ForcedPerspective

I want to hate it

Based solely on the name, I want to hate Lifehacker, but, dammit, it might be fairly cool. I'll leave the jury out for now.

I'm just an alarmist at heart

But since I'm already coughing my lungs out a couple times a day, it's hard to be all that sanguine about human-to-human avian flu transmission.
When I'm not actually coughing my lungs out, I feel okay, but those couple times a day are not pretty.

Oh, Nicky

Good news: Nicky Brendon has a movie in production. Bad news: It's starring Adrienne Barbeau. Where's Love Boat when you need it?

"because we couldn't believe what we were seeing"

Just another "Good Baptist couple gets porno labelled as The Pajama Game" story? Maybe. My favorite part, though, is "'My wife and I were very shocked but we watched it until the end because we couldn't believe what we were seeing.'" So, what, they were expecting maybe the topless Italian woman was the accompanying short? Or maybe they couldn't be sure exactly how shocked they were? After all, "'The film became progressively more graphic,'" so I guess they really did have to watch to the end to find their true level of shockedness.
I guess this demonstrates that there really are some people out there who can't figure out how to turn off the tv when it presents them with something they (feel obligated to claim they) don't want to watch. Pathetic, really.

If I had a hammer

If the only hammer you have is the UNIX stream editor sed, you may be surprised at the variety of nails available to you.

Secret Scouts!

Again showing my fairly foggy knowledge of European history, I had no idea that the Polish scouts operated an underground resistance during WWII! I think more scouts would remain active until High School if they knew they would get to sabotage railways.

Just read McSweeney's all the time

I'm probably the only reader of this blog that doesn't read McSweeney's Internet Tendency on a regular basis, so this recommendation is almost certainly redundant, but John Moe is funny. Not so much "ha ha" funny as "you might as well laugh; despair won't help" funny.

Sure, but what do anthropologists know?

Somehow, just because culture is their field of expertise, the American Anthropological Association has felt moved to issue a statement opposing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, on the grounds there is no basis to the argument that marriage is sacredly heterosexual.

Better Names for Better Living

Would more entertaining names for medications make them more effective?
These are some great names from A Manual of Chinese Herbal Medicine: Principles and Practice for Easy Reference by Warner J-W. Fan, M.D.

Eight-Right Powder for Rectification
Ten-Jujube Decoction
Ten-Fragrant Analgesic Pill
Three-Fresh Drink
Three-Skin Pulse-Restoring Decoction
Major Settling Pill
Major Wind-Calming Pill
Major Green Dragon Decoction
Infant Spleen-Regulating Decoction
Five-Ingredient Poison-Eliminating Drink
Six-to-One Powder
Yang-Raising Stomach-Benefiting Decoction
Divine Ruler Heart-Restoring Pill
Modified Five-Ingredient Unusually Effective Powder
Right Return Drink
Maiden’s Fry
Jade Windscreen Powder
Sweet-Cold Upper Clearing Prescription
Urine-Bile Unblocking Decoction
Mutually Sedating Pill
Greatest Treasure Special Precious Pill
Cold Wheeze Pill
Cinnabar Wonder Powder
Infant-Fattening Pill
Encampment-Clearing Decoction
Pain and Wind Pill

Relatively nerdy

Not Vancouver

The City of Seattle's Film Office has a really nice (large pdf) brochure with details on Seattle and Washington locations used in films.

As Canadian as Possible, Under the Circumstances

If there's one thing Canadians love, it's making fun of Canadians: loyal reader John points us to the TV show An American in Canada. Which I won't link to, since the CBC web page is already talking about the season finale. But it's on my local PBS station on Saturdays at 9:30pm. Then I'll watch some SCTV and read How to Be a Canadian.

When science should mind its own damned business

In the "things nobody asked about" department, Dr Alan Cohen, "a part-time tutor at Cardiff University," has revealed why this Monday will be the most depressing day of the year. I think he misunderstood the chorus of that Boomtown Rats song; I, at least, didn't really want to know why I don't like Mondays.
Then again, since the collective does not embrace the new year's resolution, it's mostly the weather and those fiendish "General motivational levels" we have to worry about.

Maybe I'll Drink It While Knitting

From vol. 2 of the previously-mentioned book by Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, a section on the River Beer Sellers or Purl-Men:
"It appears to have been the practice at some time or other in this country to infuse wormwood into beer or ale previous to drinking it, either to make it sufficiently bitter, or for some medicinal purpose. This mixture was called purl--why I know not, but Bailey, the philologist of the seventeenth century, so designates it. The drink originally sold on the river was purl, or this mixture, whence the title, purl-man. Now, however, the wormwood is unknown; and what is sold under the name of purl is beer warmed nearly to boiling heat, and flavoured with gin, sugar, and ginger. The river-sellers, however, still retain the name, of purl-men, though there is not one of them with whom I have conversed that has the remotest idea of the meaning of it."

