May 9: This is NOT the bee’s knees

I have a horror story to tell you. Pretend it’s dark, and we’re sitting around a campfire and I’m shining a flashlight on my face because that’ll make it more eerie. Or just look at the pictures—that oughta freak you out good. This totally happened to a person I totally know whose cousin’s daughter’s old roommate’s best friend totally told her, so you totally know it’s totally true.

Actually, it happened to my next door neighbors, Tina and Jim. And there were witnesses. Plus, y’know, the pictures. They don’t lie.

Friday afternoon bees are swarming Tina’s driveway and she notices this hanging in a tree in her side yard:

A few summers ago an exterminator found the biggest yellow jacket nest he’d ever seen under the siding of our house. Until Friday, that was the scariest bee or bee-like experience I’d ever had. And although I didn’t experience Tina’s bee thing personally (I napped through it, THANK GOD), I’m going to say this is definitely the scariest bee or bee-like event that has ever occurred in our neighborhood EVER EVER EVER. Ever.

Tina said these guys—bee hobbyists—were really excited about this whole thing. Clearly, the sanity has been stung out of them.

I’m glad to see they look a teensy bit frightened here. Or maybe the guy in front is mid-hoot-and-holler and not frightened at all, in which case I would like to remind the jury that the sanity has been stung out of these men.

Jack said he watched everything from across the street, too, but probably farther away because he’s a weenie like his momma. That’s why he’s not in this picture. Katie didn’t even watch; she was playing in Phoebe’s backyard. I’m not sure if she didn’t care or thought she was safer there. (She’s kind of a weenie too.)

The insane bee dudes supposedly took the queen and most of its worker bees away. I’m hopeful that “away” was farther than “the Manullangs’ backyard.” If so, the neighborhood is safe(ish) again. Whew.

Oct. 1: Soy = man-boobs

This series of articles is nearly a year old, but still worth reading. I've never heard any of this stuff before and I have no idea how much truth there is to the risks of soy this guy writes about. Sounds a little sketchy to me though.

Soy is making kids gay

Maybe real bacon ain't so bad after all...

July 8: Credit card prank

Check out this link to a hilarious story of credit card signatures. Credit Card Prank. The author describes his experiment like this: In my lifetime, I have made nearly 15,000 credit card transactions. I purchase almost everything on plastic. What bugs me about credit card transactions is the signing. Who checks the signature? Nobody checks the signature. Credit card signatures are a useless mechanism designed to make you feel safe, like airport security checks. So my question was, how crazy would I have to make my signature before someone would actually notice?

He's got pictures of his signed receipts, all showing "signatures" that are not even close to his name, or in some cases, text.

So how are we supposed to protect ourselves against identity theft when the people responsible for making sure we are who we say we are don't pay attention??? Yikes.

I love you, no matter how you sign your credit card receipts.

--Jen