Giving the world a hand since February 3rd, 2002. "If you're gonna dine with them cannibals, sooner or later, darling, you're gonna get eaten."




Comments by YACCS

 
Iowa State Fair butter sculpture Q & A's:

What happens to the butter from which the Butter Cow is sculpted?
It is frozen and stored during the year and reused for three or four Fairs. [Ewwwww!] Butter sculpture has been part of the Fair since 1911. Duffy Lyon, "sculptor in residence" since 1960 [How does one become the "butter sculptor in residence"? What does it pay? How are the benefits?], uses an estimated 550 pounds of butter to craft the Butter Cow. It takes her 16 hours to complete the job [It would only take 12 if she'd stop eating the butter.].

In addition to the Butter Cow, Duffy Lyon traditionally creates another sculpture. Name four of her creations from the past eight years.
The 1994 Fair featured a 400-lb. Garth Brooks butter sculpture. In 1995, she sculpted a Norman Rockwell painting [Thank God Picasso wasn't an Iowan!]. Her 1996 contribution, in honor of Iowa's Sesquicentennial, was a replica of Grant Wood's famous "American Gothic" and in 1997 she sculpted a butter statue of Elvis [Oddly enough, the butter scuplture had about the same cholesterol level as the real Elvis at his death.]. Duffy replicated an American eagle in 1998. In 1999, she created her own version of "The Last Supper." In 2000, Duffy paid tribute to her mentor and teacher Christian Peterson by sculpting him sculpting his famous "The Gentle Doctor" statue [Let me get this straight: a butter sculpture of a butter sculpture sculpting a butter sculpture?]. All butter sculptures are exhibited in a 40-degree showcase cooler in the Agriculture Building. Iowa's favorite cowboy, John Wayne, kept the butter cow company in 2001 [How? Via séance?].

See what I mean? More tomorrow.
so wrote Leper around about 1:35 PM

 
The smell of money...

I'm going to the Iowa State Fair tomorrow. This should provide me with a couple good blogging subjects. If nothing else, I can tell y'all about the life-size sculpture of a cow made completely out of butter. No, seriously. A couple years ago, it was a life-size butter sculpture of Garth Brooks.

...and people wonder why the rest of the country makes fun of Iowa...
so wrote Leper around about 1:29 PM

 
Stuff to blog about (as suggested by Shell)

• which fish is tastiest - I hate fish. It all tastes the same to me, and for that matter, so does all seafood. I get really strange looks from people, especially those from Maine. My Dad's a big fisherman, too. He goes to Canada every year (usually over my birthday) & comes home with a mess o' fish. I just never developed a taste for them.
• fun things to do this fall - I want to visit friends in Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Washington DC. KC for my friend Bill & his cool wife...and the delicious BBQ (YUM!); Minneapolis for Lamont, Eric & his amazing wife....and the NHL team; DC for Steve & Lyn, the usual touristy stuff...and the NHL team. Oh, did I mention that I really wanna see an NHL game? Other fun things to do this fall....hmmm, I guess I should start dating again....I need to learn my way around Des Moines....and there's a USHL team here in town. I can see myself going to several of their games. Other than that.....I dunno, only time will tell...
• Why I adore Shell - I'll hafta send you an e-mail on this, O Delectable One.
• you have 24 hours to live out any fantasy. when the day is up, you go back to your regular life with nothing to show for it but memories. what do you do? - Hmmm....usually my fantasies involve a hot tub, expensive champagne, a house overlooking the beach, a very lucky female, and no clothing...A non-NC-17 rated fantasy day would involve a pick-up hockey game with several NHL stars, maybe some sightseeing in a major city, and a dinner with a very eclectic guest list of interesting people (e.g. Harlan Ellison, Henry Rollins, Tom Waits, to name a few). I'd finish off the day with the aforementioned NC-17 evening.
• What color should Shell dye her hair? - copper red
• pets I have loved - I really haven't had any pets of my own that I've loved. Being allergic to everything with fur leaves me with few pet options, such as fish or hairless cats. The favorite pet I had any extended exposure to was the summer I took care of an ex-gf's pet rat. The rat's name was Indigo, and she was a sweetie! When I came home from work, I'd stick my arm into her cage and she'd walk up my arm to my shoulders. She'd ride around the apartment on my shoulders while I did stuff, cooked dinner, etc. When I would lay down on the couch to watch tv, she'd crawl into my shirt & curl up right over mt heart to take a little nap. Sometimes she'd wake up & lick my chin.Very cute! There was even a little leash for her, so sometimes I'd take her outside for a "walk". This usually consisted of me sitting down in the grass while she cavorted amongst the greenery. One time while I was sitting down, she crawled up the leg of my shorts. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've had a rat in your pants! Of course, being allergic to furry things, I got the eventual puffy scratches, the itching, and the sneezing, which was a sign that it was time for her to go back into her cage. I'd stick my arm into her cage & she'd walk down my arm back to her home. I sometimes miss that rat...
• what should Shell write about on her site? - how 'bout you write about how much you adore me? Turnabout is only fair....

Anyone else have any blogging suggestions?
so wrote Leper around about 1:44 AM

 
Feeling uninspired. Someone give me a topic & I shall expatiate upon it....
so wrote Leper around about 4:41 PM

 
Oops.

New Japanese ID system reports first data leak just days after opening
so wrote Leper around about 12:56 PM

 
A glimpse of the future?

A majority of the Japanese seem uneasy with the idea of a national ID number. How uneasy? Uneasy enough that some cities have opted out of the program. The concerns are based in the principle of privacy taking precedence over the necessity of efficiency. "Right now, the government is saying that the card will be used for 93 types of administrative matters," he [Koji Ishimura, an information law specialist at Hakuo University] said, referring to such steps as obtaining pensions and passports. "But in the future, the government has a bigger project, named 'E-Government' which will have 16,000 administrative usages."

This scares me.

so wrote Leper around about 4:09 PM

 
*scratch scratch*

*scratch*

Aw, crap. I've got a poison ivy rash. Luckily, it's only *scratch* a small one, but it itches like you wouldn't *scratch* believe.

Anyone know a *scratch* sure-fire cure that doesn't *scratch* involve a doctor's visit?

*scratch scratch*

UPDATE: Special thanks to Shell & JenB for their advice. I finally managed to find something that seems to help with the itching & swelling. It's two things, actually: Tecnu & CalaGel. My only complaint is that the CalaGel reeks like what I imagine a menthol-scented version of Pine-Sol would smell like. Yeah, it's really that bad, but hey, the itch goes away for awhile, so I can't complain too much...
so wrote Leper around about 2:24 PM