Philosophy
Today is the day set aside to honor our porcine pals. We have a curiously mixed relationship with the pig. On the one hand, the pig is an incredibly intelligent and strong animal, yet to be compared to it is almost always a sign of condemnation. You will be called a pig if you eat too much or are unhealthfully heavy, if you are irresponsibly messy, or if you have chauvenist tendencies or treat women as objects. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath all had pig songs which are condemnatory commentaries on contemporary life. The metaphorical pigs are bad people.
There are a few positive uses. "Piggies" is the term for the feet of young children, but here we have the chubby for kids = healthy, chubby for adults = unhealthy dichotomy at work. Harley riders use the "hog" as a mark of pride.
Strangely, our pig characters do not partake of the properties of the actual pig. The animated Porky Pig is a good guy, if not all that bright. The three little pigs are again not very bright (except for the one who builds the house of bricks) and timid.
But the pig is most often used to represent food. The southern grocery chain Piggly-Wiggly and the bar-b-que chain Famous Dave's both use the pig as a logo. Pork can be found now in everything including chocolate. The Vosges' candy company produces Mo's bacon bar which covers apple-smoked bacon bits in milk chocolate proving once again that you probably want to keep the stoners out of research and development. And then there is this bit from Jim Gaffigan:
And eat them we do -- or you do, I don't eat pork. Not a kosher thing, just never liked it. But it is an animal that is still eaten head to tail. Literally. I used to work for my uncle who had a pork stall at Lexington Market in Baltimore and in addition to ham and bacon, there were feet, ears, and brains. Had a customer one time ask me if I had any pig tails, So I said, "Sure, once upon a time there were three little pigs..." He didn't think it was funny either. Perhaps the scariest thing we sold was fatback and its cousin strickalean which is fatback light; it's for people who want fatback, but not all the extra fat. If selling that stuff doesn't make you a vegetarian, have I got a cardiologist for you.
So, happy pig day everyone.
- Contraception, Jewish Deli, And The Right To Be A Bully
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Philosophy
Happy National Pig Day
Today is the day set aside to honor our porcine pals. We have a curiously mixed relationship with the pig. On the one hand, the pig is an incredibly intelligent and strong animal, yet to be compared to it is almost always a sign of condemnation. You will be called a pig if you eat too much or are unhealthfully heavy, if you are irresponsibly messy, or if you have chauvenist tendencies or treat women as objects. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath all had pig songs which are condemnatory commentaries on contemporary life. The metaphorical pigs are bad people.
There are a few positive uses. "Piggies" is the term for the feet of young children, but here we have the chubby for kids = healthy, chubby for adults = unhealthy dichotomy at work. Harley riders use the "hog" as a mark of pride.
Strangely, our pig characters do not partake of the properties of the actual pig. The animated Porky Pig is a good guy, if not all that bright. The three little pigs are again not very bright (except for the one who builds the house of bricks) and timid.
But the pig is most often used to represent food. The southern grocery chain Piggly-Wiggly and the bar-b-que chain Famous Dave's both use the pig as a logo. Pork can be found now in everything including chocolate. The Vosges' candy company produces Mo's bacon bar which covers apple-smoked bacon bits in milk chocolate proving once again that you probably want to keep the stoners out of research and development. And then there is this bit from Jim Gaffigan:
And eat them we do -- or you do, I don't eat pork. Not a kosher thing, just never liked it. But it is an animal that is still eaten head to tail. Literally. I used to work for my uncle who had a pork stall at Lexington Market in Baltimore and in addition to ham and bacon, there were feet, ears, and brains. Had a customer one time ask me if I had any pig tails, So I said, "Sure, once upon a time there were three little pigs..." He didn't think it was funny either. Perhaps the scariest thing we sold was fatback and its cousin strickalean which is fatback light; it's for people who want fatback, but not all the extra fat. If selling that stuff doesn't make you a vegetarian, have I got a cardiologist for you.
So, happy pig day everyone.
- Contraception, Jewish Deli, And The Right To Be A Bully
I have heard a single analogy multiple times from conservative Catholics who are trying to defend the stripping of health care benefits from Church-employed workers. You wouldn't support a law forcing a Jewish deli to sell pork, they argue,...
- Wikiface Numbers
Actors have Bacon numbers, the number of steps you need to trace through fellow cast members until you get to Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon himself has a Bacon number of 0. Anyone who has been in a film with him has a number of 1. Anyone in a film with anyone...
- Castro Retires
Today, Fidel Castro announced his retirement. After fifty years leading Cuba, he says that he no longer has the mobility and drive needed to continue the revolution and while this is not his farewell, he has decided to retire. So, the obvious question...
- The Three Little Pigs Vs. Wile E. Coyote
Conventional wisdom tells us that the three little pigs managed to escape from the big bad wolf by finding refuge in increasingly stronger buildings. But what if instead of the wolf, they had to escape from Wile E. Coyote? We all know he loved to use...
- Bug Food?
This will not work anytime soon except at weird partys. It is more than just making the insect palatable but convincing people of the concept. McDonald's new entree...the Happy Roach or Egg and Cricket Biscuit? "Replace cattle? Edible insects produce...