Topic Drift

Anyone who has been 'round here long has probably noticed the propensity of TGD topic threads to start off at least paying lip service to the subject line, and then go off in previously completely unpredictable directions thereafter. I find it kind of fun, since I never quite know what I'm getting into when I click on any thread subject. :)

Does this happen as much in any other LT groups? I know it happens a little bit everywhere, but I'm asking comparatively. Does anyone actually try to control it, or does everyone go along with it? Is anyone here an avid drifter?

I wonder where this thread will drift...

Kinda like this...

Yes, more cowbell!

Well, It's almost WORSE over in Happy Heathens...
Maybe because there are more serious topics being discussed. So, when we ending with links to farting preachers, well...

Here in the Dragon I've just learned to embrace 'The Drift.'

You can see it happen in the Hogwarts Express group's Pizza Party! thread.

Yeah, but one would expect a 'party thread' to be that way.

All Hogwarts Express threads are that way. It's actually much more difficult to find one that stays on topic than one that goes off! :-)

I've not been on any internet forum yet where threads don't end up that way - thread hijack!

I thought all GD threads were party threads. Anythign serious gets shunted to Outside.

Or drifts into a party anyway.

Mine's something warming, maybe a spicy speyside, thanks.

Hogwarts is way worse. I can't keep up with the injokes over there. There's quite a bit of spillover from one thread to another, too.

GD is positively civilised in comparison.

Ditto #10 - A prime example was a "Books you Dislike" thread over on the HE that turned into a conversation about being late for work and somehow ended up talking about tracking down stray pets. For a group named after a train there are certainly some twisted trains of thought running through it!

The other groups I read are dull and boring but occasionally say something I am glad I read. The threads are short and way too much to the point. And some groups are so inactive I wonder why anyone even started them. I have been thinking of putting an X on everything except GD.

The Read YA Lit group, on the other hand, stays amazingly on-topic. After spending a while on HE and the GD, going over there is like entering a whole different world!

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

No little minds around these parts.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

No little minds around these parts.

Well, I don't think I have too many actual conversations that stay on topic, so maybe we mirror real life in here.

:o)

#14/15 -- That is one of the most hilarious double posts I've ever seen, jburlinson.

You've gotta enjoy "the GD Drift" it's one of the finest drifts known to humankind... and yes, I agree with Clam, I'd say it does mirror real life, in fact I suspect the drift will be sliding on by any second now...

;-)

You've gotta enjoy "the GD Drift"

I think I'd rather enjoy a GD Draft....

pour one for me ;-)

I'd love a draft, while watching a TROPICAL drift...

Oh I want to be drifting....warm breezes, warm water. *sigh* I am done with winter.

My conversations in RL never stay on topic. We start talking about one thing which may or may not be important, but then we quickly drift off on to innuendo and plans for the weekend and it's altogether too much like GD. That's why I like it here. They usually come full circle, though. It comes back on topic eventually.

I don't know if "drift" is th most accurate word. It often seems to be more like a high-speed train derailment. You look away for a minute, someone drops one little penny on the tracks, and wham! The next thing you know, a thread with the topic "drift" has become an intricate discourse on people's preferred topping for muffins.

mmm, muffins... i like honey on mine.

Chocolate. Definitely chocolate.

See, I can derail too!

I truly love muffins with a big dollop of butter, real butter, with salt in it.

I don't know what you guys are talking about.

I like them naked, but made with real butter.

*hums in an Eddie Vedder tenor*

Drifting, drifting, drifting away.
I got myself a mansion, then I gave it away.
It's not the world that's heavy, just the things that you save.
And I'm drifting, drifting away.

Drifting, drifting, drifting along.
I rid myself of worries, and the worries were gone.
I only run when I want to and I sleep like a dog.
I'm just drifting, drifting along.

#27: clam! As usual, i'm shocked! We are talking about bakery products, not HEGs. Keep your dirty comments to those Orlando Bloom-type threads, please.

#29 - I meant real breakfast edible baked with flour type muffins.
;o)
For once...

>#30:mutters "real, breakfast, edible... still talking HEGs... baked with flour" ok, that's better.

Fair enough. You can understand my confusion, though. I mean, the butter, and everything. And i had specifically chosen muffins over crumpets originally, to avoid any such confusion.

So what is your favorite topping for HEGs, anyway?

#31 - Air. ;o)

Penguins! :D

hmmmmm, penguin-muffins

That was SUPPOSED to be an equation: muffin + penguins = , but the last pic didn't show and then for some reason I couldn't edit it.

Aww, I love puffins. They're always tinier than you think. Soo cute :-D

Which is lucky really, because I tend to think of them as 50 feet tall, and filled with rage...

...what?

Oh, and getting back on topic... well, one of the topics (what was this thread about again?)... Blueberry Muffins are the best... mmmmm Puffins.

Damnit, I seem to have trouble with post-drift, let alone topic drift...

Anyone ever had Puffins cereal? I kid you not; it's a (kids) cereal found in health food stores.

I've seen it but never had it.
Isn't there also one called "Gorilla Munch"?

No, but I used to watch the Puffinstuf show on TV.

I've often wondered: What does Tim think of the proliferation of not-quite-book-related stuff? (Granted it's generated by book-loving folks.)

You mean HR Pufnstuf? I could never figure out what Human Resources wanted with a dragon. Or puffing stuff. Maybe they need to puff some stuff to get through the day? It mellows them out, you know.

38> ;-p

I always thought of them as medium-sized penguin size. But they're less than a foot tall. So they are teeny small.

MUFFIN TOP!

Normally I prefer scones to muffins.

There was this little Dutch bakery I visited (frequently) where the pastry chef spoke almost nothing but French and one day I explained to him my dream scone flavour... which he must have decided sounded good because poof, the next week, there were my scones...

Cinnamon-Dark Chocolate-Macadamia Nut-Cranberry Scones

(I also like Chilli / Chili pepper + dark chocolate scones...)

I save all the sweet for the scone and leave my tea unaltered. (Otherwise I would be bouncing off the walls from all the sugar, like a wiener dog on meth...)

Puffins cereal is yummy -- especially with almond milk.

Maybe the ladies will correct me on this, but that looks d**n uncomfortable. It also looks like it refers strongly to at least 2 other threads.

I haven't worn pants that tight in public in close to 20 years, but yes it's uncomfortable and WHY would do that to yourself and not just the tightness?

#43 Was I the only creeped out by the talking/singing flute?

#44
Sorry, I couldn't help myself ;-)

But I do agree with you, I picture them in my mind as mid-penguin sized, certainly more than a foot from tip to tail... but I've never seen one up close to get a good judge.

I do, however, like saying the word "puffin" over and over... puffinpuffinpuffinpuffin...

ROTFLMAOPIP at this entire thread. More drift please, more!

Puffins!: 50 feet tall and filled with rage. Coming to a cinema near you.

Wonder what they make Puffins cereal out of?

Puffin stuffin'

I liked HR PUffenstuff (or at least the basic concept) but thought the british kid who played Jimmy had a weird accent. I didn't think the flute gave a particularly compelling performance, either.

What worries me is that I can still call up the HR Huffenpuff theme song in my head... Can't do a little cuz he can't do enuf.

Maybe we should go back to the discussion of stud muffins? Naked *and* with butter.

>#52: That would make it not so much a drift as an oscillation. Maybe a sine wave... muffins to puffins to puffinstuff to puffins to muffins to puffins...

Or we could go with a circular motion as WillSteed mentioned, and end up back talking about... um what were we talking about before?

maybe a torus... wanders off to lookup circular geometric shapes... ends up here:

David Bowie, anyone?

I looked for a lego David Bowie, but found this instead...


Lego Hawking!

46 - "...weiner dog on meth" *giggles uncontrollably*

That's gonna stick in the head for a while. I'm picturing one of those little dogs that just bounces like it has springs in its back legs. over and over and over and over....

*BOING*BOING*BOING*

*snicker*

Penguin's can reach upto 4ft (120 cm) tall, depending on species. Puffins are only 10" tall, about 18cm so less than 1/10th the size. Not quite medium really!

I have seen them though not close up and they are quite spectacular.

#53 that's superb.

I dunno; the Escher Lego is certainly impressive but a Stephen Hawking in a wheelchair is fairly creative. I never would have thought of building a wheelchair with Legos.

I looked for a lego puffin, but all I found was this:



But I did also find the PuffinCam site. The live cams are down for the winter (they're showing "best of" in the meantime); they say they'll be back up in the spring.

