Anyone who was at a Club Med in the 70s will remember this song.
(QOTD for August 27)
“The whole of nature, as has been said, is a conjugation of the
verb to eat, in the active and passive.”
– William Ralph Inge
(QOTD for August 15)
“Sucks is the most concise, emphatic way we have to say something is no good. As a one-syllable intransitive verb, it offers superb economy. Granted, some things require more involved assessments (like, say, James Joyce: I find his early work unparalleled in its style and its evocation of emotion, while his later writing became willfully opaque in a manner that leaves me cold). But other things don’t require this sort of elaboration (like, say, John Grisham: He sucks).”
– Seth Stevenson, defending the word “sucks” in a slate.com article.
From the BBC: Cows also ‘have regional accents’
Farmer Lloyd Green, from Glastonbury, said: “I spend a lot of time with my [cows] and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl.”
A brilliant concept, as depicted hilariously on Flickr
Bershon is a word that I’m pretty sure is not really a word at all, but my friend Erin and I, growing up in two different cities, both encountered it separately in our youth. Both of us heard it used in exactly the same manner, namely the cool girls in middle school rolling their eyes and saying, “… and Kayla said yes, and I was like, ohmyGOD, whatever, I’m SO BERSHON.”
The spirit of bershon is pretty much how you feel when you’re 13 and your parents make you wear a Christmas sweatshirt and then pose for a family picture, and you could not possibly summon one more ounce of disgust, but you’re also way too cool to really even DEAL with it, so you just make this face like you smelled something bad and sort of roll your eyes and seethe in a put-out manner.
Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills, 90210 is the patron saint of bershon, as her face, like most other teenagers’, was permanently frozen in this expression.
Everyone has a bershon pic; it’s probably your eighth grade school picture.
Because you can’t possibly go to Moose Jaw and not pose with Mac the Large Canadian Roadside Attraction, even if his legs are way too thick to look realistic, and even if (since they moved him) he’s lacking cojones.
Taken from the Ward’s Island to Hanlan’s Point ferry. Startling not to see the Royal York!
Courtesy of a colleague: Best government document titles ever!
Includes the barnburners
- “Do you know oatmeal?”
- “Elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation : are we doing enough?”
- “Vitamin A in war and peace.”
- “Who Are the Zombie Masters and What Do They Want?”
Never say the government doesn’t do its share to entertain you.
Maddy collected dandelions for everyone when we were in Vancouver last month — they look quite nice in that vase!
More Vancouver photos on Flickr
The Zero Boss has a good profane rant up on the US’ bizarre machinations as they try to keep gay couples from being foster parents — the title says it all, I think:
Arkansas Supremes Bitchslap Gay Foster Ban; Ban Likes It, Asks If It Can Have Another
So the issue is resolved in favor of truth, justice, and matching genitals, right? Not so fast, buckeroo. Legislators are burning the midnight oil to find creative ways to keep parenting a straights-only club. State Sen. Jim Holt, doing his best James Dobson impersonation, crows that he has “10,000 studies” – only 9,973 of which were not authored by buttmonkeys on crack – proving that gay and lesbian parents are the Devil’s water-bearers. (This wouldn’t have anything to do with your election bid, would it, Sen. Holt? Naaaaaaah.) So away the legislator goes, attempting to put the smackdown on “non-normal” parents…while 6,500 foster kids eagerly await a home provided by anybody. So long as there aren’t any cages involved, natch.
…
The question isn’t, “Can gay and lesbian couples parent as effectively as straights?” The question is, “How the hell could they do any worse?”
This woman lends credence to that sentiment. Unwittingly, but still.
Sorry, but my children bore me to death
One wonders why she bothered to have kids in the first place, if she finds children — not children’s activities, but the children themselves — so objectionable.
Elsewhere, Joel on Software takes issue with an insurance ad which disses geeks.
Maybe a know-nothing in the White House has given you the idea that it’s somehow acceptable now to poke fun of geeks and nerds, in big two-page ad spreads on the inside front cover of a magazine for founders of startups. But you know what, morons? You probably forgot that most of the people that read Inc. are geeks. And we buy insurance. Lots of insurance. Like me. And in fact I used to buy it from you. But not any more.