I don’t know what it is about Texas, but if you’d told me that someone was going to figure out how to deep-fry beer, I wouldn’t have been surprised to know it was a Texan.

This is the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk, available on Amazon.com for $24.95. No, this is not a joke—click on the link, it’s an actual product. In the product description, it says, “For safety reasons, never use this product while driving”—which is less reassuring than it ought to be; it also makes one wonder how many people really would rather do their work in a parked car rather than sitting at a desk. Judging by the user-submitted photos, the customer-submitted tags (including “accident waiting to happen” and “alcohol accessories”) and the customer reviews (some of which are quite funny), it would appear I’m not the only one dubious about the whole idea, or about how people who buy the thing are actually likely to use it. At least it was the inspiration for a great many wits (and would-be wits).

I was doing a bit of shopping a few days ago, walking through the grocery store, when I looked up and saw a guy carrying a hand-written cardboard sign—the sort of sign you see people hold up when they’re begging for money. Nothing unusual about that (though I’ve never seen someone holding one in a grocery store before), except for what the sign said:

Family kidnapped by ninjas—need money for karate lessons.

I should have gotten a picture. That was just so out of left field, I didn’t react fast enough.