Now I'm Afraid To Drive Under Large Interstate Highway Signs

A still from a dashcam video showing a large freeway sign
suddenly falling on a car in Melbourne, Australia. 

Those big green signs on Interstate Highways are a dime a dozen, pointing us to which exit gets us to which town, or whatever.

These signs are all over highways all over the world, including Australia. This week, on a pleasant summer day in Melbourne, Australia (it's summer down there, for those who don't know), a giant highway sign crashed down on a car taking a freeway exit.

The dashcam footage below shows the sign crushing the car. The worst damage to the car was on the right side. In Australia, like England, the driver's side is to the right.  Still, miraculously, the driver, a 53-year-old woman, was hospitalized with minor neck injuries overnight and is expected to make a full recovery.

No word yet on why the sign came down on a calm, windless day with no storms around, but now the prospect of one of these coming down is going to be just one more reason to be worried while driving down the Interstate.

Here's the video:

Why Did This Weirdo Lick A Doorbell For Three Hours?

This weirdo was caught on home security cameras licking a
doorbell for three hours. I'm sure when they catch this
guy some people will want to know why. 

This story has gone viral, and I can see why.

People in Salinas, California, and pretty much everywhere else are wondering why some weirdo was licking a doorbell on a pleasant looking house in that city.

The homeowners had installed video surveillance about a month ago. They weren't home when this happens, but they get alerts on their phone when there's a lot of activity at the house.

They reviewed the surveillance footage, and found this idiot licking the doorbell. For three hours.

The video went viral and this guy now has a nationwide reputation as being, well, EWWWWWW!!

Police said the images on the surveillance video were pretty damn clear, which helped lead them to Roberto Daniel Arroyo, 33, who is the alleged doorbell licker. He could face two misdemeanor charges of petty theft and prowling.

He didn't take anything except for an extension cord, which was later found at a nearby neighbor's house. Arroyo did apparently stop his doorbell licking long enough to take a pee on the front lawn.

The family that owns the house, as you might imagine, spent quite a bit of time cleaning the doorbell with antiseptic cleanser.

Here's the news video, with some footage of the oddball doorbell licker:

"Star Spangled Banner" Sounds Suspiciously Russian When Played In Minor Key

Comedian and musician Bill Bailey gives us an unsettling
take on "The Star Spangled Banner"

A comedian and musician named Bill Bailey has given us a rather startling musical oddity.

He likes to play around with musical scores, playing tunes intended to be played in a minor key in a major key instead. And he plays songs in major keys in minor keys.

There's a viral video floating about in which Bailey gives examples. The video is at the bottom of this post. At first he plays around with different snippets of songs, then gets to "The Star Spangled Banner," the United States National Anthem.

Like most national anthems, "The Star Spangled Banner" is meant to be played in a major key. As Bailey says, that makes them feel celebratory and uplifting.

He then tries "The Star Spangled Banner" in a minor key. The result is pretty unsettling, given the alleged deep ties between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and the allegations Trump colluded with Russia to get elected.

Yep, in a minor key, the "Star Spangled Banner" sounds like, well, Russian!

Listen for yourself:

One Of Those Guys Who Directs Airplanes Makes Job More Fun For Him, Pilots

It must get kind of boring being one of tbose guys or gals you see on airport tarmacs, directing planes to and from the gates and so forth.

One of those workers in Toronto, though, has made it more fun for himself, and those on departing and arriving flights. Watch:

Why Do Some Trumpsters Hate Ocasio-Cortez Dancing?

Two images sure to upset a few people in the Trump crowd: Left image
is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a college dance video. Right image is'newly
seated Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez dancing outside her
congressional office door this week.

Conservatives tend to really hate newly seated member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

She's pretty darn liberal, so I can see why the Trump crowd wouldn't like her.  However, some of them had better come up with a better reason to oppose her than the following: It turns out, Ocasio-Cortez sometimes likes to dance.

It started this week when some nitwit on social media named AnonymousQ called Ocasio-Cortez a nitwit. Here's the quote from AnonymousQ, since deleted. "Here is America's favorite commie know it all acting like a clueless nitwit she is...High School video of 'Sandy' Ocasio-Cortez"

There was a link to a video showing her in a music video when she was in college, not high school, dancing on a roof with other people. She looks like she was having fun.

To their credit, most normal conservatives didn't give a damn whether Ocasio-Cortez likes to dance or not. But the Trumpy troll wing of the conservative movement pretty much though her dancing was as bad as if she was strangling babies.

To her credit, Ocasio-Cortez, didn't give a damn what people thought of her dancing. She did a brief jig outside her Congressional office door and also said,  "It is not normal for elected officials to have a reputation for dancing well, and I'm happy to be one."  

To the credit of most of the general public, most people either ignored this fake controversy or thought it was fun that Ocasio-Cortez was in that silly dance video.

I'm not quite sure why Ocasio-Cortez has been targeted as the Top Villian by some of the Trump crowd. True, she's a Democrat-Socialist, so that would understandably rile up the right wing.

But she's a freshman congresswoman, just now getting her feet wet in politics. She doesn't yield much power at all, at least not yet, so she's not much of a threat to conservatives.

I think there's two basic things going on.  I wish I remember who it was on Twitter who said that when a female politician is very serious, she is "unlikeable." When a female politician is outgoing and friendly, she's too frivolous to be taken seriously.

Male politiians don't seem to have this problem as much.

