Who is the second standing figure from the left in this William Blake drawing?
The answer is here.
Trivia that matter
I’m slightly relieved that The Interview won’t be coming to theaters near me. ((It’s not really a great concern, though — there aren’t any theaters near me.)) It’s one less failed comedy to avoid. Still, I’m just a wee bit uneasy about possible consequences. I’m not entirely sure that a chubby North Korean with a bad haircut is the ideal guide for western culture, even if his daddy was a wacky Daffy Duck aficionado.
Perhaps I should investigate the early history of Captain America. I did order a copy of Team America for my library, lest that also be withdrawn.
A footnote to Kevin Williamson’s recent piece on Wal-Mart and watches:
For reasons that no one can explain, my office is on the Hollywood Reporter‘s mailing list, which recently published an edition all about celebrity watches. Here are a few of the highlights.
What does this mean: “A concentrated blend of horological innovations, the Classique Chronométrie 7727 with its balance fitted on magnetic pivot and operating at a frequency of 10Hz achieves an average rate of -1 to +3 seconds per day”? If that is to say that it might lose a second or gain up to three every day, then my cheapo Timex watch is a better timekeeper than one costing $40,000.
One of the photographers I follow on Flickr has been recording the sights of the “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong. Her photostream is worth a look.
For commentary on current events in Missouri, see the professor.
(Illustration from the Brickmuppet. Title ripped off from Aliens in This World.)
Just as the technological singularity is the point where technological change will happen so rapidly it cannot be seen beyond, the Neuman Singularity is the point where reality becomes ridiculous faster than it can be satirized.
(The “Neuman” referred to is Alfred E., not John von.)
In the modern state there now exist only two parties: citizens and bureaucracy.
… is that only half of the candidates lose.
Update: An interesting footnote to yesterday.
Update II: A footnote to the footnote.
I’m not watching any more of Gugure! Kokkuri-san. Read the entry for “Tengu” here and you’ll see why.
What does “indecipherable” mean in this sentence?
The newsstand is increasingly indecipherable from the supermarket checkout aisle.
Does ranting about stupidity make you a little bit stupid yourself?
In lieu of actual content, here’s more silly stuff gleaned from dot.clue and elsewhere.
Comic Sans might be the least-loved of all typefaces, but I think it would be an appropriate font for certain uses. Government documents, for instance.
One of the candidates for greatest album cover of all time. The music is pretty good, too.
More nonsense:
By the way, Bill Watterson dropped by for a few minutes.
I found this discussion of the War Powers Resolution difficult to follow. I wondered if the arguments might be easier to understand if they were sung to the melody of “The Primrose Polka.”
Nope.
The lyrics can be found here. (I substituted “cuckoo clock” for a word I prefer not to use.)
Please note that this is not a good example of what Miku English is capable of. I picked a lively tune with many notes so I could get a lot of words in, and exaggerated the “clearness” and “brightness” of the voices. Fewer, longer notes, individually edited, would have sounded much better.
A couple of commencement addresses:
I’m trying to convince myself that I can get along perfectly well with an extension tube and I don’t really need a macro lens. Well, maybe.