Sunday, August 30, 2009

What are they watching...Episode I

The Clarion Content is inaugurating a new feature in the Pop Culture section this week called, "What are they watching?" The they in questions refers to the adults of the future, young folks, under seventeen. YouTube is the venue of choice, and we are relying on input from our public to generate this column. We hope to feature a new video weekly. And as always, we appreciate your feedback.


This week we bring you, "A Word with Nathan..." from DesandNate of Sandpoint, Idaho.

Is Oasis breaking up?

The BBC reports that Noel Gallagher has quit the Manchester U.K. rock band Oasis. Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have had a long history of feuding. According to the BBC, "The brothers have always had a fractious relationship, and a string of tours have fallen apart over the past 15 years." This is however, the first time either brother has officially quit the group.

Noel was quoted, "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan."

Oasis has reportedly sold over 50 million albums since 1993.

Bummer. Read the whole story here.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Australian Fossil Field



In the northern Australian state of Queensland, near the town of Eromanga, an area that once used to be a vast inland sea, is yielding a bumper crop fossils. According to the BBC, Australian scientists discovered a nearly complete fossil of a new species of dinosaur, a large plant-eating sauropod.

The scientists have nicknamed the fossil Zac. Zac, like other sauropods, had a very long neck, a small head and blunt teeth, and a long tail to counter-balance the weight of the neck. The remains are estimated to be 97 million years old. According to the Australian scientists the area, now a sheep farm, will yield many more fascinating fossil finds in the coming years.

Read more here.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Funny or Pathetic?

Ostensibly these are the winners of an International Pun Contest (unedited). They hold those? Really?


This man represents the average age of people who found these funny.

9. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The Stewardess
looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per
passenger.

8. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says,
‘Dam!’

7. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the
craft. Unsurprisingly, it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your
kayak and heat it, too.

6. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other
says, ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

4. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in
the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour,
the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. But why they asked, as they moved off. ‘Because,’ he said, ‘I can’t stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer.’

3. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named Ahmal. The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him Juan. Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, ‘They’re twins! If you’ve seen Juan, you’ve seen Ahmal.’

2. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened a
small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from
the men of god, a rival florist across town thought the competition was
unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to ‘persuade’ them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he’d be back if they didn’t close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

1. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which
produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little,
which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad
breath. This made him a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Oy vey!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Marines Ban Social Networking



The United States Marine Corps banned its members from using social networking websites while on military networks in an order issued earlier this month from Washington, D.C. The Marines are not the only organization to proceed down this path. The Miami Dolphins of the National Football League recently banned attendees of the team's practices from Twittering. Despite rumors to the contrary, the NFL is not preventing its athletes from Twittering. The Marine Corps ban while apparently draconian does not extend to members of the Corps whom are off-duty and/or on their own computers. Of course, this then brings into question the ultimate utility or futility of the order.

Read more here. And here.

Musical Communion

This one comes to us courtesy of our northern most New Jersey reader. As she so succinctly summed it up, Bobby McFerrin Hacks Your Brain with the Pentatonic Scale.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates...