beedogs.com

No, really, that's it: pictures of dogs wearing bee costumes, with just a splash of light wit.

Props to the Washington Post Express for sharing this site. The Express - it's more than just snarky comments about celebrities.

Today's reason to stay out of politics:

What you write in birthday cards becomes part of the public record. (See The Australian's reporting on the Miers nomination.)

Schoutout to Schelling

I'm glad that Thomas Schelling co-won the Nobel Prize for Economics this year. I find his work thoroughly engaging (and I thought he had won previously, so future my future mis-statements are now corrected). If you are interested, I can send you a 1984 lecture he gave on personal preferences that change with time and strategies of self-control. It's ten pages of great reading for anyone who's ever studied the rational actors who make the world of classical microeconomics go 'round, but it's also completely accessible and thought-provoking without any formal background (or interest) in economics.

Boom

You have undoubtedly been wondering, "What would happen if I put two hard-boiled eggs in a microwave for about a minute?" Wonder no more, dear reader, as The Elkridge Hollerer is reporting the news that you need to know. If the shells are intact when the eggs go in the microwave, they won't be for long, as the eggs in question will explode with spectacular completeness. Our investigation indicates that, afterwards, you'd be hard-pressed to find a piece of egg greater than a quarter-inch across.

I can't possibly communicate how funny this is. Kerry can attest to this - or at least to how amusing I find it - as it was my guffaws that woke her on Saturday morning following an uneggspected eggsplosion in the kitchen. When you try it for yourself, I suggest detonating your eggs under a Pyrex mixing bowl; that will greatly simplify clean-up, as you can just put the bowl and the rotating microwave platter in the sink/dishwasher, versus having to wipe down every square inch of the inside of your microwave. (If any readers have knowledge of Pyrex exploding in a microwave, please let us know ASAP, 'cause that doesn't sound like much fun.)

For the scientifically-minded among you, why, do you reckon, does the egg explode? That the shell should crack as the hot interior expands makes perfect sense. But I assure you, this is much more than a crack; this is a catastrophic containment failure followed by ovid disintegration. What's going on?

"And during the few moments we have left...

... I want to talk right down to earth, in a language that everybody here can easily understand."

Maybe Columbia Association board member Philip Marcus, of Kings Contrivance, is a Malcolm X fan, or maybe he just likes Living Colour. But when the need for a new sewer line in Howard County was the topic of discussion, he took those words to heart. Said Mr Marcus, "Popping manhole covers are really fun when they're in the movies, but in real life, sewage comes out of it."