The Slice: ‘Cascades’ as our baseball team? D’oh

Slice readers had mixed feelings about Spokane being mentioned in Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons.”

On one hand, they got a kick out of it. Hey, it’s “The Simpsons.”

But then, when a Spokane baseball team was revealed to have “Cascades” as its name, some local viewers were disappointed by this latest reminder that many Americans couldn’t find this city on a map.

Just wondering: What local wedding scheduled for next month will most closely resemble a Las Vegas stage show?

Vile confections readers once loved: Diane Newcomer, Irene Silverman, Pam Braun and others recalled candy cigarettes, those chalky sticks of sugar with dyed-pink tips.

They tasted like sweetened industrial waste and could leave children’s lips with a sort of zombie look.

In the annals of ludicrously failed attempts to seem cool, they’re right up there with teenagers smoking actual cigarettes.

“Luckily, I was able to give them up by the time I was about 10 or 11 years old,” wrote Braun.

Tina Fey lookalikes: Heather Cook, who works at Sterling Savings, has been hearing for several years that she resembles the comedic actress. “It only ever surprises me these days when a stranger says something when I’m not wearing my glasses,” she said.

’Tis the season: A Christmas card mailed Dec. 21 by a client who lives nearby inexplicably arrived at Spokane veterinarian Brian Hunter’s office last Saturday. The clinic staff called the sender, to thank her. And she suggested that, since it got there so late, they should go ahead and count that as their 2010 Christmas card.

In that case, the yule season is off to its earliest start ever.

Happy holidays.

Today’s Slice question: What percentage of those who post comments on this newspaper’s website appear to be troubled?