Happy Birthday Dad!

I especially like the lollipop in his fur (from OffTheMark comics). Also a big HBD to my Uncle Luigi!

For Dads who like the math:
Did you know that in a group of 57 people the odds are 99% that at least two will have the same birthday? It's true! It's a math thingy called the birthday paradox.



p.s. You may remember Dad/Groundhog Day from previous posts.

Happy Birthday Mom (and Robbie Burns)!

Robert Burns was born on this day in 1759 in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland and died the 21st of July, 1796. Today (Robbie Burns Day) is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's favorite poet and bard. A handy time line of his life can be found here. Among other things he is author of the oh so famous song "Auld Lang Syne" (FYI translated from Scots auld lang-syne literally means "old long since" or "old long ago". I like to think it's use in the song is like "for old times sake" but that's just me). Did you know Auld Lang Syne was fitted to music after his death? It's true, it was a poem until then. He actually wrote almost no original music, preferring instead to adapt his poems to folk songs and music he found lying around. His poems were lyrical, heartfelt, sometimes bawdy, sometimes unabashedly romantic, sometimes thrilling, always in Scots dialect, and always with an essence of championing Scottish culture (in one form or another). Other less well known poems that I've heard of include "A Red, Red Rose", "Coming Thro' the Rye", and "A Man's a Man for A' That". Good times.

A Red, Red Rose (Mom warning! Although this is a happy love song, please note that this version is pretty sad sounding so you'll probably snivel):

A Man's a Man for A' That (this video is part of a series of similar animations of the famous Robbie Burns portrait saying some of his poems):

p.s. You know who does a good version of Auld Lang Syne? A new Scottish singer named Paolo Nutini. He also does a cover of Bang Bang that I like.

p.p.s. Robbie Burns night also means that Mom has had haggis on her birthday every year since little cp started highland dancing. Although this year she had Mexican at Mazatlan, her new fave restaurant. Happy Birthday Mom! xxxxxxoooooo

Update: Props to D for pointing out that I never actually mentioned that I was talking about Robbie Burns anywhere in the main body of the post. Silly me.

Why I stayed home today...

From Environment Canada's Official Weather Warnings:

City of Saskatoon
3:13 PM CST Saturday 24 January 2009
Wind chill warning for City of Saskatoon continued

Extreme wind chills tonight and Sunday morning.

This is a warning that extreme wind chill conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

Cold Arctic air and winds of 20 to 30 km/h are combining to produce wind chills of minus 40 to minus 45 over much of southern and central Saskatchewan tonight and Sunday morning. Lighter winds over southwesternmost regions will keep wind chill values out of the extreme category. These extreme wind chills will moderate Sunday afternoon.

At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 10 minutes.

Sweet llamas of the Bahamas! FYI click here for a handy guide to Canada's Wind Chill Index and it'll tell what's up with wind chill.

p.s. McShanty points to anyone who's nerdy enough to know who this is.

If these walls could talk...

From Off the Mark comics.

This comedy in history: Who's on first?

Spurred by recent talk at D's bday party. Abbott and Costello's classic comedy sketch "Who's on first?" from the 1930's. Although they didn't invent the premise (according to Wikipedia the first appearance of it in the moving pictures was in the 1930 movie Cracked Nuts):

Here's a cartoon version of a musical take on the sketch originally (1st shown on TV anyway) done by SCTV:

Here's a take-off of a political version of the sketch that was first done by Johnny Carson about Ronald Reagan, now a viral video featuring now former president George W:

The "Who's on first?" routine has been featured and referenced on everything from the Muppets to Robot Chicken. Another variant plays on the bit's fame by taking the humorous element (the misunderstanding) and killing it, thereby making it funnier. This has been featured on such shows as Kids in the Hall and The Simpsons (Season 10 episode 15) both of which have the straight man ruining the bit by explaining it (Dave Foley and Principal Skinner respectively). It's like someone shouted "Communication people!" at them. HaHa!

Twilight Buns

The always enjoyable 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Troupe has given little cp the gift of Twilight Buns. Bunny/Edward lovers everywhere rejoice!

p.s. You may remember the Bunnies from this post or this one.

We're Missing the Chile #6

Personal musings:
-Keep coming up with new random ways to do things differently than the Chileans.
-Chileans like to laugh at things that are different. Fun times.

Travel log: Isla de Chiloé aka Isla Grande de Chiloé
-You ride a ferry to get to the island
-Staying at cabin on Lake Natri (Lago de Natri)
-Went to Castro (the capital) and saw houses on stilts (palafitos)
-Saw wooden churches (UNESCO heritage site)
-Bought an alpaca sweater (CP note: You should have bought a people sweater!)
-Went salmon fishing but apparently didn't do it right (hearty laughter ensued).

