Birders Identify New Species: The Joysparkler

Joysparkler

(Field identification: Laetitia scintilla)

An uncommon open-country bird,

the Joysparkler perches on treetops

and strongly resembles a

glitter-encrusted ornament.

Watch for purple iridescence

on head and top of wings.

Call is a single melodious note;

in flight a long, whispery p-e-a-c-e

with a trill at the end.

May peace and love surround you

this holiday season -

Harlequin Cat

Two Dogs Twittering In A Blizzard.

Dog One: “How many Twitter characters do I get? 140? That’s woof or ruff 35 times. Woof that. It’s cold out here.”

Dog Two: “So Twitter about it. Only don’t woof it in your own words. Look up a weatherman or weatherwoman and add their link to your Tweet. Or you can Retweet their Tweet. It will make you look smart.”

Dog One: “I don’t need a weatherperson to make me look smart. My mouth’s stuffed with snow. I can’t feel my paws. My collar’s frozen to my neck. Fourteen whiskers have broken off. I can woof for myself, thank you very much. It's COLD.”

Dog Two: “That’s 185 characters.”

Dog One: “Woof woof into infinity.”

Dog Two: “But more people will follow you. You want friends, don’t you?”

Dog One: “I AM the friend, brother. I am the friend.”

Checkmate: Tornado Loses.

One of the few times CEO Roger Rienstra lost a chess game was when his opponent was an F3 tornado.

OK, Harlequin Cat will accept that as an excuse.

Seriously, an evening tornado hit his Fort Worth advertising agency on March 28, 2000, and Roger, who would be diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor two years later, walked in the next day to see his game interrupted.

Really interrupted.

That’s when he reminded one of his alarmed colleagues of the inscription he wrote in the Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts On The Business of Life book he had given her a couple of years back.

“My own thoughts on the business of life is that it works out best where you care enough about everything, but not too much about anything.”

Cool enough. His chess game was just a chess game.

Kind of.

Seven years after his death, his handwritten words still ring true, especially as marketing and branding experts espouse "innovative game strategies" for 2010.