As a fan of Yorkshire Tea myself, I can certainly vouch for its curative powers. But even I had no idea it could reduce Greece’s deficit. A potent elixir, it is.
(Be sure to click on “Watch behind the scenes” at the end. The video was shot in one take!)
Just when you thought this blog couldn’t possibly get any better, I bring you…the Word of the Day™! Holla!
ratiocination (noun) Systematic thought.
It took only modest ratiocination—punctuated by the occasional appletini—for CK to realize that Aaron was worthy of a 20 percent raise.
It’s been a week since I last posted something. Alas, my tardiness is due not to a particularly busy schedule, but to a crippling plague that struck me down last Wednesday. Truly, ’twas only my iron constitution—and generous portions of single-malt Scotch—that stayed Death’s clammy hand.
Speaking of death, ever hear the story of the Unknown Man (also known as the Tamám Shud Case)? It’s got everything: a 65-year-old mystery, still ostensibly under investigation, in which “we still do not know the victim’s identity, have no real idea what killed him, and cannot even be certain whether his death was murder or suicide.”
Check it out. And by tomorrow we’ll be back with our regularly scheduled programming. You know…picking grammatical nits, linking to pointless stories, and, every now and then, providing something worth reading.
Red Bull has finally released the full POV video of Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking jump from the stratosphere.
Spock’s burial torpedo found—and it’s not on Genesis!
Remember Ötzi the Iceman? Turns out he has living relatives.
An exploding toilet is no joke.
“If there was ever a zombie uprising, wildlife would kick its ass.” National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski seems to think we have nothing to fear from from the upcoming zombie apocalypse.
So. Tunnels have been discovered under Antarctic ice.
Oh, sure, they appear to have been “formed from meltwater flowing underneath the ice, over land, and into the ocean”—at least to those blissfully unaware of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition of 1930–31.
“It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind,” geologist and expedition leader William Dyer later warned, “that some of earth’s dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone…”
Here’s hoping the British Antarctic Survey heeds the good professor’s words and lets sleeping shoggoths lie.
Sir Lawrence Freedman, KCMG, CBE, PC, FBA, professor of war studies at King’s College London and author of the recently published Strategy: A History, is way smarter than you are. So when he says that “the United States has been not only the most powerful but also the most intellectually innovative country in recent times,” well, you can pretty much take that to the bank.
But if you need more than a Brit with fancy titles to convince you how freakin’ awesome we are, look no further than SPAM™-flavored macadamia nuts. The Los Angeles Times cautions its readers that “if you’re imagining little pink nuts covered in some sort of Spam meat dust, you should be warned that there is no actual Spam in, on, or around the nuts”; somehow, though, I feel even more patriotic knowing that the flavor comes from a “special Hormel seasoning blend.”
God bless America.
When a docent at Richland’s Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science & Technology told me that no one had ever stacked more than seven blocks using the museum’s 1950s-era remote manipulator, I naturally interpreted that as a challenge. And when said docent—a former Hanford physicist—mocked the placement of my second block, I rose to that challenge. Go ahead. Count ’em.
“Originality depends on new and striking combinations of ideas. It is obvious therefore that the more a man knows the greater scope he has for arriving at striking combinations. And not only the more he knows about his own subject but the more he knows beyond it of other subjects. It is a fact that has not yet been sufficiently stressed that those persons who have risen to eminence in arts, letters or sciences have frequently possessed considerable knowledge of subjects outside their own sphere of activity.”
Rosamund E. M. Harding, from An Anatomy of Inspiration (1942)
It’s been a while since I shared any music. And hey—it’s Friday, so why not?
Last week I stumbled upon Robin Williamson‘s “The Four Points Are Thus Beheld,” a setting of William Blake’s poetry to “foreboding flute, string and pipe drones with eruptions of squealing tenor saxophone to punctuate tome-like tales of lost Elysian lands”—according to this old review in Dusted magazine, anyway.
Don’t let that frighten you, though. It’s a pretty remarkable piece of songwriting.
I know I just did a grammar post last week, but this needs to be said. (It’ll be quick, I promise.)
Twice in the last 24 hours I heard someone say “reocurring.” The thing is, it’s not a word. It’s recurring. The root is recur, not occur. (Recur simply means to occur again, repeatedly, or periodically.)
So let’s say you keep getting these headaches. And they occur every time I post something about grammar. The next time that’ll happen—like, oh, I don’t know…next week maybe—your headache will recur. (It’s more elegant to say it that way rather than “occur again.”) That means you have a recurring headache.
Got it? Now go tell a friend or a loved one, and together we can put an end to this reocurring nonsense.
I ran across a real piece of history the other day.
A long-time friend and I were revisiting our stomping grounds, reminiscing as we strolled through the hallways, classrooms, and gymnasium of our old middle school—including a visit to the grossest locker room ever. And then when we found it.
See, I was a 20-year-old college student when my hometown mayor (and long-time family friend) asked me to design a logo for the city. I was delighted to help. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing. And the results prove it.
It may be the worst design I’ve ever created. How appropriate, then, that I should run across it, all these years later, on the front of a dumpster. Yep, it’s true. This logo is garbage. Junk. A real piece, all right—of something.
The simplest concepts are often the most difficult to execute—and well-nigh impossible to get past a client. Kudos to both Mercedes and Jung von Matt/Neckar, the creative team behind this spot. (slow clap)
Imagine my joy when I spotted this sign near University High School in Spokane Valley last weekend, prompting as it did a feverish vision of bacon, smoked hocks, sausages, and all things pig. This, I thought, must be what heaven’s like.
Then imagine my horror when I learned the sign was there to direct traffic to a gathering of amateur radio clubs. I’m seriously considering some sort of legal action.
I’m just going to come right out and say it: Breaking Bad is the single greatest television show in the history of mankind. (Yes, even greater than the Battlestar Galactica reboot. Just so you know how serious I am.) To say that I’m looking forward to Sunday’s finale is an understatement on the order of suggesting that Miley Cyrus might be in the habit of exhibiting questionable judgment.
Here are some diversions to help you pass the time until the show airs:
Catch up on everything with the Breaking Bad Wiki.
An “epic GIF” of Mr. White’s transformation from Mr. Chips to Scarface.*
Watch the finale promo trailer.
Here’s an interview with Dr. Donna Nelson, one of the show’s science advisors.
Den of Geek! weighs in with some predictions.
*That’s apparently how showrunner Vince Gilligan pitched the show to AMC.
Can I rant for just a moment? Thanks. There are some things I need to get off my chest.
The word “diversity” is not—nor, to the best of my knowledge, has it ever been—a synonym for “people with a higher concentration of melanin that your average Caucasian.” So let’s stop using it that way, shall we?
“Everyday” is an adjective (“Everyday People” by Sly and the Family Stone); “every day” is an adverbial phrase (I listen to “Everyday People” every day). Got it? Good.
It’s never “alright.” It’s always “all right.”
Please, please, please stop capitalizing your job title. You’re really not that important.
Okay then. Sorry about the snarky tone. But a guy can only take so much.
