January 2012
2 posts
Bug Tussle, TX →
“At least three explanations exist for this unusual name. The most popular is that the name commemorated an invasion of bugs that spoiled a church ice cream social.”
December 2011
9 posts
Siren Song by Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see beached skulls the song nobody knows because anyone who had heard it is dead, and the others can’t remember. Shall I tell you the secret and if I do, will you get me out of this bird suit? I don’t enjoy it here squatting on this island...
Welcome To The Age Of Planets →
A better frame of reference for the discovery of Kepler-22b and the myriad other planets like it soon to be discovered.
The guarantee can’t be applied to: grocery items, non-branded items,...
– For want of an Oxford comma: What kind of liquor requires a service agreement?
Would You Please Fucking Stop? →
I simply cannot share this blog post enough. Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favorite writers. Apart from her books, commentary like this is why.
September 2011
1 post
It's not supposed to rhyme
SC2Virus: I spy a man with a large penis wearing a hat.
flyingsheep: i guess i’m not as filthy as you are; i just saw a sitting cat.
alexbarret: Wow, you guys have really got this rhyming business down pat.
ma33: and thats the end of that
pikimaung: f*** that
MysticaLemon: Mind your tongue, you dirty rat.
Gooflactus: Would anyone like a peanut?
August 2011
1 post
And I recognized that tone. I had heard it often enough, in myself and in other...
– Adrienne Rich on Virginia Woolf’s “A Room Of One’s Own ”
July 2011
4 posts
I believe education should never end. I don’t think education is something...
– Orson Scott Card
I hope this never stops happening
A recent conversation on r/Minecraft:
Dr_Fix where are you getting the designs?
or are you just.. embiggening and printing out the actual game textures?
ShallowBasketcase “embiggening.” So that’s a word now.
Dr_Fix yeah. as they like to say; “it’s a perfectly cromulent word!”
So! in the name of Jesu Christ, speak lower. It is
the greatest admiration of...
– Fluellen, Henry V, Act IV, Scene 1
Rome was the first and—until recently—the only republic ever to rise...
– Tom Holland, Rubicon - The Last Years of the Roman Republic
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
2 posts
‘Tis true: there’s magic in the web of it:
A sibyl, that had...
– A certain professor quoted this to me while examining a tennis racket.
… For if you hide the crown
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for...
– Duke of Exeter, Henry V
April 2011
1 post
March 2011
3 posts
Great Minecraft Conversation
TheGuy: Hey, I have 4GB of RAM, AMD PHENOM II 3.2 GHz, and Windows 7 running a server. It's really juttery with just me connected.
TheGuy: Anybody know how much RAM I need to get it to run smooth?
Me: Your problem is using Windows 7 to host a server.
TheGuy: meh.
Why do people ask for help when they already have "the answer?"
Hey, ask Dr. McEwen why the soothsayer told Caesar to beware the Ides of March...
– Tom Oleksy
February 2011
5 posts
A conversation fit for the Internet
Halem: how can u conquer castles
uniturtles: conquer catles u can do that how i want to know please tell me
Lorvile: Thy men dare not follow thee against a castle till thou hast the rank of a Count.
Lorvile: Even then, thou wilt need a mighty army ere thou hast hope of felling the gates of a stronghold.
uniturtles: ok i think u r a real knight dude
Louise Erdrich is a badass
“It seemed that just as people grew into a false assurance, believed for instance that their prayers worked and that evil was kept at bay, or thoughtlessly celebrated the quiet of their community with a street dance, a parade, or any kind of energetic complacence, something happened. Someone turned up dead. A child smothered in a load of grain. There was a pregnant woman, then one day she...
The AP Stylebook makes me happy
ensure, insure, assure Use ensure to mean guarantee: Steps were taken to ensure accuracy. Use insure for references to insurance: The policy insures his life. Use assure to mean to make sure or give confidence: She assured us the statement was accurate.
What do the zailors zing?
#ebz - It’s the fine touches like this that cause me to feel everyone should be playing Echo Bazaar.
What do the zailors zing?
Oh gather round me bully boys And I’ll zing you a zong Of the windless waveless sunless Zee Where the mouldy drownies throng Here’s to the girls of Mr Veils Here’s to their golden locks Here’s to a fight in the moonish light Under the...
January 2011
2 posts
December 2010
3 posts
October 2010
8 posts
5 tags
Making Ignorance Chic — Maureen Dowd →
“At least you’re not one of those “spineless” elites with an Ivy League education, like President Obama, who can’t feel anything. It’s news to Christine O’Donnell that the Constitution guarantees separation of church and state. It’s news to Joe Miller, whose guards handcuffed a journalist, and to Carl Paladino, who threatened The New York Post’s Fred Dicker, that the First Amendment exists,...
Youtube's 500 Internal Server Error
Sorry, something went wrong.
A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.
If you see them, show them this information: ...
The consensus among the banned is that Google is aiming to protect us from...
– Brian Ries at The Daily Beast
The GoDaddy Java FTP Error
Apparently, when I accidentally told a Java FTP client to download all files in the current directory as well as ../ it decided that I wanted all the files and directories one level above my current location.
Instead of downloading about 50 moderately sized jpegs it is downloading about 500 and there doesn’t appear to be a cancel button other than refreshing the page. I’m already...
September 2010
2 posts
A Shropshire Lad - XLIII
by A.E. Housman
The Immortal Part
When I meet the morning beam, Or lay me down at night to dream, I hear my bones within me say, ‘Another night, another day.
‘When shall this slough of sense be cast, This dust of thoughts be laid at last, The man of flesh and soul be slain And the man of bone remain?
‘This tongue that talks, these lungs that shout These thews that hustle us...
August 2010
6 posts
How the "ground zero mosque" fear mongering began →
Justin Elliott for Salon.com provides a very insightful and well documented rundown of the events that fueled the mania. Linked from Frank Rich’s NYTimes opinion.
Were McCain in the White House, Fox and friends would have kept ignoring Park51....
– Frank Rich, NYTimes