May 29, 2024 — Progress comes in surprising ways. Proving this point, we now have a crude cartoon – South Park – telling the world that fat jokes are too offensive and stupid to be funny. One of the primary characters, Kyle, delivers this new enlightenment in a speech to his school cafeteria: “I was wrong. I used to […]
January 29, 2024 — Scientific American published an entertaining parody last week. It was a bit extreme and too early for April Fools’ Day, but entertaining nonetheless. This essay wove together a litany of absurd rationalizations we hear all the time to tell the tale of a medical breakthrough in obesity taking us down a road to ruin. Hilarious […]
December 22, 2022 — More 50 years ago, John Cleese ran the Ministry of Silly Walks for a skit on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He interviewed a grant applicant who had a silly walk and told Cleese that “with government backing I could make it very silly.” Now this little exercise has made it from the Ministry of Silly […]
April 1, 2021 — Let’s face it. We’ve had a year of suffering fools. So we’re taking a stand to favor the return of April Fools’ Day from its cancellation in pandemic times. If we can’t laugh at absurdity, or find a way to smile despite angst and suffering, then the future is bleak. Last year, April Fools’ pranks […]
April 1, 2020 — Budding pranksters, you’re on notice. Humor is verboten today. The world is on lockdown, fighting a global pandemic. Late night comedies are off the air. Nothing is funny. You, over there, wipe that smirk off your face. In Thailand, an April Fool’s joke could get you five years in jail. “Don’t lie,” wrote The Nation […]
April 1, 2017 — Big sugar is on the move. Late yesterday, federal agents stopped a sugary terror plot. They seized suicide sugar bunnies aimed at millions of innocent children. Those bunnies were set to inflict maximum damage on a major religious holiday soon. “This amounts to chemical warfare,” said Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. “Those bunnies carry a load of pure, white, and […]
April 1, 2015 — Hailed as a logical extension of evidence-based health promotion, major employers are beginning to incorporate standing beds into their employee wellness programs in startling numbers. A recent survey of Fortune 500 corporate benefit programs found that the concept represents the hottest trend in employee wellness. Fully 23% of businesses with outcome-based wellness programs have begun incorporating […]
September 5, 2013 — Marion Nestle’s newest book is filled with something you probably wouldn’t expect from a nutrition expert: cartoons. Eat, Drink, Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics looks at what Americans eat and how we feel about it through the eyes of cartoonists. The book, which was created in collaboration with the Cartoonist Group, contains more […]
