Humor Writing Tips | Comedy Writing Tips | Blogging Tips | Humor Blogging

Commit Blog Suicide With Social Media

Posted on December 27, 2007
Filed Under Linking | 4 Comments

Circle BonsaiPatrick of Piggy Bank Pie writes an amusing look at using social media to help your blog die with dignity. He’s the Jack Kevorkian of the blogosphere.

Bonsai Blogging: How to fail with Social Media is a “what not to do” primer on using social media to promote your blog. It’s also a refreshing change from the usual meta-blogging fare that avoids humor like the ebola virus. Patrick tells us:

Bonsai Blogging is the art of miniaturizing traffic by blogging into an isolated container. This method has proven to be efficient for stopping growth, allowing you to fail with dignity.

Go check out the whole thing for a refreshing take on a tired topic. Bonsai Blogging: How to fail with Social Media

Image Credit: Circle Bonsai

Email to a Content Thief

Posted on December 24, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | 9 Comments

JC Penney Post Screenshot

I need to help get the message out there that Johnny Virgil of 15 Minute Lunch is the genius behind the now-famous JC Penney catalog post. He wrote it. If you see it anywhere else, the content has been stolen. It’s been pushed to the front of my mind again, because I saw a stolen version of his post on the StumbleUpon Humor Buzz page.

On the page that was benefiting from Johnny’s work, there was no indication at all that it was anything other than the author’s own work. I already know that there are several versions floating around the internet, which is partly the nature of having a post go viral on the level that the JC Penney post did.

Many of these copies are probably posted by people who are not too savvy in the ways of online publishing. This is clearly not the case in this particular circumstance, so I was prompted to send the following email to the webmaster.

— (begin email)

You Have Published Stolen Content!

I was disturbed to see the 1977 JC Penney catalog post on the Stumble Upon buzz page led to your site. I know the author of the original post. He uses the name Johnny Virgil and his blog is called 15 Minute Lunch.

(I provided a URL to the Original post here)

He is the original author of the material you have posted, failed to attribute properly, and passed off as your own under the terms of a supposed “All Material Copyright Jeff Rense ©1997-2007, Unless Otherwise Indicated.”

I do realize that Johnny’s post went viral. I understand it can become difficult to keep track of the source of such things, which is why you shouldn’t post content that originates in an email forward. Even still, there is not even an indication of email being the source. It’s merely passed off as original content, “Copyright Jeff Rense.”

There is not one single indicator that the content you have posted originates from another source. It is not being used for educational value, criticism, or any other manner in the spirit of “Fair Use.” There is not even the required attribution that would be in keeping with a GPL, or many Creative Commons licenses.

Under no circumstance, that I can fathom, have you been ethically sound in your publishing of this stolen content. It most certainly is NOT in keeping with the Creative Commons License that Johnny publishes under.

You are free:

  • to Share — to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work

Under the following conditions:

  • Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
  • Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
  • No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
  • For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
  • Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
  • Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights.

I have no idea what kind of content you are posting on the rest of the site, as I have no interest in providing you with more pageviews than I already have. I’ll simply assume that your standard operating procedure is to benefit, via ads, from the work of other people. I find it laughable that you ask for donations for scraping the internet and stealing content.

You have no integrity. “Your First Source For Reality & Honest Journalism” indeed. Now that’s comedy.

~Fiar
http://humorblogging.com/
http://radioactiveliberty.com/
—(end email)

We can learn from this, though.

Following these guidelines, we can help maintain the integrity of the internet, and give credit where credit is due.

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If you are interested in contributing to Humor Blogging, please email me through the contact page.

What is the 2 of 6 Rule of Humor?

Posted on December 21, 2007
Filed Under Writing Humor | 12 Comments

2 of 6 rule of humor
Can the 2 of 6 rule of humor help me to be a better humor writer?

I think it can, but in order to use the 2 of 6 rule of humor, we must first understand what it is. I quickly mentioned this topic when I explained why I started Humor Blogging. Now, I would like to explore it more in depth.

As far as I know, Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, created this rule to explain the difference between what is funny, and what falls short. The idea is that if you hit 2 of the categories solidly enough, it’s funny.

The higher you score, the funnier it is. He consciously uses this rule when he writes, looking at what is present, and what could be added to score higher.

What goes into each of these broad categories? This is by no means a complete list. In fact, my own personal weakness for the “cute” and “bizarre” categories is something I need your help in further understanding.

My own persona style leans more toward “Naughty” and “Cruel,” but that’s just my taste, and other styles are perfectly valid.

