Who's House?....Obama's House

You may recall we went to a park in Botswana

Aquarium Telephone Booth In France

Can you believe it's taken me this long to talk about Bacon?

So, thanks to Keith for telling me about the above pictured Bacon Explosion!!! Also, thanks to the liberal, Jew-run New York Times, for writing about it, at length.

Also thanks to Deborah for being so open-minded, both of my bacony-ways, and also of the part of the recipe where you weave the bacon, and also for sharing this with her friends. Finally, thanks to her friend Kristin, for finding this:

and also this:

Other Uses For Google Maps

Apparently, there are some great uses for the Google Maps Street View that you might find. So careful of what you do in public. The interweb is always out there, and you will get caught. Also, incase you needed another reason, stay the hell out of Pittsburgh.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)

I sent this around a bit, but for those who I missed, or who missed it:

It's just what it sounds like. Some guy asked his friend, who had seen only bits of the Star Wars Trilogy. Her re-telling is great, and also pretty adorable.

Enjoy.

NPH almost as good as Leslie Nielsen

from IMDB News

Actor Neil Patrick Harris was left red-faced at a TV academy event in Hollywood - after leaving his microphone on during a visit to the bathroom. The How I Met Your Mother star was on stage at a fan question-and-answer session on Tuesday to discuss his hit TV series along with co-stars Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders and Josh Radnor. But after leaving mid-discussion to visit the restroom, Harris was caught short when he forgot to turn off his mic - leaving the shocked crowd listening in. Harris was heard giving himself a pep talk, saying, "Wake up!" before being informed of his embarrassing broadcast by his publicist.

Is this real, or staged? Even aside from last week's "30 Rock" episode use of it, this is a pretty old, (and excellent) gag. I'm not sure which I'd like better, if it were an honest mistake, or a perfectly pulled of prank. Either way, that dude can do no wrong. Although, as I was reading this bit of news, I was hoping it was going to end up more like it did in The Naked Gun.

The Best Idea Since Springtime For Hitler

from IMDB News

Clint Eastwood's classic action film Magnum Force is set to be given an unlikely musical makeover. The Dirty Harry sequel, released in 1973, featured Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan, and now cult singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is planning to produce an off-Broadway musical based on the film. He says, "It's a film that seemed to be on all the time when I was on tour. By the fifth time (I saw it), I became addicted to it. It's taken a very strange hold on my life."

Three bald men get onto a train traveling 90mph...

I have a secret bar.

Everywhere I travel in this city, Philadelphia, as I like to call it: a big city and a small town at the same time....everywhere, everyone knows everyone. People who work in restaurants all know each other anyhow, but I always go to bars where my friends work, or sometimes, where my friends own the place.

Well I have a secret bar. It's in my neighborhood, where most of my friends live, but they don't know this bar. Only me. And I don't tell them, because sometimes, you just want to sit, and have a drink, and not bother anyone and not get bothered by anyone. Though I must admit that, of course, I've befriended some people there. But the drinks are cheap, the decor is full of character, and on Thursday nights they have live jazz until midnight.

And I can talk about this bar because, even if I told my friends about it, and even if I told them the name of the bar, they still probably wouldn't be able to find it. And do you want to know why? Well....I'll just tell you the name of the bar. It's called...

The Twilight Zone

Act I of last weeks "This American Life" was called "All Your Base Are Belong To Him", a reference to Guantanamo Bay.

That video will just make me laugh forever.

Izzard Gives Private Performance to Terror Victim

By John Scott Lewinski January 03, 2009 | 3:48:54 AMCategories: Comedy, Current Affairs, Movies, Television

Some stories are too cool to let slide even if they don't make the radar of the day's top entertainment stories.

Will Pike, a 28-year-old Englishman, was badly injured in the tragic Mumbai terror attacks -- shattering his body in a failed escape attempt. He has since returned to the United Kingdom and entered a spinal unit in a London hospital, hoping to walk again.

During Pike's ongoing recovery, he and his girlfriend missed their eagerly awaited night out to see British comic Eddie Izzard. Pike's father wrote Izzard, asking if the comic could send along a note to ease Pike's disappointment and depression.

Izzard refused. Instead, the star of The Riches and Valkyrie showed up at the hospital and performed his entire 90 minute stand-up set at Pike's bedside.

In reporting the appearance, Pike's father said it was the best medicine his son could receive.

Philly Actually Doing Something Right

3,500 calls flood new 3-1-1 center

By CATHERINE LUCEY
Philadelphia Daily News

luceyc@phillynews.com 215-854-4172

Philly's new 3-1-1 information line received 3,576 calls within its first 24 hours of operation - with public-safety questions topping the list of requests.

The new 3-1-1 nonemergency call line formally kicked off just after 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

"We promised you at the beginning of this year that we'd have 3-1-1 up and running by the end of the year," Nutter said during a news conference. "Now all Philadelphians only need one number."

All nonemergency calls - whether it's an inquiry about your trash day or a request to fill a pothole - should now be made to 3-1-1. A call-taker should be able to provide information, take a request for a city service or forward the call to the right department.

The 3-1-1 service will be available by phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Or citizens can use a walk-in center in room 167 in City Hall.

"3-1-1 can even say 'God bless you,' " Nutter joked at his announcement after someone sneezed.

Emergency calls for medical help or to report a crime should still be directed to 9-1-1.

During the first hours of 3-1-1, the top calls for information or services were about police, courts, the Streets Department, noncity services - for instance, help with utility bills - and prisons, according to the mayor's press office.

The call center had a "soft start" back in October, when calls to the City Hall switchboard started getting transferred to 3-1-1. The center is staffed with 57 call-takers and seven supervisors, according to Rosetta Carrington Lue, the call center's director, .

Managing Director Camille Barnett - a key architect of the project - said that the city had spent about $890,000 in start-up costs for the center, including software, consulting and training. The annual cost to run the center is estimated to be between $2.3 million and $2.5 million.

The city's initial plans for 3-1-1 had to be scaled back in the fall due to budget constraints.

Plans to buy a $4 million to $8 million custom-designed software system were shelved in favor of a cheaper off-the-rack model. The center is in a backup 9-1-1 emergency-call center, so the $4.2 million in renovations were paid for through 9-1-1 funding.

Improvements are still being made to the 3-1-1 system.

Barnett said that the city wants to enhance online access to 3-1-1, so that computer users can access the database themselves.

And the city eventually wants 3-1-1 to able to resolve most requests for service without transferring calls to other departments. *