tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66958184345471802212024-03-13T19:09:49.682+08:00Blood & CaffeineA guide to BBQ excellenceE. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-19547749547777260222009-02-15T17:53:00.003+08:002009-02-15T18:17:32.036+08:00Gdansk for the memories.During my recent travels I got hold of an ASUS 900 (tiny little notebook running Linux) and have generally been thrilled with it. Despite having hands the size and dexterity of canned hams, I adapted to the keyboard acceptably well. The tasks I need to perform respond with the same speed as the older, larger computer I had. An 8 gig SD card gives me ample storage for my work, as I only need to write, look at the internet, and occasionally make slide shows (I'm resisting that one with all my might, and when they must occur, I try to make "anti-powerpoints" following the hints from <a href="http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html">Guy Kawasaki</a>).<br /><br />I fiddled a bit trying to find sources for Gimp and Inkscape, then discovered that they were in the usual install page. But this afternoon, while typing up some manuscript pages (a task I put off until Sweetness gives the ultimatum of "type or do housework") I noticed that I had misspelled a word in a flagrant way. I mean, bad enough to be seen without my glasses, yet there was no red squiggly line betraying the error. Somehow, the only dictionary installed was Polish / Russian, and I couldn't convince it to go fetch an English one. So, I debated about scrapping the installed Linux for some alternative distribution, but everything else works just fine for me, so I'm debating about replacing Star Office 8 with OpenOffice 3, or going back to writing with LaTeX.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-74444549646408441112009-02-06T12:06:00.002+08:002009-02-06T12:28:12.822+08:00Wild BillToday is William S. Burroughs' 95<span style="font-size:78%;"><super>th</super></span> birthday. I notice that every few years, and dig through my archives for a text file or PDF of his works, get all fired up about the notion that writing doesn't need to be a strict, linear, button-downed construct of pre-planned, scientifically proven effective monotony. Somehow though, the notion doesn't stay with me for more than a couple of days, and I end up in the same rut, unable to cut loose and just make shit up.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-87107223542046054662009-01-23T01:47:00.003+08:002009-01-23T02:09:27.839+08:00Land of the Morbidly ObeseI am, for an undisclosed period of time, back in the US. As I am cleaning up and getting rid of some of the stuff I left in storage, I decided to type up my notes from the flight here, so that I can get rid of that much paper.<br /><br />31 December 2008 10:00 a.m.<br /><blockquote>They refused to even let me bring the Red Bull to the departure lounge, so I chugged it all at the security counter. If they don't pull a jet up to the door in five minutes, I might just flap my arms and fly my own damn self to the connection in Beijing.</blockquote><br /><br />13:52<br /><blockquote>I swear that was Tom Waits that just walked by, or maybe some variant of Orthodox Jew.</blockquote><br /><br />20:00<br /><blockquote>We're 10,000 meters above Siberia. The seatback screen says it's -80°. "Free Bird" isn't the most comforting thing to hear on the armrest headphones.</blockquote>E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-18600731799283612402008-08-22T10:35:00.002+08:002008-08-22T10:42:33.268+08:00AhoyRyan North's Dinosaur Comics never fails to crack me up. I'm linking <a href="http://qwantz.com/archive/001288.html">this one</a>, because the pattern is classic: polysyllabic discussion of psychological or philosophical analysis of a pertinent issue, ended with an utterance that reverses that impression. So, while those around me struggle to discern what the set-up means, I'm chuckling about "Boners Ahoy" and yet feeling smug because I think I understand something intellectual.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-80425981278081279452008-08-15T12:50:00.003+08:002008-08-15T13:05:00.339+08:00Prescience & CaffeineSomewhere <a href="http://bloodandcaffeine.blogspot.com/2007/05/year-of-suffixigical-thinking.html">in the past</a>, I blathered on here about making adjectives from names, and used Kafka's name as an example. At one point, I tried to coin the term "Kafkarotic" and combine my limited knowledge of the author with pornographic stories.<br /><br />Today, I noticed mention that Kafka indeed collected <span style="font-style: italic;">The Amethyst/Opals</span>, which the article seems to indicate is a porn magazine.<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br /><br />The scholars interviewed didn't seem as shocked as the opening few paragraphs expected. I'm intrigued about the magazine itself. That's a cool title. Of course, the first person I ever had sex with was born in February, and collected amethysts (the birth stone for February), so perhaps I associate that word with the erotic for that reason. Whatever.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-84040802416426376082008-08-13T16:33:00.002+08:002008-08-13T16:56:24.364+08:00Song of the SouthIn our neighborhood, there are at least four people whose job consists of pedaling a cart around all the side alleys and lanes, calling for junk. They buy old bottles, broken appliances, and God-only-knows what else<span style="font-size:78%;"><sup>1</sup></span>.<br /><br />The reason I mention them is because the other day, a previously unheard voice went by, and as I lay here, trying not to die (the heat and humidity are that bad), my brain tricked me into believing that he was singing, and that I ought to recognize that tune. So, he pedaled around, asking for washing machine parts, and finally, I blurted out the next line of <a href="http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/a+flock+of+seagulls/space+age+love+song_20001662.html">an old Flock of Seagulls song</a>: "I was falling in love."<br /><br />About an hour later, a woman went by, and I swear she was singing the tune for "Here Comes the Bride" with Chinese lyrics.