Handwriting analysis for stone tablets!

How wonderful! This reminds me of the use of infrared digital photography to discern letters that are no longer visible on ancient papyrus fragments.

Handwriting analysis for stone tablets!

Old Jews Telling Jokes

Neil, my agent (and a leader of the Orthodox community in his city), just sent me this about an incredible film project called "Old Jews Telling Jokes." You have to be over 60, Jewish, and tell your favorite joke. The article about the project gives a little background and the website itself has videos of old Jews telling really funny jokes. (They update the current video twice a week. Look at some of the older ones, too. There's some boffo stuff.)

Old Jews Telling Jokes

RetroComedy: Creepy Vintage Ads

This is very strange. RetroComedy has assembled their catalog of the 15 creepiest ads of all time. I'm thinking they've done a good job.

My faves are 15, 14, 6, 2, and 1. You have to click on the #6 ad and read the text and see what they're really pitching. I vaguely remember ads along these lines for Lysol in the past, but the reality is so much creepier.

(Thanks to Herb for pointing this out to me.)

RetroComedy: Creepy Vintage Ads

DIY Jackson Pollock art

Patricia posted this on FaceBook. It's the winner of the Webby Awards this year. It's a do-it-yourself website for creating your own Jackson Pollock style painting. (Click your left mouse button to change the color.)

DIY Jackson Pollock art

Death found dead in his Burbank apartment

There was a discussion on a writer's forum by someone who has lost too many people in the last six months and is really angry at Death. A writer going by the online alias of Owlwhisper posted this in response as an article they want to see in the newspaper.

Death was found dead today in his Burbank apartment. He was 13.7 billion years old. The cause of death has not been announced pending an autopsy, but police investigators suggested Death died of natural causes, murder, suicide, various Acts of God, and swine flu.

"He kept to himself and was very quiet," said a neighbor who declined to be identified. "I didn't hear anything out of his place other than moans, clanking chains, and sounds of mortal coils being shuffled. Nothing unusual at all."

Old Age, younger brother of Death, was contacted and issued a statement that there would be a funeral. No date has been set, Old Age indicated, because the family wants the arrangements to be perfect. "After all," he said, "it's the last funeral we'll ever do."

In addition to his direct family, Death leaves seven billion survivors.

Death found dead in his Burbank apartment

Jedi Mind Trick, Do You Can!

This article describes a nifty little toy that lets you control the motions of a ball purely with brain waves.

Jedi Mind Trick, Do You Can!

Flowchart of Republican sex scandals

Leftake has produced a handy-dandy flow chart to help you keep track of all those nasty Republican sex scandals that seem to be popping up lately. (Note: This chart is only good for 2006-2009.)

I have to say that I think this is incomplete in one important aspect: this should have a notation for everyone who demanded that Clinton resign/be impeached for his extramarital dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. And there should also be something for "family values"/"gay rights will destroy marriage" similarly. Because, well, sauce for the goose....

Flowchart of Republican sex scandals

"Another famous person has died"

This lovely cartoon is by John Campbell from his blog, Goodbye, Foom. More can also be seen at Pictures for Sad Children.

"Another famous person has died"

Dante Bucci!

I have always liked steel drum music, particularly when the musician is breaking out of the traditional calypso mold (although that stuff is pretty good, too).

Dante Bucci is a musician who's just been pointed out to me. He plays the hang drum, a new invention based on the steel drum. (I want one, or at least to try one!)

There are a number of videos on YouTube of Dante Bucci playing, but you should also search for "hang drum" as well. If you prefer to listen to lots of music like this, try pandora.dantebucci.com or itunes.dantebucci.com.

Dante Bucci!

Jack Chick tract for Cthulhu

Jack Chick is a bizarre comic book artist who has a particularly fundamentalist view of Christianity, notably that the KJV bible is the best/most inspired/only acceptable translation. He's anti-Catholic, anti-Jew, anti-liberal, anti-pagan, anti-homosexual, anti-occult, anti-Communist, and to a fair extent, anti-education (because that makes you question and is run by liberals at colleges and you don't need it).

Most of us know Jack Chick tracts even if we don't know the name. They're fairly toxic, badly printed, and heavy-handed. This is a Jack Chick-style tract for the gods of the Necronomicon. :)

"Pardon me, boys, is that the lair of great Cthulhu?
The city of slime
Where it's night all the time...."

Jack Chick tract for Cthulhu