I bought a waffle iron at a garage sale this weekend. The first time I tried to use it was a little crazy because I was unaware of how much potential waffles have for sticking to the grill.* I worked through a couple of batches, and by the end of it had some damn good waffles. Today I decided to get a little creative. I made five different batches of waffles with extra ingredients I had hanging out in my freezer and pantry. I made walnut waffles, cranberry walnut waffles, coffee waffles**, blueberry waffles, and blueberry cinnamon walnut waffles. I also used sunflower oil this time around which I think made a big difference. So, now I have a bunch of yummy waffles to grab on the way to work if Jacob doesn't eat them all. Yay!

* Despite my mother's amazing cooking abilities, I have absolutely no intuitive kitchen skills. I guess I missed out on that gene, and it sometimes makes me feel like less of a woman.
** Coffee waffles = Bad Idea. Don't try it.

- In an article about Tidal Acceleration : "About 2.1 billion years from now, the continual increase of the Sun's radiation will cause the Earth's oceans to boil away, removing the bulk of the tidal friction and acceleration. Even without this, the slowdown to a month-long day would still not have been completed by 4.5 billion years from now when the Sun will evolve into a red giant and likely destroy both the Earth and Moon."

- Puerto Ricans have been included in the compulsory draft, when it has been in effect, yet Puerto Ricans residing in Puerto Rico cannot vote in the U.S Presidential election, nor are they represented by a voting U.S. Representative or Senator.

- During the American Civil War, when the state of Louisiana seceded, Winn Parish in northwest central Louisiana refused to secede, thus, in effect, seceding from the secessionist state to remain a Union enclave during the war.

- Some species of anglerfish display extreme sexual dimorphism. Females are typical anglerfish, while males are tiny rudimentary creatures with no digestive systems. The males must find a female and fuse with her – he then lives parasitically, becoming little more than a sperm-producing body. A similar situation is found in the Zeus water bug Phoreticovelia disparata where the female has a cavity on her back where males live permanently attached.

- Perfumes are classified by the concentration of perfume oil as follows:
Perfume extract (Extrait): 20%-40% (IFRA: typical 25%) aromatic compounds
Eau de Parfum (EdP): 10-30% (typical ~15%) aromatic compounds
Eau de Toilette (EdT): 5-20% (typical ~10%) aromatic compounds
Eau de Cologne (EdC): 2-5% aromatic compounds

- The now extinct passenger pigeons had one of the largest groups or flocks of any animal, second only to the desert locust. They lived in enormous flocks, and during migration, it was possible to see flocks of them a mile (1.6 km) wide and 300 miles (500 km) long, taking several days to pass and containing up to a billion birds.

1. Put your iTunes, on shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

1.) Are you a male or female?
Hanging on a Star - NIck Drake

2.) Describe yourself?
The Sweets - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

3.) How do you feel about yourself?
Aerials - System of a Down

4.) Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
Whenever I Breath Out You Breathe In (Positive Negative) - Modest Mouse

5.) How do you feel about your crush?
Hand In My Pocket - Alanis Morissette

6.) Describe your current location:
Exit Does Not Exist - Modest Mouse

7.) Describe what you want to be:
Team Zissou - Seu Jorge

8) Describe your best friend:
The One I Love - R.E.M.

9.) Your favorite color is:
3rd Planet (LIVE) - Modest Mouse

***Ok, I have A LOT of Modest Mouse....like a little over 5% of my library****

10.) You know that:
To Know Him is to Love Him - Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton

11.) What is the weather like?
Body Movin' - Beast Boys

12.) If your life was a television show, what would it be called?
Country Road - James Taylor

13) What is life to you?
Cicatriz E.S.P. - The Mars Volta

14.) What is the best advice you have to give?
humpin pumpkin - Modest Mouse

15.) Describe your love life:
Double Bass - Gorillaz

16.) How are you going to die?
Voi-la Intruder - Gogol Bordello

17.) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Sugar Water - Cibo Matto

18) What do your friends think of you?
King of the Rodeo - Kings of Leon

19) What is your funeral song going to be?
Don't Fade Away - Willie Nelson

20) What are you going to repost this as?
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - Radiohead

