No Pining for the Fjords Here

Via the AV Club comes one of the more wonderful news stories I have seen in some time:



That is extremely silly and I expect the Colonel to show up at any time to put a stop to it.

And now for something completely the inspiration for the above:



Special thanks to Nick C. for allowing me to exercise right of first refusal on posting this.

They Got the Syntax Right, Let 'em Keep It

The Union of European Football Associations gets this week's Buzzkill Award for banning a hilarious and only remotely offensive sign from a soccer match. Hell, that's a point of departure for NFL game signs.

As both a student of Latin and Monty Python fan, here we go:

Return of the King - of Herring!

An enormous specimen of the "King of Herrings" has been found in Sweden. Being of a scientific bent, my first reaction was Love and Death, followed in proper icthyological order by Monty Python:




I was going to make a lutefisk joke but further and slightly unpleasant research revealed that it is not made from herring, demonstrating once more that my ancestors were on the receiving end of the Vikings' attention rather than the ones having all the fun.

Turn Your Head and Complain

In the wake of the passage of Health Care Reform I thought I'd give you an idea of the alternatives for the next steps.

We could adopt a Scandinavian style process:



Or perhaps something modeled along the UK's National Health Service:



As long as vacation time for radiologists is sharply curtailed I could go either way on this.

The Face of Cowbell Fever

Or not.

Update: J has informed me via comments that the subject of an ostensibly-amusing video is in fact blind, a fact of which I was not aware when I grabbed it from Awful Announcing. I have removed the clip and replaced it with this apology. (Subsitute "blog post" for "fork" in the dialogue.)



On the original subject I defer to the authority:

European and African Swallows: We Did It First!

Octopi have a reputation for high intelligence, but rehearsing for Spamalot?

Fixed Bayonets and Fixed Street Signs

I seem to be on a poaching tear, as JJV sent me this earlier today. Somehow he got distracted by redheads so here I am.

A retired Scottish soldier has taken it upon himself to improve the punctuation of street signs in his town.

Good thing he doesn't live in Hawaii Hawai'i; he would go nuts. Mmm, macadamia nuts.

The gentleman in question is not necessarily a twit, however. For comparison:

Election Night Special

Sweden has sent two members of the Piracy Party to the European Parliament, perhaps not the best idea given the whole Viking heritage thing.

And in England the ruling Labour Party is in such dire straits that two of its candidates finished behind a representative of the Monster Raving Loony Party. Sadly, however, the MRLP candidate placed far behind the Conservative ("Other Loony") candidate.

Post title, of course, from this classic:

I've Been Around a Bit, But I've Never Actually Heard This Before, Squire. Know What I Mean? Eh? Eh?

As I was on leg (lost count) of this afternoon's highly complex logistics exercise involving all of the members of my family (but only one at a time) and two separate trips into DC (but only once by car; there were rules), I overheard two Englishmen talking at an intersection. One was explaining something to the other when the explainee, a dead ringer aurally for Michael Caine, cut him off with "Say no more!"

Previously I had only encountered that here:



You can encounter Michael Caine here, among other places:

Is This the Right Room for a Debate?

Earlier today I laid out some debate predictions in response to my colleague J. Had I followed my instinct and blurted out that the drinking game would hinge on some random theme like "Joe the Plumber" I would a) look like a genius and b) not have the motor skills to type this.

Herewith my brief thoughts:

1) I am frankly surprised that McCain pulled the trigger on the Ayers thing, but in any event it was badly played and wouldn't have dented Obama's shields regardless.

2) Those who think McCain did much better in this debate than previously mistake either light for heat or heat for light, I can never remember which. Commenters who are not JJV, help me out on this.

3) This was, for all intents and purposes, the last night of the campaign. The rest will be a particularly cacophonous silence.

That's all I have for now. Gotta catch the Daily Show. But first:



And for later on, a preview:

Smearing Palin

My earlier endorsement of an alternative VP candidate appears to have hit a snag, courtesy of JJV's crack opposition research. JJV observes:

I hardly think America wants a cigarette smoking dishonest salesman as its Veep as you have suggested.

Palin lied, the parrot died!

In order to head off further ill-timed revelations I offer full disclosure (with the exception of the whereabouts of cheesy comestibles):



In his defense I will point out that at least Palin wrote his own script, together with John Cleese.

Why Not the Silliest

We could do far worse. 37-year-old Dennis has a better grasp of political theory than Caribou Barbie.



h/t Balloon Juice