Thanks for all those who wrote in to shout out their favorite entries this week -- I'm not surprised at all that so many different entries were someone or other's fave; the laugh factor can depend a lot on your personal experience. (And given that the Czar and I have already deemed them all worthy and ruled out all that weren't, I'm never bothered that someone's very favorite isn't the same as my very favorite.)
Many years ago, we did an experiment: We ran about 25 inking entries for a contest, but without singling out the top winners. Then we invited people to vote for their favorite entries (except that you couldn't vote for your own). Every entry except one got at least one first-place vote.
I vote for the Little Engine Who Never Stood a Chance. As a docent at the California State Railroad Museum, I know that steam locomotives like the Little Engine can do at most a 1.8 percent grade when pulling a load. No amount of “thinking” will get it up the 45+ degree hill that Watty Piper (pen name for Arnold Munk according to Wikipedia) and illustrators George and Doris Hauman have in the classic version.
Lynne Larkin, my experience with adrenaline differs from yours. An adrenaline rush locks up my cognitive functions. So, while my family and friends consider me to be a master of all manner of trivia, I would probably fail miserably as a Jeopardy contestant.
Interesting this business of analogue v digital clocks. A recent study found one in six participants had trouble reading an analogue timepiece. But, of course, the real value of same is not only as a tool to tell the time (and btw often far easier to adjust for required time changes), but in time planning, by communicating at a glance, not only time past, but remaining as well. The phenomenon of the inability to read an analogue clock --- at least quickly --- is similar to being able to read (and write) cursive which has value beyond simply putting words on paper and understanding them.
When I look at an analog clock, I can "see" how much time I have left. When I look at a digital clock, I have to "figure out" how much time I have left.
The primary face of my Apple Watch is analog because I liked the look of it (and every mechanical watch I've ever had has been analog) and because it allowed for the "complications" I wanted. But I added a digital face that I could quickly switch to whenever anyone asked for the time, my assumption being that they would want the exact time rather than "about quarter to three." The latest OS makes it harder to switch between faces, so I've been retraining myself to actually figure it out from the analog face, though I find the second hand a distraction, never having had one on a watch before.
I still have one analog clock within my vision when I'm sitting in my reading chair, and I find that I routinely clear away obstructions (it's on my desk, where things get piled up) so that I can see it despite the fact that I have the same thing on my wrist!
There was an episode of "Columbo" in the 1970s where Columbo asked a suspect why he had signed a visitor's log with such a specific time. The suspect then showed off his high-tech digital watch, which he described as "printing the time."
When cheap digital watches were first becoming popular, a friend and I noticed that people started to give the exact time. We wondered if there might be a market for watches that would display “about ten til two” or “almost half past five”.
Some years ago my daughter was doing an internship at Kew Gardens near London. She took a trip to Oxford one weekend and had trouble figuring out which way to walk to the university from the train station. I explained to her about how you can use your watch to figure out which way is south. Her reply was "two words: digital watch". I sent that to Weingarten during one of his weekly chats because of his love of analog watches and clocks and not long after grandpa and granddaughter had basically the same conversation in Weingarten's comic strip. I didn't get any credit for that. He said he didn't remember my comment.
the czar and empress never cease to amaze me. Last week, I thought I had several good grampa jokes and none of them made it. This week, I threw together a few haphazard entries that I didn’t think were all that great and two of them made it in.
Go figure.
I’ve given up trying to guess what you think is a good entries.
Did Judy Freed go to Cornell or Ithaca College? I actually ate at the Moosewood in Ithaca during a campus tour for my daughter but I was also a student myself at Cornell when it was brand new. My visit was made memorable by the server spilling hot coffee on a customer and offering to pay for dry cleaning.
I only have gotten to Ithaca once, and my single great goal was to eat at Moosewood, as I had all the cookbooks. Just couldn't get my compadres out of the door early enough, as it fills quickly, so I never got seated. Sigh.
Molly went to Cornell Veterinary School. So I was in Ithaca several times. Very cool little college town. I liked it. We ate at Moosewood at least once. I can't recall Molly's experience; I was unimpressed, I think.
I don’t think it is better than the winner, or the clever wordplay entries, but I laughed at Real Housewives of Lake Woebegone
Even better if they were all Garrison Keillor's ex wives.
I was thinking of picking that myself! I'm going to Strathmore next month to see Keillor.
Me too
so did I!
Thanks for all those who wrote in to shout out their favorite entries this week -- I'm not surprised at all that so many different entries were someone or other's fave; the laugh factor can depend a lot on your personal experience. (And given that the Czar and I have already deemed them all worthy and ruled out all that weren't, I'm never bothered that someone's very favorite isn't the same as my very favorite.)
Many years ago, we did an experiment: We ran about 25 inking entries for a contest, but without singling out the top winners. Then we invited people to vote for their favorite entries (except that you couldn't vote for your own). Every entry except one got at least one first-place vote.
At risk of brown nosing...I found this VERY funny "slimmer than Calista Flockhart after a crash diet."
I also like the pop-up version of Flatland.
I like that this contest prompted a variety of types of answers, all of which are great takes on the contest.
Stupid funny (The audiobook of The Least Frequently Mispronounced Words in the English Language, narrated by Fran Drescher).
Weirdly absurd funny (A book on the history of cheese, made entirely of cheese).
Almost plausible but really bad funny (Budweiser’s Wassup the Movie).
Wordplay funny (Citizen Kanye).
Of course the winner checks several boxes.
The winners are great, but I laughed out loud at the Least Frequently Mispronounced Words, and at "Laugh if you dare."
