The good folks at Comic-Con International have posted the schedule for their Saturday programming. Take a look and see what you want to see.
Or better still, just consult my list of the panels and events I'm hosting (or appearing on) this year. This is where you'll find all the smart congoers...
So last night around 1 AM, I decided to bake a potato in my microwave. Fortunately, I had a pre-scrubbed, plastic-wrapped Microwave-Ready Russet Potato handy. Even though I've done this many, many times I decided to open up the little instruction pamphlet and see what it had to say. Here's what it had to say...
Okay, I see a problem. The label says "Oven baked taste in 7-8 minutes" but the instructions inside say to "Microwave in wrap for 10-11 minutes on HIGH." Which is it, Kroger people? And why are you teasing us with the outright lie that we can taste the oven baked taste in 7-8 minutes when it's going to take 10-11? I split the difference, left it in for nine and it came out a tiny bit overcooked but still edible. 7-8 would have been about right. If I'd left it in 10-11 like they said, I would have wound up with a softball.
Plus, my potato did not whistle. My potato never whistles. Every time I microwave one of these, no matter what the brand, the label tells me "Potato may whistle in microwave" so I eagerly listen, hoping to hear a happy tune. I hear nothing. It doesn't even hum a little. It just bakes. I trust there are potatoes that whistle. Why do I keep getting the non-musical ones?
Many things in this world that lie to you and disappoint you. You'd think you could at least trust a Microwave-Ready Russet Potato...but no.
Lin Hui is a panda in the Chang Mai Zoo in Thailand. She's on loan from China and at the end of May, through the wonders of artificial insemination, she gave birth to what has turned out to be a female. Here we see some webcam footage of mother and daughter.
I love this kind of stuff. One of these days, I'm going to find a video clip of a baby panda singing, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
July 12, 2009
