Category Archives: photos

Misc photographs of absurd things.

Antonioni strikes again!*

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Having a camera in my phone is great for capturing strange, unexpected sights. Here are two examples taken just a few days apart recently in the same town, within two miles of each other.

Just your run-of-the-mill light-colored SUV out for a drive on a sunny winter day. Nothing worthy of note, right? But look closer…
Yes, this is a “Black Edition” Honda Passport. In glorious white. Or maybe it’s silver, who knows? One thing’s for sure, it ain’t black! What else could they be lying about? Maybe it’s not AWD either. Maybe it’s one-wheel drive. Maybe it’s not even a Honda!

Second example. This is the door to a local store that, as you can probably tell from some of the signs, serves a lot of low income customers, some of whom are bound to be immigrants in this immigrant-rich community. Or they could be mistaken for illegal immigrants and arrested by small-minded MAGA bigots.

Now for the blow-up…

Could someone be sending a covert warning because of the dangerous, toxic government that now rules this nation? I hope so but it’s probably just a coincidence.

A sad, ironic coincidence.

* Reference to the movie “Blow-Up”, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, about a photo that’s blown up to reveal clues to a crime.

Those crazy Austrians!

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A BlogSnax© post

(I’ve been doing a lot of these easy, photo-based posts lately. Perhaps I’m lazy. Or maybe I’ve lately come across an abundance of bizarre stuff worthy of further exposure. Or maybe it’s a little of both. More likely, it’s a lot of both. Here’s today’s slothful submission.)

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Austria. Gentleman that he is, he brought me back a souvenir in the form of a bar of Austrian chocolate. As a big fan of the dark brown delicacy, I was immensely grateful.

Until I looked closely at the wrapper, reproduced below, at which point my appetite disappeared. What do you think?

Which caused me to ask myself, “Who thought that photo was a good idea?”

More pronunciation woes!

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It was a mere two weeks ago that I confessed my own food pronunciation fail. Today I’m back to point the finger of accusation at someone else. This sign was prominently displayed at a local mall food court.

This is another example of confusion of pronunciation between languages. Last time it was “poke”, which is Hawaiian. This time we’re dealing with Vietnamese. For the unenlightened, “pho” (yet another food I don’t eat) is pronounced “fuh”, not “foe”. For this name to be the rhyming wordplay they clearly intended, the establishment would have to be called “Pho and Duh”.

Which actually would be entirely appropriate in this case!

Having a Fit… or not

Posted on by under Generic Rant, photos

Last week at this time I was bemoaning the sad state of car purchasing when I related the story of trying to replace my (now it can be told) Honda Fit. Like most small, roomy, gas-conserving, inexpensive cars, it was discontinued by its manufacturer. The motivation is either collusion with the Oil Oligarchy or simply a cynical attempt to drop low margin cars in favor of high margin gas-guzzling SUV’s that are purchased by people whose only off-road driving is accidentally rolling across a corner of their lawn while backing out of their driveway.

The Fit was the perfect car for me. It got great gas mileage, routinely more than 40 MPG, which fits my budget. My bike fit in the back along with two weeks of vacation packing. (Yes, I did it.) And it fit in the smallest of parking spaces, even those encroached upon by aforementioned behemoth SUV’s.

Do you see the recurring theme? The Fit fit my lifestyle to the proverbial “T”. It also lends itself to some cool vanity plates, two of which I’ve seen being “HISSY” and “2B TIED”. The only improvement would be if it carried the same moniker as its European counterpart: Jazz. Now, that’s a cool name.

No more. The geniuses at Honda decided no one wants them anymore. This in spite of the fact that the market for used Fits is through the roof, along with the prices. There seemed to be no hope for me.

Then I found this local business where I’m sure I can pick up a brand new one:

Who knew? A Fit factory right nearby! Can’t wait to check it out. Wish me luck.

Blog Power #2!

Posted on by under blog snax, photos

A BlogSnax© post

Only two weeks after reporting one momentous change brought about by the Power of My Blog, I came upon a second example. Look at the second picture on the same page I linked to in my last post. It’s a jigsaw puzzle from the local library that sported a curious label. This week I borrowed another puzzle. (I’m real big on jigsaw puzzles.) The specious label was replaced by an appropriate one! This is the evidence:

Dare not doubt the Power of the Written Word! Virtually or by pen, it is indeed mightier than the sword!

The Power of the Blog

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A BlogSnax© post

Last month I posted a photo of an empty van driving in front of me. See it here. Someone must have seen my post and realized the wrong message was being sent. They corrected the mistake by putting this sign up in a similar van I was behind last week:

It’s comforting to know there are “people on board”. It could have been driven by some dangerous creature, like a baboon, a boa constrictor, Donald Trump, a scorpion, or a slug. All this because I had the courage to point out the error of their ways in my blog. It makes one proud.

Photos that make me say hmm…

Posted on by under Generic Rant, photos
I’m driving behind this van and notice the sign. If it’s empty, who’s driving?!? <cue Twilight Zone theme> Doo-doo-doo-doo.<end theme> This was before self-driving cars. I got off the road immediately.
Got this puzzle at the local library. If you find the missing pieces, shouldn’t you keep the puzzle? You’d think a library, of all places would be more precise in its wording.
I can see first aid and body fluid kits as safety equipment. Even those chock blocks might be useful. But “triangles”? Maybe if you have this guy on the bus. (Sorry the picture is out of focus.)

Hmmm…

A Tale of Two Blogs

Posted on by under blog snax, photos

A dear relative of mine has a blog which I’ve just begun following. There are significant differences between his and my contributions to the blogosphere:

  • His is erudite and engaging while mine is scatterbrained and scattershot.
  • He has insight into the workings of our government and culture. I barely know the workings of my household.
  • His posts sometimes make the news. I don’t even watch the news.
  • His blog has real followers. Mine is followed by people who feel sorry for me and those who are trying to leverage my blog to widen the reach of their own networks—the joke’s on them. There is scant but semi-legitimate evidence that one or two people actually read these ramblings.
  • His latest post is an insider’s analysis of the actions of a nationally known figure that could impact all our lives for better or worse. My latest post has two goofy pictures:
A piece of celery doing an impression of a floppy inflatable tube man…
…and a Terracotta warrior about to have lunch (or maybe attack?!?) using red plastic utensils.

You decide: Which is making a more important and indelible contribution to society? I think we all know the answer but let’s keep it to ourselves. I wouldn’t want that poor fellow to be aggrieved by the harsh truth. 😉