Happy Groundhog Day

I don't know what Stephen has planned for The Colbert Report tonight. I assume he will devote the entire show to Groundhogs, or Woodchucks as they are also known. (Personally, I prefer Woodchuck.)

You may remember that Stephen gave the famous Colbert Bump to Bing a while ago. Since then I typically visit Bing once a day just to see the photo of the day. Today's is so cute. It is, of course, a photo of Groundhogs and you just have to go look at it right now.

Bing - really cute photo of Groundhogs / Woodchucks.

If you are looking at Bing and Groundhog Day has already come and gone, then just use the little arrow in bottom right corner of photo and you can see previous photos. There is also a little copyright "C" that tells us the photo today was taken by Stephen J. Krasemann which should appeal to Stephen Colbert since, well, they share the same first name.

Anyway, the Groundhog has a reputation for being something of a meteorologist and is able to accurately predict when winter will end and spring will begin. Some say the Groundhog is even more accurate that the Dopplest 9000, but there have been no scientific studies done to confirm this. (See previous post about Dopplest 9000.)

As always, when people say Groundhog, and then think Woodchuck, invariably the "If a Woodchuck blah blah blah" Tongue Twister is recited. Funny thing though. Woodchucks rarely, if ever, chuck wood. (Okay, there is a Geico commercial with Woodchucks chucking wood, but that's just Hollywood sensationalism.) The name Woodchuck comes from an Algonquian or possibly Narragansett name for the animal, wuchak. Read all about Groundhogs on Wikipedia.

So everybody, Happy Groundhog Day! Nothing, not even the Super Bowl, can rival the parties that will take place all across the Colbert Nation today.

We're Off to See the Blizzard

I just love all the catchy phrases Stephen comes up with. Darn, I forgot my good grammar. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. Oh, well. Tonight Stephen talked about Global Warming. We've all had lots of snow and some states have been having tons, literally, of snow. Blizzards even. And so the usual suspects have been wondering "What does Al Gore say about Global Warming now?!?!"

Al Gore did not need to speak to these doubters. Stephen handled it in his own unique way, using the Dopplest 9000, which is way better than anybody's Doppler Radar.

Many other people (Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman, Aasif Mandvi) also went over Global Warming again, in short sentences, using tiny words to make it easy for all to understand. Global Warming is just one symptom of Climate Change. Global means the whole Earth. The entire planet. That area bigger than what you see when you look out your kitchen window. Climate means the weather over a very long period of time. It doesn't mean this week or even this year. It has to do with science.

NASA has determined (using science and lots and lots of data) that 2009 was the second warmest year on record and it was the end of the warmest decade.

Stephen said about the most recent blizzard, "Whatever just happened is the only thing that is happening." And of course by that he actually means that there are a multitude of things happening all over the place. I can't remember if it was Stephen or someone else who said this: "Sometimes I don't get my words right, but I know what is in my heart is right." Probably someone else, but the sentiment is appropriate to Stephen. And so it stings just a little bit to report what one of his guests said. In his "Better Know a District" segment, Stephen talked with Mike Quigley, Congressman from the 5th District of Illinois. Representative Quigley summed up their interview by telling Stephen, "You have a point. It's not a good point, but you have a point."

The Dopplest 9000 will be a welcome addition to The Colbert Report. Weather Channel, you had better upgrade your equipment. Soon, in addition to getting all my news from the Colbert Report, I will also get my weather forecasts and reports from Stephen.

* Photo not of actual Dopplest 9000.