further proof that Christianity has no originality
Wow, that was probably a little bit unnecessary, Jesus. I’m sure Murdoch is thankful, though.
(via allisonweiss)
It’s an interesting article, but I’m fortunate to work in a building where two of the three elevators actually have a functioning door close button. It causes the door to close 3-5 seconds faster than if you just step in and wait. I’ve timed it. It really does work in a few elevators here and there.
Strangely enough, the door OPEN button never makes any difference, yet I still push it as if it will open in-between floors. Maybe it’s that claustrophobia kicking in….?
The vast majority of the time, the door-close button on elevators doesn’t do anything. This is the case for the elevators in our office building.
When they’re in the lobby, and someone pushes a floor button, the elevators wait for an extra 5 seconds before closing the doors. This is an optimization to accumulate additional passengers — when lots of people are coming in and out of the lobby all the time, you don’t want elevators going up with just one person in them.
Inevitably, people start getting impatient and hitting the door-close button after about 4 seconds. It doesn’t do anything, but the doors close a second or two later regardless, so people think they’ve affected the outcome, and they push the door-close button again the next time. If they push the button too soon, and the elevator waits a few more seconds before closing the doors, the people assume that it’s just being slow today or they didn’t hit the button hard enough.
They never consider the possibility that their action is not related to the result.
This is why superstition works. Animals learn it, too. “If I perform this action, I get this result.” It takes a more advanced or analytical mind to consider performing a test: “If I take no action, will I get this result anyway?”
I secretly think less of door-close people in the elevator.
The web page is like the venue - basic, plain. But the site is brand new and the venue is old. Denton, TX now has comedy, not counting the comedy defensive driving classes. Last Saturday night we saw several stand-up comedians. Some were newer, some were semi-pro. All caused at least one laugh. You should come next month! This might be big….
Or not…
I drive around for work every day. Minimum of four hours a day in a vehicle, not counting the commute. My need for aural stimulation is high, and there’s not much to be found on commercial radio except for one or two NPR programs. Thus, my great delight with podcasts. Each day I consume tech news, comedy and episodes of audio novels, preferably read by the author. Podiobooks has been a great source for novels, and I regularly search for updates from my favorite authors.
During my most recent search through Podiobooks I ran across some material from Greg Crites. His novel ‘Crusade’ was described thusly:
“A drug-fueled crusade by two deranged journalists assigned to look into the morass of organized religion. Cornholery, snake handlers, faith healers, serial killers, sarcasm, blasphemy-good, clean, American fun.”
And fun it is! I listened to a couple of chapters and then decided to save it for an upcoming trip to San Antonio. The book lasted all the way there and back! The characters are larger than life, and that is essential for the level of comedy and mayhem they perpetrate. But Crites keeps his novels lean. The descriptive prose is kept to a minimum, which is good because that’s the kind of stuff I tend to skim past when reading. This book is about 75% dialogue, 24% narrative and 1% descriptive text. Actually it might be more dialogue than that, but I’m not going to crunch the numbers at that level. The dialogue is where the comedy shines.
Others have compared his writing to Hunter S. Thompson. I would add a splash of Elmore Leonard to that as well.
Click the links, enjoy, thank me later.
Person Greg CritesRight click for SmartMenu shortcuts
While I am extremely impressed with how well product placement works, it is offset by my displeasure that Tom Cruise in Risky Business would boost sales more than the Blues Brothers. That product placement works in the first place proves that we’re a country full of sheep. That Risky Business creates more sales than the Blues Brothers proves we’re a country full of fucking morons.
Faring way
After Wayfarers’ heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, sales declined. Though Wayfarers were worn in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, only 18,000 pairs were sold in 1981, and Wayfarers were on the verge of discontinuation.
The sunglasses’ fate was reversed, however, when in 1982 Ray-Ban signed a $50,000-a-year deal with Unique Product Placement of Burbank, California, to put Ray-Bans into movies and television shows. (Between 1982 and 1987, Ray-Ban sunglasses appeared in over 60 movies and television shows per year; Ray-Ban’s product placement efforts have continued through 2007.) Tom Cruise’s wearing of Wayfarers in the 1983 movie Risky Business marked the beginning of a Wayfarers phenomenon; 360,000 pairs were sold that year. By 1986, after further appearances in Miami Vice and Moonlighting, sales had reached 1.5 million. Wayfarers rose to popularity among musicians, including Johnny Marr, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Elvis Costello, Morrissey, Patti Smith, and members of U2, and among other celebrities such as Jack Nicholson and even Anna Wintour.
via my flickr and wikipedia/Ray-Ban_Wayfarer
I should have listened to more of George while he was still with us. I’ll find a video I saw recently that impressed me and post it as well. This quote is classic Carlin.
George Carlin (via boringloser)
I work in and around law enforcement officials all day long. Now I’m wondering whether it’s safe to talk to them any more!
“Don’t Talk to the Police” by Professor James Duane