humor

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The Dancing Plague of 1518

Perhaps the very first authentic rave, the Dancing Plague of 1518 is one of the most bizarre incidents you'll ever read about. It all started, well, back in the summer of 1518 in Strasbourg, France. Now, I know what you're thinking: This sounds like a post you'd read over on The Onion. But verily I say unto thee, the Dancing Plague happened—though no one is exactly sure why... Boogie Fever Frau Troffea is said to have been the first person afflicted by the disease as she began to dance maniacally in... READ ON

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Even More Fun Finds from the 99¢ Store

Welcome back to another installment! As you loyal readers know, each year I make a trip to the 99¢ store and bring my camera to bring you the best/funniest finds from my pilgrimage. I broke with tradition this year and ventured off to a new store near me with a typo in its name! Yes, folks, welcome to the 99 Cent Store! How perfect is... READ ON

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The Apple Store: a place you can bring your goat

We've all seen the videos of people dancing in the Apple store. But what else can one get away with? Comedian Mark Malkoff—the guy who lived in IKEA, remember?—explores the realm of possibilities... How about you all? What have you done or seen that rivals Mark's date/goat/pizza???? Let us know in the comments... READ ON

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The Post-it® Ghost

Ready to be creeped out at work? Read The Housemate, or as it's affectionately known online, "The Post-it® Ghost." Without giving too much away, it's the thrilling story of one man's encounter with anonymous Post-it® notes appearing throughout his house. Who wrote them? Why were they there? Here are a few of the... READ ON

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Fred Armisen's Touching, Funny Graduation Speech

About a week ago, Saturday Night Live and Portlandia star Fred Armisen gave the commencement address at Oregon Episcopal High School. You might think it would be just a pure joke-fest, but no -- this is a sincere, personal, thoughtful speech...with some jokes. Interestingly, Armisen discusses how something that seemed like a great failure to him at the time -- not going to NYC's film school -- ended up working out very well for him. I find this interesting because I also failed to go to NYC film... READ ON

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BlöödHag: Seattle's Edu-Core Death Metal Library Rockers

BlöödHag is a death metal band from Seattle who perform, among other places, in libraries. Their songs are "Edu-Core," and focus on science fiction authors and literacy -- check out some lyrics here. In fact, what the heck, I'll just quote their classic "Robert A. Heinlein" in its entirety: Robert A. Heinlein Grok this! Robert A. Heinlein, here's a dis You're a misogynist. Known as the fascist of the Best Seller list As you died in pain. You still had to persist And make sure everybody knew... READ ON

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Kurt Vonnegut's Story Diagrams

In this four-minute video clip, the late author Kurt Vonnegut shows us his "story shapes" -- simple graphs of plots along two axes. I'll tell you the labels for the Y axis: it runs from G (Good Fortune) to I (Ill Fortune). That's about all I can say without ruining this whole. Sample quote regarding one of the most popular plot diagrams: "The whole thing, we call this story 'Man in Hole,' but it needn't be about a man, and it needn't be about somebody getting into a hole. ... People love this story!"... READ ON

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Han Solo + Princess Leia = Worst Couple in the Universe

In this nerdy three-minute Star Wars mashup, footage from Star Wars is mixed with audio from a film called "Who's Right?" which in turn is based on a 1948 book entitled Marriage for Moderns by Henry A. Bowman. Here we reimagine Han and Leia's relationship as a 50's-era couple named Honey and Frank Carson. You'll be moderately surprised by the "solution" to their marital problems revealed at the end of the video. The original Who's Right? video is after the... READ ON

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The Best Dinosaur

In this five-minute standup clip, comedian Dan Telfer displays an almost disturbingly complete knowledge of dinosaurs, as he challenges his audience to figure out what is the best dinosaur. Spoiler alert: it's not Velociraptor. The language is NSFW, so use headphones. But if you work where I work, this is what's going on your internal chat page right now. Sample line: "T. rex? I get it buddy, but I want you to really, really thoroughly image-map that dinosaur in your brain and imagine it trying to... READ ON

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Mr. T as the Meta-rebel

The folks over at at Overthinking It came up with an idea for a new political party: The Mr. T Party. But, as with all parties, there is some disagreement about the nature of the party itself, its intentions, and even its ideals -- although there is the central rallying figure of Mr. T (who is completely unaffiliated with his eponymous Party). In this ten-minute slide show, Overthinkers lay out the philosophical bedrock of the Party. They start with quotes from Vergil's Aeneid alongside Clubber Lang... READ ON