Monthly Archives: September 2009

A‘a or Pahoehoe?

Posted on September 19, 2009 by Kelson

Probably the influence of the Hawai‘i sign across the street, but I could swear the song on the radio was “My Kind of Lava” #

Posted in Humor, Music | Tagged Hawaii, lava, lyrics, misheard, Tweets | Leave a comment

Arctic Lairs and Towers of Midnight

Posted on September 18, 2009 by Kelson

From @lol_spam:

Pair of spam subjects this morning: “Watch your neighbor!” and “Creepy.” No kidding. #

I’ve got Weird Al’s song, “Do I Creep You Out?” running through my head now!
Ah, the Onion! Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds of Secret Arctic Lairs. # I’m trying to remember whether Dr. Impossible had an arctic base.
The next Wheel of Time book after The Gathering Storm will be called Towers of Midnight — a much better title! # The final book will use Robert Jordan’s original title for what he hoped to fit into a single book, A Memory of Light.

Posted in Humor, Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Tagged global warming, Humor, linkblogging, Robert Jordan, Tweets, Wheel Of Time | Leave a comment

Here’s a cool project: In Ansel Adams’ Footsteps, re-creating his photographs of UC Irvine from the 1960s. There are a lot more trees now. (Or, as a friend pointed out, the trees that were there are a lot taller!) It’s a really impressive look at how the campus has changed…plus it’s always fascinating to look at Ansel Adams’ photography. I remember when I was in college, prints of Adams’ photos lined the walls of one of the Student Center hallways.

A couple of years ago I did my own then and now project — well, less a project than a spur-of-the moment 2007 re-creation of a 1997 photo I took of the Student Center as seen from what was then the Humanities Office Building (now Murray Krieger Hall). In this case the trees hadn’t changed much in 10 years, but UCI had flattened the Student Center complex and built an entirely new one.

Posted in Photos | Tagged 1960s, Ansel Adams, college, Irvine, photography, UCI | Leave a comment

Venti Schmenti

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Kelson

So what do you think…

Travel Mug: Venti Schmenti. (Diedrich Coffee: Not So Big)

Would it be a bad idea to bring this travel mug to Starbucks? #

(Completely unrelated: The sound of gardening tools outside the office is blending with the computer fans for really weird harmonics. #)

Posted in Food, Signs of the Times | Tagged coffee, Diedrich, Starbucks, Tweets | Leave a comment

Man-Eating Birds, Algae-Powered Cars, and Googly Androids

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Kelson

Fossils linked to Maori legend of man-eating bird. # The giant Haast’s Eagle, which died out at least 500 years ago, was originally thought to have been a scavenger, but new analysis of fossils indicates that it was a lion-level predator…making it the probable basis for the Maori Te Hokioi legend.
Top Cyber Security Risks 2009. # Operating systems are becoming less and less of a problem, as attackers focus on client applications like Adobe Reader, QuickTime, and so forth.
Odd headline combo: “The algae-fueled Prius hits the road” and “Flesh-eating bacteria hit the beach.” (ZDNet newsletter) #
I like the sound of “Googly Android devices” #
Not sure what this song is, but what I can hear of it sounds like the chorus from Gethsemane – over and over and over. #
WTF? Allergy recall of “Fannie May Milk Chocolate & Almonds” due to undeclared almonds. How is that undeclared? #

Posted in Computers/Internet, Strange World | Tagged allergies, Android, birds, cybersecurity, history, linkblogging, Maori, New Zealand, prehistoric, prius, Tweets, typos | Leave a comment

Smartphone Radiation

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Kelson

Wow! Glad I didn’t move to a MyTouch! The G1 isn’t in the Top 10 Radiation-Emitting smartphones list, but it’s not exactly low either. # The MyTouch, on the other hand, is #1.

Posted in Computers/Internet | Tagged G1, mobile, phone, radiation, Tweets | Leave a comment

USA^WAR

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Kelson

Spotted this on a street near the corner.

Spray-painted markings on street: USA, WAR and arrows.

Underground cable maintenance markings, or political statement? You decide!

Posted in Signs of the Times | Leave a comment

Second-Best. Ripoff. Title. Ever!

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Kelson

Remember Alien vs. Hunter and other films with ripoff titles like Snakes on a Train? It turns out that Asylum has actually done a sequel to Transmorphers (yes, they went there): Transmorphers: Fall of Man.

DVD case for Transmorphers: Fall of Man

As if the original title wasn’t enough, they actually played on the title of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen when they did their own sequel!

And yes, that does say Bruce Boxleitner on the box.

Posted in Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Tagged movies, Transformers | Leave a comment

Bosley, John Bosley

Posted on September 12, 2009 by Kelson

I’ve just started re-reading Neverwhere. When Richard and Door first meet — after her injury has started to heal, anyway — he introduces himself as “Richard. Richard Mayhew. Dick,” A page or two later, Door calls him “Richardrichardmayhewdick.”

IIRC Neil Gaiman said he stole the joke from Douglas Adams, who had someone refer to “Dentarthurdent” in one of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books, but I always think of a Charlie’s Angels episode in which someone greeted “Bosleyjohnbosley.”

The thing is, I barely remember Charlie’s Angels, so the way I remember it is actually as “Bosleytombosley” … and in my memory, she’s saying it to Tom Bosley!