Developing a rhetorical analysis of racist humour: examining anti-black jokes on the Internet

Racist humour is frequently the subject of media and public debate in relation to issues of offence and acceptability. Despite this, little has been done to analyse it or its relationship to other forms of racism. I argue that an analysis of racist humour needs to account for the rhetorical structures of humour – to consider humour as a rhetorical device similar to metaphor or metonym – that has a persuasive potential. Using jokes from four US websites, the rhetorical aspects of humour are unpacked through the use of rhetorical discourse analysis and semiotic theories of humour. I then identify an important effect of racist humour. Zygmunt Bauman's ideas on the problem of ambivalence for dichotomous discourse and category formation are employed to argue that racist humour expresses racist dichotomies and has the potential, among others, to “hide” the ambivalence to which such dichotomies are prone. The article then considers the meaning and ambivalence of less severe racist joking.     

Post-mortem biochemical investigations of vitreous humor

For several decades vitreous humor has been used for post-mortem biochemical investigations with the objective of a post-mortem diagnosis of pre-existing diseases and the clarification of forensic issues, in particular the determination of the post-mortem interval. For the determination of measured concentrations in vitreous humor pre-analytic factors as well as analytical and instrumental variations have to be taken into consideration. The aim of this study was a methodical investigation of two methods of sample pre-treatment as influencing variables. The compared methods were centrifugation and treatment in the ultrasonic bath. The determined parameters were sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, lactate, urea, glucose and creatinine. Analyses were performed photometrically or by an ion-selective electrode. For some of the analytes a dilution was necessary before analysing. Regarding to the two pre-treatment methods, significant differences in the measured concentrations were not found. The precision proved to be mostly unsatisfying and was clearly better in diluted samples than in undiluted aliquots. A comparison of the vitreous humor of the two ocular bulbs did not lead to significant differences.     

Research Progress on Postmortem Interval Estimation by Vitreous HumorCSCD

Postmortem interval (PMI)estimation is one of the most challenging problems in the field of forensic science. Vitreous humor is a hotspot which has been used for PMI estimation and postmortem chemical analysis in forensic pathology. In order to provide novel perspectives for the future research of PMI estimation using vitreous humor, the comparison between vitreous humor with other common body fluids, the effect of temperature on vitreous humor, vitreous humor detection method and data fitting method have been reviewed in this paper. © 2018 by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.     

From Freud to funny music in films: The case of Blazing Saddles

Abstract

This article contends that music creates comedy in film in two significant ways: first, by ‘setting us up’ and confirming our understanding of purely musical, cinematic musical, and cultural musical codes in the symbolic order of film, only to play with or subvert our established responses to such codes thereafter; and second, by a reliance on age-old rhetorico-musical techniques associated with musical comedy. An analysis of selected scenes from the film Blazing Saddles, directed by Mel Brooks and released by Warner Brothers in 1974, follows, wherein such techniques of musical comedy are shown to be evident. By way of reflecting on these techniques, some thought is given to Sigmund Freud's understanding of the continuum of humour involving play, jest and jokes, within the context of his notion of the principle of economy in psychical expenditure. Accordingly, the author concludes that the political discourse of Blazing Saddles is effective precisely because it is clothed in humour.     

Spinoza Now

Abstract

This discussion of Infinitely Demanding explores the terms of the paradox with which Critchley is centrally concerned: how an ethico-politics can at once begin in disappointment and yet allow for engagement, the infinite renewal of commitment and optimism. Placing this in critical relation to the paradox Rorty meets with his account of the "private ironist and public liberal" in Contingency, Irony, Solidarity, I argue that Critchley's ethico-politics invokes the possibility of a non-ironical categorical imperative, at the meeting point of finitude and the infinite and at the heart of what is also a political space of intersubjectivity. I examine the logic of humour and of commitment within the Kantian frame thus suggested, arguing for their relevance to certain aspects of anarcho-activism, but also for their limitations in desperate circumstances, posing the risk that Critchley's preferred politics falls back into liberal complacency.     

