Just looking at a few of the dozens of parodies that make use of the photographic image of the cop at UC-Davis with the pepper spray can.
What if he, or UC-Davis, wanted to slow down the parodies, to catch their breath? Could he, or the university, copyright the image and enforce copyright? Do such over-the-top and often abusive parodies fall within the parody rules?
What say you, legal beagles? What say you, anyone?
One of the least offensive parodies using the cop's image.
20 Comments | 
Humor, Law | Tagged: copyright, Humor, Law, Pepper Spraying Cop | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Of course there are many others, but these are the top ten search phrases that hit on this blog today:
“How to deal with dementia?” Do you suppose those queries hit on how well I deal with demented commenters, or the fact that I deal with them at all?
3 Comments | Administrivia, Humor, Internet, Weblogs | Tagged: Administrivia, Humor, Internet, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Two strings of correspondents in my e-mail date back more than a decade. We met on the old AOL discussion boards, on evolution, and on religious freedom. Occasionally someone in one of those groups will lament the passing of the innocence of those days, and the heated discussions with trolls and reality deniers, and the grand, irreplaceable characters who made last stands denying science to the end, or claiming that Dwight Eisenhower really was Satan in disguise and that America was ruined when he failed to insist Congress open every meeting with prayers, or some other silly folderol.
Amazon.com has opened discussion boards. Excuse me, but I believe all of those nuts from the past have rolled out from their various closets, couches and corners, to join or frustrate discussion. It makes one nostalgic, and it makes one reach for the “delete” key.
Black holes sucking in intelligence and time on evolution, global warming, and other silly questions that bring out the hard-core denialists and contrary marys.
Were I you, I wouldn’t go there. Surely those “discussions” are part of Amazon’s plan to take over the world.
64 Comments | denialism, Evolution, Global warming, Humor, Science | Tagged: Debate, denialism, Evolution, Global warming, Humor, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
To complain about the horrific defense of the child maiming, rape-sowing, war-crimes committing “Lord’s Resistance Army” made by Rush Limbaugh the other day, I sought out the Dallas-Fort Worth station that carries the program. Limbaugh’s show is carried on WBAP-AM in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. So I dropped an e-mail to the station to ask if they support Rush’s views, and asking how they will try to rein in the rogue talker.
No answer, yet, of course.
But on the way I ran into something that made me laugh, even if you don’t find it funny.
I went to Limbaugh’s site to check for transcripts, and to find which station in this area carries his program (no, I am not a regular listener by any stretch.
WBAP-AM 1320 was one of the early “clear channel” stations in the U.S., a 50,000-watt powerhouse whose signal could cover from San Francisco to just west of the Appalachians on a night with the appropriate weather. 25 years ago truckers used it as a beacon (and may still for all I know — I’ve not ridden with the long-haul truckers since I got to Texas). It’s a famous station, and Rush Limbaugh should be flattered that they would carry his excrement program.
So I found “Texas,” and I found WBAP listed in Fort Worth (no one else in Dallas). Here’s the line the listing was on, copied from Limbaugh’s site; click on “WBAP” and see where you go:
| Fort Worth | WBAP-AM | 820 | M-F 11a-2p |
It says “WBAP-AM” in Fort Worth, Texas; but it takes you to WBAB, 102.3 FM on Long Island, New York. WBAB 102.3 is a rock ‘n roll station. It ain’t WBAP-AM 1320 in Fort Worth, not by a longhorn steer’s horn spread.
I wonder how long the Limbaugh show has had the wrong URL for the station in Fort Worth, and I wonder if it has made any difference in listeners getting through or advertisers. I wonder how long it will remain with the wrong URL, and whether anyone cares at WBAP, WBAB, or the Limbaugh show.
Maybe I should just write directly to the “license renewal file” at the FCC.
14 Comments | Citizenship, Humor, Politics, Radio | Tagged: Broadcasting, Citizenship, Humor, Politics, Rush Limbaugh, WBAP-AM 1320 Fort Worth | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
From our almost-Starbucks at our local Tom Thumb (Starbucks closed the three freestanding outlets in our area, alas):
Mermaid o'lantern caught at our local Starbucks kiosk in our local Tom Thumb supermarket, 2010. Photo by Ed Darrell, an MFBathtub exclusive.
A shot from my Motorola Droid which, alas, was taken hostage by scurvy thieves a few weeks ago.
I think I need another cup of coffee.
1 Comment | Humor, Life | Tagged: Halloween, Humor, Life, Starbucks, Tom Thumb | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Oh, yeah, we know what you teachers do with your fancy laser pointers in the off-hours. When you’re not torturing your students with Death by PowerPoint, highlighting the vocabulary words, pointing out the routes on the maps, and generally making your students a little jealous of your tools, you take the lasers home to torture your kitties.
If you’re a teacher with a science bent, you might even do a little experimentation: Do cats chase green lasers, too? Blue ones? What about those filters that make starbursts, do they drive cat’s wild?
Ah, but teachers with a science bent, and access to some really big cats . . .
From Big Cat Rescue:
Q: Do Tigers, Leopards & Lions chase laser pointers like domestic cats? Big Cat Rescue decided to find out! …
Do BIG CATS like catnip?? Check out the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tklx3j7kgJY
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Tip of the old scrub brush to Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Leave a Comment » | Cats, Classroom technology, Humor, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Wildlife | Tagged: Big Cat Rescue.org, cats, Humor, Lasers, Pets, Technology, Wildlife | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
A little sketch in her notebook, an off-the-top-of-her-head list of common phrases. Common today, but originating with William Shakespeare.
Becky's quick summary of some of the best-known phrases we use everyday, invented by Shakespeare. From Becky, age 20, in London.
Becky’s quick work caught a lot of eyes. One of NPR’s blogs brought it to my attention. English teachers, take notice (maybe someone at your school has a large format printer, and can make for you a poster . . .)
Someone could write a book explaining the original Shakespeare meaning of these phrases, the play, the context, and the value in the story. (Perhaps it’s already been done.) It’s really quite stunning to consider how many phrases trace back to the Bard — surely he did not originate each and every one. But Shakespeare’s works are rivaled perhaps only by scriptures in producing so many common phrases and aphorisms.
Is this graphic design of a sort that would meet with approval from Edward Tufte and his followers?
2 Comments | Books, History, Humor, Linguistics, Literature, Technology, Writing | Tagged: Books, History, Humor, Linguistics, Literature, Shakespeare, Technology, Writing | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I thought I’d posted this when I first saw it in July. Can’t find it. It deserves a wider audience, I think: “The Michelle Bachmann Song” by Hockey Mama for Obama.
Leave a Comment » | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Humor, Politics | Tagged: 2012 Campaign, 2012 Elections, Hockey Mama for Obama, Humor, Michelle Bachmann, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Do you ever dream of flying?
Natsumi Hayashi, a woman in Tokyo, Japan, posts a photo every day of herself, levitating nonchalantly around town and through life.
Great blog, great photos, fun stuff at YowaYowaCamera:
Natsumi Hayashi of Tokyo flies through the day, and has the photos to prove it at her blog, YowaYowaCamera.
Can you pick out locations from any of those photos? Is there a good geography exercise in here somewhere?
More:
Leave a Comment » | Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, How do we know what we know, Humor, photography | Tagged: geography, How do we know what we know, Humor, photography | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
If you followed at all the teapot tempest over the false claims that President Obama’s cabinet lacked business experience (also here and here), this headline must have made you guffaw:
Kay Bailey Hutchison won’t endorse Rick Perry for president, says she wants someone with private-sector experience
No love lost between Hutchison and Perry. Hutchison opposed Perry for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas in 2010. Perry was brutal in his criticism of her, and he defeated her in the primary.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry should not count on the support of his state’s seniority senator (and his 2010 Republican gubernatorial rival) if he decides to run for president.
(Polaroid photo by Sarah Tung/Hearst Newspapers)
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas, told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell today that she is looking for a Republican candidate with private-sector experience as her choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination.
Perry is a career politician who has held elective office since 1985.
“He certainly has got government experience,” Hutchison told Mitchell on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” this morning, adding that “we need people who have been in the private sector, as well.”
The Republican senator’s comments hint strongly that she’d prefer one of the GOP candidates who has run a business: former Winter Olympics organizer (and venture capitalist) Mitt Romney, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain or former chemical company executive Jon Huntsman.
Hutchison said she has no immediate plans to endorse any candidate.
7 Comments | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Campaigns, Elections, History, Humor, Politics, Texas | Tagged: 2012, Campaigns, Elections, History, Humor, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Politics, Rick Perry, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
6 Comments | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Campaigns, Elections, Humor, Politics, Texas, Texas history | Tagged: 2012 Election, Campaigns, Elections, Humor, Politics, Rick Perry, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
There’s a longer explanation, but this needs to be put out where it can be caught by search engines.
Benjamin Franklin reading the Pennsylvania Gazette, or “Ben on the Bench” (with a bird), statue at the University of Pennsylvania – photo via Priyank
This is the 51st chapter of the Book of Genesis, as related by Benjamin Franklin. This copy of the text comes from a newspaper, The Otago Witness, December 2, 1887, page 35, courtesy of a website called Papers Past, maintained by the National Library of New Zealand.
Paste It in Your Bible.
A Chapter Verily Like the Original— How Benjamin Franklin Surprised Ms Friends.
