Apes and people: bully babble

A talk for the kids. The nerd translates savage.

“Yeah, but why’d you come back for us?”
“You’re on my crew.”
“But you don’t even like us. Why’d you come back for us?”
“You’re on my crew. Why are we still having this conversation?”

– Firefly.

Oblivion screed: fortify yourself

We babbles on arcane details for serious fans of Oblivion. If that is not you, this will be unlikely to pique your interest.

Subliminal

…or, perhaps, simply liminal.

I found an old Billy Joel tune running around, and around, and around in my head, today. Eventually, it occurred to me to wonder, “where did that come from?”

It was easy enough to track back. I’d been reading Slashdot, that wonderful community of people who write adamant treatises about subjects they don’t understand, using words they can’t spell. Someone had posted a very bad filk using that tune.

Passing the buck

Gots nuffin today, kids. On the other hand, you might be amused by this little link. Her spelling can be disconerting, and there are a few too many sentences with left out. Got to love the honesty and sheer attitude, though.

Fiddling while half.com burns: flame on

You may be aware, oh my children, that the Post Office has recently raised their rates… again. Not simply, but in a variety of confusing ways, depending on the size and shape of what you were hoping to mail, as well as its weight. Not even as a matter of class, as the size, shape, or weight may inadvertently skip your item on into an entirely different class.

It doesn’t affect most people, directly. Why post, when you can phone, text, email, AIM?

In an era when communications costs go down and down, is it so surprising that the postal costs go up and up? Yes, I think so. Perhaps it would be less so, if the Post Office weren’t a government-granted monopoly, but that’s not actually what I’m here to rant about.

Master of Orion redux

A lot of people, today, seem to be realizing that Microsoft has screwed them by renaming a DLL for no apparent reason. Vista hoses Master of Orion II, MoO2, just for kicks.

There’s a simple fix, boys. MoO2 fix.

Oblivion: add-ons

If you’re not a rabid Oblivion fan, you can safely skip this. You won’t miss a thing. I’m'a gonna run through the add-ons, briefly.

A Tale of Two Rice Cookers

“It was the best of rice-cookers, it was the worst of rice-cookers.” Admiral Nelson wrote that.

That’s not a very good quote, though, because I’m actually talking about two different rice-cookers, which isn’t what Admiral Nelson had in mind, at all. Kind of ruins the poetry of the thing, now, don’t it? Ah, well.

Let’s make like a tree… and book!

Mom used to hate that little joke. Well, she’s dead now, so the joke’s on her. Sorry, dear.

It’s been a while since I’ve played with books. It was the EvilGanome who got me interested in dead trees, again, with his recommendation of Kage Baker. Thanks, Evil… umm, that doesn’t sound right, does it? Hmm. “Who knows what Evil lurks in the hearts of Ganome?”

The man in the ugly fur coat

I was working in Florida, at the time, and renting a tiny place by the beach. This is a very pleasant thing, until the “red tide” comes in. Red tide is caused by a massive population boom in a particular kind of algae. Immeasurable billions of the little darlings, sometimes enough to color the ocean red, poison the water with delightful toxins. Dead fish, everywhere. The smell is incredibly nauseating.

Anyway, I was driving to work one morning, on a cool and lovely day, and saw the most bizarre thing out my window. There was this old man, strolling along, in the most hideous fake fur coat that you’ve ever seen– a garish orange color, with some sort of Naugahyde base.