Saudi Arabia finally has a beauty contest

SEATTLE, Washington - Women in Saudi Arabia have to stay wrapped up and are not allowed out in public without escort, but you can't say the same thing about the country's goats. A "Most Beautiful Goat" contest was recently held in Riyadh, featuring some of the ugliest goats imaginable, and the Jewish Blog Network has coverage.

Are Jews even allowed in Saudi Arabia? How did that blog manage to cover this?



Found via Boing Boing

Washington State: similar to the Moon

SEATTLE, Washington - NASA needed some Moon-like terrain to test its gear, and ended up in Moses Lake, WA.

It won't be long before Seattle-style Design Review Boards and Landmarks Preservation Boards start up on the Moon.

(found at Slashdot)

Sprinkles Cupcakes, Newport Beach, CA

SEATTLE, Washington - I was going to write up a review of Sprinkles Cupcakes in Newport Beach, but they wouldn't let me photograph the cupcake display so screw 'em. The staff's snooty air made Trophy Cupcakes feel like a dive bar by comparison.

Oh, and the flavor chart on their website is useless, I was there on Tuesday and the available flavors did not closely correspond to the chart.

No more dilation for me - at least not for my eyes

SEATTLE, Washington - At my most recent eye exam I went with the new photo technology that allows the doctor to use this newfangled camera to examine the back of your eye, instead of using the dilating eye-drops. This costs a bit extra but was worth it this time as I was immediately heading to vacation plus you get to keep the pictures.

The bright spot is the optic nerve.

Some shots from the zoo

LAGUNA BEACH, California - Some shots from San Diego Zoo - some hippos, an orangutan, and a baby panda.

Because "Hermaphrodite Brig" would be an odd restaurant name

SOLANA BEACH, California - Turns out Brigantine, NJ is not the only thing named Brigantine. There's a small group of restaurants with this name in Southern California, one of which I stumbled upon in Del Mar.

When I went to take pictures, I explained to the valet "yeah, I lived a few years in a town called Brigantine, it's a rare name, taking pictures", and he noted I was not the first person to come barreling into their parking lot referencing the tiny New Jersey community.

"Brigantine" is the English term for a particular type of sailing ship, and the American term for the same type is "hermaphrodite brig".

Gelato in Laguna Beach

SOLANA BEACH, California - Tutto Amore Gelato, Laguna Beach - try the spicy chocolate.

Shocking parking situation at Commerce Casino

SOLANA BEACH, California - What says class for your casino parking lot like parking the cars right among massive electrical towers? Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA.

First night in Orange County

SOLANA BEACH, California - Fortunately my greeting in Orange County wasn't this dramatic.

Fantasy vs. reality for California card rooms

SOLANA BEACH, California - Over the years, whenever I've seen ads for The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA, they've had the whiff of luxury - the swanky chandelier, the tuxedoed man helping his cocktail-dress clad lady out of a limousine.

The reality of course is far different - this is the self-park entrance to the Bike. Note the smokers and what appears to be two braceros - can I hire them to do my lawn?

Diner or bistro?

SOLANA BEACH, California - The sign to Grubby's Diner in Oceanside says "Grubby's Diner" however the credit card slip says "Grubby's Bistro". They have Wifi so I guess it's really a Bistro.

Penny at Belvi settles lawsuit with Charbucks

SEATTLE, Washington - In my unfortunate days of working on the Eastside I was a regular customer at one of the few espresso oases over there, Belvi Coffee in "downtown" Bellevue. A couple years ago the owner, Penny Stafford, filed suit against Charbucks for, among other things, their negotiation of exclusive arrangements with retail property developers that she alleged to be anti-competitive.

Turn out that Penny and Charbucks finalized a settlement in April. The news story is light on details as the settlement is confidential but notes that Charbucks tried to portray Penny as a "barista wanna-be". The fakers are (most of) the Charbucks baristas, Penny is as fanatical about beans and shot-pulling as anyone I've met.

I'll go try to squeeze some more details out of Penny.

An odd homage to Burroughs

SEATTLE, Washington - Due to the chaotic mess that was the writing and book-preparation style of William S. Burroughs, passages of text would appear in multiple works, and sometimes multiple times in the same work (some passages in Naked Lunch appear twice). Burroughs biographer Barry Miles seems to have pulled a similar stunt, though I'm not sure if it's mistake or tribute.

Here's one example. From Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible:

Stern had a friend called Harry Phipps, a 24-year-old, short, blond-haired, baby-faced, narcissistic American millionaire.

From Miles's The Beat Hotel:

Stern had a friend named Harry Phipps, a twenty-four-year-old, short, blond-haired, baby-faced, narcissistic American millionaire,...

Those look like the type of minor text changes that a student makes when trying to make it look like they didn't plagiarize something.

I saw some more examples but the former book is poorly indexed and the latter is not indexed at all so I'm not going to hunt for them.

Bad effects of moronic Daylight Saving Time switch still being felt

SEATTLE, Washington - I wasn't writing online a few years back, but in 2005 when our gallery of morons, the United States Congress, passed legislation to change the dates of Daylight Saving Time to "save energy", I told everyone "this won't save a bit of energy and it will cause all sorts of technical problems."

The law should have never been passed, considering Australia had done a similar shift in 2000 and energy use did not go down. It immediately became clear after the first shift that the United States was not getting any energy savings either. And to top it off, an academic recently did a study incorporating data from DST-renegade Indiana and concluded that DST shifts actually end up wasting energy.

As for technical problems, for the third time in the last 15 months (encompassing all three "new" DST shifts) we are getting bitten on the ass at work with data issues.

We would be better off picking Congress by lottery (giving us some random sample of the population) rather than elections, which allows smooth-talking hucksters, charming morons, and pathetic panderers to get into positions of power.

(I won't even bother here getting into how we should not have DST at all, it's a pathetic artifact of the past that should be eliminated, and Arizona deserves some credit for telling the rest of the country to go fuck itself on this issue.)

Seattle company offers stevia-sweetened soda, er, dietary supplement

SEATTLE, Washington - I've been avoiding Nutrasweet for a long time, and Splenda-flavored sodas don't hit the spot and are often made with several artificial sweeteners including Ace-K. About ten years ago I started ordering stevia on the young internet and mixing it with seltzer and lemon-lime juice to have my soda fix.

I eventually got to where I now just drink lightly flavored sparkling water, but sometimes I want something sweeter. Today at PPC I stumbled upon Zevia, a local company making stevia-sweetened sodas in four flavors. Of course, due to long-standing FDA nonsense you can't actually claim that stevia is a food or food additive, so these things are officially "dietary supplements" but proceed with the nod-nod-wink-wink. I had the Cola flavor and will try the others, they're $0.88 a can at PCC and allegedly are also for sale at Metropolitan Market.

Zevia store locator

Salty Caramel is the new Mango

SEATTLE, Washington - First it was the Sweet and Salty cake in Brooklyn...

then The Stranger started going gaga over a Salty Caramel treat at Fran's (in which they also mention a Salted Caramel ice cream at Molly Moon's)....

then last week I was eating at Mario Batali's Otto in New York City and my beloved Ricotta gelato was pulled from the menu, replaced with a Salty Caramel gelato offering...

and tonight, while making my semiweekly raid on a supermarket ice cream freezer, I see a new Häagen-Dazs flavor piled high with caramel, with a touch of French sea salt for good measure. The Häagen-Dazs website recommends shoveling the ice cream onto oyster shells.

Useless "Landmark" Denny's in Ballard finally allowed to die

SEATTLE, Washington - The rights of a property holder - enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, Magna Carta, that list nailed to Martin Luther's door, etc. - have for once held firm against the Seattle neighborhood busybodies.

The old Denny's in Ballard, which was granted Historical Landmark status in February, is probably going to be torn down anyway. In a meeting last week, the same board that granted landmark status voted unanimously that there was no economically feasible plan for the property that included leaving the building intact - so even though the building is still officially a "landmark" the owner can tear it down.