<br /><br />After a couple of hours of naming those tunes, I started to wonder if there was something wrong with that activity. Might it be racist in some way to hear only echoes of synthpop in the local language?<br /><br />Then Sweetness came home, and as we were playing cards, she heard them outside, and said, "Southerners sound like they're singing all the time when they talk."<br /><br />"What are they saying?" I asked.<br /><br />"Who knows?"<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><sup>1</sup></span> - I suppose anyone who speaks the same dialect knows what they buy, but I know about two dozen words of Mandarin, let alone unknown southerner talk.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-84955135238629790472008-08-13T15:44:00.002+08:002008-08-13T15:57:52.567+08:00The creative spark<a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06931268512795508 visible" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/_YMpFT4dtg4&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1"></a><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_YMpFT4dtg4&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_YMpFT4dtg4&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br />I just saw this video (I'm assuming it will embed above this text) of Josh Lesnick creating the latest installment of <a href="http://girlyyy.com/">Girly</a>. Artists fascinate me. The process fascinates me. A blank page (or screen) getting filled with the results of gestures, and those results suggest a form beyond a two-dimensional, black-and-white bit of scribbling is just short of miraculous to me. Maybe it's because my own attempts didn't turn out this way, so I gave up.<br /><br />Oh, that's right, I didn't mention the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7KQ4vkiNUk">Ira Glass videos</a>. He says, somewhere in there, that it's important to keep on with whatever endeavor you start with, even if you suck at it, because continued practice is the only way to eventually not suck. It's one of those concepts that you hear from birth (or very nearly) and never really comprehend until you're over 40, far from home, and drinking heavily because everything you attempt falls short of your desires.<br /><br />So, the Wacom tablet will become more than a replacement for the dying touch-pad on this machine, until I realize I'm using that notion as a mental dodge to get around doing the work writing requires. Oh well.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-86080169222533296272008-08-12T13:03:00.003+08:002008-08-12T13:42:46.828+08:00The Principled Peter<div>Today's link is titled "Why Jargon Feeds on Lazy Minds." The writer suggests that every "business writer, guru, or executive" should be forced to read Orwell's essay <span style="font-family:arial;font-size:180%;"><b></b></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Politics And The English Language</span> every morning before work.<br /><br />I would also propose the following phrases be eliminated from the language:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">value your input</span> really means, "want you to do my work."<br /> </li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">thinking outside the box</span> When you hear this, it will be from someone who is neither, even if it's meant to be ironic.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">touch base</span> If you forget this is a baseball metaphor, it sounds sexual. If you are aware that it's a baseball term, it's confusing, because what's being demanded doesn't resemble "touching base" so much as "being trapped in another pointless meeting only to make some idiot feel important."</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">standardized on</span> really means "all forced to use/do." e.g. "Our company is standardized on MS Office." or "Can we standardize on arriving 30 minutes early in case anyone has issues to discuss?"</li></ul> </div>I'm sure there is an endless supply of these, as idiotic gasbags seem to be abundant, and prone to gather and trade such gems among their own kind. Thinking that made me depressed, so I'm off to see if there's a new Homestar Runner cartoon.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-10272982692631622362008-08-10T08:18:00.003+08:002008-08-10T09:50:09.798+08:00You will. (or else?)I watched the videos for the Aurora browser, and then several related videos for the same idea applied to a different problem set. In the end, they're not compelling. All of them use the basic concept that a 3D interface will make shopping easier. This is important because we all want to keep the economy strong to support the troops, but all that not-sitting-in-front-of-TV is too hard. I mean, if we were meant to have that much walking around and stuff, God wouldn't have invented liposuction.<br /><br />Really, I watched videos demonstrating three different "next generation" browsers, and they all revolved around Amazon or eBay either in 3D or combined with some master database that KNOWS EVERYTHING YOU EVER READ OR THOUGHT.<br /><br />First off, do west-coast farmers talk smack to each other? I grew up around farmers, and they mostly just asked each other, "How are you doing these days?" with some measure of concern, because they all had a rough enough time of it.<br /><br />And the mouse-in-the-air thing? She's trading one repetitive stress injury for another. Great wrists, but her shoulder will need replacing.<br /><br />In the last video, two men are discussing what to get a little girl for her seventh birthday, and they call her mother, who agrees to send a full inventory of the kid's room and a profile. Many commenters noted that it was a little creepy that Mom had a profile and did RFID scans of her bedroom's contents. What I want to know is why the gay uncle couldn't talk to the little girl and ask what she wanted, and wasn't it enough that his twink room-mate catered the event, spending all night making Spongebob characters from arugula, carrots, and melon? <br /><br />There was another video where a man with a heavy accent wanted to buy a toy for (presumably) the same kid, and wanted it to last more than a week. Again, why not look at the damn thing, and see if it appears sturdy enough for that child's use. If you honestly don't know, get a gift certificate from the toy store and find a humorous card to attach it to.<br /><br />Then there's voice command. (not in the Aurora videos, I'm going off on a tangent now. Sensitive viewers may wish to leave the web site) Joe Data-Entry is trying to update the catalog description for the "Sun Yellow" line of swimwear on the company web site. "Not 'son,' 'sun'," he says to his computer. He repeats it louder and slower. He sighs, then growls when the sigh is transcribed as some convulsion of letters and subsequently marked as misspelled. Now imagine a cube farm, with 1,500 people, none of whom have had proper training, all trying to convince their desktop that they really and truly know the difference between "crab" and "crap" and that they just have a head-cold, for Christ's sake.<br /><br />It's bad enough that we have speakerphones but not private offices. There's always some "important" guy who not only has to use the speaker, at top volume (I mean, so that it distorts more than Hendrix's Marshalls at Woodstock) but also mutter aloud, "Let's see if my <span style="font-style: italic;">wife</span> stayed at home today like a good girl..." I always pray that there's no answer, so that I can mutter, "She's probably off fucking some guy who has a <span style="font-style: italic;">three</span> digit I.Q."<br /><br />Back to user interfaces--I have given up on GUIs. I even gave up on <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/">mc</a>. I have some files backed up on DVD-RW, and in one directory, there are several versions of every Amiga program ever made (apart from games, which take another entire DVD). I keep forgetting how painful GUI use can be until I double-click on that folder, and it takes ten frustrating, no, it's twelve now, unless it stops doing anything for five minutes, then it says twenty-three, but changed back to twelve minutes a second later, and finally eighteen minutes to display "thumbnails" of the contents. Why thumbnails? Is "LHA" a suffix used for pictures in Windows? I learned to use the command line for everything. I even switched to using <a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> and <a href="http://www.latex-project.org/">LaTeX</a> for writing.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-500184581113444992008-08-09T10:19:00.002+08:002008-08-09T10:46:30.558+08:00Thanks for the education, Internet!Firefox has this wonderful option to open the tabs I had last time when I start it again. Things I think are potentially fascinating but too long for my fatigue level are left there in the stack until I manage to go through all the items in google reader (because we can't have RSS feeds in China) and the list of comics I read every day ("open all in tabs" is another wonderful feature) and check my various and sundry email accounts.<br /><br />So today, I finally managed to get back to Pablo Defendini's <a href="http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=3145">article on faster-than-light travel and related topics</a>. It made for interesting reading, though nothing I hadn't seen before. Then I noticed some of the words were hyperlinked and clicked on "noosphere" (though it's properly spelled with an umlaut). That led to wikipedia, which is outside the great firewall, so I copied the word into the search bar on <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Noosphere">The Free Dictionary</a> (which includes a wikipedia mirror).<br /><br />I was searching through the explanation of noosphere, and saw mention of Stewart Brand and, in the references, <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Serial+Experiments+Lain">Serial Experiment: Lain</a>. Now, I've watched Lain some number of times I'm not comfortable disclosing, but I still read the entire article, on the chance that it would give me yet another angle of looking at the story I hadn't noticed before. It did, but that's not the point here. One of the themes mentioned in the article was <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Dissociative+identity+disorder">Dissociative Identity Disorder</a>. I wasn't familiar with that term, as I only studied psychology for a brief time, back when your parents were still in middle school. So, off we went to another page, and I saw mention of "Borderline Personality Disorder" which led me to another page and then several ancillary searches, and now I have a fairly confident diagnosis for an acquaintance I've had entirely too much interaction with.<br /><br />A character in <span style="font-style: italic;">Alice in Wonderland</span> said "I try to believe ten impossible things before breakfast." Before I finished my morning coffee, I feel as though I had lessons in Postmodernism, Literary Theory, and Psychology. If I could keep up this pace until lunch, I might consider grad school.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-22908685543028640332008-08-06T14:34:00.001+08:002008-08-06T14:34:50.684+08:00as I stood 'neath the marquee moon...hesitatingThere are three aisles in the corner of Hy-Mall (now called Tesco after the merger, but in my heart, it will always be pronounced Le Go) and the first is for wine, the second for beer, and the last baijiu. The fact that this bottle came from the third aisle and I haven't died yet are my only indications that I am not drinking aftershave right now.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-75844085247507003202008-04-13T13:25:00.002+08:002008-04-13T13:29:14.528+08:00You got a pretty mouth<table style="border: 1px solid gray; width: 320px; font-family: arial,verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: white;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="padding: 5px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: black;"><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; display: block; margin-bottom: 8px;">What American accent do you have?