Who Knew Weird Al Was An EM?

Fabulous new video from Weird Al Yankovic parodying Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines".

My English Major wife is a fan with reservations, wincing at the political incorrectness and rather mean-spirited tone (she would never call someone a moron even when their essays are filled with homophone errors. And they do it "alot"). 

 

 

 

 

Grey Molly, however, feels people should just suck it up, get with the program and for Christssakes, learn the right way to use it's and its. Guilty as charged Molls, mea culpa.

Your Imam Don't Dance and Your Ayatollah Don't Rock n' Roll

Apparently, we seem to have more in common with one of our Axis of Evil enemies, Iran, than we thought:

May 21, 2014--Six young people who were arrested in Iran for dancing in a YouTube video to Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" have been freed according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The director of the video, however, has not been freed.

According to the Iranian Students' News Agency, Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia ordered the arrests of the three men and three women for helping to make an "obscene video clip that offended the public morals and was released in cyberspace". Authorities forced the young people to repent on State TV.

Yep, that's obscene all right. Boys and girls together. Girls not properly chaperoned by a male relative. Girls with their heads uncovered. And they're dancing. Together. Such sexual innuendo in those hip shakes. AND THEY ARE HAVING FUN!!!

Sounding pretty familiar isn't it?

 

 



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reaction echoes that of the Dianne Wiest character in the this film:

"Happiness is our people's right. We shouldn't be too hard on behaviors caused by joy".

Up North, C has a Birthday and Weird Happenings

  

F un stuff-we were invited to our friends Ken and Karen's cottage on Black Lake which is south of Cheboygan and north of Onaway. Karen and I worked together many years ago at the Lansing Art Gallery and have remained pals. Curiously, we share the same birthday-how often does that happen?

I got up early and went out on the dock with coffee and a camera.




42 degrees with morning fog.



  



C and I kayaking, which I had never done before.
We saw a bald eagle-the first time either of us had seen one.


Karen and Ken had a wedding in Detroit so we had the place to ourselves for a couple of days. We went up to Cheboygan for some groceries and I noticed that we were only 15 miles from the Straits. Neither of us had seen the Mackinaw Bridge in years so away we went to Mackinaw City. Despite its given name, the sign as you enter states that it is only a village. Yep, 2010 census had only 806 souls living there but over the course of a summer, nearly 1.5 million visitors stop by. The place is packed with hotels (brief home to the Mackinaw Island daytrippers), fudge shoppes, and other touristy places. The historical park includes a light house and the reconstructed early 18th century Fort Michilimackinac, both overlooking the Mackinaw Bridge.

The Mackinaw Bridge

The Mackinaw Point lighthouse-in service 1892-1957.



Mackinaw Island

We had driven in from the east via Rogers City after visiting C's aunt and uncle in Tawas. About 11 miles west, I saw a sign for Ocqueoc Falls. Hmm, never heard of them. They seemed close to the cottage so one afternoon, C and I checked them out. Turns out they were only 12 miles from the cottage. The falls are the largest in the Lower Peninsula and are quite easy to find thanks to adequate road signs. There was, however, a ton of people, kids, dogs, babies (who brings infants to these things?). Now, the drop of the falls probably isn't more than 5 feet so kids as young as 5 or 6 were flinging themselves over the top. Both C and I noticed that unlike so many other public places where anxieties over lawsuits are acute-not so here. No notice that you jump, swim, frolic or be stupid at your own risk. Neither of us knew that the falls were so small and the river so shallow-we didn't bring swimming gear. The next morning, C's birthday celebration, C says "Let's go to the falls-it's early, maybe we will beat the crowd. It looks like rain, maybe people will stay home." She was right-just 2 couples with very small children and no one in the water. C went in while I, in my beach shoes, stayed in the river taking photos. You could get quite close to the falls-how often does one get such an opportunity?

Looking up river from the main falls. There are a series of smaller cascades both
above and below the falls.

The main falls.

Directly above looking over the edge of the right side of the falls.

The Water Girl in her element. As you can see, the water is not very deep. She had a blast body surfing. She described the experience as rejuvenating-much more than a hot tub.

Downstream looking back at the main falls.

Happy 55, sweetie!

Our friends catching the final rays of the day.

Weird happenings in the North Country

One night we were checking out the full moon when we saw a bright object flash streaking across the sky. It was big, close, low to the horizon and silent. What the hell was it?

