Saturday, November 20, 2004
Dumb and Dumber
We're adding another new blog to the roll this morning: AMERICABlog, which has featured some good stuff in the last day or so:
--The wingnuts have gone ape sending e-mails to the FCC demanding that ABC, Nicolette Sheridan, the Philadelphia Eagles, and anybody who didn't avert his or her eyes in horror at the Monday Night Football skit be exiled to Outer Mongolia. AMERICABlog suggests those of us who think the whole thing is ridiculous should send our own e-mails to the FCC, and provides addresses.
--Speaking of wingnuts going ape, AMERICABlog reports they created their own fanciful scientific term yesterday and talked about it in a Senate hearing: "erototoxins," which are released when pornography is available on the Internet. Erototoxins are more addictive than crack--my god, they cause masturbation! Presumably they are also responsible for other bad stuff, such as liberalism.
It is getting harder and harder to be a satirist these days, I swear.
So: Given the amount of misinformation and hoax that is passing for reasoned debate (and turning into public policy), here's a website that is a useful tool (not to mention an entertaining time-waster): the blog at Alex Boese's Museum of Hoaxes. A couple of years ago, Boese wrote a book about some of the weirdest hoaxes, pranks, and urban legends of all time, and he's kept collecting them at his website. His blog examines newsworthy incidents of weirdness--for example, debunking the I-69 name-change story that got picked up by several bloggers and news outlets this week. In a world growing dumber by the day, The Museum of Hoaxes is a breath of intelligence.
Note to All: We are taking the rest of the day off here at the Daily Aneurysm to sweat out two college football games--first, Michigan at Ohio State, followed by Wisconsin at Iowa, the outcomes of which will determine the post-season pecking order in the Big Ten. Most desirable outcome: Ohio State and Wisconsin both win, to put the Badgers into the Rose Bowl, which is the only bowl game that matters. Do I have any divided loyalties, given that I attended Iowa and used to live in Iowa City? Absolutely not. Go Bucky!
We're adding another new blog to the roll this morning: AMERICABlog, which has featured some good stuff in the last day or so:
--The wingnuts have gone ape sending e-mails to the FCC demanding that ABC, Nicolette Sheridan, the Philadelphia Eagles, and anybody who didn't avert his or her eyes in horror at the Monday Night Football skit be exiled to Outer Mongolia. AMERICABlog suggests those of us who think the whole thing is ridiculous should send our own e-mails to the FCC, and provides addresses.
--Speaking of wingnuts going ape, AMERICABlog reports they created their own fanciful scientific term yesterday and talked about it in a Senate hearing: "erototoxins," which are released when pornography is available on the Internet. Erototoxins are more addictive than crack--my god, they cause masturbation! Presumably they are also responsible for other bad stuff, such as liberalism.
It is getting harder and harder to be a satirist these days, I swear.
So: Given the amount of misinformation and hoax that is passing for reasoned debate (and turning into public policy), here's a website that is a useful tool (not to mention an entertaining time-waster): the blog at Alex Boese's Museum of Hoaxes. A couple of years ago, Boese wrote a book about some of the weirdest hoaxes, pranks, and urban legends of all time, and he's kept collecting them at his website. His blog examines newsworthy incidents of weirdness--for example, debunking the I-69 name-change story that got picked up by several bloggers and news outlets this week. In a world growing dumber by the day, The Museum of Hoaxes is a breath of intelligence.
Note to All: We are taking the rest of the day off here at the Daily Aneurysm to sweat out two college football games--first, Michigan at Ohio State, followed by Wisconsin at Iowa, the outcomes of which will determine the post-season pecking order in the Big Ten. Most desirable outcome: Ohio State and Wisconsin both win, to put the Badgers into the Rose Bowl, which is the only bowl game that matters. Do I have any divided loyalties, given that I attended Iowa and used to live in Iowa City? Absolutely not. Go Bucky!
