Four Offbeat Things

A Friday Hodgepodge

1. A Simpson's fan with a green thumb reports his own home-grown version of "tomacco":

I have created live Tomacco here in Lake Oswego. I grew tomato and tobacco from seed and grafted then together creating a tomato plant with tobacco roots. The leaves and fruit of the tomato top should have nicotine in them. I have moved the plant inside. Fruit is now 1.7 inches in diameter.

The two species are related, so it isn't a surprise that this would work.

The gardener did not sample the fruit since he was concerned that it could easily contain a lethal dose of nicotine.

After a fruitless image search, I found this Emerald Cockroach Wasp by accident and decided its offbeat beauty and mild grossness were on-theme enough. (Image by Sharadpunita, via Wikimedia Commons, license.)

2. At Infosec Exchange, one Paco Hope recounts the classic aftermath of a student prank from the early, somewhat freewheeling days of academic computing.

To spare the squeamish, and yet still not lose a chuckle, I think I can safely say the prank involved a Unix program called xroach.

3. The Dallas Observer reports that Martin House recently produced a mayonnaise beer.

Unfortunately, while I'd assume that the writer knows enough to review a beer intelligently, she and her tasting companion both hate the condiment, so whether the brewery whipped up a miracle or laid an egg remains a mystery to me. (Dad jokes intentional.)

4. I often ease into my day with a short game or two. Lately, it's been Wordle and "Where in the USA Is This?"

The game presents the player with a series of five photographs from a locality, one at a time.

Each time, the player drops a pin on a map with the view of getting as close as possible to the location. I'm a geography buff who likes geometric reasoning, so the game is right up my alley. My personal best is getting to within two miles of the location.

Fun tip: They're rare, but keep an eye out for things like state flags, place names on buildings, or highway signs (that often include the name or outline of a state). Once, the second picture of the game included a marker for an Ohio state route. That sure helped me narrow things down quickly.

-- CAV