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 […]
January 26, 2010 – 8:25 pm
As depressingly as our once-virile American culture may be fettered and enfeebled by political correctness these days, over in Britain things are far, far worse. Below the fold we have an illustrative comparison, courtesy of a Mr. D. Duff, from across the pond.
November 3, 2009 – 10:42 pm
The other day our comrade in bloggery Horace Jeffery Hodges offered a post with a link to some old Calvin and Hobbes strips. I’ve always been a big C&H fan, and among my favorites among Bill Watterson’s many recurring themes were the strips in which Calvin’s dad would teach the restless wee lad about science. […]
October 26, 2009 – 9:53 pm
After eleven hours of heavy lifting at the office, I’m afraid the little grey cells have now called it a day, and a meaty post is simply not in the cards. But readers will know by now that having nothing of any interest whatsoever to say rarely keeps me from posting — and tonight is […]
October 1, 2009 – 11:42 pm
With talent like this, how can America lose? (Hat tip to Matt Pierson.)
September 17, 2009 – 11:44 am
Too much time on your hands? Try this little diversion.
September 11, 2009 – 10:11 pm
Poking around over at Normblog today, I found a link to something that I think is just brilliant: it’s a map of London’s Tube system, with all the station names replaced by anagrams. Have a look here (you can compare it with the real thing, here).
With an impending deadline to meet, I shall remain fettered to my oar till the wee hours for the rest of the week at least. While I am surely grateful, during this disruptive economic paroxysm, to have the opportunity to spend a healthful fifteen hours a day sitting in a cubicle writing code so as […]
My old friend Dave Pauley, whose inbox is apparently as clogged as my own, has transmuted base metal into gold. Here is the result: Spam Sonnet Ascent your darling couch experience; Go for the strong virility you need. An MBA award to you convinced Of greater power deep inside your seed. Your stick will be […]
Like, for example, this from Google.
December 15, 2008 – 12:17 am
From this evening’s Borowitz Report: Yankees Sign Iraqi Hurler Shoe-throwing Right-hander Impresses Scouts In their latest bid to beef up their pitching rotation for the 2009 season, the New York Yankees today signed Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi to a three-year deal worth $32 million. The right-handed al-Zeidi, 28, impressed the Yankee scouts with his performance […]
October 18, 2008 – 10:28 pm
Well, the 2008 Wellfleet Oysterfest Spelling Bee is in the books, and I did not win. I did come in second, but my hope of building on last year’s triumph to establish the foundations of a dynasty is dashed. I was beaten by a fine speller named Maria something, from Jamaica Plain, which is apparently […]
We’ve had plenty of chat in in here lately about the political Left and Right, and what the words mean. I recently induced, with mischief aforethought, a conniption or two merely by mentioning that I was reading a book that argues (and persuasively, I might add) that Fascism was a phenomenon of the political Left; […]
I’ll be traveling later today, and off the air until tomorrow at the earliest. So for now, here is an enormous, time-wasting distraction to keep you occupied.
March 25, 2008 – 10:47 am
In what may mark, depending upon your perspective, either the zenith or nadir of Western civilization, the makers of South Park have now put every episode on line for your viewing pleasure. Or the irrevocable corruption of your eternal soul. Whatever.
Dennis Mangan presents one of the most brilliant little video clips I’ve ever seen. Go and see for yourself. (P.S. Confused? Cheat-sheet here.)
It’s time to take a break from all the heavy lifting we’ve been doing for the past few days. So here’s an amusing little diversion that’s both fun and educational.
This is one of the more appealing “viral videos”, I must say, that I’ve ever seen. We are simply hard-wired to enjoy this sort of thing, and if you can watch this without laughing along, start worrying.
January 19, 2008 – 3:53 pm
Having followed a link posted by Kevin Kim that led indirectly to a brief interview with Steven Pinker, I’ve just spent a chunk of this quiet Saturday afternoon watching some other interviews as well. The interlocutor is the irascible buffoon Stephen Colbert, who would be utterly unbearable if he weren’t also so clever. The list […]
January 11, 2008 – 11:04 pm
Here’s an irritating little conundrum.
