humor
oracknows | March 4, 2007In all the confusion, work, and excitement of the last week, including an NIH study section and a trip to give a talk, you may have thought that I've forgotten about a monthly feature that has been ongoing here since the very beginning and that will likely continue as long as (1) this blog exists and (2) Fleet keeps sending me calendars.
If you're in college, as apparently our intrepid blog mascot and promoter of colon health is, March is usually the month during which your spring break appears. Of course, when I was in college at the University of Michigan, spring break used to be at the…
evolvingthoughts | March 3, 2007You Got 79% Right!
Very very nice. You've got the basic classics down cold, and a few of the less mainstream ones as well. You get a gold star for brightness!Famous First Lines QuizQuiz Created on GoToQuiz
So it's a while since I read any fiction (Pratchett and Neal Stephenson don't count)...
oracknows | March 3, 2007In which Christian "clowns" are being trained to invade a nursing home to "entertain" the unfortunate residents trapped within.
Money quote: "If people are in need of touch, you touch them."
Coming from clowns, that just sounds a bit creepy to me.
Or maybe, "Clowns can look a bit intimidating if you see a lot of them in one place." (Substitute "creepy" for "intimidating.")
See for yourself:
Worse, there's a Part 2, in which the clowns invade the personal rooms of the elderly nursing home residents and then use the residents in wheelchair races:
This stuff could scare the crap out of…
omnibrain | March 2, 2007F'n hilarious!
MISSOULA, MT--University of Montana wildlife biologist and Herbert R. Braithwaite Foundation research grant recipient Dr. James Neuthom has spent his entire $275,000 grant--intended for the study of whirling disease on rainbow trout--on such items as a 15-foot sailboat, scented stationery, and several dozen boxes of chocolate, according to documents he submitted to the foundation Tuesday.
Neuthom spent $7,000 on a trip with Hamilton to Lake Tahoe, which contains no trout.
Neuthom is now seeking additional Braithwaite Foundation funds to continue his desperate attempt to win the…
omnibrain | March 1, 2007Ahhh the life of the grad students. The Simpsons have it soooo right.
Ok.. I don't actually grade any papers or have a pony tail...but hahahah...
I have a feeling this is going to be more like my entry into teaching:
(HT: Jennifer and David for the video links)
grrlscientist | March 1, 2007Below the fold is a streaming video where we learn more about the genius behind the stupidity that is otherwise known as "the W."
pharyngula | March 1, 2007We do seem to have a bunch of lushes, although that Mooney fellow seems to favor fluids that have only a passing acquaintance with beer—but I shouldn't knock it, maybe that's how he maintains his boyish, youthful appearance. Jennifer Ouellette gives us a more detailed summary of what goes on in the bottle, appropriately enough for a site called Cocktail Party Physics.
Chris also mentions an interestingly named wine called Evolution—I'll have to see if the local liquor store stocks it. I'm also going to hunt down Dave Puskala, who is rumored to possess a legendary homebrew called "Angry…
grrlscientist | February 27, 2007This is a humorous look at the ease with which people can smuggle themselves, along with some grass and coke across the Mexican-American border.
omnibrain | February 27, 2007There are all sorts of remote control rodents and cockroaches out there now - but I guess they've stepped it up a notch and created a remote control flying rodent cockroach hybrid (also known as the common pigeon). Now, not only can they control in which direction the pigeon flies, they can also control when it releases its little whitish projectile. Researchers say they are working on a laser guided shit release system and hope to have it installed in the next version of the robotic mind controlled shitting pigeon machine.
Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling…
pharyngula | February 26, 2007The pets got a little out of hand.
(Actually, it's from a page of photoshopped giant squid pictures. The squid haven't invaded the Netherlands…yet.)
omnibrain | February 25, 2007Ok just kidding but you should really read this funny post from the Language Log mocking a Washington Post article about spear use in chimps.
The Original:
Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the tools to hunt small mammals -- the first routine production of deadly weapons ever observed in animals other than humans.
The multistep spearmaking practice, documented by researchers in Senegal who spent years gaining the chimpanzees' trust, adds credence to the idea that human forebears fashioned similar tools millions of…
evolvingthoughts | February 25, 2007
Your Dominant Intelligence is Intrapersonal Intelligence
Reflective and thoughtful, you enjoy spending time alone.
You are good at analyzing yourself - and knowing your true feelings.
Totally self aware, you are in tune with your dreams and desires.
A spiritual and philopsophical person, your inner calmness inspires and helps others.
You would make a great philosopher, researcher, or theorist.
What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?
Via GrrlScientist
terrasig | February 25, 2007
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Celluloid Heroes, The Kinks, 1972
Hat tip: Pharmagossip
evolvingthoughts | February 24, 2007
I spent a lot of time not doing my thesis. I used to call all the internet articles, posts and latterly blogs Avoiding The Thingy (the thesis that dare not speak its name). Simultaneously, as a manager, I adhered to what I called Lazy Manager Theory - the guiding principle of which was that any manager who had to micromanage their staff (I had 9 staff) was doing it wrong. I worked on what I called the Bomb Crater Theory of Desk Organisation, following a news clipping I once saw.
Any piece of paperwork that found its way to me (and I made it hard for that to happen), was placed in the…
evolvingthoughts | February 24, 2007
Larry Moran discusses whether dogs are really poisoned by chocolate. His conclusion is that "It's probably better to be safe than sorry. If you have a dog then it's a good idea to remove all chocolate from the house. If you have a dog and a wife/girlfriend then you have to make a hard choice."
There's nothing hard about it. Eat all the chocolate yourself. Oy!
oracknows | February 24, 2007In case you didn't know, here are instructions for opening your bowels (via Clusterfock, Kottke, and Kevin, MD):
I wonder if I've been doing it wrong all these years. I mean, I don't think I've ever used a footrest...