Sensitivity

    Well, it is handy to know how to say "Shut Up" in ASL.

Sunday Sermon

    Cute and funny enough to where we'll overlook the pathetic misspelling of "hourse".

Teachers Strike

    Funny how that works.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Captain Bly had once been first in his class in the Space Academy, had had all the promise of the best and the brightest.  But he had thrown it all away with one small mistake, one moment’s dallying where he should not have dallied, one moment’s surrender to lust.  Unhappily, his commanding officer had, tragically, returned to his quarters early that same day.  He had found young Bly in bed with his wife.  And his nephew.  Not to mention a sheep, and his favorite hunting dog.  The commander had really loved that dog.

    (from Bill the Galactic Hero, Volume 1 by Harry Harrison)

  5½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Stray Dogs

    This is my wife with any stray dog seen roaming the streets.

Arms

    That which has been seen cannot be unseen.

Proof that the Earth is Flat

    So there, you Round-Earthers!

Monday Pun Day

   Oy.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Eminent, eminent people, one and all, members of the Society for the Prevention of Fantasy, advocators of the banishment of Halloween and Guy Fawkes, killers of bats, burners of books, bearers of torches, good clean citizens, every one, who had waited until the rough men had come up and built the towns and repaired the highways and made everything safe.  And then with everything well on its way to Safety, the Spoil-Funs, the people with mercurochrome for blood and iodine-colored eyes, came now to set up their Moral Climates and dole out goodness to everyone.

    (from The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury)

  7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Art Appreciation Saturday

    Finally, a piece of art that lifts me up!

A Holiday Warning

    Happy 420 day to all!

April Blizzards Bring May Lizards

    This is for all my East coast and upper Midwest friends.  Here in Phoenix, we've already had our first day of 100°F weather.

Quitting Smoking

    Many years ago, my company started a wellness incentive program, where they'd give you $100 if you quit smoking cigarettes for at least 30 days.

    I went in and claimed my reward, but they rejected me, pointing out that I didn't smoke cigarettes in the first place.  I countered by offering to smoke a single cigarette, preferably without inhaling.  Then "quit", never to touch tobacco again.  They STILL rejected my claim.

    This comic strip reminds me of that episode.

Deliver

    English is a funny language.

Monday Pun Day

Science Saturday

    It's a very early photograph of all of us.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Roen scrambled to his feet and ran.  Omer snarled, and suddenly Roen heard a loud bang, and then a windshield near him exploded into glass shards.

    “Jesus, did he just shoot at me?”  Roen turned the corner and ran north, passing several rows of cars.  Several more bullets hit cars and shattered more windows.  “God, he’s trying to kill me!”

    “Doubtful, he is most likely aiming for a non-vital area.”

    “Every part of me is vital!”

    (from The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu)

  9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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A Sign From God

    Omigod!  I'm betting on the Cavs to go all the way this year!!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

    In case you're wondering where the book's title comes from.

Punctuation Tuesday

    The classic one, of course, is:  "Let's eat Grandpa!", but this one's good too.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You’re saying Peter Solomon comes down here to reflect on death?”

    “I really don’t know,” Langdon said sincerely.  “Maybe he created it as a sanctuary for his Masonic brothers who work in the building, giving them a spiritual sanctuary away from the chaos of the material world … a place for a powerful lawmaker to reflect before making decisions that affect his fellow man.”

    “Lovely sentiment,” Sato said, her tone sarcastic, “but I have a feeling Americans might have a problem with their leaders praying in closets with scythes and skulls.”

    Well, they shouldn’t, Langdon thought, imagining how different a world it might be if more leaders took time to ponder the finality of death before racing off to war.

    (from The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown)

    7*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Mandarin Chinese Sunday

    Hen hao!

Mortal Kombat Saturday

Why I don't like to socialize

   Yep.  That's me.  The one with the yellow post-it note, not the other guy.

Cogito Ergo In-SUM-niac

Goofy Joke Wednesday

Guest Cartoonists

    We are committed to posting any cartoon strip that mentions *both* Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    A man sits in a room, manipulating his kneecaps.  It is 1983, on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles.  The man, a study subject, has been told to do this for four minutes, stop, and then resume for a minute more.  Then he can put his pants back on, collect his payment, and go home with an entertaining story to tell at suppertime.  The study concerns human sexual response.  Kneecap manipulation elicits no sexual response, on this planet anyway, and that is why the man is doing it: It’s the control activity. (The opening paragraph of the book.)

    (from Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach.

  9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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