Organic matters: A little girl’s potato experiment
September 5, 2011
Besides being as cute as a button, I found the content of this little girl’s video to be important. Elise decides to do an experiment to see how long it takes a sweet potato placed in a glass of water to grow vines.
Time needed to grow vines for conventionally-grown sweet potatoes, sprayed with “Bud-Nip:” Forever. No vines will grow.
Time needed to grow vines for organic sweet potatoes from the supermarket: After a full month, the potatoes yielded a few “wimpy little vines.”
Time needed to grow about a bajillion hearty vines from organic sweet potatoes from a local certified-organic market: Less than a week, and the vines that have grown are close to taking over the kitchen!
Young Elise goes on to explain that Bud-Nip is the commercial name for common herbicide Chlorpropham, and that it works systemically within the plant, so washing produce treated with Bud-Nip has very little effect on reducing the amount of this chemical that one would presumably consume. Bud-Nip is commonly used on conventionally-grown blueberries, carrots, onions, spinach, tomatoes, beets, and cranberries.
I think young Elise says it the best: “Which potato would YOU rather eat?”
Reverse psychology, Bugs Bunny-style
April 21, 2011
“Bueno, no. Vamos.” I loved this! And I think the kid really thinks he won!
via Urlesque
How in the heck do you use a duck press?
March 31, 2011
I saw a funny tool at a kitchen store the other day. It was marked “Duck Press,” and I assumed it was some kind of old-fashioned tool used to squeeze out more fat from duck skin or something like that. Reasonable assumption, I thought.
In an effort to find the “real” answer (or maybe in part to congratulate myself for having such finely-honed deductive powers!) I did some research, and found I was grossly (emphasis on the ‘gross’ part) mistaken.
Holy cow! Mundo, le presentamos a…SHAKIRO!
March 15, 2011
O sea, Rodolfo Burgos. Oye, de verdad canta idéntico, ¡es increíble!
To my grand delight, I saw a video of the REAL Shakira meeting Rodolfo/”Shakiro” – and two things struck me.
1. Shakira seems so normal and nice!
2. Wait, Shakira’s only like 5 feet tall, that guy looks teeny next to her!
Silent Monks Sing Hallelujah
December 23, 2010
Been MIA around here these days – but don’t fret. All is well, just super-busy! This video cracked me up, and in the spirit of the season, I share it here. Enjoy!
Chistecito
November 2, 2010
Ja ja ja!!! Saber idiomas es fundamental en cualquier trabajo con el público:
Un hombre llega a pedir trabajo a una farmacia, y el dueño de la farmacia le dice:
– OK, le puedo dar el empleo pero si usted habla inglés.
A lo que el hombre le dice:
– Claro, yo hablo inglés.
– Demuéstrelo y atienda a ese cliente que está entrando.
El cliente dice:
– ¿Hay ampolletas?
Y el futuro dependiente le responde:
– Welcome Mister Polletas! I’m Jorge.
via: Compostela Virtual
Conversation with an ibex – que super risaaaa
August 18, 2010
Recently, I found out about Amazon’s book trade-in program, and decided it was high time for me to look over my bulging bookshelves for suitable candidates. I found one book in particular that I was willing to part with that Amazon told me was worth $30. $30! I was delighted, since the only other plan I’d hatched about thinning my books involved just giving darn things away to our local Goodwill.
I flipped through the books in the “yes” pile to ensure there were no hidden flowers, notes, pieces of lizard skin or dollar bills tucked neatly between the pages, and suddenly, I noticed the unthinkable.
In my $30 book, a textbook I’d used during my Masters work, I’d written in the book itself. Gasp! I had defaced a book, but was quickly relieved to see that my crime appeared to be erasable. Somehow, I had had the foresight to scribble on those $30 pages in pencil. “No problem,” I thought. “I’ll just erase all the evidence.”
I dug out one of those long clicky erasers, and got to work. Sadly, three hours later, I found that I’d grossly underestimated the staying power of the humble pencil lead. My deltoid, exhausted…My lungs, full of eraser bits. I won’t even tell you what the carpet looked like.
