humor
grrlscientist | April 8, 2008tags: The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar, fantasy, humor, book review
Immediately after I'd broken my arm, I found it impossible to concentrate for long periods of time (longer than five or ten minutes at a stretch) because of the intense pain or because of the haze caused by the pain medications. But nevertheless, I wanted to retreat into a book, so I decided to read a book that was completely different than my usual fare -- just for fun, of course. Thanks to one of my readers, I already had the perfect book in my possession; The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (Brooklyn,…
omnibrain | April 8, 2008 My friend Amy sent these graphs around today - I have no idea at all what their source is (any ideas?) so I can't credit it. But they really are hysterical.
Enjoy:
A bunch more after the break.
pharyngula | April 7, 2008The New York City Skeptics sent me a t-shirt today, and at last I have the candidate I want.
I know, I know, you're all thinking that there's one little problem with the guy — he's British.* I'm sure we can sneak a little amendment through real fast — we'll tell everyone it's to let Schwarzenegger run, and do a quick last minute swap.
*He's also dead, but he'll still do a better job than the clown in office right now.
tqa | April 7, 2008
The anticipation of reading is almost always wonderful, but the actual reading is often frustrating. You can spend hours enjoying the wonderful indecision of the bookstore before you walk away with the comforting weight of a new release hardcover in your hand. The book can sit on the coffee table for days, weeks, or months before you finally find the time to sit down with it. At some point, you finally find time some quiet evening to pick up the book, sit yourself down with a nice glass of the beverage of your choice, and open the cover. And by page six, you're wondering what on earth the…
jlynch | April 6, 2008Over at Skepchick, Rebecca is highlighting Something Awful’s Photoshop Phriday with a wonderful faux cover for Unscientific American. Wander over to her to see it. This one made me snort:
There are plenty more here including The Old Republic.
j7uy5 | April 6, 2008A new world record has been set:
The previous record for hanging spoons on a human face was 15.
Joe Allison "smashed" the record
with 16. He's only 16 years old. He thinks that
when his forehead is a little bigger, he'll be able to do 17.
(
href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/05/content_7923147.htm">link)
oracknows | April 5, 2008How on earth did I miss this article, which describes a paper to be published in the journal Neuroquantology showing how teens can actually have telekinetic powers?
Oh, wait. Look at the date it was published. Never mind.
Not bad, though.
pharyngula | April 5, 2008While I'm not much of a fan of country western music, I might warm to it more if the AM radio back home were this interesting in its choice of subjects. (Warning! Working man's language and rural sexism ahead!)
grrlscientist | April 4, 2008tags: beer orchestra, humor, silliness, streaming video
Those crazy beer-swilling Canadians! At least they aren't advertizing icky beers like Budweiser or Coors lite or other crappy American beers [1:15]
grrlscientist | April 3, 2008tags: unemployment, humor, satire, streaming video
So, you all thought the Streetwalking Lawyers of Seattle video was humorous, did you? Well, after a quick trip through my time machine to the year 2009, I have found that streetwalking lawyers was prescient. [1:28]
grrlscientist | April 1, 2008tags: flying penguins, humor, satire, streaming video
Wow, hot off the presses: A flock of flying penguins has just been discovered! This video documents this amazing feat. [1:31]
scientificactivist | April 1, 2008The arguably wacky premise behind a New York Times article this Saturday is that the Large Hadron Collider (LHR)--slated to be the world's most impressive particle accelerator when it's up and running later this year--could inadvertently produce an Earth-destroying black hole. Or, that's at least what a couple of guys in Hawaii think, and they're pursuing a lawsuit in federal court there to stop it. (Note: the LHR is located in CERN... in Switzerland.)
Despite cries of "propaganda" from the plaintiffs, scientists aren't having any of that, and are trying to put all of this to rest with…
pharyngula | April 1, 2008They're so far ahead, it's almost April 2nd there right now. And they have taken an important next step: they have passed regulations requiring the reading of disclaimers at church services:
Congregants should be aware of the gaps and/or problems in the Catholic theory of transubstantiation, including, but not limited to, the Protestant notion that the bread and wine are merely symbolic, the opinions of other religions on the life of Christ, and the lack of conclusive scientific evidence available to support this theory.
This is excellent news. I only hope our country can some day follow…
clock | April 1, 2008There have recently been several articles in the media about brain enhancers, so-called Nootropics, or "smart drugs". They have been abused by college students for many years now, but they are now seeping into other places where long periods of intense mental focus are required, including the scientific research labs. Here is a recent article in New York Times:
So far no one is demanding that asterisks be attached to Nobels, Pulitzers or Lasker awards. Government agents have not been raiding anthropology departments, riffling book bags, testing professors' urine. And if there are illicit…
pharyngula | April 1, 2008Guess what the Top 10 Creationist Discoveries of All Time are? OK, it's an April Fool's joke, and the list is actually a fairly common summary of real, widely held opinions that you run into all the time if you engage with creationists, which means the real funny part is in the comments. People are offended by the list.