Upset at all the fake nudes of her on the Internet, Supermodel Vida Guerra has decided to show everyone what the real her looks like by posing nude.
That'll teach 'em.
I like this line of thinking. If it catches on, a lot of interesting things will start happening. Personally, I'm looking forward to record companies giving away music for free to retaliate for all the piracy.
A few people commented to me long before I actually did that I should have a blog. For a long time, the reason I didn't was because I wanted the contents of my blog to be something different, out of the ordinary.
I had long kicked around several ideas, but one of the ones that I kept coming back to was a commentary on how ridiculous certain scientific studies were. Not necessarily because they were studying strange things. There are good things to learn from studies of the strange. I am referring to studies of the obvious. Things like, “Science confirms that the more alcohol you drink, the more unpleasant the hangover”, or “Study shows men prefer sports to shopping”.
Now, you might think I made those examples up… and in fact I did, but without bothering to actually do some research, I am more than positive that those examples do exist in scientific literature, as the article below will show.
I had even done things like try to find a suitably catchy domain name for the blog, like, “www.scienceconfirms.com” or “www.recentstudiesshow.com” but hadn’t been able to find a nice snappy and snarky one and eventually gave up. The burning desire to mock scientific studies that confirm what I considered to be obvious fact remained though, and this article from Popular Science is a great listing of exactly the type of studies that amuse and frustrate me at the same time.
Studies cited in the article:
So it appears that for now, my work is being done for me by the good people at Popular Science, however, I promise I’ll keep an eye out for similar things from time to time.
Google - representative amalgam of the web, or mindless ad spitter-outter? Let’s find out!
Take for example, this bunch of Google ads found in an article about US attitudes toward atheism. The article basically says that in the study, which was a phone survey, atheists ranked below pretty much every other social group in terms of trust. People would rather have their kids marry anyone besides an atheist.
It was interesting, and as a social scientist type guy, I was wondering about the methodology, because the results were a little surprising to me.
And then I saw the Google ads.
The ads in this sober article about how America hates atheism?
Meet Atheist Women & Men
A site devoted exclusively to Atheist/Agnostic Singles
Believe in Jesus?
We’ll pay you $75 right now to complete a simple survey!
Wear the Joy of Jesus
Finally, Jesus confirmed as joy. Pictures of Jesus on Christian gift
So what are we to learn from all this? If I were to extrapolate:
One quarter of the people out there are atheists, but just like the article says, they’re having trouble finding dates because all the non-atheist parents disapprove
One quarter love Jesus so much that they want this picture on their stuff.
The other half? They’re just not sure.
Once again, I am violating my "don't just link to something unless you are adding value" rule … but Chelsea sent me this … and I have to share it so the world can see.
This is the first time I've ever actually felt sorry for Britney Spears.
Seriously… is this a joke??
Lactiferous?
Here's what I want to know … when you read the title and saw the picture, did you think the title was referring to people getting busted, or the “big bust” on the woman in the photo?
Personally, I was so sure it was talking about the boobs, that I had to read the original article on Defamer about 3 times before it made any sense.
“But… but… there’s no mention of breasts in here at all!”
I don't want to just post links to other people's news / blogs / jokes without adding my own special value add… but all I have to add to this amazing piece by The Onion is a general statement that I completely agree with the whole thing … even though it’s supposed to be a joke.
What does that say about baseball, irony, and the powers of The Onion?
To quote The Onion’s fictional version of baseball commissioner Bud Selig:
“It is unfair to judge Mr. Bonds based solely on the fact that everyone says he has taken some sort of performance-enhancing drug for the past five years,” Selig said. “I myself think Bonds has been taking steroids—I’m not blind, after all—but nothing, even an admission by Bonds himself, can conclusively prove that he took steroids, as he has not tested positively in an MLB-sanctioned drug test. Unless that is somehow made to happen, we must all accept his recent unfathomable accomplishments as one of the truly exciting and continuing storylines of this great sport.”
It’s like it’s a window into my own internal colour commentary on the topic. Yes, I have an internal colour commentary. No, a “window” is not really the appropriate metaphor.
I don't know if you've ever found a Chick tract on a bus or subway or park bench somewhere, but I know I have, and I've always been greatly amused by their brand of evangelism. For those who have never seen one, here is an online version of the most famous of them.
Here's a slightly different take, which will probably make little sense if you’re not a devotee of H.P. Lovecraft or familiar with Cthulhu and the works of the Necronomicron.
Old Spice is the official deoderant and body wash of NASCAR.
To me, that in itself would be irony enough … but the commercial where I saw this information seems to go beyond this simple level of irony in an attempt to take it to the limit, showing fan after NASCAR fan holding up their arms in excitement, glory or pride in their nacho plate.
To their credit, Old Spice believes in truth of advertising… these are not models. Heck, they aren’t even guys chosen for attractive or even dry underarms.
