Seahorses, I Love 'Em (& other Links of Interest)

[Terra]

Also, that "do not disturb sign" line is brilliant.

Gah, if you could, enlighten those of us who don't get it please... >_<

[dunomapuka]

Also, that "do not disturb sign" line is brilliant.

Gah, if you could, enlighten those of us who don't get it please... >_<

Ward says: "What [astrological] sign are you?"
Preminger replies: "I'm a do not disturb sign." i.e. "I do not want to talk about astrology, stop disturbing me, go away, dammit."

[Salmoneus]

Jasper Carrot answers with "Slippery when Wet?".

[Terra]

"I do not want to talk about astrology, stop disturbing me, go away, dammit."

That's it? That's what I thaut it ment, but that isn't very funny at all, nor really that cunning.

[gsandi]

Though, that said, Dawkins' take on astrology is just as humourless as I'd expected it would be.

Just as I would be. Totally humourless. If I want humour (believe me, Budapest is a prime location for biting, political or social humour, I know what good humour is like), I read one of President Bush's off-the-cuff remarks to the world.

I find nothing funny about supposedly intelligent adults professing belief in what is in effect magic - astrology, not stepping on cracks or avoiding black cats.

But to each his own, and - believe it or not - astrology is an excellent filter for avoiding certain kinds of people, and for getting closer to others. My whirlwind romance with my wife was greatly facilitated by the fact that neither of us asked the other what sign (s)he was born under. (As was our general attitude to religion - we would probably hit it off wonderfully with Dawkins).

[prickly pear]

...My whirlwind romance with my wife was greatly facilitated by the fact that neither of us asked the other what sign (s)he was born under. (As was our general attitude to religion - we would probably hit it off wonderfully with Dawkins).

Gsandi, I didn't know you swing.

[gsandi]

...My whirlwind romance with my wife was greatly facilitated by the fact that neither of us asked the other what sign (s)he was born under. (As was our general attitude to religion - we would probably hit it off wonderfully with Dawkins).

Gsandi, I didn't know you swing.

I better ask my kids about up-to-date slang.

I thought "hit it off" with someone meant that you could share a few jokes around a couple of drinks (probably at the expense of people believing in astrology in this case).

If it means something else, well - I better know before I use the idiom again.

[-]

In honour of National Aboriginal Awareness Day: a couple of links about Chief Pontiac, the greatest of all First Nations generals.

(At Tom's prompting, see also Black Hawk, who displayed great military finesse in engineering a Sauk exodus that came to a tragic end.)

[TomHChappell]

..

[-]

I expect it is true that by getting the Chippewa and Potawatomi confederations and some other major tribes to combine, Pontiac would have had a much larger force to command than Black Hawk with just his Sauk and his Fox; but IMO that's a tribute to Pontiac's diplomatic skills rather than his military ones.

I'd see it as a tribute to his strategic skills. The key difference, I think, was that Pontiac knew he was getting into a fight and had time to prepare and marshal his forces for it, so history saw the full extent of his strategic and tactical capabilities. In Black Hawk's case the fight, unlooked for, found him and he was forced to improvise, so we don't really know what he could have done if he'd had space to prepare and attend to strategy. He was forced to work almost totally at the tactical level, and tactical brilliance only gets you so far.

(EDIT: On a closer look, this summary isn't quite true -- in that Black Hawk did have some time to see his impending fate and did attempt to recruit others to his cause, but that perhaps too few people involved really appreciated the scale of what was coming. It was also one of Pontiac's signal achievements that he clearly and forcefully understood the nature of the white settler threat.)

That's a good link, thanks.

[TomHChappell]

..

[NakedCelt]

Though, that said, Dawkins' take on astrology is just as humourless as I'd expected it would be.

Why would you expect Douglas Adams' (pbuh) best friend to be humourless?

A month old now, but... I want to work in Egypt.

[bi]

And while we're talking about atheism and breasts... (Warning: ad NSFW.)

[NakedCelt]

If only he'd listened to Nanny Ogg.

It's not quite We Are the World.

[-]

Brilliant! I hope that Westboro Baptist Church song is real.

The future is here, and it's a big-assed table.

Meet the Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo. Because any boombox worth its salt should be capable of powering small household appliances.

Gas mask chic from Russia.

The Hare Krishnas serve grub so good, people will stay in prison to get it. Funny if it's a parody, even funnier if it isn't.

[Raphael]

It's not quite We Are the World.

Better than the original, IMO.

[-]

Aussie family restaurant chain, Nando's, proves that Japan has no monopoly on surreal, inscrutable advertising.

Masturbation horror stories. Some of these people are pure genius.

Platform shoes: the early years.

And for some wholesome children's programming: you ARRRR a pirate!

[Risla]

Thanks to Fujiko Kurokawa on the Uru'Baen forums:

Man Attacks "Vampire" Peacock."

[jlyne]

Divine Interventions: http://www.divine-interventions.com/index2.php It's NSFW. Adult toys. Good times.


jlyne

[-]

I do believe the Baby Jesus Butt Plug featured in some of the annual "War on Christmas" shenanigans a couple of years ago.

A few things Russell Crowe doesn't want you to know about gladiators.

The grisly story of a bizarre contest during the Japanese drive to Nanjing. A movie version of this (at least part of which would be about the fictions of militaristic propaganda, it's unlikely the "contest" actually took place as described) would make a good antidote to the romanticized samurai genre.

"I come with my own pocket! And it can hold a pen!" and other humiliating moments in parenting. There's some funny stuff in the comments thread.

Belatedly in honour of Canada Day: some top-notch Canadian hip hop.

[-]

"They call me Mr. Douhane." An interesting article on Muslim cops in Europe.

[NakedCelt]

The grisly story of a bizarre contest during the Japanese drive to Nanjing.

Shades of Legolas and Gimli at Helm's Deep...

[brandrinn]

The grisly story of a bizarre contest during the Japanese drive to Nanjing.

Shades of Legolas and Gimli at Helm's Deep...

I always assumed the whole Ring trilogy was propaganda for US involvement in WWII, so that would be a very eerie parallel indeed.

[NakedCelt]

I always assumed the whole Ring trilogy was propaganda for US involvement in WWII, so that would be a very eerie parallel indeed.

You assumed wrong.

The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dûr would not have been destroyed but occupied. Saruman, failing to get possession of the Ring, would in the confusion and treacheries of the time have found in Mordor the missing links in his own researches into Ring-lore, and before long he would have made a Great Ring of his own with which to challenge the self-styled Ruler of Middle-earth. In that conflict both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt: they would not long have survived even as slaves.

[Tarasoriku]

You assumed wrong.

But there is no denying the parallels between middle earth and a map of Europe. Elves in scandanavia (Finnish was an influence); shire in britain, southern men make up regal, once-great, constantly under seige france, etc. Mordor is clearly Ottoman, or an amalgam of that and central europe, because of its isolation, its mountains, and, as tolkien described it, the gutteral vocabulary, some of which was very likely based on hittite lexicon.

I doubt he didn't have an opinion on it which worked its way into his stories.