Okay, now THAT's impressive! But how do the rest of you feel about LINUX?

>#60: I liked the way that he dragged his security blanket around everywhere.

But Pig-pen was my favourite.

My only problem with linux is that we have one system that uses it, and I'm usually in CAPSLOCK mode from other systems when I go on there, and then my login fails.

Like every time. Why don't I learn?

All this talk of muffins has made me hungry. Apparently, this is a puffin cake.

Now I kinda want to spend part of my weekend making muffins decorated with puffins and filled with something; then I could bisect one and post a pick of puffin muffin stuffin'.

Only I can't think what to use for the filling. Fruit seems most sensible, but it's so un-puffin-y (although so are muffins, really). Fish would be most puffiny, but also most unappetizing. And chicken would be, well, sorta puffiny, but in a backhanded sort of way. Plus, not particularly appetizing.

If I do it I'll use fruit, I guess.

Back on topic -- it seems like, no matter how we drift, we often end up at some common destinations, such as:

Johnny Depp
Something lewd
hugs

All of the above.

That should read: Johnny Depp hugs something lewd.

#64 or cheese!

Thinks: Johnny Depp hugs some lewd cheese?

#65 Pour cheese on him and I'm so there!

hfglen: jinx!

Have a Rosie's Finest on me ... or on my tab!

I wonder if there is such a thing as Drift Cheese.

How about a nice grilled cheese sandwich?

Grilled cheese sandwich and a vanilla milk shake. Best lunch in the world!

oo-er. I'm horribly reminded of the charity tea kiosk in the local botanical garden. I *think* the have a sandwich toaster, but most of the Silver Ladies who volunteer all too clearly don't have the first clue of how to operate the equipment ...

Ate at a Mexican restaurant recently and they served "Depp fried ice cream with cheeries on top" It set my imagination on drift, I'll tell you.

#71: That picture is dangerous. Twice now I've come to read this thread and have been stuck, mesmerized by that gorgeous sight. I mean, seriously, two of the things I love most in one still-shot: Johnny and grilled cheese. (can't...tear...eyes...away...)

I miss the Books that Dare Not Speak their Names thread. Here's the antidote to Johnny Depp picture eyeball lock, a book cover with so many things wrong with it I can't count them:

puffin puffin puffin



eta: p.s. r_f, where did you see puffins? I saw some earlier this year at Bempton Cliffs. I've always wanted to go to Lundy to see them though, for some reason. (Recently exacerbated by reading Charlie Cox's embarrassingly poor effort at a trip to Lundy in Attention All Shipping - I'm going to go and not be an idiot. And enjoy the puffins and the gannets.)

So does this mean the Puffin has been come the unofficial mascot of the GD?

I've been going around saying "Puffin, Puffin, Puffin" all afternoon. In private,that is.

I wonder if puffins like grilled cheese sandwiches? I wonder if Johnny Depp likes puffins? I wonder if I could get Johnny Depp to feed me grilled cheese sandwiches while I shared a nice lager with a puffin?

#79 Water just came out my nose, and it hurt.

You could have grilled puffin-cheese sandwiches, but that might be frowned upon by animal right's groups.

And while not a puffin, it's back to the penguins:


From the outdoor penguin exhibit at the very cool Dallas World Aquarium. (Yes, penguins hanging out outdoors in Dallas, TX.)

#80 - didn't mean to hurt your nose, ellevee. But, where is Johnny Depp in a puffin-cheese sandwich? And is the puffin just in the sandwich, or in the cheese?

#82, Well, OBVIOUSLY Johnny Depp is feeding me the sandwich, while crooning songs from Sweeney Todd. And Puffin-cheese is just silly; obviously sliced Puffin, lightly sauteed, is the only way to go.

"God, That's Good..."

It's late here and I am very tired. I only signed on to check another thread, where I was posting clues for guess the book so the late hour and my tiredness might explain why I have wandered into a conversation about being sandwiched between Johnny Depp and a puffin while being covered in cheese.

The only explanation is this is a dream, obviously. But is it my dream or ellevee's dream?

*wanders away, hoping to start a dream about being sandwiched between Tobey McGuire and, well, just Tobey McGuire while being covered in chocolate instead*

#85 The visual of Johnny Depp on one side, a giant puffin on the other, all of it doused in liquid cheese... I will never be OK again...

I laughed so hard at #84 that I woke my aged dog out of a sound slumber.

I am so very lost...

Trust me, clam, you don't wanna be found.

*hums 'A Little Priest'*

Have some cheese, clam. It'll make you feel better. Just watch where you sit. It seems the puffins aren't all housebroken.

Refreshed after a good nights sleep, I send my apologies to foggie's dog for disturbing him.

#79 I wonder if dragons and puffins get along well?

>92 buchleser:
There's always Puff the Magic Dragon.

#92 - Great! He was smoking dried puffin.

Woooo Hooooo, 95 posts about nothing....... oh, I am sorry, about puffins, cheese, and dragons? oh, and Johnny Depp...... YES.

I went home from work immediately after posting Johnny and I'm only now coming back to check on where this thread went in the meantime.

You people never disappoint.

Who am I kidding, I just wanted to see the picture of Johnny in a frilly apron....sigh....

edited to fix disturbance in spacetime continuum, probably a result of excess estrogen.

#77 - err possibly it was Lundy, Else it was the Cliffs of Moher in C. Claire. SW Ireland.

Where is "Bempton Cliffs" ? Must be easier to get to than either Lundy or Claire.?

Bempton Cliffs is near Bridlington and Scarborough on the East Coast. It's a beautiful place and the puffins are fun to watch. I haven't been often so I don't know if Johnny Depp has ever chosen to have a cheese sandwich picnic there.

Jody is indeed correct. Conveniently close to the in-laws.... :-)

I think it's only good for puffins though. Not so much for cheese. Or Johnny.

The last place I saw Johnny Depp in person was Montacute House in Somerset.

I say that like I see him frequently. Perhaps I should say the only place I saw Johnny Depp in person was Montacute House in Somerset. He was filming and we were walking the dog and got to be nosy as we went past.

#100 - I think we need some more details, Jody!

Oh, and I want to see piccies of puffins in frilly aprons. ;o)

Your search - "puffins in frilly aprons" - did not match any documents.

darn google. useless.

Looks like i'll have to do this the hard way. Ok, got my camera... come here, puffin! Don't run away - i've got a nice apron for you... *runs off*

#101 - there aren't that many details to give. He was filming The Libertine (I think) and at Monacute House they have some beautiful gardens and this spectacular wavy privet hedge (also used in the Kate Winslet/Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility}.

We were walking our dog nearby and saw him and a lot of other people outside. We wouldn't have even recognised him but there was a crowd of people hanging about and we asked them what was going on. He looked very nice though but there was no sign of any cheese or any puffins.

Maybe he is a closet puffin aficionado. I hear Hollywood does that to a person.

I think Hollywood probably has a person who does that for you.

puffin minders.

also cheese wranglers, i expect.

I recall reading an article by some technology futurist that said that in future, we will all become wranglers (of digital objects). I would imagine that some of clam's photos would qualify her as both a cheese wrangler and a digital wrangler.

I think it's time to change the subject. Like the Mad Hatter, I want a clean cup. Let's all move one place on.

so, do people prefer bone china or coffee mugs?

Coffee mugs here, please. The bigger, the better! (yes, I'm still talking about coffee mugs!)

Depends how strong the coffee is.

#110 Not necessarily. The Serbian Orthodox community in Johannesburg serve their extra-strength Turkish coffee (they boil it three times) in ordinary cups / mugs, not espresso cups ...

Which makes perfect sense. I bet it'd dissolve an espresso cup in no time at all.

#76> Why won't Jesse James stay dead?

And...

#62> Just how many puffins do you think they used in that cake? If they're as small as every one says, I bet you could get about five in there, if you grind them up really well.

#112 The serving size is also ordinary: about 200 ml rather than 50 ml. Just think what it does to the drinker!

Tall mugs for me.

I only drink tea and I much prefer it in a teacup, not a mug. I also have this weirdness about cold drinks in mugs, which should only be used for hot beverages, IMHO.

Johnny Depp Is Coming to Wisconsin

He's going to be playing John Dillinger (not too far from "pirate") and Christian Bale is in it, too! Ahh... how the stars have aligned!

Automatic drip coffee or French press?

Argentines steep dried lawn clippings in wooden cups and drink it with a silver straw that has a little sieve on the immersed end (to keep the grass out of the straw and, thence, the mouth). They call it maté.

