Destroying thought in order to save it

Fatalistic error messages

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:14:51 GMT

Created with Atom Smasher's Error Message Generator

ATTENTION

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:58:46 GMT

I'm considering building a contraption that will lure in Brett Favre, permanently trapping him and rendering him unable to bother us anymore ever again.

For its construction, I require a plate of bacon, a length of rope, 80 square feet of unbreakable titanium wire mesh, several large springs, and a cartoonishly large wooden mallet.

If you have any of these items, please let me know. Thank you.

World-respected figure vs. guy who looks lost in the dairy case

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:09:14 GMT

Also, do I dare to be confident in this election's outcome?

PSA

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:05:37 GMT

ATTENTION!

When you let your young children run amok around any public area, kind of half keeping an eye on them but generally letting them to their own devices, the only person that is comfortable with this situation is you.

Everyone else is nervous about the child wandering into traffic, falling and breaking some part of themselves, or just ambling off while the parents' attention is diverted. I am additionally antsy about the kid, you know, just getting too close to me, with the drool, and sticky fingers, and general young childness.

THANK YOU!

Here is something you have never thought of that I argue about anyway

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:55:40 GMT

There are folks on GoodReads who claim to have read 10,000 books. To this, I say 'tis impossible.

Extremely well-read folks I know who do almost nothing but read get through on the order of 100 books a year. And these are the rare cases. People who read a LOT might not get through half that many. What I'm trying to establish here is what the upper limit on one's yearly reading could possibly be. 100 seems kind of crazy, excepting people reading lots of children's books or something. Let's just say, someone (unemployed and childless would help) who reads pretty much nonstop could finish 200 books a year. I think this is crazy high, really, but I could potentially believe someone could read that many books in a year. Please dispute this figure, plus or minus.

Based on that, as an adult, you have maybe 50 productive years of reading if you have a wonder brain. So, if we take the max reading per year, times a lifetime, we hit 10,000. So what we have to say is that to reach this magic number, you have to read a maximum number of books for a maximum number of years. It can't be done, I tell you. And these GoodReaders are middle aged, so they claim to have done it in half the time.

Speed reading? I don't think I buy that this actually exists with any comprehension. Am I wrong?

Anyway, I don't read as much as I'd like, but I read a fair amount. Something like 40 books a year. If I keep up that pace for the next 40 years (until I'm 71), that's 1600 books. Plus what I've already read, my lifetime total might, might touch 2,000.

A & Q, Part Deux

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:38:45 GMT

It's been a while since we played this game.

Here's what we do: You give me five answers. I then supply questions for these answers.

Well, what did I expect, really?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:54:19 GMT

A person can only watch Road House for the first time once. I decided to keep a running diary.

