The President Greets a Visitor
Barack Obama, Humor, Satire

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Category Archive 'Amusement'
18 Nov 2009
Eat Your Penguin; It’s Good For YouAmusement, Leopard Seal, Natural History, Videos
An hospitable Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) makes every effort to feed National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen, but is frustrated by the strange incompetence of the clueless biped at the simple feat of eating penguin. 1:48 video Hat tip to Karen L. Myers. 17 Nov 2009
Viral Email Humor of the DayHumor, Recession, Viral MessagesTHE ECONOMY IS SO BAD, that . . . I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. CEO’s are now playing miniature golf. I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can you afford fries with that?” If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call them and ask if they meant you or them. Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names. A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico . Motel Six won’t leave the light on anymore. The Mafia is laying off judges. Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. (Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear.) Hat tip to Bill Laffer. 07 Nov 2009
Chinese Ministries Battle Over WOWChina, Games, World of Warcraft
The most epic World of Warcraft duel is not going to be fought inside the game, reports the New York Times. Nor will broadswords, enchanted armor, and magic spells be producing the decision. DPS will be inflicted by interagency memoranda, and the Communist Party rather than the program algorithm will select the winner. My guess is the Ministry of Culture is going to pwn those N00bs from the Administration of Press and Publication.
29 Oct 2009
Exchange of Courtesies in CaliforniaArnold Schwarzenegger, California, Democrats, Humor, Politics, Republicans, Tom Ammiano
Capitol Weekly reports on an interesting recent political dialogue in California.
25 Oct 2009
Rightwing RapAmusement, Racial Politics, Rap, VideosLarry Elder produced this 7:33 music video which delivers a conservative rap on the politics of race. Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds. 21 Oct 2009
Pixar ParodyHumor, Parody, Pixar, Videos
That cute little Pixar lamp stomps the letter I in those opening credits, but you’ve never seen the full story. 1:32 video Hat tip to Karen L. Myers. 12 Oct 2009
Pursued by Bad Men…Canal+, Entertaining CommercialsWitty commercial for French subscription cable television channel Canal+. 1:15 video Hat tip to Robert Breedlove. 11 Oct 2009
Bladderball Triumphantly Returns to YaleBladderball, Games, Traditions, YalePresident A. Bartlett Giamatti, in one of his only too frequent fits of political correctness, banned Yale’s traditional annual game of Bladderball for being an affront to liberal wussiness in 1982. In previous years, individual Yale students and impromptu teams representing residential colleges, undergraduate organizations, and imaginary or facetious combinations celebrated the weekend of the Dartmouth game by battling on the Old Campus, a large quadrangle surrounded by the freshman dormitories, to keep aloft and move a 6 foot (1.8 meter) leather ball in no particular direction. The Bladderball game was a pure scrimmage lacking specific rules or goals. The game normally ended when some combination of persons finally succeeded in getting the Bladderball over a fence or out one of the gates of the Old Campus, whereupon a flying wedge of Yale Campus Police would seize possession of the Bladderball and hastily deflate it, terminating that year’s contest. I recall that, one year, the undergraduate community bested the Campus Cops by successfully moving the Bladderball through New Haven streets for blocks and blocks, finally putting it over the fence into the yard of the residence of the University President on Hillhouse Avenue, as President Brewster cheered them on. Since there was no actual set of rules or system of scoring, it was traditional for every team to compete in loudest, and earliest, and most preposterous claims of victory. Student demand seems to have persuaded Richard Levin, the current Yale President, to do the right thing and restore a popular tradition. I noticed disapprovingly, looking at the video, that they seem to be using a lighter, synthetic ball. Still, they did get it out on to the street successfully. And, as is traditional, the team from the Calliopean Society clearly won, while Jonathan Edwards continued to suck. The Oldest College Daily reports. 9:04 video Wikipedia entry After the game, the Wikipedia entry for “bladderball” was edited more than 160 times. The name of the winning college changed constantly until one editor locked the page at 5:51 p.m. because of “excessive vandalism.” 05 Oct 2009
A Literary Solution For the RemainsAmusement, Bizarre, Funerary Practices
There’s an old joke about the lazy man’s wife upon his decease having him cremated, then placing his ashes in an hour glass, an announcing, Now, you’re finally going to do some work! Nadine Jarvis’s solution for cremated remains, called Carbon Copies, seems to me to be the perfect post mortem revenge upon the procrastinating writer.
