Science Addiction

A dormant blog by Devanshu Mehta

Tag: Humor

June 8, 2006

Etymology: What is This * You Speak Of?

_aka What is this * of which you speak?_

For many months or years or decades- I am not sure- I have used to the phrase “What is this * you speak of?” to great humorous (my opinion) effect. It has usually been greeted with chuckles and makes me feel all warm and superior on the inside.

Maybe you don’t understand the context in which you would use this phrase; let me illustrate. Let us say people are talking about the NSA wiretaps. Someone says that they think it might be legal to which someone else replies that it is not in-keeping with the constitution. At this point, I will interject with the classic line, “Constitution? What is this constitution you speak of?” and will be treated by chuckles all around. If you don’t get the joke- and I’m sure it loses some luster in written text- it means that people at the NSA or in government seem to not be aware of the existence of the constitution. Ha ha, funny, right?

Maybe not. I like to make myself laugh more than I do others, so I succeed. It is a low bar I set for myself.

The trouble, however, is that I do not like to use lines without knowing their roots. Where does this phrase come from? Surely, it is not my own creation- though I may admit as much in lesser company- so where does it come from? I hate using quotes or phrases that are in common use without knowing the source- you know those people who spout lines from Monty Python or SNL or Abe Lincoln without knowing where they came from? They irritate me. So what are the origins of my pet line? Off to the all-knowing search engines for that answer… Read the rest of this entry »

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June 5, 2006

Mentos and Diet Coke Fountains

This is one of the great videos in the history of Internet viral videos- “the fountains of Bellagio recreated using Diet Coke and Mentos mints”:http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html (required Quicktime).

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June 4, 2006

NSA Wiretap Humor: I Just Called To Say

Newsday has a “fantastic animated cartoon song on the NSA wiretaps”:http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-wh-nsawiretapping,0,1906650.flash set to Stevie Wonder’s _I Just Called to Say I Love You_. This one goes, _You Just Called and We Were Listening_. Good stuff.

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May 15, 2006

These Days Everybody Has an Opinion

Including cab drivers. “Watch how the BBC mistakenly pulled in a cab driver”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvUuHfT-VaY to comment on the latest issues with Internet piracy, digital downloads and iTunes. He actually had some interesting things to say: Read the rest of this entry »

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May 7, 2006

Those Cooky Scientists and Their Amazing Beans

You know what they say about beans- they make you… how should I say… “flatulent”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence. Well, a “few smart scientists in Venezuela”:http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060425_bean_fermentation.html have figured out how to make beans ferment more before they’re cooked removing their undesirable qualitites. Nice.

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May 1, 2006

Altruism Mocked

You know those people who even spend their time picking apart charity? When “my story about geek charities”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2005/12/18/seasons-givings/ was “reported on at Slashdot”:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/18/1453256 there were people in the comments there who spent time picking apart my motivations and so on.

Then there are others who pick apart open sourcey communities and people who would spend their times in them. To them, I say “go forth to *The Onion* where altruism is being mocked”:http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46043.

[…] said freelance writer Eric Bergstrom, who was eating at a local diner when he saw Eisenfeld buy the confused man a cup of coffee and ask him where he lived. “Because, you know, it’s not like there’s cops or emergency workers trained to do that stuff. Must be nice having all that free time to be a big hero. What a stuck-up prick.” As of press time, Eisenfeld’s ulterior motive had not been determined.

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April 2, 2006

April Fool’s Day 2006 for Geeks

It seemed as though yesterday was an overactive April Fool’s day; maybe because it was a Saturday or because I was actively seeking pranks. And I found many.

Some of my favorite pranks for this year: Read the rest of this entry »

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March 30, 2006

Google Spam Recipes

And Even More GMail Spam RecipesIf you have a GMail account (and who doesn’t these days?), Google has a quirky little advertisement for your enjoyment. Go to your GMail account and click on the “Spam” link in the left sidebar. Read the rest of this entry »

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February 24, 2006

Woot: Between Disposable Income and Buyer’s Remorse

In my Bookmarks toolbar in “Firefox”:http://www.getfirefox.com I have a folder called ‘Daily’. Every morning when I start my computer, I open my browser, right-click on this folder and click ‘Open in Tabs’. This automatically opens the following in individual tabs:

Or should I say W00t? In either case, this is hands down the most addictive web site in the history of our consumer culture. If you find yourself inexplicably drawn to gadgets, deals on gadgets, the local electronics/gadget store and that new cool device that everyone will have in 6 months but you need now, the Woot is for you. Also, at about 12:03AM Central Time on an idle Tuesday you will also find yourself descending into a profound depression as you see the “Sold Out!” sign on Woot.com for that days wooot and find that you are not alone. Not by a long shot. In fact, there were thousands of others who fell upon Woot.com up to 3 minutes earlier than you did and snapped up that snazzy talking, wi-fi enabled coffee maker or trendy toaster. This is what Douglas Adams would have called as having descended into the long, dark tea-time of the soul. Read the rest of this entry »

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