The empty picture frame in Biden’s office

Time for something a little less serious.

Hat tip to Ironic Sans and kottke.org.

Does this sound familiar?

Time for something a little lighter.  Have you heard this before?

Here’s where you probably heard it.

Comedy wildlife photography award entries 2022

Time for something a little lighter.  The annual comedy wildlife photography awards are always good for a smile.

The 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.  The winners.  The finalists.

The mediocre superheroes

Time for something a little lighter.

For background, click on Even Superheroes Have Moments of Mediocrity As This Comic Strip Shows by Sachin P for bettermanly.com.

Have a happy inclusive nonspecific holiday!

“Merry Christmas to all!” (or if you prefer) Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . . and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2023, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make the country great, (not to imply that the country is necessarily greater than any other country in both hemispheres), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee. 

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Nothing sacred

Hat tip to Freethinkers Anonymous.

Nothing is unchangeable.  Nothing is what it seems to be.  If you count on Nothing, you’ll never be disappointed.

Semper Supra, the new official Space Force song

Space Force unveils official song ‘Semper Supra’ by Svetlana Shkolnikova for Stars and Stripes.

Richard Feynman and the rules of disclosure

I’m not sure Feynman ever said this.  Whatever.

An untold labor of Hercules

Science saves lives

Hat tip to Authentic Medicine

Safety first

Hat tip to Authentic Medicine.

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Three stories by Scott Alexander Siskind

“Is it true,” asked the student, “that the gods only have power because we believe in them?”

“Yes,” said the sage. “It is true.”

“If everyone believed I was a god, would I become a god?”

“You have said it.”

So the student traveled the land, dominant assurance contract in hand. Everywhere he went, he told the people, “Sign this contract, that if everyone in the land signs the contract, you agree to worship me as a god.”

The people were skeptical. “Why should we worship you.? But the student won them over. To the Northmen, he promised that upon attaining divine powers, he would stop their long civil war. To the Westmen, he promised to humiliate their enemies the Eastmen. To the Eastmen, he promised to protect them from their enemies the Westmen. And the Southmen, he promised to make them as rich as they currently were poor.

Click on The Gods Only Have Power Because We Believe In Them for the full post.

“Hello, welcome to the temple of the three omniscient idols, one of which always tells the truth, one of which always lies, and one of which answers randomly. I know you already signed the release form, but I’m supposed to remind you that Idol Temple LLC does not know which idol is which and cannot provide you with – “

The petitioner, a man with slick blond hair, cut me off. “Ha, no problem! I’m gonna ask each idol for next week’s Powerball numbers, then buy three tickets.” Before I could respond, he shouted “Left idol! What are next week’s winning Powerball numbers?”

“3, 15, 26, 63, 65, and 16,” said the left idol, in a voice like if a vampire bat could speak.

“Center idol, what are next week’s winning Powerball numbers?”

“8, 22, 24, 45, 50, and 55,” said the center idol, in a voice like the crackling of Venusian lightning against thick cloud-banks.

“Right idol, what are next week’s winning Powerball numbers?”

“Any who disrespect the omniscient idols by misusing their knowledge for sordid financial gain will, after their death, be sent to the bottom-most layer of Hell, where venomous worms will gnaw at their organs from the inside forever, never to know rest or surcease from pain” said the right idol, in a monotone.

“What?” the man asked me, helplessly. “Is that true?”

Click on Idol Words for the full post.

What can you say about writer’s block?

Hat tip to kottke.org.

A universal graph of every crisis

Hat tip to Cheryl Rofer.

I recall coming across versions of this before.  I don’t know who originated it.

The Jerusalema dance challenge

Watching this cheered me up.

Jerusalema is a gospel-influenced song in the Zulu language produced by South African producer master KG and performed by the vocalist Nomcebo in 2019.

In February, 2020, Frndómenos do Semla, a dance group in Angola, recorded themselves dancing to the song while eating and not dropping their plates.

Since then the Jerusalema dance has gone viral.  People all over the world are doing it.  (But I only learned of it day before yesterday.)

One minute time machine

Time for something a little lighter. [Hat tip to kottke.org]

SNL: Republican or not?

Wednesday Addams’ Thanksgiving pageant

This is from the 1993 movie, Addams Family Values, which is based on the TV series, The Addams Family.

Wednesday Addams grows up

The Addams Family was a popular 1964-66 TV series and a 1991 movie, based on Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons.  One of the characters was the little girl Wednesday Addams.

I didn’t know until the other day there was an adult Wednesday Addams series on YouTube.  I got a kick out of it, but unnfortunately it was terminated in the middle of second series because of copyright consideration.

This often happens for me.  I catch up with things after the world has passed them by.

Bohemian Catsody: a Rhapsody parody

Hat tip to Naked Capitalism.

Even though I’ve never been a cat owner, I think this is pretty funny.

Complaints choirs: Life is tough all over

Evidently complaints choirs were a big thing 15 years or so years ago, but I only heard of them last week.  They’re a fad that may have come and gone, but, to me, they are timelessly funny.

Dance! Dance! Dance! a mashup

The elephant in the room

The importance of wearing bicycle helmets

Jimmy Stewart tells a joke