April 27, 2004
Now what am I gonna do for eyes?
Y'know, aside from the part about shooting lasers into my eye, this thing sounds really cool.
April 26, 2004
Separated at Birth?
Dear Sir,
I am struck by the similarity of the book jackets of Holy Fire and Solitaire. Are they, in fact, the same book? I think the public should be told.
Unfortunately, all my observations were voiced by someone else first.
What's that smell?
So, you remember how we all got told that our olfactory sense works based on the shapes of molecules? Turns out that's just one theory. Another, with surprisingly strong evidence, is that our olfactory sensors contain tunneling electron spectroscopes. How cool is that?
April 25, 2004
Genitive Plural Humor- Hah!
A quite fascinating overview of Russian Humour, but I wish there were more examples.
Fun Cultural Activity?
Will someone take me to StockStock? I'll bring the snacks.
April 24, 2004
April 22, 2004
Good thing or bad thing?
Good thing or bad thing, that there is a book on meditation, tai-chi, and other relaxation techniques- for children?
April 19, 2004
No, it's not funny
Really, we don't take anybody's death lightly, but we just couldn't look ourselves in the eye if we didn't mention McDonald's Restaurants' CEO dropping dead, apparently of a heart attack.
April 16, 2004
Magic-Eyeball Jesus
I apologize profusely for implying that only people in more rural zipcodes get crazy-ass paper prayer rugs in the mail. I am, as I often can be, entirely wrong. Also, there is apparently a "miracle cakes" mailing!
We [heart] mashups
Yesterday, my favorite librarian turned me on to Live365's Pranksta Radio, which in turn pointed me at ccc's mashups galore. If you check out nothing else, scroll down to "Stand By Me" and give it a listen.
April 15, 2004
It's water, right? But it doesn't get things wet, right?
It was developed as a fire suppression tool, but surely there would be other uses for such a way cool fluid. Check out its magical evaporation while extinguishing a tealight.
April 14, 2004
All's Fair
It's never too early to plan for your county fair, especially if you're planning on winning a blue ribbon. Hey, Craig, King County even has a bread machine category!
April 13, 2004
Growing Apples from Seeds
Some info on why growing an apple tree from an apple seed may be disappointing, from a question raised by a discussion of a Straight Dope column.
Oh, for Pete's sake.
Know how the traffic is, right now!!! Or, listen to the radio.
WiFi Diwectowy
A directory of free wifi hotspots, a special treat if you don't feel like imposing on the unwitting generosity of others. It may need some research to expand the list, since there must be more than these...
Feeling down? Have some sex... or maybe a hug
Breakthrough scientific research reveals people who are feeling sad might want to talk to, or shag, or embrace someone. Who'd have thought that human contact would be useful in combating the blues? Unless you're in Scotland, in which case you'd just rather get blitzed.
April 09, 2004
Tiny Sweaters... in the wine
What Craig fails to mention about the Dr Who adventure is the fabulous tiny sweaters! The artiste's mom seems to be a tiny sweater wiz.
More actual forced perspective photography
In a bid to get better google cred after the weekend of the 403, here are some of my favorite web pages featuring our namesake technique:
- a homemade Doctor Who with dolls shot in a park. very lovely (the section on forced perspective is pretty far down the page)
- A titanic hand
- G.I. Joe vs Aliens
April 08, 2004
Sure, funny, but beside the point
Yeah, so there's this funny article describing how to boot Linux on a dead badger. The really cool thing, though, is it's published in a magazine that pays for sf.
April 06, 2004
Sad, and again sad
Tim Minear's show Wonderfalls has been cancelled after something like two episodes. I would have watched it, but Fox has made their signal too expensive to receive with my antenna. Perhaps as sad as the news of the cancellation, though, is the phrase "scripted shows".
Your tax dollars at work
Ashcroft's obscenity czar believes "Just about everything on the Internet and almost everything in the video stores and everything in the adult bookstores is still prosecutable illegal obscenity," so we're spending millions of dollars going after an industry with huge money and which has therefore previously been supportive of the Republicans (yeah, I'm treating the adult entertainment industry as being indistinguishable from the cable industry, simply because the latter profits from the former). I wonder how many pointless prosecutions it will take before that money starts flowing into Democrats' campaigns.
April 05, 2004
For your dwarven city?
Giant boring machine up for auction! Also, I enjoy the Gizmodo guys' snappy quippery.
Housing bubble may burst within a couple years
A somewhat chilling Washington Monthly article on housing prices and the economy makes a fairly convincing (to me) case that the housing market this year is not unlike the stock market in the late '90s, and that its collapse will be even more catastrophic for the economy at large. This would be spectacularly bad for whoever gets elected this year.
(that last sentence's construction would have been useful in weeding out the grammar god wannabes, I expect)
To no one's surprise...
Somebody at quizilla says: 
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!
If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. Congratulations and thank you!
How grammatically sound are you? brought to you by Quizilla
Based on the frequency of Grammar god scores visible via blogdex, a perfect score is not required. It's also possible that one or more questions had more than one correct answer (in fact, one of them had to have had more than one correct answer, which gives the prescriptive morons a false sense of correctness).
April 02, 2004
How did I miss this?
The new Dr Who will not be Eddie Izzard, and he won't be wearing any silly haberdashery (darn the luck).
I enjoyed Eccleston's performance in The Second Coming (which also involved Russell Davies, the new Dr Who series' producer), so am looking forward to seeing his take on a classic rôle.
April 01, 2004
A promise, from me to you
If I ever bilk my friends and/or colleagues out of a large sum of money, I will not then lose that money falling for a 419 scam.
Hey, another source of disposable email addresses
But since it's from Google, Gmail lets you store a gig of old mail and search for the message you want. Makes hotmail seem, well, uncool. (Note: you can't actually get an account yet, but you can ask them to send you updates)
If actors are cattle, voice actors must be their droppings
Simpsons voice cast on strike. I wonder how much of the staff will quit if they get replaced.
Mmm... porn names
Need a porn name? Try my porn name (mine is Sean Shaft). Yahoo has a (fairly sparse, it looks like) directory of name generators, including one for your hobbit name (mine is Samwise Brockhouse of Loamsdown — interesting that I'm a Samwise). My elf name is Tuor Séregon — I didn't like that at first, but it's kind of grown on me).
For a bunch of names all at once (using, it appears, the traditional formulæ), try The Name Generator.