Clowning Around and Testing The Nation

Hey Silverhorner's! Appreciate you dropping by Silverhorn Lodge, high atop Silverhorn Mountain, overlooking Silverhorn Valley and the now frozen waters ...yup...you guessed it, Silverhorn Lake!

Is it just me or did anyone else just figure out that Matt Romney, one of the U.S. Presidential hopefuls name is actually "Mitt" Romney? I have been walking around like I am in my right mind referring to the guy as "Matt" for the last year....what kind of a name is "Mitt" anyway for a president? For my money Matt sounds better, kind of reminiscent of Matt Dillion, Marshall of Dodge, striding out to the middle of Main Street to shoot it out with some bad guy....Matt...much more Presidential...you might wanna consider that Matt...er...I mean Mitt...if you are reading this....and I know you are...everyone is, some just don't like to admit it.

On to other things....Sometimes I am left wondering where we find teachers. I mean, these folks are shaping the minds of our young, developing the next Mitt Romney's and others like him, but...Reuter's out of London are reporting the results of a survey that reveals more than half of teachers think plagiarism from the Internet is a problem....more than half...ok, lets say for argument's sake, that is 65%...that means there are 35% of them that don't. All I can say is those 35% better rethink their answer...why do they think that university kids need a laptop....?

Further to that, all I can say is kids...plagerizing the internet is bad, bad, bad...let me say that another way, copying stuff from the net is bad, bad, bad...for one thing, half the stuff is wrong...for another the half is made up...here at Silverhorn Lodge we would never plagerise the internet...no-sir-ee not us...nope...never...

And now time for this report that I plagerised, I mean noticed, on Yahoo...and Reuters....It seems kids don't like clowns...who knew??

It seems researchers have discovered that kids are scared of clowns, young kids and older kids and even some much older bloggers...I mean kids....That's pretty well all kids...This exciting breakthrough in kids stuff was made when researchers from the University of Sheffield were studying how to improve the decor of children's hospitals. It ain't with clown pictures....

So is this the end of clowns as we know them? Will they have to hang up their suspenders and rubber noses, put away their floppy shoes and lose that zany sense of humor that is so characteristic of clowns? Not without a fight. Apparently, the crazy clowns have taken issue with this kind of silly talk and are getting organized....

The clowns ain't happy with this news...in fact kiddies, the clowns are sad clowns after hearing about this. It seem clowns from around the world are squeezing their bicycle horns and stamping their big clown feet, saying it just ain't so...kids love them. In fact, clowns from all over have been typing emails to Reuters with their big clown fingers to say how wrong this study is. They argue that the study was too small, and at only 250 people polled, didn't come close to representing the 250,000 bedside visits made by "Doctor Clowns" each year. (Don't confuse doctor clowns with clown doctors - two different things)

So which is it? Do we love clowns or hate em' cause we are scared to death of them....do we laugh at them because we are scared not to? Personally I have never been to fond of clowns myself...I dunno, but when I am in the hospital I get a much warmer, safer feeling seeing a doctor come in with with a stethescope to see me as opposed to a clown with a flower that squirts water....I dunno why...

But now...we've managed to piss off the clowns...which means that the next time you see him he might not be so...um...friendly...in fact, you won't know what he is thinking behind his painted on happy face....uh-oh....it's not bad enough that we're already scared of them, now we might have reason to be....

On another note, I just finished taking the Test The Nation challenge on CBC, actually I did it over the internet. It's a series of questions that challenges what you know about stuff....adds up your score and gives you a label...I am "Globally Gifted" ahem.....globably gifted....I think I am now allowed to add the letters G.G. to my name...

Well, I better get going, the wife is outside shovelling the snow out of the driveway. I want to get the television channel tuned to the show I want to watch before she comes in and puts on Desperate Housewives....what???whaaattt?? it didn't snow that much, 4 or 5 inches....

That's it for me! Have a great night!

Send in the Clowns! No wait...maybe not....
Robert Parker G.G.

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Post script! The results of the Test The Nation contest are in, and guess who one...The Bloggers!!! Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! But there was never was any doubt was there?
Go Bloggers! The smartest people in Canada! I myself don't want to brag but I did get certified as "Globally Gifted" I mentioned that earlier didn't I?

