Old but always relevant: The Medieval Help Desk

Introducing ... "The Book".

I'm getting an iPad and was thinking about whether my mother, an avid reader, would do well with something like that.  Or a Kobo or Kindle.  Then I remember what it's like when the scrabble game on her computer isn't loading fast enough.  I get a call:  "I don't want to be a bother, but..." and, after I explain that I can get over there after picking up my kids from band practice and get some water boiling for supper, and also get the grades in for class, she'll prod "Well, yes, those are all important things, but if you were just to pop over for a minute, you can do all those things afterwards".

And then when I realize she's off to Arizona tomorrow, I imagine myself trying to talk her through technical assistance on one of those toys.  Then I want to cut my wrists.  I'll let her stick with the bound book.  We'll both be happier.

Art!!!!!

I love cleverness. I don't understand art, but I know what I like.

This is clever use of shadows.  The first panel is the day view.   You can see the statue clearly in this park in Kaunas, Lithuania during the daytime.  Dots on the wall behind seem out of place.  At night the carefully-place street light adds context by putting the statue's shadow in position by the dots on the wall!

"The Sliver of Perception"

This cartoon from the Abstruse Goose very cleverly points out why science is so important.

(Via Pharyngula)

Arachnogiggles

When I was growing up, I loved the "Hinterland Who's Who" spots that came on during commercial breaks.  It's got a very distinctive flute solo that announced when it was to begin, then the announcer would go into some detail about the habitat of the featured creature.  We'd get some interesting facts and after about a minute of education, back to animated mind-candy.

It was so Canadian.  It was just like a film loop - sometimes the sound wouldn't quite synch, there were lines scratched into the celluloid, and the picture jumped a bit.  I can imagine some grant of $50 being handed to a graduate student in ecology to put these together with the available equipment of the time.

This is a great sendup of the old HWW set.  In the originals, there was no experimentation being done on the creatures, but you'll see why that's important here:

Touchscreen frog

You'll want to clean your screen protector if you play this game with your pet frog!

Is this humour? Or just sad?

I don't know where to put this, but "Humour" seems to somewhat fit.  There's a sad letter sent out by an incompetent teacher and a classic "Snap - yo' mama" response from someone with intellect and objectivity.  The original letter is a rant from an "educator" who apparently doesn't even know the state's requirements for teaching and - even worse - is in a position of authority.  Here's the original letter from Ricky Line, a school superintendent in Kentucky:

 

(Continues after the fold)

Tim Minchin: Storm

Ok... profanity warning.  But so worth it!