</b> <div style="font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 4px;">Your Result: <b>The Inland North</b></div><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 200px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div><p style="border: medium none ; margin: 10px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: black;">You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."</p></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">The Midland</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 80%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">The Northeast</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 76%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Philadelphia</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 73%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">The South</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 65%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">The West</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 33%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Boston</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 19%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">North Central</td><td style="padding: 3px; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div style="border: 1px solid black; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="background: red none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 15%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="padding: 8px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have"><b>What American accent do you have?</b></a><br /><a href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />OK, all the technology the world could amass and connect together, and it can tell me I talk like I'm from Rochester. I'm actually impressed. Most folks can't pin down my origin nearly so well.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-21208112566519489952008-03-23T13:43:00.002+08:002008-03-23T13:48:28.604+08:00Another month?Hmm, <a href="http://www.youtube.com">youtube</a> just reappeared as mysteriously as it vanished a few days ago. I found a site for extracting clips to files (because there's no web access in the classrooms*) and grabbed a few things for a colleague, then the following day, there were blank spaces in many pages where the video clips ought to be. My question is: was it blocked in the whole country, or did I just do something stupid that prevented flv files from playing? And if the latter, how would changing out the theme for Firefox (the only change to the system) fix things?E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-59610715650001826282008-02-11T15:36:00.000+08:002008-02-11T15:48:57.207+08:00Deer me!So, I was mindlessly cruising around the web, minding my own business, or rather, gawking at everyone else's business, and I run across something called "<a href="http://www.taleoftales.com/TheEndlessForest/home.html">The Endless Forest</a>". Instead of reading all the words in their prescribed order, I poke at the thing and notice a ruined castle getting mentioned, and Halloween, so I thought, "Here's an online game I might really enjoy right out-of-the-box."<br /><br />The game is pretending to be a deer. You give them a name, and they twist your name into a symbol that begs a "artist formerly known as..." joke, but I'm not stooping that low today, because my back is acting up. I would play along with that, if you could talk to the other deer, but they don't allow English, because (and I'm vaguely paraphrasing) that would lead to slang and out-of-character behavior. Pardon me, but I wasn't auditioning for amateur dinner theater. I only want to do something interesting while trying to find someone to chat with, and Second Life has been making my video card overheat. Does anyone know how to open up a Sony laptop to remove the dust? I'm certain that's my problem.<br /><br />Seriously, deer do, in my estimation, four things:<br /><ol><li>eat vegetation.</li><li>poop.</li><li>fuck.</li><li>get shot by rednecks.</li></ol>That's not much of a game, really, or a least nothing I would play online. Some people (furries) would be really into #3, but normal people have seen enough of that shit on Wild Kingdom to last until Marlin Perkins rises from his grave to be Mutual of Omaha's zombie overlord.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-84517374662368118152008-01-28T14:10:00.000+08:002008-01-28T15:08:49.204+08:00EphemeralatelyToday (or very recently), Mr. Sante posed the question of what Greek-derived term refers to the collecting of rejection slips from publishers. I'm pretty sure those count as <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Ephemera">ephemera</a>, but I don't know how to suffix the word to mean "collects it as a hobby."<br /><br />Years ago, when all information about music came in print form (either cheap pulp covered in severe attitude, or slick pages obfuscated by marketing), I read an article about R.E.M. and in particular, I was struck by the mention of Michael Stipe carrying a paperback book and a few old envelopes with him to the interview. In retrospect, it doesn't sound so impressive, but the notion it implanted in my head was that ephemera could become a fashion or decor accessory. The idea spun out into a full-blown fetish, and I eventually ended up amassing a few old manual typewriters, boxes of 'zines, comic books, and paperbacks, some old postcards and boxes of correspondence, and at one point, a large crate of unused stationery. I never believed that such stuff was required for or facilitated writing, but it did help.