Looks like Dan Quayle was the proofreader in the "potatoe" department...

"'Tis women makes us love.
'Tis love that makes us sad.
'Tis sadness makes us drink.
And drinking makes us mad."

--- Old Renaissance drinking song

Hitler also thought that Mickey Mouse was somehow "impure" (and even went as far as linking little Mickey with Jews). I've worked with otherwise rational-sounding people who would go sermonize on the "evils" of snakes if the subject of snakes were brought up. For some reason they'd always work religion into their argument...

To which I say: Okay, from a Judeo/Christian/Muslim religious standpoint, then. Who has the power to create life? God. Does Satan have this creative power? Nope. Ergo, snakes (and mice, too) are all God's creatures, according to the dictates of their own adopted religion.

And if they go on about how snakes and mice might be demons in disguise --- then why do they generally avoid us? Looks to me like mice simply enjoy the same foods we eat. (So do pigs, which in a land where resources are scarce may have given rise to the kosher/halal laws proscribing pork.)

If there is a mouse problem in your house, folks, try not to leave crumbs lying around. A little box of D-Con will take care of the stubborn ones. There's no need to issue a fatwah here.

Hey! My business partner and I designed & produced an Obama T-shirt titled "A New Hope." Two different images of Obama as a lightsaber-wielding Jedi knight. It's available at our store, Thompson Street Comics, at 215 Thompson Street in Greenwich Village, NYC.
http://www.nickandprestons.com

Ah! I've been mildly curious about those things since I saw the one Gromit was carefully tending in "Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit."

The "heavy loam" setting on the car's wiper controls still cracks me up.

Whee! You must be at least this infinitessimally small to ride this ride...

Re: Horhay and Horgay (obviously a "flame name," that latter one)...

There may or may not be other spatial dimensions in addition to the three we can perceive. This is something physics has explored for a very long time, and the existence of additional dimensions would explain some of the more puzzling aspects of quantum physics and String Theory, as well as others.

Before quantum physics came along, three dimensions of space were all that was known to exist. Einstein's equations, which often dealt with gravitational or relativistic distortions in both space AND time, show that (mathematically at least) time can be factored into such equations as if it were another dimension of space. This does not mean that time is made of matter as we understand it --- but it turns out that a powerful, space-bending gravitational field also "bends" time. Later, quantum physics treated time as if it could be pared down into quanta, and the term "tachyon," popularized in time-travel episodes of "Star Trek: TNG," was coined.

So, while there may also be a 4th spatial dimension, we tend to regard time as a 4th dimension too.

It's also been proposed that time itself may have more than one "dimension" to it.

I've often pointed out that the "Quiksilver" logo (from the eponymous line of athletic apparel) is a simplified abstraction of this print. Unfortunately, I have yet to find myself in a situation where a copy of this picture and a "Quiksilver" shirt are in the same room together for immediate comparison.

Wow... I like how the little spots on the wall behind the young lady make it look like she's reacting to the exhibit in some cartoon fashion. Is it making her feel sick..?

Nearly 1,000 pounds? People who weigh half that usually are almost unable to roll over without help, let alone stand and walk. How did she manage to fall down? For that matter, how is she able to breathe?

#1 - Hot Water Freezes Faster...
Paragraph 5 - "convention" probably should be "convection." (Unless "convention" has acquired a scientific definition of which I'm unaware, which is possible...)

His investigation into the origins of the word "nerd" is pretty exhaustive, but hardly conclusive. Dr. Seuss loved to invent words based on their sounds, much as Lewis Carroll did, and there's no indication that Seuss' "nerd" had any "nerdly" characteristics. Seuss may have been the first to put this made-up word into print, but the connection between his nerd and the now-common definition is looser than, say, the connection between James Joyce's "quarks" (for Mr. Marks) and the sub-atomic particle. (At least the scientist who named it gave credit where it's due. But Mr. Joyce knew nothing of particle physics.)

My own theory on the origin of "nerd" as synonym for "brainiac" came to me as I looked for a street sign in an unfamiliar town and spotted a "Brainerd Street." Apparently, "Brainerd" is a last name, albeit one I'd never encountered. Was it more well-known in a previous generation? Could it be that a high school brainiac with the last name of "Brainerd" had his name shortened to "Nerd" by the jock who forced him to do his homework for him? As a sort-of nerd myself, and one with a name almost unknown in the USA (but very common in and around the Czech Republic), I've found that loud-mouthed bullies do have a tendency to ridicule their victims' names, shorten them and such. Perhaps turning half of the poor Brainerd kid's last name into a label for all such "nerds" was this jock's sole creative effort in his otherwise empty life.

