Category Archives: Tomfoolery

Tinfoil Hats On, Please

I’d hate to seem cynical here, but it’s hard, sometimes, not to imagine that there is some sort of powerful and malevolent agency at work behind the scenes that has, in the past two years: 1) Unleashed the Wuhan Red Death upon the world; 2) Usurped the primary-election process to install Joe Biden as the […]

The Inmates, Running The Asylum

With yet another hat-tip to Bill Keezer, here’s a therapeutic video.    

Comic Relief

Forwards vs. Backs, by Mick Colliss. (All of this snaps into focus for me now that I have a son-in-law who plays rugby, and a fearless, energetic grandson of almost two years who is obsessed with recreational spheroids. Thanks to Brendan Wright for sending it along.)

Nick Burchill’s Very Bad Day

This is quite possibly the best thing I have ever read: the story of how a young man was banned from a hotel for 18 years. It involves a flock of seagulls and a suitcase full of pepperoni. Here.

¡Math Is Hard!

From Campus Reform: Prof: Algebra, geometry perpetuate white privilege The story is about one Rochelle Gutierrez, a professor of mathematics at the University of Illinois. We read: “On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of […]

Pwned

With a hat-tip to Nick Land: Anti-Fascist, Trump protesters applaud speech comprised entirely of Hitler quotes. This is the best thing on the internet today😂 pic.twitter.com/HD2CPusckI — Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) July 8, 2017

Stick-To-It-Ivity

This is hilarious.

Poe’s Law

We were treated to some grandmaster-level trolling at the Guardian yesterday, by one Godfrey Elfwick. Here.

Pussy, Ariot

This is where we’ve got to.

The Generic Version

Here’s a video that will change the way you look at… videos that will change the way you look at things.

Tay Tweets

I am not making this up: apparently Microsoft put a Twitter chat-bot online as part of an artificial-intelligence project, and after a few hours of online interaction it had turned into a Nazi. Microsoft has since deleted its tweets, but some more of them are here. The bot, called Tay, has now been taken down […]

Spring Has Sprung

“The grass has riz…” That’s the beginning of a bit of English doggerel I learned at my dad’s knee. According to EarthSky.org, spring (which arrived last night at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time) came earlier this year than it has since 1896. The reason? The March equinox can come on March 19, 20 or 21. And […]

Separated At Birth?

Just saying…  

Comic Relief

Darth Trump.

Comic Relief

With a hat-tip to Bill V., here’s an amusing clip from Egypt. I have no idea whether the subtitles are accurate, other than in the few spots I’m able to pick out a word or two. (Any Arabic speakers among you, readers?)

Everyday American

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Hillary’s spontaneous Chipotle stopover.

Use Your Loaf

Here’s a little logic puzzle that’s been making the rounds. There’s a ‘spoiler’ video at the bottom of the page, if you’re stumped.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This

Here’s a fine online edition of Philogelos, the world’s oldest joke book.

Comic Relief

I’m working late tonight, as I often do on Tuesdays. To ease my toil, I generally listen to classical music on Pandora; one of today’s highlights was the pyrotechnic allegro ma non troppo from the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra in A Minor, by Camille Saint-SaÁ«ns, as played by the incomparable, and […]

Cast Out The Beam

Here’s a mighty funny item from The Daily Show.

Warning: Memetic Hazard!

I habitually prowl odd corners of the Internet, but plenary coverage takes time. There are still, I am reminded almost daily, large and undiscovered countries. I charted a new one today (although I had glimpsed its coastline from afar on several occasions). It began with a Tweet from the account calling itself “Outsideness”: https://twitter.com/Outsideness/status/412591534668656640 This […]

Cease And Desist, You Say?

From Scribd, a cheery riposte. Via @lachlan.

Padawan Wars

Here. It’s all fun and games, until someone loses a leg.

Comic Relief

Rickles at Reagan’s second inaugural. Here.

Comic Relief

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama did a little standup comedy at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner tonight. Have a look. I’ve seen the President cracking wise before, but never Mr. Romney. I have to say, he was downright Carsonesque.

You’ve Got Mail!

OK, enough grim reality. Let’s all lighten up and take a break. Here, for example.

The Future Must Not Belong To Those Who Slander The Prophet

Here’s an item from Iowahawk, posted way back in 2006, that’s as relevant today as the day it was written. Update: As is this.

N 165

Boy, everybody‘s on Twitter these days.

