Things without which I could not have survived this week:
Alert reader Bob M. warns that January 24th (Monday) is the worst day of the year.
[…] [Dr. Arnalls's] formula for the day of misery reads 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA.Where W is weather, D is debt - minus the money (d) due on January's pay day - and T is the time since Christmas.
Q is the period since the failure to quit a bad habit, M stands for general motivational levels and NA is the need to take action and do something about it.[…]
Huge iceberg runs aground, wreaks havoc. Penguins in danger!
Jumbo squid! Jumbo squid! Oceanography professor: "These things are invading, and we don't know what's going on." (I, for one, welcome our new squid overlords.)
Once again, it looks like The Onion was right: club-goers re-experience the '90s at NYC's Nerveana.
Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University, says the '90s revival is premature, yet he understands the new club's appeal."The nostalgia cycle is already cannibalistic to the point where we're getting nostalgic for what happened this past Tuesday," he says.
"The '90s seem further away psychologically than chronologically," he adds.
A woman illegally used her boyfriend's username and password to access his Lineage account and delete his weapons and armor. "I did it as revenge for breaking up with me," police quoted her as saying.
NCsoft files motion to dismiss Marvel's lawsuit. Justice 8, assemble!
City of Heroes is a tool that encourages originality, not slavish copying. It allows young and old to exercise their imaginations to create super-powered beings and send them off to interact with the creations of other individuals in a virtual world called Paragon City. If it should be banned, then so should the #2 pencil, the Lego block, modeling clay, and anything else that allows one to give form to ideas. In Marvel’s view of the world, if people should play online games with super heroes, they must only play with licensed Marvel characters, and imagination shall be damned. Marvel’s attempt to monopolize online “hero” games and quash creativity has no basis, and its complaint should be dismissed.
I don't know if I'm having a low threshold of humor day, but I can't stop giggling while reading Spamusement! Spamusement! consists of "poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines", although most of them are better drawn than anything I could come up with. Plus, I just like saying Spamusement! Spamusement! Spamusement!
Some entries are so-so, but some are truly inspired. For best results, start at the bottom and work your way up. And try not to disturb adjacent cubicle denizens or snork coffee into your keyboard.
Hey, all you readers! (Yes, all 8 of you…) I'm guessing that it's a safe bet that most of you grew up reading science fiction, much, if not all, of the time. Farah Mendlesohn is an academic, an SF reader/ writer, and a vivacious redhead. She is also a really nice person, and she bought me a pint of cider when I was visiting London, despite the fact that she didn't know me from Eve. She is in the midst of writing another book, tentatively titled The Inter-Galactic Playground of Children's Science Fiction. Go take her SF reader survey and email your responses to sfquestions (at) gmail dot com. Thanks!
NPR aired a segment on Sunday morning that paid tribute to H. David Dalquist, inventor of the Bundt cake pan. In Remembering the Era of the Bundt Cake, Bonny Wolf also mentioned a recipe that I'm looking forward to trying: her first-ever Bundt experience, the Harvey Wallbanger cake.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, The Vermont Teddy Bear Company releases its Crazy for You Bear. Cuddly and fun? Or a tasteless use of marketing "that stigmatizes persons with mental illness"? Regardless, Vermont Teddy Bear company vows that it will not discontinue the bear before Valentine's Day.
The Boston Globe ran a nice interview with Tom and Ray Magliozzi, a.k.a. Click and Clack.
"[…] Ray, again: "What we do may be in bad taste, but it's rarely mean. We're not shock jocks. We're usually laughing at ourselves. And most listeners know we have good hearts."A footnote: Their late mother, Elizabeth Magliozzi, who costars on the new "Car Talk" CD titled "Maternal Combustion: Calls About Moms and Cars," was repeatedly accused of having a drinking problem and prison record. On national radio. By her own sons. Did she demand an apology? No. Only that they stop smoking cigars. Which they have-- sort of. […]"
Via boston.com: Presbyterian minister collapses and dies at the pulpit after saying "And when I go to heaven…".
Now if only God would "call home" Oral Roberts.
Masahiko Yamada: in search of the perfect soup.
[…] Yamada's job is to find the ultimate soup. After all, he was given the title of ''soup master'' from his company two years ago.The title is warranted, according to those who know the 57-year-old researcher of Nissin Food Products Co. They consider Yamada a ''living god'' of instant ramen noodles. […]
It's a wintry day in New England, and thoughts turn to comfort food, fireplaces, and good snow tires. Marian Burros of The New York Times extols the virtues of oatmeal. I'm a fan of McCann's Steel Cut Irish, but some of the others on her Taster's Guide (Bob's Red Mill, Country Choice) sound pretty good.
I've been jonesing for a nice bowl of Irish oatmeal with buttermilk and brown sugar. I like golden raisins cooked in; Chris doesn't. (We usually alternate.) We tried Alton Brown's Overnight Oatmeal recipe, but didn't have half-and-half. As a result (I think), it didn't come out very well. So, we'll have to try it out again with all of the proper ingredients and see how it goes. I'd also like to try Alton's recipe for steel cut oatmeal. Cold cereal fans can go visit talljay.
You probably already heard that Kelly Freas passed away on January 2nd. And the next day, Will Eisner. Each was a great artist who influenced thousands of readers, writers, and illustrators. But did you know about H. David Dalquist, creator of the Bundt pan?
Take a few hours out of your busy day and pay tribute to the men responsible for so many wonderful things. And bake a Tunnel o' Fudge cake. It'll give you something to nosh on while you're reading your old MAD magazines and comic books.
Via little. yellow. different.: tips for speeding up Firefox (broadband users only). Can't wait to get home and try it!
