# Absurd things you've seen lately
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 8, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822 "2009-11-08T18:50:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/61 "2009-11-13T20:40:59Z")
I saw a Monty Python film\*. Beat that for absurd.
\*To be precise, one and a bit Monty Python films. We finished _Life of Brian_, but we only got up to the birth control song in _The Meaning of Life_.
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/62 "2009-11-14T00:38:10Z")
I was behind a car a few days ago with 4 bumper stickers:
- Rush is Right
- a Jesus Fish
- One Man One Woman: Yes On Measure 36
- and then, inexplicably, “Love Is All It Takes To Make A Family” in rainbow letters
I can only assume they thought the sentiment was sweet and had no clue what it actually means?
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/63 "2009-11-14T03:40:51Z")
Probably low on the absurd meter, but I thought it was funny. Yesterday, I saw a toddler in a car seat strapped in the shot gun seat of a garbage truck. It just looked so funny to see that little guy sitting up in that great big truck. 🙂 I’ll bet he was enjoying himself though.
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### Author:  [@heavybuhbuh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavybuhbuh)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/64 "2009-11-14T04:40:33Z")
There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC to you youngins’) near my house and there is a statue of Colonel Sanders (KFC’s founder/spokesman to you youngins’) sitting on a bench at this Kentucky Fried Chicken. The statue has been there for years. Well, on the floor next to the colonel’s right foot sat an used condom, dried up, sitting there for the world to see.
Needless to say, I didn’t stay to eat.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/65 "2009-11-14T04:55:06Z")
The Colonel gets lucky!
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### Author:  [@MsChilePepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsChilePepper)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/66 "2009-11-14T07:02:46Z")
I’ve seen this dog running around the neighborhood, seems like your typical family pet out for a stroll. Clearly a mixed-breed, but the two parent dogs had to have been … a dachshund and a German shepherd. It has the coloring/markings of a typical German shepherd with a head shaped and sized like a German shepherd, but the looooooong body and short-short legs of a dachshund. Weirdest looking dog. Reminds me of tha mix & match animal body toy sold by Tupperware.
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### Author:  [@heavybuhbuh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavybuhbuh)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/67 "2009-11-14T10:13:45Z")
[quote=“WOOKINPANUB, post:53, topic:516822”]
While walking up to the Thai restaurant we were just about to eat at, my friend and I saw a cat dragging a dead pigeon into the kitchen door :eek:
I love this!!! Freshly caught squab on the menu,
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### Author:  [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/68 "2009-11-14T16:06:05Z")
> [@JSexton](#):
>
> I was behind a car a few days ago with 4 bumper stickers:
>
> - Rush is Right
> - a Jesus Fish
> - One Man One Woman: Yes On Measure 36
> - and then, inexplicably, “Love Is All It Takes To Make A Family” in rainbow letters
>
> I can only assume they thought the sentiment was sweet and had no clue what it actually means?
Hahaha, why does this not surprise me?
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### Author:  [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/69 "2009-11-14T22:06:44Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#):
>
> I work at Penn. Along Locust Walk I have seen this a couple of times with hawks and their prey. It is truly fascinating to see. A red tailed hawk comes down from the sky grabs a squirrel or a pigeon, lands and eats it. It usually evokes the same reaction from passersby. Everyone stands around in a bit of shock and then takes pics.
Small world; I live near Penn and used to work there. The Rittenhouse hawk was the first I’ve seen in Center City, but I’ve seen hawks twice on the Penn campus. One was chasing a squirrel just off Hamilton Walk, near the Biopond; the squirrel ran back and forth between two trees like a fighter pilot “jinking”, the hawk kept following, until the hawk ran out of altitude and had to land on the ground. The squirrel then stopped at the foot of a tree and simply stood there, eying the hawk, not bothering to escape up the tree. The hawk spotted me and flew off.
The second was atop the trellis along 36th St near Samson, across from the shopping area; it had just caught a pigeon and was pulling it to pieces while it continued to struggle. Eventually it pulled the pigeon’s head off whole and, after turning the head in its beak and obviously considering swallowing it whole, dropped it on the ground. That hawk was a full-grown redtail, and believe me, that is a VERY impressive bird to see at close range. Of course, having done hawk rehab, you know that!
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/70 "2009-11-14T22:48:34Z")
> [@MsChilePepper](#):
>
> I’ve seen this dog running around the neighborhood, seems like your typical family pet out for a stroll. Clearly a mixed-breed, but the two parent dogs had to have been … a dachshund and a German shepherd. It has the coloring/markings of a typical German shepherd with a head shaped and sized like a German shepherd, but the looooooong body and short-short legs of a dachshund. Weirdest looking dog. Reminds me of tha mix & match animal body toy sold by Tupperware.
I’ve seen one of those too, except it was a shepherd/_corgie_ mix.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/71 "2009-11-15T02:23:46Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> I’ve seen one of those too, except it was a shepherd/_corgie_ mix.
that was one very determined corgi
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/72 "2009-11-15T17:18:22Z")
This is more funny than absurd, but here goes. Not long ago all three of our cats, seen [here](http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr308/DeathB4D_Calf/?action=view¤t=Threeboyscropped.gif), were having their daily play frenzy and were chasing each other all around the apartment. BTW they are all at least fourteen but you would never know it from their behavior. Like most cats, they seem to be fascinated with any possible source of extra water, and they often go in the bathtub to check for puddles forming around the drain.