Let’s take a look at what fits into each category.
Click to Read more →

The Week’s Best Links #3

Posted on December 14, 2007
Filed Under Linking | 4 Comments

Wow! It’s been so long since I’ve done one of these that this should really be called the month’s best links. Time constraints have gotten the best of me, and that’s not a particularly good thing when one is trying to get a site off the ground.

Here are a few links I’ve found over the last few weeks that I really enjoyed, and I hope you will as well.

Art & Business → The Abundant Artist tells us about The Self Inflicted Curse: Starving Artists. Let’s not forget that writing is an art form as well, and heed the advice here. The difference between success and failure is usually whether you choose to have a head for business or not.

History → You may have seen the documentary on 1968, but have you seen 1968: Still Awful 40 Years Later.

Winter Driving → The Frogster tells us to beat him over the head with an Ice-scraper, or some such. Apparently, HE is the crappy driver when it snows.

Religion → Fabby documents one of the Great Moments in Biblical History.

Personal Life → Dan’s Blah Blah Blog tells us about the worst morning possible.

Childhood → Johnny Virgil relates an outstanding childhood story of daring and stupidity. This is Johnny at his finest.

Skepticism → Diesel Calls BS when he sees BS. It’s just in his nature.

I will try to keep up with a more vigorous posting schedule in the future. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping by contributing a guest post by contacting me.

If you’ve found (or created) any great links, please feel free to drop them in the comments or email them to me via my contact page.

You can stay updated by subscribing to Humor Blogging via Email or in an RSS reader.

Comment Editing Enabled

Posted on December 13, 2007
Filed Under Technical Notes | Leave a Comment

I’m happy to announce that I have enabled the WP AJAX Edit Comments plugin. As far as I can tell, things are working just as they should. You will be able to edit your comments by clicking on your comment. You can do this as many times as you need for the given period of time.

If there are any issues with the site or the comments functioning, please let me know through the contact page. Thanks.

How to Balance Blogging With Family and Work

Posted on December 8, 2007
Filed Under Humor | 15 Comments

Frustrated
Image Credit: frustrated

What do you do when life gets in the way of the truly important things?

… Like blogging and surfing for pr0n.

I know from my own experience that trivial details like going to work, and spending “quality time” with the family can really put a crimp in the time I have available for blogging.

Ideally, we would all march into the boss and say “Take this job and shove it!” Then we would get home to the spouse and say, “Take a hike! I have important blogging to do.”

Alas, very few of us are individuals of great enough courage to do it. We admire such rugged individualists from afar, and only hope that one day to be that fearless. How can the rest of us weasel out of our meaningless “responsibilities” that stand in the way of our blogging happiness?

Employment tips

With any luck, your employer will take your job and shove it for you.

Family tips

In short order, you will find that your life partner has voluntarily taken a hike.

Make it a habit

Although these tips don’t outline what to do in every possible situation, they will set you on the right path to forming important habits that will result in more free time than you ever could have imagined.

You have new-found freedom

Now, without a boss looking over your shoulder, children continuously interrupting your creative flow, or a spouse to contantly nag you about silly chores or financial difficulties, you can blog to your heart’s content.

… In between surfing for pr0n and suffering bouts of depression caused by not having a real-life human sex partner, that is.

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Am I listed on Humor-Blogs.com yet?

If you are interested in contributing to Humor Blogging, please email me through the contact page.

6 Signs You’re Writing Something Remarkable

Posted on November 30, 2007
Filed Under Meta-Blogging | 9 Comments

Mountain Valley
Image Credit: Purple Mountains Majesty

That knot in your stomach is a sign you’re doing something right.

Jon Morrow, of On Money Making, wrote a guest post on Copyblogger giving the 7 Warning Signs That You’re Drunk on Your Own Words, which compares the state of creative flow to being drunk.

For professional, business oriented blogs, his column offers rock-solid advice. It’s also a perfect illustration of one of the reasons I started this site.

Sites like Copyblogger are targeted almost exclusively towards business, marketing, and those using their blogging to leverage or create a business. Almost no attention is paid to the needs of those of us that merely wish to entertain.
Click to Read more →

5 Tried and True Tips Guaranteed to Boost Your Typing Speed

Posted on November 29, 2007
Filed Under Humor | 5 Comments

Humor Blogging LaptopI type fast.

In fact, I type so fast that it seems to defy all natural laws of the universe. Did you hear that? It’s a Sonic Boom, as my sausage-like fingers dance flawlessly over the keyboard.