Hat tip to Ambisinistral. 04 Oct 2009
Money ShotAmusement, NASA, Photography
Getting this spectacular close-range shot of the launch cost a destroyed lens, but the well-secured camera actually survived and so did the trigger, despite it being knocked hundreds of feet away. From Gizmodo via Karen L Myers. 02 Oct 2009
Win 7: Soon To Be ReleasedApple, Humor, Microsoft, Software, Technology, Videos, Windows 7
Charlie Booker, at the Guardian, knows that Windows sucks, but explains that he still hates Mac and Mac users more.
Win 7 Launch Party video: A very serious contender for lamest (interminable at 6:14) video ever made. Read the whole thing. 29 Sep 2009
Conservative CleavageAmusement, Germany, Politics
Vera Lengsfeld, a 57-year-old Christian Democrat candidate facing a difficult race in a Berlin district against a Green incumbent, aroused controversy by producing and distributing the above poster, which informs voters: “We have more to offer.” From the Telegraph. 27 Sep 2009
Barack Obama’s SmileBarack Obama, Conspiracy Theories, Humor, Obama's Birth & Citizenship, Photography, Videos
I knew it all along. Barack Obama is not a US citizen. He is a space alien, probably a robot. Eric Spiegelman has the proof. He compared 130 photos of Barack Obama posing with UN dignitaries at reception recently in this 0:21 video. Can that smile possibly be human? 26 Sep 2009
America’s FewEntertaining Commercials, USMCNew USMC recruiting commercial. Hat tip to Rich Duff. 24 Sep 2009
Publishing a Scientific Comment in How Many? Easy StepsAcademia, Humor, Satire, ScienceRick Trebino of Georgia Tech seems a little frustrated by the process. Hat tip to William Laffer. 23 Sep 2009
Genre Fiction GeneratorAmusement, Books, Genre Fiction, Steam Punk, TechnologyDavid Malki’s original Electroplasmic Hydrocephalic Genre Fiction Generator 2000 design. Liam Cooke’s working model Hat tip to Karen L. Myers. 05 Sep 2009
Blowing the Ram’s HornAmusement, Dogs, VideosRabbi demonstrating ram’s horn gets a little commentary from behind. Everyone’s a critic. 0:45 video Hat tip to Michael Lawler. 01 Sep 2009
NEWS FLASH!Chicago, Democrats, Humor, Ted KennedyTed Kennedy has been sober for 5 days, and is now eligible to vote in Chicago! (Internet Viral Humor) Hat tip to John C. Meyer. 29 Aug 2009
The GuildFelicia Day, Games, Humor, Nerd News, On-line Gaming, Satire, The Guild, Videos
The Guild is an amusing online comedy whose storyline revolves around a group of on-line gamers playing an unnamed Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing game bearing a considerable, not entirely coincidental, resemblance to World of Warcraft. Not surprisingly, because The Guild represents a satirical commentary by actress Felicia Day, best-known for the role of Violet on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on her own on-line gaming addiction. The Guild premiered on-line in 2007. Its first season consisted of ten 3-to-7-minute episodes. A second season of only six episodes ran the following year. But The Guild has attracted corporate sponsorship. Microsoft bought the exclusive right to release the first episode of Season 3 on Xbox starting this week, for one week prior to the general release September 1st. The musical number Do You Wanna To Date My Avatar is a good introduction and has links to episodes. 18 Aug 2009
My Kind of Road SignAlligator, Amusement, Darwin Awards, Florida, Humor, PhotographyI found this on Pat Burns’s blog today. The original source seems to be Comedy.com back in February. 17 Aug 2009
Democrat!Allen Ginsburg, Amusement, Democrats, Gerard van der Leun, Humor, Parody
The late Susan Sontag, in her personal journals (undated 1957 lecture note, p.151), observed that modern leftism does not only, like Milton, make Satan into a hero, it actively embraces his cause.
Gerard van der Ginsburg, at American Digest, pays tribute to the American party of diabolism with a new version of a familar beat poem, titled Growl.
17 Aug 2009
Not With My DaughterGames, Humor, L33T, Language, Technology, VideosL33T parents draw the line at their daughter’s new boyfriend. “You’re a L33T, damnit! We don’t date N00bs, we pwn them.” 1:39 video From College Humor via Atomic Nerds via Karen L. Myers. 14 Aug 2009
One Really Impressive Alarm ClockAmusement, Bang & Olufsen, Conspicuous Consumption, Consumer Products, Design
I was busy yesterday writing up an account of the Murder Hollow atrocity for Chronicle of the Horse, when in came an email from your friends and mine at Bang & Olufsen offering me my own personal preview at my nearest B&O showroom of the Danish company’s brand new BeoTime alarm clock. A B&O alarm clock! thought I. I have got to see that. (So I Googled it.) And yes, it really was cool looking. If I actually used an alarm clock (I don’t, being one of those people who come equipped with an internal mental one), or had a bedroom full of B&O equipment, or was not just another currently impoverished inhabitant of Obamistan, I could actually see running right out and paying a mere $375 for an alarm clock this cool. Edwin at Coolest Gadgets was also appropriately admiring.
