humor
oracknows | January 31, 2010This may be a bit over the top, but it does rather point out what is in effect done when journalists lazily present "both sides" of issues that don't really have two sides, at least not two sides that are anywhere in the same universe as far as scientific validity:
I do rather think that they could have found a better example for "Western" versus "alternative" medicine. That part of the video was actually pretty dumb and, quite frankly, painfully unfunny. Come on! A Hulda Clark parody, where the alt-med practitioner claims that all cancer is caused by a liver fluke and that it can be cured…
grrlscientist | January 31, 2010tags: Seven Words, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits, fart, turd, twat, television, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
When the contractors were once again in the flat, trying unsuccessfully to fix the IKEA kitchen fiasco that has cost my spouse many thousands of euros, I said to one of them (who claimed he didn't know any English); "I'll bet I can name at least three English words that you do know: shit, fuck and damn."
His speechless laughter was confirmation enough.
grrlscientist | January 30, 2010tags: Downfall, Hitler Responds to the iPad, technology, Apple, Hitler, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
Hitler has been dreaming about the day that Apple's tablet will be announced. That day has come and he is not pleased.
grrlscientist | January 29, 2010tags: Child Worship, childhood, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, bible, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
There are no losers in America anymore (how the fuck did I miss out on that valuable experience?)
emjohnson | January 29, 2010
Many of us self-styled journalists and bloggers lack formal training in what news reporting is really all about. Fortunately Charlie Brooker at BBC4 has this helpful report that can make even the novice journalist a professional reporter in no time. While this is primarily intended for TV journalists, I think there are some effective strategies that can still be gleaned from knowing just what professionalism is really all about.
H/T David Wescott
sa smith | January 29, 2010I think its funny that even people who HATE Richard Dawkins, I mean, the people who would run the man down with their car and eat the corpse raw, or even just the hundreds (thousands?) of douche bags who wrote 'reviews' or 'rebuttals' of 'The God Delusion' without actually reading it-- Their lives have been positively influenced by Dawkins.
How?
MEMES!:
The word meme originated with Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene.
Dawkins used the term to refer to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator. He hypothesised that one could view many cultural entities as replicators,…
grrlscientist | January 29, 2010tags: How To Report The News, journalism, television news, cultural observation, Charlie Brooker, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
This video parody brilliantly dissects the average television news report. It is not only hilarious, but it's unfortunately too true, and for this reason alone, should alert video news teams that their craft is in jeopardy because of its stunning inanity and predictability.
This should be required viewing for all journalism classes.
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: Rights and Privileges, ethics, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, bible, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
Rights are cute ideas. Rights aren't rights at all if someone can take them away. 'God-given rights' are due to the god excuse: if god really gave you rights, he would have given you the right to have food every day and a roof over your head. But god is not (obviously!) taking care of you at all.
oracknows | January 28, 2010You knew it was coming. You knew from many previous incidents that it was inevitable:
Who knew Hitler was such a Mac geek?
Personally, although I think the iPad looks like a really cool device, I'm really not sure where it would fit into my life. I already have an iPhone, which I love, and I already have a MacBook Pro, which I also love. Given that, I just don't see the need for the iPad, at least not for me. However, I also know that I'm not the sort of person for whom the iPad was designed.
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Baseball versus Football, sports, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
I despise baseball, but enjoy football (and futbol, too). My fellow NYCers were brainless drooling idiots when it came to the Yankees, and I reminded them of this as often as possible. The fact that I am still alive to talk about it means that all you religious wingnuts have yet another defensible "miracle" you can cite. (But that's another video). But here's George Carlin's commentary about baseball (which only serves to further elevate his status…
sastyk | January 27, 2010A while back I ran a post-apocalyptic novel book club on ye olde blogge, which was a lot of fun. It allowed us to get our doom on at low stakes. Now I'm not, strictly speaking, a hard doomer. I suspect most of the likely scenarios involve gradual declines in resource availability and increasing poverty. In some ways this is more depressing than the grand and more dramatic scenarios that writers love to create - you can win against the zombies, but it is tough to win against the enemy "crushing national debt and gradually increasing world temperatures."
I think most apocalyptic novels are…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Have a Nice Day, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
George Carlin can make anything funny. No, seriously.
oracknows | January 26, 2010Dammit.
I realize that this has been floating around the blogosphere for a couple of days, but when I first saw it at PZ's place, I thought that Chis Clarke had stolen someone's blogging strategy notebook, except that I thought he had stolen mine, so spot-on is his channeling of just the right style to take on pseudoscience mavens, quacks, and other purveyors of woo.
There's just one problem. It's way, way too short to have been stolen from my blogging playbook. It needs to be about two or three times as long, minimum. It also needs a few sentences like this:
This sentence contains tortured…
jstemwedel | January 26, 2010While I meet my students and try to mitigate freak-outs about enrollments, I offer for your consideration some of the search strings that brought people to this blog during the month of January:
sloth jokes
3 toed sloth cocktails
pandemic flu rationing
shark on beach eating seals
the cheating is the bad way
people that don't approve of the evolution
all academic social implications of beleiving in Santa Claus
actual size of the solstice
difference between chemistry physics
how to get a whiteboar
i can't believe I finished my dissertation
marriage name change philosophy
honorific for my…
pharyngula | January 26, 2010
Those cunning rascals Jesus and Mo also link to a poll…but it's not the one in the comic, but a poll asking what the best webcomic is. I guess you can go crash that one, then.
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: cats, pets, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
I am getting reacquainted with life with a cat (despite my allergies). So of course, I had to find out what George Carlin thinks about about living with domestic housecats.
grrlscientist | January 24, 2010tags: We Like War, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
George Carlin, a comedic genius, makes a few priceless (and disturbing) observations about America's fondness for war.
emjohnson | January 24, 2010Image: Idiot Box / Matt Bors
And now, of course, Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network can interpret geological events as well. On January 13, just a day after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the reigning televangelist explained why God hates Haitians:
And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the French." True story.…
grrlscientist | January 23, 2010tags: The Ten Commandments, religion, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, satire, parody, streaming video
There's no LOGICAL argument against anything George Carlin says in this routine. Obviously Christians will argue but then as George says LOGIC is something religion has a big problem with.
George Carlin (1937-2008) was a champion of free speech. Some (like me) think he was the greatest comedian who had ever lived. Here's one of his classic skits where he comments about the ten commandments.
pharyngula | January 23, 2010
I especially like the snark at the end. This stuff isn't hard. It ought to be part of the basic toolkit for critical thinking that kids get out of sixth grade.