27 Jun 2006
Ponderables ...

  • If you take an Asian person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
  • If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes?
  • When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
  • Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
  • Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
  • If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?
  • Why isn't 11 pronounced onety one?
  • Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
  • Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
  • If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
  • Why do women wear evening gowns to nightclubs?
    • Shouldn't they be wearing night gowns?
  • If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
  • When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts," and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
  • Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
  • Why do croutons come in airtight packages?
  • If you mixed vodka with orange juice and milk of magnesia, would you get a Philips Screwdriver?
  • Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a "whack"?
  • If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?
  • Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?

21:38 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

'Involuntary smoking' never safe

Although I could dispute the "science" used by our esteemed Surgeon General, that's not what I want to comment on here: it's our seeming obsession with safety at any cost, and where it will eventually lead us ...

Riding a bicycle on a public highway is never perfectly safe. Neither is swimming, boating, or even hiking. Having a baby certainly isn't safe, and we all know the nasty diseases that sex (even the "protected" variety) can spread. And I must admit to giggling when I hear LA described as a "smoke free city" - take a look at that brown haze over the valley 24/7 and tell me again what "smoke free" means...

Will we eventually ban skydiving in the name of "safety"? Motorcycles? Mountaineering? Breathing? (Think of the germs spread through human breath itself, sans smoke!)

It goes well beyond our current fixation on tobacco - that's just an obvious symptom. Have you seen the kids these days riding bikes, all dressed out with more protective gear than a pro football lineman? By the gods, without it, they wouldn't be safe! They might even [gasp!] skin a knee!

No human activity is ever safe - nor should we desire absolute safety. What's at risk here is our very humanity itself: the life of every creature in nature demands risk. Only zoo animals are kept safe, and they're all behind bars. Is that really where we want to go?

Separate smoking sections don't cut it: Only smoke-free buildings and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of breathing in other people's tobacco smoke, says a long-awaited surgeon general's report.

(link) [CNN.com]

14:04 /Politics | 2 comments | permanent link

Supreme Court to Rule on 'Obvious' Patents

It should be obvious to regular readers where I stand on this one ... but maybe I should take out a patent just in case it's not!

The US Supreme Court will take up KSR v. Teleflex, a patent case in which the defense is arguing the patent is obvious and should be thrown out. The case hinges on a 1952 provision of patent law. Interestingly, several major IT firms are supporting the defense.

(link) [Slashdot]

13:34 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link