humor
j7uy5 | December 20, 2007
The University of Manitoba finally decomissioned its mainframe,
Betelgeuse, after 47 years of faithful service.
The IT folks were so
touched, they held a New Orleans-style jazz funeral for the thing.
Here's the eulogy:
For forty-seven years you've
served us well, you cast us in your green spell. You processed
transactions without complaint, we've asked the Pope to make you a
saint.
The users you were always
able to please, with a little training they could enter with ease, all
the data they needed in 2 or 3 screens instead of the 57 in VIP.
And getting data was easy in
IMS, there…
pharyngula | December 20, 2007You've hurt little Billy Dembski's feelings! You keep promoting negative reviews of his book!
The Design of Life has 13 five-star reviews and 4 one-star reviews. None of the one-star reviews give evidence of the reviewer having read the book. Yet the three reviews placed front and center by Amazon are the one-star reviews and none of the five-star reviews appear there. That's because the Darwinists keep voting up the negative reviews and voting down the positive reviews. Please go to the link right now, look at the reviews, and vote on them (toward the bottom of a review are "yes" and "no"…
pharyngula | December 20, 2007Amadan wrote this amusing Gilbert and Sullivan parody, I Am the Very Model of a C-Design-Proponentsist. Now you can actually hear it sung by Karl Mogel! (by the way, Karl, you know you're a science nerd when you think the best way to tell people what the tune is is to mention that it's the same as Tom Lehrer's Elements song.)
I think this is one of those carols that is best sung drunk, I'm afraid; I'm picturing hordes of godless atheists and happy secularists stumbling into midnight mass on Christmas Eve and disrupting the services by trying to pronounce c-designproponents-ists very fast.
grrlscientist | December 20, 2007tags: parody, humor, satire, La Marche de l'Empereur, The March of the Penguins movie trailer, streaming video
This is an ad for a French TV channel using a spoof of the trailer for The March of the Penguins movie. This hilarious satire includes subtitles, but seriously, I don't think you need them very much [1:07]
oracknows | December 19, 2007You can probably manage to tell a Picasso from a Monet. But can you do the same for Churchill and Hitler?
Inquiring minds want to know.
The website's Swiss, and it's written in German, but you should be able to figure it out. Just click on one of the four painting to get started and indicate Churchill or Hitler for each one. If your answer is correct, it will say either "Das war richtig," "Richtig," or "Genau." If your answer is wrong, it will say either "Nein" (even I could figure that one out), "Das war falsch," or simply "Falsch."
At the end, you'll get a score. I managed to get 8 out of…
pharyngula | December 19, 2007I've been selected, along with the Clintons, as the personification of evil.
It's too bad this spectrum is flawed. Evil should be on the left, as everyone knows, and red (as in "red state") has become the new, good, patriotic color.
j7uy5 | December 19, 2007Now, if only they would offer these online for free...
10. Collegiate Sexualities at
Occidental College.
9. Body Politics: Power, Pain, and Pleasure at
Williams College.
8. Issues Dividing America at Columbia University.
7. Whiteness and Multiculturalism at Ithaca College.
6. Truth, Lies, Politics, and Policy at Portland
State University.
5. Introduction to Labor Studies at the University
of Washington.
4. Speaking Out at Bucknell College.
3. Imperialism in American History at the
University of California, Irvine.
2. Movements in Social Justice at Occidental
College…
evolvingthoughts | December 18, 2007
I received an email telling me I'm number 20 on the list of influential science blogs, according to Wikio, a European site that ranks according to links and readership, I gather.
The irony of a philosopher being a high ranked science blogger is not lost upon me, I can tell you. Even moreso given that I have no science qualifications (but that matters not in journalism, so why here?). But Mashable seems to think this is a good alternative to Digg and other such sites, so who am I to dispute it?
sb admin | December 18, 2007 The Onion shares news of a drug designed to alleviate distrust of drug manufacturers.
"Out of a test group of 180, 172 study participants reported a dramatic rise in their passion for pharmaceutical companies," said Pfizer director of clinical research Suzanne Frost. "And 167 asked their doctors about a variety of prescription medications they had seen on TV."
Frost said a small percentage of test subjects showed an interest in becoming lobbyists for one of the top five pharmaceutical companies, and several browsed eBay for drug-company apparel.
PharmAmorin, available in 100-, 200-, and 400-…
grrlscientist | December 18, 2007Did you hear about the christmas card that was delivered -- 93 years late?
A christmas card that was mailed on 23 December 1914 in Alma, Nebraska, was just delivered to its destination in Oberlin, Kansas. It was mailed by cousins to Ethel Martin. However, the intended recipient had already died, so the card was given to Bernice Martin, Ethel's sister-in-law. Bernice Martin was impressed with the pristine condition of the card, despite its age and mystery.
"We don't know much about it," she said. "But wherever they kept it, it was in perfect shape."
The postcard features a colored drawing of…
grrlscientist | December 18, 2007tags: When Housecats Attack, humor, streaming video
This is a scary streaming video of a sweet little housecat who suddenly attacks its owner [0:39]
oracknows | December 17, 2007Would it have looked something like this?
And how would Thomas Jefferson have countered?
(Hat tip to Spinning Clio.)
pharyngula | December 17, 2007This month's Mad magazine (I know, I'm probably the only person over 14 who doesn't like vomit jokes who ever cracks the magazine open) has a feature on the the 20 dumbest people, events, and things of 2007, and guess what won a slot on the list?
(click for larger image)Finally there is compelling evidence that the theory of evolution is wrong! For proof positive that man's intelligence has not evolved in eons, consider the Cro-Magnon brained imbeciles behind the recently opened Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. The museum's exhibits don't merely challenge science, they ignore it…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2007tags: Susan Powter, humor, poodle exercise video, satire, streaming video
Really weird poodle exercise video for humans. This is a mesmerizing and frightening video that's a word-for-word parody of Susan Powter's first workout video, featuring poodles and a crazy poodle-woman. Absolutely surreal. It was made by Nagi Noda for Panasonic. It was part of 10 films made for the 2004 Athens Olympics. [3:29]
mementomori | December 16, 2007[Editor's Note: on Friday the narrator lost his little self-esteem-raising med quiz, which apparently was written on the back of a receipt from Rutto's Trattoria. This afternoon he called from an undisclosed location and apologized for the mishap, but was only able to recall a smattering of the questions. We publish them now. Why, we don't know.]
The playground ditty "Ring Around the Rosies" is thought to have referred to what epidemic?
A. Jaegermeister fever
B. Jungian Archetypal Oingo-Boingo Neurosis
C. Jakob's Jumping Jiminy Yingiencephalosis
D. Bubonic plague
In medical slang the term…
pharyngula | December 15, 2007I'm not too impressed with the curriculum, but heck, they've got a great mascot, so I'm sure students will apply.
pharyngula | December 15, 2007Given Dembski's recent remarks, this is spot on:
ID is science. Always has been. Always will be. Amen.
pharyngula | December 14, 2007All those kids who are expecting a white-bearded fat man to drop down the chimney are going to get a surprise on 'podmas.