The Stand-up Philosopher

The Continental Congress of 1776 With Twitter

Matt Silverman at Mashable came up with an amusing comic exploring what it would have been like if the founding fathers were using social media.

I thought it was funny.

How Twilight Works

Originally a comic by The Oatmeal, this has been turned into a YouTube video. Watch to see how Twilight works, and why the women in our lives go nuts over this cheesy fiction, featuring an immortal who has chosen to spend his immortality as a junior in high school, a fate worse than death.

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4uuGvmAxTI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

Failblog: Date Win

I wonder if the people who put together this episode of The Simpsons expected to still be on the air when this happened.

Failblog: Date Win

I wonder if the people who put together this episode of The Simpsons expected to still be on the air when this happened.

Finally, Social Media Expert Defined

From Jason Dunn. I’d say this video sums it up nicely.

I need to find out what program is being used to create these things. 

Hitler on Copyright

Remember the hilarious parody video about Hitler getting upset over the iPod Touch not getting a camera?

Well, somebody retooled the clip to make it into a parody on copyrights. Apparently, Hitler posted some parody videos to YouTube, which were taken down illegally by large corporations. Same clip, different subtitles. I still don’t know where this scene is actually from.

There is language, at least in the English subtitles. I didn’t hear any of the German cuss words I know in the video.

Remembering the $1000 iPhone App “I Am Rich”

This is a classic. One of the first apps released for the iPhone’s OS 2, and one of the most expensive I’m aware of. I Am Rich originally sold for $999. It was bought by 8 people, two of which appealed. 6 people apparently were happy with their purchase. I Am Rich did little. It showed a picture of a red gem, and had a mantra which read:

I am rich
I deserv [sic] it
I am good,
healthy &
successful

Deserve was misspelled. But I guess if you’re rich, you don’t have to spell “deserve” right.

I had a freeware version of the app for Windows Mobile.

Would Liking This Be Morbid?

I noticed this on the right side of my Facebook page, where advertisements and friend suggestions are:

Just because I have a tendency to be a jerk, I was tempted to click “Like”.

Why Do My Weather Preferences Get People Upset?

This is curious. We recently got a ton of snow in the Delaware Valley region. I’m sure they’ve seen more in the past, but in the 11 years I’ve lived in New Jersey, it’s a record breaker.

And it didn’t bother me.

Sure, the shoveling was tough, but I got through it. I enjoyed having the snow around. It was a nice change of scenery.

What’s weird is talking to people about it. At work, when people are bitching complaining about all the snow, I mention that I’d rather have the snow than the heat in the middle of summer.

The reactions that I get are along the lines of “How could you, you, you… MONSTER!”

Maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit, but most people react very badly. Even at dinner tonight, Christina was talking about a weather forecast that includes about 5 days of solid rain. Ugh. Hate it. I said I’d rather have snow. Christina’s reaction was to ask me if I knew what that meant…

As if God is going to schedule the weather around my preferences.

Seriously, why do people get worked up when I mention that I wouldn’t mind it if the weather stayed cold longer? I like the cold. I don’t like to sweat. And I’d MUCH rather shovel snow than pay another $450 electric bill in the summer. Snow doesn’t cost me anything extra. Snow is cool to watch. Rain is just miserable. In any case, the weather doesn’t bend to my will. It would be about as effective as getting mad at me if I said I wouldn’t care if LOST got cancelled. They don’t make programming decisions based on my apathy.

Fun With Ghosts

In my last post, I wrote about a new iPhone app that allows you to superimpose ghosts onto pictures. Here are the first two I came up with. One is a "ghost" standing next to Caleb on the bed while he plays Lego Star Wars on the Wii. The other is a picture of the front of my house during a recent snowstorm.

I could have a lot of fun with this app. Yes, I promise not to test how gullible the Philadelphia Inquirer might be.

Take Pictures of Ghosts With an iPhone

I like the show Ghost Hunters, so I won't pick on them here. I assume it's safe to take the show at face value until I find a reason not to.

