Scribal Terror

Dogness

The essence thereof.

Holy Bouncing Fallacies

Argumentative fallacies have an unfortunate tendency to rebound on the person who employs them, and the fallacy that rebounds the most energetically and does the most damage in the process is the Straw Man.

The Straw Man fallacy gets its name from the dummies used as targets in combat training. Obviously, bayonetting a straw man is easier than bayonetting a real one, who might object to the procedure and fight back. In argument, it is easier to make up a silly or inadequate argument to rebut rather than to rebut the actual argument of one's opponent.

The problem with misrepresenting an opponent's argument is that the opponent knows what his argument was and can easily cry foul. People will think you're either a cheat--and a poor cheat at that--or simpy an idiot.

I make this point because the Straw Man fallacy has become one of the favorite tactics of many online debaters. As a result, people argue past rather than with one another, and that is one of the real intellectual tragedies of our polity.

"Glorious Fuckheaded Stupidity"

A consummation devoutly to be wished.

We Can Learn from Each Other! A Sign of Hope in a Troubled Age?

Ananova reports:

An Indian yoga teacher is hoping to get in the record books by swallowing fish and blowing them out of his nose.

G P Vijaya Kumar swallowed 509 small fish through his mouth and blew them out of his nose within one hour, reports The Asian Age.

He was inspired by American Kevin Cole who holds the record for the longest spaghetti strand blown out of a nostril in a single blow.

Mr Kumar, of Gunduppalavadi in Tamil Nadu, started experimenting with live fish after successfully ejecting peas and corn through his nose.

He said: "This is a kriya (method) in yoga where the nostrils are purified by swallowing fishes and bringing them out of the nose.

"I swallow the fish and take deep breaths to guide it through my nose. There are times the fish might glide back to the mouth, but by inhaling hard it can be brought up quickly."

They Were on a Roll

Can you be arrested for drunk driving when you are not behind the wheel of a car and the engine isn't running? Apparently this is not a trick question in Indiana.

Scott P Says Pony Up

SOMEBODY BETTER SEND ME A DAMN PICTURE OF THEM EATING ONE OF THOSE DISGUSTING WHITE CASTLE FRENCH BURGER PIECES OF SHIT OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!!!!!

BEWARE THE HYPOCRISY OF BETRAYAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend,

sp

p.s.  I really hate that JWebb guy...  ;©)

In All Seriousness, Do Not Be High When You Watch This

You can watch this. . . thing . . . SAFELY . . . at Diana's, but only if you're straight. Real straight. Otherwise, you will never be able to stop. The question is, has it got the Kenya song beat?

Bass Pro Shops, Springfield MO

That's the Scribal Spouse in the orange hat, and this is his Mecca.

The Bonnacon (c. 1200)

"In Asia an animal is found which men call bonnacon. It has the head of a bull, and thereafter its whole body is of the size of a bull's with the maned neck of a horse. Its horns are convoluted, curling back on themselves in such a way that if anyone comes up against it, he is not harmed. But the protection which its forehead denies this monster is furnished by its bowels. For when it turns to flee, it discharges fumes from the excrement of its belly over a distance of three acres, the heat of which sets fire to anything it touches. In this way, it drives off its pursuers with its harmful excrement."

Text from the Aberdeen BestiaryImage from the Medieval Bestiary.

Jake's Take: Breakfast at IHOP by Jake Holmes

I had a craving for pancakes this morning. Pancakes slathered in butter and dripping with boysenberry syrup, surrounded by plump, juicy sausages along with a nice steaming hot cup o’ non-designer Joe; black, like my heart. So of course I jumped in my Cherokee and headed for IHOP.

Eventually I got my pancakes just the way I like ‘em but before I did I had to sit and listen to the following exchange between the President of the Senile Breakfast Club and the young waiter trying to get everyone’s order down as quickly as possible. The point of this piece is to illustrate once again why I do not like being around other people , most especially OLD people.

[dialogue between a young waiter and the silver haired human model for the Foghorn Leghorn cartoon character on WB, dressed in white with the belly supported by white suspenders with the slow southern drawl and all..]

Waiter: Good morning sir.  Are you ready to order ?

Foghorn:  ..... Ahhhhemm... Hockeypucks..

Waiter:   ????

Foghorn:   ......

Waiter:   “Hockeypucks” ?

Foghorn:  ....Yes. Are you familiar with ‘Hockypucks’ ?   

Waiter:   [looking genuinely confused at this point]

Old voice from the back of the room: [in a whisper]  Psst... He means sausage.

Waiter:   Oh! Sausage ! Yes, we have sausage. Is that what you’d like ?

Foghorn: Not just any sausage. None of that turkey stuff for me.. This would have to be beef sausage in a round patty cooked well done so it looks like a hockeypuck. 2 patties.

Waiter:   Yes, we can do that. ....

Foghorn:   

Waiter:   Will that be all then ?

Foghorn:   Biscuit

Waiter:   You want a biscuits too?

Foghorn: Biscuit... One..Lightly toasted.. Not too brown.. You break it in half horizontally with a fork, then lay one hockypuck on each half. Butter served on the side.

Waiter: OK, I have one biscuit and two sausage patties; will that be all?

Foghorn:  Gravy.. Milk gravy with sausage bits in it. You put a good scoop of warm sausage gravy on top of everything and serve it.

Waiter:   OK, so you’d like Sausage and Gravy with one biscuit and two sausage patties, covered in gravy. That will be...........

Foghorn: For all of that, the cost is merely one dollar and fifty cents. You’ll find that your company is running it as a senior special through the month of July

Waiter: Oh..Oh..ok..... One senior biscuits and gravy.. Thanks. Ill be right back with that...

The dialogue above took longer to hear than it took me to order my pancakes, get them cooked and eat them all. Sausages included. I tossed the poor kid an extra dollar on my tip because I didnt think the quarter he got from the old codger was going to cover the time lost listening to him.

[Editorial note: Yay! I thought this feature was never coming back!]