Comics.Com:Frazz

And why do I find this amusing?

Let me tell you 'bout my best friend:

A subscriber called the local phone company to report her telephone often failed to ring when her friends called, and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repair technician went to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed a pole, hooked in his test set to the phone line, and dialed the subscriber's house.

The phone didn't ring right away. Eventually, the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring.

1. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
2. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
3. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
4. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.
5. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
6. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.
   

This demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Friday, Feb. 27 - At 7:23 p.m., a woman reported that her ex-boyfriend threatened to burn any mail for her that comes to his home, which is her former residence.

You don't have to call the local police. The words 'federal offense' should settle the matter quickly. If not, a call to the local post office will set the wheels of justice in motion.

What happens in the event horizon stays in the event horizon.<sup>1

1</sup> "A black hole's mass is concentrated at a point called a singularity. Surrounding the singularity is a theoretical sphere called the event horizon. The event horizon marks the 'point of no return', a boundary that, if crossed, inevitably leads falling matter and radiation towards the singularity. This sphere is a kind of spatial extension of the black hole."
Why do I have to explain everything to you? If you're intelligent enough to find and read Truth For Dummies, you shouldn't need all these footnotes.

canuck
n. resident or former resident of Canada
v. (transitive) to end every sentence with "Eh?"

Ya gotta love them Canucks. As any good friend would do, when the USA derails itself, Canada is there as a friend (but not as an enabler). The Canadians are first to offer kind words no matter what we do, and never publicly judge us. Canada doesn't complain when US citizens travel the world in drag, as Canadians. This is because when the USA manages to offend the rest of the world, countries eagerly accept Canadian tourists. As a result, Americans abroad downplay their USAness, instead sporting Maple Leaf logos.

Canadians are the most polite, most considerate people in the world. Recently, former USA president Bush 43 (one of the world's most despised people), visited Calgary, Alberta. Canucks did turn out to protest his visit. It was history's most peaceful anti-Bush protest. To the extend that things 'got out of hand,' Mounties (or perhaps local police) had to intervene. But consider the intervention: on TV we witnessed 2 or 3 police officers pushing a protester backwards, away from the Bush entourage. After pushing 15-20 feet (4.54 - 6.06 metres), the cops released the guy and turned to walk back to the protesters' picket line. And the Canuck turned and walked the other way.

Let's face it: in the USA (especially Los Angeles), the odds were about 2:1 that the protester would have been Tasered, beaten to near or beyond Traumatic Brain Injury, and carted off to jail, bloodied, bruised, and concussed. If the guy collapsed or died in jail, it would have been because "he fell in a drunken stupor and bumped his head on the soft walls or floor of his comfortable well-lit cell."

Ah, those Canucks.... ya gotta love 'em.

CAUTION: all bets are off if you hand a hockey stick to a Canadian.

forte (n)

1. The realistic meaning: the part of a sword or foil blade that is between the middle and the hilt. It is the strongest part of the blade.

2. The metaphorical meaning: one's strengths or strong points, e.g., writing or critical thinking or baseball. If you were "a lover, not a fighter," your forte would be romance.

Some people start an awkward chat with something like "What do you do?" There are two implications behind that expression:

1. "Do" means "occupation," as in "what's your job"?
2. One's occupation or job defines (and perhaps even limits) the person.
   

"What's your forte" is often used as an alternative opener in a conversation with a stranger. That question asks "what are your best or favorite skills and interests?"

The implications associated with "what do you do?" are not a problem when instead inquiring about someone's favorite topic. The forte question tends to elicit more interesting responses. Besides, many people are not comfortable talking about the 9-to-5 part of their lives. Everyone is happy when asked about - and getting to talk about - their sources of pride and pleasure.

The problem is not the concepts described above. The problem is the pronunciation of forte.

Optional pronunciations include for-tay and fort. The word's etymology is both French and Italian. Hence, the multiple ways of making the word roll off your tongue. You can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. Both, however, are standard.

To look it up yourself, try http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forte

Truth For Dummies.com: we get your jokes.

However, we don't feel obligated to grace, with our honored laughter, "jokes" which are silly, vulgur, or demeaning to anyone (that's anyone, anywhere, except reactionaries and other conservatives).

• Today's Tune Cootie ¹   Landslide
  Listen to a snippet of Stevie Nick's version (the original) or the Dixie Chicks' cover - and get your very own tune cootie ¹ ... or get two tune cooties, tag-teaming your brain.

twitter
n. a primitive language in which every expression can contain no more than 140 characters (actually it's 140 bytes).
v. (transitive) to 'communicate' in Twitter

Twitter is a derivative of Valley Girl, another primitive language. Both will soon be extinct. The Twitter way of attempting to communicate is as unique as (but less interesting than) the language of Kalahari bushmen. Much of the bushmen's verbal communication consists of clicking sounds. In Twitter, the 'speaker' pretends to 'say' something worthwhile making gestures with the thumbs. The 'listener' reads the thumb gestures using a miniature LCD screen.

Twitter messages range from the banal to the ridiculous. That is to be expected when Twitterers are incapable of having or expressing thoughts longer than 140 characters.

An example of Twitter's inanity happened during a recent speech by the President of the United States, speaking before a joint session of Congress. Several Congressional reps [ mostly with "(R-)" ] after their names, Twittered - instead of paying attention to the President. For example, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour."

During that same speech, other (R-)icans twittered to Bobby Jindal, who gave the (R-) response to the President's speech. Some say that Jindal used the Twittered screed to create parts of his speech.That (R-) response was widely panned by pundits, ordinary people, and fellow members of the (R-) party. Some have suggested that Jindal's speech will be the low point (if not the end of) his political career.

Perhaps he should have 'spoken' in Twitter.

To sum it up, Twitter is:

1. primitive
2. useless
3. based on limited thought abilities
4. completely lacking in subtlety and nuance
5. a basis for communication only between Twits

That's right, folks, Only Twits Twitter. Say that 5 times, fast.

• Today's Repetune¹   Alicia (Eddie Harris)
  

  Alicia takes me to one of my Safe Places: a warm beach, melanoma-inducing sun, cool afternoon sea breeze wafting over, seagulls looking for a target for the current bombing run.... the surf is blown out (but in my Safe Place, the waves were epic in the morning)
  Listen to a snippet - and get your very own repetune¹.

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Sunday, March 1 - At 4:26 p.m., a caller reported four juveniles playing with a propane tank near the football field in the 2000 block of SW Fort Nugent Avenue.

Playing with a propane tank? I hear the 911 phone about to ring, again.

The best title for a movie about the past twenty-five years in religious America would be Elmer Gantry Returns, and Frank Schaeffer is here to tell you its cast of holy rollers is worse than you think:

"In private, they ranged from unreconstructed bigot reactionaries like Jerry Falwell, to Dr. Dobson, the most power-hungry and ambitious person I have ever met, to Billy Graham, a very weird man indeed who lived an oddly sheltered life in a celebrity/ministry cocoon, to Pat Robertson, who would have a hard time finding work in any job where hearing voices is not a requirement."
-- Quoting Schaefer in a review of Frank Schaeffer's Crazy For God

"Crazy for God" is a personal memoir of transformation, epiphanies, and an understanding of how dogma and ego can hijack personal faith. It is in parts of moving, revealing about personal contacts with the "leaders of the religous" right, and humorous.

Schaeffer's father was ground zero for the genesis of the religious right. His family was was made up of the most influential people in the religious right's media empire from the 70s through the early 90s. They had an awesome machine that sold books, movies, speeches, tapes, retreats, etc to the born-again-but-unthinking crowd.

Schaeffer's father had a crisis in faith near the tragic end of his life (like most people who battle depression, his final years were miserable). His wife and daughters seemed lost in the turmoil as their world unraveled. Young Frank began doubting, and then cut all ties with the ultra-conservative ultra-blind-faith-religious world. He hasn't lost his faith, but he is now much more grounded in the mainstream of the American religious community (Greek Orthodox).

Note: Frank's mother and sisters did get the apocalyptic money-machine rolling again.

Frank Schaeffer may have lost his blind adherence, but he didn't lose his capacity to use the entertainment media to spread a message. Today's message is different:

"I think we have come through a very, very bad time and unfortunately, I'm sorry to say, my dad and I, when I was a young man and he in his career had a lot to do with it. Because we were the people, who along with others like James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and the others, we put all of this crap in place. And now the reason I wrote 'Crazy for God' is because the title is literally that if we approach God in a certain way, it will drive you crazy. And this has been a period of craziness."

Well worth reading on many levels; Crazy For God

• Today's Earworm ¹   The Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton, of course... who else?)
  Listen to a snippet - and get your very own earworm¹.

¹ From your favorite blog, January 25, 2009: Ear Worms, Tune Cooties, and Reptunes

News Flash:

For the past 50-60 years, Goofiness Central has been located in San Francisco (CA) and points north, up to the California-Oregon border.

In the 50s it was the Beatniks (google it yourself). Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Cassady, Ferlinghetti, City Lights Bookstore.

The sixties (as opposed to The 60s) continued the 50s and featured Carol Doda (again, google) and her 44s.

But...

The 60s (as opposed to 'the sixties') - which brought us Jefferson Airplane, Fillmore West, Haight-Ashburyl - live on as aging hippies and New Agers, all unencumbered by Reality, cling to the ways of their youth. The epicenter of this silliness is just across the Golden Gate from Baghdad-by-the-Bay (yup, google it) in lovely Marin County.

True story:

I was at a Little League (baseball) game in Marin in the late 80s (or maybe the earliest of the 90s). One kid stepped up to the plate. The crowd encouraged him: "Keep your eye on the ball!" "Wait for a good pitch!" "You can hit this guy!" All of the usual baseball stuff.

Then his mother stood up and yelled "Remember your mantra!"

I rest my case.

Hey Republicans, Go Filibuster Yourselves!
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Republicans, stop all your bluster—
Your obstructionist taunt: “Filibuster!”
Just go through with your threat.
Dems, please make these guys sweat,
And we’ll see what support they can muster.

I am betting they don’t have the numbers,
That they’re bluffing. (Dems let them — the bumblers.)
But majority rules
When they don’t act like fools.
Dems, we need a good bill. Don’t be fumblers!"

One could spend a lifetime prowling around in Mad Kane's Website

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Friday, Feb. 27 - At 8:24 a.m., there was a report of a small calf running down Ducken Road.

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Thursday, Feb. 19 - At 11:36 a.m., a caller reported that a pickup had been abandoned on Balda Road several years ago.

'Several years?' How many years does it .... oh, never mind

Oh, no, your print job is hung

So your print job is hung, and you can't delete it from the print queue.

To kill the print, job you would normally

1. Select the printer from "Printers and Faxes" ("Printers" in Vista)
2. Click on Documents
3. Click on Cancel

However, sometimes the print queue is out to lunch. You tell it to cancel and it just stares at you, saying "Deleting." After a few minutes of this standoff, you reboot the computer that has the hung Print Spooler.

You don't have to reboot

When using XP
At the computer in question

• Open a command prompt
  1. click  Start 
  2. click Run
  3. In the box that opens, type cmd
  4. click  OK 
• In the window that opens, type the following:
  1. net stop spooler  ENTER 
  2. del c:\windows\system32\spool\printers\*.shd  ENTER 
  3. del c:\windows\system32\spool\printers\*.spl  ENTER 
  4. net start spooler  ENTER 
  5. exit ENTER 

When using Vista
At the computer in question

• Open an "elevated command prompt" by right-clicking on cmd.exe
• select Run as Administrator
• In the window that opens, type the following:
  1. net stop spooler  ENTER 
  2. del c:\windows\system32\spool\printers\*.shd  ENTER 
  3. del c:\windows\system32\spool\printers\*.spl  ENTER 
  4. net start spooler  ENTER 
  5. exit ENTER 

If you know batch files, you could create a batch file to do this. If you don't know batch files, just follow the steps above.

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Thursday, Feb. 19 - At 6:23 a.m., a West Beach Road resident who called 911 rambled and stated "police are so rude" and "no wonder people don’t want to deal with you."

I'm told that the President's stimulus package includes a tax rebate - even for people who don't pay taxes.

Oh, great! Another giveaway to the rich. So why didn't the Repugnicans get behind that?

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Sunday, March 1 - At 8:17 a.m., a caller reported someone had moved the beer barrels to the roof and stacked wooden pallets in front of the front door at a business in the 32000 block of Highway 20.

The US military (and many other organizations) express time in a 24-hour format.
Most civilians express time in a 12-hour format.

Normal People's Time		Military Time
1:35 a.m.		01:35
1:35 p.m.		13:35
12:18 a.m.		0:18
1:36 a.m.		01:36 "Oh-one-three-six, Sir!"

Now for the math part:

Referring to the table above, you can see that when a soldier or swabbie adds 1 to 0, the result is 1.
0 + 1 = 1   Duh!

Also from above, when John Q. Public
adds 12 to 1, the result is 1.
adds  1 to 0, the result is also 1.
 0 + 1 = 1
12 + 1 = 1   WTF ?!?!

Wouldn't logic dictate (in the civilian mind)
since 1 + 12 = 1
  and 1 +  0 = 1
 that     12 = 0

And we wonder how we can keep sending those buffoons to Washington, D of C ...

It's fun to make jokes about "Military Intelligence" being a self-canceling expression or contradiction in terms. However, considering something as simple as basic arithmetic, which group has the real intelligence?

This is an actual crime report from our local Emergency Services. Someone actually called 911 to report this. No, really!.

Friday, Feb. 27 - At 7:03 a.m., a caller reported that two bald eagles were tangled together off of Highway 20 near W. Troxell Road. The caller said they looked like they were going to die. A deputy and a game agent responded. The eagles got scared and starting flapping around when the people approached and managed to untangle themselves. They flew away.

'Tangled together' should have been the first clue. Apparently the caller was from some land far, far away. Anyone who lives in Eagle country knows that in early Spring, a young eagle's fancy turns to lust. Birds, bees, etc.

Thesaurus (n). A long extinct demonstrative adjective ¹ now found in fossils. It is sometimes written The-saurus to clarify and to link Thesaursus to Tyranno-saurus, Acrocantho-saurus and other such -saurui.

The primary characteristic of the Thesaurus was that its diet consisted primarily of space at the beginning of sentences, clauses, and phrases.It is thought that the cause of the mass deaths of the Thesaurus was over-use and ill-conception.

From time to time contemporary English-speakers claim to have sighted a Thesaurus. Scientists dispute the possibility, but cults have formed around the belief in living Thesauri. Such cults claim that Thesaurus is a definite article and worship Thesaurus while diminishing the importance of conjunctions as tools of infidels (and possibly Satan).


¹ This identification, "demonstrative adjective" is from the Oxford English Dictionary. While many linguists and high school English teachers dispute this, the OED is roughly equivalent to the tablets that Moses brought down from the mount. It is therefore the authority on words and grammar, and so be what it declares.

² If you believe any of the above, let's talk about a snake who speaks, a boat that can carry every living species of animal, and a most-highly revered virgin who had a baby after an out-of-wedlock pregnancy (and she convinced her fiancé that she was impregnated as the result of a non-sexual encounter with .... are you ready for this ... a ghost).

Technosaur (n) A fossil that occasionally dispenses useful information about computers. During off-hours, the technosaur can be heard saying things like

1. "Hey, you kids! Get off my lawn!"
   and
2. "640K ought to be enough for anybody."¹
   and
3. "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home."²
   and
   
4. "I'm sorry if I ever said, did, or thought anything that might offend our most revered leader Rush Limbaugh. My groveling supplication is that I may please be forgiven for this near-mortal sin."

¹ This is from an apocryphal tale that Bill Gates made that statement in 1981 while defending the woefully underpowered IBM Personal Computer. Gates denies saying it. That is the same Bill Gates who fudged, twisted, and danced around, the truth (an some say 'lied') when testifying before Congress. Note: 640 KiloBytes of memory was the ultimate in 1980s PCs. Today PCs frequently have 2 GigaBytes of memory. The newest generation of PCs can address up to 16 exabytes of memory.

                   640,000 = 640 KB (rounded off)
             2,048,000,000 =   2 GB
16,000,000,000,000,000,000 =  16 EB (actually, it's a bit more, but what's a quintillion or two among friends, right?)

² Digital Equipment Corp. [pre-PC mini-mainframe-computers] founder Ken Olsen actually said this at a 1977 World Future Society meeting in Boston. Olsen fesses up to saying that, but (like anyone caught saying something really stupid) claims that the quote was taken out of context.

President Obama put a swing set on the south grounds of the White House for his kids Wednesday. This brought back some great memories for comedians. The last time there was a swing set at the White House, Monica Lewinsky pulled the plaster out of the Oval Office ceiling.

From Argus Hamilton.

Paul, you gave us decades of education and entertainment.

For years I worked hard to re-arrange my schedule so that I could listen to your news programs and "the Rest of The Story." Sometimes your "rest of..." drove me nuts and drove me to research what you said. That was when research didn't mean Google or Wikipedia. Research meant plowing through the musty stacks and RGP¹. Whether or not my research confirmed your story, I always came out better informed².

In a college class (Public Speaking) we listened to tapes of your broadcasts. Reason? Learn the importance of cadence and emphasis when talking. Also the value of just plain shutting up. No one used a 2-second [ pause ] better than you, Paul.

And one last thing ... You took a courageous stand (way back when) when you said that we should either do away with the compulsory military draft - or make it (and hostile-fire combat duty) compulsory for women as well as for men. Your reasoning was brilliant:

OLD (white, rich) men in Congress will think more seriously about entering into optional wars if their YOUNG daughters and YOUNG granddaughters have to participate in the horrors.

I've rarely been so challenged and so enlightened in one brief moment.

Paul Harvey, to you I sincerely say '[ pause ] Good Day'

Damn, I'm gonna miss that guy. And that [pause] is the REST of the story.

¹ Readers' Guide to Periodicals. Look it up yourself.

² Example of my PH-inspired research:

Marconi did not "invent" radio. He plundered Nicola Tesla's patents and still could only partially implement what Tesla had previously designed. Finally, June 21, 1943, the US Supreme Court agreed. It's truly sad that Tesla died in January, 1943 - before he was finally vindicated.

  You missed the mark on that one, Paul. Of course, you got several thousand right.

posted by Recovering Republican® © ™  # 12:27 AM 0 Comments

Do you remember these?

• Gas wars (22 9/10)
  
• Free glass with fill-up
• Driving 2 blocks farther to save 2¢ on a gallon
  
• Full service at self-service prices
• Free maps
• "A dollar's worth of regular."
  
• S & H Green Stamps (or Blue Chip Stamps)
  
• Useful directions when you're lost ....

And every gas station in the land offered you "Ethel" Who was Ethel? Wazzup with that?

Got Gas?

We torture logic.

Building on yesterday's post ...

1. Long working hours may raise the risk of mental decline and possibly dementia.
2. Mental decline and dementia interfere with productivity.
3. Therefore, working long hours interferes with productivity.

Are you with me so far?

1. A major factor in national economic growth is improving worker productivity.
2. Contributing to national economic growth, especially in times of crisis, is patriotic.
3. Therefore, improving worker productivity is patriotic.

Don't get ahead of me.

1. Working long hours interferes with productivity.
2. Improving worker productivity is patriotic.
3. Therefore, working long hours is unpatriotic.

Just a bit more...

1. Working long hours is unpatriotic.
2. Slackers do not work long hours.
3. Therefore, slackers are patriots.

And finally,

1. Patriotism is a virtue.
2. Slackers are patriots.
3. Therefore, slackers are virtuous.

There you have it: irrefutable proof that slacking off is a good thing. Anyone for a long lunch?

Inspired by a comment from Tom C.

Long hours link to dementia risk: American Journal of Epidemiology

Long working hours may raise the risk of mental decline and possibly dementia, research suggests.

The Finnish-led study was based on analysis of 2,214 middle-aged British civil servants.

It found that those working more than 55 hours a week had poorer mental skills than those who worked a standard working week.

The American Journal of Epidemiology¹ study found hard workers had problems with short-term memory and word recall.

¹ The branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.

“I used to get sicker than a dog, with fever, burning skin, and nausea, if I wasn’t real careful with the chemicals I sprayed on tobacco,” says Askins [an Appalachian tobacco farmer.] The chemicals may have affected the environment, as well.