06 Aug 2009
144 Doom Scenarios for the USAAmusement, CatastrophismPay attention, reporters, all the scary stories you need for filling up front page columns on slow news days for years to come are right here. 05 Aug 2009
NYM Editor Born in Kenya, Too!Humor, Kenya, Obama's Birth & Citizenship, SatireThe proof, my actual Kenyan birth record, has been posted here. But, unlike Obama, I was born in Tsavo.... in a cave. You can get your own Kenyan birth record, too, at this handy web-site. Run right out and get one. A British passport could come in handy someday, if you ever want to visit some country barring entry to US passport holders the way Barack Obama did in the 1980s. Hat tip to Jose Guardia. 03 Aug 2009
The Real Record at LastHumor, Obama's Birth & Citizenship, SatireDivulged by Shiplord Kirel to Charles Johnson. 28 Jul 2009
Solving California’s ProblemsAmusement, Bizarre, California, VideosIn Santa Cruz, California (where people have a strong tendency to be stoned), a woman makes the kinds of public policy proposals that cause one to wonder how soon she will be elected governor of the left coast state. 2:34 video Hat tip to Scott Drum. 17 Jul 2009
Eeeww, Those Awful Republicans!AMERICAblog, Amusement, John Aravosis, Journalism, Left Think, RNC, Republicans, Stupidity and Incompetence, The Blogosphere
John Aravosis, of leftwing AMERICAblog, scored a real journalistic coup, catching the RNC mocking Barack Obama with an imaginary Obama card, which Aravosis discovered could be used to buy “Anti-semitic, anti-Latino, and overtly pornographic literature – with pictures to boot.” The bounders! Except, wait… why! it’s all in Aravosis’s own head, as Right Wing News explains.
Aravosis demanded an explanation from the Republican National Committee “for including ‘bondage,’ ‘anal,’ and ‘clitoris’.” Hilariously enough, Right Wing News has demonstrated that the RNC included no such words. All the racist and sexually charged search words came directly from Aravosis’s own dirty little mind and their only connection to the RNC page came via his typing them in himself. Wow, talk about a story backfiring. A sanctimonious liberal hack takes a go at proving that Republicans are dirty-minded racist bigots, and winds up demonstrating before a huge audience exactly how self-righteous, prejudiced, dirty-minded, and basically incompetent he really is himself. Ouch! John Aravosis Wikipedia entry 14 Jul 2009
Quip of the DayHumor, Jason Mattera, Political Incorrectness, Racial Politics, Sonia SotomayorFrom Jason Mattera on Facebook via the Washington Independent: “If Sotomayor gained life experience from The Ghetto, does that mean she’d have a tendency to shank Scalia?” 11 May 2009
Too Bad He ApologizedBarack Obama, David Feherty, Harry Reid, Humor, Nancy Pelosi, Political Correctness, Rush Limbaugh, Wanda Sykes
Needing to keep his job with CBS, golf analyst David Feherty apologized for saying what he really thinks in a quip published in recent Dallas-area magazine. Fox News quotes the “unacceptable” joke:
Feherty has to apologize for this “inappropriate and unacceptable” “morbid joke,” but one does not find Wanda Sykes apologizing for jokingly referring to Rush Limbaugh as “the 20th (9/11) hijacker” or anyone calling her expressing hope that “his kidneys fail” morbid or inappropriate. Instead, there is Barack Obama right next to her, grinning his head off. Personally, I think we are all adults here and people in public life who are prominent leaders of sharply divided political factions should expect to be the subjects of uncomplimentary jokes. We can do without the prim and prissy faux outrage, particularly when it only is applied hypocritically in one direction. 30 Apr 2009
Cruising for PiratesHumor, Somali Pirates
(Viral email humor of the day:) Subject: Calling all hunters! NEW…East African Cruise Package We have put together a special East African Cruise Package that departs from Sawakin (in the Sudan) and docks at Bagamoya (in Tanzania). The cost is a bit high @ $800 per person double occupancy. What we found encouraging and enlightened is that the cruise is encouraging tourists to bring their own ‘high-powered weapons’ along on the cruise. If you don’t have weapons, you can rent them right there on the boat. They claim to have a master gunsmith on board and will have reloading parties every afternoon. The cruise lasts from 4-8 days and nights. All the boat does is sail up and down the coast of Somalia waiting to get hijacked by pirates. Here are some of the costs and claims associated with the package: – $800.00 US/per day double occupancy (4 day max billing) – M-16 