The March of Progress: Haduary 2007

megastring

Newton got you down? Did Einstein get into your brain like sand in your swim trunks? Are you tired of the same old, day-to-day physics of string theory, M-theory, and the intensely adjectival super-string theory? Throw those theories in the dustbin and look no further! Megastring theory is here to take your physics to the next level.

Megastring theory is not for the faint-of-heart. It’s not for the weak-willed or the past-their-prime. Megastring theory is not on the path to the theory of everything. Oh no. Megastring theory is the theory of everything, the Holy Grail of Physics. Let me tell you how you can tap into the awesome power of Megastring theory. There are no complicated equations here, just eleven easy steps to Universal understanding. Are you ready to dive into the rest of your life? Let me tell you how.

1. Space is not just multi-dimensional, pan-dimensional or other word then dash dimensionals. In fact, it consists of exactly 1,409 spatial dimensions, 13 temporal dimensions, and four dimensions of a consistency with over-cooked spaghetti. These dimensions are not folded up. In fact, they can be found in an old cigare box in Mortimer J. Jacobson’s basement. Most smell of fresh apricots, though at least two could be considered more of a dried plum.
2. Most of these dimensions are inhabited by what looks like, and in fact is, stupid pudding. Also, there are eels there. The eels eat the pudding and then excrete gravity. What holds you to the Earth is hyperspatial eel poop. It’s a fact.
3. The 695th dimension consists entirely of a two-fingered old woman with no name. Two comical gnomes constantly antagonize her: Shortimer and Flango. Shortimer and Flango are always trying to steal the vast cold-cut and sliced-cheese spreads the anonymous woman has put out for her dinner guests who never arrive. These guests do not arrive because they learned early on that there were no cold-cuts or sliced-cheeses when they arrived. Though the old woman attempts to stop them, Shortimer and Flango invariably outsmart her and all the cunningly complicated traps she lays for them. In fact, they are only cunning by comparison to members of her species with one finger because her specie’s brain is located within each of the digits of its hand. The interaction between the woman and the gnomes creates meta-friction which produces the pudding people mentioned in point #2. When Shortimer sneezes, it creates the weak nuclear force. When Flango breaks wind, it creates the strong nuclear force.
4. All pudding people, eels, gnomes, and old women exist because of the interaction of a pot and a kettle in the 501st dimension. As each goes back and forth calling the other black, the other beings are maintained via the interaction of the pot and kettle’s negritons, allowing the gnomes to exist.
5. Made of marble, the 45th dimension is covered in cheese which is often smacked by a hammers wielded by tiny elephants. The cheese, thus stricken, vibrates, producing ventricles, or the particles apparent in lower dimensions such as ours. This is also where Madam No-Name Two-Fingers gets the cheese for her platters. The tiny elephants are not pleased about this, but being so tiny there is very little they can do about it.
6. Electromagnetism is there also.
7. Gravity, electricity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces are all mixed in a bowl and stirred regularly by Isis, who is mayor of the 1000th dimension. They are slowly poured into our dimension, which has already been greased around the edges, but not before mischievous, sentient catamarans decide to inject magnetism into the mix, much to the bedevilment of Isis.
8. The universe came into being because of the above mentioned things.
9. Once Flango and Shortimer eat all the cold-cuts, all the electromagnetic forces in the universe will begin to flow upside down, and the strong nuclear force eventually disappears.
10. Because the cause of Flango’s sneezing was actually a reaction with the extra-dimensional pepper molecules found in Shortimer’s flatulence as a result of his consumption of cold-cuts, the weak nuclear force will also eventually disappear.
11. CAUTION: Should gravity for some reason invert someone should go to Mortimer J. Jacobson’s basement and shake the cigar box. Not too hard, though. That should right everything and help recharge the universe. Do it a bit to the left, too, as I’d like to wake up perpetually to the smell of strawberries.

And that’s it. The universe in a nutshell. Megastring may seem complex or counter-intuitive, but remember that it has ten times more empirical evidence for it than super string does. 10 times zero is still zero.

News of the World: Haduary 2007

primary

With the 2008 Presidential Election only fifteen months away, the American-Freedom Party frontrunners have converged on the new state of Willinois in anticipation of Mega-Marsday when eleven states (roughly 11/6oths of the total number of states) hold their official primary. While recent Gallup polls have given Free-American party incumbent Dick Armstrong an 87% approval rating, the American Freedom party candidates seem ready for the challenge.