Keith David is in this! Awesome.
Opening shots reveal that this film will feature no semblance of subtlety whatsoever.
I’m immediately bombarded by overwhelming ‘80s haircuts.
A guy pays his bar bill with an Amex Gold Card and says “How ‘bout some gold plastic?”
His Swayziness appears, as Dalton.
2:50 – first fight.
3:30 – first fight with the Swayze! Ah, wait, he went back inside, demonstrating his complexity.
Swayze stitching himself back up, impervious to pain.
The rich club owner offers Dalton a job, because he has a reputation as “the best.” The best…bouncer? Is this something they cover in club owner trade magazines?
Patrick Swayze has an extra car, so he gives it away. That’s nice.
The director’s name is “Rowdy.” Yes, credits are still going.
Thirteen minutes in, I’m already feeling shocked by the sheer trashiness of the ENTIRE CAST of extras.
15:04 – first full bar fight.
As greasy as the used car salesman is, he’s actually the least trashy person in the film so far.
Dalton gets paid $500 a day yet buys the crappiest car he can find and rents a studio above a barn.
Sage wisdom: “Expect the unexpected.” Uh…ok.
He leaves his first night of work to find his car trashed. At least the crappy car now makes sense, nice touch. I’m guessing we’ll get more of his complicated backstory later.
31:20 – first (and I’m guessing not the last) instance of Swayze nudity.
Establishing the villain, a rich guy named “Brad” with as-yet-undetermined-but-inevitably-will-become-important occupation.
35:30 – The Swayze doing Tai Chi.
Sleazy cashier guy pulls out the largest knife of the film so far. It occurs to me this is about the seventh knife we’ve seen already, and the second slashing of Dalton. But we now know that Brad is at minimum a liquor kingpin, and the girl with eyes for Dalton is involved with him. I wonder if this could possibly lead to trouble?
A ridiculously fat henchman almost wins in a fight with a trained, muscular bouncer.
Dalton has a philosophy degree from NYU. So, bouncing is a typical occupation of philosophers? Actually, I find this believable.
The Swayze is in excellent shape and all, but he’s clearly sucking in during his stapling scene. Why? He doesn’t even need to.
Ominous music during a visit to the auto parts store, and it turns out the place is trashed. We learn that Brad has the whole town under his thumb. To use some appropriate phrasing, looks like Dalton has gotten into more than he bargained for!
A monster truck! Plus excellent sparkling of the scary boot razor by the toughs entering the bar.
It’s love at first sight: Dalton meets a girl with more hair gel than him. Oh, wait, this is the doctor from earlier, out on the town.
The Double Deuce is looking much better, the people are groomed, and the walls are free from stains. Yet, somehow the trashiness lingers.
Keith David as the new bartender! Keith David! He’s definitely going to surprise us with his rough and tumble past at some point.
Dalton and his girlfriend (I have no idea what her name is—he calls her “Doc”) walk around naked and un-self-consciously have sex in full view of Brad’s place across the lake. This can’t possibly lead to anything creepy…no, wait, Brad is indeed watching them.
I learn her name is Elizabeth Clay. Wisdom from Jeff Healey, as the singer of the club’s house band, “Know who had a thing for Elizabeth Clay? Brad Wesley.” What a surprise.
The three-hundredth scene of sleazy hoods pulling up in a truck and getting out to menacingly confront Dalton. This time they get the best of him until Sam Elliott (as legendary bouncer Wade Garrett) shows up. He’s as well known as Dalton somehow. Okay, there HAS to be a trade magazine for this stuff.
Oh no. Wade shows us a scar a few inches above his waistline, and just happens to indirectly reveal that he’s going commando. Oy, thanks movie.
They decide to take Elizabeth “somewhere romantic” and end up in a trashy diner.
The music slows down and becomes solemn. I think we’ll get some backstory here…and we do.
A country-ish, danceable version of “The White Room.” It’s…not bad, actually.
Impromptu strip dance by Brad’s girlfriend, followed by ninja stuff with a pool cue by Brad’s henchman Jimmy before the fight. Pretty much encapsulates the film.
Best moment of the movie so far: Jimmy pole vaults, using the pool cue, onto the stage, complete with mid-air flip. Then he points to Wade and yells, “You!” To use tritium’s idiom, the top of my head just flipped off. There’s not even any point to it, because he just hops back down to fight Wade.
FINALLY the monster truck is put to good use, as Brad orders the local Ford dealership destroyed, as further retribution against the townies.
Everyone wants Dalton to leave town. We know he won’t. That’s what makes him the Dalton that he is.
Truly outstanding fight scene between Dalton and Jimmy. We’ve been waiting all movie for this. Until Jimmy’s horrible line about his, um, relations in prison. What?! Just…why? Augh. It ends, finally, with a powerful Swayze roundhouse kick and the legendary bare-handed throat-pulling-outing.
Actually, pretty well done on the plot misdirection there. We’re not sure who Brad’s going to kill, getting a few curve balls along the way, until it happens. With the pushed-over-his-limit revenge motivation, we’re now set up for the climactic assault on Compound Brad.
It takes the hoods a ridiculously long time to realize that Dalton actually isn’t in the flaming, exploding car.
The over-the-top fat hood is somehow the last henchman to survive. I guess Brad kept him around for his brains? Oh wait, nope. He was just killed by a stuffed polar bear.
Oh, no: “I see you found my trophy room, Dalton. The only thing that’s missing…is your ass.”
Among Brad’s trophies: a giraffe, a hyena, and a musk ox.
How is Dalton versus Brad any kind of fight? OK, we’ll just accept this. He did have a good spear throw.
The claw! But no…no throat ripping outing. Dalton has evolved. Brad still survives three shotgun blasts before the fourth finally takes him out. I love when movie villains are supernaturally strong. It turns out the fat guy survived his bear crushing, though, to deliver a terrific (and ironically self-aware) final line.
Wait, why did they need Keith David for this movie?

