New Year’s Eve
Traffic cop at the liquor store.
Amen
They decided they could live without running water, shower, bath or a working toilet, but they had to have broadband Internet access.
Full story of couple living in a yurt in the middle of who knows where.
dear clusterflock
Who is the most famous person who would recognize you?
stretch-limo Vespa
singular y’all
Andrew on vacation sends this (not the quote, but a link to the article):
I am writing you because I encountered the perplexing singular y’all while watching trailers for Disney’s newest film, The Princess and the Frog. Now, not being a Southerner I can’t attest to my own usage of “y’all,” but my linguistic intuition is in accord with your Language Log posting “Out of the y’all zone”, namely that y’all is generally not used to address singular individuals, but plural and occasionally implied plurals. […] In the cited trailer, Tiana uses singular y’all three times. Addressing the frog with evident dismay, she says “So what now? I reckon y’all want a kiss.” at 0:32. And then again, at 2:14, when the frog is dismayed that she will not kiss him after her apparent offer, she retorts “I didn’t expect y’all to answer!” In the intervening time, she does refer to him (using apparently less careless or emotionally influenced wording) as standard second person singular “you.” Finally, “Y’all don’t look that much different… but how’d you get way up there?” 3:13. This last example is perhaps the most perplexing of all, as it contains both forms.
new da Vinci
The Washington Post receives a tip from a source who wishes to remain anonymous that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has in its possession a painting believed to be by the Italian master, and is in the process of authenticating it. Were it deemed a true Leonardo, such a painting would be only the second one in all the Americas.
the procrastination of pleasure
People who have moved to Chicago, Dallas and London get to fewer local landmarks during their entire first year than the typical tourist visits during a two-week stay, according to a study conducted by Suzanne B. Shu and Ayelet Gneezy, who are professors of marketing at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego, respectively. The Chicagoans in the study had visited more landmarks in other cities than in their own, and even their relatively small amount of local sightseeing was done mainly in the course of entertaining out-of-towners. Otherwise, the only time Chicagoans rushed to see the local landmarks was just before they were about to move to another city, when that deadline inspired sudden passions for taking architectural tours and going to the zoo.
Would this be true also of New Yorkers?
stupid quotes of the decade
People all over the world recognize me as a spiritual leader.
bubbles and fog
The machine puts out lots of bubbles. The kids absolutely loved it. One word of caution. Be very careful if used indoors. There are so many bubbles a hard floor becomes very slick very fast. We had children falling left and right. Overall great product.
Decent product. Heats up quite a lot when turned on. I have installed this inside my mini-van (it is powered by an inverter,) still there is not enough density in the fog generated even in such a small space. also the fog has this slight burnt odor. I am hoping the odor will subside in time. The unit needs a good 5 min to heat up before use. Subsequent uses are much quicker once element inside is hot. Would i recommend it? If your on a budget then yes sure, else find a slightly larger unit.
I have had two WalMart fog machines. They both worked reasonably well, for the price, but neither machine lasted longer than two years. I used them at home, not commercially. I was tired of dealing with the WM machines and did research on machines built by companies that specailze in fog machines for commercial use. This one fit for me. It was priced just slightly higher than the retail store machines shipping was free! It arived in about a week and it kicks but in the fog department. Puts out plenty of fog, is very quiet and the fog juice tank even lights up. I used it a few times over the last few weeks and I really like it. I had no problem totally filling my whole living room up with fog so thick I literally could not see through it. Good customer support from Chauvet as I called with a few questions. So we will see how long this one lasts but if you want an economical fog machine at a reasonable price this is a good one to look into.
Are we seeing dancing after this?
Dear Clusterflock: Is there a period of your life that makes you shudder when you think of it?
I don’t necessarily mean bad stuff, just perhaps what you used to wear, what you looked like, you know that kind of shit – the sort of time that you look back on and would prefer to forget and would certainly not show photos of yourself.
Mine was, if my memory serves me correctly (I have been trying to forget this), early to mid 90s. It more or less coincided with me losing my mind or perhaps it caused me to lose my mind. It was a whole style thing – I got terribly thin at the time for reasons that are tedious, but I then decided that I would grow a goatee beard and moustache. I have never been able to grow facial hair but I didn’t let that stop me. I then decided to take it a step further and attempt to cultivate a twirly moustache to the point that I sent off for moustache wax, and I used it. I also at this time started to look older than I actually was – difficult to explain, but, I started wearing clothes that I would have associated with men 15-20 years older than I was – sensible cords, flat cap – I have no idea why.
Thought of that period really makes me shudder and if I spend too much time thinking how others saw me I can make myself feel ill. I remember being that thin people apparently thought I had cancer – they didn’t tell me! Oh, I also wore glasses that I didn’t need. I now need them and curse every time I have to use them.
One day I had a moment of clarity and shaved the bloody facial fuzz off, binned the cap and glasses and somehow reverted to my juvenile ways.
I’d love to post a photo, but, it would mean I would have to leave Clusterflock.
So, how about you? What period of your life has that kind of effect on you? Or is it just me?
Here’s what I was thinking about
My dryer has settings (in addition to the timed drying) for “More dry” and “Less dry” and of course the sliding space in between them. Why, though? I have never wanted my clothes to be “just a touch dry”, “a trifle dry”, or “middling dry”. If I’m in a hurry I will settle for “quite dry”, but I prefer “really quite dry” or “exceedingly dry.”
I have decided to spare you the part about how “less dry” could actually imply that the device moistens the items inside it. That would be ridiculous.
Off The Charts
A chart from National Geographic, illustrating the cost of health care per country.
(via kottke)
World View – lighter than air
The light source consists of 35 ultra strong diodes hanging on a helium balloon, with adjustable floating height. Available in two models, one with cord and one limited edition powered by rechargeable batteries. It’s available in white or metallic. After filling the balloon with helium it will last 2-3 weeks, after that it needs refilling.
Long Horn Meat
“ryukin” goldfish
Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing a breed of see-through gold fish, allowing for visual dissection of the animals without the need for killing them.
“You don’t have to cut it open. You can see a tiny brain above the goldfish’s black eyes.”
Hillman Curtis | Short Films Collection
It’s a three-disc DVD collection featuring ten ‘Artist Series’ films and nine additional ‘Short Films’. James Victore designed the letterpress packaging; the illustrations are Wil Freeborn’s.
Cadillac Jesus
“Mary and Joseph took a Cadillac to get to Bethlehem because the finest transportation of their day was a donkey,” says Anderson. “Poor people ate their donkey. Only the wealthy used it as transportation.”
A Delhi traffic jam
Context here.
Tyler Cowen, on happiness
2. People should strive to be more interesting and more responsible. Happiness may result as a byproduct, but those are more important values. I would like to read a book called The Interesting Project.
quote out of context
A government office remained vacant for months, and a qualified nominee was stuck in limbo, because some far-right senator was worried about Canadians’ ability to buy candy-flavored cigarettes.
Welcome to the Bush White House, now in storage in Lewisville TX
Included here are 68 million pages of documents, a surfboard, 175 million e-mails, countless cowboy hats, 3,845,912 photographs, Stan “The Man” Musial’s autograph, gold and silver swords, handmade quilts, diamond jewelry, cowboy boots, classified files, a gift from the pope and the 9mm Glock pistol that Saddam Hussein was armed with when he was rooted out of his spider hole in Iraq.
the tiger woods stock market crash
A new study – not yet published in a journal – finds the market value lost to companies that had the golfer as a sponsor is already as high as $12 billion.
spam name
Napoleon Ruffin.
Weekly Picture 173
Rabbits Are Back, Austin, TX, 12.08.2009