(But, thanks to my sister who forgot the Spanish for 'sour' at a critical juncture, they think U.S.-ians eat "rotten cream" on baked potatoes. I don't know what is worse: actually drinking grass-water, or being thought to eat rotten cream.)

I use this cool Starbucks makes only 16 oz of coffee single tall (or grande really) cup machine which drips thru freshly ground grounds......

I know, I know.... t.m.i.

but I do live near Seattle, ya, tha's my excuse

>117 ExVivre:
So they're filming in Wisconsin, even though the jail Dillinger escaped from is down the road from me? Hmph.

I guess that's good though, I might have had to find a way to make him take a shower and shave.

Speaking of topic drift, why don't Krackel candy bars come in larger sizes? They appear to only be available in "fun" size. That's not fun. And it's not right.

Please carry on with the outlaw discussion.

ETA: I corrected my misspelling of Krackel as Krackle. I hope I haven't offended anyone. That is all.

#117 Johnny Depp and Christian Bale together!??! Heaven!

I do auto drip for before work morning coffee and then French Press for leisurely mornings.

Ummmmm Krackle candy bars.

We don't have any bank robbers anymore? Remember when we had bank robbers? What happened to them? I want Bonnie and Clyde, damn it!

"Drifting and Dreaming
Sweetheart, you and I...."

A song. The theme of my Junior Prom in 1966. An apt description of GDers at their finest. *goes off humming, looking for my high school annuals.*

I think I disposed of those years and years ago. High school yearbooks never really did it for me.

And my preference is for mugs; cups and saucers rattle too much.

#123 Oh, so you want the bank robbers now, but as soon as they rob your bank you will be crying "Oh my money. I want my money back"

We have some bank robbers in the great pacific northwest; perhaps, we are the last frontier of the lawless... Do you remember D.B. Cooper who parachuted out of an airplane with thousands of dollars in cash? He has never been found, but little bits and pieces of his cash have shown up....

But really, we still have people who rob banks - the drive-in window type banks. And now all these small shacks which sell coffee to motorist who drive up to the shack, get their java, and drive away, although evidently some drive away with more than coffee. Scary for the young women (usually) who work in these small buildings, sitting out in the middle of a parking lot, no other people around to help.

Don't you just hate bank robbers?

I can't say that I've ever met any bank robbers socially. Professionally, I have in fact met both robber barons and individuals who indulge in highway robbery. Would they qualify?

They have bank robbers now, they're called rouge traders.

Johnny & Christian together....sigh....I read an interview with Johnny (I think in Rolling Stone?) where they asked about the Dillinger role and of course all they talked about was Dillinger's, um, accoutrement. Boys! (btw girls, Johnny wasn't telling....)

>129 littlegeek: "They have bank robbers now, they're called rouge traders."

LOL

If that was a misspelling, it shouldn't be.

It was a misspelling, but I kinda like it like that....hmmmm....

Forget about Johnny and Christian together - I'm much more intrigued with fleela's pairing of Johnny and a shower... ;)

I think it works. And it did make me chortle.

>132 scaifea:
The man needs to make friends with a bar a soap. Ick.

#134 fleela: Sorry; let me clarify. I have not interest in how much the man needs a shower. I just like the idea of Johnny *taking* a shower...

Can I be a rouge trader? Maybe take a night class in the trading of rouge?

#126 - 131

I didn't say I wanted them to rob MY bank.

I want to meet a gentleman highway robber. He would politely steal my MetroCard, wink, steal a kiss, and be on his way. But the only highways in New York are scary, and not the proper environment for true gentlemen, robbers or otherwise.

>135 scaifea:
Now I need to wash my brain with soap to get rid of that image! ;)

#137 Why would you want to do THAT? I want that image engraved and hung over my bed to lull me to sleep.

I'm the lone non-Johnny lover in the GD. It's a tough life. :P

The cheese stands alone. Johnny and cheese. And puffins in aprons...

My brain just went to a weird place, and it won't come back...

#139: More for the rest of us! Or just for me, really. Clearly he would love me more than anybody else and choose me over the rest of you lot (at least that's what I tell myself over and over). I mean, how could he resist a geeky Classics professor who's married *and* pregnant!?!

#141 Maybe that's his type!

ellevee: Well, a girl can dream...

