Kinda Funny

What's the use of having a blog if you can't use it to exhibit your most juvenile tendencies, right? We spent the holiday weekend in Grand Haven (more photos to come). Lisa and the boys had gone over with her parents on Thursday, and I drove over Friday night. On the way, I noticed an interesting sign and stopped to take the photo below. I don't know whether or not $3.99/lb. is a good price for fudge brats, but they don't sound very appetizing to me.

If you've seen the British version of The Office, you might also enjoy these videos of David Brent and Microsoft: Part 1
Part 2

Via This American Life episode 184 (from March 2001), from an article titled "Love Your Neighbor is suing one, instead" by Dawson Bell of The Detroit Free Press:

In a dispute that appears to pit the golden rule against the rule of lawyering, a tiny, Florida-based charity called Love Thy Neighbor is being sued for trademark infringement by a Detroit entrepreneur whose enterprise goes by the name Love Your Neighbor. Catherine Sims and Love Your Neighbor claim that the charity has confused potential customers and resulted in "lost sales and profits." Love Your Neighbor sells jewelry and trinkets. Sims wants monetary damages from the charity, in addition to an end to the use of the phrase. The Florida charity, which aids the homeless, is violating the law by identifying itself in a "confusingly similar" way, according to Sims lawyer Julie Greenberg of Birmingham. Arnold Abbott, who founded Love Thy Neighbor in 1992 in memory of his deceased wife, said the lawsuit, filed in March in federal court in Detroit, is the latest in a string of actions taken against him by Sims since 1998.

In Sims' defense, US trademark law requires you to defend your trademark against any infringement or lose it...

Via Boing Boing, from an article of the same title on CNN.com about the Yes Men's latest prank:

A man who pulled a hoax on Louisiana officials and 1,000 contractors by presenting himself as a federal housing official said Monday he intended to focus attention on a lack of affordable housing. "We basically go around impersonating bad institutes or institutes doing very bad things," said the man, who identified himself as Andy Bichlbaum, a 42-year-old former college teacher of video and media arts who lives in New York and Paris. "That would be HUD. At this moment, they're doing some really bad things." Masquerading as Rene Oswin, an official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Bichlbaum followed Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to the lectern Monday morning at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. In a speech to attendees of the Gulf Coast Reconstruction and Hurricane Preparedness Summit, he laid out grandiose plans for HUD to reverse course... In his speech, Bichlbaum said the department's mission was to ensure affordable housing is available for those who need it. "This year, in New Orleans, I'm ashamed to say we have failed," he said. To change that, HUD would reverse its plans to demolish 5,000 units "of perfectly good public housing," with housing in the city in tight supply, he said. Former occupants have been "begging to move back in," he said. "We're going to help them to do that." The government's practice had been to tear down public housing where it could, because such projects were thought to cause crime and unemployment, he said. But crime rates in the city are at a record high and there is no evidence that people in the projects are more likely to be unemployed, he said. The man added that it also would be essential to create conditions for prosperity. Toward that end, he said, Wal-Mart would withdraw its stores from near low-income housing and "help nurture local businesses to replace them."

Via Andrew Sullivan's blog, from Wikipedia:

On August 29th, 2006, during a CNN broadcast of George W. Bush's speech on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (2005), Kyra Phillip's microphone was left on while she was apparently in the bathroom, leading to her audio conversation being broadcast over the President's speech (the video showed Mr. Bush's speech only). During the conversation, Phillips reveals information about how much she loves her husband and how hard it is to find a good guy. The unidentified women agrees and talks about how her family is reacting to her relationship, particularly her brother. Phillips then responds "of course brothers have to be protective. Except for mine, I gotta be protective of him. He's married, three kids, but his wife is a control freak!" The conversation continues until a CNN employee enters the restroom and tells Phillips that her mic is on. CNN Anchor Daryn Kagan then interjects and summarizes what Bush discussed during his speech. The video was posted on YouTube and caught fire amongst bloggers. Phillips later apologized for the issue with the microphone.