God’s Total Quality Management Questionnaire

God would like to thank you for your belief and patronage. In order to better serve your needs, He asks that you take a few moments to answer the following questions. Please keep in mind that your responses will be kept completely confidential, and that you need not disclose your name or address unless you prefer a direct response to comments or suggestions.

  1. How did you find out about God?
    ___ Newspaper
    ___ Other Book
    ___ Television
    ___ Divine Inspiration
    ___ Word of Mouth
    ___ Near Death Experience
    ___ Tabloid
    ___ Burning Shrubbery
    ___ Bible
    ___ Torah
    ___ who?
    ___ Other (specify):_________________________
  2. Which model God did you acquire?
    ___ Yahweh
    ___ Father, Son & Holy Ghost Triplet Bundle
    ___ Jehovah
    ___ Jesus
    ___ Allah
    ___ Satan
    ___ God
    ___ None of the above, I was taken in by a false god
    ___ don’t know what you’re talking about.
  3. Did your God come to you undamaged, with all parts in good working order and with no obvious breakage or missing attributes?
    ___ Yes
    ___ No
    If no, please describe the problems you initially encountered here:______________________________
  4. What factors were relevant in your decision to acquire a god? Please check all that apply.
    ___ Indoctrinated by parents
    ___ Needed a reason to live
    ___ Indoctrinated by society
    ___ Needed focus in whom to despise
    ___ Imaginary friend grew up
    ___ Hate to think for myself
    ___ Wanted to meet girls/boys
    ___ Fear of death
    ___ Wanted to piss off parents
    ___ Needed a day away from work
    ___ Desperate need for certainty
    ___ Like Organ Music
    ___ Need to feel Morally Superior
    ___ My shrubbery caught fire and told me to do it
    ___ don’t know
  5. Have you ever worshiped a God before? Is so, which false god were you fooled by? Please check all that apply.
    ___ Odin
    ___ Cthulhu
    ___ Zeus
    ___ The Almighty Dollar
    ___ Apollo
    ___ Left Wing Liberalism
    ___ The Radical Right
    ___ Ra
    ___ Barney T.B.P.D.
    ___ The great Spirit
    ___ The Great Pumpkin
    ___ The Sun
    ___ Barack Obama
    ___ Teemu Selanne
    ___ Lady Gaga
    ___ The Moon
    ___ A burning cabbage
    ___ drugs
    ___ Other: ________________
  6. Are you currently using any other source of inspiration in addition to God? Please check all that apply.
    ___ Tarot
    ___ Lottery
    ___ Astrology
    ___ Television
    ___ Fortune cookies
    ___ Ann Landers
    ___ Psychic Friends Network
    ___ Dianetics
    ___ Self-help books
    ___ Biorhythms
    ___ Alcohol
    ___ Barack Obama
    ___ Teemu Selanne
    ___ Tea Leaves
    ___ EST
    ___ Mantras
    ___ Jimmy Swaggert
    ___ Crystals (not including Crystal Gayle)
    ___ Human Sacrifice
    ___ Pyramids
    ___ Wandering around a desert
    ___ Insurance policies
    ___ Burning Shrubbery
    ___ Barney T.B.P.D.
    ___ Barney Fife
    ___ Other: _____________________
    ___ None
  7. God employs a limited degree of Divine Intervention to preserve the balanced level of felt presence and blind faith. Which would you prefer (circle one)?
    a. More Divine Intervention
    b. Less Divine Intervention
    c. Current level of Divine Intervention is just right
    d. Don’t know…what’s Divine Intervention?
  8. God also attempts to maintain a balanced level of disasters and miracles. Please rate on a scale of 1 – 5 his handling of the following (1=unsatisfactory, 5=excellent):

    a. Disasters:

    flood 1 2 3 4 5
    famine 1 2 3 4 5
    earthquake 1 2 3 4 5
    war 1 2 3 4 5
    pestilence 1 2 3 4 5
    plague 1 2 3 4 5
    SPAM 1 2 3 4 5
    AOL 1 2 3 4 5

    b. Miracles:

    rescues 1 2 3 4 5
    spontaneous remissions 1 2 3 4 5
    stars hovering over towns 1 2 3 4 5
    crying statues 1 2 3 4 5
    water changing to wine 1 2 3 4 5
    walking on water 1 2 3 4 5
    VCRs that set their own clocks 1 2 3 4 5
  • Do you have any additional comments or suggestions for improving the quality of God’s services? (Attach an additional sheet if necessary)
  • If you are able to complete the questionnaire and return it to one of our conveniently located drop-off boxes by August 30 you will be entered in the One Free Miracle of Your Choice drawing (chances of winning are approx. 1×10^256, depending on number of beings entered).

