TALULA DOES THE HULA FROM HAWAII

That's what a mother in New Zealand named her daughter.

No. I'm not joking.

Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii is her given name. She apparently hated it so much that she went by "K" until she was made a ward of the court so she could change it.

As a teacher, I had some oddly-named students throughout the years, but nothing like these. Some other unusual names listed:

• Midnight Chardonnay
• Number 16 Bus Shelter
• Space Travel
• Build the Nation
• Twins named Benson and Hedges

Do you have any to add?

YOU DECIDE

Update to the last post: 30 total people (in one day) asked if I was Sarah Palin! This is a photo from that day.

You decide.
(I don't see it! Similar, maybe.
But mistaken identity? Nah!)

STRANGE FRUIT

Last weekend we were in Grant Park and saw Strange Fruit, an Australian performing arts company. Definitely strange! Definitely different. Very creative. And almost impossible to explain. These videos may help. I'm not quite sure how they didn't fall over other than they must have INCREDIBLE abs!

LANCELOT LINK

Pegalicious, a coworker, couldn't believe that I wasn't familiar with Lancelot Link. But I quickly remembered that she's my elder (which is why I give her so much respect). After investigating, I discovered that I was only 2 years old when it went off the air! And I don't think I did much TV-watching prior to that.

Of course, since monkeys were involved, I had to do a little more research.
Here are a few notes:

• live-action film series featured a cast of chimpanzees (Can it get any better?)
• speaking roles were overdubbed with human voices (Really?)
  
• network episodes added a laugh track; later syndicated and video versions do not (I'm shocked they'd even need a track!)
  
• plots featured Lancelot Link and his female colleague Mata Hairi in secret agent and spy satires (Her voice kinda makes me cringe.)
  
• Link worked for APE (Agency to Prevent Evil), engaged in an ongoing conflict with the evil organization CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan) (Who comes up with this stuff?)
  
• regular weekly feature was chimp TV host "Ed Simian" introducing a musical number by an all-chimp band. (Now that is right up my alley!)
  
• most expensive Saturday morning children's' show to that time, with location filming, props and costumes, and the laborious staging and training of the animals (Is it hard to get chimps to work?)

Anybody else out there remember it? In case you are intrigued, have a lot of time on your hands, need a good laugh, or want to make fun of something, I've included two clips below. The first one is of the all-chimp band, The Evolution Revolution. The second is an actual Lancelot episode. Warning: once you start it, you won't be able to turn away!

NINJA vs. PIRATE

So this was our topic at lunch yesterday. Apparently, there's been some kind of big debate going on in cyberspace for quite a while.

Basically, it comes down to this.
Who would win in a fight: pirates or ninjas?

I was just wondering what you thought. I think hands-down a NINJA would win. (And it has nothing to do with my nickname!)

(FYI - one of our other topics at lunch yesterday was the sugar lobby in America. But I'll save that for another day.)

BEVANDA PRONTA

With yesterday's high of 20 degrees and low of 2 degrees, a nice cup of flavored coffee (I don't really like coffee, just the fattening stuff that goes in it) is a wonderful thing!

But not this one. It still made me laugh, though. (Turn up your sound.)

1. CLICK ON THIS LINK
2. PUT THE COIN IN THE VENDING MACHINE
3. PUSH A BUTTON TO CHOOSE YOUR DRINK
4. CLICK ON THE CUP WHEN IT IS READY
5. CLICK ON "APRI" (Open, in Italian)

ht: AllyEpp

FOOT MOUSE

A FOOT MOUSE?
Yes, I'm serious, a mouse you operate with your foot! It's supposed to help you avoid carpal tunnel syndrome. I'm DEFINITELY not coordinated enough for that!