I received some questions about the photo-cartoon featured in the last edition of TIDBITS. A couple of readers have asked me to explain “the picture of the woman.”
Let me first explain why I create the photo-cartoons. When I started up TIDBITS again, I wanted to ensure that people were displaying the full edition as it arrived in their email and not just viewing it in “plain text” mode. The reason for this is simple: I get a report of who has “opened” each edition sent by email, but only if they allow the images to be downloaded (email servers often put a notice at the top of “professional” group messages making the reader choose if they download the images or not for this very reason, in order to protect their privacy).
Since I like putting word and thought balloon captions on photos of people for fun, that seemed a natural choice for an image for each issue, but I also realized that I had to be careful of copyrights and other considerations since TIDBITS is also going online and not just to my relatively small circle of subscribers. I quickly settled into a couple of basic themes: gently poking fun at current events or public figures (mostly just President Donald Trump so far); and using famous art as a medium for a joke, usually about reading TIDBITS, and altered enough so that it counts as parody and not in violation of any copyrights. While I started with well-known scenes from movies (often with an image of myself inserted), I’ve now switched to doctoring up famous paintings at the moment, mostly because it can be done fairly quickly.
Two weeks ago I featured da Vinci’s Mona Lisa revealing that her famous smile is due to reading TIDBITS (well, of course!). Last week I spotlighted a noted work painted by James McNeill Whistler in 1871. Officially titled, “Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1,” the painting is better known to the masses as “Whistler’s Mother.” In my version, however, Mama Whistler isn’t just sitting contentedly in her parlor; no sir, she is chuckling over the latest TIDBITS, as displayed on her electronic tablet.
Have a suggestion for a photo-cartoon? Please let me know! The recent one showing me being forcefully removed from an aircraft was suggested by a reader, and I’ve received another suggestion that I plan to create for hopefully our next issue. In the meantime, it’s back to the famous paintings.
Henry Ward Beecher said, “Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.” Well, as I always say, laughter is serious business! Hopefully today’s offerings will give you a smile or two.
Enjoy!
PHOTO-CARTOON OF THE WEEK
<Click Image to Enlarge>
INSPIRATION
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.” – Robert Frost
HUMOR
Last night a Chinese guy came to my favorite bar.
I asked him if he knew Kung Fu or some other martial art.
He said, “Why do you ask me that? Is it just because I’m Chinese?!”
“No,” I replied as I stood up, “It’s because you’re drinking MY beer!“
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Team work is important.
It helps to put the blame on someone else.
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True Fact:
We may think that planes flying into buildings is a fairly recent type of tragedy, but a B-25 bomber airplane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in the fog on July 28, 1945. The crew of the bomber and 11 people in the building were killed, with another 23 injured.
Learn more
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One really cold winter morning a man sees a text from his wife: “Windows are totally frozen, will not open.”
The man texts back: “Carefully pour some warm water over it and tap the edges first with your hand. If that doesn’t work, then gently with a hammer.”
Fifteen minutes later, his wife texts back: “I tried all that, but now the laptop won’t even turn on.”
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Quotable:
“I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.”
– Dan Quayle, Former US Vice President
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Today a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the new local swimming pool.
I gave him a glass of water.
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[Our final joke today comes from the December 21st, 2001 edition of the old run of TIDBITS.]
Did you hear about the guy on a beach who found a bottle?
He rubbed it, and sure enough, out popped a Genie.
“I will grant you three wishes,” replied the Genie. “But there’s a catch.”
The man was ecstatic. “What catch?” he inquired.
The Genie replied, “Every time you make a wish, every lawyer in the world will receive double what you asked for.”
“Well, I can live with that! No problem!” replied the elated man.
“What is your first wish?” asked the Genie.
“Well, I’ve always wanted a Ferrari!””
POOF! A Ferrari appeared in front of the man.
“Now every lawyer in the world has two Ferrari’s,” said the Genie. “Next wish?”
“I’d love a million dollars,” replied the man.
POOF! One million dollars appeared at his feet.
“Now every lawyer in the world has two million dollars,” said the Genie. “What is your final wish?”
The man thought long and hard and finally said, “Well you know, “I’ve always wanted to donate a kidney….”
FEATURED VIDEOS
First, here’s a follow-up to one of our bonus videos from last time, the one where two brothers convince their sister, fresh from anesthesia at the dentist, that the Zombie Apocalypse has begun:
Bonus Video – Here is another recovering dental patient who also had her video featured on Ellen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKOlWDJ78Y0
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Can an alternative heavy metal band produce a piece of music that could be considered inspirational? If your answer is anything other than “yes,” I invite you to check out this music video by Disturbed:
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Just to make sure we’ve covered all our bases, here’s today’s official inspirational video:
Keep smiling!