humour
aardvarchaeology | September 13, 2016In December of last year I finished a collection of short humorous archaeological essays. It's my sixth book, my first one in Swedish, my first one aimed at the lay reader. Since then I've been waiting for established Swedish publishing houses to pronounce judgement on it. Five of them have now turned it down, none with any very detailed explanation, but most of them in terms suggesting that they think it's competently written but it probably wouldn't sell much.
As a long-time blogger and e-book reader, I am not particularly disheartened by this. After all, this blog has a greater number of…
aardvarchaeology | December 22, 2015
Most story boardgames don't let you do much tactically to influence the results or win. I've reported previously on what a game of Arkham Horror (2005) can be like. And I've played Betrayal At House On The Hill (2004) quite a lot. But the storiest of all story boardgames I've played is Tales Of The Arabian Nights (2009). Me and my friend Roland played it Sunday, which took us 22 rounds and about 4.5 hours.
Roland was Ali Baba and finally managed to win, which was no mean feat given that it's hard to get the damn game to end at all. You need 20 points to win. But we had 40 points each at the…
aardvarchaeology | May 18, 2015
Here's my translation of a classic 1979 revue routine by Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson. Kramfors is a town of 6000 inhabitants in central Sweden, near the 62nd parallel.
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TD: New religions keep popping up like mushrooms, and now it's time for the – ubiquitous in entertainment these days – Religious Corner. Sitting next to me is a fellow man [HA: “Flatterer”] ... a co-slipper on the endless unsanded sidewalk of life. And I would like to ask you a straight and direct question: do you believe in God?
HA: No, in Lind. Robert Lind in Kramfors.
TD: Is that someone you know?
HA: No, but I…
illconsidered | April 13, 2015I haven't seen this making the climate blog rounds (though I don't pay as close attention anymore as I used to...) so I thought supporters of science and detractors alike might like to know that the cat is out of the bag and the Global Warming Hoax has been exposed.
See below:
Continental drift and evolution surely fall into that that same mix.
illconsidered | December 25, 2014
Sorry, I don't know who to credit for that, I got it from a Facebook post...
illconsidered | November 13, 2014Very amusing and very rigorously constructed argument in favour of Net Neutrality:
Dear Senator Ted Cruz, I'm going to explain to you how Net Neutrality ACTUALLY works - The Oatmeal.
Ted Cruz is the Obamacare of put-downs via Obamacare association.
aardvarchaeology | September 5, 2014The English language has a rich tradition of songs celebrating the joys of orgasm. Here are just a few examples.
Sumer Is Icumen In (anon., 13th century)
Come Again (John Dowland, 1597)
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (Charles Wesley, 1745)
Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson, 1757)
Come, Ye Disconsolate (Thomas Moore, 1816)
Oh Come, All Ye Faithful (English lyrics Frederick Oakley, 1841)
Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel (English lyrics Neale & Coffin mid-1800s)
Someday My Prince Will Come (from the 1937 animated Disney feature Snow White)
Come Dance With Me (sung by Frank…
illconsidered | April 24, 2014This video crossed my field of vision a couple of times but I did not watch it until I saw it posted again at P3, and I am glad I did.
It is really very effective in that typically satirical way of distilling the true essence of an issue via humor, but for me it also succeeding in turning my amusement into anger. I have been immersed in this issue for a very long time, and find I do not often get upset by it anymore, an unfortunate attribute of the slow emergency.
Watch the fake advertisement above and maybe cure for yourself that all too human mental defense of normalizing the outrageous...
illconsidered | March 21, 2014Not related to anything really, but I find it a good laugh when this GoPro camera falls out of an airplane. There are a couple of surprising things...
Just because it's Friday.
Note: It seems there is some skepticism as to whether this is real or not, I personally don't find anything implausible about it if you can accept the unlikeliness of it specific landing spot...
aardvarchaeology | February 28, 2014
Only one of these books was given a title with the word "nudge" in it by people with a frame of reference similar to mine.
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Thaler & Sunstein 2008.
Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! Gary L. Hardcastle et al. 2006.
Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who's Already There. Leonard Sweet 2010.
A Gentle Nudge in the Right Direction. Joss Conlon 2012.
Why Nudge? The Politics of Libertarian Paternalism. Cass R. Sunstein 2014.
Delivering the Neural Nudge. Roger Parry 2014.
illconsidered | January 30, 2014The good Lord Monckton, self parody at its absolute finest:
This charming and lively man, with a soul and a wit that are eternal youth personified, is the latest victim of the vicious hate campaign sedulously waged by the canting profiteers of doom against anyone who dares to speak out against the now-discredited notion that the West should be shut down at once so as to Save The Planet from global-warming Thermageddon.
Bowing to extreme pressure from a handful of mad scientists (mad, that is, at the loss of income and prestige that the inexorable collapse of the Great Lie entails), the…
illconsidered | December 20, 2013Greenpeace spreads a little Christmas Fear below. I think this is very well done and all in good fun provided you keep two things in mind:
This is not appropriate for any children who think Santa is real
Santa is not real
So lighten up and enjoy your Holiday!
aardvarchaeology | September 24, 2013Wolf warrior David Huggins reminded me of the greatest conundrum in finer etiquette: how a gentleman should behave when approaching the lower end of a narrow staircase while in conversation with a lady.
All men know that it is courteous to hold open doors and allow others to pass before us, not only ladies but anyone really. But the staircase imposes a separate and sadly little-known rule.
You do not walk behind a lady up a staircase, because this will give the impression that you are ogling her legs/posterior.
The problem has no solution unless you are willing to ask the lady every time…
illconsidered | August 30, 2013A little Friday Funnies video to contemplate along with the wildfire near Yosemite....
Hot Stuff by Zlatko Grgic, National Film Board of Canada
My favorite line: "Stop it! Please, I have to wash the rocks!"
aardvarchaeology | June 20, 2013This is priceless. There's a line of scented candles and other spa treatment paraphernalia called Voluspa. Volu-spa, get it? Now, the firm shows no awareness of what their chosen name means. Völuspá is a long Old Norse poem in the Poetic Edda, dealing with the creation and eventual destruction (and re-creation) of the world. It's title means "Prophecy of the Seeress", and it's known as one of the most majestic pieces of writing in its language. With this name, the candlemakers are either just oblivious, or they're judging that their target market doesn't know much about the Viking Period.
I…
aardvarchaeology | April 30, 2013In your room
Where time stands still
Or moves at your will
Will you let the morning come soon
As we dance to the Masochism Tango
I ache for the touch of your lips, dear
But much more for the touch of your whips, dear
There'll be times
When my crimes
Will seem almost unforgivable
I give in to sin
Because you have to make this life livable
As we dance to the Masochism Tango
You caught my nose
In your left castanet, love
I can feel the pain yet, love
Every time I hear drums
And I envy the rose
That you held in your teeth, love
Strangelove
Will you take the pain
I will give to you
Again and again…
illconsidered | March 8, 2013Headline of the week from NPR. It is worth noting that even if the Republican representative has now apologized for his remarks and admitted they were stupid either because he realizes it or because he has to, he has not changed his position on a special tax on bicycles.
(h/t willard)