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Entries from March 2009

When Appliances Weep

March 31st, 2009 · 9 Comments

In his standup-comedy days, forty-plus years ago, Woody Allen did a routine called “Mechanical Objects.”
It was a narrative about the highly mixed blessings of living at the tail end of the Machine Age, at the start of The Age of Electronicus. I found the following transcript of the routine on the Web; I can’t swear [...]

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Tags: Advertising/Packaging · Everyday Life · Humor · Language · Looking Backward · Running After My Hat · The Missus · Writing

Have a Computer-Fascinated Cat?

March 29th, 2009 · 7 Comments

Like, one who insists on being in your lap as you work? Plays with the keys? The (ha ha) mouse?
Remind him or her who’s boss.
Instructions from aBowman’s site, where I found this (via the wide-ranging Froog):
This lively pet hamster will keep you company throughout the day. Watch him run on his wheel, drink water, and [...]

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Tags: Cartoons & Animation · Humor · The Online World

Our Own Little World

March 27th, 2009 · 6 Comments

From whiskey river:
Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.
(William James [source])
Not from whiskey river:
I Live in Music
i live in music
is this where you live
i live here in music
i live on c# street
my friend lives on b♭ avenue
do you live [...]

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Tags: Everyday Life · Poetry · Ruminations

Paying Attention to What It Means to Write

March 25th, 2009 · 8 Comments

An epic-fantasy computer game which The Missus and I play every now and then lets your character acquire any of a variety of cool, vaguely medieval-magic weapons. One property which some of these weapons have is called “vampiric regeneration”; while I’m hazy on the details, I think this means (for example) that if you shoot [...]

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Tags: Short Fiction · Style and Craft · Writing

Real-Life Dialogue

March 23rd, 2009 · 5 Comments

[The scene: a small quasi-hallway between garage and kitchen in a suburban house somewhere in North Florida.]
She: [pointing to weird, waist-high structure made of woven twigs and/or sticks, with four legs, a torso, and a head from which antlers sprout] Why is that still here?
He: [studiously ignoring the obvious] Why is what still here?
She: [...]

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Tags: Everyday Life · Language · Real-Life Dialogue

Everyday Heroes (Update #2)

March 21st, 2009 · 2 Comments

Things continue to pop on the real-life superhero front.
A few days ago, I posted an update to an earlier post about real-life people who don costumes, fight crime, have secret identities and sometimes superpowers, and so on. In that first post, from January, I featured (among other crusaders) one Entomo, a “Crime-fighting/Environmentalist/Detective” who “patrols the [...]

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Tags: Celebrities · In the News · Running After My Hat · The Internet · The Online World

Dogs, Lions, and Fish (Oh My!)

March 20th, 2009 · 3 Comments

From whiskey river:
When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.
(Milarepa)
Not from whiskey river:
The [...]

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Tags: Music · Nature & Pets · Ruminations · whiskey river Fridays

WIP Serendipity

March 19th, 2009 · 7 Comments

In a side conversation on a recent post here, my pseudonymous occasional correspondent known as “Froog” recently undertook some research for me. I’d come across this extremely cool wallpaper (well, I think it’s cool; that’s it at the right, and you can click the image to see a larger version); alas, I knew nothing about [...]

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Tags: History · Research/Resources · Seems to Fit · The Online World · Writing

Everyday Heroes (UPDATE)

March 17th, 2009 · 9 Comments

You may remember my post from a couple months ago, about the real-life superheroes who have identified themselves via a site called the World Superhero Registry. I’ve recently heard from one of the superheroes featured in that post (or at least, from someone claiming to be that superhero): Entomo, the “Crime-fighting/Environmentalist/Detective” who “patrols the streets [...]

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Tags: Celebrities · In the News · Running After My Hat

The Dog Owner Pinpoints the Onset of Dementia

March 16th, 2009 · 8 Comments

Out for morning walkies, the dog owner says, aloud:
No.
(Very good. The dog needs to understand No, and has even at times hinted that she does so.)
And then comes:
Uh-uh. No way.
(Hmm. Well, all right: it’s said in the same tone as No, and immediately follows it. So yes, within the limits of plausibility, the dog may [...]

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Tags: Everyday Life · Humor · Language · Nature & Pets