Miscellaneous Miscellany:
- Quintura (as discovered from gapingvoid) is an interesting search engine that arranges search results in tag clouds. Pretty interesting.
- Entitlement and the Modern Fandom, an excellent Websnark article about zealous fandom in the day of the internets. An excellent read for any zealot, errr.. fan. (This is a brief follow up to Kris' follow up to his post at Halfpixel last week. I'm not going into further detail or PvP links. Dig into it yourself if you must. I think the Websnark article covers the salient, broad points.)
- Tycho (of PennyArcade infamy) defends his Zune purchase. I never did get around to my iPod post but I am definitely an i-convert.
- Stormtroopers crashed the 2007 Pasadena Rose parade in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. (BoingBoing)
- Cali Rezo's digital paintings look interesting. (BoingBoing)
- Global warming? No such thing! Errr... is there? (BoingBoing)
- A link here will help you learn more about search engine result ranking. (BoingBoing)
- Top 10 Sex Memes of 2006. (BoingBoing) You know you have some witty, partially-snide quip (potentially even a pun) to insert here, all on your own. You don't need my help (although I'm certainly willing to assist you if you do...)
- The Get Fuzzy (1/02/07) author (Darby Conley) definitely knows dogs. I bet my dogs have thought that very thing many times over.
- Initially, after reading CNN's report on Chief Justice Robert's end-of-year report, I was tempted to draft an entire post responding to the report. However, the comments to this SCOTUSblog post more than reflect my initial take (and subsequent position).
- Quotable Diesel Sweeties are quite tasty!
- Bucky (at Get Fuzzy (1/04/07)) has insight into the mind of a sixteen-year-old girl.
- Must remember to figure out if I'm going to Vericon at Harvard (Jan. 26-28).
- Diesel Sweeties hits newspapers (courtesy of United Media) next Monday. That means twice as much pixilated robot lovin' as before! Woohoo!!!
- A plurality of BoingBoing items in one go: a creepy haircut; every issue of MAD magazine (1952-2006) on one DVD-ROM; celebrity patents; LA coroner's macabre gift shop; Apple sued for iTunes/iPod monopoly tying (oh noes!); video of fungus that grows out of insects; Deathnote – a cheerfully immoral Japanese comics serial; champagne sabering: opening a bottle with a sword; and an inkless pen made of solid metal. (Whew!)
- Apparently there's an xkcd blag. One recent post there briefly comments on today's xkcd, replete with a Johnny Cash reference.
- I have three Daily Kos links that merit a brief intro/caveat. DKos is a left-wing blog for liberal-minded, netroots-friendly Democrats. There's probably more to it but that description/warning will serve for now. There were TWO (one and two) local acts of terrorism that the major media never picked up. Neither was related to "The War on Terror" or Iraq, hence their passing under the radar. In addition, there have been numerous local acts of terror in similar veins. These, too, seem to mostly fly under the radar. The last link is well worth at least a brief look.
- Evil Inc. introduced me to OtakuBooty, a dating site for intelligent fans of anime, manga and gaming. I may have to check that out... [brief pause] Okay, I checked it out. Not too many single women nearby.
- PlushSafari.com has some cool plush animals.
Quotes:
"You win this round, my evil queen." -- An Overheard Title
"Sie ist der hellste stern von allen" (It is the brightest star of all). -- Rammstein, "Sonne"
"We're going to save and/or destroy the world!" -- Flintlock flavor text
Overheards:
Overheard 1:
Receptionist: So we're going to need to reschedule his appointment, then?
Nurse: No, Mary*, this patient has passed away.
Receptionist: Okay, so then I'll call him in the morning?
Nurse: You don't understand. He's dead.
Receptionist: Well, Dr. Smith* has a slot open for Monday...
Nurse: He's dead.
Overheard 2:
Coworker: My sister got bit once, and she needed to get a tetanus shot.
Receptionist: What kind of dog was it?
Coworker: No, it was a girl at Taco Bell.
Overheard 3:
Associate: Do you think you could survive if we dropped you in the middle of the rainforest?
Temp: No way -- I would die for sure.
Associate: What about if we dropped you in a Wal-Mart?
Overheard 4:
Coworker #1: You know what we should do? Pool our money together and buy a cat.
Coworker #2: Would anybody feed it? 'Cause I don't want no dead cat runnin' around here.
Overheard 5:
VP yelling into phone: If I have the whale, then I'm king! Everyone has to follow me!
Overheard 6:
Cashier: Hi! How are you doing?
Customer, sighing: I'm 83 years old, my kids don't visit me and when they do their kids annoy the f*** out of me, I haven't had sex in 20 years, and you're out of my favorite ice cream.
Cashier: Look, lady, I didn't really care -- next time just freaking smile and say, 'I'm fine, how are you?' Now... Have a good day.
Customer: Thank you. See you tomorrow.
Overheard 7:
Managing editor on speakerphone: Do you know how to adjust columns in Excel?
Assistant: No...
Managing editor: What do you know?
Assistant: Um... I know that when a man and a woman get together, they--
Managing editor: --Come to my office.
Overheard 8:
Administrator: How was your Christmas?
Boss: Great. Now all I want is to get some sleep and find my underwear.
Overheard 9:
Staffer #1: Hey, Gary*, do you have a spoon?
Staffer #2: What kind of spoon?
Staffer #1: Um, one to eat liquids with... What other kinds of spoons are there?
Staffer #2: Well, jeez -- there's fishing spoons, crack spoons, and cuddling positions.
Staffer #1: You're the only person I know who would ever think of those kinds of spoons over a soup spoon.
Old Miscellany:
This Week in Miscelleny I
This Week in Miscellany II