An even bigger issue is the the mood of many of the Trump supporters. They always seem angry to me. I don't know why. Up until this week, Trump and the Republicans controlled the Executive and Legislative branch. They're getting tons of federal judges appointed by Trump.

However, Trump and his supporters seem so negative. He's always insulting people. At rallies, his supporters keep yelling "Lock her up!" or scream at the "fake news media." The most rabid Trump fans are always snarling, always volcanic. It must be exhausting to be that angry all the time.

They never seem to have fun. Or experience joy. And they seem to resent anyone who is joyful.

Yeah, there are a lot of problems in this world, but can the Trump crowd not see any sunshine? Is their worldview always so dark? Why?

Maybe that's the real problem they're having with Ocasio-Cortez. I think she takes her politics seriously. But she also knows how to have fun. Some of the people in Trump world can't stand that exuberance.

As Trump himself might tweet: Sad!

New Hampshire City Not Sure About Name Of New Business

Pho is a delicious Vietnamese soup. Some people in New Hampshire
aren't pleased, though, with how Pho is used in the name
of a soon-to-be open restaurant in Keene. 

One of the tricks of opening a new business is coming up with a name for your enterprise.

You want it to be memorable, so you get name recognition. You don't want it to be too offensive, at least usually, and you want the business name to succinctly tell people what you're up to.

Owners of a new restaurant in Keene, New Hampshire thought they came up with the perfect moniker for their business.

It's a Vietnamese restaurant. They started with a play on the word "Pho" which is a Vietnamese soup. "Pho" is pronounced "fuh."  Remember, this restaurant is in Keene. The restaurant isn't open yet, but owners put up a sign saying it's coming. So the name of the restaurant?

"Pho Keene Great."

Yeah, I know what that sounds like and so do you.

According to the Associated Press, Keene City Manager Elizabeth Dragon said restaurant owner Isabelle Jolie didn't have permission to put up the sign, and it might run afoul of city regulations because it's intended to sound like profanity.

The restaurant owners put up a poll on Facebook asking people if they thought the name is offensive. Most respondents said it isn't.

The Facebook post read: "We liked the name because it's lighthearted and fun. It's a name that reflects Vietnam's national dish, comfort food and our most popular culinary product, pho."

Jolie and Dragon are scheduled to meet to figure this kerfuffle out. Stay tuned.

Apparently, Washington DC Marriage Bureau Is Bad At Geography

This man, Gavin Clarkson, is from New Mexico.
A depressingly large number of people
apparently don't know New Mexico is
part of the United States. 

You might not be surprised, but a lot of people who should know better are remarkably bad at geography.

This is a story that is more than a month old, but it's still worth looking at, because it's an illustration of how bad we are at it.

According to the Las Cruces (NM) Sun News, a guy named Gavin Clarkson of Las Cruces, New Mexico went with his then-finance to Washington DC, because they wanted to get married there.  On November 20 they went to the DC Courts Marriage Bureau to apply for a marriage license.

This is something that should have been a mere formality.

Clarkson was required to show his driver's license as proof of his identity. Here's where it gets weird: The clerk at the DC Courts Marriage Bureau said that Clarkson ws a foreign citizen and that he would need to provide an international passport to get his marriage license, reports the Sun News.

Last I checked, New Mexico was one of the 50 states. It is clearly part of the United States of America, right?  It's also not breaking news. New Mexico has been a state since 1912.

The DC Courts Marriage Bureau apparently does not know that. The clerk summoned her supervisor, who confirmed that yep, Clarkson is a foreign citizen who needed his passport. Nobody in this office seemed aware that New Mexico is part of the United States.

Says the Las Cruces Sun News:

"'She thought New Mexico was a foreign country,' he said of the clerk. 'All the couples behind us waiting in line were laughing.'"

I guess the fact that those couples were laughing reassures us that some people know New Mexico is part of the United States.

Clarkson has lived in the United States all is life and English has always been his language. The clerk at the marriage bureau still just had to remark about how well Clarkson spoke English, considering that he is from a "foreign country."

His now-wife, Marina was confused by that, as you might expect. She is a U.S. citizen, but is originally from Argentina and speaks English with a slight accent.

The couple tried going to the marriage bureau the next day and luckily, found a clerk that knew New Mexico was in the United States. The marriage was on!

Apparently, people not knowing New Mexico is a state is a thing. New Mexico magazine reports on many people who encounter New Mexicans in other states who think the state is part of a foreign nation.

New Mexicans bring up things and places like Alburquerque, Santa Fe, Roswell and Los Alamos to prove the New Mexico is in the United States.

But there's one reference that always seems to convince doubters that New Mexico is a state. Just mention either Walter White, who was the lead character in "Breaking Bad" or the show itself.

"Breaking Bad" was set in New Mexico.

There is a lot of confusion across America about all kinds of places. I live in Vermont. Once, when I was in South Carolina, somebody asked, "Where you from, boy?"

"Vermont," I replied.

"VER-mont!! Ain't that part of Killington?"

To make it easy on everyone, I just said, "Yes."  At least the guy had heard of Killington, the ski area.

A lot of people when I'm traveling ask if Vermont is part of Canada. No, but I'm so far north in Vermont that I can see Canada from my house (true!). Does that count?

When I visiting another state in July in August, people sometimes ask me how much snow is on the ground back home in Vermont. As if the Green Mountain State is at the North Pole or something.

Clearly, it's going to take more than a few episodes of "Breaking Bad" to get Americans caught up on their geography, though.