December 5, 2007 – 6:14 pm
Okay, after a sobering preliminary dose of Darwinian nihilism, time for a few yuks. Meet Mrs. Hughes.
October 20, 2007 – 1:18 pm
In my morning visit to Kevin Kim’s place I found this post, in which he calls our attention to a hilarious video clip. This is not a family-oriented link (except in the sense, perhaps, of creating one). Adults only, please.
Say what you like about New York City, there’s always something going on. At lunchtime today I walked into Grand Central Station, which is only a hundred yards or so from my office, just as some of the world’s top “competitive eaters” were about to begin a buffalo-wing smackdown. My sense of journalistic duty awakened, […]
February 25, 2007 – 9:17 pm
There are lot of sidewalk book vendors in my neighborhood, and it’s hard for me to take a walk along the avenue without noticing something I just have to take home. Today’s grocery bag also ended up containing a slim volume from 1906, the year our house was built.
January 5, 2007 – 11:34 pm
This is making the rounds, apparently, but I wouldn’t want you to miss it.
November 28, 2006 – 8:26 pm
Upon hearing someone use the expression “sang-froid” the other day, I was reminded of an old joke:
November 15, 2006 – 3:36 pm
Some of you may recall the amazing Honda ad that was making the rounds a couple of years ago; it was a film of an elegant and complex Rube Goldberg device made entirely of car parts, and filmed live, with no computer animation. Well, it appears that the Japanese educational program Pitagora Suichi has been collecting viewer-submitted videos of similar homemade constructions, and my co-worker colleague Jay Chang has informed me that an entertaining and amusing collection of them has been made available on YouTube. Have a look here.
August 25, 2006 – 3:45 pm
Here is further proof that some people simply don’t get out enough: a Flash-based simulation of that ancient (and I’m ancient enough myself to have two of them gathering dust in a closet) proto-PC, the Commodore 64.
I’m allowing myself a little slack here in the dog days of July and August; excessive heat tends to randomize the syntactic patterns of my little grey cells, and I have learned to be wary of attempting ambitious cogitative efforts under such conditions, as they often go badly awry, with unpredictable results. Readers, therefore, will most likely notice a temporary dropoff in both quantity and quality as I withdraw, at least partially, into estivation here in Wellfleet (which for me is going to consist of lolling on beaches, swimming in ponds, imbibing libations cooling and potent, and thinking shallow and largely non-sequential thoughts).
I do apologize for the lightweight content around here the past few days. I’m not sorry enought to do anything about it tonight, though: having just come at 11:15 p.m. to the end of a long, busy, sticky day of bustling about in the foul and dispiriting New York weather, I find that the little grey cells that I rely on for generating trenchant analysis, rib-tickling humor, biting social commentary, and up-to-the minute reporting are in a restive and mutinous mood, and I frankly don’t think I’ll get anything out of them until they’ve had a little R&R (I’m pouring some as we speak).
Also, bearing in mind Machiavelli’s advice that whereas good news should be measured out a little at a time, bad news should be given all at once, I must mention that we will be on the road over the weekend, and waka waka waka might be dark for a day or two.
But in keeping with our practice of exhuming, when I am too inebriated, shiftless or lazy to write anything worth reading, some bit of rubbish from the infinite landfill we call the Web, I offer yet another momentarily diverting wisp of froth – in this case a clever optical illusion.
Here’s an amusing item over at MandellOnline: a one-man review of the history of pop-music dance styles over the past 50 years. Well worth a peek.
Before you go see Al Gore’s new movie, take this fun quiz.
From my friend Jon Mandell comes this link, to an amusing online parlor trick. Can you see how it works?
March 19, 2006 – 10:27 pm
I’ve been away, and haven’t properly attended to my duties here for weeks now. There is much that I want to write about; in particular I want to air a few thoughts about Daniel Dennett’s new book, Breaking the Spell, and about some of the questions it raises. But meanwhile…
February 9, 2006 – 4:14 pm
My friend Jon Mandell has sent along a link to an amusing, if slightly stressful, little game. You can try it here.
January 25, 2006 – 11:38 pm
Well, after last night’s gloomy post, redolent with the odor of the crypt, I think it is time for comic relief. This comes by way of comedian Kip Addotta, who sends me little tidbits from time to time.