humor
j7uy5 | September 26, 2006The Detroit Free Press has a brief
href="http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609230319">article
on a book,
href="http://www.amazon.com/Weird-Michigan-Mark-Moran/dp/1402739079/ref=sr_11_1/102-1767958-2700922?ie=UTF8">Wierd
Michigan, by Linda Godfrey. One choice
selection:
Bill Jarrett, 81, of Wyoming, a self-described
authority on toilet paper who's out to solve a great debate: Should the
loose end of a toilet paper roll hang next to the wall or away from it?
Check out his Web site,
href="http://thegreatamericantoiletpaperdebate.com/">…
oracknows | September 24, 2006One of the things that I remember most about my A.P. English course in high school is the time that we all read Aristophane's Lysistrata. This play, as you may or may not remember, is a comedy taking place during the Peloponnesian War. The plot, boiled down to its essence, entails a plan by which the women of Athens, led by Lysistrata, join with the women of other warring states and decide that they will refuse to have sex with their men until the war is ended and peace agreed to, as summarized here:
The women of Athens, led by Lysistrata and supported by female delegates from the other…
pharyngula | September 22, 2006Oh, boy…Boingboing mentions something squid-related and everyone sends me email. Should I mention that I brought up Squid Soap back in August? (Hah! That Doctorow fellow thinks he's so cutting edge. Poseur.) However, Craig Clarke just sent me some information on a holy cruciform-shaped scrub brush, and it seems to me that we have to get these two products together.
+
If you're going to wash away the sins of the world, you ought to do it with squid soap, I think.
clock | September 22, 2006Now we know that Bush is correct when he says that everything he says comes directly from God. The source of Bushisms is Jesus himself!
(Hat-tip: Carel, the artist who made my banner)
pharyngula | September 22, 2006I have found the Lord. I pray that I won't have to witness him "speaking", though.
Thank van Kempen for leading me to my salvation.
evolvingthoughts | September 21, 2006I'm sick, my head hurts and I have a fever. That is why I did this, and why I got a lower score than anyone else who may compare themselves to me. Lynch made me do this. It' seems I'm a Modern, Cool Nerd, like that's news...
Modern, Cool Nerd
78 % Nerd, 60% Geek, 43% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored…
clock | September 21, 2006But this Science Fair project comes really close...
(Hat-tip: Pratie Place)
pharyngula | September 21, 2006I can't tell if this is funny or not, because even humorous presentations of GW Bush make me want to snarl. I leave it to you to judge.
evolvingthoughts | September 20, 2006 Grace, of Will and Grace refuses to swim in Australian waters for a miniseries she (sorry, Debra Messing, the actor) is filming here. She's freaking out because of how Irwin died.
It's OK GraceDebra. You will ... probably ... survive the experience. Despite our having a multitude of poisonous snakes, spiders, mammals, octopuses, jellyfish and the odd shark here or there, oddly enough very few Australians die in the water apart from by drowning.
We like to scare you visiting folk, and one of our favourite stories is the drop bear, but actually it's pretty safe here if you don't camp under a…
oracknows | September 20, 2006I have a confession to make.
I've never really understood the whole pirate schtick that PZ and some other bloggers find so amusing and that the Flying Spaghetti Monster has included as an integral part of the great religion of Pastafarianism. I suppose that makes me an apostate or something like that, but I guess I just never really "got it." And I really never got Talk Like A Pirate Day, which, it just so happens, was yesterday. I realize that I probably risk being excommunicated from the ScienceBlogs collective by admitting that, but there it is.
Oh, long ago, I tried to curry favor and fit…
pharyngula | September 19, 2006Pat Hayes wonders about the sensibilities of Minnesotans:
What is it about Minnesota -- the cold winter weather, perhaps -- that seemingly helps our northern neighbors see this issue more clearly than others?
You might also note that Canadians aren't mired in a bloody mess in Iraq, either, suggesting that there is some bracing quality to the Northlands.
I'll tell you the secret. Superconducting silicaceous brains.
clock | September 19, 2006Chris Clarke explains Berube's new book (yup, I am hoping to buy it one day) for the masses.
I am assuming that Chris spent quite a lot of time and effort into making this from scratch. I could have saved him some of that by mailing him some of the existing stuff I had and read as a kid. Ah, the glory of growing up in a socialist country!
[Hat-tip: Amanda]
oracknows | September 18, 2006Janet has posted the final results of the Nerd-off, and, contrary to what he deserves, Orac did not come in first place.
I was robbed!
Come on, how could the Dalek cookie jar sitting on the shelf in my office not have guaranteed my ultimate triumph over all in the realm of nerdiness?
pharyngula | September 18, 2006Now we've got unconfirmed rumors that Steve Irwin was born again shortly before he died. You may recall that Charles Darwin was also tarred with claims of a deathbed conversion, too.
The message is clear. Don't convert, or you'll die.
The only question is whether it's Jesus that does the execution, or whether wandering evangelicals are actually serial killers. And since I don't believe in Jesus…
tsmith | September 18, 2006From NPR's Weekend Edition comes The Origin of Species song by Chris Smither (right around the 7:00 mark).
j7uy5 | September 18, 2006Stumpy
is a fabled Texan Tan tarantula,
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphonopelma">Aphonopelma
anax, that was hit by a car and nursed
back to health with triple nail hardener. I assume that is
finger- and toenail hardener.
Stumpy had narrowly missed being yet another
uncounted statistic of unconscionable vertebrate vehicular tarantula
spiderslaughter.
How did Stumpy do? Apparently, the front leg is critical for
the male tarantula in the act of mating.
At first, it didn't look like he would be able to
mate. Later, after much maneuvering by paintbrush, he would finally,
often…
pharyngula | September 17, 2006(click for whole cartoon)
What a shocking realization: Opus and I have a lot in common. Same purpose, the fondness for squid and cold weather…I don't think I'm a penguin, though.
It is a most excellent godless sermon.