Babysitting Ogres

After a mysterious delay, Blogger is now allowing image uploads again, so here's today's comic.

This calls for a strawberry shortcake (a piece of), and here is a good one on the Joy of Baking site.

If you're in the market for demolition hammer accessories, here are accessories for the SDS-Max line from Wacker Neuson.

And here is a rutabaga, courtesy of the University of Illinois.

No worries.

A 30-Minute Detention for Eating Your Relatives

The crime should always fit the punishment, so be careful when you commit a dastardly act--read the statutes and case histories in advance to make sure your choice of evils doesn't net you more chastisement than you bargained for.

Here's a picture of a York chocolate cat, along with some information.

And here is a picture of the Titanic entirely modeled in chocolate.

When making your choice between these two, keep in mind that the cat will be a friend for a long time, as long as you do everything he or she asks of you. The chocolate model will ask nothing, but will only be with you for a few days.

So choose both.

Which brings us to the problem of the ethics of choice, in which humans are assumed to want more rather than less of a good. This is thought by many economists to be rational, but their interpretation of rational is strictly defined to, "mean that an individual acts as if balancing costs against benefits to arrive at action that maximizes personal advantage."

So here, to maximize your personal advantage by giving you super powers, is a chocolate bunny.

Grab your share quickly, or the economists will be disappointed.

In the words of Pink Floyd, "MONEY!" Well, that was one of their words--there were more.

No worries.

Nomads Don't Ride Ducks

The moral today is: Don't put off until yesterday what you can do tomorrow.

I've been reading an amusing book on philosophers by Jean-Jacques Barrere and Christian Roche entitled le Betisier des Philosphes. It's a collection of silly, nasty, and sarcastic pronouncements by philosophers, often on other philosophers.

The blurb on the back cover of this book sums it up nicely: "As surprising as it may seem, a philosopher is not always a profound type producing sublime thoughts. He is also stupid, from time to time."

Here are some good ones from the book: Pascale wrote that the self is detestable. Paul Valery wrote that, yes the self is detestable, but this refers to the selves of others.

Leibniz on Descartes: Descartes lodged Truth in the hotel of evidence, but he forgot to give us the address.

Levi-Strauss on existentialism: This promotion of personal problems to the level of profound philosophical problems risks ending in a sort of metaphysics for dressmaker's assistants.

Schopenhauer on Hegel: A nauseating scribbler, a charlatan, a cultural parvenu....

Well, you get the picture. The book is in French; I can't seem to find an English edition, but I'm sure one will show up.

In the meantime, here is a list of chocolate breakfasts from mrbreakfast.com that will undoubtedly do a number on your health. The site also features lots of recipes for interesting looking items, including this one for chocolate strawberry waffles, which I wouldn't mind eating right now.

And here is a picture of an Old Dutch Cleanser railroad refrigerator car, in case you want some extra storage space for perishables.

Happy Rutabaga Day!