test drive within some specified time frame during July they would give me a $50 gift debit card.

my Camry test drive did NOT include

the lake drive

I took them up on their offer. I just received (spent part already, hole in the pocket is still smoking) the card. I was harassed They followed up with a few salesperson phone calls afterwards but the calls just went to voicemail.

I actually had fun driving and learning about their hybrid Camry.  If the price of gas stays high I might consider it. One thing to consider is the replacement of the batteries (around $2000). Now I forget the warranty on the batteries but I think if I kept the car five+ years or so I would need to replace them. This is a good thing to know if you look at a used hybrid. (any of you with a hybrid experience - honk - or better yet leave a comment)

Oh here’s the jeopardy “think” song. I just included a typically length one but I found one version on youtube that goes on for A FULL HOUR! I would be banging my head on the wall before that finished.

what’s a listicle

I don’t know but it rhymes with testicle so maybe I qualify. I’ve read a few listicles memes/games on a blog or two.

Wikipedia has a page for listicle.

Sun-dried cracked nuts, I’m going to sizzle this listicle. Oh swizzle sticks it's a list.  This will be stretch since I hate lists. Never read a list that didn’t mean trouble except maybe a wish list.

This jambalaya joker was listening to some Junkyard Jane. I was just cruising along that wicked highway. Traveling in the dark with no headlights, I took the long way going nowhere. Now I don’t have a pray.

That’s what happens here at A Few Clowns Short when I leave the headphones playing. Oh yeah, this list thing. I think this week the listers are listing beautiful tools (10 Beauty tools/products you can't live without).

My short list of beautiful tools:

• If I had a hammer I wouldn’t hammer in the morning because I’m not a morning person and loud noises before coffee hammers the brain.
• If I had a drill I would drill a big hole in this list.
• If I had a vice grip I would get grip on figuring out vice.
• I have needlenose pliers and let me tell you, keep them away from your nose. There are better ways to remove nose hairs.
• The utility of a utility knife with retractable blades is near infinite. If you had one right now, you would either cut me some slack or cut me loose.
• If I had any sense I would quit this list right now. You don’t really want me to open my toolbox here. Should I stay or should I go? (damn headphones again)

(Not what you expected? Don't have a cow.  Just browse on by and lighten up.) 

in the finals in the FINALS

OMG, I don't believe it. I went over to browse a few youtube clips as I typically do during the day. Before I leave youtube (always spend longer than I expect) I take a quick look at my list of uploaded videos. I've always been puzzled by which video gets more views.

In the list I notice this new little golden colored symbol. When I hover the cursor over it, I see the word nominated. Turns out youtube is running this big video contest. Here's the video clip that was nominated:



I made that quick video back in the summer of 2010 after I finished a bag of sun chips. It wasn't the chips or flavor, no the interesting thing was the new type of bag.

Now the exciting thing is -- the video is a finalist for best stupid video under a minute duration.

I can't believe I'm a finalist for anything. But what I do believe is April 1 has always been a believe-it-day for me. So many good things seem to happen on April 1. Oh here's more about the big youtube contest:

relieve yourself with a game

(Warning: oh wow, you really read warnings? I don’t and that explains volumes about me. Just remember the post you are about to read contains Lisleman opinion. You probably have an opinion too and so at least we have that in common.) 

Another edition of Lisleman’s slightly damaged broken news. From coast to toast, faster than salsa sliding out of your taco we bring you news you don’t need.

Since the beginning of wearing clothes, little boys have had an urinating advantage over girls. (a Croatia vacation behind this picture I took)

That natural advantage is not news. 

The news is technology has advanced to the absurd level of giving us (guys only but I don’t think women are jealous) a video game controlled by urine. Yes a video game equipped urinal. It could be the next first drop your draws hit.

It will be installed at Coke-Cola park in Allentown PA., home of the Iron Pigs.

Taken from the linked story, “These games are sure to make a huge splash” says Iron Pigs General Manager Kurt Landis. Ok, the general manager has a sense of humor.

While interesting and certainly odd, I’m not eager to play a game. Yes I’ve had the boyish experience of trying write something in the dirt by streaming a jet of liquid. But I’ll reveal a small secret about myself, I have also experienced shy bladder. There is even a medical term for serious cases of this - paruresis. Don’t be concerned I don’t have the serious problem. A few isolated times when there were lines waiting for the urinal. I don’t care to feel pressure because some guy back in the line didn’t calculate the timing of his last two beers.

I predict this is not the next big thing to hit the restroom. I suspect most guys, at least the ones who are still slightly sober do not want to draw attention to their urinal performance. Hopefully the park will offer urinal options.

