May 22, 2013
Toilet paper when used with a toilet roll holder with a horizontal axle parallel to the wall has two possible orientations: the toilet paper may hang over (in front of) or under (behind) the roll. The choice is largely a matter of personal preference, dictated by habit. In surveys of American consumers and of bath and kitchen specialists, 60–70% of respondents prefer over.
Despite its being an apparently trivial topic, some people hold strong opinions on the matter. Advice columnist Ann Landers said that the subject was the most controversial issue in her column’s history. Defenders of either position cite advantages ranging from aesthetics, hospitality, and cleanliness to paper conservation, the ease of detaching individual squares, and compatibility with a recreational vehicle or a cat. Celebrities and experts are found on both sides. Some writers have proposed connections to age, sex, or political philosophy; and survey evidence has shown a correlation with socioeconomic status.
read more »
Posted in Humor, Science |
Leave a Comment »
May 22, 2013
Hotel toilet paper folding is a common practice performed by hotels worldwide as a way of assuring guests that the bathroom has been cleaned. Elaborate folding is sometimes used to impress or delight guests with the management’s creativity and attention to detail.
The common fold normally involves creating a triangle or ‘V’ shape out of the first sheet or square on a toilet paper roll. Commonly, the two corners of the final sheet are tucked behind the paper symmetrically, forming a point at the end of the roll. More elaborate folding results in shapes like fans, sailboats, and even flowers.
read more »
Posted in Humor, Money |
Leave a Comment »
May 21, 2013
Brandon Bird (b. 1980) is an artist. He attended University of California, Santa Cruz and was an artist-in-residence from 2004-2006 at Risley Residential College at Cornell University.
His most common medium is oil paints on canvas, but works in a number of genres, including pen and ink and digital mediums. He has a significant cult following for his tendency to paint figures from history and popular culture such as Christopher Walken, Chuck Norris, and Abraham Lincoln, in absurd situations. He is a regular contributor to ‘The Believer’ (an American literary magazine that also covers other arts and general culture). He has also done work for ‘Las Vegas Weekly’ and rock band, The Aquabats.
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
May 6, 2013
A rebus [ree-buhs] is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favorite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form three salmon fish to denote the name ‘Salmon.’
A more sophisticated example was the rebus of Bishop Walter Lyhart of Norwich, consisting of a stag (or hart) lying down in a conventional representation of water. The composition alludes to the name, profession or personal characteristics of the bearer, and speaks to the beholder ‘Non verbis, sed rebus’ (Latin: ‘not by words but by things’).
read more »
Posted in Games, Humor, Language |
Leave a Comment »
April 26, 2013
‘The Art of Being Right: 38 Ways to Win an Argument’ (1831) is an acidulous (biting) treatise written by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in sarcastic deadpan. He examines a total of thirty-eight methods of showing up one’s opponent in a debate. Schopenhauer introduces his essay with the idea that philosophers have concentrated in ample measure on the rules of logic, but have not (especially since the time of Immanuel Kant) engaged with the darker art of the dialectic, of controversy.
Whereas the purpose of logic is classically said to be a method of arriving at the truth, dialectic, says Schopenhauer, ‘…on the other hand, would treat of the intercourse between two rational beings who, because they are rational, ought to think in common, but who, as soon as they cease to agree like two clocks keeping exactly the same time, create a disputation, or intellectual contest.’
read more »
Posted in Humor, Language, Politics |
1 Comment »
April 24, 2013
American science writer Michael Shermer has described as ‘wronger than wrong‘ the mistake addressed in what he calls ‘Asimov’s axiom,’ after the noted author Isaac Asimov, who discussed the issue in his book of essays, ‘The Relativity of Wrong.’
A statement that equates two errors is wronger than wrong when one of the errors is clearly more wrong than the other. As Asimov put it: ‘When people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.’
read more »
Posted in Humor, Language |
Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2013
The Relativity of Wrong is a 1988 essay collection by Isaac Asimov, which takes its title from the most ambitious essay it contains. Like most of the essays Asimov wrote for ‘F&SF Magazine,’ each one in ‘The Relativity of Wrong’ begins with an autobiographical anecdote which serves to set the tone.
