At Snopes, a Quest to Debunk Misinformation Online – NYTimes.com

The Grey Lady has a nice article about the founders of Snopes.com, a site that everyone in the world should read at least once a week.

I read an article online the other day–I forget what about–that used the prefix “uber”, saying something was “uberawesome” or the like.  I see this pretty often, mostly by literate folks who are trying to sound smart.  To borrow from a worn out internet meme, you’re doing it wrong.

Because I like good writing and good spellng (sic), please be advised that the correct spelling is “ueber”. 

It comes from the German prefix “über”, meaning over, or super.  It is pronounced not like “oo” as in “zoo”, but rather somewhat like a surfer bro saying “dude”.  To break it down, first say “oo”.  Now say “ee”.  Now put them together: your lips go “oo” while the middle of your tongue goes up as if to say “ee”.  That’s how you pronounce Ü. 
The same method is used for pronouncing the German Ä and Ö as well.

As for the spelling, it’s “Ü”.  But if your keyboard is missing the ü key, just substitute with “ue” and it is still correct.  The reason for that is because the umlaut (those two little dots) was merely a shorthand invention of monks, those scribes from the medieval times.  For that reason, it is not uncommon to see on old-timey looking signs the Ü written as an u with a little sideways e over it.

Yet another video from last month’s gig at Zille, this time playing “She Was”. I think this one is my favorite version.

This never gets old. Correction: this is getting old. Video footage and interviews of a recent Teaparty anti-healthcare rally. Of course we don’t know that the entire crowd was as ignorant as these folks interviewed here, but it’s pretty clear that it wasn’t too hard to find enough people at the rally who literally didn’t know what they were talking about.

What really baffles me is why anyone would be willing to travel across the country to join in the rally and yet have absolutely no desire to inform oneself.

I read today that if the entire US population were to live in a population density of Brooklyn (probably comparable to Dresden Neustadt), we would populate an area the size of New Hampshire. Imagine that, huh?

It’s widely known that a sunshower signifies the devil abusing his wife. Now the good folks at Snopes.com have gathered a little more info about this little weather oddity. And remember kids, before you forward that next outrageously stupid chain email, check with Snopes.

snopes.com: Sun Shower Rain

There’s no such thing as identical cousins.

In 9th grade science class, Coach Pauly once did a demonstration where he took a beakerfull of tap water from one of the lab taps and lit the surface on fire.  He claimed it had something to do with the content of the water in Brentwood and also that the tap hadn’t been used in several weeks.  Knowing that he was also known to do a few “scientific” tricks in the past that were clearly just parlor tricks found in any beginner’s book of magic (breaking a pencil with a folded dollar bill — secret: extend index finger secretly when coming down on pencil with bill) I was somewhat skeptical.  Nonetheless it didn’t stop me from trying the trick out on four or five unused taps around the house and elsewhere.  Later I decided that he simply did what I had first suspected: he poured a trace amount of a clear, flammable, petroleum-based liquid into the beaker before filling it with the water.  The fuel would have simply risen to the top.

Whether the case may be or not so for Brentwood (I think not), it turns out that flammable tapwater sometimes does exist.

Cracking Down on Fracking

Although I’ve known about it for a few weeks, I officially got the go-ahead yesterday to most gladly announce that my band mates Tini and Stephan are getting married. I’ve known the two of them for just a few short months, my time with the band, but they have known each other since elementary school and have been living in sweet sexy sin for several years now. I’ve rarely known such a couple of fools to be so well made for one another and it brings a ray of warm sunshine to my heart to know that they will soon boldly and eagerly take the next step. The ceremony is set for July 9th.