The Wookiee

Monkey Monday: Best Friends with a Pigeon

2007-10-15T11:17:00.000-04:00

An orphaned macaque monkey has become best friends with a pigeon:

You can read the full story here.

Only Three Men have ever Walked on Water

2007-10-09T14:01:00.000-04:00

Do you know who they were?

The first one was Jesus.

The second one was Peter, the apostle.

The third was this guy (click for image).

Paris Hilton fake interview with Jay Leno

2007-07-18T01:02:00.001-04:00

Returning from her stint in jail, Paris Hilton did an interview with Larry King Live. Jay Leno took parts of Paris's interview and spliced in his own fake comments:

"What's your ethnic background? I'm an Aquarius."

The Strongest Dog Ever

2007-07-05T21:50:00.000-04:00

Which dog would win in a fight? First we have Roo, our 8-month old IG/Whippet puppy. When we were out hiking with our dog, a kid came up to us and said "Look mommy! A deer!" Our puppy definitely has deer-like legs. Below Roo is Wendy -- the most muscular dog ever -- who is also a whippet!

Photo of our Whippet, Roo

Photo of Wendy by Bruce Stotesbury, Times Colonist

Launching Gerbils from a Cannon

2007-06-27T09:30:00.000-04:00

Back by popular demand, here's another great video of an Overstock ad. This one features gerbils being shot from a cannon. No gerbils were harmed in the making of the movie. At least I don't think so. Maybe.

So close.

That's good stuff - Overstock and Wolves

2007-06-24T12:34:00.000-04:00

Back in the dot-com bubble days, Overstock.com had some hilarious commercials. Here's one of my favorite where a marching band meets a pack of rabid wolves. Check out the results:

Now that's good stuff.

Quiznos Commercial with Crazy Creatures

2007-05-12T17:11:00.000-04:00

A friend just showed me this hilarious, off-beat Quiznos commercial:

I wonder what sort of creatures those are. Perhaps they're the type of pet that a wookiee would have. My friend's pugs love the commercial -- they come running whenever they hear it.

Don't pump gas on May 15th? O'RLY?!?

2007-05-01T22:37:00.000-04:00

Has anyone else received a "gas out" email, perhaps from one of their less analytical friends? The email flies in the face of logic on several levels. I'll let you read the entire email here:

Subject: FW: Don't Buy Gas on May 15, 2007

Let's give it a try.
Don't pump gas on may 15th
...in April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companys pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

If you agree (which I cant see why you wouldnt) resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, ''Don't pump gas on May 15th"*

Here are some of the obvious fallacies with the "don't pump gas on May 15th" email forward:

The myth that this will lower gas prices - Unless the boycotters do not drive their cars on May 15th, their overall gas consumption will remain exactly the same. Boycotters will simply pump more gas either immediately before or after May 15th.
The dollar savings calculations are just plain wrong - The email claims that if 73 million people chose not to fill up on gas on the 15th, it would save approximately $2.3 billion dollars. This is approximately $31.50 per person. The average daily consumption of gasoline per American is approximately 1 gallon. [ref] Unless the price of gasoline skyrockets up to $31.50 per gallon by the 15th, then this calculation is way off.
No "gas out" occurred in April 1997 - To the best of my knowledge and ability to search the Internet, no "gas out" ever occurred in April 1997. In fact the only sudden change in gas prices during 1997 was an increase and was due to a tax increase for road improvements. [ref]

A macroeconomics professor from Indiana University has also pointed out some of the economic fallacies of the email. What other mistakes can you spot in the email?

A Dog is Monkey's Best Friend

2007-03-12T00:29:00.000-04:00

In Mozambique a dog and monkey survived a harrowing flood together. Now they're best friends. Here's a short video of the dog and monkey:

How to get an Egg in to a Bottle

2006-12-21T01:15:00.000-05:00

Ever wanted to get an uncooked Egg, shell and all, in to a hard glass bottle with a narrow neck? Well neither have we. Check out this video to see how it can be done:

Now the real question is... how do you get the egg out of the bottle?

Monkey Monday: Oprah and a Monkey

2006-12-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

Even Oprah loves monkeys! [via]

Belated Monkey Monday

2006-09-30T14:24:00.000-04:00

Now that I'm back from my honeymoon, I'll have to make up for all the Monkey Mondays that I missed. Here's a long-tailed Balinese Macaque that we saw in the Ubud Monkey Forest in Bali, Indonesia. This great photo is from Hintz Gallery.

Monkey Monday Marmoset

2006-07-24T23:12:00.000-04:00

Marmosets are cute. I wouldn't mind finding one in my backyard.

Pepto-Bismol Ice Cream

2006-07-22T19:42:00.000-04:00

Remember the episode of The Apprentice where they had to come up with different ice cream flavors? One of the teams sold doughnut ice cream and one sold red velvet. They totally should have made pepto-bismol ice cream. They would have sold like wildfire in Manhattan's financial district. Since neither team, nor anyone else for that matter, has ever sold pepto-bismol ice cream, you'll have to follow these instructions and pictures to make your own.

Video of a Chimp Playing Pac-Man

2006-07-17T01:01:00.000-04:00

To kick off Monkey Mondays, here's the greatest monkey video ever -- a chimp playing a game of Pac-Man. It appears that some of the chimps even have a bit of strategy; wait until the ghosts are near you, then grab the power-up, and eat the ghosts. The video is awesome, you have to watch it:

Scrabble turns Violent

2006-07-16T14:25:00.000-04:00

The news is always talking about how violent video games make people more aggressive and more likely to commit violence. In Louisiana, it's even illegal to sell a violent video game to someone under 18. After all, many video games out there promote aggressive behavior, similar to a Wookiee's BERSERKER RAGE.

Recently it appears that a nice, quiet game of Scrabble turned violent:

The court was told Mr Tahau had visited a friend on August 25 last year and they settled in for a night of scrabble.

In short, the game ended up with one of the players being bashed with a baseball bat and stabbed several times in the back. The full story is here. The next time you go to buy a copy of Scrabble, don't be surprised if you're asked to show ID.

Space Invaders Carpet

2006-07-16T13:50:00.000-04:00

I just had to follow up yesterday's Etch-A-Sketch artwork with this: a playable Space Invaders carpet. Janek Simon of Poland created what looks like an Armenian rug with a Space Invaders theme. In reality it's even better -- it's a Space Invaders Armenian rug that you can actually play the video game on.

Janek has replaced all of the game's graphics and made them into the style of a Middle-Eastern rug. A projector projects the video image onto the floor, just where the carpet should be. A video game controller hangs from the ceiling that lets you control the game-turned-carpet.

I can't use an Etch-A-Sketch

2006-07-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

Wookiees aren't very good at using an Etch-A-Sketch. They tend to shake things. When shook, the drawing goes away. Apparently these people aren't wookiees:

What will you be remembered for?

2006-07-12T00:06:00.000-04:00

Recently Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark was killed in an automobile accident on June 18, 2006. His obituary is very lighthearted and very amusing. It has some real gems:

"When his family was asked what they remembered about Fred, they fondly recalled how Fred never peed in the shower - on purpose."

For a real laugh, head on over to the Richmond Times-Dispatch and read the full obituary.

However, not everyone is convinced that the obituary is real. Although it's perfectly believable, and may very well be true, that Fred was very lighthearted in life and wanted an equally lighthearted death, there are a few clues in the obituary that may point it out as being a fake:

Additionally, all of Fred's friend (sic) will be asked to gather in a phone booth, to be designated in the future, to have a drink and wonder, "Fred who?"

We'll let you be the judge.

Scorpions and Pinot Grigio

2006-07-09T01:52:00.000-04:00

If you serve a platter of scorpions at your next cocktail party, what wine should you pair with it? Pinot Grigio according to Cal Dennison, winemaker for Redwood Creek. A pinot grigio will help get your guests' mouths watering, even if they're not thrilled with the prospect of sticking a scorpion in their mouth.

Wait a minute, who would serve both wine and scorpions at the same meal? Why The Explorers Club in NYC, of course. Reuters has all the juicy details.

Get Marriage Proposals by Email

2006-07-04T14:16:00.000-04:00

In the states we love our dating websites. In fact, one of my friends is now happily married to a girl he met on match.com. Over in India it appears they do it a bit differently. Forget the dating and go straight to marriage proposals. You can even get marriage proposals over email through a marriage website.

The ads to the right for an Indian marriage proposal site amused me greatly. They have some great quotes:

"Get marriage proposals daily!" -- There must be hordes of people proposing every day. Their slogan should really be: 'Sign-up on our site, propose marriage, and get shot down!" That doesn't sound like my idea of a good time.
"The SMART way to get married!"
"Who are you looking for? Bride/Groom" -- A great take on the boring male/female options.

This reminds me of something I overheard in an airport a few years ago: "She sent out e-vites for her wedding invitations. I can't believe it!" After having assembled and written out wedding invitation after wedding invitation, I don't think it's such a horrible idea.

Although a marriage proposal website might sound like a great business idea, I doubt they get much repeat business -- at least not any from satisfied customers.

BERSERKER RAGE!

2006-07-03T02:56:00.000-04:00

"Wookiees are tender and gentle. Their tempers, however, are short; when angered, Wookiees can fly into a berserker rage" [via]

Yet another reason to let the Wookiee win.

Let the Wookiee Win

2006-07-03T02:38:00.000-04:00

"droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that." [via]

Nisha is a dork

2006-07-02T03:13:00.000-04:00

'nuff said.