(here's a link to the manufacturer's clip about their new invention  Oh I sure hope the product doesn't play that "Rocky" theme song background music.)


another circus 

a manly blog

A few clowns short of my followers may have noticed that I enjoy adapting lyrics to a blog theme. Once I posted:

he said 

blog like a man 

talk like a man 

blog like a man my son 

no follower worth crawling on the earth 

so blog like a man my son

I decided to write a post for this round of Dude Write (thanks Bee at Living Off Script for the reminder). Blog dudes posting for fame and glory. Yeah, that’s a bit over the top, too hardcore. No I have not gone completely gong-ho on this idea.

I agree that the blogging world is very dominated by women. Just look at many of the blog memes/games especially the ones with a list of questions. Often they will have female only type questions. I’m not complaining. It’s all good and often I learn something new.

Blogging doesn’t need rules. The lack of guidelines creates both interesting unique postings and crappy unique postings.

No I don’t need to write about my manly scratching. Even my post on whale turds actually was very female related since it involves the essence (ambergris) of some perfumes. My goal is write what I feel about the life around me and hopefully lighten it up for a random reader. Life is co-ed (save this idea of future life not being co-ed anymore for a later post).

I write about Baby Boomers - my generation - talking ‘bout my generation, my generation baby - why don’t you all fade - NOTE we use the term “baby” in many various ways. Got that baby?

Often I sit picking away the moments that make up a dull day. Then I’ll stop, take time to smell the wind. I’m left wondering what the hell did that dude eat. After I recover, I have another post idea to share.

I posted a pic of these manly potatoes once

As for most blogs my topics are not gender specific. Topics are viewed differently but I think the differences are more related to experiences than gender. Generation probably impacts the writing more than gender. Mary Shelley created the great Frankenstein monster and I know there are guys who write-up recipes. I do wish more guys would blog because they are missing the good sharing of ideas, stories, even jokes.

Day after day I’m more confused. Yet I look for the light through the pouring rain. You know that’s a game I hate to lose. And I’m feeling the strain. Ain’t it a shame. So blog like yourself.

mascots on my mind

I didn’t start my day with mascots on my mind. Who does? A mascot I guess.

Life has surprises. If you spend much time on the internet you find even more surprises. The internet is many things. It often acts like a surprise amplifier for me.

It started with the mention of a youtube video. I included that clip at the end of this post. I found the clip without much problem. As is often the case, there were a few versions of this mascot related clip.

Then I started thinking of another mascot from my past. I’m proud to tell anyone that I graduated from the University of Illinois. We had a very appropriate mascot, Chief Illiniwek when I attended. Since then a controversy started about the use of a Native American mascot and eventually the mascot was dropped. The French explorers named Illinois after the indigenous Illiniwek people, a consortium of Algonquian tribes. Of course you can discover much more regarding this on the internet.

My mascot searching lead me find a famous mascot, the San Diego Chicken aka the Famous Chicken. This chicken guy has a very interesting story and a good web site where you can learn more than you would ever want to about a chicken mascot. (if you are wondering I was NOT compensated by this chicken)

The chicken mascot story involves lawsuits, a radio station, $2 per hour job, fowl trying to spoil a foul shot, and lots of fans. You can read more here.



Here’s the clip that started my mascot research. The lesson I picked up on this one is not to use a condor as a mascot.

another circus 

fragments from the edge of my mind

If you are a drive-by clicker who has never read a post here before don’t judge the whole blog by this post. Not all my posts are this good.

Escalating on an escalator or plunging with your plunger - it doesn’t matter. Get yourself over to Mrs. 4444’s blog for some fine fragments after finishing up mine.

Have you ever forgotten to remove your clothes before you step into the shower? 

I have never had that problem and I suspect most don’t. But have you gone downstairs wearing less than you needed or go outside with less than what the weather calls for? Many have had that experience. I sure have.  Is it logical then to conclude taking clothes off is more natural than putting them on?

hope this family can afford a lawn mower

Big things could be coming this year. We might sign a contract with General Motors.   Toyota might win the bidding.  Just don't know yet.

Buying a new car is always fun for the first few minutes.  A number of things must fall into place before this happens.  If you would like to send money to move it along let me know.

Things older couples do - reading newspaper articles out loud to each other. After one such incident our youngest adult daughter said, “after so many years of marriage you need a safeword to indicate ‘stop reading out loud I’m not interested’.”

Sydney heat wave joke; Australia is so hot, the dingo had to blow on my baby first.

“Lincoln” - the current movie with the British actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. 

We took in a matinee this week and both enjoyed it. My wife was so involved with the movie she quietly asked me to eat my popcorn during the loud parts. (I like think it’s because she was intently watching and not my horse chomping popcorn eating) Pay attention in this movie and you’ll learn that wheeling and dealing in politics is not new in Washington D.C.

We managed to see two of the oscar nominated movies so far. The other one, “Argo”, was also a great history based movie. One last comment on “Lincoln” - Tommy Lee Jones looked much much better in “Men In Black”.  Don't you think?

Oh one more thing. If you are reading this on Friday and it’s not too late in the day (Chicago time I have no idea of what time it is where you are at) my BIONIPT game is still open and you should jump in.