View Larger Map

Archaeology nerd notes:
Evidence suggests that Solanum tuberosum tuberosum, the most commonly grown potato in the world, is indigenous to Chiloé.

Also, Chiloé has a very diverse mythology stemming from folklore from multiple indigenous populations mixed with Spanish conquistador fiddle-faddle, shaken (not stirred) and let stand in an isolated environment.

Did you know that Darwin visited Chiloé in 1834? It's true, he wrote about it in his diaries. If you're curious "The Voyage of the Beagle" can be read online in its entirety (either at Project Gutenberg or here), chapter 13 is about Chiloé. Anthropologically it's pretty interesting reading (*cough*ethnocentrism*cough*) although Darwin was a naturalist, not an anthropologist (Dammit Jim!). Here's an excerpt from December 1, 1834 when Darwin reached Castro, (keep in mind that Castro was the capital of the province until 1788 but didn't become capital of the province again until 1982):

Early on Sunday morning we reached Castro, the ancient capital of
Chiloe, but now a most forlorn and deserted place. The usual
quadrangular arrangement of Spanish towns could be traced, but the
streets and plaza were coated with fine green turf, on which sheep
were browsing. The church, which stands in the middle, is entirely
built of plank, and has a picturesque and venerable appearance. The
poverty of the place may be conceived from the fact, that although
containing some hundreds of inhabitants, one of our party was
unable anywhere to purchase either a pound of sugar or an ordinary
knife. No individual possessed either a watch or a clock; and an
old man who was supposed to have a good idea of time, was employed
to strike the church bell by guess. The arrival of our boats was a
rare event in this quiet retired corner of the world; and nearly
all the inhabitants came down to the beach to see us pitch our
tents. They were very civil, and offered us a house; and one man
even sent us a cask of cider as a present. In the afternoon we paid
our respects to the governor--a quiet old man, who, in his
appearance and manner of life, was scarcely superior to an English
cottager. At night heavy rain set in, which was hardly sufficient
to drive away from our tents the large circle of lookers on. An
Indian family, who had come to trade in a canoe from Caylen,
bivouacked near us. They had no shelter during the rain. In the
morning I asked a young Indian, who was wet to the skin, how he had
passed the night. He seemed perfectly content, and answered, "Muy
bien, señor."

And now for For D's enjoyment

From the HISHE website because today's caption is "Did you guys see the size of that chicken?" (from the movie Young Guns) we bring you:

How Star Wars IV should have ended:


p.s. Happy birthday D! Other captions include: You call THIS archaeology?

We're Missing the Chile #5

Personal musings:
Pestilence continues unabated (although it isn't impacting the quality of life too much)
The peanut butter is gone! Noooo!
The inefficient way of purchasing goods in the store in Rancagua is probably to keep people from shoplifting.
The flowers here are crazy and everywhere! (Here's a website for Moms. Let's all learn about Chilean native plants! Huzzah!)

New toys:
A spanky new cellular. It's with Entel but it's pay as you go (that's what everyone has in Chile).

New drinkies:
Melon con vino - basically a hollow honeydew with wine, sugar, and melon chunks. Mix and pass around. This video uses a cantaloupe. Recipes vary. (CP note: Also a Chilean punk band. I kinda like them even if I don't know what they're saying, they have a few downloadable songs on PureVolume).

Travel log: Valparaíso
Went on a boat ride. It was a blue and white boat, just picked the one that the sales guy didn't look whacked out.
Saw war ships in the harbour
Saw seals
Beach was pretty but cold (chilly if you will)
Bought a T-shirt that says "fin del mundo". Did you know that the most southern point of Chile is only 20 minutes from Antarctica?



View Larger Map

Travel log: Viña del Mar
Got hit on by a bus driver while walking with a new buddy. Was probably a good thing he was looking at the tall gringas because at least that means he saw them and wouldn't run them over. They'd be the only things he wouldn't run over.
CP note: Did you know that Viña was the birth place of Alberto Hurtado (a Catholic saint)? It's true! Also, Tom Araya (from Slayer).

View Larger Map

Merry Boxing Day

The .gif image to the left is from the Bear and Kitten comic (their animated gif contest). Reminds me of little cp's kitten Thea (see right, click to embiggen). She just couldn't help it! She snapped!

Also, this is what the house is like (from Strange Brew).

We're Missing the Chile #4

Feliz Navidad todos!
















New Discoveries:

Mantecol - the irrsistable argentinian candy bar

Indio Pícaro - hahaha...gross.

Claymation Christmas

Two clips from "Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration", one of my favorite Christmas specials when I was wee. Ahh memories. I loved this one so much more than Charlie Brown or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but don't remember them ever showing it after it first aired in '87.