full auto rental $25.00/day – ammo at 100 rounds of 5.56 armor piercing ammo at $15.95 – Ak-47 rifle @ No charge – ammo at 100 rounds of 7.62 com block ball ammo at $14.95 – Barrett M-107 .50 cal sniper rifle rental $55.00/day – 25 rounds 50 cal armor piercing at $9.95/eachCrew members can double as spotters for $30.00 per hour (spotting scope included). Far Out——they even offer RPG’s at $75 and $200 for 3 standard loads or “MOUNTED MINIGUN AVAILABLE @ $450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire” “Everyone gets use of free complimentary night vision equipment and coffee and snacks on the top deck from 7pm-6am.” – Meals are not included but are reasonable. – Most cruises offer a mini-bar.Group rates and corporate discounts. Partial money back guarantee if not satisfied. “We guarantee that you will experience at least two hijacking attempts by pirates or we will refund half your money back including gun rental charges and any unused ammo ( mini gun charges not included). How can we guarantee you will experience a hijacking? We operate at 5 knots within 12 miles of the coast of Somalia. If an attempted hijacking does not occur, we will turn the boat around and cruise at 4 knots. We will repeat this for up to 8 days making three passes a day along the entire length of Somalia. At night the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot off at intervals and loud disco music beamed shore side to attract attention. Cabin space is limited so respond quickly. Reserve your package before May 29 and get 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice.” As if all that isn’t enough to wet your appetite, there were a few testimonials: “I’ll never hunt big game in Africa again.” “Six attacks in 4 days was more than I expected.” “I haven’t had this much fun since flying choppers in NAM.” “Like ducks in a barrel. This is a must do.—- Sign up now…don’t miss this opportunity! ! ! ! ! Hat tip to Henry Bernatonis. 24 Mar 2009
For the Complete Home: Secret PassagesAmusement, Architecture, Secret Passages
Dennis Cooper provides a builder’s guide to that most desirable and convenient of home accessories, the secret passage, and illustrates a number of admirable examples. No oubliettes, though. What exactly are we supposed to do with tax collectors, political cause solicitors, and other unwelcome guests? Hat tip to Karen L. Myers. 19 Mar 2009
Samsung Finds New Things to Do with SheepEntertaining Commercials, Sheep, Technology, Videos, WalesSamsung promotes its new LED TV using a flock of sheep, some shepherds, some border collies and some LEDs on a hill-side in Wales. 2:45 The Baaa-Studs:”Extreme Shepherding” From Terrierman via Karen L. Myers. 11 Mar 2009
Not What You Were Looking ForBarack Obama, Federal Deficit, Federal Spending, Humor, Motivation Posters, Star Wars
Hat tip to Robert Breedlove. 11 Mar 2009
Build Deadly Sci Fi Gadgets at HomeAmusement, Do It Yourself, Science Fiction, TechnologyCracked serves up recipes and videos explaining how to construct your own Tesla Coil, Laser, RailGun, ExoSuit, and/or Jet Pack at home. Why, with any one of which an enterprizing fellow could… dare I say it? Rule the world. (Maniacal laugh) Hat tip to Conservative Grapevine. 10 Mar 2009
Marines Respond Differently to Different PresidentsAmusement, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, USMC02 Mar 2009
Lovecraftianism, Not DarwinismH.P. Lovecraft, Humor, Massachusetts, SatireThe Onion reports from Arkham, Massachusetts:
25 Feb 2009
Amusing Bumper StickerAmusement, Bumper Stickers, VirginiaSeen by Karen on her morning commute:
09 Feb 2009
News of the DayCartoon, Humor, Recession
06 Feb 2009
Left Outraged Over Tax CheatingAmusement, Hilda Solis, Hypocrisy, Joe Wurzelbacher, Media Bias, Nancy Killefer, The Left, The Mainstream Media, Timothy Geithner, Tom DaschleThe American leftwing establishment recently erupted in outrage and indignation over the rise to political prominence of a flagrant tax cheat. Who was it that provoked the storm of criticism? How much had he declined to pay? Warner Todd Huston has the answers. 04 Feb 2009
Photoshopping the End of the WorldAmusement, Humor, PhotoshopFark readers explore the dire possibilities. Hat tip to Conservative Grapevine via RightWingNews. 03 Feb 2009
Latest Cultural ThemeAmusement, Barack Obama, SatireJust like Leda and the Swan: Obama and the Unicorn. Hat tip to John Hawkins. 01 Feb 2009
StereotypesAmericana, Amusement, Clarence Darrow, The LawClarence Darrow believed in them as useful tools for selecting jurors. Deliberations quotes, and links, 1936 Esquire article.
Hat tip to Walter Olson. |