And from the Oxford English Dictionary:
"a. Formerly, A liquor made by infusing wormwood or other bitter herbs in ale or beer. purl-royal, a similar infusion of wormwood in wine. b. Later, A mixture of hot beer with gin (also called dog's nose), sometimes also with ginger and sugar: in repute as a morning draught."

From CocktailDB, a slightly more modern dog's nose.

London, a Long Time Ago

Tufts U. seems to have a pretty nifty collection of digitized texts on historic London. BoingBoing readers highly recommend Punch's Henry Mayhew's account of the livelyhoods of London's poor.

More Story of Chess

Earlier, I mentioned finding evidence that the horrible Broadway re-write of Chess was the only version authorized for production in the States. A more recent search has turned up this page, which indicates to the contrary. It looks to be a good broad summary of the history of many productions, and includes the tidbit that "Someone Else's Story" was inserted at Broadway, and in later versions is given to Svetlana (the Russian's wife) to sing, rather than Florence.

With a Name Like Swank-Ola...

Thrift! Cookery! Albums! That's Swank-ola!

Common Errors, Nicely Delineated

Paul Brians has taken those annoying errors of usage into his own hands with a website and book. This site just helped me answer a question, and reminded me that most of the grammar questions I am asked are based on usage and not on wanting to know and apply the basic rules. I liked the list of errors enough I'm going to(make my employer) purchase the book!

Films in Hell

and the films.

The Simpsons commentary tracks reminded me how much I appreciate Matt Groening's good taste. The movie list clinches it.

“My Life as a Dog” (1985)
“All About Eve” (1950)
“To Live” (1994)
“The Tin Drum” (1979)
“Grand Illusion”(1937)
“O Lucky Man!” (1973)
“Red River” (1948)
“Every Man for Himself and God Against All” (1975)
“Notorious” (1946)
“Ikiru” (1952)
“Nosferatu” (1922)
“Gallipoli” (1981)
“The League of Gentlemen” (1960)
“The Lady From Shanghai” (1947)
“Ladies They Talk About” (1932)
“Women in Love” (1970)
“Lady Killer” (1933)
“Female Trouble” (1974)
“The Lady Vanishes” (1938)
“Ladybird Ladybird” (1995)
“Lady for a Day” (1934)
“A Woman Under the Influence” (1974)
“The Ladykillers” (1955)
“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988)
“The Lady Eve” (1941)
“Stray Dog” (1949)
“Strangers on a Train” (1951)
“Mothra” (1961)
“To Be Or Not To Be” (1942)
“M*A*S*H” (1970)
“Where is the Friend’s Home” (1987)
“The 400 Blows” (1959)
“The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T” (1953)
any silent movie
“Mr. Hulot’s Holiday” (1953)
“Brother’s Keeper” (1992)
“Two Tars” (1928)
“True Confections” (1991)
“Trouble in Paradise” (1932)
“Tom Jones” (1963)
“Twentieth Century” (1934)
“The Thirty-Nine Steps” (1935)
“Top Hat” (1935)
“The Thief of Baghdad” (1940)
“Them” (1954)
“The Thin Man” (1934)
“The Titfield Thunderbolt” (1953)
“Tumbleweeds” (1925)
“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948)
“Two Way Stretch” (1960)
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1949)
“Tugboat Annie” (1933)
“The Cure” (1917)
“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920)
“A Christmas Story” (1983)
“A Chump at Oxford” (1940)
“Crumb” (1994)
“The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957)
“Cops” (1922)
“The Cameraman” (1928)
“The Company of Wolves” (1984)
“The City of Lost Children” (1995)
“The Crowd” (1928)
“Citizen Kane” (1941)
“The Conformist” (1970)
“The Third Man” (1949)
“The Unknown” (1927)
“Seduced and Abandoned” (1964)
“Paths of Glory” (1957)
“The Tenant” (1976)
“In a Lonely Place” (1950)
“Bad Timing” (1980)
any Tex Avery cartoons
“Angel at My Table” (1990)
“Vernon, Florida” (1981)
“Peking Opera Blues” (1986)
“Umberto D” (1952)
“This Sporting Life” (1963)
“Detour” (1945)
“Salaam Bombay!” (1988)
“High Hopes” (1988)
“Pather Panchali” (1955)
“I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” (1932)
any Buster Keaton
“A Woman Under the Influence” (1974)
“M” (1931)
“Project A: Part 2” (1987)
“Harlan County, USA” (1976)

Books in Hell

Here's the Books from the Life in Hell calendars mentioned earlier:

