Today's slice of beach weirdness

Yes, you can buy this, and for not much money.

No, I did not buy it.

But I was tempted.

Heading to the beach in the morning

That's all I got.

Sabbatical help for hunger

As I've said many times, one of the aspects of PT that I'm proudest of is our sabbatical program and its charity work component.  Another PT staffer recently returned from her sabbatical, during which she worked at the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina (and PT donated $5,000 to the Food Bank because she worked there). As part of our sabbatical program, we also make a video of each person who does charity work and let the charity use the video for free.

Here's the story of this most recent sabbatical charity work.



I'm proud of Sharon and all the other PT folks who donate their time to charities.

Hot dog taste tests

Lynn pointed me to this article, in which The New York Times conducted a blind, two-stage, hot-dog taste test. Their winners were the Wellshire Farms Premium All-Natural Uncured Beef Franks and the Hebrew National Kosher Beef Franks. I've eaten the Hebrew National dogs many times, but the Wellshire Farms tube steaks were new to me; I will obviously have to try them!

At a party a long time ago, I did a similar but less controlled blind hot dog taste test with a different variety of dogs, many of them high-end versions from various mail-order services. My group had a clear favorite: the Nathan's hot dogs, which finished in the middle group of the Times' test batch.

Clearly, it's time for me to repeat that test with a new selection of noble tube steaks that includes those from Wellshire Farms!

Jackie Chan on a rampage

Sure, I'm willing to go with Jackie Chan as an ex-special-ops soldier who's so stone cold he rarely speaks, and I'm willing to buy Pierce Brosnan as a government official who used to be an Irish terrorist, and I'm willing to watch this plot again, because, hey, Jackie Chan, action, and lots of things going boom.



Scott turned me onto this film, and we are both definitely there.

Jackie's showing his age and a lot of wear and tear, but that's perfect for the character.

Yup, one way or another, I'll find a way to view The Foreigner.

Two MMA personalities who should stop working in the field

BJ Penn has at times been one of the most amazing fighters in MMA history. He's held UFC championships in two weight classes and has fought in many memorable bouts. He retired once, but like so many athletes, he couldn't stand being on the sidelines and came out of retirement.

He should have stayed retired.

Last night, he fought Dennis Siver and looked awful. Siver tore him apart.

I've long admired Penn's skill and enjoyed watching him over the years, but I sincerely hope he stops fighting before he can hurt himself or his reputation any more.

By contrast, veteran referee Mario Yamasaki has always been prone to errors, and he's not getting any better. He stopped Sunday night's main event entirely too early and left poor Michael Chiesa correctly feeling robbed. Yamasaki needs to stop being a ref--and if he won't, athletic commissions everywhere should stop hiring him--because he is simply not good at the job.

I doubt Yamasaki would agree, of course, but I bet most MMA fans--and even UFC President Dana White--would.

My spam tells me a story

Tonight's four spam messages told me a story.

The first advertised a LifeLock identity protection service.  It wanted me to protect my identity so I could take advantage of...

...the offering of my second message, which said I could get an ezFHA mortgage and even a home-improvement loan.

That loan would help me benefit from the third message's Andersen Windows renewal offer, so the windows in my new house would be clean and let me easily...

...check out the 25 hot women of my fourth spam message.

It's nice when spam offers a bedtime story.