Did Somebody Say McFurnace?

Old story, but who cares?

McDonalds says it will remove a sign advertising its “McCrispy” sandwich that’s located next to a crematorium in the United Kingdom, according to a report.
The sign, advertising McDonald’s “McCrispy” sandwich was placed next to publicly-owned Penmount Crematorium in Cornwall, England, according to Cornwall Live.
“New McCrispy,” the sign reads. “A new favourite, here to stay.”

You’ll have to click through to this article to see pictures of it since the only ones I can find are copyrighted. Near the ad, there’s another sign with an arrow pointing the way to the nearby crematorium, which should have taken the opportunity to put up its own sign saying something like “Waaaaaaay crispier in here”.

People were upset, naturally. but others chose to see the humour in it. Speaking for myself, I’m pretty sure something like that would cheer me up quite nicely if someone I love was ever to be a customer.

For its part, McDonald’s said that it wasn’t aware of where the ad was placed, which for all I know is probably true. Whoever was responsible for actually putting it up likely can’t claim the same ignorance, though. But he does get to be my hero for today, so he’s got that going for him, at least.

I’m Going To Buy A MAGA Hat

A red cap with the words "MAKE AMERICA GO AWAY" embroidered on it.
Photo from Aannguaq Reimer-Johansen’s Facebook page.

I don’t wear hats that often, but I think I could make an exception for this one.

An anti-MAGA Hat made by a Greenlandic creator that reads: “Make America Go Away” has gone viral as Usha Vance’s visit to the island approaches.
Aannguaq Reimer-Johansen, the creator of the anti-MAGA hats, has said he believes her visit is a “charm offensive,” and that he wants people in Greenland to show that they do not want the U.S. to take over their nation.

“Recommendation to fellow citizens in Sisimiut: Vance’s wife’s visit is a charm offensive. If you smile at them or take a selfie with them, you are sending a message to the world that you love the USA and want to be part of it,” he wrote on Facebook. “It is recommended not to show interest. We have already expressed our stance through a large demonstration—let’s remain firm and stay united.”

He’s right. Any little action, no matter how innocent, can be twisted by these maniacs into whatever they want their believers to think it is. It can be hard to be rude to people, but sometimes people deserve it. This is one of those times.

A quick Google search suggests that similar hats are available all over the place, but assuming that they really are this guy’s idea, I would hesitate to buy one from anyone but him. There’s no telling where the money might be going otherwise.

Name That Attitude Era Tune


I thought this was going to be easier than the Ruthless Aggression edition, but I managed to do worse by one. I missed Ken Shamrock which drove me nuts because I totally knew it, Brian Pillman (I have no memory of that song whatsoever), ivory (I remember two other themes she used but not this one), and Dean Malenko which I think I maybe could have gotten if I had had another second.

Anyone Know Where I Can Cool Down?

This is either a fantastic parody of what a fantastically stupid person sounds like or a fantastically stupid person sounding fantastically stupid. I am having trouble coming to grips with the fact that we are at such a point in our history that I am unable to tell the difference.

A man went to fiery lengths to prove his point at an Edmonton city council meeting Monday morning after he ate a chili pepper to show local lawmakers that climate change is not a big issue.

“I kind of wanted to demonstrate that climate change is not a huge issue because I brought a chili pepper and I was going to eat it and show that even though something heats up a little bit, it’s not the end of the world,” the man said at the public hearing, where speakers get up to five minutes to raise concerns on city issues.
According to Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz, the presenter’s name showed up over the video conference call as “Arun tysily” (Aren’t I silly).

“I wanted to demonstrate that because a lot of people say that if Canada was to heat up it would be the end of the world. But South America is way warmer than Canada and people vacation there all the time. So for someone to say that it would be the end of the world for something like that to happen, I think it’s ludicrous.”

That’s One…

A teenager who sneaked into a closed funfair with friends was crushed to death by the mechanical arm of one of the rides, an inquest heard today.

That ride? Body Count.

Mr Partington said KFRS was called to reports of a male trapped with the mechanics of a fairground ride at 7:44am.
He said the fairground ride, known as ‘Body Count’, consisted of a single boom arm which revolved around an axel with a hydraulic arm. The arms were attached to a gondola.