Re: bean (#2) If that is the law, then it needs to be amended to protect victims' rights. It sounds to me like the woman did an excellent job of remaining level-headed in a situation that could easily have ended in bloodshed. Her house was being robbed, and the burglar very likely would have fled or even attacked her had she not pulled her gun on him. Yes, she got the upper hand on him, and he may have been unarmed. But it was her house, he was robbing it, and she should have the right to defend herself and her property, even if it means carrying out a citizen's arrest. By holding him there at gunpoint, she ensured her own safety and made the cops' job all that much easier.

Water has a flavor and an odor all its own, even if it's pure H2O. Most humans don't notice it, but it's there. Dogs can smell it from miles away, as anyone with Labrador retrievers knows. I myself can home in on water sources in unfamiliar buildings by smell alone. If I locate a drinking fountain instead of the bathroom, it's only because it's another water outlet.

I believe I only ate cafeteria food once, and then only because a friend didn't want to eat it. It was a slice of "pizza" (note quotation marks) with the most cardboard-y taste... From the first day of first grade to the last day of high school, I always brought lunch from home and never bought any cafeteria food. Admittedly, for most of elementary school I was curious, but that taste of what was mistakenly labeled "pizza" disabused me of any delusions I might have had about it.

The yellow ooze that is identified as "cheese" in the pictures is actually not. As a cheese connoisseur, I can assure you of this.

I teach nowadays, and have noticed that some school cafeterias are getting rather fancy and a few are even putting veggies on students' trays. Unfortunately, when serving cafeteria duty, I see a lot of food (including entire servings of fruit and veggies) wind up in the trash cans. While many people in the USA could certainly stand to eat less, it doesn't help if they're throwing away the food that's actually good for them.

There's also just a lot of general ignorance about what food is and where it comes from. When I was in college, I would collect my lunch at the cafeteria and take it to my dorm room, so I could bring some with me to my next class and save the rest for later. Some guys thought this was funny (I guess their habit was to cut class for lunch) and of course had to investigate the contents of my tray. They were astounded to see nothing on it that they would eat. "Where's the meat?" they'd say. "I'm vegetarian," I'd foolishly answer. (I have an enzyme deficiency and can't digest meat.) "So, like, you eat only chicken?" they'd say, looking for the nuggets that they thought were chicken and finding none. "No; chicken is meat, therefore I can't eat it." They freaked out and insisted that chicken is not meat. I found this a profoundly idiotic claim, but still respected the intelligence I assumed they might have. So I decided to let them puzzle it out. "Think about it, guys," I said. "What is 'chicken' made from?" "Uh, it's just chicken," they said. "Whick comes from..?" "Well, they just MAKE it. At KFC!"

These promising young college men honestly thought chicken was a man-made food created at Kentucky Fried Chicken stands. Very "Eraserhead." It grossed them out when I explained that chickens are a kind of bird. I should have told them it was made from people or something.

I did not know about the breast-enlarging creams (although I'm not surprised, given the obsession in the USA) --- but I don't get out much.

The buttock-enlarging cream plays on the same sort of obsession, of course. If one reads an unexpurgated copy of Arabian Nights stories, there are lengthy descriptions of the enormous & well-rounded bum-cakes of attractive characters, both female and male.

As for the cheesesteak... I'm vegetarian for medical reasons, so I wouldn't really know good from bad. But one commentator (on the site, not on Neatorama) correctly pointed out that the best name for the cheesesteak pictured would be "haram." Translated as "forbidden," it's basically the same as "trayf" or "not kosher," and for the same reason: it combines meat & dairy in the same meal. (Of course, the commentator may also have been remarking on its unappetizing appearance. I'm not sure.) In my college days, I assisted a LOT of Somalian students with their English, and quite a few of them "discovered" the Philly cheesesteak experience and loved it! I guess they weren't very observant of the "halal" (kosher) laws, or simply hadn't been told. They all drew the line at eating pork, though.