Up for a massive dose of educational schadenfreude? Pay a visit to the Navy Safety Center for pictures of people doing things they really should think twice about or the aftermath of same.
A whole lot of Darwin Award competitors are documented. Apropos of a couple of pictures – kids, if a foreman asks, “Do you climb?” the default answer is “No!” (Really. I mean it.). via BoingBoing
Driving home from work yesterday listening to the radio, I heard tape of ace toady Pat Roberts (R-Lickspittle), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, emitting his infamous quote, “I would only point out that you really don’t have any civil liberties if you’re dead.” As I came to instant boil, I thought of some of the folks that would disagree with Mr. Roberts’ outlook if they were here – probably not respectfully – Patrick Henry comes to mind. Then I looked at the license plate on the car ahead of me. I’ve always thought that our state motto was a little over the top; I no longer feel that way. John Stark’s full toast is: “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” It would be nice if some of the bozos currently selling our institutions down the river in order to provide themselves ass-cover should something bad happen again could keep this in mind, but given the evidence they have provided over the past five years – ain’t going to happen.
Batrachomyomachia. It literally means ‘the battle of frogs and mice’ and is the title of a comic epic describing a one day war between, appropriately enough, frogs (led by Puff Jaw) and mice (Bread Nibbler, Slice Stealer, et al.) with a bit appearances by Zeus. Batrachomyomachia is now used – when it’s used at all – to describe a stupid dust up – all the civilization-threatening conflicts that when viewed with a little perspective (like two inches away) reveal themselves to be nothing more than a piss-hole in a snowbank.
The German language version – Froschmausekrieg – was used “by Helen Dukas (Einstein’s secretary and literary executor) to describe the long and bitter dispute between the School of Math and the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study.”*
Either version is good to keep in mind when you are considering going to the mattresses over the thermostat setting in the office…
The critters in the post below got me thinking about gaffs – taxidermy where one cobbles together a mount from pieces, parts and whatever is handy. The canonical gaff is/was P. T. Barnum’s Feejee Mermaid; she’s not what I think of when I think mermaid, but she’s “This way to the egress” Barnum all the way. A while ago I ran across the work of Sarina Brewer whose gaffs include mermaids and Jenny Hanivers among other wild stuff. The etymology of Jenny Haniver is worth the detour into the world of aberrant taxidermy by itself.