<br /><br />Actually, it also caused problems. The process I developed became so ritualized that when I was removed from those trappings, and was discouraged from keeping tobacco or liquor in my desk (or on my person), writing became needlessly difficult. It was only finding a copy of <a href="http://www.salsbury.f2s.com/rd.htm">Roughdraft</a> and the <a href="http://www.pickafont.com/fonts/V/Vtportableremington.html">VTPortableRemington</a> font that I made peace with the idea of word processing again. If there were only a way I could set the font for the "notes" pane of the window, I would be really happy. And such thinking leads me to look at the <a href="http://modeemi.fi/%7Etuomov/ion/">Ion</a> X Window manager, and then at installing linux, in case I can't make <a href="http://www.cygwin.com/">cygwin</a> conform to my vision, and pretty soon, I discover that I've started looking at <a href="http://www.forth.org">Forth</a> sites, because it's obvious that I have to write everything myself to get exactly what I need, and I might as well learn that language once and for all, but then I would have to figure out either linux or windows APIs, so I get the latest version of <a href="http://www.winuae.net">WinUAE</a> and start looking for development kits I can download for free, and by that point, the vacation is half over, and jumping from the window to my death starts to appeal to me more than I'm comfortable admitting.<br /><br />So, I found a really good, really cheap fountain pen, and a bottle of black ink that's scented, so it stirs scent-based memories. I had a dozen moleskines shipped here at one point, but now I find that A4 paper, cut in half and stacked on a clipboard, works just as well for my purposes. It all has to get typed afterward, and edited, so I no longer care that the scrawled first drafts are incoherent shit. Maybe someone in the distant future will find some of that material and be able to read English and my handwriting, or perhaps they will only be entranced by the exotic markings on the really old paper. Maybe they'll be inspired to write something themselves, or just set about collecting strange paper debris and making collages.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-24318217072000727602008-01-06T13:02:00.000+08:002008-02-11T15:52:59.641+08:00Happy New Whatever whateverDepressed alcoholics are less likely to stop drinking, so it says <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104121227.htm">here</a>. How much did someone budget to come up with that stunning breakthrough? Yeah yeah yeah, you have to go through the motions rather than accept conventional wisdom, but don't write it up like you expect a Nobel prize. You just make a brief note saying that you found that results were in line with expectations, then get on with trying to accomplish something of value, like finding a way of treating the depression that won't lead to a worse condition.<br /><br />Finally, someone else said what I couldn't about <a href="http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid183_gci520366,00.html">Asimov's three laws of robotics</a>. Warren Ellis hit it <a href="http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=5426">exactly</a>, and in a tone that assures me that when the robots finally reach a level of sophistication where this issue becomes relevant, they will be closer to Bender than Data. Usually, these discussions draw out the deviated septum, overweight dwellers in Mom & Dad's basement (no, I will not call it your "Dungeon") who argue at laughable length and ferocity about why all androids must be built to adhere strictly (maybe they repeat "strictly" three times in case you possibly didn't notice how they emphasized the term) to the triad of commandments (the SAT is coming up, so it doesn't hurt to get in those synonyms).<br /><br />On a personal note, I will now point out the absurdity of sending an email, in 48-point, red letters, demanding that I phone you about something vitally important. The fact that I don't answer my phone is a hint that I can't talk on the phone for some reason, like when I'm in class. When I look at the email, you have my attention, so the giant red text, in all capital letters (I hope to God gmail doesn't support the blink tag) is unnecessary. Tell me, politely and concisely, what your trouble is, and ask your question. Remember that when you are asking someone a favor, even a tiny one, being polite will expedite matters; criticizing my grammar, calling names, or telling me I "better get back re:this piece of shit software" I recommended pretty much guarantees that I have something much more important to tend to for the rest of your life.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-10120563696148231632007-12-29T16:15:00.000+08:002007-12-29T16:24:10.525+08:00PrioritiesWhatever you're doing now, stop it. I don't know what strange trail of links and memes led you here like a trail of breadcrumbs through the dark forest of the web, but you need to put them aside immediately, and go read <a href="http://ekotodi.blogspot.com/">Pinakothek</a>. I mean, seriously, stop reading this, click on the link (the underlined word at the end of the previous sentence), and read that blog. All of it. If you aren't impressed with that prose, you need to go to the hospital and donate your eyes to someone who will put them to proper use.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-39307823197633004492007-12-29T10:20:00.000+08:002007-12-29T10:59:05.142+08:00Metal FeverI'm linking "<a href="http://www.andiamnotlying.com/2007/metal-fingers-in-my-body-interview-with-david-levy-author-of-love-sex-with-robots/">Metal Fingers in My Body</a>" mostly for the following quote:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Personally I do not have much faith in the uncanny valley. The original publication on this topic (dating from 1970) was not based on any empirical research ... it was more an intuitive feeling expressed by Masahiro Mori that has since been hyped into an assumption of fact.</blockquote>Every mention of interaction, sexual or other, with robots/androids seemingly requires a link to the wikipedia entry on "The Uncanny Valley." Doing so indicates that you're cool enough to be linked on boing boing and Metafilter.<br /><br />I ranted about this a few times in the past, but who the hell listens to me? But said article provides the only positive note I can find in China's firewalling of wikipedia. In fact, I will delude myself into believing they block the resource only to prevent me from getting my blood pressure up the next time I find myself looking at that damned graph.