Tragedy leads to laughter

We make jokes about things because they are horrible, and laughing about them somehow makes them seem less horrible. For example, these horrible tattoos, which I found courtesy of the rather wonderful Modblog (as in body-modification blog. Not for the squeamish).

Or our president, as in the joke that my brother sent me today:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: “Yesterday, three Brazilian soldiers were killed.” OH NO!” Bush exclaims. “That’s terrible!” Bush’s staff is stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits with head in hands. Finally, the president looks up and asks, “How many is a brazillion?”