“You don’t hear bullfrogs or toads anymore, because we’ve poisoned the streams and creeks with our chemicals,” he speculates.

He also describes the symptoms of nicotine poisoning from handling the ripe tobacco plant: sudden nausea, dizziness, and headaches.

For some adventurous Appalachian tobacco farmers, it's good-bye Marlboro Man, hello healthy food-shopper.

Oedipus Rex, Squared

Part I

Oedipus was prominent in Greek Mythology. In all of the tales about him, he had, um, problems. His problems were so remarkable that Sigmund Freud, father of psychiatry, used Oedipus' story to illustrate a psychological disorder.

The Oedipus complex, in psychoanalytic theory, is a group of largely unconscious (dynamically repressed) ideas and feelings which center around the desire to possess the parent of the opposite sex and eliminate the parent of the same sex. ¹

While there is a lot more to the story, among Oedipus' problems were

1. he had a thing for his mother
2. he had some marital problems
3. he took quite literally the admonition "if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out"
4. as a leader of his people, he really sucked; he was the Franklin Pierce Buchanan, XXXXIII (FPB 43) of his time

Tom Lehrer immortalized the whole thing with his satirical song, Oedipus Rex. In part, Lehrer sings (to a tune that sounds suspiciously like a Gilbert and Sullivan² melody)

From the Bible to the popular song,
There's one theme that we find right along.
Of all ideals they hail as good,
The most sublime is Motherhood.

There was a man, oh, who it seems,
Once carried this ideal to extremes.
He loved his mother and she loved him,
And yet his story is rather grim.

There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex.
You may have heard about his odd complex.
His name appears in Freud's index
'Cause he loved his mother.

His rivals used to say quite a bit,
But as a monarch he was most unfit.
But still in all they had to admit
That he loved his mother.

Yes he loved his mother like no other.
His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother.
One thing on which you can depend is,
He sure knew who a boy's best friend is!

When he found out what he had done,
He tore his eyes out one by one.
A tragic end to a loyal son
Who loved his mother.

At this point you're probably thinking that this is just another of my brilliant, witty, informative (I could go on...) writings. Hang in there. There is a point to it.

Part II

It seems that we have a news story³ in which life imitates art.

In 2004, Texan Andre Thomas committed a rather gruesome crime: he murdered his ex and their children, cut out their hearts, and carried the hearts in his pocket for a while. Then he stabbed himself in the chest. No, didn't cut out his own heart. He went to the local gendarmes' offices, and - like a crazy man - turned himself in.

It gets worse.

In jail, before his trial, he gouged out one of his eyes - and ate it. Thomas' attorneys claimed Mr. Thomas had a severe mental illness and couldn't participate in his own defense. The judge said Thomas was competent to stand trial. After Andre's conviction, he was awarded a free visit to, and no-charge services in, the Texas vaccination chamber⁴.

While in prison awaiting execution (and the federally mandated appeals), Thomas similarly had his other eye for a snack. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction and death sentence, thereby denying the argument that Andre Thomas had what some would consider to be a rather enhanced social disorder.

Killing one's ex is not necessarily a sign of mental illness. It's quite common, even among people who do play with a full deck. However, under Texas law it's criminal, but perfectly normal, to play a game involving

• violently murdering his children
• extracting, transporting, trashing all of his victims hearts
• gouging out his own eye
• eating same
• gouging out his other eye
• eating that one (now, THAT is crazy ... except in France where it is a crime to serve one's bulbus oculi unseasoned, unsauced, and raw )

So Texas - true to form - is going to execute someone who is legally blind and badly in need of a fine cookbook (an audio cookbook). The civilized world might also think of Mr. Thomas as loony, if not psycho (medical terms).

While certain parts of Thomas's life resemble Oedipus' life, there is no indication that he wanted to marry his mother. Perhaps that's why the judges - no doubt scholars specializing in Greek Mythology and Freud - found him to be a bit odd, but sane enough for Texas.

¹Oedipus complex

² Gilbert and Sullivan

³ Houston Chronicle 01/10/2009, and other news sources

⁴ He had to get in line. In Texas, the queue is quite long.