You’ve Been Warned

This little physics game is highly addictive.

So Much For The War On Drugs

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s Victory Deals Blow to Unions

Too Much Information

Here’s a hilarious newspaper clipping, sent to Lawrence Auster by a reader: Read the caption carefully.

He’s No Fun, He Fell Right Over

Sad news: Peter Bergman, founding member of the Firesign Theater, has died at 72. His New York times obituary is here. For those of us of a certain age and sensibility, Firesign needs no introduction. For the rest of you, there’s YouTube.

Diversion

To distract us from worldly worries and woes: two brainteasers from Jeopardy! star Ken Jennings. Two puzzles: NOT SO HARD and YES VERY HARD. NOT SO HARD. Can you think of a food that becomes a synonym for “later’ when it’s spelled backwards? YES VERY HARD. I just wrote down a lower-case, seven-letter word”“something you […]

FLOTUS: Fed Up

Here’s a dispatch from our senior White House correspondent, Milton Polchek: WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 – Michelle Obama, the first black woman to serve as First Lady, took to the airwaves recently to express her irritation at being characterized as an “angry black woman”. Mrs. Obama could not be reached for comment, but a close friend […]

The Doomsday Machine

More Shatner! This time a cautionary tale, and a timely one, too. Can you believe this guy’s 80 years old?

Genesis

Researchers at UC Berkeley have persuaded the Universe to disclose another of its secrets: the origin of Jewish humor. Story here. What’s that you say, boychik? You lack familiarity with the subject matter? Well relax, you’re mishpocheh, so for you, no charge. Look below the fold for a few free samples.

Wake Up And Smell It

My friend Danny Fisher over at Wish I Didn’t Know directs us to a montage of harsh moments from vintage coffee commercials.

Road Trip

Here’s a video of a drive from Seattle to Maine, with a frame taken every 90 seconds.

NASSA

With a hat tip to a commenter at Mangan’s, here’s a story that needs to be told: America’s forgotten Negro astronauts.

One From The Gipper

Here’s a pungent partisan punchline, from a president who could actually tell a joke.

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My friend and colleague, the extravagantly gifted software engineer, globe-trotting bon vivant, and intrepid adventurer Yaniv Sarig, has sent me a outrageously funny item that will, I’m afraid, only evoke incapacitating hilarity in those of you who know a thing or two about programming. But it’s too good not to share, so here it is. […]

Ready, Aim, Sing

Here I am working late again — so for this evening, just a link. It’s a good one, though: a collection of vintage Tom Lehrer videos. Here.

Snap!

From James Taranto, on l’affaire Strauss-Kahn: What’s the difference between an orthodox Marxist and a French Socialist? The French guy thinks the state should seize the means of reproduction.

Extra Dark

Well, I realize that I’m probably the only person outside of Pyongyang who didn’t already know about this website, but my son just introduced me to the Perry Bible Fellowship. My first click of the ‘Random’ link brought me to this, and I was stuck for the next hour or so.

Pretty Good Joke

From Stephen Fry, by way of David Duff: A girl goes into a bar and asks for an example of double entendre, so the barman gives her one.

Comic Relief

Allan Sherman, Dean Martin, and Vic Damone. A previous age of the world.

First As Farce

President Obama published a children’s book today, called Of Thee I Sing. In the book, which takes the form of a “tender, beautiful letter to his daughters”, he praises various figures from American history. We note in passing that among the “great Americans” profiled is Sitting Bull, who is best known for having led a […]

Send In The Clowns

Tonight a cold front has moved through the Northeast, and suddenly it feels like fall outside, which is always just fine with me. If there’s one thing I detest (and longtime readers will know that’s something of a lowball estimate), it’s a hot September. But right now there’s a cool, crisp breeze coming through the […]

Raw Comedy

In the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate, there’s an article (linked to in today’s Best of the Web) about what Peter, Paul, and Mary used to eat on the road. It contained this fishy little morsel from from Noel (Paul) Stookey (emphasis mine): “Until the ’80s, there was usually the (standard) deli tray backstage,” said Stookey, calling […]

Discipline

Mark Twain, as posthumously quoted in the Montreal Gazette, April 25th, 1935: When a host asked Mark Twain if he would like a drink before breakfast, the humorist replied: “Thanks, I do not care for a drink for three reasons. In the first place, I never drink before breakfast. In the second place, I am […]