Friday, August 30, 2013

Week 35 winner!

Lots of great entries this week, especially from my friends over at Stupid Guest Tricks, including this winning entry, WEDFan’s third!

Honorable Mentions: SGT’s YANXWIN: "How do you think happy thoughts with that vision in your head?"; and hhsrat: “Leave it to Disney. First a flying elephant, then a flying kid who won't grow up, and now a flying Wombat that thinks it's a lawyer!”; Bob Littlepage: “And backstage, a stagehand suffers a strangulated hernia....”; Matt McBrayer: “The hills are alive, with the sound of... Oops, wrong musical.”; and David Wilmoth: “All it takes is faith and trust, and some miracle-strength pixie dust!” 

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Caption contest for August 30!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 35-- How would YOU caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. (As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.)

Friday, August 23, 2013

Week 34 winner!

Congratulations to Stupid Guest Trick’s wise and wonderful Zazu, who snags his second win with this clever entry. It’s a little like the “jumped the shark” winning caption from the Duck Dynasty pic several weeks ago, but I just couldn’t resist the Bondian spin on exactly what kind of shark it was. Congrats, Zazu!

Honorable Mentions: Matt McBrayer:"The name is Bat. Wom Bat."; Alan AJ Irby: “At long last, George Lazenby is displaced as weirdest Bond ever.”; Dan Stafford: “Brosnan, if you don't stop sticking that gun in my face I'm going to sing Baritone in your ear!!”; and a special mention to Stupid Guest Trick’s hobie16, for creating his own, completely different Bond/Wombat photoshopped picture – see it here

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Caption contest for August 23!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 34 -- How would YOU caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. (As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.)

Friday, August 16, 2013

Week 33 winner!

Congratulations to David T., who not only is a first-time winner, he is the first to have posted his winning entry here at the World of Wombat! Congratulations, David!

Five Honorable Mentions this week: WEDFan: "Lacking a category for ‘Marsupials,’ Brad really never stood a chance."; Alan AJ Irby: “What is ‘hopelessly overmatched’?”; Rick Bivins: “Wombat applauds as Dr. Einstein is spotted $5,000.”;  Bill Ferrell: “For the third time in a row Brad slow claps Albert in an attempt to delay the inevitable.”; and Melody O'Grady: “Don't phrase it in the form of a question, don't phrase it in the form of a question, don't phrase it in the form of a question….”  

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday! 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Book review: Schrödinger’s Gat

It’s not easy to describe Schrödinger’s Gat. Is it science fiction, or is it a mystery novel? Akin to the dead/alive cat in the famous thought experiment of physicist Erwin Schrödinger, it is at once both – and neither.
Schrödinger’s Gat, the latest novel from author Robert Kroese (Disenchanted, the Mercury series), is a gripping, surreal thriller set in the San Francisco Bay area. Not as lighthearted or comical as the author’s previous works, the protagonist of Schrödinger’s Gat is foul-mouthed, recently divorced school teacher Paul Bayes, whom we meet as he is on the verge of committing suicide at a train station. He is stopped at the last second by a young lady who oddly seems to have known in advance that he’d be there, and who indeed was present just to stop him (or was she?).

In the ensuing hours, Bayes learns that this frazzled woman actually has access to technology that allows her to foresee certain tragedies, and perhaps prevent them. And then she disappears, fulfilling the promise of the book’s tagline, “You can fight the future, but the future fights back.” Bayes’ attempts to find the young lady lead him to even more fantastical discoveries, in a unique, unpredictable plot that twists and turns through (mad?) scientists, disasters – natural and otherwise – and discussions of quantum mechanics and philosophy.

I have to admit, I not only enjoyed this book, I felt smarter after I read it. Because so much of the plot is driven by the theories and oddities of the behavior of subatomic particles (the quirks of quarks, if you will), Kroese often has the protagonist share what he’s learning on the subject as we go. If that doesn’t sound like your thing, fear not – the author conveniently labels the parts you can skip without missing out on the plot. But I found them intriguing and interesting. Hey, even if the “how” or “why” of it all goes over your head, you’ll be dazzled by how the smaller parts of our universe don’t seem to play by the rules.

In all, Schrödinger’s Gat is a page-turner – dark and science-driven, yes, but compelling and thought-provoking. In Gat, author Robert Kroese has crafted a fascinating story that recalls Heisenberg’s famous uncertainty principle: you may know where you are, but you have no idea where you’re going.

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Monday, August 12, 2013

Caption contest for August 16!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 33 -- me and Al on Jeopardy. How would YOU caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. (As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.)

Friday, August 09, 2013

Week 32 winner!


Congratulations to first-time winner, leader of my Adult Bible Fellowship class at The Heights, Toyota salesman extraordinaire, and all-around good guy David Wilmoth!

Honorable Mentions: my mom Gail Randall: Can I keep it, Mom? Can I? Huh? Huh? Can I?" (obviously she’s remembering what I said when I first brought Becky home to meet her); Graham Smith: “Thank you, Dallas Ladies Luncheon Association, for this wonderful trophy.”; and Alan AJ Irby: “Great... Disney kids get stuck in surfer movies... I get stuck in Ed Wood movies....” 

Congrats to all who entered! New picture coming Monday! 

Monday, August 05, 2013

Caption contest for August 9!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 32! From a classic bad movie. How would YOU caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. (As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.)

Friday, August 02, 2013

Week 31 winner!

Once again, several first-time placers this week, including first-time winner and all-around silly person Scott Collier!

NOTE: Papa John’s Pizza offers half off any online order the day after the Texas Rangers score 7 or more runs, and I suppose they make similar offers in other baseball towns (which would presumably exclude Anaheim). :-)

Honorable Mentions: Rich Eick (1st time placing): “What do you mean I am getting kicked out for singing the National Anthem out of key?!?! Obviously you are tone deaf, ump!!"; Don Smith: “Yeah, but they said I could throw the first pitch.....What's this ‘ceremonial’ cr#p? And where's the batter?”; Graham Smith (also 1st time): “Look, THIS is paper. You're not even doing 'rock' properly, you idiot. Do I need to show you how 'scissors' looks as well?”; and Jason Williams: “You should probably hurry up and eject me. I don't think that Tex-Mex I had for lunch is agreeing with me....”

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday!