dsandler.org

Oh no.

Pods Unite

Buy a New Beetle. Get a new iPod.

It was inevitable, really. When two groups of people have so much in common, eventually they find each other. Volkswagen and Apple. Buy a New Beetle. Get a new iPod. And the kit that brings them together (plus a lot of other cool stuff like free music and a $100 Apple Store coupon).

The French Academy Of Petty Linguistic Pedantry can’t leave well-enough alone. First it was «courrier électronique» – but nobody wanted to use that mouthful; as one Francophile once told me, “It’s called «courrier électronique» and it’s pronounced ‘email.’”

Then, there was «mél». I don’t know if this was offficially sanctioned or not, but it was a little more French than “e-mail.” But, apparently, just today, the Academie has coined a new, French word: «courriel.» “‘Evocative, with a very French sound, the word “courriel” is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed “mail” in English,’ the commission has ruled.” Quoi?

This guy’s journal entry is so good, I’ve just cribbed the whole thing:

PROOF

Using the Star Links tool, I have established the truth once and for all.

The Oracle says: Osama bin Laden has a Saddam Hussein number of infinity.
Osama bin Laden cannot be linked to Saddam Hussein using only feature films.

HOWEVER:

The Oracle says: George W. Bush has a Saddam Hussein number of 4.

George W. Bush was in Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002) with Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote was in Endangered Species (1982) with Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley was in God’s Lonely Man (1996) with Wallace Langham
Wallace Langham was in Uncle Saddam (2000) with Saddam Hussein

So there you have it! Mr. Bush, you have some explaining to do.

TiVo: “In compliance with the GPL, we are pleased to provide our modifications to the Linux PowerPC Kernel, as well as a few new commands, and some tools to get you into the code.”

Oh, man, the Last Comic Standing motherlode is at Reality News Online’s page on the show. You’ll have to look through the story archives to find the writeups about the LCS episodes, because they’re (stupidly) not linked on the LCS page. Don’t miss Ep. 7, “The Sleeper Awakens”, including an email from Jay Mohr, which itself includes an excellent summary of why I like this show so much (more than I like other reality drivel): “All the comics earned their way in. This is a reality show starring people that actually DESERVE their fifteen minutes of fame. ”

More linksluttery: Cory Kahaney, Rich Vos, Dat Phan, Rob Cantrell (!!) (including the Fronkey!). I guess if you want people to take yourself seriously these days, you have to have some sort of bullshit vanity website.

Hey, Dave Mordal’s got a website. (Dave was my favorite contestant on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, both because of his razor-sharp dry wit, and because he’s from Minnesota; he was eliminated in the most recent round of competition by a thoroughly one-dimensional Dat Phan.)

While we’re at it, how about some links? official NBC site, news article roundup, another pile of links.

Ugh. SFGate: Microsoft admits critical flaw in nearly all Windows software. “Microsoft said the vulnerability could allow hackers to seize control of a victim’s Windows computer over the Internet, stealing data, deleting files or eavesdropping on e-mails.”

A recent jwz movie roundup includes the following shrewd observation: “Actually, the Mr. Hyde bits in League were a better Hulk story than Hulk was.” E. had a very similar impression as we left the theater where we saw League. “Now I don’t feel the need to see Hulk at all!”

Oh, wow. Not only have CafePress cleaned up their terms of service to make them more rights-friendly, but now they’re working on a book-on-demand service with no minimum run or set-up fee. Crazy!

A hilarious parody of the hundreds of tiny micromanagements involved in running an online multiplayer game is over at k5. A highly amusing excerpt from Blizzard Chess:

Patch 1.04
The Rook units are severly underused, only coming into the game late or, in some games, never. In order to rectify this, we have given the Rooks a special ability. From now on, given that a Rook and the corresponding Rook Pawn have not yet been moved, a player may simultaneously play P-R4 and R-R3. This should get the Rooks into play and restore balance to the Chess units.

Patch 1.05
Nobody is using the new Fast Advance ability of the Rook units, due to problems with the Bishop fields of fire blocking the Rook entry points! In order to rectify this imbalance, positions of Bishops and Knights will be reversed at start. This small change should not interfere with the strategies of experienced players, and will provide a much better game.

Dave reminds me that there’s new Frontalot music out!

For those tracking tropical storm Claudette (as we are in the Houston area): tracking map with projected future and detailed storm discussion from UW Madison. Also, the current report and precautions from NOAA.

This piece of code I’ve been working with (for a few years now) is so old and gnarled, so shamefully abused and neglected, with years of inscrutable, incompatible, incorrigible additions, that it has truly become my own personal Winchester house.

The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen was quite a bit more fun than I feared it might be. But Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl was definitely the standout of the weekend, surprising me with its natural comedy and fine acting (including two British television actors Erin and I have discovered on BBC America: Jack Davenport, from Coupling, and Mackenzie Crook, from The Office).

Me: “I was entertained, sure. But I didn’t expect to enjoy myself!”

I cannot believe that I scored a perfect on the Famous First Lines quiz. Erin will be furious, as she knows I have only read three or four of these books. (However, I have always counted “really good guessing” among my skills.)

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