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant;

They too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

Many persons strive for high ideals,

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the council of the years,

Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a healthy discipline,

Be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here,

and whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God,

Whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Author Unknown although some maintain that this piece was written by Max Erhmann

I was having lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant today and thinking about how much I love the pickled cucumbers. I tried to make them at home and it was a complete failure. Whatever I made from a recipe online was completely inedible. I decided to ask the waitress if she knew what they used to pickle their cucumber and see if she could give me some hints. I was totally shocked when she not only wrote down the ingredients for me, but gave me a bag with a bit of the "secret" ingredient, their homemade chili paste. The service at this restaurant is always great, but today she got close to a 50% tip.

Mario and I decided to make up a quiz that is much more fun and, I suppose, relevant.

1. Would you rather fart in public or pee on yourself in private?

2. What was your favorite cartoon?

3. What was your favorite Halloween costume?

4. What was your favorite Halloween candy?

5. If you were a MLB player, what would be your plate music?

6. Where do you stand on Salt and Vinegar chips?

7. Why does Matt want to fuck a kangaroo?

8. Do you think being a cop makes someone a douchebag, or are most of the people who become cops douchebags from the get-go. In other words: Which came first, the cop or the douchebag?

9. Do you think you should dispose of the US Flag after it touches the ground?

10. Do you really think we landed on the moon?

11. Do you think English should become the official language of the United States? (no, Bubba, as of yet there is intentionally no official language)

12. How much do you love Feta Cheese?

13. Do you think the United States should adopt the Metric System?

14. Which one of your friends has the best nickname?

15. How do you feel about couches on porches?

16. Do you feel that your education has prepared you for your life to-date?

17. Do you believe we should colonize the moon?

18. What do you think is the most foul smell?

19. What is your favorite beer?

20. What do you feel is the most underrated movie?

It became the most controversial Dutch TV programme ever, and a talking point from Brussels to Berlin.

Could BNN's Big Donor Show really be as "crazy" and "unethical" as it was cracked up to be? Broadcaster BNN kept its cards close to its chest, and during the programme's final moments it became clear why.

Lisa, the terminally ill woman who was giving away her kidney as a grand prize, turned out to be Leonie, an actress. Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, for one, must have heaved a sigh of relief.

This is not the first time that a reality TV show has caused a stir. Here are some examples of previous shows that hit headlines.

-THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MIRIAM (UK)
Six men were invited to spend several weeks wooing an attractive woman. The contestants were warned that there would be shocks, Miriam said
But they threatened to take legal action when they found out that the object of their desires was a transsexual. Some of the contestants on Sky One's programme were seen in intimate situations before learning that Miriam had been born male.

"I made some good friends on the show and I hope that we can all have a happy reunion one day," said Miriam.

This seemed unlikely; the men received undisclosed payouts before the programme was broadcast in 2004.

-SERIOUSLY, DUDE, I'M GAY (US)
Two heterosexual men were to appear in a reality show where they had to persuade friends, relatives and strangers that they were, in fact, gay. The winner was to have been rewarded with $50,000 (£25,000)

As well as providing accommodation in a trendy loft apartment, the Fox network planned to find them flatmates who were homosexual, send them to gay-friendly nightclubs and line up blind dates with other men. A panel would then decide which of the contestants was the most convincing homosexual and pay out a cash prize.

But the show was scrapped before it could be broadcast in 2004, following an outcry from campaign groups including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

-LAPDANCE ISLAND (UK)
Up to 20,000 people applied to take part in a series which would supposedly have seen 10 men stranded with 40 lapdancers - with no touching allowed.

But the trailer and the accompanying online application form were a part of an elaborate joke, developed by E4's The Pilot Show. Would-be contestants were asked to provide references and to explain how they would deal "with high levels of lapdancing".

Another fake idea broadcast on the same programme, the Spaceman, promised to send one lucky contestant to the Moon.

-SPACE CADETS (UK)
They thought they had blasted off into space from a cosmonaut training camp in Russia - but in fact, they were stuck in a fake spaceship in a warehouse in Suffolk.