Mr Welch told the inquest Mackenzie and two of his friends had pushed the ride until it gained momentum and was moving independently.
The friends recalled Mackenzie saying he was going to climb to the top of the ride. But as he did so, he got his leg stuck and became crushed between the moving arms.
Mr Welch said the teenagers attempted to move the ride arm and free Mackenzie but were unable to do so.
The male friend told police he noticed Mackenzie had turned purple and it was at this point that he called 999.

The medical cause of death given at the post-mortem examination was a traumatic rupture of the liver and spleen as a result of injuries from being crushed by the ride.

Pretty Sure I Just Got Robbed By This Guess The Oscar Winning Song Lyrics Quiz

Can You Guess the Oscar-Winning Song Based on the Lyrics?
I got 75 percent here which kinda surprised me, but unless there’s something I’m not picking up on, it should have been higher. Without giving anything away, the one about talking to the sun I’m absolutely right about even though the damn thing keeps telling me I’m wrong. I’m singing the song in my head right now and that line is in there, just like it’s been since the beginning of time. I hate to accuse Mental Floss of making a mistake, but unless there’s a trick here that I’ve totally missed, they most definitely did.

If You’re Wondering Where The City Of Cambridge’s Tweets Have Gone, Why Are You Still On Twitter?

Considering that Michael Shellenberger is the mayor’s idea of a good speaker for an addictions and mental health summit, I’ve got to say that I’m pleasantly surprised and borderline shocked to hear that the city is doing what we all should be doing if we haven’t already and getting off Twitter. If you made me guess which of the three major cities in the region would have done this first, I’d have had Cambridge listed somewhere around eighth.

The City of Cambridge has officially stopped using the social media platform X.
In a Monday news release, the city said the social media platform formerly known as Twitter no longer aligns with its values of inclusivity, respect, integrity, service and responsible communication. 
“This decision follows ongoing concerns about the platform’s viability as a trusted space for public communication as content found and promoted on X, includes racism and misinformation,” the city stated in the release.
News and other updates will continue to be shared through the city’s other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Residents can also stay connected through the city’s website at cambridge.ca.

“The city’s priority is to make sure residents receive important updates in a respectful and trustworthy space.”
The city said it is also actively exploring other social media platforms, such as Bluesky, as an alternative.

Wow! Is That A Mockingbird?

There was this funny video that we couldn’t stop watching when we had Christmas with Steve’s family. It was only a short, but we couldn’t stop laughing.

I think what made it even funnier was how hard Seppa laughed at it. First, he was just laughing because we were laughing…which made us laugh harder. Then we explained to him that the mockingbird was mocking the guy, and when he started to get the joke, he laughed for a whole different reason. That short played on a loop for so long and we just kept laughing.

Seppa is growing up, becoming more and more curious. He wants to find pictures of family members he’s never met, learn about them, figure out how they connect together.

He’s watching and always noticing stuff about people around him, but he’s figured out that sometimes, imitating someone could hurt their feelings. He’s a sensitive little guy and cares a lot.

He asks questions about things that I don’t always know the answer to. Sometimes it’s to define a hard word. Once, he asked me to define fiend, and I really had to think about it. How do you define a word like fiend without using other big words?

And some questions are super awkward. When we were at Steve’s dad’s place for his party, Seppa pointed at a picture and said “Is that Grandpa or Papa?” Papa is what he calls Steve’s stepdad. Um, that’s definitely not Papa.

Another funny thing he did was he was challenged not to talk for a while, so he started scribbling on a little whiteboard of sorts. We started trying to guess what pictures he was trying to draw. It was a fun time.

I was happy we got him the right Christmas present. I was desperately searching Mastermind Toys looking for presents, and we found a mini drone. We got one for Kliks, and then went back for Seppa. When he opened it, and when he figured out what it was, he jumped into each of our arms saying “Thank you! This is a very special moment for me!” Yea! Success!

As he gets older and changes more and more, I really want to catch some snapshots of him and not let go. Seppa is growing up.

Skidding In With Voting Info At The Last Minute

So…it’s provincial election time…way too soon. And here I am, doing my usual thing where I try to figure out voting details, especially where assistive voting is concerned. Here’s what I have learned. I even hassled some election office people to get some of this info, although I had to do a lot less hassling.

