Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Link dump

Cleaning out my "Things to Write About" bookmark folder in Firefox. May be of interest to other folks, too.

100 Best First Lines from Novels - Some of these I wouldn't so much describe as "best". A lot of them are particularly memorable or notable, but there are certainly better openings than some on the list.

An older BBCNews article about narco corridos - I ordered a CD by Los Tigres del Norte from the Boy. I figured it was anthropologically fascinating.

2006 Aventis Prize nominees - the 13 frontrunners for the best popular science book of 2005/2006. AKA, my shopping list for the next trip to Borders.

Fascinating critical breakdown of Mikhail Bulgakov's inimitable Master and Margarita - probably my favourite book of all time.

Video games for brain training.

Summary of The Handmaiden's Tale. Timely read (or it was a couple of months ago, at least) for the current state of affairs regarding American womens' reproductive rights.

News brief from CNN.com regarding Austalopithecus anamensis.

Couch-to-5K Running Plan (again). Maybe I'll do it this time.

Diving with the Diablo Rojo.

Awesomely distracting game.

The secret history of western technology and culture - the Fluxus Indian Museum in Coon Rapids, IA.

Beyond "embiggens" and "cromulent" - a sort of guide to the linguistic play of "The Simpsons". Also anthropologically fascinating.

How to win on conservative talk radio - for when I'm famous and trying to verbally beat up on Rush Limbaugh or Jan Mickelson.

The Principia Discordia - complete, scanned.

Legal resources and forms.

Virtual autopsies - great way to waste a few hours.

Motion Mountain - free, downloadable physics textbook.

Reversible destiny lofts - a *gorgeously*-designed retirement community complex.

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense - fairly self-explanatory.

The Devil's Dictionary X - in the fine tradition of Ambrose Bierce.

On the invention of the equals sign - "bicause noe .2. thynges, can be moare equalle."

Be content - this technically qualifies as content.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Well, I *am* king!

WOMAN: I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.

DENNIS: You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship; a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes...

WOMAN: Oh, there you go, bringing class into it again...

DENNIS: That's what it's all about! If only people would...

ARTHUR: Please, please good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?

WOMAN: No one lives there.

ARTHUR: Then who is your lord?

WOMAN: We don't have a lord.

ARTHUR: What?

DENNIS: I told you. We're an anarcho-cynicalist collective. We take it in turns to sort of act as a sort of executive officer for the week.

ARTHUR: Yes.

DENNIS: But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting...

ARTHUR: Yes, I see.

DENNIS: ... by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs...

ARTHUR: Be quiet!

DENNIS: But by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major...

ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!

WOMAN: Order, eh? Who does he think he is?

ARTHUR: I am your king!

WOMAN: Well I didn't vote for you!

ARTHUR: You don't vote for kings.

WOMAN: Well, how'd you become king, then?

ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king!

DENNIS: Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!

ARTHUR: Be quiet!

DENNIS: Oi, you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!

ARTHUR: SHUT UP!

DENNIS: Oi, if I went 'round saying I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

ARTHUR: SHUT UP! WILL YOU SHUT UP!!?! (grabs DENNIS)

DENNIS: Ah! Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

ARTHUR: SHUT UP!

DENNIS: Oi, come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

No more promises

In our last conflict, four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one.

- "Beatrice", As You Like It

Seemingly every time that I reformat in an attempt to begin anew, I pledge to update more frequently and with better content. That lasts for a few weeks, maybe, before I taper off again, and start just posting link after link, and add little commentary of my own. So this time, I'm going free-form, in search, perhaps, of the missing wits that have taken such leave of me.

But not tonight. It's past-time for bed, and I'm a very sleepy girl.