Another movie trailer mash-up from Blinks. Coming soon to a theater near you…

The fire sale on government bailouts continues, with the Big 3 U.S. automakers the latest hopeful recipients. Chris Isidore’s article for CNNMoney.com talks about how our “givmint”, trying to appear due diligent as though watching out for already beleaguered taxpayers, is seeking a few symbolic sacrifices and assurances from automakers that the requested bailouts will “git ‘er done”.

What I want to know is how I can get on the “A” list for a bailout. I’ll promise to get rid of any corporate jets we might have, I’ve already taken a pay cut, and I promise that, with the help of, say, a puny $10 Billion, I’ll be profitable in three years immediately. So where do I sign up? Anybody?

Got this PSA from Mike and several others…

The Black Widow spider (Latrodectus variolus) is one of only a few poisonous spiders in the United States. It’s bite releases a neurotoxin into its victim that, if not treated, can lead to death.

After mating with a male, the female often sucks the life out of him (see spider cannibalism).

The female Black Widow is easily recognizable; she is black with a noticeably broad, bulbous backside and a bright red hourglass shaped marking on her underside.

Black Widows can be found in closets, wood piles, under beds, and

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Ted Stevens Loses his Senate Seat

Convicted felon Ted Stevens has lost his re-election bid for the Alaska Senate seat which he held for the last, oh, eleventy-hundred years. While in the Senate, Stevens gained notoriety for bringing home epic quantities of pork barrel projects, being convicted of a felony, and, how could we forget, comparing the Internet to a series of tubes during a debate on Net Neutrality legislation:

“They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.”

But now that Alaskans have routed him from office by a whopping 3,724 vote margin, we must now deal with the aftermath of his absence from the Senate.

The Internet is no longer a series of tubes.

Just as Alaska has moved on and found another Senator, we too must move on and find another ridiculously inaccurate characterization for the Internet. Help me out…continue reading

I’d deliver this shameless solicitation in a plain brown wrapper if I knew enough code to wrap it. I don’t, so…

Weakly Web Wit is a free email subscription “researched and produced, then dragged kicking & screaming to your in-box each week” by my good friend, Michael, who adds, “Material may sometimes be deemed questionable at best. Viewer discretion and a modicum of adult acceptance are advised. Not meant to offend any particular group; we try to offend everyone equally!”

Michael scours the ‘Net, grabs what he considers the “good stuff” (informative and/or witty), then compiles and emails it once a week to his growing list of undiscerning readers. Want to be one of them? Did I mention it’s free? Here’s how to get on “the list”: Send a postage-paid email to wwebwit@gmail.com and tell Michael you’re cautiously willing to give it a try. It’s that easy. And did I mention it’s free?

If you like it, your eternal gratitude, and Michael’s, will be my reward. If you don’t, blame him! (I’ll swear I never heard of it!)

Just happened upon this video on Bizarroblog and thought it was pretty amazing. Says Dan, “My favorite is the bank robbery. Nothing grisly here, so no fear for the squeamish. Sorry about the hideous music.”

As promised, here are the winners in our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Hand Turkey Drawing Contest. Extra points were awarded for little kids’ entries, but there were a few “big kids” who received Honorable Mentions as well. Thanks to everyone that participated! Winners receive a coveted 1-year free subscription to Inessential Musings and the admiration of their parents and friends! Whoo Hoo!

Grand Prize goes to Janet (4) for this wonderful Thanksgiving scene:

First, Second and Third Places go to…

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I’ve written about Black Friday before and still marvel at the spooked herd mentality of people responding, like Pavlov’s dogs, to the ring of the shameless loss leader. But this year may be a little different given the state of our economy. While I expect crowds will still be ridiculous by normal standards, it will be interesting to see, when the numbers are tallied, whether tight money dampened or ignited shoppers’ enthusiasm for bargains.

Me, I’m writing this Thursday night for auto-posting tomorrow at 5 A.M. because we plan on sleeping in. Happy Black Friday!

We’ll be taking tomorrow “off” to enjoy the long holiday weekend. See you Monday!

Dawn and I have a great deal to be thankful for, so making “thanks” a big part of our Thanksgiving is important to us. And a great way to begin is to remember and reflect upon how it all began.

We learned in school that the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, starred the Pilgrims, Squanto and the friendly Wampanoag tribe led by Massasoit, who celebrated a bountiful harvest and the promise of making it through the harsh New England winter. But here are some lesser-known facts about that first Thanksgiving in 1621:

Squanto was a Patuxet Indian who almost single-handedly saved the first Pilgrims from starving to death. He taught them how to catch eels and trap fish during their spring run, plant corn and pumpkins and trap beavers. He helped the Pilgrims despite having been captured and sold into slavery by an English sea captain. According to Peter Marshall and David Manuel in The Light and the Glory, Squanto was shipped to Malaga, Spain, where he was rescued by local friars, and eventually returned to Plymouth, where he discovered not one member of his tribe was left alive.

During that first Thanksgiving celebration, the Wampanoags brought fat wild turkeys to the feast and introduced the Pilgrims to a local delicacy called popcorn. Next time you enjoy some at the movies, thank the Wampanoags, not Orville Reddenbacher.

They celebrated that first Thanksgiving in October, not November. In 1941, Congress issued a national proclamation setting our observance of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

During the winter of 1621-22, an influx of new settlers eventually forced the pilgrims to each live on a daily ration of five kernels of corn. At the following Thanksgiving, Marshall and Manuel noted, “the first course was served ‘…on an empty plate and in front of each person were five kernels of corn… lest anyone should forget.’”

We have a lot to be thankful for, as did those first pilgrims. And for all its faults, we live in a country where we can write, speak and worship freely, and where we can attempt to right wrongs without being thrown in jail or exiled. Solomon wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Well, where there is no thankfulness, people sour, slowly, like leftover cranberry sauce. We need Thanksgiving, if for no other reason than to remember that, while there may be only five kernels of corn on our plate, there are still five, and the promise of harvest is only a season or two away.

Thanks Todd!

Heather sends this informative, short quiz reasoning, I suspect, that since most of us will be enjoying a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner in a couple days, we should know something about the critters we’re about to devour. What’s to know, you ask? Well, take the quiz. You may discover you don’t know jack about turkeys and learn something new in the process. Gobble, gobble!

It’s time for out 2nd Annual Hand Turkey Drawing Contest. I know, the 1st Annual got off to a late start, but we’re starting a little earlier this year. Draw a hand turkey, scan it and email it to me (see “Contact” in Navigation Bar at right) and I’ll post the “winners”. The usual valuable prizes will be awarded! Kids’ efforts get extra points and the deadline is midnight Thursday.

For those of you who’ve forgotten how to draw a hand turkey, here’s an animated GIF from my old website to help jog your memories: