Trivia that matter
So today is Squawk Like a Parrot day? Meh. If it’s pirates you want, I recommend Marika Kato and company. (The picture above is the wallpaper on one of my computer monitors.)
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Something I found in my archives that might be worth posting again: G.K. Totoro, or Totoro Roosevelt?
(From here.)
“One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Kitty White found herself, in her bed, transformed into a small, mouthless cat.”
There’s also a Harlan Ellison story there, but you knew that already.
With bells on, too.
Update: The Professor thinks that this may be the coolest thing ever:
Perhaps, but it lacks Segways.
None of this summer’s anime looks likely to break on through my indifference. Yet another Nobunaga story? Momotaro, with fan service? An undead idol? Meh. I have better ways to waste my time. There are a couple I might take a look at anyway — Sailor Moon, to see if it’s any improvement on the original, and Hanayamata, to see the dance — but none of the descriptions has piqued my curiosity in the way that the previews of Shin Sekai Yori and Joshiraku did.
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Who is this unfriendly gentleman? I guarantee you that you’ve heard of him. The answer is here.
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Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains will play a concert that you can listen to live online Thursday evening. I’ve heard Tricia several times at Winfield, and I can certify that she is one hell of a good old-time fiddler.
Here’s an old coloring book that might have been lying around Yukari Akiyama‘s house.
(Via Borepatch.)
When it comes to copyright law, a simple recitation of facts beats the sharpest satire hands down.
Bergamot, indeed.
Miscellaneous links and nonsense:
David Bentley Hart, from the May 2014 First Things:
Journalism is the art of translating abysmal ignorance into execrable prose.
A look at brilliant, psychotic Joe Meek, who changed the sound of music.
Stereo pictures from WWI. A couple of notes: stereograms made for hand-held viewers use the parallel method of viewing, not the crossed-eye. I.e., the right eye focuses on the right image, the left eye on the left. It is possible to free-fuse the images, though it is easier done than explained. Let your eyes relax and drift apart until the images of a well-defined region in the pictures, such a the bright sky through the roof in the above image pair, start to overlap. Focus on that region until the images snap together, and you should then be able to see the entire scene in perspective. (You’ll need to sit back at least two feet from the monitor if you want to see the full-size images at the link in stereo.)
Some of these are from Borepatch, the Brickmuppet and Dustbury, but I forget where I found most of them.
Continue reading “Special jumbo edition of miscellaneous silly nonsense”
Inevitably, ponies have appeared in Glie.
I’ve been skipping around in The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse recently. Here’s a bit of practical advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Earth, crowded, cries: “Too many men!”
My counsel is, kill nine in ten,
And bestow the shares of all
On the remnant decimal.
Most of the verse is subtler than that — if an encomium to the London sewer system, for example, can be called “subtle.” If you all are very good, I won’t quote any more of it.
A new box of noisemakers just arrived. You will probably see even less of me than usual for the next few weeks.
Have a happy Ragnarök.
Update: It does take a while to install twelve DVD’s worth of applications and sample libraries, but not quite 90 hours.
What do you call a hexagon with ten sides?
… Dalek.
(Via the Borderline Boy.)
It’s time for another batch of miscellaneous nonsense. I forgot where I found most of these.
While you’re waiting breathlessly for my next substantive post (and you may wait quite a while), here’s a little puzzle to occupy you.
It’s obvious if you look at it right.
Course evaluations for the Sermon on the Mount:
The instructor pandered to the lowest common denominator – “meek” and “poor.” As an AP student, I did not feel adequately challenged.
Way too demanding for Gen Ed requirement. Prof expected us all to exceed best students in the class?! LOL. Not even my major!
Best prof ever! Loved it. Changing my major.
(Via Eve Tushnet.)
Spengler’s Universal Law #11: At all times and in all places, the men and women of every culture deserve each other.
Spengler’s Universal Law #14: Stick around long enough, and you turn into a theme park.
Spengler’s Universal Law #17: If you stay in the same place and do the same thing long enough, some empire eventually will overrun you.
(Via AoSHQ.)
Death by ellipsis: annotating Dan Brown.
(Via First Thoughts.)
After all this, if you still feel the urge to experience dimethylcadmium – stay out of my lab – you can make this fine compound quite easily from cadmium chloride, which I’ve no particular urge to handle, either, and methyllithium or methyl Grignard reagent. Purifying it away from the ethereal solvents after that route, though, looks like extremely tedious work, which allows you the rare experience of being bored silly by something that’s trying to kill you.
From Witch Craft Works, episode one. I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation.