Category: Funny Stuff

Stuff to make you laugh…

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WTH MSFT?

I downloaded the Windows Live Essentials beta the other day, because I wanted to take a look at the Windows Live Photo Gallery software, which is, by all accounts, a great piece of software.

Like a lot of installers, the Windows Live Essentials software wants you to shut down other programs whilst it installs. Unlike other software, however, the list of “open programs” that the installer wanted to shut down was pretty ridiculous:

msft_wtf_web
(click to enlarge)

Man, I get that this is beta software and everything… but shutting down the DHCP client and Print Spooler? The Workstation service? Really?

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Meet George P. Burdell!

Back in 1927, a man named William Edgar “Ed” Smith applied for admission to Georgia Tech. He soon received a letter in the mail telling him that he had been accepted into the school, and that he would be receiving an enrollment form in the mail. A few weeks passed, and Smith got that form in the mail. Actually, he received two of them.

He dutifully filled out the first with his own information, then pondered what to do with the second. He finally decided to pull a prank on his Academy of Richmond County principal, a UGA alum and staunch Bulldog supporter named George P. Butler, by enrolling him in the school. But Smith lost his nerve by the time he’d written “George P. B” on the form, so instead of completing “Butler”, he wrote “Burdell”, his best friend’s mother’s maiden name.

The prank would have been lame had it ended there. But it didn’t.

Once Smith got to Tech, he enrolled Burdell in all the same classes as himself. For the next three years, Smith did all his work twice, once under his own name, and again under Burdell’s name. Every homework assignment, every class project, every report, every paper, every quiz, every exam… everything. He would simply alter his handwriting and some of his answers and turn it in again under Burdell’s name. Smith was so dedicated to the prank that in 1930 “George P. Burdell” was awarded a bachelor of science degree from the school.

Continue reading “Meet George P. Burdell!”

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My Own Comic Book Guy

I didn’t like Mission of Burma, and so was unworthy.

Jeff Albertson – “Comic Book Guy” – is one of the most beloved minor characters on The Simpsons. I think it’s because so many of us have known a “Comic Book Guy” in real life: a socially-awkward comic book or record shop owner who lords over his store as if it was his own little kingdom. While they might have incredible knowledge of the most obscure comics or musical genres, they are loathe to share their knowledge with anyone, and often answer honest questions with a roll of the eyes and a sarcastic rejoinder.

Comic Book Guy
“Worst… post… ever.”

I had a Comic Book Guy of my own. I think his name was Harry, but I never bothered to learn his name, because to me he was always just “the asshole at Wax N’ Facts”.

Wax N’ Facts is a record shop in the Little Five Points (L5P) neighborhood of Atlanta. Back in the 80s, L5P was the place for hipsters to hang out. Travel guides called the neighborhood “Bohemian” or “funky”, and Wax N’ Facts was where we all bought our music.

My troubles with the Wax N’ Facts Comic Book Guy (WNFCBG) started the day after I got my first car. I got the car in the late evening, and drove it to school for the first time the next morning. I went home and did my homework after school, then decided to drive to L5P… just because I could. And, of course, I went to Wax N’ Facts to see what was new. I saw a couple of records I was mildly interested in, but what really caught my eye was a Dead Can Dance t-shirt (they weren’t common back in the day). Since this was the 80s and teenagers didn’t really have credit cards back then, I decided to return a few days later, after payday, to get the shirt.

Continue reading “My Own Comic Book Guy”

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Poor Bobby!

Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox has been in baseball for almost 50 years. As you may know, Cox is planning to retire after this season, so senators Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia thought it would be nice to hold a party for him. Imagine their surprise when the caterer showed up with this:

Bobby Cocks

“Bobby Cocks”. Good job, folks!

Ya know, I can understand Shaquanda at Food Lion just not giving a damn, but you’d think that a professional caterer or independent baker would take thirty freakin’ seconds to verify the name of a guy who’s been in baseball since 1968, won the World Series, led his team to an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles, been NL Manager of the Year three times, and holds the dubious MLB record of having been thrown out of 154 games.

