What's the emoticon for sarcasm?

I was watching Jon Stewart one time when he was interviewing that NBC reporter in the wheel chair—you know, the token cripple. Anyways, the guy in the wheelchair was describing this e-mail that he sent to someone in a sarcastic tone of voice, and Jon Stewart asked, quite humorously, "So, what emoticon did you use for that?"

It seems to me that the digital wonderland has yet to be populated by the Emily Posts of the world. For instance, Phil left what I thought was an hilarious comment on a previous post. However, that same kind of "joke" (albeit anonymously placed) was rather jarring and out of place on a post by Meg about people being rude. (By the by, check out Phil's thoughtful comments about that post.)

In fact, when I started this blog I found a new neighbor through the internet, whose whole blog consists of making rude comments. Although this kind of humor can be hit or miss, it is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Monday night in class, we attempted to have an online discussion. However, most of the time was spent by people making random comments so much so that any sort of discussion was completely impossible. This seems to be a crucial issue of the 21st century. I've heard many stories of students saying terribly hateful things to each other on IM while at home, and then coming to school the next day and acting as if nothing happened.

I must admit that this blog is less sincere than it should be, but how many things in this world can we honestly say merit sincerity by the virtue of their pure goodness? Of course, honestly, the fact that I'm asking that question makes the teacher in me want to through the adolescent inside of me out of the window. Thus the dilemma.

Hey, I had two beers with Dave again today after running, but I'm not a pathetic drunk. However, that is probably due to Obrita calling me on the telephone more than anything else. Although Dave and I ran the actual 4-miler course today in 34.5 minutes. So, I guess now I can move on to my next fitness goal.