Several of the essays form a sequence explaining the discovery and uses of isotopes; the introductory passages in these essays recount Asimov’s not particularly pleasant personal relationship with physical chemist Harold C. Urey, whom he met at Columbia University.
read more »
Posted in Humor, Language, Science |
Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2013
The phrase not even wrong is generally attributed to theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or sloppy thinking. Rudolf Peierls writes that ‘a friend showed Pauli the paper of a young physicist which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted Pauli’s views. Pauli remarked sadly, ‘It is not even wrong.” Peierls remarks that quite a few apocryphal stories of this kind have been circulated and mentions that he listed only the ones personally vouched by him. He also quotes another example when Pauli replied to Lev Landau: ‘What you said was so confused that one could not tell whether it was nonsense or not.’
It has come to be used to describe any argument that purports to be scientific but fails at some fundamental level, usually in that it cannot be falsified (i.e., tested with the possibility of being rejected) by experiment or cannot be used to make predictions about the natural world. ‘Not even wrong’ has also been used by Peter Woit to mean proposed scientific theories that are well-meaning and based on current scientific knowledge, but can neither be used for prediction nor falsified. He has applied the phrase to aspects of string theory in physics on the grounds that, although mathematically elegant, it does not currently provide predictions or tests.
Posted in Humor, Language, Science |
Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2013
Bullshit (also bullcrap) is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism BS. In British English, ‘bollocks’ is a comparable expletive, although bullshit is commonly used in British English. It is a slang profanity term meaning either (literally) bovine excrement or, more commonly, ‘nonsense,’ especially in a rebuking response to communication or actions viewed as deceiving, misleading, disingenuous, or false. As with many expletives, the term can be used as an interjection or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings.
It can be used either as a noun or as a verb. While the word is generally used in a deprecating sense, it may imply a measure of respect for language skills, or frivolity, among various other benign usages. In philosophy, Harry Frankfurt, among others, analyzed the concept of bullshit as related to but distinct from lying. Outside of the philosophical and discursive studies, the everyday phrase bullshit conveys a measure of dissatisfaction with something or someone, but does not generally describe any role of truth in the matter.
read more »
Posted in Humor, Language, Philosophy |
Leave a Comment »
April 18, 2013
Michael Leavitt (b. 1977) is a visual artist based in Seattle, described as “the best caricature sculptor in the city.’ The ‘über-allround-cool-creator’ is most widely known for his ‘Art Army’ series of handmade action figures depicting visual artists, musicians, and entertainers. Through his company, Intuition Kitchen Productions, Leavitt is a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ responsible for a wide variety of conceptual art projects and performance artworks.
From a disinterest in convention, Leavitt proclaims, ‘I’d be afraid not to try other mediums.’ Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Leavitt was influenced by the wood-craft and engineering of Native American, Scandinavian, and industrial manufacturing in the region. His parents practiced education, graphic design, and environmentalism by trade, formulating Leavitt’s early interests in both art and sociology.
read more »
Posted in Art, Humor, Money |
Leave a Comment »
April 17, 2013
Zap Comix is an underground comics which was part of the youth counterculture of the late 1960s. ‘Zap’ #1 was published in San Francisco in late 1968. It featured the work of satirical cartoonist Robert Crumb. Some 3,500 copies were printed by Beat writer Charles Plymell. ‘Zap’ #1 was the first title put out by publisher Don Donahue under the ‘Apex Novelties’ imprint.
Philadelphia publisher Brian Zahn (who had published earlier works of R. Crumb in his tabloid called ‘Yarrowstalks’) had intended to publish an earlier version of the comic, but reportedly left the country with the artwork. Shortly before ‘Zap’ #3 was to be published, Crumb found photocopies of that earlier issue, drew new covers, and published it as ‘Zap’ #0. The first issue was sold on the streets of Haight-Ashbury out of a baby stroller pushed by Crumb’s wife, Dana. In years to come, the comic’s sales would be most closely linked with alternative venues such as head shops.
read more »
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
April 17, 2013
Booji Boy is a character created in the early 1970s by American New Wave band Devo. The name is pronounced ‘Boogie Boy’—the strange spelling resulted when the band was using Letraset to produce captions for a film, and ran out of the letter ‘g.’ When the ‘i’ was added but before the ‘e,’ Devo lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh reportedly remarked that the odd spelling ‘looked right.’
Booji Boy has traits of a simian child and typically wears an orange nuclear protection suit. He is portrayed by Mothersbaugh in a mask and is the son of another fictitious Devo character, General Boy. The intent of the figure is to satirize infantile regression in Western culture, a quality Devo enjoyed elucidating. This character was officially introduced in the 1976 short film ‘The Truth About De-Evolution.’
read more »
Posted in Art, Games, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 