humor
oracknows | July 25, 2011Sadly, this isn't too far from the truth when it comes to some of these anti-vaccine doctors:
Actually, it's too generous. My only criticism of this video is that the mother with the child with suspected pertussis wasted more time with this idiot than was wise.
pharyngula | July 18, 2011Man, this comic works so well for so many topics in addition to homosexuality — it also works for the troglodytes who've been lecturing women on appropriate dating behavior.
(via SMBC)
oracknows | July 16, 2011...is that I haven't been able to go and see the last Harry Potter movie yet. My wife and I will probably go to see it next weekend. In the meantime, while I do the final preparations for our panel, I must admit, as being an uber-fan of The Lord of the Rings since I was around 13 and also being a fan of the Harry Potter series, this gave me a chuckle:
This one was close, but I think Dumbledore took down Gandalf--albeit just barely, thanks to the line:
I'll expecto my patronum on your face, you little snitch
And when I'm finished Imma fly like it's quidditch.
Yes, I know this is frivolous…
pharyngula | July 10, 2011At least, that seems to be the principle in play in Louisiana.
It's not quite right, though. Answers in Genesis teaches that dinosaurs were on the boat. Like that makes the story any less insane.
pharyngula | July 9, 2011At last, you too can understand how our government works.
Be sure to listen through to the end and catch the request for donations. Giving Weiner the money to buy explosives sounds like a total win to me.
oracknows | July 5, 2011Darn it all!
I knew they'd find us out. I just knew it:
Actually, I'm happy. Our diversion has worked. While the conspiracy loons will be protesting the lesser of two meetings, the real work in crushing conspiracies and ensuring our world domination will be some 600 miles away in Las Vegas at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9.
A pity, though, that I and my fellow skeptical conspirators can't be two places at once. The discussions of toxic murder meters, mandated vaccines, aerial toxins, and starting perpetual wars in order to assure progress towards a World Government and Hitlerian New World Order…
sastyk | July 4, 2011Almost all conversations with every other parent of late includes "Have you read Go the Fuck to Sleep yet? Have you heard Samuel Jackson read it?...." It is safe to say that the book touches a nerve. And it is extraordinarily funny, and it does evoke precisely the reactions that most of us have trouble acknowledging publically. We all have to ruefully acknowledge that we see some part of ourselves in this - the book is about those parenting failures that are hard to speak about but part of our lives.
It is, all in all, an awesome book, and precisely the sort of thing I wish (and I suspect…
sa smith | July 1, 2011If there is one thing that terrifies me as a blogger, its noticing site-hits from HuffPo.
It means one of two things--
1-- They stole some of your content
2-- One of their kook 'writers' linked to you, and a shitstorm of crazy is about to invade
Yeah... I noticed some hits from HuffPo yesterday...
I stopped everything I was doing to investigate, and it turns out things were a lot funnier than I was anticipating.
Some random weirdos wrote a post on meditation, and included this stupid bit:Recent developments in the biological sciences indicate that environmental influences can alter a newly…
oracknows | June 30, 2011
Regular readers know that I'm a bit of a connoisseur of pareidolia, so much so that I even have a category devoted to it. For those not familiar with the concept, pareidolia is nothing more than seeing patterns in things. One of the most famous examples is seeing faces, animals, or other objects in clouds. Among the religious, a particularly common strain of pareidolia is to see Jesus or Mary in patterns on anything from pancakes, to sheet metal, to windows, to trees, to doors, to MRIs. Even Ikea isn't immune. I've even seen a story of Satan appearing on a bathroom tile and wondered if it…
sa smith | June 22, 2011Today I spent the day driving home-- one of my best friends since the seventh grade is getting married this weekend. Look forward to pics of me in a 'beautiful' hot-pink bridesmades dress soon...
Anyway, since I was on the road all day, I of course wasnt connected to the internet. So I just got a minute to check my email and found:
yo pig. post my shit. or are you scared?
Posted by: ron lassof | June 22, 2011 1:11 PM
So I wandered over to the trashbin, expecting to find a signature XMRV nut 'comment': an OCD collection of links and copypastes from those links, thus trapped in the spam trap…
mikethemadbiologist | June 21, 2011You might have heard that last weekend, Netroots Nation, a progressive organization, had its annual convention. Oddly, Right Online, a conservative organization, also its annual meeting--in the same hotel. So two Netroots Nation attendees decided to go undercover. Needless to say, comedy ensues. Here's a taste:
I give Elon a once over. He could not be dressed more inappropriately for a giant Republican-o-rama. I think some sort of effort was made with a buttoned up black cardigan over a clean white t-shirt but still, having done some reconnaissance work walking around the public areas of…
pharyngula | June 21, 2011I was sent this cartoon by Mia. Mom really doesn't love us any more than anything else.
Environmentalism is actually an act of self-defense.
(via Humon)
sa smith | June 20, 2011Theres something Ive always wondered, in a stupid way, about viruses. Like a sloven Creationist musing "IF EVILUTION IS RAEL, Y NO HUMANS HAS WINGZ???", Ive often wondered "IF EVILUTION IS RAEL, Y NO VIRUSES MAEK US SEXAH??"
In my defense, I always wonder this while Im in the throes if a terrible cold or mono.
But for real! Viruses make us SO GROSS! Sneezing, oozing and dripping from every orifice, puking, pooping, changing colors/acquiring spots, itchy, GROSS. Maybe we only think these effects are gross because we instinctively associate them with disease thus gross, but why are there no…
pharyngula | June 19, 2011I received two packages the other day. The first was a substantial box, and when I opened it, I discovered a Bible, something called the Amplified Bible, a CD called "He is exalted" with recorded sermons just in case I was illiterate, a bookmark with a quote from Proverbs, a thank you note for allowing them to share the word of god with me today, and a copy of Bill Wiese's "23 Minutes in Hell", which purportedly documents in graphic detail an account of the author's brief sojourn in Hell, just in case the nice approach didn't work on me. Apparently someone decided to buy the missionary…
oracknows | June 15, 2011You know, even though I haven't lived in Cleveland since 1996, sometimes I kind of miss Ohio. Here's the sort of reason why, via Balloon Juice:
I thought it was a hoax at first, but it isn't. Just check out the the official website of the Governor of the State of Ohio if you don't believe me.
I must admit a little chuckle of schadenfreude here.
sastyk | June 10, 2011Note: I'm off to DC for ASPO-USA's annual spring board meeting. The blog will be quiet. I leave you with one of my all-time favorite re-runs, lightly updated to reflect the ongoing disconnect between dream and reality ;-). But what would life be without fantasy? I find it helpful to reflect on how the world outside and inside my heads meet and fail to meet when I test my own assumptions.
Fantasy, 1977: When I grow up I am going to be a doctor and garbage collector by day, driving my super-cool garbage truck on rounds, and at night, will become Wonder Woman, complete with breasts and magic…