One of the things I like about TAPS is that they place the highest value on evidence. Personal experiences are interesting, but count for little to nothing. They only go by what they can demonstrate.

That's good, because I just found out a way to have fun with those who aren't as careful to only deal in verifiable evidence. Turns out, a UK tabloid published a photo with an apparent ghost in it. It looks real enough, right?

Not really. Turns out, the picture was a hoax. And as the cliche goes, there's an app for that. Introducing Ghost Capture, now live in the App Store (iPhone). Ghost capture is available in both free and $.99 versions. I'm downloading the free version.

Now if I can only hoax Christina before she reads this blog post...

Tired of Printed Bibles? Try the iBible…

This is hilarious!

“…and a parental lock for the Song of Solomon and verses with ‘ass’ in them.”

Home Alone Parody

I know it's the day after Christmas, but the gift of humor is good all year. I came across this on Cracked. I thought it was funny. I was never a fan of Home Alone. OK, maybe I was the first time, but by the 10th, I didn't like it any more. Enjoy Home Alone 2009: Kevin's Revenge. 

Home Alone 2009: Kevin's Revenge -- powered by Cracked.com

The Ultimate Windows 7 Review

I came across this on Facebook. A Review of the Pirated Copy of Windows 7 I Bought On eBay. It's hilarious. Note: the language is a little raw, but the humor is worth it. I needed a good laugh like this after I got home from work today.

Spam Fail

My submissions never seem to make it onto Failblog, so I figured I’d put this one here. I was going through my spam folder and I came across this. I’ve gotten some “interesting” spam in the past, but I can’t figure out how these words fit together. I can’t say that “Amway” makes me think of “sex”, and “sex” definitely doesn’t make me think of “Amway”.

I guess we have a rookie spammer. n00b!

More Fun With Google Suggestions: Auto Complete Me

As a follow-up to my post on Google suggestions, I discovered that there is an entire site dedicated to this: Auto Complete Me. Check it out.

Fake Steve: Conference Call with Randall Stephenson at AT&T

Fake Steve nails it. Here is a post on the Fake Steve Jobs blog about a fictional conference call with Randall Stephenson of AT&T about how iPhone users are using too much bandwidth and AT&T wants to find a way to give them (us) an incentive to use less.

For those of you concerned about such things, the language is a little raw so be warned. Overall, I thought it was hilarious. I wish the real Steve Jobs would tell AT&T the same thing.

And now here we are. Right here in your own backyard, an American company creates a brilliant phone, and that company hands it to you, and gives you an exclusive deal to carry it — and all you guys can do is complain about how much people want to use it. You, Randall Stephenson, and your lazy stupid company — you are the problem. You are what’s wrong with this country.

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Randall Stephenson is also a fictional personality. Sorry, though I've been an AT&T customer for years, I honestly never cared enough to find out who AT&T's executives are. Fictional executive aside, I'd still say Fake Steve (Dan Lyons) is dead on.

Comixed: The De-evolution of Vampire Machismo

Another site I follow, Comixed, put together a hilarious morphing of pop-culture vampires from what used to be “manly men” to the effeminate brood we have today. Enjoy:

http://comixed.com/2009/12/02/comics-comic-strip-yonkoma-the-de-evolution-of-vampire-machismo/

Fun With Google Suggestions

I got this idea from Fail Blog. When you use Google, sometimes Google gives you helpful suggestions to complete your search. Sometimes they are incredibly helpful. Other times they are totally off the wall. For instance, typing “why is” into the Google search box produced the following suggestions:

I don’t even want to know why Google’s algorithm thinks it might be helpful to suggest “why is there a dead pakistani on my couch”. Does that come up a lot?

Just for fun, I tried various other combinations. About the most humorous of the other combinations I tried was “why did”:

 

Do people really ask “Google” “Why did I get married?” I’ve asked some rhetorical questions out of frustration before, but I can’t say I’ve tried them on Google. Maybe I should…

If you’ve tried other searches on Google that turned up something hilarious, let me know in the comments.