The Onion AV Club reminds me I have never done this

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:30:40 GMT

I think it's finally time for me to get around to watching Road House.

Attn Spammers! I hate you

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:41:59 GMT

I just zapped my AIM address in my profile because it's been generating spam IMs. Anyone else who lists an IM address in their profile notice this? A few minutes after I make a post I get a bizarre IM. This happened today, and maybe half a dozen times in the past. But I finally connected it with LJ today.

Send FIRE.

And be (and be) the best (the best) in the nation

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:34:51 GMT

Things about each rank, as professed by Chaz Jankel in his song "Number One"*:

Number One:
*is a hard time in the making
*is the one way to salvation

Number Two:
*is the one plane I'm not taking

Number Three:
*goes on one knee for a token

Number Four:
*is the short straw, but it's broken

Number Five:
*is a bad drive 'round the circuit

Number Six:
*is a sad trick when you're working

*As heard in Real Genius, starring Gabe Jarret.

Send me an internet

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:09:04 GMT

OK, Twitter, damn you, I'm in. FOR NOW.

http://twitter.com/bluestraggler

OMG nerd

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:24:49 GMT

I'm going to be playing an unhealthy amount of Lego Indiana Jones this weekend.

Perhaps the only time I'm going to post a picture of myself ever

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:09:36 GMT

But I've wanted to visit this extremely tastefully named road for years.

I don't even know why the scientists make them

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:28:21 GMT

I'm going to Seattle next week for library conferencing. I just heard a cheesy Seattle joke about being sure not to miss the Seattle rain festival, which only lasts from January 1-December 31.

Zing!

Also going to watch the Mariners lose in person, and hit the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, which has the following two exhibitions:

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Robots

!!!!1!!one

First class FOREVER

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:14:25 GMT

I just learned that the stamps I bought a month or so ago are special FIRST CLASS FOREVER stamps. Which means they are impervious to future postal rate increases. I figured I would have to buy a bunch of 1-cent stamps to make these work again, but I DO NOT! I can only assume I was the sole recipient of these special stamps, as reward for my years of dutiful post office usage.

Behold my future mailing prowess!

How to rid yourself of your "economic stimulus" check in one easy step

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:26:13 GMT

1. Buy a new suit.

Know Your 1980s Denver Broncos #10

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:34:27 GMT

KNOW YOUR 1980s DENVER BRONCOS now WITH NEW ICON

This week, a special 10th edition of Know Your 1980s Denver Broncos, with NEW ICON and my favorite 1980s Denver Bronco, #81, Steve Watson.

Steve joined the team in 1979 as an undrafted free agent, yet went on to become of the best receivers in Broncos history. He remains entrenched in the team's all-time receiving record book, standing at fifth in total yards, seventh in receptions, and eighth in touchdowns. His best year came in 1981, when he posted his career bests in yards and touchdowns and was named to the Pro Bowl.

Steve played in Super Bowl XXI, in which the Broncos were pummeled by the Giants 39-20, and in Super Bowl XXII, in which the Broncos were pummeled by the Washington Native Americans 42-10, although he didn't start the latter game. I'm not sure exactly how much he played in that game, if he was injured or simply demoted, but I believe his presence could have pulled the score to a more respectable 42-17.

So what makes Steve Watson so awesome? Steve is my favorite 1980s Denver Bronco, and second all-time favorite player, behind only Terrell Davis. He was a prominent player on my favorite team, and played wide receiver, a position I wanted to play. (This was before I learned that wide receivers are expected to be able to run fast, eliminating any chance I could play it, and also before I realized that youth football does not have a passing game per se, but rather eleven kids running roughly in the same direction on cue. Both of these factors would cause me to abandon my aspirations to play professional football around the age of 10.) Also of note: my parents turned me on to eating salad by convincing me that Steve Watson ate salad*.

Today Steve continues his work with the team as Associate Head Coach. I have no idea what this title entails, but it might mean that he will ascend to the head coaching position one day when Mike Shanahan disappears under mysterious circumstances. He had spent the previous four years as wide receivers coach.

