humor
sastyk | May 19, 2010Sometimes you read a study and say "duh!" That was pretty much my reaction to a British Study just released that suggests that when men help with the childcare and housework, couples are less likely to get divorced. Gee, that's a shock. You mean women don't love soloing on the toilet cleaning?
Meanwhile the divorce rate in the US and Canada has fallen, due to the recession. Tough times simultaneously put a lot of pressure on a marriage and also create economic incentives to stay together. This can be both good and bad - no one wants to see people in violent, abusive or destructive…
oracknows | May 18, 2010Over the last week or so, I've been a bit--shall we say?--dismissive of claims by anti-vaccinationists when they insist that, really, truly, honestly, they aren't "anti-vaccine," usually with a wounded, indignant, self-righteous tone. Either that, or they make like the Black Knight in Monty Python and The Holy Grail by demanding the surrender of the public health community, even as limb after limb of their claims have been lopped off by the sword of science, all the while not even realizing how risible it is to demand respect for their views after they have been totally discredited…
omnibrain | May 18, 2010Straight from Neatorama:
A research team at Hebrew University in Israel has developed a computer program that can recognize sarcasm with about 77% accuracy:
To create such an algorithm, the team scanned 66,000 Amazon.com product reviews, with three different human annotators tagging sentences for sarcasm. The team then identified certain sarcastic patterns that emerged in the reviews and created a classification algorithm that puts each statement into a sarcastic class.
The algorithms were then trained on that seed set of 80 sentences from the collection of reviews. These annotated…
omnibrain | May 18, 2010I'm sure by now you've heard about inattentional blindness, as I've posted about it a million times since this blog began. It's an amazing effect! It shows us that we really aren't as aware of the world as we think we are. If you haven't heard about it by now I encourage you to go right here to try out a demo on yourself! Inattentional blindness isn't the only time this happens though, there are a number of cognitive illusions that make you realize you're a lot stupider than you thought you were.
There's a brand new book out today by the semi-discoverers of inattentional blindness (well…
pharyngula | May 18, 2010
I am really surprised at all the people who are saying the original letter had to have been an intentional joke. Haven't you looked at Ray Comfort/Kirk Cameron/Kent Hovind on YouTube? They say essentially the same things! For another example, I was sent this link (scroll down to where it says "What Are The Scientists Saying?") to a 50 page document full of nonsense, garbled science and creationism, and random invalid arguments against evolution, all just as silly as this.
Some simply don't understand Poe's Law. It states that parodies of fundamentalism will be indistinguishable from the…
pharyngula | May 18, 2010I want to hear the rest of this talk, because I'm wondering about that "building a relationship with your readers".
I think "relationship" might be too sensitive a word for "throw out lots of bloody gobbets of freshly hacked up meat so the readers will tear them apart instead of you". Ride the tiger, baby.
grrlscientist | May 18, 2010tags: High Five Etiquette, social observation, humor, funny, silly, Tripp and Tyler, Herb Tankersleigh, streaming video
Tripp and Tyler, with the help of mentor Herb Tankersleigh, discuss the do's and don'ts of proper high-five execution.
grrlscientist | May 17, 2010tags: The Free Hugs Campaign in Finland, Helsinki, free hugs, silly, humor, funny, offbeat, weird, life, Finland, Helsinki, streaming video
The Finnish winter is long, dark and difficult for many people. So a group of Helsinki residents started a free hugs campaign to cheer people up. A group calling themselves, "FreeHugs Finland" had been promoting for this day on the internet and over 30 huggers showed up! During a couple of hours over 1000 people in Helsinki got a hug and one woman told me it saved her day! [Music: "Lonely" by Unity]
This video was taken in Helsinki, Finland on 2 December…
grrlscientist | May 16, 2010tags: Helsinki Complaints Choir, complaints, silly, humor, funny, offbeat, weird, life, life isn't fair, choir, streaming video
This amusing video is a bit of a departure from my usual Sunday morning god-mocking, but since I am in Helsinki right now, I thought you'd appreciate this. Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen collected the pet peeves and angst-ridden pleas of people in Helsinki and then composed this choral work around the list of complaints. Music composed by Esko Grundström.
