The Little Thunder

"First think of the tiny fart that your intestines make. Then consider the heavens: their infinite farting is thunder. For thunder and farting are, in principle, one and the same."

Such obscene words! Who would have dared to utter these, you wonder. Well, surprise, surprise! The exalted farter was Socrates. Socrates!? S O C R A T E S??? I've always thought of Socrates as the wise old man who screwed himself in the end. He can say this? Well, what do you know. I learn something new everyday. Fart Literature is so vast.

Now, if I come off those pretensions, there remains a useful question to be asked and answered. Can a profound mind dole out the profane with equal measure? "Why not?" says Paul Cantor, english professor at the University of Virginia. He has written about the wonder-great--nauseating-abnoxious TV show South Park with a relish. I've rarely seen such erudition shown for such an antithetical subject. Google tells me the good professor also has an interest in The Simpsons.

Have a weekend of great farts.