The Inferno of Dante Alighieri trans. Ciaran Carson
The Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler
Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan
Yesterday Will Make You Cry by Chester Himes
Maakies by Tony Millionaire
Summer Blonde by Adrian Tomine
“In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself” (essay) Wislawa Szymborska
Ghost Town by Robert Coover
a thick book by Charles Dickens
Tales of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Nowhere Comics by Debbie Dreschler
something by James Thurber
short story by Bernard Malamud
Cartesian Sonata by William Gass
latest from Edna O’Brien
Norwegian folktales
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol
latest Eightball comic by Daniel Clowes
“Raymond” comic book by David Boswell
The Wellspring by Sharon Olds
An Atlas of the Difficult World by Adrienne Rich
The Mafia, The CIA and George Bush by Peter Bruston
Lynda Barry’s latest
Angry Women (Re/Search 13)
The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
The Deer Park by Norman Mailer
Knots by R.D. Laing
Eightball by Daniel Clowes
The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber
something by Mark Twain
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Most of S.J. Perelman by S.J. Perelman
I Never Liked You by Chester Brown
The Tunnel by William Gass
Sex, Lies and Stereotypes by Julianne Malveaux
The End of Work by Jeremy Rifkin
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Return of the Repressed by John Fahey
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Philosopher or Dog? Machado De Assis
Slutburger by Mary Fleener
A Good Baby by Leon Rooke
Strange Things Sometimes Stil Happen ed. Angela Carter
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain
The Magic of Blood by Dagobert Gilb
Lantern Slides by Edna O’Brien
Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy
After Many a Summer by Aldous Huxley
Blood Music by Greg Bear
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
anything by bell hooks
Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
What Mad Universe? by Frederic Brown
Islandia by August Tappan Wright
Growing Up in Tier 3000 by Felix C. Gottschalk
Eleutheria by Samuel Beckett
Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
The Funhouse by Benjamin Appel
Nixon’s Piano by Kenneth O’Reilly
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
Sacred Pleasure by Riane Eisler
Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo
Doctor Rat by William Kotzwinkle
3 Lives by Gertrude Stein
Who Will Tell the People by William Greider
Hate by Peter Bagge
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Lonely Crusade by Chester Himes
any Damon Runyon stories
Et Tu Babe by Mark Leyner
The Beans of Egypt, Maine by Carolyn Chute
The Benchley Roundup by Robert Benchley
Backlash by Susan Faludi
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen’s
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
If You Love This Planet by Helen Caldicott
Art Attack: The Midnight Politics of a Guerrilla Artist by Robbie Conal
Before Columbus Fiction Anthology
Pandora’s Box by G.W. Pabst
The Selected Poems of Rosario Castellanos
The Clothes Have No Emperor by Paul Slansky
The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson
Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle

Old Calendar Bonus Feature

Yes, I finally got rid of my old calendars. I was saving them because they were the Life in Hell and Futurama calendars that have good book and movie recommendations in them. So I finally copied them down so I could toss the calendars.

Science Fiction books recommended in Futurama 2004 and 2000:
(If you have any of the intervening years or can get me an '05, I wouldn't mind that at all.)

The Green Man by Kingsley Amis
Doctor Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb by Philip K. Dick
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
Stress Pattern by Neal Barrett Jr.
Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
Puppies of Terra by Thomas M. Disch
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Survivor by Octavia Butler
A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg
Aegypt by John Crowley
Fools by Pat Cadigan
The Eleventh Commandment by Lester del Rey
Mindswap by Robert Sheckley
Mixed Feelings by George Alec Effinger
Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers by Harry Harrison
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
After Many a Summer by Aldous Huxley
Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem
The Time-Lapsed Man and Other Stories by Eric Brown
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Brains of Rats by Michael Blumlein
Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling
Emphyrio by Jack Vance
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
What Mad Universe? by Frederic Brown
The Butterfly Kid by Chester Anderson
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress
The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon
Adam Link—Robot by Eando Binder
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
The Essential Ellison: A 35 Year Retrospective by Harlan Ellison
The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories by Gene Wolfe
Bill the Galactic Hero of the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars by Harry Harrison
Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
Ratner’s Star by Don DeLillo
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland
Little, Big by John Crowley
Lanark by Alasdair Gray
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
Sundiver by David Brin
Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks
Less Than Human by Charles Platt
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Neuromancer by William Gibson
The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth
War World by William C. Dietz
The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
Catchworld by Chris Boyce
Naked Came the Robot by Barry B. Longyear
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Norstrila by Cordwainer Smith
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Synners by Pat Cadigan
Software by Rudy Rucker
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The world needs more disambiguation

There was another Jack Straw in English politics, so there are enough of them to require a disambiguation page in Wikipedia.

