Twisted Hisser, Perfect Jokes, and Rat Dung Mixed With Sawdust

Ricky Gervais- "This proves there really is An Almighty Frog..."

...

Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work in psychology. I just bought his book at Goodwill for $2 although it still had a $1 price tag on it from a yard sale. It irritated me a bit, and I found myself wondering about my own psychology over that economic peculiarity.

November 28, 2021

...

Gretel got two hissing cockroaches today... named them Twisted Hisser and Handsome Hissing Kisser.

November 28, 2020

...

A perfect joke by Jerry Seinfeld:

"According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

...

I've become moderately obsessed with Jonestown and had a nightmare to end all nightmares last night. I hope this obsession didn't break my brain.

November 28, 2018

...

From Manhattan:

Isaac: "Has anybody read that Nazis are going to march in New Jersey? I read this in the newspaper, we should go down there, get some guys together, you know, get some bricks and baseball bats and really explain things to them."

[Man]: "There was this devastating satirical piece on that on the op-ed page of the Times. It is devastating."

Isaac: "Well, well, a satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but bricks and baseball bats really gets right to the point."

[Woman]: "Oh, but really biting satire is always better than physical force."

Isaac: "No, physical force is always better with Nazis. Cause it's hard to satirize a guy with shiny boots."

November 28, 2018

...

Did you hear the good news? Trump says that millions voted illegally, but only in CA, VA and NH. I thought for a minute there that he was accusing all Clinton voters of voting illegally.

November 28, 2016

...

Sure, 60 million did vote for Trump, but 270 million Americans didn't. And sure, that counts babies but it doesn't count foreigners. Include them and we're up to 7 billion. And let's not forget the dead- 60 million voted for Trump, 100 BILLION didn't. A landslide! 

Who am I kidding? How does Trump do it? Spouting off a bunch of nonsense with a straight face.

November 28, 2016

...

I've been waiting since forever and finally Best of Enemies is on Netflix. It's a documentary on the Buckley/Vidal debates that aired during the 1968 Republican Convention. Highlight... Buckley used of phrase "hobgoblinization of the Marxists." Zowie! They don't make TV like this anymore.

November 28, 2015

...

Hey, remember how funny Eddie Murphy: Delirious was? Yeah me too. And remember how the first 10 minutes was filled with jokes about how afraid he is of homosexuals? Yeah me neither. He really got into it too, and he didn't call them homosexuals either, if you know what I mean...doesn't hold up. You know what is funny though...imagining his current embarrassment.

November 28, 2015

...

I have no desire to see Mr. Fox... I'm pleased to find that after The Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited my Wes Anderson boycot isn't even the slightest struggle.

November 28, 2009

Postscript- That was a mistake, that film is great!

...

Provocative headline. Clickbait?

Martin Pistorius woke up from a 13-year coma and revealed a chilling secret; he was awake the entire time. Here's the unbelievable story.

...

On this day in 1520, Ferdinand Magellan passed through the Strait of Magellan, after 56 of his initial 243 men turned back to Seville. 

Smart move on their part! Of the 187 who continued on, 103 died including Magellan, 49 were lost, and only 35 made it back. 

Bill Bryson wrote in his book, At Home, that the worst meal known to humankind was eaten regularly on that voyage- rat dung mixed with sawdust. 

I think everyone can agree that every once in awhile things don't seem all that bad.

...

On this day in 1925, The Grand Ole Opry began broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, as the WSM Barn Dance.

...

William Burroughs gave us his Thanksgiving Prayer on this day in 1986.

https://youtu.be/sLSveRGmpIE

...

On this day in 1996, Scott Scurlock, aka the bank robber Hollywood, took his own life after a bank robbery going bad.

...

William Blake was born on this day in 1757.

"What is now proved was once only imagined."

...

Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams, was born on this day in 1948.

"The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone."

...

The baseball player, Sixto Lezcano, was born on this day in 1952. I always loved his name. He played for the Phillies in the early '80s.

...

Jon Stewart was born on this day in 1962.

"I am not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance."

...

Washington Irving left us on this day in 1859.

"All these, however, were mere terrors of the night, phantoms of the mind that walk in darkness; and though he had seen many spectres in his time, and been more than once beset by Satan in divers shapes, in his lonely pre-ambulations, yet daylight put an end to all these evils; and he would have passed a pleasent life of it, in despite of the devil and all his works, if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to mortal man than ghosts, goblins, and the whole race of witches put together, and that was - a woman."

...

Enrico Fermi left us on this day in 1954. 

“The fact that no limits exist to the destructiveness of this weapon makes its very existence and the knowledge of its construction a danger to humanity as a whole. It is necessarily an evil thing considered in any light.”

"Whatever Nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge."

...

Richard Wright leftist on this day in 1960. From Native Son:

"Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread."

...

Jerry Rubin, who famously warned us not to trust anyone over 30, died at 56 on this day in 1994. 

...

Someone else we shouldn't trust died the same day, Jeffrey Dahmer.

...

Clockwork Orange's David Prowse died on this day in 2020. He also had a bit part in Star Wars but his most famous appearance was in Clockwork Orange, if you know what I mean.

I have a small autographed Darth Vader statue in my room, and just last night I saw it and was wondering how long ago he died. When he signed it for me I told him I had no idea he was in all of my favorite films.

...