-Meteor (fireball)- Most of the witnesses were dubious-too big and close. No arc in its flight path. Just seemed artificial. It appeared, streaked then went out.

-Failed firework rocket that didn't explode-None of us heard it launch nor did we see it fade out as it dropped.

-Space junk-This didn't occur to me until I searched online for postings from other witnesses. Turns out a huge piece of junk came down that night...in Australia.

Artist's Depiction

We're driving down US 23 between Cheboygan and Mackinaw City and I notice these odd plumes veering off the tips of the trees that border the road. I also see what appears to be an elongated funnel directly in front of me. C is conked out taking a cat nap so I just ignore it-getting on in the day. Probably just seeing some refraction through the windshield.

Well, I keep seeing them and wondered if at some lonely point in the road, all the power in the car was going to quit. Damn-no aerosol paint can in the trunk to X the spot. I check my watch and it hasn't stopped so when traffic let up, I slow and took a good look at the nearest plume. It's made up of tiny dots! These things are made up of zillions of little insects!!! C has awoken by this point and I ask her to verify. Yep, they're there. So who knows-gnats or "no-seeums"-why they were hanging around the trees like that and what explains the funnel shape over the road: It's a mystery.

Artist's Depiction

A pretty good vacation! Good friends, nice cottage, a chance to get out on the water, a birthday to celebrate, a natural water park and a couple of mysterious happenings.

Oh yes and a rainy evening, imbibing adult beverages and making up new rules for Pictionary. Good times! Many thanks to Ken and Karen for the invitation, their good company and tasty cooking.

Goodbye Mr. C

With relief, we bid a fond farewell to Mr. C. We're so glad we managed to keep him alive although I killed his tree. His owner returned from his trip home to Shanghai and reunited with Mr. C a couple of days ago. Mr. C was an odd critter-didn't interact, was uniformly stoic except occasionally opening his mouth wide and emitting a  sustained hiss. This usually occurred  when I evidently displeased him while spritzing water on his tree, which I thought was a tad ungrateful: chameleons commonly consume their water as it drips from leaves. He also behaved this way when C (no relation) opened his enclosure to shake out his daily meal of crickets. Well, just can't please you by providing the essentials of life.

He didn't do much except to sit on a couple of  bare  branches that I positioned over the tree in his enclosure. He spent most of his day basking in the UV lamp occasionally moving from one branch to the other, onto the enclosure screen, down into the tree to hunt for a cricket. That's it. Oh, he curled and uncurled his tail a lot.

You can imagine my concern one morning over coffee and the Times when out of the corner of my eye, I caught motion in his enclosure and heard a dull thud. Oh no! Dude, did you have the big one? (The pet shop reptile guru warned chameleons are prone to heart attacks especially in response to sudden movement). Of course, Mr. Stoic had nothing to say which is so different from our crew who are quite vocal about so many things. Eventually, I saw him slogging up his tree. I was puzzled-I hadn't made a sudden move. He was eating well. His color was good and bright (when ill or stressed, their color can dull). So, the next time I was buying crickets, I asked the reptile guru. "Oh, that's dropping behavior" he replied. "A bit of evolutionary development: if a chameleon has his sights on a meal or is faced with a predator, they will flee by dropping off a rock or a cliff up to 20 feet." Whoa!  "And, they will puff themselves up like an inner tube to cushion the fall."  Presumably, they probably bounce a couple of times. I wonder if there is a vid on YouTube?

His eating behavior is well-documented-the freakishly long tongue whips out, grabs dinner and retracts. C at first was not too keen on witnessing the crickets meeting their destiny. Furthermore, the sound of Mr. C eating them resembled the crunching of potato chips. Of course my response to this was to immediately bring up the ancient Lay's ad: Can't Just Eat One. Mr. C heartily agreed. Over time however, much like gawking at the aftermath of an accident, C's curiosity won out in fascination of watching the tongue at work. During her final feeding before we took him home, she thought something was wrong. He lunged at a cricket but suddenly stopped like a dog who had come to the end of his leash. Oh no, no Mr. C, don't croak on us now!!! Turns out she had closed the door on his tail after depositing supper. Sorry dude! She quickly opened the door and Mr. C, stoic as ever, moseyed up the branch and curled his tail. No harm, no foul.

So,  Mr. C-take care, good luck, it was good to know you.