Category: Humour

Drater

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

As funny as his Dilbert cartoons are, and as funny as half of his blog posts are, Scott Adams occasionally asks some damn good questions. Today’s topic: why does the US give foreign aid to Israel?

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More baby-name fun from the Freakonomics guys. They point out a new one — “Nevaeh” — that went from eight babies in 1999 to 4,457 babies last year, and trace it to a single pop culture moment:

“The surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single event: the appearance of a Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, Nevaeh. ‘Heaven spelled backwards,’ he said.”

Frankly, I’m surprised Levitt and Dubner didn’t talk more about the influence of pop culture on baby names. For example, the name “Dawson” went from 734th most popular to 175th the year Dawson’s Creek debuted, and climbed to 136th the year after. “Dylan” was always resonably popular, but shot up to 28th two years after Beverly Hills 90210 went on the air. “Wyatt” went from 375th to 197th in the year after Tombstone and Wyatt Earp were released. It’s not just boys either; for girls, the name “Trinity” went from 526th the year before The Matrix was released to 74th the year after it came out. “Alyssa” went from 209th in 1983 to 180th, 130th and 86th in the years immediately following the debut of Who’s The Boss. And, perhaps the most telling, the name “Beyonce” made its one and only appearance in the list of the top 1000 baby names: it was #702 in 2001, the year Destiny’s Child released their multi-platinum Survivor album.

[all data US, from Social Security Online]

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I would like one of these t-shirts, but for the life of me I can’t imagine any situation where it would be socially acceptable.

[tags]dilbert, scott adams, freakonomics, nevaeh[/tags]

I KNEW IT!!

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Not dogs…rodents. This makes sense; I generally consider any animal my cats could eat to be a rodent.

A new study proves that the Chihuahua is actually a type of large rodent, selectively bred for centuries to resemble a canine, says The Watley Review. “This is clearly going to raise some eyebrows in the Chihuahua world,” said Peggy Wilson, president of the Chihuahua Club of America.

And really, how does one aspire to become president of the Chihuahua Club of America?
[via]

[tags]chihuahua, rodent[/tags]

"Copy!"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

A few days ago Malcolm Gladwell wondered what all the fuss was about concerning this Harvard student committing plagiarism. His closing comment was classic: “Calling this plagiarism is the equivalent of crying ‘copy’ in a crowded Kinkos.”

Today he responds to criticism of that post, and defends himself (ever so gently) by coming up with a great point, this one equally quotable: “That’s what a cliche is: its what we call plagiarism the sixth or seventh time around.”

I recommend reading both posts. Actually, I recommend reading all Gladwell’s posts.

.:.

[tags]malcolm gladwell, kaavya viswanathan, plagiarism[/tags]

D.Y.S.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

From the CBC: Accused Serbian robber sews up lips, tongue to avoid court hearing. Ow ow OW. Surely there was a better way to avoid a hearing.

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From a letter to the editor of Toronto Life magazine (which they don’t post online, unfortunately), regarding last month’s condo story:

“If to be a hipster condo owner in downtown Toronto means saying things like ‘The very best thing about living here is Olivier at Clafouti’ without a trace of self-parody…then count me in as a renter who would rather put a bullet through his temple than live among these prats.”

I snorted my iced tea when I read this, and made a mental note not to be this kind of condo owner. If you ever hear me going on about how delightful so-and-so at Rosewater is, for god’s sake, punch me.

How long can grooming take anyway?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Today’s IndieTits was very funny. And I heartily agree with Neko Case being #1. Wrong Wainwright at #5, but it was funnier that way.

.:.

Some movies that I/we watched lately, but which weren’t very good:

  • Domino (imdb | rotten tomatoes), because it was an interesting story, but not interesting enough to require the frantic pace and annoying echo chamber of this great big hackey music video.
  • Out Of Order (imdb), because Showtime tried to pull off some kind of scam by cramming an entire season of a show into a 97-minute movie. It did, however, alert me to the fact that Justine Bateman has become rather hot at the age of forty.

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I’ve been slowly working through Saturday’s Star after returning from Montreal, and was particularly interested in this article by James Travers about how the front runners for the Liberal party leadership are flexing a little more IQ muscle than has been seen in Canadian politics for some time. My favourite line: “With Michael Ignatieff and Stéphane Dion opting in yesterday and Belinda Stronach dropping out a day earlier, the collective leadership IQ is soaring.” The other entrants or potentials — Bob Rae, Gerard Kennedy, Ken Dryden, Scott Brison, John Godfrey, David McGuinty, Maurizio Bevilacqua — are no slouches either. Whether or not you dig the Liberal party, it can’t be a bad thing to have smarter people trying to run the country.

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One last thing about our Montreal trip: I have to comment on the travel particulars. We flew Westjet this time, as I used up the Airmiles that find their way into my account without my really knowing. Anyhow, it was my first time with them and I was pretty impressed; the thing I liked the most was that they didn’t take 45 minutes to “groom” the plane like Air Canada does; it landed, they let the passengers off, and they let us on seconds later. Much faster turnaround time than I was used to.

And finally, about the Hotel Gault…I know I’ve already gushed about it, but it bears repeating: stay there if the opportunity presents itself.