Exploding Wieners, Awful Wordplay

"Exploding wieners, run for cover!"
Oddly Enough, Reuters blog (August 22, 2009)

"Blog Guy, I’m afraid this suicide bomb trend is spreading, and it scares me.

"Me too. There are way too many kinds of explosive gadgets. I saw this photo of a woman wearing a device made of an alarm clock and sausages.

"Sausages? They don't even explode, do they?

"Sure. In many parts of the world they’re also called bangers...."

Be assured: this isn't the wurst of the - awful - wordplay in this article. Frankly, I'm surprised that so much could be packed into such a short post. Just follow the links, and you'll see what I mean.

That's funny!

The source of the photo, not so much.

The photo comes from Reuters, and is part of a rather under-reported "...rally protesting against Afghanistan's 'Family Law', which diminishes women's rights in Afghanistan, near the Afghanistan embassy in Kiev August 21, 2009. Authorities in Afghanistan passed a law permitting men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands...." ("Topics / Women's-Rights / Photos " Reuters, via The Wall Street Journal (August 21, 2009))

I still think the Oddly Enough post is funny, though.

Blue Lobster Caught off New Hampshire

"NH man snares rare, cobalt-blue lobster"
The Associated Press (August 21, 2009)

"At first, New Hampshire lobsterman Bill Marconi thought he had caught a shiny blue beer can in his trap. It turns out it was a rare, cobalt-blue lobster. The 52-year-old lobsterman was out hauling 400 traps with his son Wednesday when he snared the 1 1/2-pound lobster in between his dock and the Isle of Shoals, about six miles off the coast...."

That's an odd lobster, but they do show up now and again. The AP article quotes a newspaper, saying that 1 in 5,000,000 lobsters is blue.

It's not that there's something wrong with the blue lobsters - it's that they're better at metabolizing astaxanthin. Never heard of astaxanthin? You're not alone. It's an antioxidant that's in some algae. And, before these odd lobsters get at it, it's red.

And, since it's an antioxidant, it's astaxanthin has its own website. Looks like antioxidants are still fairly hot in the health-food circle. Sort of like spinach was, back in the glory days of Popeye.

Astaxanthin might - or might not - help with high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes. The Mayo Clinic website has some information about the stuff, in its discussion of Red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus)" - astaxanthin shows up under "Synonyms," a page later.

Back to that New Hampshire lobster: the article isn't very long, but shows what can happen when genetics and fishing meet. Related post:

• "Blue Lobster, and Other Oddities"
  (July 11, 2008)

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A tip of the hat to wierdnews, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

Crooks Punch the Wrong Octogenarian

"Don't you mess with grandpa, sonny"
KOMONEWS.com (April 23, 2009)

"Ted Mazetier may be a grandfather, but at 84 years old, he's still got his chops.

"And two men learned that the hard way.

"Mazetier was driving down South Proctor Street Wednesday night when he spotted a car on the curb and two guys standing nearby. He thought they needed help, so he stopped.

"But as soon as he pulled over, the two men pounced...."

The bad news is that Mr. Mazetier got a black eye.

The good news is that he left a deep impression on each of the assailants. After which they fled. And were, eventually, caught.

They'd pulled a similar attack earlier.

I suppose it's unfair. Mr. Mazetier is a WWII vet, and spent much of his life keeping an eye on criminals in U. S. prisons. How could the two assailants have known that this octogenarian was about as helpless as Bruce Lee?

And the moral of this story is - - -

• You can't judge a book by its cover?
• Old geezers aren't necessarily easy targets?
• Crime hurts?

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A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this.