Puns Are Not Humor

This article in the WaPo on the world's first highwire competition:

They came from all over the world, poles in hand, and feet ready to inch more than half a mile across a high wire strung over the Han River in a spine-tingling battle of balance, speed and high anxiety.
As part of its annual city festival, the South Korean capital staged Thursday what was billed as the world's first high-wire championship, drawing 18 contestants from nine countries for three days of supreme feats of concentration.
Each acrobat must navigate the 1.2-inch-thick wire that spans the river, with the top prize of $15,000 going to the person crossing it fastest.

the title?

Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo

Trapping Lightning in a Box

This is pretty cool. If I had an unused electron accelerator around, I'd... wait a minute.... I do....

Threshold

Hillary Clinton says:

“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.

odd. I think her only qualification for having crossed that threshold is having once fucked the commander-in-chief. If that's the threshold, shouldn't we elect Jennifer Flowers?

From Father to Son

I thought this was both funny and accurate.

Sexism

At least, that was the label:



(via)

Best Comment (so far) on Mini-Super Tuesday

OHIO POLLS CLOSED — OBAMA AND CLINTON ARE TIGHTER THAN THE LUG NUTS ON A ‘55 FORD

http://thepage.time.com/

Begging the question, how tight are your nuts?

Gary Gygax Fails His Saving Throw

Looks like Death rolled a perfect 20.

If not for his contributions, video games and geek culture would probably look much different than it does today. Beyond jokes about "d20s" and "saving throws," D&D's systems and mythos have spawned many excellent games, including Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment.

Naturally, the Penny Arcade Boys are funnier than I am.

Flame On!!

Charlotte Allen writes, in the Washington Post no less, a screed which any decent forum moderator in 1996 would instantly recognize as a troll and would shut down without remorse.

So I don't understand why more women don't relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home. (Even I, who inherited my interior-decorating skills from my Bronx Irish paternal grandmother, whose idea of upgrading the living-room sofa was to throw a blanket over it, can make a house a home.) Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts' content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we are . . . kind of dim.

It's times like this I miss Susan so much it hurts.

I'll give it a few days, then check with Travis' blog. He must, eventually, link to this approvingly, which should be entertaining.

Weather Isn't Climate

Climate Change Skeptics are jumping on the snowy winter in exactly the same way they criticize Climate Change Advocates for doing suring a hot summer. NYT tries to set folks right.

“When I get called by CNN to comment on a big summer storm or a drought or something, I give the same answer I give a guy who asks about a blizzard,” Dr. Schmidt said. “It’s all in the long-term trends. Weather isn’t going to go away because of climate change. There is this desire to explain everything that we see in terms of something you think you understand, whether that’s the next ice age coming or global warming.”

I admit I have a some sympathy for the skeptics side, but they demolish their credibility when they do this. The question isn't, "is the climate changing?". They answer is yes, and it's always changing. The question is "why? and should we do anything about it? and if so, what could we possibly do that would have the effect we're looking for?"

The answer to that last question is decades if not centuries away.

A Face of Autism

I submit this this to those of you who, while introverted, have self-diagnosed as autistic.



Grow up, I say.

UFO House For Sale

Balmoral - Chattanooga, Tennessee - UFO "Space" House Auction
The flying saucer-shaped "Space House" on Chattanooga's Signal Mountain will be sold in an auction on March 15, 2008. It's not a Futuro saucer house, but a more custom dwelling, white with windows girdling the center and a balcony facing the woods. The Space House is suspended on six concrete pillars with 2,000 square feet of living space that includes three bedrooms and two bathroom.
Owned for a long time by a mysterious-but-friendly (our favorite combination) couple, the house was first reported on sale in Spring 2007.
Call the auction team at 423-473-9545 for more information. [Thanks to Robot Greg for the tip] [RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 03/02/2008]

Full Article here

"Quote of the Century"

“We are holding Jesus ransom until you clean up the poopie from your wieners….”

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=86444&GID=quUABRwKFiMFpx5+VMt5h5e8lLCcqd3lS+1q9w04Mc0%3D

Mysteries of the Faith

This was amusing. It is right and honorbale to mock undue ceremoney: