Mickey Ferguson is a weatherman for our local Fox station (WBRC 6) in Birmingham. Enjoy.

MILWAUKEE - Kevin Campanella hates buying and receiving Christmas presents that he says inevitably disappoint. This year, no such worries.

Campanella plans to seek “serenity now” by celebrating Festivus, a wacky holiday popularized in a 1997 “Seinfeld” episode. Billed as “Festivus for the rest of us,” the holiday celebrated by the Costanza clan on Dec. 23 features an airing of grievances and feats of strength in which a guest must pin the host before the party ends.

In protest of Christmas’ commercialism, character Frank Costanza puts up an unadorned aluminum pole instead of a tree. The metal, he says admiringly, has a “very high strength-to-weight ratio.”

“I just always loved that episode,” said Campanella, 28, a landscaper from Warwick, R.I. “But it’s not so much about the show — I think the idea of Festivus is a good idea.”

So does The Wagner Companies. The Milwaukee-based maker of hand-railing components is bringing back its line of Festivus poles for the holiday season. The company had plenty of metal rails on hand already and launched the product last year on a whim.

“We did it mainly as a lark. We never looked at it as a tremendous moneymaking scheme,” said Tony Leto, the firm’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. “But in many ways, Festivus is taking on a life of its own.”

Wagner, which made $15 million last year from products including handrail brackets and pipe elbows, earned only a few thousand dollars from Festivus pole sales. Leto said the company received some media publicity upon launch of the poles but he credits bloggers with strong “Seinfeld” loyalties for spreading the news far and wide.

Wagner sold about 250 poles in 2005, with around 100 sales coming from the firm’s 120 employees. This season, it sold about 300 poles by mid-December and was on pace to sell twice that number by Saturday, said Leto, whose claim to fame is that he shared a drama class with Jerry Seinfeld at Queens College in New York.

Wagner offers a 6-foot Festivus pole for $38 and a 2-foot-8-inch tabletop model for $30. The setup is simple: a hollow pipe, 1.9 inches in diameter, inserted into a collapsible aluminum base.

Festivus Poles.com

A Festivus present from Festville to you…

Amason Twins: Male or Female? You decide.

I don’t think so.

Thanks but no thanks. I’m letting the dove go.

Nine former addicts sing. What is this a how to album for shooting up?

Man paid for some bubble gum and then grabbed the cash. In return for this, he got his truck shot up the elderly owner. Tanner Williams is located in western Mobile County (AL).

A male baton twirler…very nicely done WVU.

West Virginia University’s feature twirlers have spun years of hard work into winning top honors, both nationally and internationally.

Ashley Oplinger, Donovan Sarr and Whitney Whittaker are all in their second season twirling with the Mountaineer Marching Band, “The Pride of West Virginia.”

Sarr, a junior psychology major at WVU, became Senior Men’s Two-Baton Champion in April 2006, when he traveled to Eindhoven, Holland, to compete on the U.S. World Team. A 2004 Mount Gilead (Ohio) High School graduate, he has also earned numerous Ohio State and Great Lakes regional titles in solo, two-baton, three-baton and rhythmic twirl.

Moreover, Sarr was the 2004 Men’s National Twirling Champion and the 2006 Men’s Collegiate Twirling Champion.

Sarr has been competing nationally for the past four years and internationally for the past year. Unlike most college twirlers who have been training for 10 or 15 years, he started twirling only five years ago when he was a sophomore in high school.

“My mother had been a majorette and taught me some things when I was younger, but being a boy twirler in a small town was unconventional,” he said.

When Sarr saw a boy from a rival school twirling at a homecoming game, he decided to try it. He immediately began working with a private coach, which meant traveling two hours every Sunday. In addition to the long drive, he practiced two to three hours every day.

Sarr is the first male twirler the WVU Band has had since 1971, the last year when the band was all-male.

WVU Press Release

Spotted in Bay Minette, AL at Full Power Holiness Church. I guess they thought the bales of hay and pumpkins were manger-esque.

Click picture to enlarge for closeup.

To summarize Benny’s airplane pitch: He has recently taken delivery on our Gulfstream G4SP plane, which we call Dove One. He is asking for 6,000 of his precious partners to sow a seed of $1,000 in the next ninety days. So the place costs $6 million.

For your gift of $1,000 or more, you will receive these thank-you gifts to show my appreciation:
- You will receive a beautiful art-quality model of Dove One (pictured right) for your desk or mantle as a constant reminder that you are a vital part of this last-days harvest for souls.
- Your name will be placed prominently in a special area of Dove One where I study and pray during my travels, where I will also pray for you and your family as I go around the world preaching the Gospel. Everywhere I fly, your name will travel with me, millions of miles and for years to come, reminding me that you have made it possible for me to go and preach as God has called me to do.

More info…

Richard Simmons’ Exploding Steamer as seen on Letterman…

Germany and Belgium are trying to cut down on smoking and have some cities smoke-free. In Belgium, it is the harshest and they are going to require cigarette cartons to feature pictures and messages about the effects of smoking.

View more pictures and read about it if your German is up to speed…

Spotted on I-20/59 near Tuscaloosa. Not sure what transpired first? Loading the trash on the truck or the putting the truck on the trailer.