Random Thoughts 12/30/05

• For those of you scoring at home, I officially passed 300 posts this week.
• Would you believe that it is illegal to throw snowballs in Topeka? The mayor is hoping to strike the law from the books and prevent overcrowding the prisons with wayward children. Read the article here.
  
• Uncle Sam wants you… to invade Canada! There's actually a website promoting this idea (tongue-in-cheek I think) and selling t-shirts with that very slogan! They site says, "the surrender will come quickly, they're French after all!" In reality, the U.S. did have a plan to invade Canada called War Plan Crimson, which was drawn up in the 1930's. It was part of a plan to fight the British (War Plan Red), assuming that they would want to invade the East Coast. We would respond by capturing Canada and Jamaica, which would become a permanent part of the U.S. These plans were de-classified in the 1970's and it seriously offended many Canadians (wonder why?). Some of our neighbors to the North are still leary about Ft. Drum, NY and Ft. Lewis, WA, two of our largest military bases near the Canadian border, but the Pentagon does not comment on current contingency plans.
• We have a lock-in tonight at the church for the youth group. I'm not going to try to go all night; that's why we hired Jay-rod!
• Have you jumped the couch lately? "Jump the couch" is the Dictionary of American Slang's 2005 Slang of the Year and means to exhibit strange or frenetic behavior. It refers to when Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch like a deranged monkey. Nothing says love like public buffoonery. Personally I liked the Army's teasing nickname for rear-echelon troops who don't do any fighting, "Fobbit" From FOB (Forward Operating Base), it means someone afraid to leave base. Past wars had nicknames for these guys that can't be repeated in polite company, so this is a huge improvement.
• It looks like the Saints will be back in New Orleans next year. I guess that's good for Louisiana but I feel like the NFL missed an opportunity to put a team in Los Angeles, which is a stated goal they have. Who are they going to move now? The NFL says they won't expand, so the team has to come from somewhere. Everything else being equal they ought to move the Vikings to LA. That would be the second purple and yellow team from Minnesota that makes no sense whatsoever in Los Angeles (the other being the Lakers). Then you can move the Vikings to the NFC West (with Seattle, Arizona, and San Fran) and move St. Louis to the NFC North (with Green Bay, Detroit, and Chicago). Think about it! It's perfect.