<br /><br /><br />As to the article itself, I don't know a delicate way to phrase this. Mr. Levy says, "I believe that sexbots will change our perceptions of human relationships." Perhaps I'm missing something here, but what he's describing looks for the world like using more sophisticated technology for the purpose of jerking off, and if any group will focus a disproportionate amount of their time to said pursuit, it's those who work in the technology industry. I would even say that the necessity that's nominally the mother of inventions is the need to enhance the inventor's onanistic practices. I'm not criticizing or judging anyone. Lord knows I've spent countless lonely evenings thinking of great technological advances, to the point where I began to read microprocessor specifications and A.I. research summaries with an unhealthy gleam in my eye. But let's remember what we're saying here. It's still just a spectacular advancement in porn. If it leads to real, useful, world-changing advancements, wonderful, but for now, it's just a more complicated way for nerds to beat off.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-38442361940023170902007-12-08T19:35:00.000+08:002007-12-09T00:28:10.111+08:00What's Up?I just chanced upon <a href="http://ekotodi.blogspot.com/" onclick="" rel="nofollow">Pinakothek</a> a little while ago. Only two posts, but they're both damn fine reads.<br /><br />Somewhere in the recent quick updates, Firefox fixed the arrow keys and the page up/down home/end things. I reached the point where I would try to scroll with the arrows and Slashdot would go to the bottom of the long-ass page (and good luck finding which iteration of "first post" or "Natalie Portman" you were skipping by looking for the actual discussion). Today, I pressed the down arrow, immediately said, "Oh shit," and then noticed that the screen merely advanced one line. At first, I was delighted. Then I realized that I was getting really excited over the computer doing something that might reasonably be expected. OK, perhaps you wouldn't expect the windows version of a program to do what the mac and linux versions do, or to do what every other program on windows does, but I have higher standards. Now, if I could figure out why the mouse goes absolutely apeshit every couple hours, I might finally make peace with this damned machine.<br /><br />Long read of the week: <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Lester+Bangs">Lester Bangs</a> <a href="http://www.furious.com/Perfect/bangseno.html">interviews</a> <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Brian+Eno">Brian Eno</a>. Eno made me want to be a musician, and still inspires me to think about that stuff. In fact, the ideas I heard him espouse led to my interest in the technology that would make such ideas feasible, and that, in turn, led to my studies and career in computer science. Then, at one point, I realized that what I liked more than the music itself was the description of the music. I purchased many obscure LPs, sometimes spending a great deal of time and money searching them out and badgering record store clerks to order them in for me. Almost none of them lived up to the expectations the reviews created. I'll extend that a little further, and say that software development went that same way. The expectations I had for tools, languages, methodologies, etc. were never matched by experience. I like the aesthetics of code, but actually trying to find something that needs to be written leaves me asking myself why I bother. I had a notion to write a version of <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/vi">vi</a> for a <a href="http://www.coco3.com/">6809 machine</a> I owned over twenty years ago. There's a nice emulator, and I have some development tools for the platform. But really, why would I do that? <a href="http://vim.sourceforge.net/">Vim</a> has been ported to every platform I'm likely to encounter.<br /><br />So, what did we learn today? I learned that writing is more interesting than music, software, or games. As wonderful as Eno's music is, it's more interesting to hear his theories and observations about composing and recording (or any other topic he chooses to expound upon). I learned that running jokes have finite lifespans, after which they are no longer amusing to sober, sane individuals. I learned that just because something is conceivably possible it's not automatically a good idea. I also learned that a small bag of nacho cheese Doritos will cause strong recollections of home, and that writing a concluding paragraph the way I was taught in middle school kind of blows. Fuck it. There's maybe five of you that will ever glance at this page, and at most, three of you even scroll this far down. All semester, we've struggled with trying to impart the skill of the five-paragraph essay to the freshmen, and then I recalled that in many, many years of public school, I never really mastered the format myself, and many of my classmates had an ever weaker grasp of the subject. If Chinese students have managed for over 5,000 years without that skill, I'm not going to push it. I'd rather they spoke out loud in oral class, instead of handing me notes that said they don't know how to "talk good enough English." I need to sleep now.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-65493789828051406162007-11-25T15:29:00.000+08:002007-11-25T16:27:37.420+08:00IonosphereAfter I posted the link to BLDGBLOG last night, Geoff Manaugh came right back today with a long article about <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/mobile-minimalism_24.html">shipping container architecture</a>, which also fascinates me. I can very easily imagine a subgenre of architecture-obsessed science fiction, though I pray it will not have a "-punk" label.