Hey Silverhorners!

One of the guests at Silverhorn Lodge this week is getting on my nerves...he keeps watching CNN and gets excited whenever the news report comes on out of Cairo, Egypt about Omar Osama bin Laden the son of whatshisname bin laden preaching that he wants to be an ambassasdor for peace....huh?

Yeah right, like anyone is gonna believe him, except our guest who keeps yammering on about him whenever he comes on the television. To make matters worse, this guest seems to think that us Silverhorner's are a backward bunch of hillbillies, and expects us to talk with backwoods accent. Well, I don't really agree with it, but the wife says we gotta make visitors to Silverhorn Lodge happy, always the ambassador for peace around Silverhorn, I have been trying...but tonight when the news came on again, it got to much for me, so I said, "Oh Sam, ah bin lettin you go on ahh bout this here thing all day, in tha name of thy father will you please ferget it..."

He got pissed off and said he was going up to his room to trim his beard....

Make sense of that...I dare ya....

But seriously, the son of Osama Bin Laden is claiming he wants to be an ambassador for peace, breaking the deadlock between militant muslims and the west. Uh-huh...nice...hope it works out for him...

But enough of that, let's talk about some good news for a change, something more uplifting like the report out of Los Angeleesss that four paparazzi have been arrested for reckless driving while chasing our very own wild girl, Britney Spears in her car down in the San Fernando Valley...down in the valley...the valley so low...I couldn't catch Britney...I was driving too slow.....ahem...I digress...

Long story short, the four photographers in the cars chasing Britney were booked for investigation of reckless driving....finally put one on the scoreboard for our girl Britney! Someone said Doctor Phil rushed to the San Fernando jail to see if the 4 paparazzi needed his help...said the family called him....

So you think things are good in Moscow these days? Depends on who you ask I guess. One little Moscovite, that's what they call Russians who live in Moscow...well they call them Russians but as soon as they find out they live in Moscow they call them mos-co-vites....it's complicated...something to do with socialism I think....anyway, how'd you like to be diving into a nice Swanson TV dinner and settling in to watch a little Russian TV and have a small rocket hit your house?

That's what happend to our Mos-co-vite as two of Russia's military rockets took a turn for the worst, veered off course and hit a country house outside of Moscow....wait a minute...if the house is outside of Moscow...he can't be a moscovite...he must be a outside-a-mos-cow-vite

Officials from the defence ministry were on the scene quickly telling onlookers to 'move along, nothing to see here' Apparently no big deal, a couple of rockets went 'astray' during a military exercise near Moscow. Ah-ha...went astray, even the missles are trying to get out of the soviet army...

The homeowner has been assured he will be compensated 60,000 roubles in two days and according to a military spokesperson, the homeowner "has no legal claims" No I don't suppose he does....but there is good news, due to a teeny weenie malfunction in the the explosives fell off the rocket before it hit the house...

Sometimes I drink too much Red Bull.....

ps...Jon Stewart, the alleged host of The Daily Show, and the alleged blog commentator on The View From Silverhorn Lodge, hasn't been back this way...I think we scared him off....I don't think he could handle the witty repartee around here....

Watching The Daily Show

Those of us here on Silverhorn Mountain have stayed up long past our bedtime tonight to watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In particular, Marcello, Chief Garden Gnome and Researcher here at the Lodge is working with me trying to figure out if it really was Jon Stewart. The real Jon Stewart who posted a comment on our previous post. We are looking at digital comment signatures now, Marcello assures me this will work. He is the chief researcher here at The View From Silverhorn Mountain, so I gotta believe him.

I'm not sure...watching him he doesn't look like a blog commenter. Too jumpy...blog commenters are more sedate, thoughtful people who have something to say. Jon...well...he gets the news wrong every night...I don't think he has what it takes to be a blog commenter. Marcello says that I just don't get Jon, that a lot of his show is humor and it just goes over my head because I don't understand what he is talking about. Says I don't follow American politics enough. Perhaps...I thought I did, but all I keep seeing is Law and Order re-runs with that old guy that used to be the district attorney. Jon shows a lot of pictures of him.

So, we are going with the conclusion that it wasn't the real Jon Stewart who posted the comment, just a poser, it sure doesn't look like him in person.

