We stayed at Madrona Manor in Healdsburg a couple of nights ago. Grand old mansion with a few outbuildings, one of which was the garden cottage we slept in. Really pretty, comfortable, private, quiet, with a fireplace, and no tv. Really setting the place apart was what went on in the bathroom:

A claw-foot jacuzzi tub. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but there it is, bubbles and all.

And then there’s the commode, funny at first, but then slightly disturbing:

Definitely anthropomorphism gone awry.

MoveOn.org has a funny thing where you can throw tomatoes at AIG and learn interesting facts:

THE AIG TOMATO TOSS

(If you don’t want to sign up, just make something up. Make sure the email address you put in this format: something-at-something-dot-something)

Enjoy!

New to me, this webpage from  March 08 has pictures of sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, and always bizarre sculpted food. They have several besides the one below of an egg shell transformed into a baby carriage carrying its yolk, which manages to be both amusing and disturbing at once.

A google search reveals that a lot of people have this unusual hobby. Here’s another one I really liked: frogview

More pictures to look at:

• Wacky Archives
• frogview

Check it out: Wilbur Hall’s comedy vaudeville act abusing a violin (and a little later, a bicycle pump). It’s amazing that he’s actually a really good player. Even more so when you learn (according to Wikipedia) is that his first instrument was trombone.

tidbits: The British composer, Oliver Knussen, mentioned in an interview that this video was a source of inspiration for his violin concerto, which is how I came to find it. Hall played with some great bands, Paul Whiteman’s. Whiteman was the guy who got Gershwin to write his Rhapsody in Blue. Wikipedia also says that Hall reprised this bit on The Gong Show in the 1970s…

The guys over at Gizmodo say this is a demonstration of the principle that lets cameras stabilize images and keeps missile guidance systems going. Hmm. . .

I think I’ll just see about this for myself…

via Gizmodo

Apparently zoo photos of abused pumpkins are a “thing”.

Zooborns via Slashfood

via Towleroad

No shenanigans here, but do check out Lifehacker’s Top 10 List of Harmless Geek Pranks. First on the list: the BSOD (blue screen o’ death) screensaver.

For more hijinks, listen to NPR’s Morning Edition and try to spot the fake story. (If you missed this morning’s broadcast or its endless repeats, you can get it on the web here.)

Lifehacker

NPR – Morning Edition

It’s been a tradition since 1910 that the President throws out the opening day first pitch somewhere in the country. Even you-know-who managed to do it in 2005, albeit to a fairly tepid reception. But for the next two years he skipped it. The rumor was that Karl Rove didn’t want to risk the potential embarrassment.

You-know-who (and no, I don’t mean Voldemort) ventured onto the pitchers mound yesterday in the new National Park stadium for the Washington Senators’ opening game yesterday. Watch what happens (and listen for the boos) when he goes out to the pitcher’s mound:

Many of you are too young to remember: once upon a time in the far-off distant past, holidays marched across the calendar in an orderly manner, courteously waiting for one another to pass before taking the stage. Maybe you’ve even heard that stores didn’t put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving … imagine that! Well a reader over at Consumerist sent in a picture taken at a local Target the day after Christmas:

Yes, Easter bunnies.

It’s the end of the world.

    Consumerist