Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for August 17, 2011

I had to break out Canterbury Tales to convince HER that puns on male birds were as old as English. Now to show her there are fart jokes in the Bible.

Simony says, “Be indulgent with me!”

RE: blog and comics change. I would definitely pair up Family Circus with Pearls Before Swine. But I would keep Bizarro over Born Loser.

Tanya’s diary is so sad. And so concisely highlights the horrors of war for civilians.

@Teresa, if you’re in the area, Josiah Drummond and John Hartman are OK, but for my money I’d go with Uhle John over on 4th. Grandpa swears by him.

And if you are short on medicinal leeches click on LeechesUSA

Re: the diarist on the blog—All I saw initially were the words умер and умерла over and over again. In a child’s handwriting, that’s quite chilling. But no more so than the conclusion.

In Philadelphia in 1820, doctors were bleeding their patients with leeches.In Philadelphia 30 years earlier, lawyers were writing the constitution.P.S. I had never heard of simony until I watched The Borgias on HBO earlier this year (TV may have replaced books, schools and real life experience as America’s predominant educational institution, but FA is a close second).

@Rotifer:and the “layers out of the dead” if the bleeding didn’t stop.

Come to the nerd side,We have π.But don’t believe everything:The Cake Is A Lie.

I read one Heather McHugh poem today. It contains the {} or c-word [which was the q-word " *_queynte_*", in Chaucer’s time, when it had three distinct meanings & so was a Rather Naughty Pun] at least three times.“… After my lunch of Ivory I saidvagina for a day or two, but knew from that day forth which word struck home like sex itself. I knew when I was big I’d singa song in praise of {}—I’d want to keep my word, the one with teeth in it. Forevermore (and even after I was raised) I sworenothing—but nothing—would be beneath me.”I Knew I’d Sing by Heather McHughThe name of the collection is {}.

How could you have so many bunny pictures and not have one of Heffner’s best?

Seven by Dylan: great title for something. How does Star Dreck fit into all this? You are forgiven.

The Hero: Most men would probably read the license plate and call 911. Others without a family might go after the van. But a father of young children would rarely do something like this, thinking, “What if he killed me? What about my kids?” I guess we might reason (if we stopped to reason) that my kids would be taken care of still, but if I don’t stop this guy that little girl will be dead. Thank God for special people like this, and for servicemen who make the same decision on a daily basis.

I coulda got a rooster.

No, FA!!!

Dear Mogg…

Thanks for the shout-out to Diaz Chacon. Awesome dude.

Depardieu: What is it with all these amazingly successful people throwing their lives in the toilet? Mel Gibson, Nicolas Cage, Tiger Woods, Morgan Freeman, now Gérard? C’est inouï.

For no good reason: Salvador Dali taking his anteater for a walk…

@cleokaya: My youngest son was at a training convention somewhere and was joined in the elevator by Orlando Bloom. [Still the prettiest!] For coolness, Dali and an anteater trumps.

Bizarre! Simony was one of those words I knew in the back of my mind but never actually heard anyone use before. Then I watch the first (double) episone of HBO’s “The Borgias” and it’s the second word out of everyone’s mouth! It will probably fade back to wherever it came from in the first place now.

Ya know, there’s a reason it’s so hard to break into the newspaper syndicates. Oh internet, what have you wrought?