ETA: When my husband proposed to me, I accepted with one condition: that if I ever met Johnny and he fell in love with me, he (husband) would graciously grant me a divorce so I could be with Johnny. So, I'm set.

>#140: that would be The Green Dragon! Welcome, ellevee's brain! Pull up a stool. And another for your cheesy Johnny puffin.

mmmmm, brains...

>#139: i don't lust after Johnny either.

>#115: isn't sour cream called yoghurt? Or is that just off-milk?

*desperately trying to hang on to the thread as it power-drifts across the road and into the bushes...*

#145: re: power-drifts...Well, I have to go do some actual work now (i.e. try to teach students how to read Ovid and Suetonius in Latin) instead of hide in my office and play on LT, but I'm looking forward to coming back in a couple of hours to see just where you all end up. I do hate to leave you in the bushes with Johnny, though. Behave, now.

Way, way back in #107 the subject was changed. It took six posts before puffins were mentioned again and nine posts to get back on Johnny.

Looks like the folks in the GD are more puffin focused than Johnny focused.

'Get back on Johnny' was a deliberate statement because I want to know what that thought will do to ellevee.

heeheeheehee *a particularly annoying, fingerpointing giggle*

so, do people prefer Ovid or Suetonius? In Latin, of course.

Which one wrote about puffins?

113 brought puffins back into the Green Dragon with a reference to Puffin cake. I've got to say, I had been missing them while they were gone.

puffonius?

My students usually prefer Ovid, because he tells cool stories (and stories are much easier to follow in a foreign language than other types of writings (philosophy and such), and Suetonius, although entertaining, can be tough because you need a lot of historical background to really get what he's trying to say.

Ovid may have written about puffins. I wouldn't put it past him.

>#151: does absence make the heart grow puffinier?

Does anyone else remember a parody of Puff the Magic Dragon, entitled Drag the Magic Puffin? I am pretty sure I'm not making it up but neither can I find anything that remotely resembles it on the Web.

#155 I googled the title and this came up.

DRAG THE MAGIC PUFFIN
There once was a puffin just the shape of a muffin
And he lived on an island in the deep blue sea
And he ate little fishes that were most delicious
And he had them for supper and he had them for tea.

Now this little puffin, he couldn't play nothin'
For he hadn't anybody to play with at all
So he sat on his isle and he cried for awhile
And he felt very little and he felt very small.

Now these little fishes, they said "If you wishes
You may have us for playmates instead of for tea"
Now they all play together in all kinds of weather
And Drag the magic puffin eats pancakes
Like you and me.

I can't believe that Drag eats pancakes and drinks tea. I thought it would have been Brie and beer. Oh, that doesn't sound very good.

#154 - The absence of those puffins made my heart very much puffinier. Like the ravens at the tower of london, if those puffins ever leave the Green Dragon then LT could fall (or at least have an elephant moment).

Suetonius is much more fun. He was introduced to us as the early empire's Who Weekly. He's hilarious at some points, and incredibly gross at others. I did a class presentation in year 11 on his description of Claudius' retirement on Capri. Talk about salacious!

I'm not a Johnny-luster, although I have a healthy respect for his skill and an unhealthy jealousy of his way with women.

WillSteed: That's an excellent description of Suetonius - he's very tabloid-ish, and, I believe, very fun to read, but his Latin can be tricky, and so some students get hung up on that.

Ah - we read it in English. My Latin's terrible.

how's your ig-pay atin-lay ?

assable-pay. :)

sadly far worse than the real thing.. so geek me

>#163: now we're talking about wages...?

my take-home pay is assable.

#164: Yeah, me too. Welcome to GeekLand.

where the soda flows like water, and pizzas rain from the skies.

OHHHHH, Nirvana....

Yeah, MrAndrew, you make GeekLand sound pretty good! I didn't realize I lived in such a paradise. (goes outside and looks up, waiting for the pizzas...)

>167 MrAndrew: "pizzas rain from the skies."

That sounds dangerous, or at least messy. Couldn't they bloom after bright Spring showers of beer?

>170 drbubbles: With Spring Break only weeks away, it's safe to say the only things that bloom after showers of beer are one-night stands, STDs and accidental pregnancies. ;)

On the other hand, the Sun is going to envelop the Earth literally seconds from now, so I don't think a beer shower or two would do much harm (granted, it'll be umpty-nine bazillion seconds from now, but still, literally, seconds).

