Fun With Science

Just a couple of pictures that I thought were worth sharing.

And finally, I love this avatar used by one of the talented people on Ravelry. It took me a few moments to get it the first time I saw it*.

*If you don't get it, try googling for the scientific symbol for Potassium. Hint: it isn't P.

What women have been waiting for

Do you sometimes write with a pen? Maybe not your novel, screenplay, blog post or
pornmagazine article, but perhaps a shopping list or love letter?

Up till now, women have had to struggle with heavy, clunky pens made for men's tough, calloused hands. But no longer! Say hello to the BIC for her pen, made specially for a woman's - Agh! Sorry. I can only stand so much of this drivel, even if it is me writing it.

Do go and look at the pens on amazon, though. The reviews, as always, are hysterical. And thank you to Sociological Images for drawing my attention to it. Their article has more examples (some NSFW) of unnecessary gendering in advertising.

LOLcat

Parachute Fail

I'm sure you can think of a better caption. The comments section awaits and ReCaptcha is turned off!

How much is yours worth?

They aren't for sale. Rufus is needed to keep the local rodent population down; he was found eating a mouse on the doorstep the other day. Bonnie is needed for her decorative function and as a doorstop.

How much is your cat worth? Go to WeBuyAnyCat.com and see! (Their terms and conditions are hilarious!)

Funny but telling

More funny gay marriage placards are here.

It's easier to make the point when you use humour. Some of the slogans aren't exactly Safe For Work.

Life before Google

This is my absolute favourite of the Chuck & Beans comics. Before the internet we had libraries with encyclopedias, newspapers and books and sometimes even helpful librarians but even so finding something out took a lot of effort.

I love technology.

Delightful surprise

I had a delightful surprise in my letter box a couple of days ago: Wayne Pollard, the creator of Bo's Cafe Life, sent me an advance copy of his book I'm not out of work, I'm a writer which collects together many of his cartoons. It's great to have a physical copy, although I drew the line at taking it to the doctors with me. I thought it might be embarrassing to be laughing away in the waiting room.

I always smile at the jokes; sometimes I laugh out loud. It's a little luxury every day. And now Wayne has added in some interviews with people in the writing world who offer good advice to writers - still in the same amusing style.

Why not pop over there and have a look?

Oh and Wayne, if you're reading this, thank you!

Rabbit Hole Day Sale

GRAND CLEARANCE!!!
ALL MUST GO!!!

Glamour shoes
£45
Reason for sale: money needed for physiotherapy

Ginger cat
One careful lady owner
£5 ONO
Reason for sale: Defective rodent catcher. Brings live mice into the house and hides them. Bites when bored.

Tortoiseshell cat
Gentle and loving nature except to birds. And frogs.
£672 ONO
Reason for sale: Defective cat. Need to recoup vet's bills.

PAYMENT

We accept PayBuddy PayChum PayFriend and FacePay

For all enquiries contact imonlyjoking.fairyhedgehog@recursor.net

Teh contest

Simon C. Larter has a competition for a book giveaway over at Constant Revision. I'm not going in for this one but the entry form is absolutely hilarious. You might want to go and take a look!

Sex education in the 60s - allegedly

Click on picture to enlarge

I came across this alleged extract from a 1960s sex education text over at Our-Local. (They're a great bunch of people over there but don't visit if you're easily offended.) You'll have noticed that the explanatory text is part of the picture, so clearly this isn't the original page. But is the text genuine? Some people think that it is but I don't agree.

I was born in 1954 so I was young in the 60s and my memory of how people talked about sex then is that they didn't!

As I remember it, advice for young girls was mainly about periods. Oh, and washing your stockings every day. I don't remember any advice on marriage, except possibly "wait until you're married". No one said what you were meant to wait for, because that kind of thing wasn't talked about.

Human reproduction was covered in biology lessons and booklets. The two-dimensional diagrams of male and female reproductive organs didn't really explain how people had sexual intercourse (as it was called) let alone why they would want to do so.

Open2.net says in A Brief History of Sex Ed:

Anecdotal accounts of lessons on the reproductive systems of rabbits, or the pollination of flowering plants, suggest that much school sex education in the UK in the 1950s and ‘60s, was carried out through the descriptions, though not the observations, of the reproductive habits of plants and non-human animals.

At least we were told about humans.

The alleged text book article strikes a very different note. It just doesn't ring true to me and I actually find it much funnier to read it as the spoof it undoubtedly is.

Do you agree?

Rufus in love

Rufus has been guest blogging over at Whirlochre's blog.

Well, when I say guest blogging, I mean that Rufus provided a poem and a picture and Whirl worked his magic and turned them into a brilliantly funny post.

Or rather, his cat Geoff did. It may help to know that Whirl's cat Geoff is a female.

Light Relief

This is nothing to do with books, words, writing, nor even with cats. This comes under "whatever takes my fancy". It made me giggle.



As my boys would say, the ending is random. I love that use of the word.

Thanks to mynfel for the link.

Sometimes...

...it's just all too much.



Image taken from here

Do you wish you could...

From Station V3

I saw this cartoon and thought that there are a few books that I would gladly unread. For a start, I've been reading The Court Of The Air and finding it far too gruesome for me. I haven't finished it and I would happily unread the bit of it that I have read.

I wonder what it would be like to unread a book. Would the curiosity that pushed me towards reading it in the first place cause me to read it again and then have to unread it again? Would this be a repeating pattern? Or would I remember that I had unread it and leave well alone? I shall never know.

Legalize Books

I found this cartoon on Toothpaste for Dinner and couldn't resist it.

Slang, text and LOLcats

Picture taken from LOLcat Pics. I have a guilty love of LOLcats. The cute cat pictures, the funny language.

I enjoy neologisms and playing with words, I love learning languages and seeing how our language develops. New slang, like "cool" and "lame" and "wicked" (OK, it's old slang now but I can't think of anything more recent) fascinates me. For some reason the same doesn't apply to textspeak.

I'm not sure that there is any logic to finding "I can haz cheezburger" funny and hating "C U L8r" but there it is.

Cat with book

From: Cats With Attitude. I just can't resist intelligent cats that like reading.

We're assured that

no books were harmed in the making of this photo

So that's all right then.

Bizarro

You can see more of Dan Piraro's comics at KingFeatures.

I've actually been doing some writing so I'm afraid that's all you're getting today.

Will Write for Chocolate

Will Write for Chocolate is always funny, just starting with the title itself. This one caught my attention as it landed in my RSS reader today. If you haven't checked out the website, then do!

Comics for Cats

I liked this variation on Stuff on My Cat. Cats always seem to want to sit on whatever you're reading so the obvious answer is to give them a book of their own.

I wonder if he'd be interested in reading All I Need To Know I Learnt From My Cat. Do you have any other suggestions for books cats might like to read?