Bring It On, 2011!

Happy New Year from all of us (me) here at Thinking Hard! And we start the new year with a new Friend of the Show. She lives in Washington, DC, and writes a blog about the science(ish) of being single. It's quite an entertaining blog and great for people of both genders to read, especially those starting 2011 on the single side of things. Remember: being single means having to deal with one fewer schedule.

I'm REALLY going to be excited about South Carolina politics in 2011. Remember Alvin Greene? You know, the guy who wanted to make action figures out of himself and held a memorable interview with MSNBC, answering every question (including one about where he got the nickname "Turtle") with "Jim DeMint started the recession"? He was only one of about 12 people to show up at his not-really-gonna-happen-victory party on election night. Anywho, he's trying it AGAIN! He'll be running in a special primary in February (with the winner advancing to an election in April) for a South Carolina House seat, left vacant by the death of the previous representative. Hey, if Alvin Greene is suited for ANYTHING, it's to run in a SPECIAL election. At last word, he was watching the news in his parent's basement, waiting to hear the name of his opponent so he could blame the recession on them. Good luck, Alvin!

Ever been to an "adult bookstore" (read: porn store) and thought to yourself "Wow, I wish I could just have a little more privacy because that creepy guy on the next aisle keeps giving me this look..."? Then Huntsville, Alabama, has the solution for you: a DRIVE-THRU PORN STORE. Works just like a McDonald's, except you DEFINITELY want to hold the "special sauce" on that Big Mac.

Hey, because it's the new year, Michigan's Lake Superior State University has released 2011's list of banished words and phrases for misuse, overuse or general stupidity. Couple of shout-outs to Sarah Palin: "refudiate" and "momma grizzlies." No more BFFs. And don't even THINK about using the nouns "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs. Also, kindly remove "viral," "epic," and "fail" from your lexicon.

And while we're at it, here's a 10-minute viral video of some of the best fails of 2010, thanks to James Hartsell. I don't know that I'd call any of these "epic"...but, spoiler alert: most of them involve motorized vehicles...or a stripper pole...or Justin Beiber...



Happy new year...here's hoping 2011 is a little SAFER than 2010. Or not.
-B-