I Just Won A Nobel Peace Prize! And You Can Too!

Yea! I Won a Nobel Peace Prize! Apparently all you have to do now is TALK about peace, even if you're still in your 40's and haven't actually done anything yet. The nominations had to be in like 2 weeks into a Presidential term.

Anyway, if you'd like a Nobel Peace Prize, go here.

Pundit Kitchen: Time Machine

Whenever I hear people spout off about “dire economic straights”, it always seems to be those who are the farthest removed from any semblance of “dire economic straights”. Yes, I’ve seen the data. Yes, I know there is trouble. But for those who use the “dire economic straights” line like you’re talking about the weather, consider this from Pundit Kitchen (yet another site I depend on to make me laugh on an almost daily basis).

I Can Haz Cheezeburger: Hand Wash

One of the many sites I scoop through RSS into my Google Reader feeds is I Can Haz Cheezeburger. They post pictures of “LOL Cats”, or cats doing funny things with captions. The captions are usually written in poor English; sort of like how a small child would talk.

Today’s picture should produce an “aww!” moment in just about anyone. I’m sure there will be exceptions, but most of us should have a hard time resisting this. “Hand Wash With Like Colors Only”.

Video- The Guild: Do You Want To Date My Avatar

This is hilarious. I’d never heard of this group before. I also don’t play MMORPGs. It’s not that I’m not interested, but a man’s gotta know his limitations. The last two games I got seriously into were The Sims (1st one) and Diablo II. Both of them took up a lot of time, which I don’t want to have to spend on World of Warcraft at this point in my life. I’m also wary about playing with people I don’t know and don’t yet trust. I’ve heard a few stories of people being ripped off and attacked in games. I’m sure they’re the exception, but still. I used to play Diablo II with my wife across our LAN.

Anyway, the video:

Ready for some amusement? Hitler Dismayed By Lack of Camera in the iPod Touch

This is creative and hilarious. For those who follow Apple's product announcements, especially those who speculate, the actual announcements may be disappointing. Several people were upset that the iPod Touch did not get a camera. I don't care personally; my iPhone has a camera. My iPod Touch has become a device to keep my kids occupied.

I have no idea where this footage is actually from, but it's a very creative mixing of concepts. I got a good laugh out of it, especially at the end. (WARNING: there is some language in this, for those who may not appreciate the language as much.) I found this on Fake Steve Jobs' blog.

Graph Jam: Things I Want To Do In New Jersey

From Graph Jam comes a piece that is supposed to be humorous, but after living in New Jersey for 10 years, I'd say this matches my life goals exactly.

The Onion: Obama Announces Plan to Run for McCain's Senate Seat in 2010

I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I read this post this morning. The Onion is hilarious!

An excerpt from the "article":

"The key thing we learned in 2008 is that McCain is beatable," campaign manager David Plouffe said. "And our goal is to continue to exploit that, whether he is running for the Senate, mayor of Phoenix, or board president at an assisted living facility."

Failblog: Rocket Science Fail

I go to a Church of Christ, so I feel safe reposting this here. Failblog (one of my favorite blogs) posts a church sign fail.

Failblog: Animal WTF's

I recently discovered a new time black hole: Fail Blog. I better get a grip or it's going to show up on my weekly status report and disrupt my family life.

I couldn't resist linking to this one about Animal WTF's. Pardon the acronym if you don't use it in your daily communications. I love the one about the Lobster Knife Fight, but the cat and watermelon are interesting enough.

If you're interested in keeping up with my journeys around the Internet, you can follow me on Delicious. I've recently started posting sites that I find interesting there. For years, I've used it merely as a way to synchronize bookmarks across multiple computers. It is a social bookmarking system though, so join me there and socially bookmark stuff.

If Galatians Were Published Today

I like humor. I came across a webpage a while back that I finally got around to reading. It deals with “If Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians was Published in Christianity Today.”

I think the editor’s note at the end is a little pointed, but other than that it’s amusing.