I can manipulate the keys with nimble dexterity, and all the grace of a knee to the groin. In fact, thanks to the cosmic ironies of moving faster than the speed of light, I am now younger than I was at the beginning of this post.

I’m supercalifragilisticexpiali-d’oh! Fast.

Now, I know not everyone is a skilled enough typist to punch through their paragraphs at the blistering pace of nearly 6 words per minute, but these tactile tips should help you put on the path to computing competence.

To help with visual aids, I have hired the services of the best illustrator on the web (that I could afford).

Better Typing 1
Sit in a comfortable position. This should seem obvious, but I can tell you from personal experience that hanging upside down off the chair is not conducive to writing.

Better Typing 2
Use your fingers. While it’s certainly fun to clack away at the keyboard using your nose, tongue, penis, or various other bodily protrusions, I’m sure you will find that your fingers provide greater accuracy, dexterity, and efficiency.

Better Typing 3
Use both hands. I realize having one hand down on your pants is standard posture for Internet usage, and can be a highly pleasurable, however, by using both hands to type, you can more than double your productivity.

Better Typing 4
Practice touch typing. No! I said touch typing. You’ve already practiced touching yourself more than necessary. I recommend getting an inexpensive or free tutorial program to start. Anything that teaches proper hand and finger placement should be adequate.

Better Typing 3
No, your fingers don’t go there! I think we’ve already covered this.

By following these simple suggestions, your typing ability can go from suck to blow, as it zooms full throttle towards ludicrous speed.

Remember, the faster you type, the sooner you can get to surfing pr0n, and that’s really why the internet exists in the first place.

You can stay updated by subscribing to Humor Blogging via Email or in an RSS reader.

If you are interested in contributing to Humor Blogging, please email me through the contact page.

Why I Started Humor Blogging

Posted on November 23, 2007
Filed Under Meta-Blogging | 13 Comments

Comedy Tragedy
Image Credit: comedy vs tragedy

After 3 years of blogging at Radioactive Liberty, I reached a point where I wanted to improve my writing skills. More specifically, I wanted to become a better humor writer. General principles of good writing apply to humor writing as well, and they are easy enough to find, so that’s where I started.

When I tried to take the next step of finding information on how to be funny, I was met with frustration. I was able to find bits and pieces of information about common tools of humor, but no one really seemed to have put it all together.

It’s quite likely that it’s the sort of thing that has always tended to flow from one person to the next through a personal mentor/apprentice type relationship. That’s probably a pretty effective way to provide beneficial support to one person, but isn’t particularly helpful in an age where people are inclined to search for information on the internet.
Click to Read more →

A Truly Accurate History of Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2007
Filed Under Humor | Leave a Comment

Turkey
Image Credit: Proof that I am totally nuts

For Thanksgiving, I offer you the following accurate account of how Thanksgiving came to be. Most of you have not heard this story told this way, but that is just because the Leftist establishment doesn’t want you to know the real story…

The Pilgrims originated in the Holy Land of Jerusalem, but then Pharaoh ordered that all male children under the age of 7 be killed by locusts and frogs. This gave the Pilgrims an idea; the French are always itching to capitulate, so why not seek refuge there? At the time they did not realize that France was being over run by “Youths” from a “Broad strata” of society, but once they realized this, they needed to find a new homeland.

They set out on the Santa Maria and the Titanic to head to America to make their new lives. The Titanic came upon an iceberg. Commander Riker pleaded with Admiral Adama to fire the photon torpedos and destroy the iceberg, but instead, he sent an “away” team of men in red shirts to negotiate with the iceberg. Icebergs are not rational beings and do not negotiate, so the ship struck the iceberg and sank, passing through a wormhole, and stranding the ship’s crew 75 light years from home.

The Santa Maria landed at Daimler-Chrysler Rock to establish their socialist utopia under President Fidel Castro. This was not conducive to surviving harsh winters and malaria infected summers. Castro outsourced all maize production and customer assistance to India. For the Pilgrims to get so much as an ear of corn, they had to spend hours on the phone with an Indian named “Bob” or “Fred” attempting to decipher the broken English of the sales representative.

After some time passed, the Pilgrims tired of their experiment with communism, and rejected the notion. I’m certain that it went something like this:

“Dude, I am so sick of you hording my granola. That was my granola. I went on a four hour hike to collect all those berries and nuts.”

“Easy Brah. We share here.”

“You offer nothing to share, Brah.”

“Harsh.”

And so it was that the Pilgrims were freed from the repressive shackles of communism. They celebrated by eating a murdered Turkey. They even invited the foreign Indians, because they needed someone to bring the corn. I think the guy said his name was Joe.

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