The Stashbuckler » Odd News

"I’m thinking Hancock was doing shit around there"

thestashbuckler — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:54:00 +0000

So apparently the past few days the US has been natural disaster central.

* Light was evacuated from her home in the midst of the Santa Cruz wildfires. Luckily her home is safe, but she still can’t get back into it and has no water or power.

* Tornadoes hit Manhattan, Kansas a few days ago. The storms were strong enough to throw a car into the engineering building at K-State and (in a somewhat ironic twist) to completely erode the building that houses the nuclear reactor (not to fear, the nuclear reactor itself is underground and unharmed!).

So far we’ve been lucky enough to evade the flooding in many areas of the Midwest, and even the hail damage that has plagued some parts of KC.

Dear Mr. Weatherman:

We’ve had enough weather for now.

kThxbye,
the little devil

Millionaire

thestashbuckler — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:34:00 +0000

I have just been notified by email that I have won an African lottery; funds will be transferred after I send my bank account routing information and social security number: who wants to celebrate with me?

More pictures.

thestashbuckler — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:41:00 +0000

Subtitle: Why we got out of Kansas just in time.

I can’t take credit for these photos – Wes shot these in the aftermath of the huge ice storm that overtook the midwest this week. He doesn’t expect power back at his house for the rest of the week. It’s eerie but beautiful.

The internet helps childrens learn.

thestashbuckler — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:22:00 +0000

Meet the Nutria.

Oh those news headlines!

thestashbuckler — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:38:00 +0000

“Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is raising questions about President Bush’s mental health.”

With all due respect Mr. Kucinich, stupid is not a disease.

Squid with teeth.

thestashbuckler — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:09:00 +0000

I just don’t know what to say. I told Knitmeister S, “now THAT is wrong.” This my friends, might be a sign of the apocalypse. I’d hide under the bed if I were you.

Via BoingBoing.

Things that make me happy.

thestashbuckler — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:04:00 +0000

1. All the bosses being out today. Lots of reading and catching up to do in peace and quiet.

2. A Fine Frenzy’s One Cell in the Sea. Beautiful songs that keep me chair dancing all day long.

3. Guess what I gave in and got? Showing off my monkies in my crocs as we speak.

Guess I’ll run away and join the circus.

thestashbuckler — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:45:00 +0000

A few days ago I was driving home past the mall (located less than a mile from my house) and lo and behold, a rather large tent was being erected in the parking lot. It was surrounded by tons of RV’s and trailers. Being the dolt that I sometimes I am, I was thinking… “Weird a camping trip in the middle of the mall parking lot?” AND… “Uh-oh someone has termites!”

Silly me… the CIRCUS is in town. By yesterday morning it was evident: Circus Vargas is less than a mile from my house. With elephants and clowns and tents oh my! This nice view brought to you by my camera phone while entering the freeway this morning. Sorry it isn’t better but I was trying to, you know, drive and all.

Friday Funnies

thestashbuckler — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:46:00 +0000

1. Santa Claus he is not.

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German man who had been drinking heavily at Munich’s Oktoberfest beer festival got stuck in a chimney for 12 hours while trying to climb into a friend’s apartment, police said on Friday. More here.

2. Are we going back to pencil and paper?

SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp.’s Excel 2007 spreadsheet program is going to have to relearn part of its multiplication table.

In a blog post, Microsoft employee David Gainer said that when computer users tried to get Excel 2007 to multiply some pairs of numbers and the result was 65,535, Excel would incorrectly display 100,000 as the answer. More here.

3. Something’s screwy

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German factory worker stole over a million screws from his employer and skewed the market with his cheap stolen goods, police said Friday.

Over two years, the 33-year-old assembly plant worker smuggled between 2,000 and 7,000 screws out of work each night, and auctioned them on an Internet site, police said. More here.

P.S. Let’s hope he stole the screws from the inventory and not from whatever he was putting together!

Crossword Puzzle Romance

thestashbuckler — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:59:00 +0000

Crossword puzzle solved with a hitch

BOSTON – It was the crossword puzzle fan’s version of getting his marriage proposal plastered on a stadium Jumbotron.

Aric Egmont and Jennie Bass were working on a puzzle titled “Popping the question” in the latest issue of The Boston Globe Sunday magazine. Bass spotted her sister’s name and her best friend’s name, but initially thought it was just a coincidence.

Then they got to 111 across: “Generic proposal” (Jen + Aric generic). The answer: “Will you marry me?”

“We get to the `Will you marry me?’ clue, and I said, `Will you marry me, Jenny?’ I got up, got the ring, and got down on one knee and she screamed, and hugged me. It took her a minute to say yes,” Egmont told the Globe.

Egmont, 29, of Cambridge, contacted the magazine this summer to ask if the people who create the crossword puzzles would write a special puzzle for him.

Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, a married puzzle-writing team who have been writing Globe magazine crossword puzzles for years, agreed. Their puzzle included several variations on proposals; for example, “Macrame artist’s proposal” was “Let’s tie the knot.”

The tricky part was writing an entire puzzle that would be clear to the happy couple, but not obscure to all the other readers who do the puzzles.

Bass, 29, said there was no reason for her to suspect anything when they started doing the puzzle.

“Then he got up and came back with a box and it was pure elation,” she said.