Special Darwin Central Mythbusters Segment

January 5th, 2010 Gumlegs

Here at Darwin Central, our interests are many and varied.  One of them is science in general, and a recent article attracted some attention here.  It seems that certain scientists are questioning whether the G-spot actually exists.  Our thread on the subject proved so popular, that the wonderful folks at Mythbusters took up the cause, and produced a special Darwin Centric segment.  We haven’t been able to link to the video (which is excellent, really), but we do have this story board:

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Fearless Predictions for 2010

December 29th, 2009 Gumlegs

January: In an effort to decide whether the House or Senate version of the health care bill will prevail, Harry Reid and Nancy Peolosi stage a nationally televised Hot Oil Wrestling Match, resulting in the first ever television show with a less than zero share. New York Times runs seven editorials excoriating Americans for lack of interest in national policy.

February: Steve Jobs announces that Apple will be entering the personal sex toy market with the iBod. In accordance with longstanding Apple design policy, the iBod will have no belly button. Andrew Breitbart posts a James O’Keefe video that appears to show ACORN employees instructing underage transsexual Croatian Separatist crack whores how to smuggle air-to-air missiles in their panty-hose as part of the glorious effort to destabilize the illegitimate usurpers in Bosnia-Hercegovina . Department of Homeland Security announces a Code Red Alert and bans all air travel except for those on the terrorist watch list. Flight Attendants Union goes on strike.

March: President Obama orders National Guard to perform flight attendant duty so that our foes will know we are better than they are. March comes in like a lamb, alarming global warming alarmists globally. An emergency UN meeting in Geneva results in a strongly worded statement threatening another meeting in six months if nothing is done. James O’Keefe, and Andrew Brietbart vanish. National Guard votes to join SEIU and goes on strike. Senator John F. Kerry opens direct negotiations with North Korea, noting American atrocities during the Korean War.

April: North Korean General Secretary Kim Jong-il is reported to be resting comfortably after a suicide attempt. The tax season prompts the President to demand three hours in prime time in an effort to generate more tax revenue. The number of television sets suddenly turning up in the nation’s garbage dumps is unprecedented, although network analysts agree that the President’s statement “It’s legal to send in more money than you owe” is, in fact, correct. President Obama issues an Executive Order increasing the top income tax rate to 75% on the richest ten percent, 65% on the richest fifty percent, and 55% on the richest ninety percent, prompting Representative Peter King to threaten to introduce articles of impeachment in the House. King is dissuaded by a gun-wielding Representative Alan Grayson who tells a Washington Post reporter, “The Republican plan is don’t pay any taxes.” The Post insists that four different cellphone videos posted on youtube of their reporter yelling, “Shoot him! Shoot the son-of-a-bitch!” were faked.

May: Dow Jones Industrial Average explodes. Literally. The May 1 Wall Street Journal print edition is a bag of confetti. In an effort to increase government revenue, President Obama takes five hours of prime time to plead with Nina Burleigh to appear on Pay Per View and make good on her offer to fellate ex-President Clinton. The Rasmussen tracking poll reveals that for the first time in history, sixty-five percent of American men have lost all interest in oral sex. A. C. Neilson reports an elevated number of death threats against its employees. James O’Keefe, and Andrew Brietbart go on trial in Iran and are immediately executed for homosexualty.

June: Warmer weather due to global warming threatens the nation, especially the elderly, women, and children. President Obama demands eight hours of prime time in an effort to pass the cap & trade legislation that was stalled between the House and Senate when the Congressional page conveying the bill never emerged from Congressman Frank’s residence. Network executives who protest that there aren’t eight hours of prime time are quietly replaced. ABC’s George Stephanopolos keeps a straight face when Congressman Frank asserts that he hasn’t been in his own residence in years. ACORN is absolved of all wrong-doing by a Congressional Committee, and begins reapportionment based on projected 2010 census results, even though census won’t be completed until December.