    20 Lausetta

    Jos kuulet jonkun näistä sanottavan ääneen, olet varmasti ulkomailla.

    • “Me voitetaan varmasti Euroviisut”
    • “Kouluruoka on sitten hyvää ja vieläpä ilmaista”
    • “Meillä töitä riittää kyllä ihan jokaiselle!”
    • “Kiva kun istuit viereeni. Mukava tutustua uusiin ihmisiin”
    • “Onpas mukavaa kun täällä on näin paljon väkeä”
    • “Mene vain ohitseni jonossa, sinulla on varmasti kovempi kiire”
    • “Onpas täällä edulliset tuopit”
    • “Taidan jättää juomisen taaskin vain yhteen lasiin”
    • “Ei kiitos enempää alkoholia minulle”
    • “Milloin tää kesä loppuu?”
    • “Olen aina rakastanut pimeyttä”
    • “Ruotsi on mukava maa”
    • “Taidan jättää MM-lätkän tänä vuonna kokonaan väliin”
    • “Olemme naapureiden kanssa hyviä ystäviä”
    • “Arvostan sinua. kiitos kun olet olemassa”
    • “On se mukava, kun joku antaa menestyksensä näkyä”
    • “Kerro lisää siitä, kuinka hyvin sinulla menee”
    • “Suomessa on mahtava julkinen terveydenhuolto”
    • “Kansanedustajille maksetaan kohtuullista palkkaa”
    • “Hallitus on hyvä ja päättäjät viisaita”

    Biblical Spokespersons

    What if biblical characters could be recruited as high-tech promoters? Consider the following tech advocates and their ad slogans:

    • Noah for Match.com:
      We can find a mate for anything. Why not you?
    • Moses for the Excedrin Headache Resource Center (Excedrin.com):
      Take two tablets and call me in the morning.
    • The dove for UPS.com:
      Guaranteed delivery in 40 days and 40 nights.
    • Adam and Eve for Dell:
      No Apples for us. We’ve learned the hard way.
    • Solomon for Microsoft:
      Don’t cut the baby in half.
    • Joseph for Nikon Coolpix:
      Only Nikon can capture the 36-bit color of my megapixel dreamcoat.
    • Methuselah for AARP.org:
      Life begins at 960.
    • John the Baptist for DunkinDonuts.com:
      You’ll be head over heels for our new Munchkin platter.
    • Pharaoh for Symantec:
      If only we’d had Norton AntiPlague 2002 in 2002 … B.C.E.
    • Job for NASDAQ:
      ‘Nuff said.

    Ways to Get Rid of Telephone Solicitors

    Bizarre things to say and do to a telephone solicitor to get him to hang up and leave you alone:

    • “So, what are you wearing?”
    • Talk very quietly and then without warning, scream as loud as you can into the phone.
    • “You’ll have to excuse me now, my armpit is on fire.”
    • “I’m sorry, but this phone is for personal calls only. The boss won’t let us use it for business.”
    • Respond to their questions with fax/modem noises.
    • “Have you heard about that study showing that it can cause impotence to sit all day with a telephone receiver next to your head?”
    • When they ask to speak with you, say “Just a moment,” and give the phone to your six-year old child to carry on the conversation.
    • Pretend to be very interested in their product and then quite calmly and earnestly inquire, “Yes, but can it make a six minute casserole?”
    • “I am truly sorry but the moon is in the seventh house of Pluto and my astrologer would just die if he knew I was talking to a salesman during this solar phase.”
    • “This isn’t a recording. This isn’t a recording. This isn’t a recording. This isn’t a recording.”

    Fun Things to do at Wal-Mart

    1. Take shopping carts for the express purpose of filling them and stranding them at strategic locations.
    2. Ride those little electronic cars at the front of the store.
    3. Set all the alarm clocks to go off at ten minute intervals throughout the day.
    4. Start playing Calvinball; see how many people you can get to join in.
    5. Contaminate the entire auto department by sampling all the spray air fresheners.
    6. Challenge other customers to duels with tubes of gift wrap.
    7. Leave cryptic messages on the typewriters.
    8. Re-dress the mannequins as you see fit.
    9. When there are people behind you, walk REALLY SLOW, especially thin narrow aisles.
    10. Walk up to an employee and tell him in an official tone, “I think we’ve got a Code 3 in Housewares,” and see what

      happens.

    11. Tune all the radios to a polka station; then turn them all off and turn the volumes to “10”.
    12. Play with the automatic doors.
    13. Walk up to complete strangers and say, “Hi! I haven’t seen you in so long!…” etc. See if they play along to avoid

      embarrassment.

    14. While walking through the clothing department, ask yourself loud enough for all to hear, “Who BUYS this crap,

      anyway?”

    15. Repeat Number 14 in the jewelry department.
    16. Ride a display bicycle through the store; claim you’re taking it for a “test drive.”
    17. Follow people through the aisles, always staying about five feet away. Continue to do this until they leave the

      department.

    18. Play soccer with a group of friends, using the entire store as your playing field.
    19. As the cashier runs your purchases over the scanner, look mesmerized and say, “Wow. Magic!”
    20. Put M&M’s on layaway.
    21. Move “Caution: Wet Floor” signs to carpeted areas.
    22. Set up a tent in the camping department; tell others you’ll only invite them in if they bring pillows from Bed and Bath.
    23. Test the fishing rods and see what you can “catch” from the other aisles.
    24. Ask other customers if they have any Grey Poupon.
    25. Drape a blanket around your shoulders and run around saying, “…I’m Batman. Come, Robin–to the Batcave!”
    26. TP as much of the store as possible.
    27. Randomly throw things over into neighboring aisles.
    28. Play with the calculators so that they all spell “hello” upside down.
    29. When someone asks if you need help, begin to cry and ask, “Why won’t you people just leave me alone?”
    30. When two or three people are walking ahead of you, run between them, yelling, “Red Rover!”
    31. Make up nonsense products and ask newly hired employees if there are any in stock, i.e., “Do you have any Shnerples

      here?”

    32. Take up an entire aisle in Toys by setting up a full scale battlefield with G.I. Joes vs. the X-Men.
    33. Take bets on the battle described above.
    34. Nonchalantly “test” the brushes and combs in Cosmetics.
    35. While handling guns in the hunting department, suddenly ask the clerk if he knows where the anti-depressants are. Act as

      spastic as possible.

    36. Hold indoor shopping cart races.
    37. Dart around suspiciously while humming the theme from “Mission: Impossible.”
    38. Attempt to fit into very large gym bags.
    39. Attempt to fit others into very large gym bags.
    40. Say things like, “Would you be so kind as to direct me to your Twinkies?”
    41. Set up a “Valet Parking” sign in front of the store.
    42. Two words: “Marco Polo.”
    43. Leave Cheerios in Lawn and Garden, pillows in the pet food aisle, etc.
    44. “Re-alphabetize” the CD’s in Electronics.
    45. In the auto department, practice your “Madonna” look with various funnels.
    46. When someone steps away from their cart to look at something, quickly make off with it without saying a word.
    47. Relax in the patio furniture until you get kicked out.
    48. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream, “No, no! It’s those voices

      again!”

    49. Pay off layaways fifty cents at a time.
    50. Drag a lounge chair on display over to the magazines and relax. If the store has a food court, buy a soft drink; explain that you

      don’t get out much, and ask if they can put a little umbrella in it.

    *BONUS* Attempt all of the above during the same visit.

    Top 98 Ways To Order A Pizza

    Posted on Rec.Humor By: Robert Wilson (robert_wilson@chiphead.vaxxine.com)
    1. If using a touch-tone, press random numbers while ordering. Ask the person taking the order to stop doing that.
    2. Make up a charge-card name. Ask if they accept it.
    3. Use CB lingo where applicable.
    4. Order a Big Mac Extra Value Meal.
    5. Terminate the call with, “Remember, we never had this conversation.”
    6. Tell the order taker a rival pizza place is on the other line and you’re going with the lowest bidder.
    7. Give them your address, exclaim “Oh, just surprise me!” and hang up.
    8. Answer their questions with questions.
    9. In your breathiest voice, tell them to cut the crap about nutrition and ask if they have something outlandishly sinful.
    10. Use these bonus words in the conversation: ROBUST FREE-SPIRITED COST-EFFICIENT UKRAINIAN PUCE.
    11. Tell them to put the crust on top this time.
    12. Sing the order to the tune of your favorite song from Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” CD.
      “Chop your pizza on a mirror!”
      “Master! Master! Put pepperoni on my pizza!”
      “Gimme pizza! You will do what I say, when I say Gimme pizza!”
    13. Do not name the toppings you want. Rather, spell them out.
    14. Put an extra edge in your voice when you say “crazy bread.”
    15. Stutter on the letter “p.”
    16. Ask for a deal available somewhere else. (If phoning Domino’s, ask for a CheeserCheeser!)
    17. Ask what the order taker is wearing.
    18. Crack your knuckles into the receiver.
    19. Say hello, act stunned for five seconds, then behave as if they called you. Rattle off your order with a determined air. If they ask if you would like drinks with that, panic and become disoriented.
    20. Tell the order taker you’re depressed. Get him/her to cheer you up.
    21. Make a list of exotic cuisines. Order them as toppings.
    22. Change your accent every three seconds.
    23. Order 52 pepperoni slices prepared in a fractal pattern as follows from an equation you are about to dictate. Ask if they need paper.
    24. Act like you know the order taker from somewhere. Say “Bed-Wetters’ Camp, right?”
    25. Start your order with “I’d like…” A little later, slap yourself and say “No, I don’t.”
    26. If they repeat the order to make sure they have it right, say “OK. That’ll be $10.99; please pull up to the first window.”
    27. Rent a pizza.
    28. Order while using an electric knife sharpener.
    29. Ask if you get to keep the pizza box. When they say yes, heave a sigh of relief.
    30. Put the accent on the last syllable of “pepperoni.” Use the long “i” sound.
    31. Have your pizza “shaken, not stirred.”
    32. Say “Are you sure this is (Pizza Place)? When they say yes, say “Well, so is this! You’ve got some explaining to do!” When they finally offer proof that it is, in fact, (Pizza Place), start to cry and ask, “Do you know what it’s like to be lied to?”
    33. Move the mouthpiece farther and farther from your lips as you speak. When the call ends, jerk the mouthpiece back into place and scream goodbye at the top of your lungs.
    34. Tell them to double-check to make sure your pizza is, in fact, dead.
    35. Imitate the order taker’s voice.
    36. Eliminate verbs from your speech.
    37. When they say “What would you like?” say, “Huh? Oh, you mean now.”
    38. Play a guitar in the background.
    39. Say it’s your anniversary and you’d appreciate if the deliverer hid behind some furniture waiting for your spouse to arrive so you can surprise him/her.
    40. Amuse the order taker with little-known facts about country music.
    41. Ask to see a menu.
    42. Quote Carl Sandberg.
    43. Say you’ll be able to pay for this when the movie people call back.
    44. Ask if they have any idea what is at stake with this pizza.
    45. Ask what topping goes best with well-aged Chardonnay.
    46. Belch directly into the mouthpiece; then tell your dog it should be ashamed.
    47. Order a slice, not a whole pizza.
    48. Shout “I’m through with men/women! Send me a dozen of your best, Gaston!”
    49. Doze off in the middle of the order, catch yourself, and say “Where was I? Who are you?”
    50. Psychoanalyze the order taker.
    51. Ask what their phone number is. Hang up, call them, and ask again.
    52. Order two toppings, then say, “No, they’ll start fighting.”
    53. Learn to properly pronounce the ingredients of a Twinkie. Ask that these be included.
    54. Call to complain about service. Later, call to say you were drunk and didn’t mean it.
    55. Tell the order taker to tell the manager to tell his supervisor he’s fired.
    56. Report a petty theft to the order taker.
    57. Use expletives like “Great Caesar’s Ghost” and “Jesus Joseph and Mary in Tinsel Town.”
    58. Ask for the guy who took your order last time.
    59. If he/she suggests anything, adamantly declare, “I shall not be swayed by your sweet words.”
    60. Wonder aloud if you should trim those nose hairs.
    61. Try to talk while drinking something.
    62. Start the conversation with “My Call to (Pizza Place), Take 1, and… action!”
    63. Ask if the pizza is organically grown.
    64. Ask about pizza maintenance and repair.
    65. Be vague in your order.
    66. When they repeat your order, say “Again, with a little more OOMPH this time.”
    67. If using a touch-tone press 9-1-1 every 5 seconds throughout the order.
    68. After ordering, say “I wonder what THIS button on the phone does.” Simulate a cutoff.
    69. Start the conversation by reciting today’s date and saying, “This may be my last entry.”
    70. State your order and say that’s as far as this relationship is going to get.
    71. Ask if they’re familiar with the term “spanking a pizza.” Make up a description to go with the term. Ask that this be done to your pizza.
    72. Say “Kssssssssssssssht” rather loudly into the phone. Ask if they felt that.
    73. Detect the order taker’s psychic aura. Use it to your advantage.
    74. When listing toppings you want on your pizza, include another pizza.
    75. Learn to play a blues riff on the harmonica. Stop talking at regular intervals to play it.
    76. Ask if they would like to sample your pizza. Suggest an even trade.
    77. Perfect a celebrity’s voice. Stress that you won’t take any crap from some two-bit can’t-hack-it pimple-faced gofer.
    78. Put them on hold.
    79. Teach the order taker a secret code. Use the code on all subsequent orders.
    80. Mumble, “There’s a bomb under your seat.” When asked to repeat that, say, “I said ‘sauce smothered with meat’.”
    81. Make the first topping you order mushrooms. Make the last thing you say “No mushrooms, please.” Hang up before they have a chance to respond.
    82. When the order is repeated, change it slightly. When it is repeated again, change it again. On the third time, say “You just don’t get it, do you?”
    83. When you’re given the price, say “Ooooooo, that sounds complicated. I hate math.”
    84. Haggle.
    85. Order a one-inch pizza.
    86. Order term life insurance.
    87. When they say “Will that be all?”, snicker and say “We’ll find out, won’t we?”
    88. Order with a Speak-n-Spell where applicable.
    89. Ask how many dolphins were killed to make that pizza.
    90. While on the phone, fake entering puberty. Fluctuate pitch often; act embarrassed.
    91. Engage in some serious swapping.
    92. Dance all around the word “pizza.” Avoid saying it at all costs. If he/she says it, say “Please don’t mention that word.”
    93. Have a movie with a good car chase scene playing loudly in the background. Yell “OW!” when a bullet is fired.
    94. If he/she suggests a side order, ask why he/she is punishing you.
    95. Ask if the pizza has had its shots.
    96. Order a steamed pizza.
    97. Get taker’s name. Later, call exactly on the hour to say, “This is your (time of day) wake-up call, So-and-so.” Hang up.
    98. Offer to pay for the pizza with a public flogging. If any of the above practices are rejected by the order taker, say, in your best pouty voice, “Last guy let me do it.”

