Laughter

Mar282019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

A Good Reason To Hit The Bottle

"Life" Issues, Abundance, autonomy, awareness, Challenge, Consumerism, critical judgment, culture, Economy, General Interest, humor, jokes, Laughter, life, Play, Poverty, Secularity, simplicity, temptation, Uncategorized

Admittedly, this is a seemingly trivial problem, as are all the related problems I discuss subsequently, but it drives me certifiably bat-shit crazy, notwithstanding. In fact, I am beginning to suspect that the following problems, though seemingly unrelated, are in fact constitutive of a profound and irremediable flaw in the deepest foundations, ideologically and psychologically, of knowledge-based late / 21st-century capitalist economies. OK … enough preamble … this is my problem … o You know those bottles of, e.g., hand soap and skin lotion you buy that have bottle caps that double as pump mechanisms? Initially, in their right-off-the-shelf condition, those bottles’ pump mechanisms are all locked down to prevent accidental or inadvertent pumping-out of the contents. Quite reasonab

Jan242019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

The Great Skeptics’ Baking Show

"Life" Issues, awareness, Change, Chefs, Cuisine, culture, Food, Gastronomy, Great British Baking Show, Hawaii, Hospitality, humor, jokes, Laughter, puns, Satire / parody, simplicity, Uncategorized

As a chef, I am a great garage mechanic. For two reasons ... First, I have a very simple palate: I am very much a meat-and-potatoes guy. When I find a very simple combination that I like, e.g., meat loaf and mac and cheese, I tend to stick with it. I am not prone to experimentation: if it ain't broke don't fix it. My palate is about as sophisticated as that of the android in the first Terminator movie … and about as ravenous. Secondly, I am clumsy in the kitchen in terms of handling pots, pans, dishes, knives, etc. … basically any cooking implement. I break stuff. Listening to me in the kitchen – spare yourself the sickening spectacle of actually watching – is much like I imagine hearing the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Except not as graceful. Nevertheless, my wife and I enjoy wa

Jan172019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

Coughin’ Your Way Into A Coffin During The Government Shutdown

"Life" Issues, activism, awareness, betrayal, Challenge, Change, citizenship, civics, community, Compassion, conflict, conservatism, critical judgment, culture, Current Events, Discernment, Economy, General Interest, Healthcare, humor, Laughter, Secularity, Uncategorized, Women

Several weeks ago, as this “Skeptic’s Column” column is written (14 Jan), I came down over the weekend with my usual annual case of the “cruds”: stuffy nose, scratchy throat, sinus drainage, etc., etc. No fever, but inside my head, I could hear the wheezing, especially as I lay in bed at night. It sounded like a gunny-sack filled with cats being tortured. (Apologies to cat lovers. I am one. But it sounded like it sounded. So sue me.) Worst of all, I could only log perhaps 2 hours sleep per night. The tortured-cat symphony kept me awake. So next morning, I hauled my sleep-deprived, zombie-ized, bleary-eyed, Walking Dead carcass into one of those walk-in clinics a couple miles from my house. (My wife drove the car. I did not trust myself.) The doctor on duty took my temp and