Contestants on Channel 4's show were strung along for two weeks in 2005, with the original line-up of 10 whittled down to three "winners". Each of them received £25,000 for their efforts, although they did admit to being disappointed that they had been fooled. They became suspicious after being asked to hold a ceremony on their "spaceship" for a celebrity Russian dog called Mr Bimby.

-BIRTH NIGHT LIVE (UK)
A boy was born by Caesarian section during Five's live broadcast from a maternity unit in Nottingham.

Viewers saw the "smooth" arrival of baby Caleb, which visibly moved co-presenter Andrew Castle and left him "quite emotional". The production team followed several heavily-pregnant women in the days before last October's show. There were no natural deliveries while the show was on-air, although one woman gave birth a few minutes before transmission and another had her child straight after it finished.

Five years earlier, US network ABC showed five live deliveries on its programme Super Baby Tuesday.

-DESTINATION MIR (US)
Devised by British producer Mark Burnett, who oversaw the US version of Survivor, this NBC series had intended to send a viewer to the Russian space station Mir.

About $40m (£20m) was to be spent on the show. However, its development was plagued with difficulties - not least the Russian space agency's decision to bring Mir down after 15 years in orbit.

On entering Earth's atmosphere in 2001, it disintegrated, along with any hopes that the programme would be broadcast.

-WHO'S YOUR DADDY? (US)
It must have seemed a good idea to the Fox network at the time - take people who were adopted, put them before a line-up of strangers and ask them to pick their real father.

A woman won $100,000 (£50,000) by correctly spotting him and was then reunited with her real mother as an added bargain.

It was a "useful and empowering" experience, Fox said at the time of the broadcast in 2005, but a relatively low audience of about 6 million people tuned in and one Fox affiliate in North Carolina refused to screen it.

And the US National Council for Adoption berated the decision to "commercialise" such a "very personal, meaningful experience".

-I WANT YOUR CHILD AND NOTHING ELSE (NETHERLANDS)
Two years ago, Dutch network Talpa broadcast a trial episode of a show in which a woman searched for a sperm donor.

The channel - owned by John de Mol, the producer behind the Big Brother format - decided to let men e-mail the contestant in response to her appeal.

But this pilot edition was not developed further.

I recently acquired a lovely Moth Orchid, aka Phalaenopsis. This morning on the way out the door to work I noticed that Phalaenopsis had TWO open flowers. Look how purty:

Before

After

I'm wondering if I should pick off one of the two other buds to make these last longer.....any thoughts?

My job requires that I spend a good amount of time at car dealerships everyday. One thing that has always bothered me is all the crazy shit dealers do to the cars in their parking lots like ginormous balloons tied to ribboned ropes and the such. I mean, is that going to be the thing that makes John Q Public say "YES! I want THAT car!" Balloons??

((Lady in the back says "It's to catch people's attention."))

Riiiight. Because the five acres of identical vehicles isn't a clue. And besides, what percentage of the population is in the position to drive la-la-la through town and then "Hey, are those cars for sale? I want one!"? Pretty much every person who goes to buy a car goes to the dealership with intention; they don't need to balloons to guide them there.

This one day boycott everyone is trying to organize is just so silly. One day isn't going to make a poop of a difference. If you really care about gas prices there are much more reasonable options:

-Get a more fuel efficient car. If you want to drive a Hummer, enlist. Otherwise, you just look like a douche.

-Carpool, bike, walk, take public transport. You know, take one for the team. You have to make sacrifices along the way.

-Use alternative energy sources. Promote political candidates and ordinances that fund/support alternative energy. Constantly supplying the same input will only result in the same output.

In the meantime, GET OVER IT! Yes, in countries like Venezuela gas is government subsidized and it only costs like, 30¢/gal. But in other countries with economies similar to ours consumers are paying 2-4 times what we are paying. Of course, their governments have much stricter fuel standards for automobiles, but that's a whole 'nother story.

In short: Stop sending me chain emails about this!! and rumors about cell phones starting fires at gas pumps and getting a windfall of cash by forwarding this email 20 times and angels and puppies in clouds. Just stop.