Friday, May 27, 2005
A Glossary of European Noble, Princely, Royal and Imperial Titles
(via Novarese) This is just about the most complicated mess of information I've ever seen in a webpage that didn't deal with either mathematics or computer science.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
pre test
testing to see if pre works any better in Blogger than it used to.
Update: yep, it do.
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Update: yep, it do.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
The Death of a Muslim Woman
For some reason a link to this German news article was e-mailed to me by someone whose name I don't recognize. Why? A very strange thing to Spam people with.
Hatin Surucu, was not the victim of random violence, but likely died at the hands of her own family in what is known as an "honor killing."
Monday, May 23, 2005
your chance to fvck with the flvxx
Please respond to this post with any remixes, covers, additions, enhancements, improvements, worsenings, or other modifications you might make to Flvxxvm Florvm songs. Especially Butt-Ass Blues, but the entire canon is an open target.
To kick things off, Scott's Hammond organ added to Could-a, Should-a, Didn't-a.
Michael should be working some wonders on Sunset Limited. (btw, who can tell me what that song is named after without using google?)
To kick things off, Scott's Hammond organ added to Could-a, Should-a, Didn't-a.
Michael should be working some wonders on Sunset Limited. (btw, who can tell me what that song is named after without using google?)
Groupware Bad
I stopped reading JWZ's blog a while back because I just didn't have time to trawl through his voluminous output. If only he had a separate blog or even a separate RSS feed within his main blog, that consisted of nothing but old Netscape war stories.
Orson Scott Card on Star Wars and Revenge of the Sith Jedi religion faith force
Of course, all this quibbling would be moot if, in fact, the Jedi religion actually worked—if people could tap into the Force and do the miracles that the Jedi routinely perform.
Another view of the mystery plant
Name this flower
Is this something that the previous owners planted, or just an exceptionally pretty weed, or what?
edge blog!
I think this writing on the sidewalk says "26' 5'' EDGE BLDG", as in how far it is from this mark on the edge of the building.
But it sure looks like it says "BLOG".
My daughter, however, read every individual letter (she can read letters but not words) and recognized the third letter in the last word as a "D".
Thursday, May 19, 2005
waaahhhh.... i wanna see star wars! waahhhh!
Probably no chance for another week. I can't keep avoiding spoilers for another week!
The following have already been spoiled for me, just by stories in the mainstream non-fanboy media. Don't tell me if any of these are BS, and don't tell me if they're not. I'll find out when I see it.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
Your RSS might not black this text out, so if you really want to avoid spoilers stop reading now.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
The movie opens with Obi-Wan and Anakin rescuing Palpatine from the clutches of General Grevious.
There is actually a character called General Grevious.
Anakin's fall to the dark side has something to do with placing his devotion to Padme higher than his devotion to the Force. I hope this is an overstatement, because then the whole friggin saga becomes nothing but a "forbidden love" story. If I want to see a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, I'll rent "West Side Story".
Padme dies, but Vader doesn't kill her, someone else (Sidious?) does.
Vader/Anakin "dies" and is brought back from the dead by Sith necromancy. Hence Obi-Wan was technically correct in ANH when he said that Anakin was dead.
Construction of the Death Star begins (It took twenty+ years to build the first one, and then they got the second one half-operational in short order? Or were they always building more than one? What I get for not reading the novels, I guess.)
Tarkin appears.
The first spaceship we saw in ANH, the one from which Leia was captured and the Droids escaped in the escape pod, appears.
Chewbacca, and other Wookies (first time since the X-mas special, right?) appear.
Yoda takes a serious ass-whopping from Sidious/Palpatine. Yoda's life is only saved by the aforementioned Chewbacca.
Mace Windu is killed.
Darth Vader personally hunts down and kills every last Jedi except for Obi-Wan (well, not yet!) and Yoda. Even the 5-year-old apprentice Jedi.
Sidious is Palpatine.
Anakin is Vader.
The following have already been spoiled for me, just by stories in the mainstream non-fanboy media. Don't tell me if any of these are BS, and don't tell me if they're not. I'll find out when I see it.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
Your RSS might not black this text out, so if you really want to avoid spoilers stop reading now.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
The movie opens with Obi-Wan and Anakin rescuing Palpatine from the clutches of General Grevious.
There is actually a character called General Grevious.
Anakin's fall to the dark side has something to do with placing his devotion to Padme higher than his devotion to the Force. I hope this is an overstatement, because then the whole friggin saga becomes nothing but a "forbidden love" story. If I want to see a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, I'll rent "West Side Story".
Padme dies, but Vader doesn't kill her, someone else (Sidious?) does.
Vader/Anakin "dies" and is brought back from the dead by Sith necromancy. Hence Obi-Wan was technically correct in ANH when he said that Anakin was dead.
Construction of the Death Star begins (It took twenty+ years to build the first one, and then they got the second one half-operational in short order? Or were they always building more than one? What I get for not reading the novels, I guess.)
Tarkin appears.
