Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

Bidding on Wilczek and Devine DNA continues, thanks to link-love not only from me but also from Greenpass Zoe (“People will do anything!”) and a lovely post by Julie titled “Clone Betsy Devine”. Frank, who is as we know a genius, points out that bidder “betsythedevine” is probably not too anonymous. Said bidder’s excuse is that he or she would enjoy a souvenir of an unforgettable encounter with blue and green painted aliens at the Rymdgymnasiet. Opposing bidder “oceanman” no doubt represents a secret evil clone-lab somewhere in the mid-Pacific.

The aliens were planning to destroy all life on our planet, but Odd Minde had persuaded them to hold off if the visiting Nobel Prizewinner and his spouse could give good answers to their many and diverse questions.

Fortunately, they liked the answers we gave (one of which was “42”), and instead of destroying the planet showered us with booty, including a puzzle showing the Northern Lights and a pin of a snowgoose (“kiruna”) that’s now on my jacket.

The eBay auction now has a photo of the ITEMS IN ACTION, but their photo doesn’t include the aliens, so I’m putting that up in this blog.

We’re oohing and ahhing over a new arrival these days–a trebuchet built by eccentric genius Kaden.
This was a suprise–and rather late–Christmas gift I ordered for Frank, after reading about Kaden’s toys in BoingBoing. I loved it that this particular hanging counterweight trebuchet was “based on the familiar Monty-Python “dead-cow-over-the-castle-wall” catapult.”

Kaden invites special requests–for Frank, of course, I wanted “lots of physics.” Kaden dug right into it:

This whole physics angle is challenging…I dug up a chunk of brass heat
exchanger tubing at Capital Salvage that I’m using half of the outer shell
of for the launch trough…representin’ thermodynamics in da hood, I guess.

I’m gonna put a hidden compartment in the inside of the weight box. Who
doesn’t like secret compartments, and the measurable discrepancy between
apparent volume and actual mass will serve as a piquant and ironic nod to
the ongoing uncertainty regarding Dark Matter.

Or not.

Levers we got covered.

More later…

K

The trebuchet arrived in a large wooden box stamped “ECCENTRIC GENIUS”–I’m sure we’ll find a use for the box somewhere too. So far we’ve used it to shoot blueberries (which the dog likes to fetch but also likes to eat), small potatoes, and more-or-less round chunks of portobello mushroom, which are too light to go far.

It’s a gorgeous object, and sits in front of the fireplace when nobody is using it to launch pieces of food. I asked Kaden if I could share some of his email, and he replied:

I’m glad the piece was well received, and that your fireplace is now
properly defended. Here’s some pictures I took of it prior to shipping…do
what you want with ’em, and blog like a crazed marsupial…as long as you
spell my name right.

It’s Kaden. Thank you, Kaden! We love our new toy.

Gene Kelly, singin’ and dancin’ in the rain–and somebody messed with it–and I loved it. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but take a look.

One small step for blogging, one giant surprise for the blogger: check out this “Unique Nobel Prize Winner 2004 Memorabilia“

I’ll tell you more later, but for now, please just go there to help make their click-counter go up.

Of course, if you happen to feel like bidding on what would indeed make a truly unique gift for that special someone….

Hey, Robert Scoble! This blogger has you beat! With more than a million words posted since September (and a boatload of free Blogger sites), “scamcitytm” must be the most prolific blogger yet. Just a few samples, from his/her wide range of interests:

“salam pax blog information exists in a large variety of formats and genres (facts, opinions, salam pax blog stories, interpretations and so on)… We undertook this research initially for ourselves because we have a genuine interest in salam pax blog. We now wish to share this information with you so that you can directly benefit from our research…”

“If you are truly interested in the very best in website design programs then be sure you click the link above. We have researched the website design programs subject extensively and can guarantee that the people have the best….”

If you have spent countless hours searching for single greek women information, relax, put up your feet because you have landed at web site which is a single greek women gold mine…”

Sad to say–and especially sad if you have spent countless hours searching for single greek women information–scamcitytm’s links all seem to lead to the same webpage, which has no information about salam pax blog, web design, medication programs, macromedia player, “halifax equitable life”, or even single Greek women, but does have a giant helping of Google ads.

I guess bloggers have truly arrived, if somebody like scamcitytm wants to be one.

10) BloJoCred conference

Did somebody at Harvard finally pound a stake through the heart of “Blogs-versus-Journalists”? I’m waiting to see if the zombie will walk again.

9) Chocolate sushi

The fifteenth superfood!

8) Ninjafish

I just met Chris Whipple, and now I’m enjoying his blog (Free sample: “I’ll be the one snuggling up to the one with the British accent.”)

7) Real life surprises despite #joiito and ninjafish

I finally got to meet Suw Charman this weekend. Newsflash to my fellow-fans of Chocolate and Vodka–Suw has a British accent. It’s not something you notice in IRC…

6) Born to Be Wild

Suw and Chris and RedHead and AccordionGuy came to visit and accordion music occurred and was filmed by Suw!

5) Wikipedia page of unusual articles

Bat bomb, nucular, Wilhelm scream, and more…

4) Happy birthday to Robert Scoble

A great party should make it more bearable to be “forty-something.”

3) Happy birthday to Susan Mernit

And Susan, a Bloggies finalist, has even more wacky sushi links!

2) Dave Winer’s back in Cambridge!

Dave W threw a great blogger dinner where I met a bunch more bloggers, spent even more time with Suw, and got a great Tshirt from Technorati’s David Sifry.

And the number one item I would have blogged if not snowed under…

I’m still shoveling snow!!!!

This story belongs in the blogosphere! Take it away!

I’ll be offline a bit this weekend because the wonderful folks at Weblogger are doing something helpful to my server. Thanks, Erin, for all the great Manila hosting at Weblogger.com–you’ve helped make this fun.

AccordionGuy’s “come-hither-Bill” was great before I got to it.

My excuse is that now my Gollum has someone to flirt with…

So I confidently expect that AccordionGuy’s every-growing Bill Gates collection will soon be included in the AOL snapshot for “bill gates.”

Kevin, if you want any of those snapshots animated so that they blink, my rates are verrrry reasonable…