WEIRD NEWS has no host!

[MADem]

7. I couldn't speak Japanese to save my ass!

I was in a Geisha House (and no, they aren't sleazy, it's a very honored and ancient tradition, even if the music isn't initially music to one's ears...it does grow on ya, though) and I had a Geisha as my translator and she was delightful but not really up to the task. She was telling me that the fish was powerful and a bunch of other similar words, but not POISONOUS. Here I'm thinking she's trying to sweetly suggest it's Viagra with Scales or something (of course, this was before Viagra existed--I guess you might say "Spanish Fly" or "Rhinocerous Horn" or something like that). This was way before the days of computers, too-- and no one had a dictionary--it was all point and play charades. Life would have been very different if I could have whipped out a tablet and gotten to a translation program!

I thought they were all being polite--what did I know? I was still learning "the ways" and trying like hell to be agreeable and not do anything that would screw our friendly relations. I did end up with a lot of "cred" as a consequence of that very interesting evening, though! I guess they think that's a gutsy thing to do, to take that risk. I should have thought something was up when the Lead Dog at the table kept assuring everyone that the chef was one of the best in the world for this sort of thing. Here I'm thinking it was just the overall complexity of the meal he was talking about--and it was one helluva feed--but he was talking about getting all the poison out and not killing the diners!

Skinner told me to start this thread about hosting, so I did--there are no hosts so there's no way to pin. I will come by and keep kicking it up, though--I can usually find weird news in my perusals around the web.

I don't think there will really be much of a need to "superpower" this place. It's mostly good-natured fun and the occasional "Can you BELIEVE that!!!" I do think there should be someone here minding the store, though, just in case some GOP trolls decide that "Weird News" includes crap touting the GOP candidates or praising their agendas!