It was difficult to do lazy internet research on Steve Watson because he has a son also named Steve Watson who plays tight end for Michigan. Also, there is a Steve Watson "footballer" who plays for Sheffield Wednesday, and I officially do not understand soccer team names. This is, in fact, Wikipedia's primary Steve Watson. Whereas my hero Steve Watson was relegated to the Steve Watson (American Football) disambiguation. So it was hard to isolate any of the three football playing Steve Watsons in my ten minutes of fastidious research. But enjoy this video of the 1984 Broncos in pictures, with cheesy 1980s music accompaniment.

*Nowadays I eat salad because I believe George Clooney eats salad.

Grammarmisms

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:06:23 GMT

Also I noticed yesterday that the new version of Word recognizes and automatically capitalizes "Wikipedia."

View Poll: Grammarmisms

Book report

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:42:16 GMT

My book-reading fiscal year ends April 30. Here is my report, submitted for your approval.

This year I completed 40 books. It would've been more, but the fiscal year ended when I was in the middle of three, and I had to put them all aside to get a fourth read by an interlibrary loan due date. So those will all end up on next year's accounts.

For the third year in a row, a pretty great set of books. I'm still catching up, really, from many years spent in college and grad school, when recreational reading was nigh impossible. So my "to-read" list is still miles long, and contains many books I am very eager to get through. Nor does the list really shrink, so it threatens to remain incomplete even as death grows ever closer.

My favorite new read of the year was probably Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. It's a graphic novel, but it counts. I'm happy to have done some RE-reading this year, which I hadn't done in a while. I re-read Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed and Asimov's Foundation trilogy, and I'm pleased to report they are both still awesome. Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon cemented him as one of my favorite writers, but the man has serious logorrhea. As much as I like him, it's hard to imagine actually undertaking his Baroque Cycle books, which clock in at about 2700 pages. I mean, when it's that or like nine other books, you know?

I ticked off six more Hugo winners from the list. (Le Guin and Asimov were winners but they were re-reads, so already tallied.) I've got aboout 30 to go, and seem to get through about 5-7 a year. So I think I'm going to have to postpone the Hugo Award Winner completion party until probably early 2013. I'll let you know.

The Forever War, Joe Haldeman, 5/7/07

So Long and Thanks For All the Fish, Douglas Adams, 5/9/07

A Reading Diary, Alberto Manguel, 5/19/07

Three men in a boat; to say nothing of the dog!, Jerome K. Jerome, 6/3/07

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame, 6/16/07

Decade of the Year, Ellis Weiner, 6/24/07

The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin, 7/8/07

Beyond Star Trek, Lawrence M. Krauss, 7/18/07

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling, 7/20/07

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, 7/22/07

True Porn 2, Robyn Chapman and Kelli Nelson, 8/6/07

The Green Futures of Tycho, William Sleator, 8/12/07

Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson, 8/19/07

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken, 8/20/07

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk, 8/24/07

Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman, 9/5/07

The Baseball Economist, J.C. Bradbury, 9/12/07

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow, 9/18/07

Prisoner of Trebekistan, Bob Harris, 9/30/07

Naked, David Sedaris, 10/9/07

Ringworld, Larry Niven, 10/15/07

Rabbit, Run, John Updike, 10/23/07

Foundation, Isaac Asimov, 11/13/07

Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov, 11/24/07

Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov, 11/27/07

Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth, Chris Ware, 12/2/07

Beloved, Toni Morrison, 12/13/07

The Road, Cormac McCarthy, 12/17/07

A Case of Conscience, James Blish, 12/27/07

The Truth (With Jokes), Al Franken, 12/27/07

A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge, 1/21/08

Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth, Chris Ware, 1/27/08 (reread)

The Designated Mourner, Wallace Shawn, 1/27/08

Cyberville, Stacy Horn, 2/18/08

Microserfs, Douglas Coupland, 2/18/08

High Fidelity, Nick Hornby, 2/26/08

Crimes Against Logic, Jaime Whyte, 2/27/08

Spin, Robert Charles Wilson, 3/12/08

Are We Rome?, Cullen Murphy, 4/4/08

Technology for the Rest of Us, Nancy Courtney (ed.), 4/9/08

Highlighted items are favorites of the year.