July: Intel Corporation announces a breakthrough in chip design, its first fifty terahertz processor. Congress mandates a BCS bowl system requiring each Division I team to play every other Division I team twice during the regular season, and each team finishing above .500 to take part in the national championship playoff. Every season will now take several years to play. No one notices a problem.

August: Seagate announces a breakthrough in hard disc technology, with the first 1PB drive. PETA sues Seagate for trademark infringement. US Congressional districts are reapportioned according to ACORN findings. In what is believed to be a first, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez nationalizes AmTrak, which has no known assets in Venezuela. In a surprisingly forceful act of retaliatory defiance, Congress renames the Hugo Awards. Jimmy Carter denounces American bullying, blaming “the Jewish lobby.”

September: Rail passengers agree that AmTrak service is suddenly much improved. Microsoft announces the latest version of Windows, “Vasta.” Minimum requirements are a sixty TF processor, and 50TB of RAM. Vasta will require about 99.9 TB of space on the hard disc. Microsoft boasts that their new, “Nontuitive” design will be much clumsier and less comprehensible than pervious versions. All functions, folders, and peripherals will be given new names so that, “novices will be at no disadvantage to people who have owned a computer before.”

October: Steve Jobs dies laughing. Emergency UN Global Warming Meeting convenes in Tahiti and issues a statement deploring lack of progress in shaking down the US enough to satisfy Robert Mugabe. Their sternly-worded statement unequivocally warns that if nothing happens soon, it will be November. Senator John F. Kerry opens direct talks with Russia, noting American atrocities during the Russo-Swedish War.

November: Confounding UN Climate Experts, the Northern Hemisphere is unexpectedly cooler than the average of the previous four months. US elections result in 435 House seats and 36 Senate seats won by Democrats. President Obama gets twelve hours of television time for his election eve address to the nation. For the first time, more Mexicans attempt to sneak into Cuba than the United States. Russia threatens war with the United States if Senator Kerry isn’t bludgeoned into silence.

December: President-For-Life Obama delivers 26-hour Prime Time Address on the remaining television channel, radio station, and pod cast. Russia declares war on America. America attempts to surrender to Monaco. UN, citing lack of Global Warming progress, cancels 2011, thereby averting an embarrassing catastrophe of unfulfilled warnings.

Original: http://forum.darwincentral.org/viewtopic.php?p=588150#p588150

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US Supports Muslim Demands for Anti-Blasphemy Laws

October 21st, 2009 Gumlegs

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
[Pretty color mine].

It’s hard to believe that a nation with the above material in its founding document is now supporting Muslim nations in their attempt to have the UN Human Rights Council recognize a blasphemy exception to freedom of speech. (We hereby duly note the contradiction in terms in ” UN Human Rights Council,” a body indiscriminately containing members from such paragons of liberty and human dignity as Cuba, Burkina Faso, China, and Saudia Arabia).

Nonetheless, if a column in the rabidly right-wing USA Today is to be believed, that is exactly what is happening.

“While attracting surprisingly little attention, the Obama administration supported the effort of largely Muslim nations in the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech for any “negative racial and religious stereotyping.” The exception was made as part of a resolution supporting free speech that passed this month, but it is the exception, not the rule that worries civil libertarians. Though the resolution was passed unanimously, European and developing countries made it clear that they remain at odds on the issue of protecting religions from criticism. It is viewed as a transparent bid to appeal to the “Muslim street” and our Arab allies, with the administration seeking greater coexistence through the curtailment of objectionable speech. Though it has no direct enforcement (and is weaker than earlier versions), it is still viewed as a victory for those who sought to juxtapose and balance the rights of speech and religion.”

This is to say, that the Obama Administration has either let its UN delegation go completely insane, or it supports an attempt to prevent people from characterizing radical Muslims as people who decapitate their enemies while those same radical Muslims threaten to decapitate anyone who so characterizes them.

