a letter from the editor

General greetings and such.

It is our mission here at Buffet o’ Blog to provide you with fresh, original randomness on a regular basis, free of charge.  It is our good pleasure to do so.  However, some of our regular readers might’ve noticed we recently had a couple of weekdays without posts, which is not normal.  There is a good explanation for this, though.  My work has become really busy, due to numerous crazy-long meetings.  It started Monday with a meeting from 12:30-4:30 (and I took only 10 minutes for lunch, let it be noted).  Tuesday we met in Little Rock (30+ minutes away) from 10:00-4:00, eating lunch during the meeting.  Then Wednesday we met from 9:00-4:30.  So besides sitting through all these meetings, I had some of my other work to take care of, which resulted in overtime.

Some of you may know that there are three writers here on staff, so why didn’t any of them fill in the gap?  Well, to put it succinctly, they’re slackers.  🙂  There is no other explanation available for them.  They both have lots of random ideas, which is why they were chosen to participate in this blog, but it turns out they’re slackers when it comes to preparing posts and sharing their randomness with the world.  That’s okay, though, because it’s their choice.

In the upcoming weeks, it has already been projected that I will have to attend more long meetings and work some overtime, and it is also projected that my sidekicks will continue to be slothful, but don’t worry — I will make the sacrifices necessary to keep providing you, the reader, with premium, original content.

If there are days where there isn’t a new post, feel free to browse the archives.  The old posts are still fresh, because they were created with lots of preservatives and stuff.  You can also participate in the latest free-for-all story.  The more who get involved, the more fun it’ll be.

In closing, that’s all.

Thank you, drive thru…

Mythbusters Challenge

I was watching myth busters last night, and they are working on a series of episodes designed entirely by the viewers and they set forth a challenge…  here it is… 

Do you have what it takes to bust a myth? We’re looking for viewers to participate in an upcoming special episode of Myth Busters. All you need to do is construct and test an experiment you’ve designed and send it to us on videotape. 

We will judge the top entries in the two categories listed below.  If selected to participate, you’ll be off to the Myth Busters’ headquarters in San Francisco to meet Adam, Jamie and the team and show us in person — and on camera — how your experiment works.  Think you can handle it?

So… CAN YOU HANDLE IT???   Sounds simple enough right?  Just ‘design an experiment’ and the best part? You could be on the show!!!  This challenge should not go unheeded!!!   So I hereby open this up to all our valued readers to contribute… The first challenge they are working on to start the ‘viewer series’ is to: 

…build your own solar death ray capable of setting the timbers of a replica Roman trireme (an ancient ship or section of ship) alight and to film all steps.

The target trireme, which will be used to test the successful challenger’s experiments, will be constructed by the Myth Builders from authentic materials including fir timber, wax, oakum and pine pitch, and iron nails.

You are invited to participate in the challenge in either of the following two categories:

Category 1: To build any device capable of igniting the target at a distance of 5 feet.

Category 2: To build a full-scale replica of Archimedes’ mirror capable of igniting the target at a minimum distance of 100 feet 

If this sounds like fun click (here) to access the application form.  (note: you must meet certain eligibility requirements) 

Maybe we should also challenge our R&D department as well?   

What are some inventions/experiments YOU would like to see developed or attempted by our infamous R&D department?

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker – top boffins

Bunsen and Beaker

In a UK poll of favorite cult TV boffins (nerdy scientists), Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker won, beating out some rather impressive competition :

1. Honeydew and Beaker (The Muppets) – 33%
2. Mr Spock (Star Trek) – 15%
3. The Doctor (Dr Who) – 13%
4. Q (James Bond) – 9%
5. Dr Emmett Brown (Back To The Future) – 8%
6. Dana Scully (The X Files) – 8%
7. Dr Strangelove – 5%
8. Frank ‘N’ Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show) – 4%
9. Dr Evil (Austin Powers) -4%
10. Dr Frankenstein – 1%

If you aren’t familiar with them, they attempt crazy experiments which usually end up destroying their Muppet Labs facility.  Dr. Honeydew’s motto is, “Where the future is being made today.”  But what usually happens is his assistant Beaker being blown to bits or electrocuted.

In the poll, there were more than 40,000 votes cast, so this is not a small thing.  The survey was done to mark the British Association’s Festival of Science in Exeter.  The president of the BA at that time, Dame Julia Higgins, said, “I’m not sure that Dr. Honeydew is quite the role model we would be looking at for a responsible scientist.”  Yeah, probably not.  But he’s funny!  A professor taking part in the festival said, “I think the fact that they are acceptable, humorous — although they blow each other up a bit — but they are fundamentally human, I think says something about science.”  Uhh… WHAT?!?  I think his statement says something about his lack of knowledge about muppets, humans, and science.  He might want to rethink his position on that.

BeakerHere’s some of the things Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker invented and tested (links are to video clips) : edible paper clips, a gorilla detector, hair-growing tonic, a banana sharpener, a robot politician, a germ enlarger, a super-strength copy machine, and an electric nose warmer.  Also, in response to the ancient quest of alchemy to turn lead into gold, he created a device that turned gold into cottage cheese.  Definitely some random stuff!