Chomsky- "One important action that the United States could take is to live up to its own laws."

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/11/27/noam_chomsky_at_united_nations_it

November 28, 2014

...

The Atlantic- How to Deal With the Lies of Donald Trump: Guidelines for the Media

From the article:

The news media are not built for someone like this. Our journalistic and political assumption is that each side to a debate will “try” to tell the truth—and will count it as a setback if they’re caught making things up. Until now the idea has been that if you can show a contrast between words and actions, claim and reality, it may not bring the politician down, but it will hurt. For instance: Bill Clinton survived “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” but he was damaged then, and lastingly, when the truth came out. To close the loop, knowledge of the risks of being caught has encouraged most politicians to minimize provable lies.

None of this works with Donald Trump. He doesn’t care, and at least so far the institutional GOP hasn’t either.

...and later...

Again, to be clear, this reader is not “medicalizing” Trump’s behavior or recommending that the press do so. But there are common-sense meanings for terms to describe behavior, which we can use without suggesting a medical diagnosis. We can say someone seems cruel without saying he’s a psychopath; that he seems amoral without claiming he’s a sociopath; that he seems moody or depressed without implying a clinical diagnosis. And in common-sense terms, anyone can see that Trump’s behavior is narcissistic, regardless of underlying cause.

...and...

The Times got in trouble by trying to make sense of his words. It’s an easy mistake for people in a word-saturated medium to make, but anyone who’s dealt with a narcissist knows you never, ever believe what they say—because they will say whatever the person they are talking to wants to hear. DT is a master at phrasing things vaguely enough that multiple listeners will be able to hear exactly what they want. It isn’t word salad; it’s overt deception, which is much more pernicious.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/a-reflexive-liar-in-command-guidelines-for-the-media/622699/

Nov 28, 2016, 8:08 PM

...

Think Progress- When everything is alive power is the only truth

This article genuinely helps cut through so much sludge.

"If Bush and Rove constructed a fantasy world with a clear internal logic, Trump has built something more like an endless bad dream. In his political universe, facts are unstable and ephemeral; events follow one after the other with no clear causal linkage; and danger is everywhere, although its source seems to change at random. Whereas President Bush offered America the illusion of morality clarity, President-elect Trump offers an ever-shifting phantasmagoria of sense impressions and unreliable information, barely held together by a fog of anxiety and bewilderment. Think Kafka more than Lord of the Rings."

...and...

"In a world where nothing is true, the only real choice available to voters is between competing fictions. Trump offered a particularly compelling set of fictions, but he also found various ways to telegraph that he knew what he was doing. Through irony, evasion, self-contradiction, and obviously ridiculous claims, he let his supporters in on the joke. If everything is a lie, then the man who makes his lies obvious is practicing a peculiar form of honesty."

...and here's a peculiar bit of insight...

“One thing that should be distinguished here, is the media is always taking Trump literally,” said Thiel during an October appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “It never takes him seriously, but it always takes him literally. I think a lot of the voters who vote for Trump take him seriously but not literally.”

...continuing...

"It is tempting to take solace in the belief that, if Trump cannot be taken literally, his extreme rhetoric might conceal a secret moderate streak. But that hope would be misplaced. Non-linear warfare is intrinsically authoritarian. The president-elect is speaking the language of dictators."

https://thinkprogress.org/when-everything-is-a-lie-power-is-the-only-truth-1e641751d150#.2uaxb9vpy

November 28, 2016

...

Perhaps has my vote for best joke of all-time. I posted it before, but it can't be posted enough.

John Cleese's Eulogy of Graham Chapman

https://youtu.be/q7x9uhrg4Hs

November 28, 2017

...

The Hill- Trump shares image calling for his opponents to face trials for ‘treason’

But Obama did it too! Oh wait, no, no other president has done something like this... calling for their political opponents and investigators to be tried for treason. (I know, I know... he only re-tweeted it... same thing.) His supporters need to admit they support an authoritarian... and it's up to them to justify it... but that needs to be a starting point.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/418630-trump-shares-image-calling-for-his-opponents-to-face-trials-for

November 28, 2018

...

Every time I walk down a flight of stairs I jangle my arms around and think about Satchel Paige's rules of staying young.

1. Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.

2. If you stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.

3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.

4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain't restful.

5. Avoid running at all times.

6. Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.

November 28, 2018

...

Jack Kerouac- “He had never felt anything like that before - yet somehow he knew that from now on he would always feel like that, always, and something caught at his throat as he realized what a strange sad adventure life might get to be, strange and sad and still much more beautiful and amazing than he could ever have imagined because it was so really, strangely sad.” 

...

Wilde- "They've promised that dreams can come true - but forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too."

...

Blake again- "The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

...

Voltaire- "The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe."

...

Huxley- "Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth."

...

Jerry Seinfeld- “Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains. A pretty violent image there. I think if you’ve got a T-shirt with blood stains all over it, maybe laundry isn’t your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash.”

...

Saint Augustine- "Patience is the companion of wisdom."

...

Sagan- "The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas."

...

Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan- "Every passing hour brings the Solar System forty three thousand miles closer to Globular Cluster M13 in Hercules — and still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress."

...

Norm Macdonald on the perfect joke.

https://youtube.com/shorts/BG8u1EIqC-I?feature=share

"Yippee! Jerry Rubin died last week."