Holy panties, Batman!

I don't find "Mormon underwear" any more peculiar than other religious body decor. Jews have Hasidic headgear; Catholics wear Crucifix jewelry. And don't forget Church-of-God coolots.

Here's a hilarious send-up on the subject anyway, with a cast of Christian characters straight out of a Flannery O'Connor story.

"It's a question Ruben Israel and his band of brothers at Bible Believers — "Preaching at big events for over two decades" — are only too happy to answer. Brother Ruben et al have brought a genuine article of Mormon underwear all the way from Los Angeles so that delegates may personally examine the offending garment in the halls of the RNC."

Have I got a deal for you

Megan McArdle explains Amway, et al:

"We are most vulnerable to Ponzi schemes and other confidence tricks when we start to believe that we can cheat the universe—that we can get something for nothing. The best con men succeed mostly because we are so desperate to believe them."

I got a bit much Scotch-Irish skinflint in me to fall innocently for a line (the flip-side being I'm a Doubting Thomas about everything).

Meanwhile, here's my favorite Reba McEntire song. Has she got a deal for you.

Academics and atrocious writing

Those with book learnin' often can't or won't write a straightforward sentence. They write to get published.

"Supervisors typically preach stylistic caution [to their postgraduate students]; they want their students to demonstrate mastery of disciplinary norms, not to push against disciplinary boundaries. Editors and referees, likewise, are often more intent on self-cloning than on genuine innovation or empowerment. Peer-reviewed publications, meanwhile, offer a range of stylistic models that are at best unadventurous and at worst downright damaging. .  .  . Academics who learn to write by imitation will almost inevitably pick up the same bad habits."

Somebody give her a hell, yeah

A Detroit prosecutor runs rapists to ground.

"The thousands of rape kits had piled up in a dusty police warehouse in Detroit for years, ignored, until one of Worthy’s colleagues stumbled upon them in 2009. Since then, an outraged Worthy has been fighting to get the kits logged, tested for DNA, and then entered into the national DNA database."

Lunch doggeh

There's no 'I' in team

I'm watching the RNC convention. Wall-to-wall sis-boom-bah-the-other-guy-sucks. Cue the same tape in Charlotte. This--along with a recent habit of watching re-runs of "The Office"--makes me remember "team-building" workplace exercises of yore.

Gawd. Fall backward into co-worker's arms to boost trust! Take the Myers-Briggs and discover you have the same profile as Hitler! Use an afternoon Mountain Dew buzz to shout wild and random "ideas" at your boss, frantically scribbling your rants onto a whiteboard during the workshop's brain-storming session!

Good times.

 

Robert Johnson

Hellhound on my trail today, y'all.