grrlscientist | May 15, 2010tags: Housecat eats with Fork and Chopsticks, tablemanners, silly, humor, funny, offbeat, weird, pets, cats, animals, streaming video
Continuing this silly Saturday's housecat theme, this cat was raised by a woman who is batshiat crazy, teaching her to eats with a fork and chopsticks.
grrlscientist | May 14, 2010tags: Cat Disappointed by Own Failure, Cat Fail, silly, humor, funny, pets, cats, animals, streaming video
Just in time for silly Saturday, even housecats are getting into the act. This amusing video is a contribution from one cat and her least favorite bird friend. The caption for this video reads: " It's all been downhill since he dropped out of cat high school."
grrlscientist | May 12, 2010tags: Prometheus and Bob, behavior, space alien, caveman, humor, funny, comedy, animation, art, streaming video
This is another look at the continuing adventures of a space alien and his pet human. In this amusing video, the space alien, Prometheus, attempts to teach the caveman, Bob, about how to use the toilet.
sastyk | May 12, 2010From My Favorite News Source, which manages always to put its finger on the problem:
"I think everybody is getting a little fed-up with the hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis," EPA engineer Thomas Bergman said. "Not to mention UV rays and acid rain. And, not to be petty, but shark attacks? Mankind doesn't have enough on its plate already without having to worry about getting eaten alive by killer sharks? I'm sorry, but that is just unacceptable."
Added Bergman, "The environment may be in peril, but it has no right to treat us like animals."
In an impassioned final warning, Administrator…
grrlscientist | May 12, 2010tags: A Sneak-Peak at UK Conservatives, Not the Nine O'clock News, UK politics, conservative politics, immigrants, racism, comedy, humor, funny, satire, parody, television, Rowan Atkison, streaming video
This British comedy reminds me of conservative politics (and politicians) in the USA, especially those in Arizona. Amazing how little things change, isn't it?
This was the second episode from the first season of Not the nine O'clock News (1979).
grrlscientist | May 11, 2010tags: The Delicious Dish, Betty White, comedy, humor, funny, satire, parody, television, Saturday Night Live, National Public Radio, The Splendid Table, Good Food, streaming video
For those of you without a TV or who don't live in the US (where Saturday Night Live is filmed and broadcast), here's a look at a skit that aired on the most recent episode hosted by Betty White. In this skit, SNL is parodying Margaret-Jo McCullen and Teri Rialto who host "The Splendid Table" and "Good Food" on National Public Radio.
grrlscientist | May 10, 2010tags: Shining, The Shining, parody, satire, humor, funny, Something Awful Goon, streaming video
I've watched this video many times before and have always been impressed by how a horror film can be recast as a comedy simply through careful choice of narrator and which scenes to include in a trailer.
grrlscientist | May 9, 2010tags: A Small Announcement, Star Wars, parody, satire, humor, funny, Jennifer Hays, streaming video
This is a really strange announcement of a pregnancy and impending birth by a couple who apparently thought they'd never have their own kid. I wonder what the relatives think about the entire world tuning in to watch this announcement?
And why aren't they naming the kids Luke and Leia after all that? Hmph.
pharyngula | May 9, 2010Hey, it's been awfully quiet around here — it's been one of those lost weekends for me. Sorry about that, I've been up to my eyeballs in busy-ness, and it doesn't look like it'll get much better today. So I guess I'll steal something from the May/June edition of Skeptical Inquirer, by permission of managing editor Ben Radford.
14 (+ 1) Reasons Why Creationists Are More Intelligently Designed Than Evolutionists
Paul DesOrmeaux
"Creationism" comes before "evolution" in the dictionary.
Radiometric dating has determined that Kirk Cameron is between 6,000 - 10,000 years old.
The banana has…
grrlscientist | May 8, 2010tags: Brontë Sisters Action Figures, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anna Brontë, historical figures action figures, silly, fucking hilarious, humor, funny, television, streaming video
This amusing video was a fake television commercial by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, made in 1998 for a series of educational shorts about action figures based on historical figures. Its educational value was somewhat suspect. It was (unfortunately) never aired.