Monthly Archives: March 2008

Curse of the Linguist

Posted on by
Reply

A lovely threat, from Geoffrey Pullum in an update to this Language Log entry:

“Your skin will break out in boils; your teeth will itch where you can’t reach to scratch them; your car will develop an annoying whiny rattle that will stop whenever a mechanic listens; your bananas will go directly from green to black without passing through yellow; your country music albums will play backwards so that your dog comes back to life… I’m warning you, bad shit will happen all over in your life. Don’t test me.”

It’s the bit about the bananas that really drives the stake home for me.  Bananas are tricky enough without voodoo.

the best things: tablejumping + jeri ryan unclothed

Posted on by
Reply

Two of the best things ever.

1. “jeri ryan unclothed” has to be just about the most charming search engine string I’ve ever seen.  Dude knows what he wants, but he doesn’t want to be crude about it.  “jeri ryan naked”?  No sir.  “jeri ryan nude”?  Hold your tongue, sir.

This was from last night’s referrer logs over on Big Big Question, which is increasingly a honeypot for weird search results.  Though with this post, I suppose I’ll be diverting all that “jeri ryan unclothed” traffic thisaway.  Greetings, horny-but-respectful Voyager nerds!

2. A man jumping on a table like a trampoline.  Let’s look at the tape:

Stan jumps on the mitylite table.

Yep.  My hat is off to you, stan.gif of MityLite.  I don’t want to give unclothed jeri ryan a complex or anything, but I think you might be just about the best thing ever.

Polyorama on the rebound

Posted on by
1

Polyorama is back on its feet.  Check it out!

It was a year and a half ago that I launched the original project.  Then…time passed.  A Dreamhost security disaster left a few thousand accounts compromised, including mine, and as a result the perl that made the site work was blasted away.  I wasn’t making dutiful backups at the time, and so everything was just gone.

And it stayed that way for a while.  I took some time over the last few days to recreate a streamlined, easier-to-expand setup for the site, and added a new-to-the-site polyorama from the awesome (and project-inspiring) John Ralston: Fourmiorama, a subterranean antscape.

Back when the project was new, I sketched out a dozen thumbnail ideas for my own polyorama sets, but never executed any of them except for a very simple pixel-art concept – I blanched, essentially, at the work required to put together a dozen really solid, consistent cards.  I think I need to get over that and just make a set happen.

Recording – Fidelity (Regina Spektor cover)

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been not recording (at home) for a little too long now — nothing really substantial since late 2007 — and I had the apartment to myself tonight, so I decided it was Get Back On The Horse night.

Accordingly: Fidelity (Regina Spektor cover).

I’ve also posted it (with a little more explanation) in this thread over on Metafilter Music.

Helen Lovejoy vs. reductio ad absurdum

Posted on by
Reply

Seven happy kids.

Rest easy, parents: somebody has thought of the children.  Via Metafilter, where user lostburn archly sums up the reasoning:

Because pedophiles run websites collecting photos of unremarkable children in unremarkable, modestly-dressed poses. And there’s such a shortage that they’ll snap ‘em up whenever they see them, so long as the faces are visible. 

Thoughts on the chances of this ironically spawning a heretofore unpresented fetish for badly superimposed smiley faces are welcome, but no slashfic, please.

Metafilter remembers Gary Gygax

Posted on by
Reply

I made a passing reference to it yesterday in a word nerdery post, but I don’t want to let it sneak by, so:

There’s a pretty fantastic thread on Metafilter about the death of Gary Gygax. It has turned into a really great and touching collection of stories from folks who grew up under the welcoming creative shadow of Gygax’s creation — folks who remember fondly the man himself, the game he created, and the friendship and good will they had sharing the role-playing experience with one another.

Continue reading →