Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Veterans Day


Today is November 11th, or Veterans Day here in America, Remembrance Day in the British Commonwealth, and Armistice Day in Belgium, France, and New Zealand.

In Commonwealth countries, it is traditional to wear poppies on this day, in remembrance of the end of World War I. Why poppies? Because of the poem In Flanders Fields:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae
(McCrae wrote it on May 3rd, 1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, the day before.)

The poppies referred to in the poem grew in profusion in Flanders where war casualties had been buried and thus became a symbol of Remembrance Day.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Han Solo

So Han’s walking down the halls of Bespin with his old friend Lando. Leia’s there, and lookin’ good. Han thinks he’s off to dinner - maybe some wine, a little flirting, and then back to the ol’ guest quarters with Her Hotness.
But the door opens, and there’s Darth Vader.
Han doesn’t look incredulously at Lando; he doesn’t duck or run away.
What does Han do?
He starts shooting at the motherfucker.
He starts shooting.

Be like Han.

(via)

Monday, November 09, 2009

A Mother's Love

Retail | Spokane, WA, USA

(A pimply, overweight 18 year-old boy dumps a satin black flame-job man thong on the counter.)

Boy: “Uh, can I return this? My mom got it for me.”

via

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Smoked

Convenience Store | Spokane, WA, USA

Me: “How can I help you, sir?”

Customer: “I want one single cigarette.”

Me: “No problem, can I see your ID?”

Customer: “What? Do I look 14 to you?”

Me: “No, you look 18, but unless I get ID I can’t sell them to you.”

Customer: “Why cant you sell me the beer and a cigarette?”

Me: “I am sorry, sir, but I could lose my job if I sold it to you without ID.”

Customer: “Oh, I am sure your job is sooo great and pays you a lot?!”

Me: “I’m not the one who can’t afford more than one cigarette.”

(via)

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Fine.

OK, fine, here's a post for today. I'm at the programming contest right now, and we're not allowed a real browser. This one keeps crashing. Which is fine. People don't like long posts anyway. :-P

Friday, November 06, 2009

No Post!

No post for today! I'm *OUT* of forward posts! I've barely stayed a day or so ahead, but now I'm in Moscow-Pullman for the weekend. Will I post? Probably not!

So, tomorrow may be the very first day without a post since JUNE 30th of this year! How truly sad.

Guess I didn't make it to Christmas after all...

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Remember Remember

The fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
Show/Hide

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Primer

The recent XKCD has brought Primer back to the collective foreground.

I've seen many MANY people explaining the timeline in Primer, and with the exception of the 'birds nesting in the attic' (which I didn't catch when I watched it, because it was too far away from the Big-Reveal), they don't seem to add much to the conversation. The timeline didn't really seem complicated enough to need an explanation; it is internally consistent. The Big-Reveal follows the movie's logic. So, what's to explain, right?

So, is this an Internet joke? Like the 3-wolf-moon t-shirt reviews? It didn't occur to me until today, but is everyone just playing and I didn't get it? Like, if we all pretend that Primer is really complicated and unknowable, that makes it funnier? I kind-of get that.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Social Butterfly



This is a recent screenshot of my Gmail tab. Yes, that is five chat windows open at the bottom. I can't see enough of the screen to reply to the e-mails I'm getting.

SO, if you send me a chat and I don't respond right away, don't take it personally. There may be a line ahead of you.

Monday, November 02, 2009

V

Just watched the First-Look for the V remake (starts tomorrow), and I gotta say: I am underwhelmed.

There are so many problems here, I'm not sure where to begin. Yes, I know a giant spaceship filled with extra-terrestrials is not realistic, but I can suspend my disbelief on that. BUT, nobody is looking up until the thing is over a city? Really? It's presence comes as a huge surprise and nobody is ready?

That was a fine premise when the original V aired. These days, that shit would be all over Twitter before they got through the cloud layer, let alone navigated to the nearest metropolis.

(And of course there is also the problem of the terrible acting from 50+% of the characters we saw, but whatever)

So, bad acting + cheesy dialog + lack of realism? I predict blockbuster hit. And then weep for the state of society.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Honda U3-X

I briefly mentioned this on my Enicycle post (or, in the comments, actually), but a new video has surfaced so of course I had to share it. Show/Hide


RAMPANT are the comparisons between this device and those chairs from WALL-E. I don't get it. This is MUCH too small to support such weight...