The first spaceship we saw in ANH, the one from which Leia was captured and the Droids escaped in the escape pod, appears.
Chewbacca, and other Wookies (first time since the X-mas special, right?) appear.
Yoda takes a serious ass-whopping from Sidious/Palpatine. Yoda's life is only saved by the aforementioned Chewbacca.
Mace Windu is killed.
Darth Vader personally hunts down and kills every last Jedi except for Obi-Wan (well, not yet!) and Yoda. Even the 5-year-old apprentice Jedi.
Sidious is Palpatine.
Anakin is Vader.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
track notes for butt-ass blues
Coulda Shoulda Didn't-a
acoustic guitar
acoustic slide guitar
acoustic slide guitar with full- and half- wave rectification
vocals
Hoostyboot
acoustic guitar
"bass" = acoustic guitar digitally transposed down one octave
slapping on acoustic guitar body
vocals
I Don't Care
acoustic guitar
"bass"
acoustic guitar w/ distortion
hand clap
vocals
I'm Selfish
acoustic guitar
acoustic slide guitar
"bass"
pounding on guitar body with fist
vocals
Lil' Ole Ho
acoustic guitar
"bass"
hand clap
vocals
Natural State
acoustic guitar
"bass"
vocals
Saltmeat
acoustic guitar
"bass"
pounding on guitar body
spoons
vocals
Stankhaus
acoustic guitar
"bass"
slapping
spoons
vocals (three tracks)
Sunset Limited
acoustic guitar w/ delay and "backwards delay" a la Jimmy Page
acoustic guitar
acoustic slide guitar
acoustic slide guitar with full- and half- wave rectification
vocals
Hoostyboot
acoustic guitar
"bass" = acoustic guitar digitally transposed down one octave
slapping on acoustic guitar body
vocals
I Don't Care
acoustic guitar
"bass"
acoustic guitar w/ distortion
hand clap
vocals
I'm Selfish
acoustic guitar
acoustic slide guitar
"bass"
pounding on guitar body with fist
vocals
Lil' Ole Ho
acoustic guitar
"bass"
hand clap
vocals
Natural State
acoustic guitar
"bass"
vocals
Saltmeat
acoustic guitar
"bass"
pounding on guitar body
spoons
vocals
Stankhaus
acoustic guitar
"bass"
slapping
spoons
vocals (three tracks)
Sunset Limited
acoustic guitar w/ delay and "backwards delay" a la Jimmy Page
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Gomaco Trolley Company Home
Welcome to the online home of Gomaco Trolley Company, manufacturers of authentic vintage trolley cars. Our craftsmanship matches the precision and quality of yesterday and incorporates the engineering technology of today. Gomaco can provide you with trolley manufacturing and consultation on the restoration of existing trolley cars or in the manufacturing of new trolley cars.
I saw, but did not get a chance to ride, these trolleys in Charlotte NC. What was I doing in Charlotte, you may ask. Story for another day.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
For those who can't or won't install Winamp or other OGG-supporting software just to listen to Flvxxvm Florvm, I have broke down and converted my recent musical shenanigans to MP3:
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/b_a_blues/mp3
These MP3s are transcoded from the OGG Vorbis files, not the original Audacity project, so they are theoretically worse-sounding.
Rest assured, though, that the cassette-like white noise in the background is present in the originals, and I have refrained from trying to remove it because I don't trust digital NR.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/b_a_blues/mp3
These MP3s are transcoded from the OGG Vorbis files, not the original Audacity project, so they are theoretically worse-sounding.
Rest assured, though, that the cassette-like white noise in the background is present in the originals, and I have refrained from trying to remove it because I don't trust digital NR.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Let Cookie Monster Be Cookie Monster
I'm honestly not sure how I got to this op-ed piece. I was following a link that was supposedly to an article about C.S. Lewis, I think. Oh well, it's funny.
dangerous idea: Could it be Satan?
Choice quotes:
From the comments:
<
God, it seems, has an interest in free obedience, and by free I mean that obedience that is not determined or controlled by God himself. (See my discussion of Star Trek in a previous entry).
From the comments:
(If someone rapes a hole in a wall, then an evil is still being committed, though the hole itself isn't conscious. The intention is what counts.)
<
The Five Most Shocking Things About the ChoicePoint Debacle - CSO Magazine
ChoicePoint chairman and CEO Derek V. Smith had recently written two books about how individuals can protect themselves in the information age.
You can't make this stuff up.
Monday, May 02, 2005
java.net: AppFuse: Start Your J2EE Web Apps
Interesting. Read later.
what is this?
This was growing in the front yard when we moved in last week. It seems to be gone already.
obligatory Ligustrum post
Our new house has several quite large Ligustrum trees (not counting L. sinensis which can be found growing everywhere like the weed it is). Not sure exactly what species this is in this picture.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
and now I've sunk even lower
Today I taught a baby to say "Dig Dug!".
Ok, I admit it. It was my baby.
Ok, I admit it. It was my baby.
