humor
pharyngula | September 9, 2007I'm awestruck: this review of Dawkins' The Fascism Delusion is devastating, even while it is somewhat familiar.
clock | September 8, 2007This story is making the e-mail rounds and I cannot resist posting it here. I started rolling on the floor laughing about a quarter into the story. See how far you can go and still keep a straight face (under the fold)....
If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, the story below will have you laughing out LOUD!
Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet.
Here's what happened:
Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was "something wrong" with one of the two lizards he holds…
omnibrain | September 7, 2007A boingboing reader visited Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus recently and discovered some absolutely crazy dessert delivery devices... Clown and Horse Brains!
If anyone happens to take their kids to Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus we here at Omni Brain would be eternally grateful if you'd buy us one of the clown heads! (You don't have to send along the accompanying snow cone - the FBI or whoever might think it's some sort of terror device)
evolvingthoughts | September 6, 2007
theotre: a church or temple, wherein gods are displayed and perform...
pharyngula | September 4, 2007Gather 'round, children, and dear old Unca Jack will explain to you how the dinosaurs went extinct. It's not how you think. There were no meteors or comets, no egg-eating mammals, no saurian pandemics. It's because so many plants died in the great flood.
And then, you see, since only the dinosaurs were afflicted with this oxygen deficit, God's chosen people could then run around with pointy sticks and kill them all as they tried to hide in the clouds on mountaintops.
Isn't that sweet and heartwarming? God saved the beautiful dinos so they could gasp and choke and suffer while little people…
oracknows | September 4, 2007While I've been having a little fun with homeopathy today, I thought I'd show you just one other thing about the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. Directly in front of the hospital, I noticed some words on the street. After taking a closer look, I was shocked and horrified. Take a look for yourself:
If you can't tell what all of the lettering says, it reads:
AMBULANCES ONLY KEEP CLEAR
It's an ambulance spot right in front of the Homeopathic Hospital. I really hope that these are only elective transports. I can't imagine emergency transports to a homeopathic hospital. Well, actually, I can…
pharyngula | August 31, 2007Pharyngula got a small link from Dave Barry today. It's one word ("YIKES", which seems appropriate), but I have a dream that someday I will get a whole sentence. And it will be funny.
Oh yes, it will be funny.
mikethemadbiologist | August 31, 2007Even though it's nearing the end of the tourist season, I was inspired by a letter to Boston's Weekly Dig, and thought some advice for out-of-town visitors would be helpful. First, the letter:
Dear Slack-jawed Touristas,
While we appreciate the dollars that you pump into our Menino-pillaged coffers, being from East Bumfuck, Iowa, is no excuse for the complete lack of common sense and/or courtesy that you and your fellow bus-cattle exhibit as you continually add yet more obstacles to our ceaseless urban rat race. Here's a few helpful hints.
Step away from the center of the thoroughfare while…
j7uy5 | August 29, 2007
class="inset"
alt="Flickr. By Chickenboots. Creative Commons License"
title="Flickr. By Chickenboots. Creative Commons License"
src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/148054501_759fdbdd9b.jpg"
border="0" height="375" width="500">
Shows what can happen when you withhold cheezburgers.
(The
href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dah-sab/148054501/">caption
indicates that the lizard survived.)
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/"
title="Click this link to find out details of the Creative Commons license associated with this image.">
src="http://…
scientificactivist | August 28, 2007This is about the only appropriate response to the absurdity of the the anti-open access organization PRISM. A commenter on the last post pointed me to PISD, the Partnership for Integrity in Scientific Dis-semination:
The Partnership for Integrity in Scientific Dis-semination was established by a concerned group of biomedical scientists to combat the steady encroachment of Open Access (OA) publishing initiatives on the profit margins of traditional publishers. Major academic publishers such as Reed Elsevier, Blackwell Publishing, and Springer earn millions of dollars every year selling…
pharyngula | August 28, 2007What do you think? Can I use this video clip in my introductory biology course? It explains everything you need to know about DNA.
mementomori | August 28, 2007Wee-Dram-Upon-the-Rocks, Scotland, 1768 - Dr. Fergus McGregor, a well-known general practitioner from Edinburgh, has moved to this charming village in the Highlands in order to escape the overwrought lifestyle of the city. He announced his decision to his wife on that fateful day by stating "As lang as ye stand ye dinna stay," which she misunderstood as a request to make him a haggis-and-peanut-butter sandwich. After lunch, though, she agreed to his scheme and within the month they set off in their carriage to this delightful destination, certainly more melodious on the tongue than its…
j7uy5 | August 25, 2007A neat little podcast, in which ordinary people express
incredulity at the notion of a medical doctor buying into young-earth
creationism, is at
href="http://quirkynomads.com/wp/2007/08/22/podcast-geology-as-comedy/">Quirky
Nomads.