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.
So today, I finally managed to get back to Pablo Defendini's article on faster-than-light travel and related topics. 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 The Free Dictionary (which includes a wikipedia mirror).
I was searching through the explanation of noosphere, and saw mention of Stewart Brand and, in the references, Serial Experiment: Lain. 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 Dissociative Identity Disorder. 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.
A character in Alice in Wonderland 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.
09 August 2008
06 August 2008
as I stood 'neath the marquee moon...hesitating
There 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.
13 April 2008
You got a pretty mouth
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North 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." | |
| The Midland | |
| The Northeast | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The South | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
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.
23 March 2008
Another month?
Hmm, youtube 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?
11 February 2008
Deer 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 "The Endless Forest". 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."
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.
Seriously, deer do, in my estimation, four things:
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.
Seriously, deer do, in my estimation, four things:
- eat vegetation.
- poop.
- fuck.
- get shot by rednecks.
28 January 2008
Ephemeralately
Today (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 ephemera, but I don't know how to suffix the word to mean "collects it as a hobby."
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.
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 Roughdraft and the VTPortableRemington 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 Ion X Window manager, and then at installing linux, in case I can't make cygwin conform to my vision, and pretty soon, I discover that I've started looking at Forth 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 WinUAE 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.
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.
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.
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 Roughdraft and the VTPortableRemington 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 Ion X Window manager, and then at installing linux, in case I can't make cygwin conform to my vision, and pretty soon, I discover that I've started looking at Forth 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 WinUAE 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.
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.
06 January 2008
Happy New Whatever whatever
Depressed alcoholics are less likely to stop drinking, so it says here. 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.
Finally, someone else said what I couldn't about Asimov's three laws of robotics. Warren Ellis hit it exactly, 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).
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.
Finally, someone else said what I couldn't about Asimov's three laws of robotics. Warren Ellis hit it exactly, 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).
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.
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