Oh yeah, if any of you are on GoodReads, hit me up on the friend-o-matic.

Ouch

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:03:10 GMT

This morning I went to the dentist and was punished for not being a good flosser.

Everyone remember to floss tonight.

The upcoming helium crisis?

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:16:07 GMT

From Wired:

"1 Although helium is the second-most-plentiful element in the cosmos — it's synthesized in stars by nuclear fusion — Earth is running short of the noble gas. Extracted from natural gas, our supply accumulated in the planet's crust over billions of years — the result of radioactive decay. One-third of that stash lies in the Texas panhandle, and if it continues to be consumed at the current rate, it'll be gone in nine years."

Weird. I kinda think we can just make more (with SCIENCE), but the presumption is that it's more expensive to do so.

Also I thought this gallery of pictures of people recreating pictures of themselves as kids was interesting.

Of marginal interest

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:52:56 GMT

Today, Thursday, for me, is Friday. Because I'm taking tomorrow, Friday, off, making it my Saturday. But it's not that great because I'm working Saturday and Sunday, so those will be like Monday and Tuesday. Anyway, I plan to spend my Saturday (your Friday) sleeping a lot and reading, and will probably watch a somewhat meaningless Pirates-Cubs game mid-day just because it's on TV and I can.

So on Monday, which I guess for me will be like Wednesday, I have jury duty. JURY DUTY. I have never actually had jury duty before. The one other time I was drawn I had just moved out of the county so I got out of it (very conveniently, wouldn't you agree?).

I recently gave up on Metroid Prime 2: Echoes because I couldn't beat one of the major bosses near the end. The internet tells me there is only a bit more gameplay after this creature before fighting the actual endgame boss, which is presumably even more difficult. Granted, I only gave this boss maybe five tries. The salient point here is that I exhibited the same behavior towards Metroid Prime (the first). I got to the end boss, couldn't beat him in a handful of tries, and never felt altogether compelled to work harder at it. I enjoy the exploring part of these games, but I guess I don't have the patience anymore to devote a lot of time to defeating frustrating bosses. Since I've arrived at the end (or virtually the end) of the game anyway, there's little incentive to struggling to defeat the boss when there's no reward of further exploration.

So instead I'm playing Adventures of Lolo 2 on wii virtual console. But I'm stuck on that too.

I'm happy The Office is back, but I request more Creed and more Kevin

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:08:12 GMT

"The reason I wanted to write about yetis in the first place is that they fascinate me. They live exactly the life I want to lead. They rarely interact with humans, they live in the forest, and once in a while they pop up in pictures from your camping trip. The only difference is that I don’t want to have hair all over like that. My father was a hairy guy and it didn’t really do him any good. I prefer to be smooth. Other than that, sign me up for life as a yeti."

(From Creed Thoughts.)

Mood's a thing for cattle and loveplay, not fighting

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:10:26 GMT

A really long but probably still not exhaustive list of all the things that are great about David Lynch's Dune movie.

*In the opening credits, Princess Irulan fades in and out for no particular reason. At the end, she fades back in to say, "Oh, I almost forgot..." and then reveals THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE FILM, that the spice is only found on Arrakis.

*Music by Toto. Prophecy theme by Brian Eno.

*The Guild Navigators are giant nasty floating hairless mole creatures. They pay people visits by transporting their whole tank around.

*The Guild Navigators' lackeys talk into a 1940s microphone to translate their language. Also their language sounds mostly like growling and it's probably more fun to listen to that than the translation.

*The swampy puddle the Guild Navigator's tank leaves behind in the Emperor's chambers. Mop this up, Emperor of the Known Universe!

*Emperor Shaddam IV has "Terror Troops."

*The computer introduction to all the planets.

*Baron Harkonnen wants to steal the Duke's signet ring. We're not told there's anything special or powerful about it, so I guess he'd just really like to have it.

*Paul identifying everyone coming to visit him by the sound of their footsteps.

*Patrick Stewart as a pissed off Gurney.

*Thufir's eyebrows. This pretty much goes for all Mentats.

*Gurney and Paul fighting with personal shields and "killing" each other simultaneously.

