Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Humor

  • A Waste of a Good Hyphen

    A reader doesn't get the point of my earlier entry: Use-Mention Confusion Dennis Miller:  "Melissa Harris-Perry is a waste of a good hyphen." So let me explain it.  Miller is a brilliant conservative comedian who appears regularly on The O'Reilly Factor.  If you catch every one of Miller's allusions and can follow his rap you…

  • The Jean-Paul Sartre Cookbook

    You probably knew that Elizabeth Warren, aka Fauxcahontas, contributed recipes to the cookbook, Pow Wow Chow. You might even know that some have alleged that these recipes were plagiarized by the Indian maiden.  But I'll bet you don't know that Jean-Paul Sartre worked on a cookbook.  Another reason why you need to read my blog.…

  • Dick Van Dyke and ‘Killer Mike’ Support Sanders the Superannuated Socialist

    Here and here.  How can Bernie lose?  Did you know that 'Killer Mike' is “Southern rap's top political theorist”?

  • There are Only 10 Kinds of People in the World

    Those who understand binary and those who don't.  (Joked swiped from Malcolm Pollack.  It's a good one! And so are his recent posts. ) The programmer's joke has an interesting property: it is writable but not sayable.  Other jokes are sayable but not writable. What comes between fear and sex? Fünf.

  • Thinking of Replacing Your Counter Tops?

    Never take anything for granite. UPDATE:  D.  M. quips, "I would only do it for Micah." UPDATE (11/9):  D. B. chimes in, "And I, too – for profit."

  • Reason is a Whore?

    Now that prostitutes have earned respectability as 'sex workers,' what should a latter-day Luther say about reason?  That it is a lawyer?

  • The Revenge of the Medievalist

    If medieval philosophy is substance abuse, modern philosophy is self abuse!

  • “He Who Hesitates is Lost”

    As you know,  Yogi Berra, master of the malapropism, died in September.  In the Berra spirit, I cooked up the following during last night's troubled sleep: Said by me to Berra in the presence of Peter:  He who hesitates is lost. Berra:  You mean Peter? What is Berra failing to understand? (I would continue with…

  • Man is Risible

    In that he jokes?  Or in that he is a joke?  Or both?

  • On Seinfeld

    I confess to being a fan of this TV series many of whose episodes are now over 20 years old.  I have seen every episode numerous times.  I am not a student of the series as I am a student of the great Twilight Zone series, but then numerous episodes of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone,…

  • Like Being the Chief Rabbi in Mecca

    I heard David Brooks on C-Span 2 last night.  He uncorked a very funny line. "I am the conservative at The New York Times, which is like being the chief rabbi in Mecca." By the way, it was a mention by Brooks in his latest book that got my friend Lupu onto Soloveitchik.  Now I…

  • Imagine No ‘Re-Imagine’

    Imagine no 're-imagine'It's easy if you tryNo such bullshit lingoFrom the journalists' sty Imagine all the peopleSpeaking sensiblyYou may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only one Come along and join usAnd foolish innovation's done. Related articles Invective

  • Colin McGinn on Brigand Lighter

    Wondering what had become of Colin McGinn, I poked around and came across this parody by him of somebody he variously refers to as Brigand Lighter, Brendan Lightweight, Barry Litebeer, and Professor Litesmear.  Is he referring to some actual person?  The post is dated 1 April 2015 which suggests that Professor McGinn might just be…

  • George Carlin

    The poor guy died in adolescence.

  • Philosophy Bakes No Bread, but Man does not Live by Bread Alone

    This from a reader: I wanted to bring to your attention a passage I came across in Nicholas Rescher’s Philosophical Standardism (Pittsburgh, 1994): “The old saying is perfectly true: Philosophy bakes no bread. But it is also no less true that we do not live by bread alone. The physical side of our nature that…