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Lore Sjöberg is hilarious. I’ve listened to his Alt Text podcasts for Wired for years (his dry delivery style makes the audio performances even better than reading his commentaries). In fact, with George Carlin’s passing on my mind, it strikes me that Sjöberg is something like the George Carlin of geek technology. This commentary isn’t his very best, but it’s a good sample of the way he skewers traditionally accepted ideas.
Humans have been attempting to send messages to the stars since … I’m going to say the early ’70s. I mean, theoretically some caveman could have yelled, “Hey! Stars! You suck!” a hundred thousand years ago, but he was an idiot. But of all the messages sent into space, which ones are good? Which ones conform to quality standards? That’s what I’m here to tell you.
I really enjoyed this humorous parody in the NYT of modern memorial selection committees.
On behalf of Memorial Committee for Remembering of Og, me want to unpack some of artistic decisions involved in project like Massive-Rocks-Arranged-in-Mysterious-Circle.
Hillary Clinton announced that her campaign would continue “…until every Martian voice is heard and respected.” Pointing out that, as of yet, no Martian delegates had been selected, “No one can say they have won the nomination until each and every state — red states, blue states and little green states, have been heard from!”
Clever premise, nicely timed with the landing of Phoenix on Mars, and then it gets even more “out there,” with Hillary Read the rest of this entry »
Ha, I was just about to shut down after checking my email when I encountered Gmail’s April Fool’s Day joke. It’s a “new feature” that lets you send email whenever you want — including in the past.
Ever wish you could go back in time and send that crucial email that could have changed everything — if only it hadn’t slipped your mind? Gmail can now help you with those missed deadlines, missed birthdays and missed opportunities.
With all the clever things Google comes up with to help us organize our lives, this almost sounded plausible. But keep reading: Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve heard it before — humor helps to break the ice, etc. — but Professor John Morreall explains in this Fast Company interview specifically “Why You Should Include a Joker in Every Brainstorming Session.” It’s a short, fun read and it may give you some ideas for improving your next brainstorming meeting.
Humor makes us think more flexibly. People who think funny do better on creativity studies. To put it really simply, humor loosens up your brain to think of more possibilities and be more open to the wild and wacky ones.
My friend CJ (a woman), sent me the link to this funny and rather insightful video about the differences between men’s and women’s brains. Reminds me a bit of Rob Becker’s Defending the Caveman show, which is the funniest thing I have ever seen on this topic (tears streaming down my face, gasping for air, ribs hurting from laughing so hard — you must see it!). This just brought knowing smiles to my face, but it’s pretty good.
My ribs hurt from laughing so hard — maybe it’s the combination of being a former English teacher plus a call center person, but this website, “The Chronicles of George,” that displays and ridicules the help desk tickets of “George,” the worst help desk agent ever, made tears come to my eyes. The humor may not be for everyone, I suppose, but it sure tickled my funnybone.
I’ll copy just one image from it to give you the idea, but you really have to read several pages of these cryptic tickets *written* by George, juxtaposed with the acerbic comments of his teammate, to get the full flavor and have the comedic effect build up. Read the rest of this entry »
Check out this funny, perhaps-apocryphal story recounted on a clever blog called QAQnA: “Our System Isn’t Set Up for Death.” Here’s the end of it, but you should read the whole thing (it’s short):
Citibank: “Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.” (What is wrong with these people?!?)
Family Member: “Would you like her new billing address?”
Citibank: “That might help.”
Family Member: “Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69.”
Citibank: “Sir, that’s a cemetery!”
Family Member: “What do you do with dead people on your planet?”
Finally, science has addressed an issue we all actually care about, instead of all that obscure medical, nutritional and environmental stuff that they keep changing their minds about, anyway. This NYT article, “Dip Once or Dip Twice?” gets to the really burning questions in life. And the lead scientist admits his study was inspired by this well-known Seinfeld episode:
This is great satire in 
Ha, I was just about to shut down after checking my email when I encountered 
We’ve heard it before — humor helps to break the ice, etc. — but Professor John Morreall explains in this Fast Company interview specifically “