Isakson’s staffers noted the error immediately, but there was not time for the cake to be “professionally” fixed. So one deft staffer cut slices out of the bottom row of the cake and deftly smeared the icing. Apparently Cox didn’t find out about it until yesterday, when the AJC ran an article about it.

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FRIDAY FUN: A Weird Picture

I download a lot of video off the Internet. Once I watch a video, I move it to a “burn folder”. Once that folder hits the 40GB range, I burn the videos to data DVDs. I also have three large binders for storing discs: one for software, and two for the three types of video I download (“American TV”, “British TV”, “Movies”).

Over time, the binders had become a big mess, and I’d taken to storing newly burned DVDs in empty spindles… which made finding a particular disc difficult. So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to get rid of 90% of the discs in the “Software” binder (who needs Outlook 98 or Cinemania 97 these days?) and use that binder for movies. So, in a nutshell, I had a giant pile of 600+ DVDs on the floor of my office, which I sorted into one of three binders.

In that huge pile of discs, I found an old DVD containing 3.85GB of old pictures I’d downloaded off the Internet. A friend recently asked me about an old picture I might have had – a copy of our high school principal’s mugshot. I put the disc in the drive and started looking. I haven’t found the mugshot yet, but I did find this:

Funny Transimullet
(click to embiggen)

Something about this picture cracks me up every single time I see it. I mean, I know that sexual… “perversions” (for lack of a better word) transcend all races, cultures, genders and social classes… but this picture of a mullethead in a nightie cracks me up every time I see it. I don’t know why, but it’s just comedy unobtainium to me!

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Don’t Copy That Floppy!

Here’s the classic anti-piracy video Don’t Copy That Floppy, complete with awful 1992-era computer graphics and the cheesy Old School rap of “MC Double Def DP” (who appears to be blissfully unaware of the double entendre that “DP” would obtain in the Internet generation):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOBroA2NPNY

I’ve seen this a hundred times in my day, and I still laugh out loud every time I see it. Sure, you can make fun of the old computers and cheesy effects and music… but what really makes me giggle is how hard the producers are trying to be “hip”, even though this style of rap went out of fashion in 1985… that, and how silly “copyright protection” comes across in a public service announcement. Sure, we get “don’t beat your kids” or “stay off of drugs”, but “respect the intellectual property rights of copyright holder, yo!” just makes me giggle!

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First News Dump of 2010

– A South Dakota woman named Marguerite Engle tried to break the US intoxication record by passing out in her truck with a blood alcohol content of .708, which is nine times the .08 limit to operate a motor vehicle in most states. Hell, .50 is fatal for most people… but not Marguerite! And lest you think there was some kind of error with the Breathalyzer machine, the cops took a blood sample from her once they got those crazy readings, and the lab confirmed the .708 reading. Marguerite just barely missed the record – .720 – set by a woman in Oregon in 2008. Read more about it here.

– It might seem like a basically harmless prank, but the latest food trend sweeping the nation might actually be a serious felony. It seems that pranksters are adding copious amounts of baking soda to half empty ketchup bottles in restaurants, causing the condiment to explode on the next hapless diner who opens the bottle. Although no one has been injured (aside from ruined clothing), tampering with foodstuffs is a felony offense in many states. So think long and hard before pulling this prank yourself!

– The year 2009 might be remembered for many things, but it will also go down as the first year video games outsold movies in the UK. According to the latest figures, British consumers spent $2.8 billion on video games and $1.93 billion on movies (which includes all DVD\Blu-Ray sales and box office receipts).

– Have you ever seen outrageously mispriced items on Amazon and wondered what it would be like to actually order them? Brian Klug has, and when he spotted the copy of the Discovery Channel’s ‘Cells’ CD-ROM for sale at the low-low price of $2,904,980,000, he decided to order just for kicks. Amazon has already charged his credit card for shipping, but not for the CD-ROM disc itself, which is not sold by Amazon but rather a reseller, suburbanbooks. This article has the lowdown on the story, complete with humorous exchanges from Reddit.

– Google’s Street View cameras catch everything… even a man picking up hookers!