    Ways to Make Your Neighbor Move

    • Order pizza and other food to their house and pick it up at their doorstep claiming that you don’t have a phone.
    • Stand over the plants in your yard with a hose and scream, “I have your life in my hands, bow down to me!”. Then point at each one and declare them good or bad plants, while watering the bad ones.
    • Bring them restraining orders on inanimate objects in their house. (i.e., chairs, books, lamps, etc.)
    • Ask them if you can put your trash in their cans, if they ask why say, “Mine are full of bodies,” then stutter and say, “I uh mean other garbage,” walk away laughing hysterically.
    • Patrol the perimeter of your yard while carrying a broom. If they come close state that there is a 3 foot neutral area between the two yards.
    • At night transplant the plants in their garden. In the morning say, “looks like they’re on the move again.”
    • When they’re watching TV, pull a lawn chair behind their window. Sit down with popcorn and a drink and ask them if they could open a window so you can hear too.
    • Build snowmen with name tags of your neighbors each day hack off a different part of their body.
    • Use your TV remote to change the channels on their TV from outside. If asked why, say you protest such programs. (The more educational the program the better.)
    • Dig shallow graves at night filling your yard with brown grave patches. Make markers out of household appliances.

    50 Fun Things to do in a Mall

    by Alan Meiss

    Note: Any resemblance of names in this article to actual large powerful corporations capable of destroying mere mortal humans like sparrows in a jet turbine is, um, pure coincidence. Really.