English public servants and their names

For years now, I've been alternately horrified and delighted that Britain's Foreign (then Home—or maybe it went the other way) Secretary is called Jack Straw. Who better to make insubstantial proposals? Now I see that I missed another good one. In the recent row over Prince Harry dressing up as a Nazi, "former royal press spokesman Dicky Arbiter ... said [a written apology] was not good enough." Ari Fleischer and Scott McLellan only wish they were called Dicky Arbiter. Hell, I've sought all my life to get to be a Dicky Arbiter.

Do you have Damp Heat in your Lower Warmer? Would you like some?

Upper Jiao Damp Heat is the early stage of a Damp Evil invasion. I have nothing to add to that.

"I could not take this gift for granite anymore."

Yet again I'm judging entries for the local PTSA's Reflections essay competition. I'm glad that I only get a binder of entries with designated codes. If I had to meet some of the authors I would never ever stop slapping them. Only halfway through the binder and so far: 3 stories of getting lost while skiing, 4 stories of how their parent is their hero, 2 stories about how great Jesus is, and the obligatory story about how a retarded person will make you grateful for your life (while getting lost on skis). All but 3 of the total are filled with awkward writing, wooden characterization and inappropriate word choices. I know that not everyone is going to be a good writer, but every one of these students should really know how to compose an essay that doesn't read like it was written by an ESL student with a head injury. No offense to the brain-damaged immigrant population.

Inappropriate headline theater

Instead of "US show sued for rat-eating stunt", I'd prefer to see "Moron can't figure out how to change channel; harms self in orgy of idiocy."

A Loaf by Any Other Name

I listened to Frank Zappa's album Broadway the Hard Way an awful lot in college, so no wonder confinement loaf popped back into my head. According to the song, it's "bean by-products compressed into a loaf, which is administered to problem prisoners. Their diet will be a slice of 'Confinement Loaf' and a cup of water, and it seems to mellow them out right away. So my question is: How long before 'Confinement Loaf' appears in United States High Schools?"

Similar loaves seem to pop up in the news from time to time, here's a few:

"The Loaf" at Fairfax County Detention Center
"For those looking for an unusual holiday snack, or perhaps merely an alternative to fruitcake, The Loaf consists of: 120 slices of wheat bread, 25 cups grated nondairy cheese, 10 cups raisins, 4 cups vegetable oil, 15 cups grated carrots, 15 cups well-drained spinach, 60 cups vegetarian beans, 8 cups tomato puree, 15 cups nondairy powdered milk, 12 cups instant potatoes, and 1 pound brown and 1 cup white sugar.
Mix. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Serves 60."
Source Like It Or Lump It; Jail Officials Treat Media to Meatless Loaf Given Sniper Suspect; [FINAL Edition] Paul Farhi. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Dec 21, 2002. pg. C.01

"The Loaf" New York (prisons unspecified, but including Southport Correctional Facility)
"The ultimate discipline for incorrigible prisoners is three one-pound loaves a day made of flour, milk, yeast, sugar and lesser amounts of margarine, salt and shredded carrots and potatoes. Plus, there's a side order of cabbage. One cup, raw. And water."
Source What's Worse Than Solitary Confinement? Just Taste This Matthew Purdy. New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Aug 4, 2002. pg. 1.27

Other factoids from this same article "In Texas and Pennsylvania, food cooked into a loaf is used as a security measure for inmates who throw trays or utensils." and "The prison system has done what it can with the loaf. A few years ago, nutritionists changed the recipe to lighten the loaf, adding white flour instead of whole wheat and adding margarine. The reviews have not been raves, but the cuisine was once even crueler. Said one prison official, ''There used to be liver added to it.'' "

"The Loaf" Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center
"Take a handful of dehydrated potato flakes. Mix with a quarter-pound of finely grated imitation cheese. Fold in 8 ounces of powdered skim milk, some raisins, raw carrots and tomato paste, add six slices of whole wheat bread, 2 cups of Great Northern beans and a can of spinach.
Knead it into the shape of a meatloaf and bake it. Forty-five minutes later, you have a "special management meal" -- one of the latest tools used by Maryland prison wardens to keep inmates in line."
Source Misbehave, and you'll get food for thought; [Fourth Edition] Laura Barnhardt. Seattle Times. Seattle, Wash.: Apr 7, 2002. pg. A.12
Also noted in this article "In California, inmates call it the "brick." In other places it's known as "Nutraloaf."
In Pennsylvania prisons, the "breakfast loaf" contains prunes, eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon and orange juice. And in Texas, misbehaving inmates are given "food loaf," a breadlike substance made up of the previous day's leftovers."