The Saurus Files

On the topic of aliens

friendlypickerupper — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:24:02 +0000

What an interesting and exciting thought. We may be only one of millions of advanced civilizations. Unfortunately, space being spacious, the average distance between any two of these civilizations is reckoned to be at least two hundred light years, which is a great deal more than merely saying it makes it sound. It means, for a start, that even if these beings know we are here and are somehow able to see us in their telescopes, they’re watching light that left Earth two hundred years ago. So they’re not seeing you and me. They’re watching the French Revolution and Thomas Jefferson and people in silk stockings and powdered wigs—people who don’t know what an atom is, or a gene, and who make their electricity by rubbing a rod of amber with a piece of fur and think that’s quite a trick. Any message we receive from these observers is likely to begin “Dear Sire,” and congratulate us on the handsomeness of our horses and our mastery of whale oil.

—Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

I am a world

friendlypickerupper — Mon, 17 May 2010 03:28:27 +0000

I recently read a quote that said, “you don’t just live in a world but a world lives in you.”

Do you realize how profound that is? I have a world in me. I am a world.

I have continents, countries and cities. I have buildings that house the memories I’ve made with people I have come across. I have rivers, lakes and oceans of tears shed in both sadness and happiness. I have great big trees and little trees of stories I’ve seen and heard. I have mountains of obstacles. My body houses ecosystems working together to create this world.

I have a population – the people in my life. I have people, families. I have foreigners. I have immigrants, emigrants and tourists. I have a religion and beliefs. I have an economy. I have war, battles and conflicts. I can give life and I can mourn death. I have the moon and stars in my eyes that glow. I have a creator and I will have a destroyer. I have a history. I have time, I have years. I have differences and complications. I have beauty and ugliness.

Yes, I am a world and a pretty good one. You too are a world. We all are.

Kansas Classrooms

friendlypickerupper — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:43:23 +0000

Moving on

friendlypickerupper — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:19:32 +0000

First blogs are always the worst. While I don’t really see myself writing for this blog much anymore, I’m glad I had it because I learned the wordpress ropes. From now on, I will mostly be posting for my new project at http://friendlypickerupper.wordpress.com

Of the Underappreciated Kind

friendlypickerupper — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:25:23 +0000

Will Smith’s music career
Kids trying to ride their bikes off a roof
Men in tights
Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle
Black socks – they never get dirty
Watching someone pick their nose while driving
The Artemis Fowl book series
Equilibrium with Christian Bale
Songs you can sing in a round
Little bells on cat collars
People mouthing the words to songs while listening to their iPods
The film “Moon” released in 2009
The scent of pumpkin pie
Lounge music

Be Yourself.

friendlypickerupper — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:02:51 +0000

Those who dance were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. -Angela Monet

A Tie-Dyed Canadian Recipe

friendlypickerupper — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:54:46 +0000

Did you watch that amazing gold medal hockey game last Sunday?

I couldn’t make it out to a bar to watch the game so instead I made a tie-dyed cake with my amazing roommate, Lauren, while watching the game. The game was so intense that we broke our cake and forgot to PAM! our pans. Oh well, it tasted fantastic and Canada won!!! So here’s how you can make your own cake.

Step1:

Add 12oz of clear soda (we used Sprite) to a box of Betty Crocker white cake mix. The soda wil make the mix fizz a little bit but after mixing it should be smooth.

Step 2:

Seperate the batter into 6 bowls. Each bowl should have a larger amount than the next. So bowl #1 will have the most amount of batter and bowl #6 will have the least amount.

Step 3:

Add food colouring to each of your bowls of batter. Make sure the colours are really bright. You can use gel colours to dye your batter but liquid food colouring works fine too. For most of our colours we had to use between 20 and 35 drops of colour.

Step 4:

Prep your pans with some PAM first if you need to. Pour half of the batter from bowl #1 (in our case the lime green) into the middle of your first pan. It should begin to spread on its own creating a circular shape. Pour half of bowls #2-6 on top of each other. You should see that the batter spreads out but remains seperated.

Pour the rest of your batter into your second pan using the same method.

Step 5:

Bake according to the cake mix instructions. Let it cool, ice and serve!

Argh.

friendlypickerupper — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:56:13 +0000

What’s up with girls wearing thin tights to class in the cold Canadian winters? Didn’t have the few minutes it takes to put on a pair of real pants? Fine. Shiver all you want but don’t you dare complain about how cold you are.

What’s with people calling themselves vegetarian when they eat fish and seafood. That’s not vegetarian, that’s pescatarian or pesco-vegetarian. Use the right word.

What’s with the clearly unnatural bleach blonde hair on girls everywhere. There’s a reason why you weren’t born a blonde. It doesn’t look good.

What’s up with everyone trying to be an environmentalist but still buying bottled water? You do know that its cheaper to buy 1 reusable water bottle instead of cases of 24 bottles every few weeks right? Just sayin’.

On that note, what’s up with the environmentalist fad? It’s obvious that you’re doing it because its the ‘cool’ thing to do when you don’t even know what can be recycled. If you want to say you care about the environment, get to know a little bit about it first.

What’s up with all of the fake tans in the middle of the winter? Yes, its pretty obvious you went to a tanning salon or used some sort of cream.

What’s with the all the drunks refusing to say they are drunk? Hey dude, nobody’s going to judge you for being drunk. If you look like an idiot, just admit it already.

… maybe its just PMS.

CSI: Miami

friendlypickerupper — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:52:28 +0000

This made me laugh outloud. I freaking love Lieutenant Horatio Caine.

Psych

friendlypickerupper — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:00:12 +0000

Ever wonder why you never see the headline “Psychic wins lottery!”? I’ll tell you why. Psychics are hacks.

Watch The Mentalist. Great show.