Archive for the ‘Laughing Matters’ Category
Friday Soirée VI: Something Lighter
Tonight I decided I needed a bit of levity, so humor (and "humour") is the theme. We have two very special guests to spend some time with: Anna Russell and Sir David Attenborough. Anna Russell Analyzes Wagner's Ring (Part 1) I expect I first found Anna Russell in my college days, thanks to friend and […]
In: All, Friday Soirée, Laughing Matters, Music & Art, Notes to Richard
Penn & Teller on Marriage Equality
As I have mentioned, Isaac and I do not have our finger on the pulse of American popular culture, in large part because we don't have cable television because we never watch television anyway. Thus, I didn't know that Penn & Teller have a series on Showtime called "Bullshit!". They do and I know it […]
In: All, Current Events, Laughing Matters
Hitler Fatigue
Friends of mine who are of a certain age–hence, in their prime–who were active Usenet denizens in the early 1990s, are familiar with Godwin's Law from being there in the flame wars. In essence: the longer a Usenet discussion lasts, the probability of a comparison to Hitler approaches one. It is generally understood by all, […]
In: All, Current Events, Laughing Matters
"It Should be Stopped"
I dislike taking an entire blog posting and quoting it; I hope I can be forgiven. I see no need to amplify this remark with any comment on the history of intellectual achievement in senators from Pennsylvania. "I am tired of all this thing called science. … We have spent millions in that sort of […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Laughing Matters
Scienticity for Laughs
I enjoy meeting new people in the same of scienticity; I try for one new person a day. Today I made the acquaintance of Irish comedian Dara OBriain (thanks to BoingBoing). He doesn't know me yet but I've enjoyed watching him on YouTube and now Dara and I will demonstrate that a good scientific outlook […]
In: All, Laughing Matters, Snake Oil--Cheap!, Speaking of Science
Stephen Hawking Erroneously Found Dead in "Death Panel" Marketing
How interesting. I learned from Avedon Carol (who learned from Wonkette….) of an editorial in the Investor's Business Daily that, in explaining how government-run-healthcare "death panels" wold imperil your grandmother's life, used as the centerpiece of it argument that famed physicist Stephen Hawking, whose life is challenged with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as […]
In: All, Current Events, Laughing Matters, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Will Rogers Moments
Sex with Ducks
When it comes to the ridiculous and outlandish "arguments" from the wackos against marriage equality and other equal rights for gay and lesbian people, one can: try to ignore them, but then they get out of hand and some people actually believe them; try to answer their absurdities while not laughing too much, which some […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
When is Marriage not Marriage?
I'm reading these remarks made by the Catholic Bishop of Portland, Maine, Richard Malone, and it perplexed me. Several times I was perplexed. I am deeply disappointed in the Maine Legislature and the Governor for making same-sex marriage legal in our state. We believe that the vast majority of Maine's people believe that marriage is […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
Marie Osmond on Marriage, Productivity [?], and "Whatever"
When it comes to marriage, … I think that civil rights need to be for all. When you start mixing religion into that and beliefs, you know, I do believe in the Bible. My daughter understands my beliefs. And, and, uh, you know, God said to be married and be productive with your children and, […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
For Dummies Only
Yesterday in the check-out line at the supermarket I saw a small-format book with the title Numerology for Dummies. It promised to explain the important and mysterious effects that numbers have in one's daily life. "How singularly appropriate!" I thought. How likely is it that Numerology for Really Smart People who Know what a Crock […]
In: All, Laughing Matters, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Sound Enhancements
I was watching some video today, a presentation about something that had cute little graphics animations to go along with it. Every few seconds something would plop onto the screen or shoot across it. Inevitably, I suppose, each plop was accompanied by an unlikely "thump" sound, and each dash across the screen was indicated audioly […]
In: All, Feeling Peevish, Laughing Matters
Be My Ombuddy
Arnold Zwicky recently got* something from his institution's "Ombuds Office", and he reflected a bit on the words "Ombudsman", "Ombudswoman", and the apparent modern compromise "Ombuds". It's an odd, ungainly word that I've never cared for but it seems that recent years has seen a rise in popularity of ombudsing and that ombudsers are even […]
In: All, Laughing Matters, Such Language!
2M4M (Two Men for Marriage = Marriage Equality)
I love serendipity. This week there was a fair amount of buzz about a new ad campaign started by an organization I don't care to name, the ad featuring really scary actors with a background of dark clouds and lightning making up several feeble excuses why marriage equality will be the end of civilization as […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
Autographical Ephemera
The other day I was reading something by someone on the theme of how difficult it is to browse books on the internet, the way one might browse in a library. It's true that there is no comparable experience. I often find the most interesting books at the library because of an accident of shelving, […]
In: All, Laughing Matters, Music & Art
Don't Baste that Lamb!
I will not argue with the point this author is making, because I agree with here that there is just too, too much hysteria on the topic of "child pornography". However, I did have to pause a bit to enjoy this interesting new eggcorn variant on the word "lambaste", for which "lamblast" and "lambash" are […]
In: All, Laughing Matters, Such Language!
Sky Puppies as Skyfood
We should totally start calling birds "Sky puppies." [Joe, "PETA: We Should Call Fish 'Sea Kittens'", Joe.My.God, 8 January 2009.] Between the quotation and the name of Joe's posting, you've pretty much got the story, such as it is. Mostly I just liked the idea of calling birds "sky puppies". Every now and then, usually […]
In: All, Eureka!, Laughing Matters
Fundamentalist Innumeracy II
Now, a very brief follow-up to yesterday's bit ("Leaving the Lifestyle, Baby!") about innumeracy among fundamentalist christians. As Pam Spaulding tells the story ("Daddy D's hissy fit over WaPo conservative columnist Kathleen Parker"), James Dobson, of the so-called "Focus on the Family" organization, was upset when Ms. Parker wrote in the Washington Post that the […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
Leaving the Lifestyle, Baby!
The one trait that religious fundamentalists share, that I notice the most, is innumeracy. They have no sense of the size of numbers, or the place of numbers in the world, and it makes them look silly. Their problem starts, of course, with numbers in the bible. Once upon a time, say 2500 years ago […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
Ambiguous Praise & Extrapolation
I have no idea why it took me so long to read it when it was available from before my birth, but it's only last week that I picked up and read Darrell Huff's How to Lie with Statistics (New York : W.W.Norton & Company, 1954/1993. 142 pages, illustrated by Irving Geis). It's a good, […]
In: All, Books, Laughing Matters
Lifestyle Warning
Humor–particularly mockery–can be very effective. WARNING: This area may contain homosexuals, which are known by the State of California to be harmful to the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. — A sign seen on the door of Kim Light/Lightbox Gallery in Culver City, California [Christopher Knight, "Prop. 8 push-back in Culver City", Los Angeles Times, 11 […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters