Category: In the News

Obama Fried Chicken

Someone in Beijing, China, created a restaurant called OFC, which stands for Obama Fried Chicken, except they copied the KFC logo and might some slight changes.

And apparently KFC has made commercials in China with an Obama-lookalike.

At first, it looked like they were implying you could change from Obama to a chicken sandwich.  I know some people who would make that trade…

While verifying the story online, I saw where someone had opened a restaurant called “Obama Fried Chicken” in Brooklyn in New York City.  That took some courage…  There was a public outcry, but the owner said 4 out of 5 customers were okay with the name.  I’m sure the owner knew what he was getting into — lots of controversy, which also means free publicity.

National Doughnut Day

It has come to my attention that today is National Doughnut Day.  It is the first Friday of June each year.  Given how many special holidays there already are, you might think the day was created solely because donuts are awesome.  While that is sufficient reason, it goes even deeper.  The holiday was started in 1938 to honor the tradition of the Salvation Army providing donuts to soldiers during World War I.

Some doughnut shops give away a free donut on this day, so that might be worth checking out.  Even the cheapest of donuts — typically a simple glazed one — is great.  And while you’re there, you might as well pick up a chocolate-filled donut.  (It still boggles my mind that Krispy Kreme doesn’t sell a chocolate-filled donut, which is the best kind!  It’s stupefying!  It’s inconceivable!)

In case you aren’t aware, Krispy Kreme stores that make the donuts will sometimes give away a free glazed donut fresh off the assembly line, and that alone might be worth the trip.  The donut almost melts in your mouth with warm, yummy goodness.  (It’s probably a good thing the closest one is 30 miles away for me, or I’d be there too often.)

BTW, if you are a grammar perfectionist who is about to leave a scathing comment about how my spelling of donut changed, realize I chose to use both spellings interchangeably.  It’s my prerogative.  (And it’s also a good strategy from a search engine perspective.)

There are a number of special days and holidays each month, which have been discussed here at Buffet o’ Blog.  For example, here’s the one for June.

How was the end of the world for you?

Did you know the world ended last Saturday?  I heard it was guaranteed.  Apparently God didn’t get the memo.

So basically there’s a “preacher” named Harold Camping who uses mathematical calculations supposedly based on the Bible to figure out when the Rapture and Apocalypse will happen.  He figured it would be May 21, 2011.  He’s not just your average garden-variety fruitcake, though.  He is rumored to have spent about $100 million advertising his “prophecy”.  He promoted it on 55 radio stations and 2000 billboards, plus all the free news coverage he got for it.

As you might have noticed, there was a lack of end-of-the-world events last weekend.  Seemed quite normal to me.  I thought maybe I just slept through it, but it seems like it would’ve been on the news had something of such epic proportions actually happened.  So it’s probably safe to say this guy was wrong.

In this day of extended news coverage, of course reporters asked this guy what happened.  How do you think he responded?

A) Admitted his mistake and apologized.
B) Said it was (another) miscalculation.
C) Blame it on Global Warming or Bush.
D) Pretend he was still right.

Well, A would’ve been the ideal thing to do, but that didn’t happen.  B is what he’s done before.  C is what some people do on all kinds of topics, whether it applies or not.  D is the craziest option, though that’s exactly what he did.  Camping said his dates were correct, that it was “an invisible judgment day” and the final judgment and destruction will happen on October 21, 2011.  He also said we cannot understand the Bible, which I thought was really ironic because he claims to be basing his “prophecies” on the Bible.  (Never mind that his prediction is unscriptural; he must have missed that verse.)

I heard of a humorous tweet about the whole thing:

If this Rapture doesn’t get started soon, my rental Ferrari demolition derby last night wasn’t as fun as I thought. ~ David Burge, 5/21/11

My favorite response so far to all the hullabaloo is this billboard that someone made after the doomsday prediction was proven false.  This is awesome.

Well played…

you’re no better than rocks

What would happen if “Mother Nature” had the same rights as humans?  There are some people trying to find out.  Van Jones, former “green job czar” of President Obama, is working with various obscure groups to give plants, trees, rocks, and such the same legal rights as humans.  Van Jones is also associated with a thinktank supported by George Soros, if that means anything to you.

Supposedly Bolivia has already given the rights of nature equal status with human rights in its legal system.  The President of Bolivia has often said “the central enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism.”  That sure makes this sound political…

Some constitutional amendments being pushed for are provisions that “Nature has a right to be completely restored”.  So does that mean any building can be torn down if nature was destroyed to build it?  Wouldn’t that include everything man-made?  If you take the concept far enough, the Earth was 100% nature before we built anything.

But even ignoring the worst-case scenario with that, it would mean that you could be sued for kicking a rock, or stepping on grass, or using firewood in your fireplace.  I know, it sounds silly.  But try to convince me there aren’t people stupid and greedy enough to do it…

Why can’t we all just get along?  I don’t have any beef with plants.  I’m even okay with eating less plants (except potatoes).

I wonder what vegetarians / vegans think about this legislation?  Some of them get mad at people eating animals, but what if people get mad at them eating plants?  This could get interesting…

Where is the common sense in all this?  Be responsible with the environment, but don’t give sticks and rocks the same rights as humans.  Is it really so difficult?  Sometimes I wonder what this world is coming to…