Things are improving on the assistive voting tech front. So we all know what I’m talking about, assistive voting technology refers to those machines that read the choices out loud and you can indicate your choice by using sip and puff, using paddles or using buttons on a giant game-controller-like thing. If you want to use the machines, you can use them from February 20th to the 26th at your district’s election office, or if you’re feeling brave, you can call that election office and book an appointment to use the machines on election day at the same office. Those are the options that *should* be a certainty. But apparently, if you live in a big enough election district, you might get a machine at one of your advance polling locations between February 20 and 22. But you have no way of knowing if you’re a big enough district. This is the wording on the Elections Ontario website:

You can use assistive voting technology at your local election office from February 20 to 26 and at designated advance voting locations from February 20 to 22. You can also contact your local election office to make an appointment to use assistive voting technology on election day, February 27.

To me, that means that in each district, there will be at least one advance voting location that will have the machines. But that’s not what it meant to the people who built that website. They need to make that wording clearer, and they need to give people a way to check if their district is one of the ones who is big enough to get a machine at an advance poll. Actually, what they need to do is have more machines so they can put them in more places so this stupid wording isn’t necessary, but that probably isn’t happening for a long time.

While I’m here, allow me to make fun of the accessibility tools section of the Elections Ontario website. Not all of the tools need to be laughed at, but some do, so let’s write them all down, and start cackling at the cackleworthy ones.

Eligible electors can make their own choice in accessing the tools and services required to successfully navigate through the voting process.
• Use a mobile phone and/or electronic device as an accessibility tool. 
• Bring a support person to assist with communication, mobility, personal care for medical needs and/or accessing goods, services or facilities. 
• Bring a guide dog or service animal. 
• Use magnifiers and ballot templates with braille numbering and cut outs for voter use.
• Contact your local election office to request curbside voting. The election official would bring the ballot outside the voting location for you to vote.
American Sign Language (ASL) and Langues des Signes Québécoise (LSQ) Interpreters and Intervenors are booked by the voter and billed directly to Elections Ontario.
Braille requests
You can contact us to request a voter information card in braille. 
• Requests for braille voter information cards which contain information about when and where to vote must be received by February 19.  
You can request this braille item by: 
• email: info@elections.on.ca
• phone: 1.888.668.8683
Accessible services for voters unable to go to a voting location
Assistive voting technology in local election offices
Elections Ontario app

Let’s laugh at a few of these, and ask more questions about others.
• Use a mobile phone and/or electronic device as an accessibility tool. 
Um? I never thought we were prevented from taking our phones into the booth. And if we’re the one providing our own phone, then why is that marketed as an accessibility tool/service?

• Bring a support person to assist with communication, mobility, personal care for medical needs and/or accessing goods, services or facilities. 
Just like we’ve always had as an option! Again, if I’m bringing my own help, how is that an accessibility service? I would understand if there was a special section involved if I wanted the person I brought to help me vote. I might have to sign something or whatever to let them go behind the screen with me. But this is just telling me I can bring someone with me to the building. Duh! Of course I can! Maybe this comes from the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, but it still sounds kind of weird.

• Bring a guide dog or service animal. 
Because it’s kind of the law! That is not something super special. I assumed that they would train the poll workers about service animals, but putting that out there as a service they offer sounds completely ridiculous.

Now that I’m done laughing, I have more legitimate questions. The section about sign language interpreters and intervener services breaks my brain. I didn’t post all the phone and email addresses because there’s a lot there, but there seems to only be contact names and numbers for certain cities. Does this mean that you call that city’s office and they connect with someone closer to you? Or do they have to send someone from that city? Also, am I understanding it correctly that in some places, interveners are being asked to act as sign language interpreters? How the heck is this supposed to work? They probably can’t, but there’s no information about how long a wait it is between when you call for one and when one is available. Or maybe I’m thinking too much. But that whole section seemed very confusing. But I’m glad it’s there for people who need it.

That’s what I have been able to find out. The Elections Ontario app had my voter card, so if my card doesn’t come in the mail, I have the electronic version.

Here are some generally helpful links:
To figure out your district, where you have to vote, and other important info, punch in your postal code here.

If your voter card doesn’t come in the mail, since the mail is backlogged to hell, here’s what you need to know.

One thing I’ll say for this year’s election is I didn’t talk to 3 different people and get 3 different answers. They seemed to know what they were talking about in terms of the machines, and that’s awesome. I also think this is the first year we’ve been able to vote on election day with the machine if we wanted to. I’m always afraid it will fail, and then I’ll be screwed because that’s my last chance to vote, but I’m glad it’s an option.

At the end of the day, what matters is that we all find a way to slog through the snow and vote. It’s important!