I wonder if they have pizza in Pastafarian heaven?

>172 drbubbles: I could see a range of Italian-inspired Apostles of the FSL.

#147 That sentence made what was left of my brain explode. I am grinning a big evil grin. Fear my brain.


This is a cake, people. a CAKE. I tried to find a puffin/Johnny Depp one, but...

oh to eat a supper of cake food. YYYUUUUMMM. I'll even share with Johnny if he would like. I'm thinking of icing and..... I will have to tell the puffins no. You know how they get when they eat cake!

ellevee: Okay, so you googled "puffin/Johnny Depp cake" and *this* is what you found? Clearly I'm not using google properly...

You know what we should have in here? Some otters. They're really cute. No more bald cats though.

I agree that otters are cute, 'way cuter than sea lions. You ever see those sea lions in Monterey, California? They are always pictured as adorable with big round eyes, but you know, they *bite*! (Each other, not the tourists).

Were the cats bald because of the roombas?

hello, otters!







I love this quote:
"Otters are very silly animals, and lead lives of constant play and merriment. The otters around Monterey, who have grown accustomed to human presence, will often play with divers and sea kayakers, perhaps looking for a handout. One pair of otters was even observed trying to tip a kayaker over, much to his distress."

http://www.maths.lancs.ac.uk/~rowlings/Otters/otters.html

edited for bigger otters...bigger...bigger!

>#178: that's just 'cause they can't reach the tourists.

This too is a cake...

And this is a "divorce cake"

the ketchup is very life like! how can this be?

my message above was sreferring to the burger cake, not the divorce cake. The divorce cake - well, maybe I'm speechless.....

Otters and funny cakes. What more could you ask for?

#179 - Mr Andrew I just looked at the link and, well, I now know more about "otter love" than I ever expected to know. Nose biting? Attempted drowning? Permanent Scars? And the author started off that description with the words "otters have more fun making love than people do." I pity that guys poor girlfriend.

Birthday cake for people on a diet

#178 - You ever see those sea lions in Monterey, California? They are always pictured as adorable with big round eyes, but you know, they *bite*! (Each other, not the tourists).

Yep, and they smell really bad. Like rotting broccoli with a hint of rancid fish...

#180 - MrAndrew I agree. I went to Longleat once and they said the most dangerous animals they have there are the hippo and the sea lions. They have a safari boat and spend most of the trip saying that the hippo could overturn it if she wanted to and the sea lions will bite off your fingers if you stick them through the mesh. Just to make it really scary, the only place you could swim to for safety if the hippo did attack was an island full of gorilla's.

It was a relief to get back to the safety of the lion enclosure that day.

And #178 DrNeutron - the smell was just as you describe it.

speaking of otters

#189 those otters are so cute holding hands.

Awww. Those otters made my day.

Well, it may be topic-drift but "Tomorrow is another day," as Scarlett O'Hara would say. Away with the otters and bring on the Yankees -- either in the dugout or as they burn Atlanta.

188> Hippos are apparently the most lethal mammal in Africa in terms of number of deaths. Of course, the most lethal *animal* in Africa is the mosquito.

Give me puffins any day, that's what I say...

i've said it before but i'll say it again. Try squashing a hippo with your shoe.

#195 For some reason, my mind decided to make your sentence into a triple Spoonerism:

"Try shashing a squisho with your hihoe."

First word: some sort of verb, though I don't know what action it describes.

Second word: a noun of unknown derivation.

Third word: definitely dwarven.

...and the topic continues to drift... ...Oh, there's a puffin. Never mind.

#194 - MrAndrew I would very much like to know the circumstances that led you to say that sentance before.

I want to know why no one is willing to allow Yankees of any variety to drift into the conversation. Spring is nearly here! Squash that hippo!

#193 Correct and correct. And the local mozzies don't eat in, they use their claws to do takeaways ;)

#197 - Cause as a Cubs fan I'm overly disgusted by the number of Series rings your team can boast. We're talking 100 years of jealousy here, much better for the blood pressure to stick with discussions of hippo squashing. ;)

Ditto, except for the Cubs part. Orioles fan...8^}

I'm actually only the *mother* of a Yankees fan. I personally root for the Phillies.

Well, ok then. All is forgiven. 8^}