First of all, I’m a dummy and forgot to remind you all to purchase your tickets for the 18th First Annual Ig Nobel! It’s happening next Thursday and is sure to sell out, so go. GO! Wendy and I will be there, and if enough of you are in the area, we can hit the bars afterward. Please post below if you’re interested.
Okay, this week’s Comment o’ the Week was a hard-fought battle (unbeknownst to the actual participants until this very moment). There were three final contenders, all of whom will get props here but only ONE of whom will be declared the Official COTW Contessa. Don’t worry, fellas, if a man wins the title shall officially become the Official COTW Contessa Who is in Fact Male. Or OCOTWCWIIFM for short.
The first contender was Danarra, who composed a very thoughtful and concise response to an Afternoon Inquisition.
Danarra
// Sep 22, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Mom was mentally ill – but most of the time it was subtle and I grew up not knowing for sure what exactly was “off†there. Add that to my basically gullible nature and I find myself lost in a world of shifting perceptions, accepting the most recent thing I’ve heard as gospel – Bigfoot is living in nests in West Virginia, Jesus imprints his image on toast, and ghosts look a lot like bugs on security cameras.
The Skeptic movement gives me a tool for sifting through the environmental crazy, as well as my own slight madness, and find the hard outlines of reality.
Of course, the COTW has traditionally skewed toward the funny, so unfortunately this great comment has to settle for honorable mention.
Next up is this comment from phlebas:
phlebas
// Sep 24, 2008 at 11:49 am
I’m actually on board the Candy Corn Love Train. I don’t know why — they taste like raw sugar and have the consistency of dry pudding skin. But I could eat them with a ladle.
For truly evil food, you have to turn to spring and the Marshmallow Peep. This is another infraction against humanity I drop at the feet of the Christians and their Easter. (Next time I see my fundy brother, I must remember to say “If Peeps are the price we pay for the resurrection, Jesus should have stayed dead.â€)
I love my football, despite the LSU game last weekend. But besides that, fall is pretty sucktacular.
Reasons why this would be a winner: “on board the Candy Corn Love Train,” which should be on a t-shirt, and “If Peeps are the price we pay for the resurrection, Jesus should have stayed dead,” which, um, should also be on a t-shirt. Reasons why this is not a winner: phlebas was nominated by his wife. Who is a Skepchick writer. How would that look? We have a reputation to uphold (shut up, yes we do). Also, autumn is awesome, that’s why they both start with the same vowel sound.
So, the COTW shall officially be awarded to Ooxman, for this comment:
Ooxman
// Sep 19, 2008 at 10:29 am
I wonder if pirates have an international “Talk Like A Skeptic†day? They’d get to walk around going “Actually…â€
This comment not only makes Ooxman the OCOTWC(WIIFM?), but it also means that you, the reader and fellow commenter, must respond in the style of International Talk Like a Skeptic Day.
“Arrrrrrrren’t you going to look that up on Snopes?”
Autumn and awesome only start with the same vowel sound if you have a funny accent (says the Texan).
I knew getting married would eventually cost me.
Mentally Ill parents suck, peeps ad candy corn suck and the victims of pirates thought they really sucked. However I also enjoyed all three above comments.
International Talk Like a Skeptic Day.
For some reason, the first thing that came to mind was a line from “Wyrd Sisters”…
“Oh, obvious, I’ll grant you it is obvious. Trouble is, just because things are obvious doesn’t mean they’re true.”
“Arrrrrrrren’t you going to look that up on Snopes?â€
Now that totally needs to be on a T-shirt.
I’d buy it.
By the by…
…for my money, I think the <a href=”http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=2778″thread Danarra was nominated for should have been awarded the “Thread of the Week”. …Though I question the motives of the original post, I think the ensuing conversation in the comments was
autumnawesome.For the lazy, that link should have been
Danarra’s thread
…or somesuch.
phlebas is right on about Peeps, though. The things are awful. And they just get worse when you fry them. =(
Actually, I have to agree about the Peeps. Eviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillll (We nuke ’em here).
Thank you for the honorary mention! Brightened up a day that was already FRIDAY!!!!! YAYAAYAYAAYYYYY!!!!!
To Phlebas…
Can I conclude from your LSU comment that you’re a fellow Auburn alum?
2nd for the “Snopes” Shirt.
@ekimbrough:
Absolutely. War damn eagle! Bama sux! SHUG LIVES! :)
Peeps are horrible, but I do love them cadbury cream eggs and you stick the chocolate covered marshmellow eggs between two graham crackers and you get an easter smore! Yay Pagan goddess Easter (Oestre, or something like that, might’ve misspelled that, can’t recall).
Tyr Lord of Lies
Let it be known that I recommended his comment as COTW. Do I get a candy corn?
@Improbable Bee:
No, but if you two get married, he’ll have to give up the prize.
Huh! I never actually connected having a crazy mom and my skepticism/interest in science.
I will have to go chew on that for a while.
And the peep line should be on a t-shirt. Absolutely.
Very satisfying COTW. Congrats!
And… I am a Snopes whore.. so, right on.
@Tina: What I find even more satisfying is your avatar. Very nice! I was going to include in this post a Best Avatar of the Week, which would of course go to HotPhysicsBoy who has improved this site dramatically by simply posting any comment at all, but now that I see yours, next week may be a close call . . .
@Rebecca: Not only is that avatar made of win, it’s even better because two Skepchicks were present during the taking of that photo. :)
@Rebecca:
Yes, Tina has a great avatar, but it’s not a “close call” when competing against hotphysicsboy’s is a stretch.
We need to get an avatar of hotphysicsboy with the FSM hat on… or Tina with her top off.
Hey, let me use what I learned in English for Sober Chicks 101 and try that sentence again:
Yes, Tina has a great avatar, but to say it’s “close call†when competing against hotphysicsboy’s is a stretch.
or
Yes, Tina has a great avatar, but it’s not a “close call†when competing against hotphysicsboy.
Either one is acceptable in conveying my message.
@Elyse: Seconded
Aww, my avatar only had one skepchick present, well there were more at the party, but only one in the photo
HPB or FSM.
Hmmmn.
One makes me extremely uncomfortable, the other touches me with a noodley appendage.
My avatar was painted by a Mormon.
Go figure.
I think it would be advisable to explore the shirtless gravatar option. I’m sure the Skepchicks wouldn’t mind setting the example here?
Aren’t there rules against such avatars, Rebecca?
This isn’t Suicide Skepchicks..
And hotphysicsboy would get mah vote, anyway.
Holy Peeps, I won something! Awesome. I’m gonna go out and buy some candy corn to celebrate.
“Actually…” I could swear I stole that joke from an old episode of the SGU podcast. Perhaps that’s why Rebecca liked it.
@Chris_O:
3rd-ed.