Over 100 years ago the following so-called “Genesis 51” was used to puzzle Biblical scholars, and today, were it read aloud in any mixed company, it is questionable if its fraudulent nature would be discovered, so beautifully is the spirit and language of the Old Testament imitated : —
1. And it came to pass after these things, that Abraham sat in the door of his tent, about the going down of the sun.
2. And behold a man, bowed with age, came from the way of the wilderness leaning on a staff.
3. And Abraham arose and met him, and said unto him, Turn in, I pray thee, and wash thy feet, and tarry all night, and thou shalt arise early on the morrow, and go thy way.
4. But the man said, Nay, for I will abide under this tree.
5. And Abraham pressed him greatly; so he turned, and they went into the tent, and Abraham baked unleavened bread, and they did eat.
6. And when Abraham saw that the man blessed not God, he said unto him, Wherefore does thou not worship the most high God, Creator of heaven and earth?
7. And the man answered and said, I do not worship the God thou speakest of, neither do I call upon his name; for I have made to myself a God which abideth always in my house and provideth me with all things.
8. And Abraham’s zeal was kindled against the man, and he arose and drove him forth with blows into the wilderness.
9. And at midnight God called unto Abraham, saying, Abraham, where is the stranger?
10. And Abraham answered and said, Lord, he would not worship Thee, neither would he call upon Thy name, therefore have I driven him out from before my face into the wilderness.
11. And God said, Have I not borne with him these hundred and ninety and eight years, and nourished him, and clothed him notwithstanding his rebellion against me, and couldst not thou, that art thyself a sinner, bear with him one night ?
12. And Abraham said. Let not the anger of my Lord wax against His servant; lo! I have sinned, forgive me, I pray thee.
13. And Abraham arose and went forth into the wilderness, and sought diligently for the man, and found him and returned with him to the tent, and when he had entreated him kindly, he sent him away on the morrow with gifts.
14, And God spake again unto Abraham, saying, For this thy sin shall thy seed be afflicted four hundred years in a strange land.
15. But for thy repentance will I deliver them, and they shall come forth with power, and with gladness of heart, and with much substance.
In 1759, when in England as agent for the colony of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin privately printed this “Chapter,” as he always termed it. Taking only a sheet of paper, he kept it laid in his Bible at the end of Genesis, and used to amuse himself by reading it aloud to his friends, and hearing them express their surprise that they had never recollected reading it, and their openly expressed admiration of the moral it carried with it. Its origin is unknown. It has been traced back 700 years to a Persian poet, who simply says “it was so related.” It must be very old.
Ben Franklin’s version of Chapter 51 of the Book of Genesis is a hoax. There is no such chapter.
11 Comments | Ben Franklin, History, Hoaxes, Humor | Tagged: Benjamin Franklin, Bible, Genesis 51, History, Hoaxes, Humor | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Bad birthday cake required by debt ceiling act - replay of 2009
WASHINGTON—After months of heated negotiations and failed attempts to achieve any kind of consensus, President Obama turned 50 years old Thursday, drawing strong criticism from Republicans in Congress. “With the host of problems this country is currently facing, the fact that our president is devoting time to the human process of aging is an affront to Americans everywhere,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who advocated a provision to keep Obama 49 at least through the fall of 2013. “To move forward unilaterally and simply begin the next year of his life without bipartisan support—is that any way to lead a country?” According to White House officials, Obama attempted to work with Republicans right up until the Aug. 4 deadline, but was ultimately left with no choice except to turn a year older.
How many people don’t know what The Onion is, and will assume this as fact?
Tip of the old scrub brush to William Keiser.
8 Comments | Humor, Politics | Tagged: Humor, Politics, truth | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Oh, while we’re looking at the genius of Jen Sorensen, let’s see what she’s got to cartoon about light bulbs:
Jen Sorensen's Slowpoke Comics, "Bulb Wars" - for a larger image at Jen's website, click the image
This strip appears Wednesdays at Daily Kos, and I understand some newspapers around the country have picked it up. Does it appear in a paper in your city?
5 Comments | Cartoons, Conservation, Energy, Humor, Political cartoons, Politics | Tagged: CFLs, Energy Conservation, Green Politics, Humor, Jen Sorensen, Light Bulbs, Political cartoons, Politics, Slowpoke Comics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
At least one other person in the universe rather agrees with me that it’s odd as hell that anyone would take the debt ceiling issue to use as a bargaining chip.
Jen Sorenson tells the truth, the whole truth and little else, at Slowpoke Comics:
Jen Sorensen's Slowpoke Comics - Debt Ceiling (click image to read it full size at Jen's website)
What are the odds we can get the Dallas Morning News to carry this strip?
1 Comment | Cartoons, Humor, Political cartoons, Politics, Public Debt, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Cartoons, Debt Ceiling, Humor, Jen Sorensen, Political cartoons, Politics, Public Debt, Rampant stupidity, Slowpoke Comics, Uncivil Discourse, Unreasonable Demands | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 