10 most bizarre scientific papers

the fun thing about these is how many were paid for with your tax money, when we could've gotten the mythbusters guys to do it for free.

(our favorite is the effect of country music on suicide.)

not a creature was stirring...

...not even a... oh! hmmmm....

bugger it! never mind.

george carlin 1937-2008

one of the things that sucks about getting old is that your heroes start to die. kurt vonnegut, william burroughs, hunter thompson, and now: george carlin, who died yesterday, june 22nd, 2008.

in his later years, carlin moved away from the wordplay and keenly simple observational comedy that were his hallmark to talking about things that he felt were important: the abuse of the common man by corporations and goverment, the need to take a stand against it by pointing out its self-destructive absurdity, and our own deeply rooted monkey-mindedness.

carlin loved us, pitied us, and was frustrated by our stupidity and greed, all at the same time. he was one of the few people that said anything that mattered. his death is a wound in the world that no one else can fill. we will miss him every day that we're here and he's not. to quote a chrome bones song:

and there's no god
and life never stops
it just goes on without us
on without us

and there's no god
no angels or aliens
we just made'em up
just made it up

but i find i love you still

does liking kathy griffin make us gay?

personally, we doubt it, other than our disturbing tendency to write in the first person plural (otherwise known as 'the royal we'). and woz likes her, too, so we're in good company.

honestly, it would be worth it to suddenly have the ability to dress ouselves in colors that didn't clash (well, the color blindness would probably still get in the way a bit) in order to continue to watch my life on the d list.

i mean, doesn't kgriff remind you of the pretty girl in your high school/college circle that had a mouth on her but that every guy in the group secretly wanted to f*ck, only they were too intimidated to ask her out, so she always had to be the one to make the first move? and so all the girls in the group kinda resented her because she got all the attention and they really had to work at getting dates, so they kinda thought of her as a slut, when she was really just kinda lonely and needed a safe place, and you were prefectly willing to pretend to be that if it meant that you got to see her fabulous boobs?

or was that just me?

someecards

we don't see any revenue from these folks, directly or indirectly - i just think that their cards are hilarious: someecards. (nsfw)

lewis black

took my daughter to a book signing by comedian lewis black yesterday. partly so that she could hear what he had to say about american politics, but mostly because she's just fun to take anywhere. especially when you know that you're going to stand in line for several hours. (we ballet danced to pass the time, even though we forgot our tutu's.)

several things struck me about the crowd, which numbered 200 or so: 1) they listened to mr. black as if he were the only person in the world that could tell them what's really going on, especially in washington, and 2) jewish portion attendees (about half the crowd) seemed to be under the impression that mr. black is purely a jewish phenomenon. they seemed surprised that goyim would come to hear him talk or understand his brand of humor. is this because of the dirth of jewish athletes? are comedians the judaic equivalent of lebron james and joe namath?

god, i'll never understand religion.

i learned a lot about mr. black's life and struggles with religion, politics, and airports. i also learned that he doesn't write his own material on the daily show, which is actually a relief, because his daily show material is crap, whereas his live performances, film roles, and recordings have been largely brilliant. until yesterday, i was under the impression that mr. black suffered some kind of mental hernia during daily show appearances. whichever producer came up with the brilliant idea of not letting one of the sharpest, funniest minds of our time write his own material, and have him spout shallow, unfunny drivel instead should apply to mcdonald's no later than the end of the week.

the book that mr. black signed is called me of little faith. i'm about halfway through it now and, while not as funny as most religious texts, it sure beats going to church (or temple, if you prefer). it also gives us another welcome peek into the mind of the only man who seems to be saying what we wish we could say, or wish our reps in washington would say on our behalf, or wish that god would write in words of fire ten miles tall.

in person, by the way, mr. black was kind, insightful, and extremely generous with his time & attention. he genuinely seemed to like hearing from the crowd, listening to everyone's thoughts and answering questions. he even complimented my daughter on her tie-dye outfit.