This is among the most unusual things I’ve run across lately. Today I learned, that in 2009, somebody made a low-budget, melodramatic/comedic web series called “IKEA Heights” which was filmed, clandestinely, in the Burbank IKEA.
Well, almost clandestinely. Several episodes include store employees stopping the production because they don’t have permission to be filming. (From the Wikipedia article, it seems the company is amused by the series, but doesn’t want others to do the same.)
The series starts off as something soap opera-ish, but goes progressively off the rails before very long. The official(?) site seems to be down (it’s been 16 years after all), but the episodes are still on YouTube.
If you’ve ever wondered what an infestation of spotted lanternflies looks like, wonder no more. When I was out with Sweetie on Monday, I spotted a few of them on a tree along our route. Then I realized, the tree was smothered in them, almost certainly numbering in the thousands.
My first instinct was to swat them. But barehanded, with that many of them? That would have become quite gross rather quickly.
And while I’m not comfortable with going into a stranger’s yard to grab the hose (a sharp stream of water will supposedly kill the lanternflies), I havereported the infestation to the Maryland Department of Agriculture. But honestly, I don’t expect them to do anything with the report, a map of all the spotted lanternfly sightings in Maryland is going to look an awful lot like a map of Maryland.
Until a heavy rain two weeks ago, the sidewalk under this tree had become dark and sticky with a constant appearance of being wet. That was frass (a polite word for “bug poop”).
I had thought the tree was a sumac, perhaps with an aphid infestation. Now I’m thinking it’s more likely tree of heaven. (Again, not my yard, else I would have it removed.)
Some good news about the spotted lanternfly is that some of our native birds and other critters are reported to have found them edible. (Caveat: Birds find the lanternflies less edible if the insects have been consuming tree of heaven – which is a reason to get rid of this invasive plant.)
A firsthand experience came on Thursday when my wife and I went out for dinner at the Washingtonian Center. While we were waiting for our table, I swatted a lanternfly which then fell into the lake. It barely had a chance to get wet before a fish ate it.
When I hear an outlandish news story I’ll often find myself wondering if (and how) it could possibly be true. It’s surprising how often they are.
I recently ran across one of the finest examples of the art of public speaking. In 2023, author Ursula Vernon (writing as “T. Kingfisher”), won the Hugo Award for Best Novel for her fantasy novel, Nettle & Bone.
You can — and you should — read her entire acceptance speech on her Patreon. She starts off with gratitude and acknowledgement of those who helped her get there. But then, she does the unexpected and shares the kind of thing my co-workers and I refer to as a “Fun Fact.”
There is a species of water beetle that regularly gets swallowed whole by frogs. And while there’s a lot of things you can do to keep from being eaten, once you’re inside a frog, your options are severely limited. Generally you get digested. But this particular species of beetle said “You know, I bet there’s another way.” And it started walking. In fact, it walked through the frog’s digestive tract and out the back end.
This is 100% true, you can look it up. 19 out of 20 of these beetles will simply walk out of the frog, unharmed. It usually takes them about an hour, although one beetle speed-ran the frog in five minutes, which I’m sure was very exciting for the frog.
The moral of this story, if there is one, is that no matter how dark the situation, there is always a way through. And there’s always a light at the end of the frog.
First off, there is no way that recital could have failed to bring the house down.
And second, this is the kind of thing that when you hear it, you find yourself thinking, “No way! That can’t be true! Can it?”
That was my reaction too, and so dear friends, I did some research.
I’ll sometimes hear a phrase and make a random association to something completely unrelated. Frequently to some bit of music.
So when a co-worker recently had an insight into a problem and exclaimed, “Oh, oh, oh!” it should be no surprise that I latched on to an old commercial jingle for Oreos. “Oh, oh, oh, Who’s that Kid with the Oreo Cookie, licking out the creamy middle like he did when he was little?”
Despite being close in age, my co-worker had somehow never run across that commercial. The poor fellow has obviously been deprived.
So, here’s a classic Oreo commercial
And here’s a celebrity version, with Louis Gossett Jr.
We’ve all been there, you took a couple days off from work. Maybe you even took a week to go on vacation. And now you have to pay the piper. Because even though you were away from work, the work kept going on without you and now you have a gazillion emails waiting for you.
Here’s a quick tip to help you deal with that inbox in no. time at all. These instructions are written for Microsoft Outlook, but similar steps will work for most email systems.
Open your Inbox
Press Ctrl-A (on Mac, Use Command-A)
Hold down the Shift* key and press Delete
Click the “Delete” button.
And just like that, you’re completely caught up on email!
* Note: Using the Shift key on step 3 is critical.
