August 3, 2010
Deadpool is a fictional character and anti-hero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool first appeared in ‘The New Mutants’ #98 in 1991. A disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary, Deadpool originally appeared as a villain, but the character has since starred in several ongoing series, which is used by writers for humorous effect. The character is famous for his tendency to break the fourth wall and is frequently referred to by the moniker ‘Merc with a Mouth.’
In 1991 Rob Liefeld, a fan of the ‘Teen Titans’ comics, showed his new character to then writer Fabian Nicieza. Upon seeing the costume and noting his characteristics (killer with super agility), Nicieza said, ‘this is Deathstroke from Teen Titans.’ Nicieza gave Deadpool the real name of ‘Wade Wilson’ as an in-joke to being related to ‘Slade Wilson,’ aka Deathstroke. In his first appearance, Deadpool was hired to attack Cable and the New Mutants. After subsequently appearing in ‘X-Force’ as a recurring character, Deadpool began making guest appearances in various different Marvel Comics titles such as the ‘Avengers,’ ‘Daredevil,’ and ‘Heroes for Hire.’
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August 1, 2010
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare as a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vainglorious, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king. To describe someone as falstaffian is to say they are characterized by joviality and conviviality.
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August 1, 2010
Vampire pumpkins and watermelons are a folk legend from the Balkans. The story is associated with the Roma people of the region, from whom much of traditional vampire folklore originate. The belief in vampire fruit is similar to the belief that any inanimate object left outside during the night of a full moon will become a vampire. According to tradition, watermelons or any kind of pumpkin kept more than ten days or after Christmas will become a vampire, rolling around on the ground and growling to pester the living. People have little fear of the vampire pumpkins and melons because of the creatures’ lack of teeth.
Posted in Food, Humor, Philosophy |
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July 20, 2010
‘Kilroy was here‘ is an American popular culture expression, often seen in graffiti. Its origins are debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle — a bald man with his nose and fingers peeking over a wall – is widely known among U.S. residents who lived during World War II. The British equivalent of Kilroy is called ‘Mr. Chad,’ and the Australian equivalent is called ‘Foo.’ It is not certain which variation appeared first.
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July 17, 2010
A nutmeg (or tunnel) is a technique used in football or field hockey, in which a player plays the ball through an opponent’s legs. This can be whilst passing to another player, shooting or occasionally to carry on and retrieve it himself. However it is well accepted that the classic nutmeg involves retrieving the ball oneself after passing the ball through the opponent’s legs, ideally calling ‘nuts’ or ‘megs’ whilst doing so.
The usage may have arisen because of a sharp practice used in nutmeg exports between America and England. Unscrupulous exporters mixed wooden replicas into the sacks being shipped to England. Being nutmegged soon came to imply stupidity on the part of the duped victim and cleverness on the part of the trickster. Panna is a two person soccer game where opponents attempt to meg each other that is popular in the Netherlands.
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July 12, 2010
Cryptozoology [krip-toh-zoh-ol-uh-jee] refers to the pseudo-scientific investigation of animals which are considered to be legendary or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology.
This includes looking for living examples of animals which are extinct, such as dinosaurs; animals whose existence lacks physical support but which appear in myths, legends, or are reported, such as Bigfoot and Chupacabra; and wild animals dramatically outside of their normal geographic ranges, such as so-called phantom cats. The animals they study are often referred to as cryptids.
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July 11, 2010
Eternal September is a Usenet slang expression for the period beginning September 1993. The expression encapsulates the belief that an endless influx of new users since that date has continuously degraded standards of discourse and behavior on Usenet and the wider Internet. Usenet originated among universities where every year in September, a large number of new students acquired access to Usenet, and it took some time for them to acclimate themselves to the network’s standards of conduct and ‘netiquette.’ After a month or so, these new users would typically learn to comport themselves according to its conventions. September thus heralded the peak influx of disruptive newcomers to the network.
In 1993, America Online began offering Usenet access to its tens of thousands, and later millions, of users, and the massive inundation of new users was called, ‘…the September that never ended.’
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July 11, 2010
The word spoof was coined by English comedian Arthur Roberts and popularized by a card game that he invented called Spoof, which involved trickery and nonsense. The first recorded reference to the game is in 1884. Soon the word took on the general meaning of ‘nonsense, trickery,’ first recorded in 1889. The verb spoof is first recorded in 1889 as well, in the sense ‘to deceive.’ These senses are now less widely used than the noun meaning of ‘a light parody or satirical imitation,’ first recorded in 1958, and the verb sense ‘to satirize gently,’ first recorded in 1927.
In the context of network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage. Another kind of spoofing is ‘webpage spoofing,’ also known as phishing. In this attack, a legitimate web page such as a bank’s site is reproduced in ‘look and feel’ on another server under control of the attacker. The main intent is to fool the users into thinking that they are connected to a trusted site, for instance to harvest user names and passwords. Spoof is also the name for an object used to mask the odor of marijuana or tobacco smoke. It is most commonly made of a paper towel roll tube stuffed with dryer sheets through which the smoke is blown.
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July 9, 2010
Banksy is the pseudonym of a prolific British grafiti artist whose identity is still unknown. His artworks are often satirical pieces on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing and stenciling has been compared to Parisian graffiti artist Blek le Rat and members of the punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London subway system in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Banksy’s art has appeared in cities around the world. Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder. Banksy’s first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
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June 25, 2010
Bill Brasky was the subject of a series of sketches on Saturday Night Live between 1996 and 1998. The sketches were written by cast member Will Ferrell and writer Adam McKay. The format of the sketches resembles the short-form improv game ‘Two Describe a Third.’ Three or four friends (known as the ‘Bill Brasky Buddies’) gather in a public place to drink Scotch, smoke cigars, and loudly reminisce about their mutual acquaintance Bill Brasky. While the friends refer to Brasky in both present and past tense on occasion, it appears that Brasky is still alive: some sketches end with Brasky’s appearance via a forced perspective shot that makes him look like a giant. One sketch, set at Brasky’s funeral, ends with Brasky breaking out of the coffin holding a glass of Scotch.
Most of the friends’ discussions focus on their admiration of Brasky’s superhuman accomplishments, usually focused on his huge size, virility, celebrity connections, amazing tolerance for drugs and alcohol, and reckless disregard for human life. The stories of Brasky’s life and seemingly legendary accomplishments are exaggerated to absurd levels in the American tradition of tall tales.
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