The only upshot (besides hopefully guaranteeing the receipt of my entire $30!) is that I saw a few minutes of Jimmy Fallon, and he showed a piece of this video: The funniest thing I’ve seen in MONTHS. I haven’ t stopped laughing since! Enjoy!
Brilliant example of why I no longer live in Texas
June 21, 2010
Ugh. And, having lived there, I’m 100% sure that this is a true message to the TV station. Most prevalent attitude I observed during the decades I lived there? “I’ve got mine, so screw you.” Comments from YouTube users were pretty funny…
Sloth rescue sanctuary in Costa Rica
June 19, 2010
This may be reason enough to start planning a trip there – I’ve never been to Costa Rica, but since F has, it’s lower on our list of places to visit. I bet this much cuteness in a small space could change his mind!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
More info on the Sloth Sanctuary here.
via Miss Cellania
German supermarket has a “USA” section
June 18, 2010
I thought this was fascinating! In my town, the “ethnic foods” aisle contains a plethora of Hispanic, Indian, and Asian items from innumerable countries, but of course the underlying assumption is that “typical” products eaten by folks in the US are “normal.”
Here’s a short video tour of a woman’s quick perusal of the USA shelves, found in the ethnic section of a German supermarket. What do you think? What’s missing?
Vuvuzela Instruction Guide
June 18, 2010
Beaker does “Habanera”
June 15, 2010
Not sure this is exactly the performance that Bizet had in mind, but it’s awfully cute!
I loved this!
via Unclutterer
If you see something, say something. Or something.
June 1, 2010
I got a kick out of this piece by Rick Moranis, recently published a couple of weeks ago in the NYT. Bet you’ll find something in it that speaks to you, too!
via Schott’s Vocab
How do YOU pronounce “Eyjafjallajökull?”
May 11, 2010
I’m a language-friendly gal, but I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t do any better than these folks! My apologies, Iceland!
via Urlesque
First, Chavez joins Twitter, and worse – has nearly 200,000 followers.
Now, Evo is in the news. This isn’t brand new, but I still can’t believe que ese man sea tan ignorante…Evo spoke at an environmental conference in Bolivia last week, supposedly a serious event. Some highlights:
First, chicken causes homosexual deviation among men:
“…el pollo que comemos está cargado de hormonas femeninas. Por eso, cuando los hombres comen esos pollos tienen desviaciones en su ser como hombres…”
Baldness is a European disease, and it doesn’t affect men of indigenous populations because they eat different kinds of food than their European counterparts:
“…La calvicie, que parece normal, es una enfermedad en Europa, casi todos son calvos. Y es por las cosas que comen. Mientras, en los pueblos indígenas no hay calvos, porque comemos otras cosas”, afirmó. Y sacudió su densa melena para demostrar que no padece alopecia..:.”
Coca-cola, gran enemigo del pueblo. Plumbers have used it to dissolve even the nastiest clogs:
“…Además, el gobernante lamentó el gran consumo de Coca-Cola y relató cómo un fontanero que no pudo desatascar una tubería con químicos optó por utilizar esta bebida como disolvente…”
Not even Dutch potatoes are safe – you’d better peel them or risk consuming chemicals that are contained in the peelings. Better would be to eat local tubers only – skin and all.
Finally, you better quit using disposable plates in favor of traditional earthen vessels (never mind many of these contain dangerous levels of lead).
Extra-creepy robot mouth
April 22, 2010
Um, this is a little off-putting…bonus comment: “It sings better then miley cyrus…” Tee-hee!
If, like me, you feel way too creeped out to just walk away now, watch this instead. I promise it will help!
via Neatorama
I can’t stop laughing between the incredulous “Really?” in “Chicken-ese” and the fabulous glam rock guitar solo…
Do NOT miss this! I’m going to go watch it again now…
via AdFreak
Potty humor? This ad’s for you!
April 1, 2010
Tee-hee…
via Miss Cellania
“Nanny” Spanish class – que risa!
March 26, 2010
Are you tired of not being able to communicated with your Spanish-speaking help, but can’t afford to hire people who expect a decent wage? This class is for you!
This video has been around for a long time, but I saw it again today. The sad part? I know more than a few folks like this…Comemierdas, indeed!
via Miss Cellania
From Rednecklandia to the Emerald City 