Breaking news: Groundhog Day is a bat shit crazy holiday, and I want to go. I didn’t realize how much of a festival it is, complete with men in top hats with movie villain facial hair and 40,000 viewers.
The groundhog even gives (puts up with?) interviews (transcript: mmmrph squeek mmrph click) and being paraded all day. And there’s more than one place that holds a festival. SE Portland doesn’t have groundhogs, but we sure do have a lot of cats, so I’ll propose my own forecast system.
Here’s the list of 2009 groundhogs and their predictions, via Wikipedia. They have a correct guess score in the low 30%, but I’m still unclear on what they actually predict. Does spring mean higher temps? Flowers in bloom? A dating frenzy? Anyhoo, say hello to Malverne Mel, Wiarton Willy, Shubenacadie Sam, and the head honcho Punxsutawney Phil. Personally, I’m a fan of Wisconsin, for naming their little guy simply, “Jimmy the Groundhog.”
And here’s some more crazy photos of the 20lb rodent, which is roughly the size (and shape) of my cat Huxley. I can attest that hoisting Phil in the air must be a chore. In fact, I’ll go home and put Hux over my head, see if he freaks, and give the results tomorrow.
Tags: ideas about nature
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[...] I think NASA should take a lead from the Groundhog Day folks, and name the node Punxsutawney Phil in Space. NASA reserves the right to reject and name, and select one of their own instead from the list of [...]