Lotsa little bits vol. 4

ITEM:  Our thermometer says we got down to 3.9 F.  That would be 15.6 BELOW in non-American.  This morning was 8.8 when we got up.  Needless to say, don't expect nature pics anytime soon.

ITEM:  NHL hockey is back, and we here had a "free preview" of NHL Center Ice (which means I got to watch a LOT of games.  Without going into a long dissertation on the sport, I have to say it's a good world that starts out a season with the Flyers losing twice on national TV.

ITEM:  On the subject of hockey, Lokomotiv fell behind twice, tied the game, and finally took the lead- all in the first period.  Daniil Apal'kov (6th), Alexi Kruchinin (1st), and Staffan Kronwall (8th) all tallied in the first for a 3-2 lead.  Donbass tied it in the second, but Sergei Plotnikov got his 13th jut before the halfway point, and Lokomotiv held off being outshot 10-4 in the third to win 4-3.

Loko is gearing up for a game in Riga as I type (in about an hour and a half).  We are one of the teams that have clinched a playoff spot at 22-15-9; four teams in each conference (SKA, CSKA, and Dynamo Moscow in ours, Avangard, Ak Bars, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and Traktor in the east) have claimed half of the 16 spots.  In addition, the league just announced the "Cup of Hope", in which the teams that miss the playoffs will have a tournament for prize money.  This is done elsewhere in European hockey, such as in Italy.  Their Serie A started their playoffs a few days ago, after Val Pusteria held off a late charge by Bolzano to win the regular season at 25-9-2, two points ahead.  The playoffs, which start with a five team round robin, aren't starting as well for the Wolves, losing their first game 1-0 to Renon while Bolzano and Renon started out 2-0.

ITEM: Sometimes PC is a little hard to manage.  The McDonald's franchise in the Mecca of Islamic America, Dearborn, Michigan, had promised all food to be certifed halal (the Muslim equivalent of kosher).  These are the only two McDs in the nation to serve halal, and apparently they decided to serve non-halal chicken when the "good stuff" ran out-"on many occasions."  The local Muslim community decided to sue- and I have no idea how they found out- and the Company and Franchise owner settled for $700,000 to be split amongst various Muslim charity groups.

Halal or not halal- THAT is the question.

ITEM: I have begun work on the 2nd Time Machine Beauty Contest, in honor of the first year of TM vol. 2.  I decided that you were a contestant if you got your picture in any of Year One's posts.  Then, I added on the caveat that you must be an adult, just to piss off any Tracy Partridge fans.

Suzanne Crough- yes, you're a cutie.  No, you're not eligible.

However, that still left 43 contestants, so I'm still weighing my options- put the finalists only on the post; do a whole separate post; or shoehorn all 43 into the Friday TM, really bogging things up.

ITEM:  As I hear it, the Great Inauguration take 2 had three main highlights.  One, Sasha got caught yawning during daddy's speech.  Two, Michelle's bangs- are they real or artificial?  And three, Bill Clinton taking a good long look at Kelly Clarkson's behind:

I can't wait until somebody photoshops Bill giving a thumb's up on this one!