I vote for the Little Engine Who Never Stood a Chance. As a docent at the California State Railroad Museum, I know that steam locomotives like the Little Engine can do at most a 1.8 percent grade when pulling a load. No amount of “thinking” will get it up the 45+ degree hill that Watty Piper (pen name for Arnold Munk according to Wikipedia) and illustrators George and Doris Hauman have in the classic version.
I chose the winner as the best and cleverest, but I thought the third runner up was the funniest.
You are crude and vulgar. I like that in a man.
Being a hetero sexual man, I prefer it in a woman.
Lynne Larkin, my experience with adrenaline differs from yours. An adrenaline rush locks up my cognitive functions. So, while my family and friends consider me to be a master of all manner of trivia, I would probably fail miserably as a Jeopardy contestant.
Aw, that's a shame! That is really the overdose level, and yeah, hard to hit the perfect level. It gets worse the more you try, too, painful indeed.
Pop-up edition of Flatland. Literal LOL
Why not equip cars with driver’s-seat toilets, and drive pantsless?
A Canadian plumber was first off the seat (so to speak) with that idea:
https://laughingsquid.com/local-ontario-plumber-makes-a-big-splash-with-a-truck-decal-that-shows-him-sitting-on-a-toilet/
I saw a similar decal recently here in Maryland, USA.
An ad for the drug Entyvio has a scene where the driver's seat is a toilet seat:
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/be__/entyvio-reminders
Interesting this business of analogue v digital clocks. A recent study found one in six participants had trouble reading an analogue timepiece. But, of course, the real value of same is not only as a tool to tell the time (and btw often far easier to adjust for required time changes), but in time planning, by communicating at a glance, not only time past, but remaining as well. The phenomenon of the inability to read an analogue clock --- at least quickly --- is similar to being able to read (and write) cursive which has value beyond simply putting words on paper and understanding them.
When I look at an analog clock, I can "see" how much time I have left. When I look at a digital clock, I have to "figure out" how much time I have left.
Agreed. I have my Apple Watch set to analog bc I like to see “where I am” in time, not just what the time is this moment
The primary face of my Apple Watch is analog because I liked the look of it (and every mechanical watch I've ever had has been analog) and because it allowed for the "complications" I wanted. But I added a digital face that I could quickly switch to whenever anyone asked for the time, my assumption being that they would want the exact time rather than "about quarter to three." The latest OS makes it harder to switch between faces, so I've been retraining myself to actually figure it out from the analog face, though I find the second hand a distraction, never having had one on a watch before.
I still have one analog clock within my vision when I'm sitting in my reading chair, and I find that I routinely clear away obstructions (it's on my desk, where things get piled up) so that I can see it despite the fact that I have the same thing on my wrist!
I have eight analog clocks, all made before 1930, one as old as 1858. The only digitals are on computers and the microwave.
There was an episode of "Columbo" in the 1970s where Columbo asked a suspect why he had signed a visitor's log with such a specific time. The suspect then showed off his high-tech digital watch, which he described as "printing the time."
When cheap digital watches were first becoming popular, a friend and I noticed that people started to give the exact time. We wondered if there might be a market for watches that would display “about ten til two” or “almost half past five”.
Some years ago my daughter was doing an internship at Kew Gardens near London. She took a trip to Oxford one weekend and had trouble figuring out which way to walk to the university from the train station. I explained to her about how you can use your watch to figure out which way is south. Her reply was "two words: digital watch". I sent that to Weingarten during one of his weekly chats because of his love of analog watches and clocks and not long after grandpa and granddaughter had basically the same conversation in Weingarten's comic strip. I didn't get any credit for that. He said he didn't remember my comment.
the czar and empress never cease to amaze me. Last week, I thought I had several good grampa jokes and none of them made it. This week, I threw together a few haphazard entries that I didn’t think were all that great and two of them made it in.
Go figure.
I’ve given up trying to guess what you think is a good entries.
I think you'll find, as I do, adding a credit card number to your entries helps immeasurably.
I gave up years ago.
Let's hear your grandpa jokes.
Wait, is Suzanne Goldlust NOT here in the Pool?? Gosh darn, I have to get on her, she's REALLY a great Jeopardy! champ.
I’m here now! And thank you for the kind words.
Welcome!
I am guessing you are related to Ellen of the same surname.
They're sisters!
Did Judy Freed go to Cornell or Ithaca College? I actually ate at the Moosewood in Ithaca during a campus tour for my daughter but I was also a student myself at Cornell when it was brand new. My visit was made memorable by the server spilling hot coffee on a customer and offering to pay for dry cleaning.
HI Melissa, I went to SUNY Albany, but the Moosewood cookbook was a staple in most of my friends' kitchens.
Thought that might be. The food was excellent but I never bought the cookbook. My husband is the cook and he never uses cookbooks.
I only have gotten to Ithaca once, and my single great goal was to eat at Moosewood, as I had all the cookbooks. Just couldn't get my compadres out of the door early enough, as it fills quickly, so I never got seated. Sigh.
Molly went to Cornell Veterinary School. So I was in Ithaca several times. Very cool little college town. I liked it. We ate at Moosewood at least once. I can't recall Molly's experience; I was unimpressed, I think.
Honorable mentions that I think are better than several of the Winners:
The Koran: The Graphic Version. (Kevin Dopart, Washington, D.C.)
The Autobiography of ChatGPT. (Steve Smith)
Snot Our Business: Celebrating 100 Years of Kleenex. (Jonathan Jensen)
I’m giving it to “I am Curious (George)” and only partly bc I’ve made the same joke.