    1. Ride mechanical horses with coins fished out of the reflecting pond.
    2. Try pants on backwards at the Grap. Ask the salesperson if they make your butt look big.
    3. Dial 900 numbers from demonstration phones in Radio Shlock.
    4. Sneeze on the sample tray at Heckory Farms and helpfully volunteer to consume its now unwanted contents.
    5. At the bottom of an escalator, scream “MY SHOELACES! AAAGH!”
    6. Ask the sales personnel at the music store whether inflated CD prices are in pesos or rubles.
    7. Teach pet store parrots new vocabulary that makes them unsalable.
    8. Stomp on ketchup packets at Burger Queen…
    9. …but save a few to slurp on as snacks. Tell people that they’re “astronaut food”.
    10. Follow patrons of D. Balton’s around while reading aloud from Dianetics.
    11. Ask mall cops for stories of World War I.
    12. Ask a salesman why a particular TV is labeled black and white and insist that it’s a color set. When he disagrees, give him a strange look and say, “You mean you really can’t see it?”
    13. Construct a new porch deck in the tool department of Snears.
    14. Wear pancake makeup and new clothes and pose as a fashion dummy in clothes departments, occasionally screaming without warning.
    15. Test mattresses in your pajamas.
    16. Ask the tobaccanist if his hovercraft is full of eels.
    17. If you’re patient, stare intently into a surveillance camera for an hour while rocking from side to side.
    18. Sprint up the down escalator.
    19. Stare at static on a display TV and challenge other shoppers whether they, too, can see the “hidden picture”.
    20. Ask appliance personnel if they have any TVs that play only in Spanish.
    21. Make unusual requests at the Piercing Pagoda.
    22. Ask a salesperson in the hardware department how well a particular saw cuts through bone.
    23. At the pet store, ask if they have bulk discounts on gerbils, and whether there’s much meat on them.
    24. Hula dance by the demonstration air conditioner.
    25. Ask for red-tinted lenses at the optometrist.
    26. Sneak up on saleswomen at the perfume counter and spray *them* with your own bottle of Eau de Swanke.
    27. Rummage through the jelly bean bin at the candy store, insisting that you lost a contact lens.
    28. Ask a saleswoman whether a particular shade of panties matches the color of your beard.
    29. In the changing rooms, announce in a singsong voice, “I see London, I see France…”
    30. Leave on the plastic string connecting a new pair of shoes, and wander around the mall taking two-inch steps.
    31. Play the tuba for change.
    32. Ask the Hamond organ dealer if he can play “Jesus Built My Hotrod”.
    33. Record belches on electronic sampling keyboards, and perform gastric versions of Jingle Bells for admiring onlookers.
    34. Ask the pharmacist at the drugstore which leading cold remedy will “give you a really wicked buzz”.
    35. Ask the personnel at Pier 1 Imports whether they have “any giant crap made out of straw”.
    36. “Toast” plastic gag hot dogs in front of the fake fireplace display.
    37. Collect stacks of paint brochures and hand them out as religious tracts.
    38. Ask the information desk for a stroller, and someone to push you around in it.
    39. Change every TV in the electronics department to a station showing “Saved by the Bell”. Chant the dialogue in a robotic voice, and scream if anyone tries to switch channels on one of the sets.
    40. Hang out in the waterbed section of the furniture department wearing a Navy uniform. Occasionally run around in circles yelling “scratch one flattop!”
    41. Hand a stack of pants back to the changing room attendant and scornfully announce that none of them are “leakproof”.
    42. “Play” the demo modes of video games at the arcade. Make lots of explosion noises.
    43. Stand transfixed in front of a mirror bobbing your head up and down.
    44. Pay for all your purchases with two-dollar bills to provoke arguments over whether they’re real.
    45. If it’s Christmas, ask the mall Santa to sit on *your* lap.
    46. Answer any unattended service phones that ring in department stores and say “Domino’s.”
    47. Try on flea collars at the pet store while occasionally pausing to scratch yourself.
    48. At the stylist, ask to have the hair on your back permed.
    49. Show people your driver’s license and demand to know “whether they’ve seen this man.”

    50. Buy a jawbreaker from the candy store. Return fifteen minutes later, fish it out of your mouth, and demand to know why it hasn’t turned blue yet.

    An Ultimate M&M Challenge

    Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels. Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the “loser,” and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.

    I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world. Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointer, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment. When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd.

    Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 USA, along with a 3×5 card reading, “Please use this M&M for breeding purposes.”

    This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this “grant money.” I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion.

    There can be only one…

    How To Get Rid of Telemarketers

    <RRRrrrrinnggg!>

    “Hello?”

    “Hello! Mr. Michaels?”

    “Speaking.”

    “How are you today?”

    “OK so far…”

    “My name is Debbie from Pointless Industries, and I’m calling to offer you a fabulous new offer that we are offering….”

    “Who is this really?”

    “My name is Debbie from—“

    “How did you get this number?”

    “Well.. you are on our list of preferred—“

    <urgent whisper> “Listen to me, and listen good! You tell Hugo and his goons I lived up to my end of the deal! I cut up the bodies like he said, I ditched the car like he said, now I’m out of it, understand? You tell him he bothers me or my family again and I take everything I know to the Man, and don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about!”

    <hang up>