Alaska’s junior senator Robert Shoemaker shot out to an early lead when he openly criticized President Dick Armstrong’s handling of the Noodle Incident. But, Shoemaker lost in the polls to Ponderada Governor Mary Tarzan after being killed by the rabid wolverines he routinely carries in a specially contracted backpack.

In Calvert, Accadia last week Governor Tarzan appeared for a meet-and-greet with important members of the beef jerky industry. While stacking flatware in an artful way, Governor Tarzan expounded, via haiku poetry, on the need for real solutions to the growing Oboe Crisis. After taking several photographs of figs, she answered questions from a seamstress and a clerk named Stephen, before repairing a unicycle and dancing the flamenco with several members of the Valve Lobby.

Tarzan gained the American-Party lead by announcing, earlier this week, her four point strategy for her proposed Embettering America Plan. The plan includes increased soup exports to Slovenia, demanding that Europe abandon A4 for letter sized paper, a 15% increase in north-bound Amtrak service and a mandatory national curfew of 9pm, so that people don’t wake up all grumpy. Other candidates, such as Ohio congressman Mitch Damage were quick to attack Tarzan’s soup export strategy. In a series of attack, the Committee to Elect Damage (CED) endlessly repeated their extra catchy slogan “Slovenia has enough soup for now and we do not need to send more at this time.” Later ads set the slogan to a ragtime tune for added political power.

While Tarzan has refrained from name-calling, Katharinetowne mayor G. Thomas Borden has publicly referred to Damage as a milquesop, an act which earned both Borden and Damage a half-point poll increase. At a recent meet and greet in Tarpaulin, CA, Damage and his entourage took time off from a tour of bowling pin factories to stop off for an asparagus brunch at the local Milquesop Café where he posed for a silhouette and demonstrated his finance skills by balancing hardboiled eggs. Not one to be undone by amateur theatrics, Tarzan appeared at the nearby Dutch Omelet House where she demonstrated her knowledge of foreign affairs by wolfing down seven plates of Belgian waffles and nine cups of Irish coffee. Staggering about the café afterwards, Governor Tarzan called her opponents “a bunch of reactionary f***tards with the combined intellectual capacity of a wet hammer.”

Dark horse candidate Lurien Prut disproved this later in the day by organizing a game-show style contest where he, Damage and Borden went head to head against a wet hammer in a test of geography knowledge. While only Borden was able to name the capital of California, the wet hammer failed to score a single point, despite its being redunked in a bucket several times throughout the showdown. Afterward, Borden distributed free “Ponderada Sucks” promotional kites, a move which earned him several points in Ponderada, the Humble State.

Former Vice President Al Page, bedecked in a sequin jumpsuit and special Vice Presidential helmet, visited a convention of yolk-separators early Tuesday morning and followed with an afternoon of miniature golf. After going twelve above par on the difficult Eiffel Tower hole, Page held an impromptu press conference. When asked what he thought of Armstrong’s presidency, Page paused to collect his thoughts and cram several dozen coffee beans into his mouth before launching into a four hour diatribe during which time he explained, in great detail, the inadequacy of the White House soaps and lotions. He explained that, when visiting, he was forced to bring his own soap and proceeded to pass it around for sampling and sniffing before breaking into an impromptu jig. Afterward, Page flapped his arms several times, wrapped himself in a blanket and ran away.

election poll

Of course, recent polls have Vice President Page trailing Field Marshal Rupert Olive by as many as two points. The war hero who led the Good Guy armies to victory in the War has yet to officially announce his candidacy, but when asked if he will run has repeatedly responded by winking coyly, smiling, and patting the papers in his breast pocket. Many pundits believe that Olive could lead the American-Freedom Party to the White House, despite Olive’s close connections with the Armstrong administration and rumors of his addiction to spoon collecting.

On Wednesday afternoon, the five American-Freedom party candidates Page, Prut, Tarzan, Damage and Borden met at the Calcium Flats Convention Center on the outskirts of Pinkerton, PA for the first in a series of eight debates. While not officially invited to the debate, Platha State Union candidate Alexandra Hague turned up anyway, but was not allowed to enter after she refused to check her firearms at the door.

Thus far, President Armstrong has been biding his time before beginning his reelection campaign, instead focusing on the escalating situation in Alberta. But for the American-Freedom hopefuls, it’s ready, set, go for the start of what appears to be an exciting race.

Letters: Haduary 2007

Written Correspondences from Good Natured Gentlemen Who Have Read Our Previous Installments and Wish to Comment on Some Aspects Thereof

Hey Mouthbreathers,
Why you gotta make fun of people all the time? You used to be so awesome with all the naked chicks and articles about what the government is hiding from us. You sold out dudes. You just took all that money you got and ran. It’s magazines like you that ruin it for everyone else when you could do great stuff. I hope you all catch on fire and that thing that happens when people catch on fire happens to you.
Simon Enderby
Pylon, PL

Esteemed Editors,
I tried to teach myself long division, but it makes no sense. Okay, first you already have to know how to do division, before you even start. Not only that, but you have to do subtraction at the same time to find out how many units are left over. Then you ignore those units. Next you have to do more subtraction and, mysteriously, move one number down from the number from which you’re trying to divide. This is repeated until one receives an incorrect answer, at which point one scribbles out the math and figures it out in one’s head. Long division is completely stupid.
Henry Wolkowicz
Waterloo, Ontario

Dear Axes & Alleys,
For several years now I have visited many different libraries throughout the world, each of which features books. Some of these books are on the subject of geography while others explain about kites and kite history. When building a kite, it is important to remember about wind currents and strings, in that a kite functions as the opposite of a marionette puppet. One floats on strings and other hangs on string. That reminds me of the delicious snack of string cheese. Since when did cheese become bad for you? It makes me wonder, because all this nonsense about cholesterol makes me shiver on cold nights. Those nights make me wonder about the phrase “why be a human being when you could be a human doing.” And what I intend to do is read a book about string.
William “Billy” Corgan
Chicago, IL

Dear Ms. D.R. Grunion,
It has come to my attention that Charles III was never recognized as a legitimate king of England, which I think is unfortunate, because I have a number of official Charles III collectors’ coins that I got from a pizza restaurant. It seems that now these are worthless. Oh well, I suppose I’ll just put them in the drawer with the rest of my pretender coins.
Michelle Turring
Woodside, NY

To the Editors,
Why does Axes & Alleys, the world’s premier tractor repair and maintenance magazine, not publish an article with accurate information and beautiful pictures of glowfish? Glowfish are an amazing denizen of the aquatic depths. And they glow in the dark! That’s absolutely amazing and I think that a lot of people would be interested in knowing more about glowfish. Why not give the people what they want? The people want to know about glowfish and see glowfish pictures. Sure, glowfish are just something I made up, but still, how is anyone going to learn about my imaginary glowing ichthyoids without you writing about them. Glowfish are cool. They glow and they’re fish! Glowfish.
Euripides Smith, Jr.
Moscow, Russia.

Dear Axes & Alleys,
Your article on history was really offensive. The name of G-d was spelled out several times.
Lister Bertenberg
Tel Aviv, Israel

Dear Axes & Alleys,
It’s so cool. I’m up all high and can even see my house from here. Amazing.
Erin Pigiron
Toronto, Canada

Dear Axes & Alleys,
I recently ordered two double packs of your super-cheesy pinto bean salad concentrate. I am incredibly unhappy with your first foray into the consumer goods sector of the economy.
Betsy Constable
Hanna, PL

To the editors,
I was incredibly upset that I received your Arab-language version in the mails the other day. I am also quite dubious as to your claims to publish a Linear A version of the magazine.
C.R. Floyd
Cambridge, UK

Dear Axes & Alleys,
Could you please tell me who the young woman in your fire escape sticker is (Volume 456-BR8, Issue 07)? I think she’s totally tubular and I also enjoy fire escapes. Unless she’s clip art. In which case it would be really pointless to get her name since it’s probably just some file name like DSC389543.jpg. Unless you use .png, of course. Please tell me you don’t use .gif, though.
Albermarle Johnson
Pembroke, ID

Introduction: Haduary 2007

Fox 5 News Rockstar Anne Craig

Here at Axes & Alleys, we understand that there were nine great inventions that truly changed the world; gunpowder, movable type printing, the stirrup, writing, the steam engine, agriculture, digital encoding, the compass, and smelting. And, of course, all of these inventions were created for one reason: to impress girls.

Of course, there’s one girl that definitely deserves to be impressed and that girl is none other than Ms. Anne Craig. Each morning, she spreads cheer through her job and we, the Axes & Alleys editorial staff, think that people should try to invent new things to impress Anne Craig.

Think of what humanity could create; flying cars, jet packs, laser blasters, spaceships, a cure for cancer, robots and what not. There would be so many benefits to humanity if our current would-be Thomas Edisons would get off their collective asses and start trying to impress Anne Craig. C’mon, inventors, let’s get cracking.

xxx ooo

Delores R. Grunion
Editor-in-Chief

The Haduary Cover Girl: Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

Like all good Americans, the lovely Kate Winslet is a British Actress.