However, that doesn't say too much for Marcello and I, who have stayed up all bloody night to watch Jon try to entertain the masses with canned laughter and no writers...we're not going to bed yet though, we have high hopes for Stephen Colbert, he seems well...you know....

On the other hand....if it really was the real Jon Stewart...and if he is reading this post....Jon, buddy...I didn't mean anything I just said, I love ya buddy...Jon...Jon....come baaack Jon....

Jon Stewart Comment

Well...well...it seems The View From Silverhorn Mountain has gotten the attention of none other than Jon Stewart....yes...the Jon Stewart of blog commenting fame....who did you think I meant?

Jon Stewart posted a comment on my previous post called Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert where I had written about their return to television without their writers who are still on strike.

Is it the real Jon Stewart? Jon Stewart of The Daily Show? Perhaps but I doubt it, the real Jon Stewart is much more verbose....he wouldn't be satisfied with just posting, "this makes me wish for a blogger strike..." Nope, not the real Jon Stewart, he would go on and on about it and probably make some funny faces for the camera...you know how he does it, when he turns and looks at the camera...

Then again, I suppose it could be Jon, the real Jon Stewart, because without his writer's he probably wouldn't have much to say in a comment. Could it be that the real Jon Stewart of The Daily Show needs his writer's even for writing comments on blogs? Could it be....

Don't feel too bad Jon, (if you really are Jon Stewart) that we didn't recognize you, I read somewhere today that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a friend a text message who wrote him back asking, "who are you?"

In our Animals In The News Segment, it seems a polar bear cub in Germany...they have polar bears in Germany? anyway, it seems the Nuremberg Zoo has a new baby polar bear who has launched his own website, cubs these days are all about technology...he's 4 weeks old and his unofficial name is Flocke, which loosely translated means "Flake" which of course is a very appropriate name for a blogger.....

In good news out of Paris, a place not famous for good news, and no, not Paris Hilton, Paris...um...France...scientists have found that individuals with dementia live about four more years after they are diagnosed with the disease. Strangely enough, this news is from the British Medical Journal...why would it be news out of Paris? Did they move Paris? Anyway I am digressing...I do that a lot, get off on a different tangent then the tangent I started to write about....ummm...oh yeah, dementia....so here's what I am thinking....if you live four years after being diagnosed, the secret is to not be diagnosed until you are really old....so put off those doctor appointments and live longer....it's like adding 4 years to your life...

Say Good Night Jon Boy...if you really are Jon....

jon stewart

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert

Hey Silverhorner's! Welcome back to the View From Silverhorn Mountain. I'd like to blame our lack of recent posts on the Hollywood writer's strike that has been affecting mainstream entertainment, but alas, I cannot...I am just lazy... it's Christmas and well....you know...

Speaking of the writer's strike, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report are coming back to nightly televison here on Silverhorn Mountain, and everywhere else for that matter. Even old Jack Hare down in the village is dusting off his television antenna in hopes of watching something new on television again...of course he has cable, but no one bothered to tell him he doesn't need an antenna....but I digress....

Jon and Stephen have been laying around doing nothing for the last nine or ten weeks as the Hollywood writers have been on strike, leaving them and many other television shows without much to talk about...well there is lots to talk about but they haven't go anyone to write stuff they can talk about leaving them tongue tied.

But...Colbert and Stewart, along with some of the other late night hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno, have decided enough is enough and are finding a way to come back and I for one am glad for it.

I am particularly a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, who's witty skill behind the desk and his interviews with the newsmakers are always both a little fun and sometimes quite informative. Colbert is a little harder edged, funny as hell, and wonderful in that you never know what he is going to say.

What always amazes me, is why politicians agree to go on these two shows, shows known for not pulling any punches and always ready to make a fool out of a guest if need be. I don't think they could convince me to go on, I make a fool out of myself without help thank you very much.

Jon and Stephen's (I can call them that because I am in the entertainment business too...I am a blogger) shows should actually be fun to watch tomorrow night as they find their way, and Lord knows what they will say or do without a script.

I don't know why they haven't enlisted the help of some bloggers while their writer's are on strike, we have been churning out stuff everyday that they could be using. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who needs writers when you have bloggers?

C'mon boys...get with the program!