Andrew Sullivan is taking votes for his Moore Award — and I’m on it. This is his prize for “divisive, bitter and intemperate left-wing rhetoric”, named after Michael Moore.

He clearly intends it to be disparaging, but I find it to be a curiously misapplied award. First, it’s named for Michael Moore, who really isn’t that awful — he’s usually right, for one thing. For another, his counterpoint on the right is the Malkin Award, and I’m afraid that if he thinks a deranged harpy on the right is equivalent to a controversial but clearly progressive film maker on the left, his scales are a bit unbalanced.

Second, I’m in competition with Gore Vidal? I am not worthy.

Third, and perhaps similarly, the list of nominees is a real hodge-podge, and hard to take seriously. The only qualifications seem to be that they said something that pissed off conservative Andrew Sullivan, and that they’re nominally lumped together in the fuzzy blur of “The Left”.

Rolling Stone has one weird story: The Legend of Master Legend. It’s about people who think they are superheroes, right down to donning costumes and calling their run-down suburban ranch house a secret lair. These people are deluded, all right, but they seem mostly harmless, and the story is written in a tone that doesn’t mock them.

One surprising piece of information is that there are enough of these people around that there are actually hero supply houses for them. One is called Hero Gear, which will make your costume for you (no mass-produced items here, since every super-hero is unique), and ProfessorWidget, who will make all your special gadgets for you.

A reader sent me this caricature. I do make a rather grim looking cleric, don’t I?

Still, it’s an interesting proposal. I think we need a pope who would blow raspberries at the rituals and laugh at the beliefs, and I can see myself thwapping Bill Donohue with that stick a few times. Is there an application form for me to fill out? How many members of the college of cardinals are among my readership?

This cute, innocent little 3-year-old just wants his name in frosting on his birthday cake, and the bakery refused to do it. Harsh, man. Poor little guy. And he’s probably going to have to deal with this blatant discrimination for the rest of his life.

He’s also stuck with a pair of dingleberries for parents. They named him…Adolf Hitler.

(via Techskeptic)

Man, it’s getting to the point where a fellow can’t even build a death ray or an island fortress shaped like a skull without someone getting pissy about it. Take this account, for instance, of a few people just playing around with skeletons and lab coats:

A group of students had their ‘Mad Scientist’ party brought to an abrupt end when police mistook them for terrorists.

The private party, held in Hackney, north London, was organised by a group of friends dressed in white laboratory coats and wigs, who put on a display of theatrical ‘experiments’ to entertain guests.

But when police entered the building for a routine check in the early hours of Sunday morning, they discovered scientific debris and plastic skeletons and mistook it for terrorist paraphernalia or drug-making equipment.

Caretaker of the property, Richard Watson, 29, was arrested under The Anti-Terrorism Act and questioned while the entire area was evacuated and roads cordoned off with police tape.

He said: ‘I was handcuffed and put in the back of the police van for over an hour while the bomb squad and drugs team came down.

‘There was a ridiculous amount of police there. Every time I looked out of the van I could see a new group of them swarming around.’

Three fire engines and three ambulances were also called to the scene as Mr Watson was searched and interrogated.

Note to self: clean up debris in basement soon.

(via Umlud’s place)

Santa looks frightened. Do you think he will be eaten next?

That festive holiday mood is beginning to stir…

Pareidolia is putting the Virgin Mary in all sorts of strange places. The latest: in the MRI of a woman’s brain. She’s trying to sell it off on eBay, of course.

It’s a silly illusion, but as I looked at it, I had an epiphany. It’s a body part. There’s a little nubbin for a head beneath a hood, with fleshy veils representing Mary’s robes below that.

You know, there’s another anatomical region on women that looks like that…

So, when is someone going to start selling gynecological photos on eBay? Can we defend explicit porn as religious iconography?

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By the way, there is a poll associated with this story: “Do you see the Virgin Mary in this MRI?” No is ahead with 49% of the vote so far.