We're Missing the Chile (#3)

Personal musings:
Got sicky. Turns out it was pestilence. Gram says it's common to get sick after long flights.
Dancing Reggaeton takes more drinks than just one. YouTube it if you aren't scared...it's like an interpretive dance of sex!
The unregulatable shower temperatures prompt yelps of "Aye!"
Remember not to flush the toilet paper.
Greater than a 1:1 ratio of guys to girls helps with stemming the flow of cat calls.
The food:
Chinese food is better in Chile
Made gnocchi which turned out good but the sauce was crazy (more like salsa).
Piscola=good. Also good is Pisco sour (but Señor says Peruvian ones are better than Chilean ones though).
Went on search for peanut butter (crema de cacahuete aka. mantequilla de maní). Found it on the top shelf behind a post. Turns out others seem to like it too because it keeps lessening when her back is turned.

More humorous signs:
Wet floor sign (Precaucion! Piso Mojado!). It reminds CP of this "Caution! This Is Sparta!" image that was going around the interweb. Heehee.

Habla Chileno?:
Little cp says "no" like a Clilean now. Kind of a singsong "nuuhoao" sound.
Speak slowly dammit! One at a time!
Starting to lose English ("Let's go back to that...building thingy...where our beds and TV is").

Sites seen:
Unnamed Chinese food restaurant in Santiago.
More peeps (everyone lives right there:)
Kamikazee discoteca.

View Larger Map

Cooking with Chickens! (#2): Gnocchi

Gnocchi (aka. gnocchi di patata) are little potato dumplings that are eaten like pasta (i.e. with sugo or cheese). They are a tasty Italian treat that can't be beat and is one of little cp's favorites. FYI It is pronounced "nee-yo-kee" and comes from the word "nocchio" which means a knot in wood (as in Pinnochio). From what I understand, in Toscana (Tuscany) some call them "topini" which means little mice (as in Topo Gigio). I don't really advise ordering them as that anywhere else though.

Ingredients:
1kg (2.2lbs) potatoes
1 egg
300g (11oz.) flour
salted water

This video is OK recipe-wise, but is clearly Inglese in its approach. First you don't have to use rock salt, regular salt is fine. Basically, make some mashed potatoes. But, no extras like milk or butter. You can season it if you really want to but if you boiled them in salted water you probably won't need any more salt (or anything really, maybe some salt in the water when you boil the gnocchi if you want), mix in egg and flour to make dough. Sometimes if people want to get fancy they add things to the dough like spinach puree or tomato, but that's pretty crazy. Anyway, you cut the dough into gnocchi by rolling a small portion into a finger-thick string and chop them off. In the video they leave them like that (Blasphemy!), but I assume it is because of how they served them with oil). It's much better if you shape them. We squish and roll each one with two fingers to make a folded indent, which makes some texture to catch the sauce. Some people roll them onto a fork (or gnocchi board), over the zester side of a 4-sided cheese grater, or whatever. It's all good as long as it's done with love (and preferably painstakingly).

Now, the biggest thing that can go wrong is to over boil them. If you do that, they might turn to rubber, sludge, or even disintegrate (depending on how long you boiled them and the consistency of the dough you started with). It's best not to boil too many at a time because they will float when they are ready to come out. Also, some people fry them (with onions, etc. like perogies) instead of boiling, but I've never had them like that. As for serving, I've never seen anyone eat them with olive oil like in the video, but I assume that is why he didn't shape the gnocchi at all (as I said, the shaping process is to make it so the gnocchi will catch and hold sauce, but who wants to eat dumplings with puddles of oil in them?). We always eat it with tomato sauce or with butter and Parmigiano. But, to each their own I suppose. So there you have it! Buon Appetito! Next time, Nonna's chicken soupa...or maybe sugo...whichever I feel like.

Simpsons References for Moms #6

"Even running is a kind of dance"

Usage:
1) directly, referring to running and how it is a kind of dance
2) more commonly, by replacing "running" with any action (eg. Even going to Chile is a kind of dance), for comedic effect esp. if an individual performing the action is in an anxious state of mind.

Reference to:
Season 13 episode 15 ("Blame it on Lisa") in which the Simpsons go to Brazil. Homer is kidnapped and they come upon Carnival in Rio but Marge is too busy worrying to dance but,

Brazilian: You cannot run from Carnival, because even running is a kind of dance! Another Brazilian: (in flames) I am on FIRE and I dance!
Marge: Well maybe I can dance and worry at the same time.

Other quotes from this episode:

Dance Instructor: This is where we invented the Lambada and the Macarena. We are now developing our most powerful dance, the Penetrada! It makes sex look like a church.

Renaldo: Now the monkeys cannot bite me! I am like sugar to them!

Homer: Why did you make a prank call to Brazil, boy?
Bart: But I didn't!
Homer: (Yelling) Choke on your lies!

Lisa: Why must you fight with every utility?
Homer: I told you, I have too much time on my hands!

