May 2008
i've been away →
newborn son > tumblr
Belated congratulations to Tyler. Welcome to Generation Tumblr, Gabe.
“You have turned out to be quite a disappointment. A year ago, I was excited...”
– The Feminist Pessimist: Hillary….Hillary…..Hillary
Earl of Wigtown →
If I ever wore a toupee, this is totally what I’d call myself.
travors: Wait a minute… where did he go?! No kidding! How very strange.
Here’s a good chunk of his posts, courtesy of my never deleting feeds from Google Reader. You can check the April 14th post for an answer to your question.
Keep Your Journal On Your Kindle
This might be obvious, but it took me a while to realize and doesn’t seem to already be out there in the noosphere, so here it is.
As the user guide describes, the Kindle keeps all of your notes and highlights in a file called My Clippings, which is accessible from the Home page. They’re date and time stamped, along with the book for which they were made, and the location within the...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-5-25) →
Eve Selis
Accidental Superhero
Utopia
Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie
Ben Arnold
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr
Washington: Mr Safire, please answer: Is it correct to say “I’ll have three Whopper Juniors” or “I’ll have three Whoppers Junior”?? William Safire: You’re using the analogy of “attorneys general” and “courts martial,” pluralizing the noun and not the adjective. I like to order “Whoppers Junior” because it gets a funny...
“‘time is a gentle deity,’ said Sophocles. Perhaps it was, for him....”
– James Gleick
“the purpose of a system is the target of a project” -I think this Skillsoft course was written by either Dr. Seuss or Gilbert and Sullivan.
Book club forcing me to read Koontz. I’d strike back by selecting Gravity’s Rainbow for my month, but that’d be the definition of Pyrrhic.
FInally saw Iron Man, and I gotta admit nothing says “billionaire playboy” like a retractable stripper pole in your private jet.
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-5-18) →
Billy Joel
Huffamoose
The Happies
Headboard
Brodie
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr
Strength Train Your Mind
At least three times a week, read something slightly over your head in a topic that interests you. Just as with muscle, an underused mind will atrophy, one used regularly with an easy load will stay limber, but only by being pushed to its limit (or slightly beyond) will it grow.
Disconnecting Distraction →
Paul Graham talks procrastination-by-distraction:
Procrastination feeds on distractions. Most people find it uncomfortable just to sit and do nothing; you avoid work by doing something else.
So one way to beat procrastination is to starve it of distractions. But that’s not as straightforward as it sounds […]
One approach that I discovered entirely by accident one day when I was limited to...
Mixed Messages
How can you love books enough to compile a list of 100 must reads, yet be so indifferent to other readers’ experiences that you reveal the ending of 1984 on that list?
“Instead of leaving a check under the doormat, why don’t we cut out the...”
– Amanda is less than pleased with the new lawn guy.
Judging by the vending machine stock, “Double Meat w/Cheese” must be a big seller. Not a big fan of non-specific meat products, myself.
A Quote Two-fer
I’m reading Mark Hurst’s Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload and couldn’t decide which of these quotes to post, so here they both are.
Like paper, or steel, or gunpowder, bits must be fully understood, and respected, if they are to be used to any advantage.and Fans of The Matrix will remember what Neo says at the climactic point of the movie,...
Kinda stings that Merson saves her biggest smiles for, and has her longest conversations with, the light switch and fan control on the wall.
Having the “couldn’t be bothered to pack lunch” special today: shrink-wrapped ham & turkey “club”, Elfin® Crackers, and Diet Pepsi.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name - Wikipedia, the... →
“Where Everybody Knows Your Name” is the theme song from the 1980s television sitcom Cheers. The song was written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo. The Portnoy-Angelo theme for Cheers is one of the most memorable in TV history. Several weeks after the premiere, Portnoy went back into the studio to record a full-length version of the song that made the pop charts.
Twitterfolk: how old can a tweet be before responding to it is like wanting to talk about a five year old movie you just finally saw?
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die →
Looks like I’d better stay alive for a while. The 27 that I have read:
Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The World According to Garp, John Irving
Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Fear and...
“Vox populi is all too often vox boobus americanus.”
– Nancy Friedman
10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses... →
Whether you are currently writing professionally or are looking to break into the field, formal writing courses can help you to hone your skills. If you don’t have the money or the time for campus-based courses, there are plenty of universities offering free writing courses online.(via Cheap Ways To…)
Mother’s Day portrait of my ladies turned out pretty good. http://tinyurl.com/44gtzy
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-5-11) →
Electric Light Orchestra
Diamond Porn Queen
Louis Prima
By Divine Right
Queen
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr
Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother
Jerry Jeff...
empathy quotient quiz →
nu:
butterflyeffect: sierracolfer: emilyposts: 0 - 32 = low (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score about 20) 33 - 52 = average (most women score about 47 and most men score about 42) 53 - 63 is above average 64 - 80 is very high Woozers. I got 50. Always strive to be average. Most women score about 47. Well, I got a 33. I suppose I’m not all that...
What is the most erotic word in the English...
bunnynico: abscond (with friends and relatives offering smock, viral, and aplomb)
johnbrissenden: unbutton
Carolyn offers susurration.
I’ll suggest toussled.
I’ll go with melt.
“Yeah…and?”
– Fake John Connor’s response to my time machine post.
Two lessons that took a lot longer to learn before...
There’s always somebody smarter/stronger/sexier/(fill in positive attribute)-er than you. If not now, then in the future. Roger Bannister’s historic mile isn’t even in the top ten anymore.
Putting yourself out there in spite of #1 can be a blast.
Have time-traveling robots or minions of future archvillians been trying to kill you and your ancestors for as long as anyone can remember?
Congratulations! You or one of your descendents will invent a time machine! If you survive.