Things could get tricky quickly. We know this is a wild speculation — things like this just don’t happen in the twenty-first century, but imagine an incident where Member In Good Standing of the United Nations Human Rights Council Saudi Arabia finds its religious police forcing schoolgirls back into a burning building because the girls in question failed to don their religiously required headscarves before fleeing the flames. This profoundly moving religious observance once resulted in the deaths of fifteen young Saudi females. One can recognize that we mere mortals cannot question the words of The Prophet (peace be upon him), but other questions arise. Would the simple act of reporting this outrage be enough to trigger a blasphemy complaint, or would the offense be in noting the derangement of mutaween who would rather girls be burnt to death than appear in public without their headscarves?

We ask this question with some trepidation — it could turn out to be blasphemous, and we don’t know whether the UN Human Rights Council’s ukases are retroactive. While we recognize the previously noted “weakness” of the resolution, like an infant, it will soon begin to cut teeth. The Obama Administration will no doubt be providing state of the art dentistry, perhaps as part of its Health Care initiative.

The Obama Administration should be clear about this. It might also consider providing a little more clarity in whether it considers criticism of itself to be blasphemy. Even if no one else will be affected, we, a couple of other websites, and Fox News are interested.

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And the Award for Best Obama Cover goes to …

October 17th, 2009 Gumlegs

Rolling-Stone-Obama-Magazine-Cover-Winner

Incredible as it may seem, the American Society of Magazine Editors, ASME, now has an award for the Best Obama Magazine Cover. It shouldn’t be interpreted as an award for the best happy-smiley coverage because the New York Times Magazine entry, as befits the nation’s most grimly self-important source of left-wing group-think, shows an unsmiling president, his head resting on his left thumb, behind the caption, “His Economy.” No doubt this headline will be subject to later revision. Indeed, we suspect it is the reason this cover did not win first prize. How the multiple layers of fact-checkers and editors at the Times managed to miss the obvious possibility of future embarrassment to the President may never be known.

The ASME site’s write-up of the May 3, 2009 Times Magazine cover merits mention:

This amazing portrait of President Obama is striking because it captures a deeply thoughtful and real expression. It is not a posed portrait done in the studio, but rather a very real and vivid portrait made during an actual exclusive interview in the Oval Office. Normally that would be considered the least appealing of situations to shoot a cover portrait, but in the incredibly skilled hands of Nadav Kander, it became an opportunity to reinvent and stretch what a cover portrait can be. It is both beautifully lit and well-crafted, as well as a documentation of an actual candid and revealing moment.

Even the most jaded reader must vicariously feel the tingle going up the legs of the editors as they first beheld this inspiring portrait of the object of their adoration. And bear in mind: this cover was only a runner-up! Those inclined to read the description of the winning entry are duly warned: “The Color Purple” is no longer just a title.

Could this be the first hint of a new trend in awards? Much fun has been made of President Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, but this sort of thing is self-limiting. In his first term, the president can win it, at most, four times.

We presume no rules change to allow more than one win annually, but on second thought, why rule out multiple Nobel Peace Prizes per year? The President may unexpectedly announce a new impulse or fancy, and these tremendous feats deserve recognition as they occur. Even we are compelled to acknowledge that no one in history has so boldly embraced the ideal of peace using exactly the words our beloved President has so movingly recited from his teleprompter.

So let us encourage the idea of awarding prizes in a new “Best Obama” category for all awards. This will insure that the wealth will be spread around, the President’s summum bonum … or so he says … and the ensuing laughter won’t be quite as distracting.

It’s easy to imagine a Pulitzer Prize for the “Best Obama Story of the Year,” but the competition will be heavy. Why stop there? “Best Coverage of the Obama Family” will allow newspaper style sections and women’s magazines to bask in the glow as well. A “Best Obama Pet Coverage” category will give publications like Dog Fancy, Dog World, and Dogs For Kids a chance for recognition and loot. We omit Dogs in Review, not because of their global perspective, a good thing, but because of the ugly possiblity inherent in their name — they might write a bad review. Upon proper assurance that their content will be safe for the first canine’s image we shall revise our thinking.

Some may object that the Pulitzer Prize is supposed to honor “excellence in journalism and the arts,” but this is petty. With a properly corrected definition of excellence, anything is award-worthy.