<br /><br />Some twenty-five or thirty years ago, I went to my first estate sale. My mother took me to a big house, and we wandered around, looking at the possessions some deceased man's family no longer wished to keep. I had a small amount of cash from my lunch money savings (I went without eating or drinking every single day until I got home, and pocketed the quarters) and a sawbuck my grandmother gave me for my birthday. The kind old widow who was parting with her late husband's worldly goods half-heartedly bargained with me until the arithmetic would allow me to purchase both a banjo and a shortwave radio. She said the old man had only used the radio tune in<a href="http://www.weather.gov/om/marine/wwv.htm"> WWV</a> and reset all the clocks in the house when daylight savings time began or ended. While she explained that, she and my mother rolled their eyes, agreeing that men have strange obsessions when kept in the house for too long.<br /><br />Later, a drummer I went to high school with also turned out to own a shortwave set. We compared ideas about the best use for such a thing. I mostly tried to find amusing programs or decipher <a href="http://www.spynumbers.com/">numbers stations</a>. He monkeyed with the controls to make odd noises, and said it was better than the cheap synthesizers available at the time. As the radio I had featured a quarter-inch earphone plug (the same size as an electric guitar) I incorporated it into my musical career.<br /><br />Every few months, until I moved out of my house suddenly a couple of years ago, I would drag that radio out and try to find proper antenna and ground connections, but there was less and less to be found by way of signals. Mostly religious broadcasts and the BBC was all I found at the last. Anyway, the other justification I came up with for keeping the thing was as a source for samples I could incorporate into musical compositions. There are a lot of web sites where such samples can be found now, so that notion is quashed to the point where I don't even try to look at the handheld radios on display over at <a href="http://www.hymall.com.cn/">Hymall</a>. <br /><br />Today, someone mentioned <a href="http://theradiokitchen.net/">The Radio Kitchen</a> on Metafilter. It's run by a man known only as "<a href="http://theradiokitchen.net/about/">The Professor</a>" and is a vast treasure of recordings of long-distance radio broadcasts. I also love the pictures of vintage receivers that surround the page.<br /><br />Bear with me a moment now, because I'm going to try and connect all this stuff into the big concept I see it as fitting into, like a big puzzle. As we, humanity, progress into the future, things change. Technology advances, and radio is forgotten. Notions of living space change, and dwellings evolve from four-bedroom standalone ranch-styles in the suburbs to repurposed shipping containers hanging on the backs of billboards or the rafters of shopping mall parking garages. Notions of personal space and privacy change. Maybe more and more of our belongings will exist only virtually, and "real life" homes will only be places to sleep and have sex, all other activities being open to public scrutiny. We might move away from George Carlin's view of having a place to keep the stuff we accumulate, and toward an existence where the online and offline merge, the division blurring, until we come to view chat sessions and web pages as places in the same sense as the diner on the corner or the mall are places.<br /><br />It's starting already. Customer service is an automated voice at a toll-free number, advising you to go to the company web site to seek assistance. Large corporations find the need to set policy for employees doing work inside Second Life. We're already in the future William Gibson predicted (and many pooh-pooh'ed in the early 1980's), or well on the way to it. The only questions that remain is how we will all react, and who will successfully adapt.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-48699633204222423992007-10-07T09:40:00.000+08:002007-10-07T09:42:35.217+08:00Satisfaction<object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MH8wrM0NARo"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MH8wrM0NARo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><p><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH8wrM0NARo"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This</span></a> is how this song really should sound. <br /></p>E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-44230536113750837562007-10-03T18:33:00.000+08:002007-10-04T10:06:37.549+08:00Are we there yet?One of my recurring obsessions is with the division between public and private space and the mindset shift as one moves from one to the other. Sitting at home in your bedroom reading a book is different from sitting in a laundromat reading a book, or even sitting in the lobby of a hotel reading a book. Even if you have a comfortable chair and the temperature is just proper, you're visible. You aren't alone, even if you're the only one there.<br /><br />Another idea I can't seem to divest myself of is the perceptions of retail space installations. I've worked in retail, and seen the shitty plywood/cheapest-ass carpet assemblies that serve as platforms for mannequins to stand on, and yet, they look a little magical when I'm wandering through the aisles, contemplating how to get the mannequin out to my car without being caught (there was one in particular that I would've paid big money for, just because it had a facial expression that messed with my brain every time I passed by on my way to the stationery aisle).<br /><br />So, I read all the related links to <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2007/10/02/artist_gets_probation_for_building_secret_mall_apartment/">this story</a> of a group of artists that covertly built an <a href="http://www.trummerkind.com/mall/Living_in_the_Mall.html">apartment</a> in a <a href="http://www.colincantread.com/Yoto/Malllife.html">shopping mall</a> in <a href="http://www.projo.com/news/bobkerr/Kerr_column_03_10-03-07_MT7BIVG.3305c2c.html">Providence</a>. Actually, I read a bit of the original article last night, then left it when I was called to the other room. I woke three times during the night, convinced that I had some deep memory of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Mixed-Up_Files_of_Mrs._Basil_E._Frankweiler">similar meme</a>. Then, I recalled that <a href="http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/index.asp">William Gibson</a> had a bit in one of his novels about people building makeshift homes in Tokyo train stations, or something similar. Every notion I've had for a science-fiction plot line turns out to have already been covered in one of his stories already. I would suggest that explaining the mechanism by which this coincidence occurred might be a suitable concept to base a story on, but I'm sure his next manuscript already has it penciled in the margins (he writes on an old <a href="http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/source/source.asp">manual typewriter</a>, you know).