Rikki Tikki Tavi

By popular request, I bring you Rikki Tikki Tavi.  It is a short story by Rudyard Kipling about a mongoose.  It was also made into an animated special in 1975. 

Here's the extra short plot summary:  Family finds mongoose.  Keep it as pet.  Snakes and mongoose are not friends.  Mongoose and snake fight, with mongoose hoping to save human.  Snake dies.  Other snake plots revenge.  Snake and mongoose fight.  Mongoose wins (saving humans).  Mongoose is hero.  Fin

And, per usual, youtube provides us video.  (It's the whole animated special, in 3 parts. I hope you have about 25 minutes to spare.  Or better yet, space it out and visit multiple times and watch a bit each time.)

Part two and part three after the jump:

The Rick is Dead, Long Live the Rick

Okay, so neither Rick Perry nor Rick Santorum would really qualify to play the role of king at this point, but that doesn't concern me.   It still somewhat fits the fortunes of the GOP's Ricks this week.  There has been some serious Rick-related political news in the past couple of days, and it'll get all moldy if I don't go with it soon.   First off, Rick Perry (you might remember him from such hits as "I can't..sorry...oops") has decided to abandon his quest to be the nominee for the Republican Party for the 2012 election.  In a rather baffling decision, he chose not to back the other Rick in the race (way to let Ricks down, dude), Rick Santorum.   Speaking of him, in an intriguing twist, Iowa's GOP has now retroactively decided that Rick Santorum got the most votes in the Iowa caucus, but also that getting the most votes doesn't mean you "win".  Think about that.  All-in-all, quite the Rick-filled week for the GOP.  Now if only someone could convince Newt to pronounce his last name "Ging-rick," instead of "Ging-rich."  Then we'd have a lot more to work with.


I hate to preempt my other post so quickly, so don't forget to go express your opinions of Rickard's Beer and their commercials.  Or got back and re-live some other posts that you were fond of.

Rickard's Beer

Rickard's is a Canadian beer.  It is made by Molson Coors.  Beer Advocate gives its brews in the range of a C rating.  In an interesting twist, I've found that it appears Rickard's White is Blue Moon branded using an existing Canadian brand after the Coors/Molson merger.  I thought that I'd never had a Rickard's, but maybe I have, just under a different name.

"Take the best day of your life..and put it in your mouth"

Rick Steves

Last time we met Rick Steves, he was teaching us how to pack for Europe.  Now he's teaching us how to laugh in Europe.  If you've watched him before, you might think he's a pretty straight-forward, maybe dry type of guy.  Well, you could not be more wrong.  From men chasing their balls to sheep in the ditch, hilarity ensues when Rick Steves' Europe comes to town.  Get ready to LOL!

(I notice there are a lot of these videos.  Has Rick Show found a recurring theme?  Only time will tell.)

Profiles in Rickery: The Rickshaw

The rickshaw.   A marvel of the transportation world.

Originating in the mid 1800s, these guys rocked. You could get around faster, and someone else did all the work!   Rickshaw originates from a Japanese word meaning "human-powered," and that they were. There seems to be a slight dispute over where exactly the rickshaw was first invented and by whom (you can see the linked wikipedia articles for the info).  Anyway you cut it, this largely Asian form of transport is the rick-est.  It has evolved, though.  Once mostly pulled by hand, the rickshaw became largely cycle-powered.   And in today's age, many have even become motorized.

Some still prefer it the old-fashioned way, though:

Have any members of the Rick Show readership ridden in a rickshaw (or pulled one)?

Rick Santorum

In hopes of the barrage of political ads easing up for a while, Rick Show has been following the caucus results.

Things I know about Rick Santorum:
1) His name is Rick
2) He is a Republican
3) He was a Senator
4) Only adults are allowed to google his name.
5) He just kinda came out of nowhere and made a late surge to get into a virtual tie for first in the Iowa Caucus.  That gets him a post.

Seriously, that's I all know.  I wasn't really planning on giving him a post anytime soon (or at all).  Anybody got anything they want to say about him?