humor
oracknows | July 21, 2007This one seems to be making the rounds among blogs that I frequent. Given that it's Saturday, when I usually don't post anything that requires serious writing, it's a perfect day to let the sheep in me have free reign and follow the flock, taking this test:
Your Score
: Robot
You are 100% Rational, 0% Extroverted, 42% Brutal, and 28% Arrogant.
You are the Robot! You are characterized by your rationality. In fact, this is really ALL you are characterized by. Like a cold, heartless machine, you are so logical and unemotional that you scarcely seem human. For instance, you are very…
pharyngula | July 20, 2007
It's a Submissive Jesus figure — torture him by twisting his crown of thorns, and he'll promise you anything. At last, a godhead that actually responds!
(via the J-Walk Blog)
j7uy5 | July 20, 2007Science
fiction has often centered on the theme of "what if?"
Many of the finest works have explored alternative futures,
based upon just one or a few changes in contemporary society.
Indeed, science does have a powerful influence on culture, so
some of these alternative futures are quite plausible.
Now, perhaps it is not really science fiction, but
a leading publication asks the question, "What if
href="http://www.whitehouse.org/administration/dick.asp"
rel="tag">Dick Cheney became President?"
(Courtesy of
href="http://www.superdickery.com/dick/5.html">Superdickery.com)
pharyngula | July 20, 2007
Look at this: now the Intelligent Design creationists are branching out into pirate fashion. They're everywhere!
pharyngula | July 19, 2007OK, this is the final straw. The Intelligent Design creationists send out press releases, they peddle textbooks in our classrooms, they publish dishonest books of pseudoscience, and now … and now, they've come out with a popular magazine.
I'd complain some more but I'm afraid they'd kick sand in my face and beat me up.
(via ERV)
mementomori | July 19, 2007One of the proudest traditions in the health care field is the delivery of "good news and bad news." The following examples were culled from Lamplighter's Smile When You Say That: How to Develop a Gentle Bedside Manner, 2nd edition.
"Well, I've got good news and bad news."
"Give me the good news first, okay?"
"Sure thing. The good news is..."
1. "You don't have the stomach flu."
2. "We found the dog that bit you."
3. "We think we know why your eyebrows are growing together."
4. "Your bladder works just fine."
5. "I'm going to have you try some 'soft food' today."
6. "The doctor says you…
mikethemadbiologist | July 19, 2007
Why can't you be nice to me?*
Look, I realize that Rick Perlstein's phrase 'E. coli conservatism' is a catchy way to describe the continuing breakdown of the national infrastructure. But that phrase bugs the crap out of me (pun intended).
I've noted before that most E. coli are harmless commensals--overwhlemingly, they do not cause disease. If they did, we would be sick all the time. Except immediately after certain kinds of antibiotic therapy, humans always have high concentrations of E. coli (around 1,000,000,000 per gram of poop, give or take a zero). Some cause disease, but there are…
grrlscientist | July 19, 2007tags: Antihelium, science, humor, streaming video
In this streaming video, Jay Leno and Josh Duhamel sniff some gas .. some sulphur hexaflouride to be exact, and make an interesting discovery. Josh's laugh is funny [1:59]
oracknows | July 18, 2007In a story that needs no embellishment, the Iranian state news agency, IRNA, is reporting that fourteen "spy squirrels" were captured infiltrating Iran. According to IRNA: "In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders. The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services."
Allegedly, the critters were equipped with modern technology including GPS units, cameras, and listening devices. The report also said that the squirrels were trained for espionage…
pharyngula | July 18, 2007I may have just used the old 2+2=5 analogy, but I also like this example from the Primate Diaries:
Fundamentalists: believe 2+2 =5 because It Is Written. Somewhere. They have a lot of trouble on their tax returns.
"Moderate" believers: live their lives on the basis that 2+2=4. but go regularly to church to be told that 2+2 once made 5, or will one day make 5, or in a very real and spiritual sense should make 5.
"Moderate" atheists: know that 2+2 =4 but think it impolite to say so too loudly as people who think 2+2=5 might be offended.
"Militant" atheists: "Oh for pity's sake. HERE. Two…
evolvingthoughts | July 17, 2007
You Are 94% Non Conformist
You're incredibly strange. And a weirdness like yours takes skill to cultivate!
No one really understands you. And you're cool with that. You just hope you never have to understand them!
Are You a Nonconformist?
Via Larry via Mike, both of whom I beat hollow on weirdness.
mikethemadbiologist | July 17, 2007A couple of days ago, I blogged about the Laffer curve. Hilzoy brilliantly skewers the idiotic Wall Street Journal piece that 'supported' the Laffer curve:
Brilliant. Go read the whole thing.
pharyngula | July 17, 2007A religious group in England is terribly upset at the lack of respect their beliefs have received lately. In particular, they are indignant at the mockery made of one of their holy sites.
(Careful on clicking through—fortunately, I saw this at a late hour of the night, or my howls of laughter might have disturbed my colleagues.)
You see, someone painted another figure next to the Cerne Abbas giant.
Anyone for a game of ring toss?
And just to compound the humor, The Pagan Federation has vowed to turn their rain magic against Homer and wash him away. Comedy piled on top of farce stacked with…
clock | July 16, 2007Tim Sullivan demonstrates the proper gear for blogging against Creationism - a banana and a helmet:
sporte | July 15, 2007At the Seattle Art Museum's new sculpture garden, we can read all the signs.
The artworks are easily offended.
The unsanctioned baby eaglets have disappeared.
The grass won't grow without your help.
We pay attention to the grass.
oracknows | July 15, 2007I'm disappointed to find out that Chewbacca is a bad, bad Wookiee:
(CBS) HOLLYWOOD, Calif. A Chewbacca impersonator is accused of sexually assaulting a Marilyn Monroe impersonator in front of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood in June. The wookie then reportedly evaded arrest, police said.
According to an officer with the LAPD, Chewbacca allegedly took the platinum-coiffed actress's hand and placed it on his private parts as the characters performed for tips from tourists.
Chewie, how could you?
pharyngula | July 15, 2007I never did trust those astronomers. Now I learn that they have been conspiring to keep us stupid.
sporte | July 15, 2007Professor Steve Steve, recently accused of consorting with a certain Washington madam came clean today with an alibi that he claims, proves the allegations are nothing more than malicious lies.
Dr. Steve insists that he was at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center doing experiments with teachers! And he has the photos to prove it!
Professor Steve Steve, the only panda with a Myspace page does seem to hit more locations in a night than our friend Santa Claus.
He also travels more frequently.
Some of you may remember the incidents of last winter, when Dr. Steve "got down" with a few low…
oracknows | July 14, 2007The last couple of days have been a bit surreal, haven't they?
After all, how often does this box of blinking lights get into a blog altercation with a Libertarian comic over global warming? Actually, it was a commentary on bad reasoning, but global warming happened to be the topic. In the aftermath of my referring you, my readers, to comic Tim Slagle's blog piece "rebutting" me and to another piece by him in which he used some--shall we say?--creative chemistry and thermodynamics to support a political argument, I'm not sure if I should feel guilty or not. This guilt exists mainly because I…