Dem Minnesotans

Sure are a peculiar lot...

Two Minnesotans walk into a pet shop in Dingle. They head to the bird section and Sven says to Hans, "Dat's dem." The owner comes over and asks if he can help them. "Yeah, we'll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere," says Sven. The owner puts the budgies in a paper bag. Hans and Sven pay for the birds, leave the shop and get into Sven's pickup and drive to the top of the Conor Pass. At the Conor Pass, Sven looks down at the 1000 ft. drop and says, "Dis looks like a grand place." He takes two birds out of the bag, puts them on his shoulders and jumps off the cliff. Hans watches as Sven falls all the way to the bottom. Looking down at the remains of his best pal, Hans shakes his head and says "Dis budgie jumping is too dangerous for me."

Moments later Ole arrives up at Conor Pass. He's been to the pet shop, too and walks up to the edge of the cliff carrying another paper bag in one hand and a shotgun in the other. "Hi, Hans. Watch dis," Ole says. He takes a parrot from the bag and throws himself over the edge of the cliff. Hans watches as, half way down, Ole takes the shotgun and shoots the parrot. Ole continues to plummet down and down until he hits the bottom and breaks every bone in his body. Hans shakes his head and says, "And I'm never trying dat parrotshooting either."

Hans is just getting over the shock of losing two friends when Lars appears. He's also been to the pet shop and is carrying a paper bag out of which he pulls a chicken. Lars then grasps the chicken by the legs holds it over his head and hurls himself off the cliff and disappears down and down until he hits a rock and breaks his spine. Once more Hans shakes his head. "First der was Sven with his budgie jumping, den Ole parrotshooting--and now Lars is hengliding..."

Estonian Political Hopeful

Would you believe I know this woman?

Updated (below).

And my wife isn't too happy about that...

Natalja Tereping (click on the photo for a larger view) was an employee in the Tallinn offices of a company I used to work for (Stac, which then became Previo). She was our bookkeeper and office assistant there for years. An Estonian friend of mine sent me this picture of Natalja this morning along with the interesting news that she is running for a seat on the Tallinn city council, representing the Mustamäe area (if I'm reading the Estonian language web sites correctly). She's a member of the center-right "Res Publica" party, one of the dominant political parties in Estonia.

I have never had a discussion about politics with Natalja, so I don't know what has driven her to do this, or what positions she holds. The center-right platforms of her party are not too awfully far from my own more libertarian leanings, so most likely she and I could have a civil conversation on Tallinn's political situation, if I actually knew very much about it (I don't).

All that aside, can you think of a single female candidate for American political office (at any level) with the movie star/model attractiveness that Natalja has? Not one comes to my mind. It's hard to see how this could hurt Natalja's chances in the election, especially amongst the men...

Go, Natalja, go!

Update (10/17): My Estonian friend tells me that Natalja has received only seven votes (one of which was her own!), and has lost the election. How sad!

Seeds

Collected from our yard...

These seeds caught my eye as my wife and I took our morning walk with the dogs. I have no idea what the plant is.

The thing that caught my eye at first was the symmetry (more obvious on some of the seeds still on the plant) -- perfect four-pointed "stars" with "layers" of seeds. Upon closer examination I saw something more curious, though. Each seed has a tuft of fibers coming out of it, presumably to catch the breeze and disperse the seeds. The fibers for each seed are being pulled from two of the spoke structures -- this is what produces the symmetrical form that first caught my eye.

What an elaborate setup!

As usual, click on the picture for a larger view...