The Academy Awards are a natural area to award Obama-centric prizes. While an endless cycle of movies about Obama might prove so repellent to the general public that even Hollywood won’t produce them for long, perhaps something more subtle can be arranged. We suggest an Oscar category in the President’s honor, “Best Mis-Leading Actor.”

The folks at the Caldecott Medal and the Newberry Medal should take note as well. Given the general level of most of the Obama coverage, these awards are stunningly appropriate.

We feel compelled warn organizations that award anti-prizes (the Ig Nobel Prize, The Razzies, and the Bulwer-Lytton Awards, for instance, that their present status as beloved jesters will be destroyed if they attempt to create an Obama category. There are some subjects one simply cannot mock and still be considered worthy of NFL team ownership.

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Bliss Is At Hand

September 5th, 2009 Gumlegs

Bliss001

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Fred is Dead

August 3rd, 2009 midwifetoad

Rumors of an automotive snuff film have been circulating around the Net, and our resident Gumlegs has tracked them to the source. DarwinCentral brings you an Internet exclusive, the elusive true story, and the snuff film itself. Just remember, when the truth erupts, you’ll hear it here first.

Auto Snuff Film

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Observer Effect

July 26th, 2009 Gumlegs

Our favorite broadsheet newspaper here at Darwin Central is, of course, our own Galapagos Mirror Observer Effect (etc). A particularly popular feature, repeated in every anniversary edition, is the reprint section, consisting of nuggets gleaned from the paper’s voluminous archives. Fortunately for its readers, due to various mergers in the newspaper business, the Observer Effect (as we like to call it), publishes thirty-six anniversary editions a year, one for each of the papers that combined to form today’s mighty giant of the newsprint industry.

Please indulge us, as we publish a few of our favorites. Some of these have already been posted in the forum; others are shown here for the first time. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

 A quite recent article on the present Administration’s efforts to provide all goods and services to everyone was reprinted along with the more customary older items.  Perhaps the uncommonly interesting — and apt — name of the Third Deputy Assistant Under-Czar had something to do with its inclusion.

National Food Service 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vice President Biden always provides some fascinating column inches.  One of our friends at the paper calls the esteemed VP “The Cure for an Empty Page.”  Lately, Mr. Biden appears to have been re-reading some of the classics, in this case, George Orwell’s “1984.”  No doubt he’d tell us he loves reading history.  This story appeared in the DC Forum.

Down Is Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some problems remain constant and some stories seem to repeat themselves endlessly.  Here’s an example of a modern problem in antique dress, combined with one of those “Clever Hans” animal stories that seem to bubble up every few years.  The Forum also printed this one.

Dog Reads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re not certain about the source of this next clipping, but it may have come from the paper edited by Mr. Tintenflecker.  The great editor/publisher certainly seemed convinced that no chicanery is possible when it comes to official documents.  We rest easier at night knowing that faking the news has never been possible in our nation’s newsrooms.  This clipping appeared during a Forum discussion of Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.

Fake Impossible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next one appears to be a real antique.  We apologize for the phraseology and attitudes of the period, but the historical interest of the clipping far outweighs any other consideration.  We are happy to know that such vile behavior (including the attitude of the un-named reporter), never stains anyone in today’s Congress or media.  (The version that appeared in the DC Forum is a variant; perhaps from another edition of the same paper).

Democrats Amused

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we present this broadside from the Colonial period.  We do not know its exact date, and it does not appear to be part of an actual newspaper, but it is an interesting insight into its era, roughly the late eighteenth century.  A Forum poster placed it there not long ago.

Cap'n Trade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Finally, we feel we should show our readers the proud masthead of the paper that contained the above material.

Anniversary Edition

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From the Stacks: Science Odds ‘n Ends for Oct. 10

October 10th, 2008 Central Archivist

In the realm of natural pharmacopeia, German researchers claim St. John’s Wort is as effective as Prozac in treating depression.  This news must be a real downer for Eli Lilly…

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