Homer: Wait, wait, wait, so in August it's cold?
Lisa: That's right.
Homer: And in February, it's hot?
Lisa: Mm-hm.
Homer: So it's opposite land! Crooks chase cops, cats have puppies!
Lisa: No, Dad, it's just the weather.
Homer: So hot snow falls up?

Pilot: This is your captain speaking. The local temperature in Rio de Janeiro is hot hot hot! With 100% chance of passion!
Co-Pilot: You make that joke every time!
Pilot: It was that joke that made you fall in love with me!

Homer: I have a bladder the size of a brazilnut!
Kidnapper: Around here we just call them nuts.

Other fun situations from this episode:
Bart watches a Xuxa parody named Teleboobies.
Homer and Bart go to the beach and are required to wear speedos on Copa Cabana beach because the lifeguard says there is a dress code.

The Mind of π (#1)

So it comes to this. A post series on the musings from the mind of my Dad (π has always been my Dad's symbol). You may remember that my Dad inspired half of the title for this blog (click here for other Dad mentionings). Dad thinks his first post should be about his idea that superheroes all come from Genesis 6. Basically, all superheroes have angel genes and that gives them their abilities (even Batman). Don't even get him started or he'll go on and on worse than when I talk about my "Nothing Nothing" theory of the Universe.

Now we aren't talking about a scenario like in the movie Hancock or the myriad other movies where an angel is the hero, or comic book angel types (someone made a list of all the angel-esque comic book superheroes here, there's 73 by their count), or the X-men nerds among you (I know there's at least one) may remember an angel character in there. These are are different because they are all actual angels or chararcters that vaguely look like angels, whereas Dad is talking about a demigod kind of concept (like Hercules or Samson) where superheroes are the descendants of angels. He envisions a movie that is kind of a cross between "Unbreakable" and "Jurassic Park" where geneticists cobble together the "angel genes" from different people to create some crazy genetic angel Frankensteins...and mayhem ensues. I dunno, I'd go see it. It's got just the right amount of blasphemy.

You're Wrong!

The FSM will show us the way!

We're Missing the Chile! (#2)

Cursory observations:
-Dogs everywhere (that is #2 on the Chilean danger list...#1 is men)
-Palm trees everywhere (summer, 30 degrees during the day, still wearing fuzzy socks at night)
-Police cars are green
-The street signs are whacked out (Examples include: speed limits signs have a red circle with a number in the middle; pedestrian crossing signs have different people on them; they're in Spanish)

Personal victories:
-Figured out what to do at the airport (missed connecting flight due to inclement weather so went to Dallas instead of LA, put luggage in the right place, talked to the right people, got through customs, got a visa. Woohoo!)
-Kicked a pigeon in Santiago (heh heh heh)
-Attempted the "Himno Nacional de Chile" on Blackie (the pocket trumpet).

Sites seen:
-The Palacio de La Moneda in Santiago (saw Freda paintings, she was probably crazy). Map.
-Mall del Centro in Rancagua (went to Yogen Fruz, they have those in Chile too). Map.
-Unamed restaurant on outskirts of Rancagua (had empanadas out of a brick oven and the place had a dirt floor and flowers on walls and ceiling! It was great!)
-Street vendor with an alpaca (snapped a photo, thought it may have been a vampire alpaca, will check to see if it shows up in the picture)

Personal musings:
-Itchy nose (allergies? pestilence?)
-It's weird being a minority and being "muy alta"
-Can you feel like you belong but not understand what the heck is going on? Why yes...yes you can.
-Cats are comforting.

Current irritations:
-Got hit on by some guy (didn't understand what he said, which was probably a good thing)
-Pesos (there's so many of them!).
-Can't speak Español yet.

Did You Know:
-The presidenta de la Republica de Chile is Michelle Bachelet Jeria. An inspiring woman who has a graduate degree in medicine, has survived torture and exile, and became the first female Chilean president in 2006. Also, her Mom is an archaeologist.
-The symbol for the Chilean peso is $. One Chilean peso = 0.00187987503 Canadian dollars so that means that for the sack of oversimplified conversion 50pesos= a little less than 10cents; 1000pesos = a little less than 2dollars; 2000pesos = about 3.75dollars.

Shoe-icide Attack

HaHa! I bet you thought it was going to be this:

p.s. My Dad thought the shoe-icide joke was so hilarious that he told it to everyone all day at work. So I had to put it up.

We're Missing the Chile!

So little cp is off on her Chilean/South American adventure! But not without being rerouted through Dallas instead of LA. Crazy winter. Well she won't be seeing any of the white stuff for a while! Stay tuned here for updates on her progress in the "We're Missing the Chile" series. You may also notice that I've embedded a map on the right which looks like this:

View Larger Map
but smaller. I'll update it as little cp passes on the info. Hurray! You're livin' the dream! Remember, even going to Chile is a kind of dance!

p.s. The title is a reference to Season 8 Episode 9 "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer".