I heart the internets.

Every time I hear people wax on about how social networking, online dating sites, online learning, etc has replaced people's "personal" relationships I wish I had a story like this handy.

Three sisters in New York state found a kidney for their dad on Craigslist. Thats right. They posted an ad seeking a kidney for their ailing father and a California woman responded.

"The Craigslist ad was short and to the point: “Please Help Us, My Dad Needs a Kidney!” Jennifer Flood, 30, and her sisters (her twin Cynthia and older sibling Heather, 32) posted the message on Craigslist in a desperate attempt to find a someone willing to make the ultimate sacrifice: donate a kidney to a complete stranger without asking anything in return.

That ad launched a chain of events that eventually led the Pleasantville, N.Y.-based family to find such a person—a 48-year-old California woman named Dawn Verdick—who was willing to donate a kidney to their father, Daniel Flood, 68. The kidney transplant took place December 12, and the family is beyond grateful."

Its not totally unheard of for positive things, like reunited families, to occur through facebook and other online tools. We should be excited about all these resources! Although, I do remember reading a short story in a science fiction collection when I was a kid about a society that became so reliant on robots and technology that no one knew how to operate the robots. No one could turn them off because they had been going about their own business for generations. Then, I think, there was a guy who could do simple math by hand, and that was so impressive and unusual that he was either made king or stoned to death. I can't remember. I hope he was made king, because getting stoned to death for being good at math is really bogus.

Airplane Food Is Notoriously Bad, But Complain On, My Friend!

I am full of commentary when I am flying. I never cease to have a critique of the temperature, the space, my obnoxious fellow passengers, or, all too often, a permeating odor. The difference between me and the author of a letter to Richard Branson of Virgin Airways is that I keep my thoughts to myself (or maybe between myself and my traveling companion of the moment.). Have you ever had a flying experience so bad you would write a detailed email complete with digital photographs to the owner of the airline?

The letter begins like this:

"Dear Mr Branson

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.

Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation.

Look at this Richard. Just look at it: [see image 1, above].

I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert?"

I highly suggest you check out the full letter. And, pleasantly, Mr. Branson was concerned (or amused) enough to respond.

Abandoned But Not Forgotten

Just found this creepy/cool site. Abandoned But Not Forgotten is a site dedicated to photographs of sites that have been abandoned. I first checked IL, and found some great shots of the Toboggon Slides near where I grew up--I can remember running up these stairs, but I don't actually remember ever using the slides. I wonder how long they've been unused...

Some pretty creepy pics, definitely some question-raising places.

All The Single Ladies...

I know it can be hard to find that special someone...times are tough for the economy and also for romance. Don't fret though, because you can now hook up with that one person who truly shares your passions! Especially your passion for Nascar!

"Welcome to Nascar Match Dating and Free Personals!

This is the only online Nascar and racing fan dating site exclusively for Nascar singles to meet and date other Nascar fans for love and dating. Find your Nascar Girlfriend or boyfriend and your next Nascar Date now! It is completely free to place, browse, respond to personal ads, post images, start a blog and more."

For some reason I imagine this site is more popular in the South...

Its Hard Sometimes to Find Personalized Knicknacks

I often have a hard time finding crappy personalized products with my name. Sometimes, in a really touristy place like Orlando I might be able to find a Mickey Mouse mini-license plate, but thats only because there's probably a wall of 675,000 personalized name plates in 109 languages to serve the Small World of visitors they greet each year.

Usually though, I'm screwed and I'm forces to come home with a chili-pepper painted mug from Santa Fe with "Gene" on it, or maybe a belt buckle that says "Jesus" (because at least two of the letters are the same). My name isn't that unusual, and I have trouble. Its nto the best name, but at least its not something embarrassing like some Bart Simpson Prank--Amanda Hugginkiss, Seymore Butz, Mike Rotch or any other creative name-slam.

I mean, seriously. What name could be worse than I.P Freely? or Ura Snotball? Maaaaaybe Adolf Hitler. Well, its not like anyone would actually name their kid after Hitler...or would they?

Heath and Deborah Campbell of Holland Township, PA have gotten a little creative with their child naming responsibilities. The names of their three kids are JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell and Adolf Hitler Campbell. If you ask me, Aryan Nation is a pretty crappy middle name. The problem this family is currently facing is that the local ShopRite is refusing to put little Adolf's name on his birthday cake.

""We believe the request ... to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate," said Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman."

I'm pretty sure that if I worked at Shoprite as a cake decorator I would refuse to write Adolf Hitler in with my star tipped green frosting pen (you know, unless it was for some college history class celebration of his "death", or something) but can the company itself really refuse? Leave your thoughts in comments.

Post Script: This whole discussion really reminds me of this site. Awesome.

Post Post Script: ahhhh! The Cake Wrecks site (linked in the Post Script) actually has a post about the same topic. Double Awesome!

Isn't There One Very Important Question to Be Asked?

Man sprays 'toilet-papering' teens with fox urine

The Associated Press

Posted: 12/12/2008 12:34:38 PM PST

WILLMAR, Minn.—A 50-year-old man told authorities he was fed up with teens toilet-papering his house during homecoming week. This year, he decided to defend his property—with a squirt gun filled with fox urine.

Now, Scott Wagar is in trouble with the law. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Kandiyohi County District Court to misdemeanor assault and other charges. He was released on personal recognizance.

According to police, on Sept. 16, Wagar used night vision goggles and saw 15-20 people running toward his place. He told them to leave and sprayed them with the fox urine. He also struggled with one teen who he says grabbed him from behind.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Wagar says he's innocent, and has a right to defend his property. He says groups of teens have been toilet-papering and egging his house during homecoming for about eight years, and each year it gets more destructive.

He says he sprayed the kids with a mixture of one-third fox urine and two-thirds water because "it stinks, but it doesn't hurt anything."

Where the hell did he get the fox urine?

Kill Time, I Dare you

Today is a little slow, to say the least. I have been trading fun, time wasting websites with a few colleagues over the course of the last couple hours, which I would like to share at this time. Its amazing that there is such a demand for pictures of humorous things on the web. Is anyone doing any work anymore? The picture above is from engrishfunny.com a site dedicated to poking fun at awkward/funny/inappropriate translations into English from other languages. because of Engrish, I have been sufficiently warned not to point at the creature. There's plenty of fun to be had there.

Another good one I was just turned on to is the Fail Blog. A place where pictures and videos of failure come together in harmony. the photograph below, a display failure, depicts an unfortunate bookstore display of not-so-festive titles under the Happy Holidays sign.


These two sites can take up plenty of time while you are struggling to keep your job during the recession, listening to your hungry baby cry, or browsing your iphone on a city bus. There are only so many legitimate news stories you can read and still convince yourself to wake up in the morning, so you might as well rejoice on other peoples failures or bad English translations instead of cnn.com.

Post Script: I'm really thankful that my Firefox spell checker doesn't know what an iphone is. As soon as it suggests it correctly I'll know Apple is the messiah. Maybe by that point Firefox will stop suggesting "granulate" as the correct spelling of my last name.