It so happened on that day that there was standing water in the bathtub. I don’t remember why, maybe we were washing something that was too big to wash anywhere else. You can probably guess where this is going. The bathtub has only a rod and curtain, not a sliding door. So in full cry of the chase, over the side of the tub they went. Splash! Splash! Splash! Like Cassius, accoutred as they were they plunged in. They had no idea, for they’d never seen water in a bathtub before!
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/73 "2009-11-15T18:17:16Z")
[hijack]
Aw, are those two Ragamuffins and a Siamese?
[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/74 "2009-11-15T22:05:00Z")
Another one I meant to post from last week: was at a traffic light with a jacked-up pickup-huge tires and all that-in front of me. Well, I did one of those delayed takes, only then noticing that it was instead a jacked-up Lincoln Town Car.
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### Author:  [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/75 "2009-11-15T23:51:48Z")
> [@pbbth](#):
>
> Here in NYC the weather has been sort of cool in the high 50’s or low 60’s every day for at least the last week. I have lost count of the people I’ve seen running around in parkas with gloves, hats, and scarves like they are marching into the tundra.
???
If I own a heavy coat, gloves or a scarf, I’ll generally bring it out when it gets that cold. I’ll also be complaining bitterly that I should not be having to deal with WEATHER.
Weather sucks. It should always be about 70 and sunny…and it usually is.
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### Author:  [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/76 "2009-11-16T19:02:15Z")
> [@ryobserver](#):
>
> Small world; I live near Penn and used to work there. The Rittenhouse hawk was the first I’ve seen in Center City, but I’ve seen hawks twice on the Penn campus. One was chasing a squirrel just off Hamilton Walk, near the Biopond; the squirrel ran back and forth between two trees like a fighter pilot “jinking”, the hawk kept following, until the hawk ran out of altitude and had to land on the ground. The squirrel then stopped at the foot of a tree and simply stood there, eying the hawk, not bothering to escape up the tree. The hawk spotted me and flew off.
>
> The second was atop the trellis along 36th St near Samson, across from the shopping area; it had just caught a pigeon and was pulling it to pieces while it continued to struggle. Eventually it pulled the pigeon’s head off whole and, after turning the head in its beak and obviously considering swallowing it whole, dropped it on the ground. That hawk was a full-grown redtail, and believe me, that is a VERY impressive bird to see at close range. Of course, having done hawk rehab, you know that!
I have that beat. I remember I was eating lunch outside of Houston Hall, and I saw a squirrel munching on a sparrow. The squirrel was holding the bird in its forepaws and was just noshing on the bird’s head. Creepy.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/77 "2009-11-16T19:58:02Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> Tuesday, when I stepped out of my apartment, three lizards fell on me. They immediately jumped off and skeedaddled.
Seriously, WTF is up with that? When I lived down in Naples, FL they’d do the same thing. Wait for you to be directly under them then just dive bomb you.
So I move to the midwest where there are no falling lizards. In my yard raking under a tree and a lose branch is dangling from it. I grab the branch and yank it down. Somehow it disloged a sleeping squirrel who hit the grund with a thud about a foot away from me like a sock filled with sand. The fall must have screwed him up somehow cause he kept falling to the side with his head cocked to the right while he tried to scamper away. Freakin thing!
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### Author:  [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/78 "2009-11-16T21:23:29Z")
On some picture-hosting site I noticed a message at the top: “Ad-blocker detected. Upgrade to premium to remove ads.” Um, thanks for the “advice,” but I’ve already removed them…
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### Author:  [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/79 "2009-11-16T21:50:02Z")
> [@Oni no Maggie](#):
>
> ???
>
> If I own a heavy coat, gloves or a scarf, I’ll generally bring it out when it gets that cold. I’ll also be complaining bitterly that I should not be having to deal with WEATHER.
>
> Weather sucks. It should always be about 70 and sunny…and it usually is.
😛
If this were Texas or California or something I wouldn’t have looked twice at them. That kind of weather is dang cold in the south! This is New York though. This is a part of the country where cold weather is absolutely normal. Odds are good that we are going to get to well below freezing for at least part of the winter and most people here are smart enough to just have a light jacket for days like these. I have been bopping around the city in a hoodie and even that seems like too much sometimes. I have watched coworkers put on a sweater, a jacket, an overcoat, a hat, gloves and a scarf before walking 2 blocks to the subway in 58 degree weather. It boggles my mind.
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### Author:  [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-things-youve-seen-lately/516822/80 "2009-11-17T00:24:57Z")
> [@Carl\_Corey](#):
>
> I have that beat. I remember I was eating lunch outside of Houston Hall, and I saw a squirrel munching on a sparrow. The squirrel was holding the bird in its forepaws and was just noshing on the bird’s head. Creepy.
A live sparrow or a dead one??
Either way, yikes. I’ve seen squirrels eating everything BUT meat around the Penn campus; thanks to the trash cans they have an infinite smorgasbord. I’ve a squirrel licking salt & grease from a roast-peanut wrapper, a squirrel licking jelly from a bakery paper that had held a donut (on a windy day; the wind kept wrapping the paper round the squirrel’s face), a squirrel with an apple core so big the squirrel couldn’t carry it and see where it was going and so kept putting it down to look around, and a squirrel with a whole chocolate-chip cookie sitting up and turning the cookie in its paws like a steering wheel. All on Locust Walk, except the apple-core episode, which was by the Biopond.
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