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">4 October 2007 9:43 AM</span><br />UPDATE:<br />I almost forgot this bit. <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/">BLDGBLOG</a> had a <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/air-unit.html">mention</a> of the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1471621535&size=o&context=photostream">A.I.R. unit</a>, which is a lightweight "deployable condo unit." I could easily see something like this being covertly stuck to the back corner of a strip mall, or a few of them being placed together to form a community on some interstitial bit of land, the kind of place where exact ownership of that spot is not easily determined, and maybe not interesting to anyone else. The diagrams look a bit luxurious for my ideas, but something along these lines, discretely attached to the back of a bus station, <a href="http://www.shoneys.com/">Shoney's</a>, or interstate rest area, would be as cool as the club house in the mall garage loft.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-27097164065030741962007-09-08T19:39:00.000+08:002007-09-08T20:42:19.928+08:00"I" is for "I don't know if it counts as irony or not."It took the better part of two weeks, but bittorrent finally coughed up the second half of "<a href="http://nomaps.com">No Maps for these Territories</a>" this afternoon. I saw the first half, which was not marked as "part one of two" in the listing, and then waited not-so-patiently for the rest to download (after I googled the torrent out of another site entirely). Anyway, I watched the rest of it as soon as it finished downloading, and at the very end, after all the credits finished rolling (and I watched them to try and discern who did the music that played over said ending credits) there were two URLs displayed for a few moments before the video ended. One was the site for the film itself, and the other was <a href="http://www.atomcandy.com">www.atomcandy.com</a>. The latter gave me the message: "The server at landing.domainsponsor.com is taking too long to respond." Since the title of the page is "Search the web" I'm just as glad nothing showed up, because I know the idea is for a blinking, flash-polluted advertisement asking too much money for the domain. In fact, whoever purchases the name is likely to get sued by some real candy manufacturer who has been selling "Atom Candies" since early 1946. You know the things, red dye #2 color and artificial cinnamon flavoring. Maybe you recall getting sick from eating too many of them while you absent-mindedly skimmed a yellowing copy of <a href="http://www.famousmonsters.com">Famous Monsters of Filmland</a>. <br />Or maybe that was just me. I still feel queasy when I smell those candies.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-35045565325955170092007-08-28T14:32:00.000+08:002007-08-28T14:44:30.803+08:00Ha.Now I'm glad I dropped out and subsequently studied elsewhere. [<a href="http://radaronline.com/features/2007/08/worst_colleges_cornell_bridgeport_michigan_state_university3.php">link</a>]<br /><br />When I was at Cornell, I discovered Throbbing Gristle, but only some of their material appealed to me. The rest was annoying. After they broke up, I tried to figure out who did which bits. Coil had some good songs, and some bad ones. I never figured out what Chris & Cosey/CTI did, because I only heard their songs in the middle of long sets on the radio, and didn't match the name to the sound. I saw a <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/fuck-the-dna/17075/">bit about Genesis P. Orridge</a> today, and can't for the life of me recall what I thought about Psychic TV, except that I kind of avoided their recordings.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6695818434547180221.post-25671225447282803432007-08-19T17:07:00.000+08:002007-08-19T18:03:27.203+08:00Cutters<a target="_blank" href="http://www.slide.com/s/fNg4e_qW0D-8PWk1krQUoBh1ho8DSocz?referrer=hlnk"><img src="http://widget.slide.com/rdr/1/1/1/W/9000000031f81e2/1/98/4DeXP14EvT-xfowV0NdxH4xtkTuw6Pfi.jpg" alt="Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!" title="Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!" border="0" /></a><br /><br />OK, here's the second attempt. A link loading in another tab took down the entire browser (some web pages do that, though I can't figure out why because when I try to look at the pages in question for clues, the fucking browser crashes).<br /><br />The image above is a photograph of a design carved on someone's leg. Tattoos were too easily removed with lasers, and piercings would heal closed if the jewelry was removed, and maybe cosmetic surgery could eradicate branding or "scarification" so this chick let someone whittle a cartoon character on her thigh. I like how the design incorporates a knife and slab of raw meat, both dripping blood, as well as a girl wearing only fishnets and an apron. Raw meat carved to look like raw meat.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong; I have been obsessed with more than one anime series. But I never, ever for a millisecond considered gouging <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain">Lain</a>'s likeness into my abs. I will admit, however, that I watched <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain">FLCL</a> again last night, and I would purchase an <a href="http://www.yale.edu/anime/fanworks/wall_flcl.jpg">orange</a> <a href="http://www.vespausa.com/">Vespa</a> without hesitation if the price was in my range.E. Nighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419418876639971626noreply@blogger.com0