Yes, it’s a gimmick. A brilliant gimmick. You can click on the picture to see a larger version. Note the credit cards shown at the top, along with the note about the place being open 24/7. Isn’t it easy to picture five intoxicated college students pooling money very late at night to buy this? Granted, they’ll each eat eight or nine of them, throw up, and the rest of the burgers will be crammed into a mini-fridge until they’re thrown out in three or four weeks.

The point is you KNOW it’ll happen. Just like some hungry guy will brag that he can eat 250 in a sitting and plunk down his $100. He’ll try and fail, but so what? It’s the challenge that matters.

Nice job, White Castle.

Anyone who knows us knows that we’re not heavily into politics, but we couldn’t resist taking part in this project. Several weeks ago, we received a call from Jay Kamhi, founder of a company that has produced popular novelties ranging from stuffed mice to musical gift boxes. He asked us to provide some trivia content for his latest venture, a laughing pen in the shape of 2008 Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton.

Kara and I even added a few extra touches that were incorporated into the final product — such as the graphic of the “audio analysis of Hillary’s voice.” In fact, we composed nearly all the text for the back of the blister package for the pen, which you can view at http://www.hillarypen.com/laugh.html

Only a limited supply of these pens are still available, so if you want to purchase one (and you know you do), visit http://www.hillarypen.com

Today, this story showed up. Here’s a rundown:

1. Neighbors complain because dog nearly bites them.
2. Officers visit dog’s owner, warns him to restrain dog.
3. The owner fails to do so, and the dog bites the officers.
4. The officers arrest the owner and send the dog to the pound.
5. The end.

Not exactly Twilight Zone or even Mad TV material, is it? Now if one of the officers bit the dog, or the dog bit off one of the officer’s fingers and they had to wait a couple days for nature to run its course so that the cop could get his wedding ring back, then I’d say “okay.” But the police doing what they’re supposed to do? That’s odd?

Maybe in Detroit it is…

This item was advertised in a recent flyer we received in the mail from Bed, Bath & Beyond. While I have no grudge against the store or anyone involved… I gotta say, doesn’t this device just reek of danger? I know how hot many of the power chargers for my small electronics can get. Can you imagine what it would be like putting four of them in a power strip inside a small box? It seems like that’s just asking for the chargers to overheat and/or start a fire. Yes, I’m sure there’s some ventilation, but still.

It makes me wonder if Underwriters Laboratories have any say-so when it comes to furniture to house electronics. I know they approve the electronics themselves… Sadly, we’ve got a deadline looming and I don’t have time to look it up right now. But I will!

Now, only one AL team and one NL team makes it to the World Series. So how can you have five different AL teams at 7:2, 5:1 and 10:1 odds, but only one NL team at better than 12:1 odds? If the Mets were big-time favorites, I guess it would make sense, but they’re 4:1.

I’m usually good at math, so someone please explain this to me.

Is it the Russians? Are we all dead?

1. That’s One Big Link!

In 1961, Jimmy Dean introduced the world to the giant known as “Big Bad John” via his #1 hit song of the same name. Such was decency in our nation at the time that the radio wouldn’t play the version that ended by calling John “a hell of a man.” Instead, a second rendition referred to him as “a big, big man.” Mind you, this was decades before anyone thought of putting parental advisories on recordings, or releasing “clean” and “dirty” versions of singles. Dean also became a giant in the sausage world by investing nearly all of his music proceeds into a pork business. (Yes, he’s that “Jimmy Dean” too.)

2. Some Giants are Bright

Giant Stars should enjoy being big, ’cause they won’t be around very long. While our Sun, for instance, will stay bright and yellow another 5 billion years or so, it will then expand into a red giant for, oh, 500 million years or so. It will actually grow larger than the Earth’s orbit, meaning we’re not going to be around to enjoy the show. But once it’s done puffing out, it will shrink to a white dwarf - about the size of what would be Earth if it were still there. So if you’re going to clean your basement, now’s the time.

3. Obey.

1987 was a year of extremes for the professional wrestler known as Andre the Giant. On the plus side, he got to exercise his (huge) acting chops in the popular film The Princess Bride. On the negative, he lost the WWF Championship Match to Hulk Hogan in the main event at Wrestlemania III, when the Hulkster became the first person to successfully body-slam the 7-foot-tall, 400-pound pound behemoth. Only six years later, Andre passed away. But his posse lives on!

4. The Little “Little Buddy”

If you’re a fan of Gilligan’s Island (and you know you are), you might recall the “V for Vitamins” episode - if for no other reason than it does not involve a rescue plot. With the castaways running low on citrus fruit, Gilligan falls asleep while guarding the few remaining orange seeds. In a wild dream sequence, he becomes Jack, while the Skipper becomes the giant at the top of the beanstalk. In portions of the shoot, Bob Denver’s young son Patrick took over his role so that a “tiny” Gilligan could run wildly around with Giant Skipper trying to catch him. (And not that I wish her harm, but do you realize that if Tina Louise passes away, the only two surviving castaways will be “and the rest”?)

5. The Other Jimmy Dean

The 1956 film Giant featured a plethora of Oscar nominees and winners… Rock Hudson, Carroll Baker, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Taylor, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, and Sal Mineo. And even the never-nominated cast members were cool - think Earl Holliman and Dennis Hopper. But what makes the film more memorable is that it was the swan song for an all-too-young James Dean, who passed away shortly before production wrapped. In fact, Dean was nominated for two “Best Actor” Academy Awards, in 1956 for East of Eden and in 1957 for Giant. Sadly, both nominations were given posthumously, so he died without ever knowing what a good actor he was.

6. Eat Yer Peas, or Else!

We all love the smiling Jolly Green Giant and his booming “Ho ho ho!” But the leafy leviathan didn’t start out happy. The Minnesota Valley Canning Company’s original mascot was a cranky gray gnome (or maybe an ogre). Finally, it dawned on advertisers that a more pleasant-looking creature might be better for sales. The Green Giant proved popular with the public, and the company even changed its name in honor of its spokesman. To further soften the image, L’il Sprout appeared in the 1970s to entice kids to eat their peas.

7. Down for the Count

You probably know that David kicked Goliath’s butt in the Bible, but it wasn’t just a knock-him-in-the-head-with-a-slingshot sort of event. No, after young Dave KOed Goliath, he took the giant’s sword and severed the big man’s head from his body. (It’s unknown if he said “There can be only one!” while performing this feat.) David then steals Goliath’s armor off his corpse and carries his head to Jerusalem to show it off. Of course, there’s the Cardiff Giant, James and the Giant Peach, Giant Pandas… We’ve no shortage of giant stuff. What’s your favorite?