*Jurgen Prochnow!!

*"Put your hand in the box."

*How simply nasty the Harkonnens are. Sometimes this is too much (the Baron's skin diseases and not-well-disguised pedophilia) but other times, you've got the Beast Rabban crushing an insect just to drink what's inside.

*Brad Dourif repeating the Mentat Mantra.

*Sting!!

*The transport sequence where House Atreides moves to Arrakis. I actually think this is really well done. You get a good sense of the size of their ships, and how they're transported by the Guild Navigators.

*Paul eating mini-spice snausages on Arrakis. Kyle MacLachlan makes them look pretty tasty.

*Max Von Sydow!!

*Liet-Kynes thinks it's impressive that Paul knows how to fit his stillsuit desert fashion.

*Linda Hunt, for some reason.

*Yueh for some reason betrays his entire society, but screws over the Harkonnens too by smuggling the signet ring for Paul and giving the disabled Duke a poison gas tooth. Yueh makes no sense in this movie.

*The tooth will work because Yueh knows the Baron will be gloating over the Duke, and he's right.

*Brad Dourif's truly awesome "twitch, then yell and fall backwards with arms extended" death.

*Standard David Lynch actor Jack Nance as Nefud, whose only purpose seems to be to hilariously overemphasize his lines and play a weird Harkonnen instrument.

*Paul and his mom are approximately the same age.

*The Fremen are a mysterious, hard-to-know people that anthropologists have spent years learning about. But Paul and Jessica meet and indoctrinate themselves the same afternoon they're stranded in the desert.

*Paul is such a badass that he becomes a tribal leader. This seems to happen a few days later.

*Stilgar is so great in this movie. Everett McGill plays him somewhere between Bruce Lee and Zapp Brannigan.

*The Beast Rabban yanks a cow tongue right out of the dead animal for a snack.

*Feyd Rautha hates Paul for no reason.

*Baron Harkonnen makes Thufir pet a hairless medicinal cat (which has a rat strapped to it) to receive his antidote. This never comes up again in the film.

*Paul's Fremen name (Maud'dib) is a word that you can use to kill with weirding modules. His girlfriend yells it when she's zapping Harkonnens.

*Patrick Stewart: "You young pup!"

*Worm ridin'.

*All men who have tried to drink the water of life have died. It's a known poison that will kill any man except the chosen one. Nevertheless, countless idiots have tried it anyway. The ego!

*Stilgar quote: "Usul, we have worm-sign the likes of which God has never seen."

*The Emperor and his generals sit around this giant shared video game module to man the weapons.

*Giant sand worms >> Terror troops

*Everything about Paul and Feyd's knife-fight.

*Sting: "I will kill him!"

*Patrick Stewart: "This is a Harkonnen animal!"

*Rain, which seems like a wonderful achievement, although if you think about it, it would actually completely neutralize the Fremen advantage on Arrakis. I guess we just learn that Paul can make it happen, but presume he won't ever do it again.

*End credits where we see stillshots of all the actors. We try to remember if some of them were actually in the film.

Some things that aren't so interesting I shouldn't be talking about them online

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:09:52 GMT

*I'm thinking of taking up either Strat-o-matic baseball or Baseball Mogul, baseball simulation games designed mostly for one player. But I'm concerned either one will cause permanent damage to my ability to socialize.

*I was leading the work March Madness pool from Days 2-18. Only the tournament lasts 19 days. I got the ultimate outcome wrong and was swallowed up by those who did not. I wouldn't complain except as a pool Commissioner leading the pool for almost the entire duration, I was subject to various accusations of having rigged the outcome. So, I came to feel it was my destiny to take everyone's money and destroy everyone's trust. Then this didn't happen, and I feel empty, somehow.

*Speaking of not winning, our pub trivia team has now gone through a pretty substantial stretch of not winning. We were consistently winning and placing in the beginning, but haven't done better than second or third for a few months, and often not that well. Our adversaries seem to be gaining strength and consistency. For my part, despite being degreed in the sciences, and an information professional in the sciences, I feel that I am not reliably able to answer science trivia questions. Clearly there is a significant difference between the type of science information I need to work with on a daily basis, and what tends to come up in pub trivia. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt for me to find a way to memorize the periodic table.