Click through on the link, you can see the Landmarks and Preservation board... the chin rubbing, the pen-twiddling, the hangdog expressions... they're in agony.

“It’s a very sad situation,” said board chair Stephen Lee. “It’s a bad situation to be in.”
..
..
Board chair Stephen Lee — who rallied the board to preserve the Denny’s three months ago — refused to talk to the media and was overheard telling someone, “I need a drink.”

He needs a drink? I need a drink after following this charade. I hope I hear when the wrecking ball will arrive, I'll be there.

Mara kept shoveling vodka down my throat

SEATTLE, Washington - One of my dinners in NYC last week was at Mara's Homemade, a mom-n-pop Cajun place in the East Village that I had been to a couple times when I lived in the city. I should be angry at Mara - I've asked to get off the email list a couple times since moving away, without success - but I was in the mood for fish.

I didn't order drinks on my previous visits, but this time I ordered a Cajun Martini (just vodka and Tabasco, it seems.) Mara brings out the glass and the shaker, pours the drink, and then tells me to tilt my head back. I get a shot poured right down my gullet. I swallow and she says there's more. I tilt back and take a second one. She says to tilt back again - I said why not just get bigger glasses? She said "he's a generous man." Hopefully she meant her husband David, mixing the drinks. So I took a third shot, finally emptying the shaker. I was lit up real good before even touching my martini.

Two young ladies at the next table also ordered drinks (one saw me getting served) and they each only got one shot down their throat. I don't know if David puts extra in the shaker for men or if it was just luck.

No moisture in the forecast - the bedroom forecast

NEW YORK, New York - I almost never watch television at home, but I've gotten into the habit of having the usually unobtrusive Weather Channel running all night as I sleep in a hotel. I keep the volume low - but not low enough not to notice that last night, they ran sexual lubricant commercials over and over and over.

The good folks at K-Y Jelly have introduced "K-Y Yours+Mine", a his & hers lubricant combination that apparently produces some beneficial chemical effect when the two concoctions come together during intimate congress.

There's at least four separate commercials, the Weather Channel had them in heavy rotation, at least one during every commercial set.

Met Life Tower at night - E 23rd

NEW YORK, New York - click for larger image

Female cows in India do have large horns, do not lay eggs

NEW YORK, New York - One of the places in my lunch rotation when I'm in NYC is the Kati Roll Company, even though it's a good 15 minute walk from the office. The menu is very simple - they offer up 10 choices on the menu, each of which is cooked up and wrapped in a paratha. Two of these make for a filling (albeit a bit fatty) lunch.

The menu was simple before, but it involved reading, so they've made it even simpler by introducing a picture menu. You have to distinguish a bit between the blob that represents a potato and the blob that represents minced mutton, but overall it should help people to order. The place is also adorned with Bachchan movie posters, so you can get some ideas for your Netflix queue.

Lower Manhattan from W 33rd St.

NEW YORK, New York - click for larger version

Chrysler Building from W 34th

NEW YORK, New York - click for larger version

Harrison Ford: aging, making a cash-grab, possibly gay

NEW YORK, New York - Madison Square Garden has dedicated its massive outdoor advertisement to the upcoming Indiana Jones movie. As the movie approaches, I can tell from your Google searches that one thing is on your mind: is Harrison Ford gay?

I've speculated on this before, and frankly I don't think that reprising the ruggedly masculine Jones character is going to help. Really, what evidence do we have that he's straight? The fact that he's been having sex with Calista Flockhart for years? That doesn't prove anything.

on flip-flops, the kind you wear on your feet

SEATTLE, Washington - A long comment thread has broken out on the Slog about flip-flops and the attractiveness of feet.

For the record: Feet are ugly (all 12+ billion of them), I've been buying my own footwear since the late 1980s and have never bought or worn anything that leaves my feet visible, everyone else should do the same as me, you need a damn good excuse for burdening others with the sight of your feet (e.g. you're about to step into the ocean), and while I frequently argue against classifying things as "mental illnesses" I would think there's no greater sign of delusional lack of self-awareness then having your ugly feet (and they're all ugly) visible to others in public.