双眼交替微量取样检测兔玻璃体液钾镁离子浓度推测死亡时间

目的研究死后眼玻璃体液钾镁离子浓度变化及其与死亡时间的关系。方法取健康家兔处死,死后不同时间于双眼玻璃体液交替微量取样,采用全自动生化分析仪检测样本中[K+]、[Mg2+],对所得数据进行统计学处理。结果死后12~120h,家兔玻璃体液中[K+]由11.01mmol/L上升至32.97mmol/L,[Mg2+]1.12mmol/L上升至2.22mmol/L,两种离子浓度与PMI进行回归分析自变量为[K+]的二次多项式回归方程为y=0.1756x2-3.3188x+29.804(R2=0.9868);自变量为[Mg2+]的二次多项式回归方程为y=-46.916x2+248.01x-213.81(R2=0.9340);自变量为[K+]和[Mg2+]的二次多项式回归方程为y=-17.55-4.82[K+]+0.20[K+]2+75.77[Mg2+]-19.47[Mg2+](R2=0.9881)。用[K+]的方程推测PMI,当[K+]<26.0mmol/L(PMI<60h)时,平均偏离时间为2.7~9.4h,当[K+]>28mmol/L(PMI>72h)时,平均偏离时间>15h;用[Mg2+]的方程推测PMI,平均偏离时间几乎均在10h以上;用二元方程推测PMI,平均偏离时间较前两者小。结论死后眼玻璃体液[K+]、[Mg2+]随时间延长而升高,且浓度变化与时间呈强相关性。但从实际运用角度考虑,R2<0.98,或平均预测偏离时间过大的回归方程,不宜用于PMI推测;应用多指标建立多元回归方程是提高推测PMI准确性的可行方法。     

玻璃体液化学成分的检测及其意义

采用日立7170A型全自动生化分析仪，对42例死后3小时内尸体玻璃体液中20种成分进行检测。其均值为：0．754mmol／L（钙）、0．783mmol／L（镁）、0．776mmol／L（无机磷）、3．35mmol／L（葡萄糖）、4．03mmol／L（尿素）、43．27μmol／L（肌酐）、0．016mmol／L（尿酸）、0．029mmol／L（总胆固醇）、0．015mmol／L（甘油三酯）、0．031μmol／L（总胆红素）、1．249／L（球蛋白）、0.609／L（白蛋白）、31.68u／L（谷草转氨酶）、1．39u/L（谷雨转氨酶）、5．15u/L（碱性磷酸酶）、0．83u／L（γ-谷氨酸转酞酶）、64．15u／L（磷酸肌酸激酶）、8.68u／L（乳酸脱氢酶）、7.12u／L（α-羟丁酸脱氢酶）；同时在Easylyteplus仪器用离子选择电极法测定钠均值为138．44mmol／L，钾5．05mmol／L和氯120．7mmol／L。为建立玻璃体液中化学成分正常值提供参考数据。     

家兔玻璃体和脑脊液中异烟肼的高效液相色谱分析

目的　建立玻璃体和脑脊液中异烟肼的高效液相色谱分析方法。方法　以香草醛为衍生化试剂 ,经柱前衍生为异烟肼 -香草醛腙 ,直接对体液样品中的腙进行定性、定量分析 ,并以空白兔体液添加标准异烟肼对样品的前处理方法、仪器条件、线性范围、精密度、回收率进行全面考查后 ,测定急性染毒家兔玻璃体和脑脊液中的异烟肼浓度。结果　用上述方法分析兔玻璃体和脑脊液中异烟肼 ,其线性范围为 0 2～ 12 0 μg/ml,检测限 0 2 μg/ml,日内、日间精度均小于 4 9% ,回收率均在 97 1%以上。异烟肼在急性染毒家兔玻璃体中的浓度为 74 60± 7 40 μg/ml;脑脊液中为 88 95± 10 12 μg/ml。 结论　本文所建方法适用于异烟肼中毒者玻璃体和脑脊液中异烟肼的检测。     

Magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium in post-mortem vitreous humour from humans

Levels of magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium in post-mortem vitreous humour from human controls, fire fatalities and drowning victims have been determined. The effects of time-related internal changes, external environmental parameters and different causes of death are evaluated. Despite the positive correlation and marked increase of potassium and, to a lesser extent, of magnesium and calcium with the length of the post-mortem interval, individual biological variability severely limits the usefulness of predictions of post-mortem interval based on electrolyte metal data. At best, there is only a 2/3 chance of a prediction being within 12 h of the true value. Vitreous humour metal concentrations are affected by external influences, such as the elevated temperatures of fires which increase the rate of release of intracellular magnesium and potassium. In cases where drowning is suspected, establishment or exclusion of this cause of death is not possible on the basis of vitreous humour electrolyte metal data because of possible post-immersion diffusion across the permeable membrane of the eyeball. It appears, however, that magnesium in salt-water cases and sodium in fresh-water cases are related, albeit erratically, to the length of the immersion period.     

Dominion Cartoon Satire as Trench Culture Narratives: Complaints,Endurance and Stoicism

Abstract

Although Dominion soldiers’ Great War field publications are relatively well known, the way troops created cartoon multi-panel formats in some of them has been neglected as a record of satirical social observation. Visual narrative humour provides a ‘bottom-up’ perspective for journalistic observations that in many cases capture the spirit of the army in terms of stoicism, buoyed by a culture of internal complaints. Troop concerns expressed in the early comic strips of Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and British were similar. They shared a collective editorial purpose of morale boosting among the ranks through the use of everyday narratives that elevated the anti-heroism of the citizen soldier, portrayed as a transnational everyman in the service of empire. The regenerative value of disparagement humour provided a redefinition of courage as the very act of endurance on the Western Front.