Without realizing it, yesterday I posted the 300th picture to the River Project . Three hundred down, 66 to go (I get an extra one for Leap Year).
Month: October 2004
About Music
Portnoy has created a beautiful Flash experiment wherein he sings a choral piece by Bach (I think), in the round. By himself.
Now What Do I Do?
I have just now finished reading The System of the World, the third volume in Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle . 886 pages in a little over 30 days. I guess I had some free time, after all.
Definitely Some Possibilities Here
Slashdot gets Eccesignum-ed
Briefly, an interview with Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, et.al, over on Slashdot. The reader comments are every bit as entertaining as Stephenson’s answers to the interview questions.
The Rats Have Taken Over the Ship
Yup. More spammers.
Gunner B. Succession
Waifs U. Airworthiest
Transfinite H. Contracted
Unforeseeable L. Waned
Ion H. Ingesting
Peered H. Geritol
Perseveres J. Avatars
Tong G. Hafnium
Cannonade B. Lifelong
Musicologist A. Knocker
Intrust R. Eskimo
Leasing O. Schmaltzy
This is Kind of Fun
Click for trippy isometric goodness.
This one may beat up on slower/older computers.
What Little Mojo Remains
Using Spam to Attract Attention
people who sent me spam this past week:
Tyrannizes L. Keyword
Shrinking H. Pawnee
Frankfurter M. Grouchiest
Rehashes B. Dirty
Smothering T. Inopportune
Coddling B. Fucker
Dispensaries F. Rationalization
Blacked T. Beachcomber
Prefect I. Unbiassed
Typewrote E. Jeanie
The Man Show, c. 1870
While using it to help one of my cow-orkers discover the fate of a colony of bats in her hometown, Google led me to an interesting and amusing site called The Journal of Manly Arts. No, this is not a sex magazine; rather a collection of articles about “European and Colonial Combatives, 1776 – 1914”; the supposition there being that fighting (as opposed to dueling) became a Gentlemanly thing around the time of the American Revolution, and became, well, kind of beside the point once Europe began to eat itself 140 years later.
Most of what I read was not new to me. All of the arts – quarterstaffs, various forms of boxing, Savate , I have heard of, if not actually seen in person. There was one, however, which stopped me for a moment: purring . Two contestants stand facing one another and, not to overcomplicate things, kick the bajeezus out of each others’ shins. Last one to give up wins. Apparently this fine tradition was abandoned in the late 1800s, although it is still seen today in schoolyards throughout the country.
Oh: And should the opportunity arise, never get in a fight in pre-Revolutionary Virginia :
I would advise you when You do fight Not to act like Tygers and Bears as these Virginians do – Biting one anothers Lips and Noses off, and gowging one another – that is, thrusting out one anothers Eyes, and kicking one another on the Cods, to the Great damage of many a Poor Woman…