Friday, August 31, 2007

Thai government to issue list of approved nicknames

But now, to the consternation of some nickname purists, children are being given such offbeat English-language nicknames as Mafia or Seven — as in 7-Eleven, the convenience store.

...

With help from language experts at the Royal Institute, the official arbiter of the Thai language, Mr. Vira plans to produce by the end of the year a collection of thousands of old-fashioned nicknames, listed by such wholesome categories as colors, animals and fruit and including simple favorites like Yaay (big), Ouan (fat) and Dam (black).

Published in a small booklet, the names will be distributed to the news media and libraries, and posted on the Internet.
Read more.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

In a fight between Neal Stephenson and William Gibson, who would win?

From a Neal Stephenson interview on Slashdot. One question was:
In a fight between you and William Gibson, who would win?

Neal:

You don't have to settle for mere idle speculation. Let me tell you how it came out on the three occasions when we did fight.

The first time was a year or two after SNOW CRASH came out. I was doing a reading/signing at White Dwarf Books in Vancouver. Gibson stopped by to say hello and extended his hand as if to shake. But I remembered something Bruce Sterling had told me. For, at the time, Sterling and I had formed a pact to fight Gibson. Gibson had been regrown in a vat from scraps of DNA after Sterling had crashed an LNG tanker into Gibson's Stealth pleasure barge in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. During the regeneration process, telescoping Carbonite stilettos had been incorporated into Gibson's arms. Remembering this in the nick of time, I grabbed the signing table and flipped it up between us. Of course the Carbonite stilettos pierced it as if it were cork board, but this spoiled his aim long enough for me to whip my wakizashi out from between my shoulder blades and swing at his head. He deflected the blow with a force blast that sprained my wrist. The falling table knocked over a space heater and set fire to the store. Everyone else fled. Gibson and I dueled among blazing stacks of books for a while. Slowly I gained the upper hand, for, on defense, his Praying Mantis style was no match for my Flying Cloud technique. But I lost him behind a cloud of smoke. Then I had to get out of the place. The streets were crowded with his black-suited minions and I had to turn into a swarm of locusts and fly back to Seattle.

The second time was a few years later when Gibson came through Seattle on his IDORU tour. Between doing some drive-by signings at local bookstores, he came and devastated my quarter of the city. I had been in a trance for seven days and seven nights and was unaware of these goings-on, but he came to me in a vision and taunted me, and left a message on my cellphone. That evening he was doing a reading at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus. Swathed in black, I climbed to the top of the hall, mesmerized his snipers, sliced a hole in the roof using a plasma cutter, let myself into the catwalks above the stage, and then leapt down upon him from forty feet above. But I had forgotten that he had once studied in the same monastery as I, and knew all of my techniques. He rolled away at the last moment. I struck only the lectern, smashing it to kindling. Snatching up one jagged shard of oak I adopted the Mountain Tiger position just as you would expect. He pulled off his wireless mike and began to whirl it around his head. From there, the fight proceeded along predictable lines. As a stalemate developed we began to resort more and more to the use of pure energy, modulated by Red Lotus incantations of the third Sung group, which eventually to the collapse of the building's roof and the loss of eight hundred lives. But as they were only peasants, we did not care.

Our third fight occurred at the Peace Arch on the U.S./Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver. Gibson wished to retire from that sort of lifestyle that required ceaseless training in the martial arts and sleeping outdoors under the rain. He only wished to sit in his garden brushing out novels on rice paper. But honor dictated that he must fight me for a third time first. Of course the Peace Arch did not remain standing for long. Before long my sword arm hung useless at my side. One of my psi blasts kicked up a large divot of earth and rubble, uncovering a silver metallic object, hitherto buried, that seemed to have been crafted by an industrial designer. It was a nitro-veridian device that had been buried there by Sterling. We were able to fly clear before it detonated. The blast caused a seismic rupture that split off a sizable part of Canada and created what we now know as Vancouver Island. This was the last fight between me and Gibson. For both of us, by studying certain ancient prophecies, had independently arrived at the same conclusion, namely that Sterling's professed interest in industrial design was a mere cover for work in superweapons. Gibson and I formed a pact to fight Sterling. So far we have made little headway in seeking out his lair of brushed steel and white LEDs, because I had a dentist appointment and Gibson had to attend a writers' conference, but keep an eye on Slashdot for any further developments.
Read the rest of the interview here.

Monday, August 27, 2007

"Sony tethers PSP Slims to cute girls, awkwardness ensues"

"In a surprise move, Sony decided to display the new PSP Slim at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend after all, letting excited fans get their grubby little hands on the new hardware right now. They were clearly extremely worried about the security issues though, because each PSP Slim was tethered to the pants of a Sony booth babe -- and the cables weren't very long."

Joystiq has photos.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Species designations for Wile E. Coyote

"Hardheadipus oedipus" is my favorite. See the whole list here.

"[I]f seeing just one hummingbird is a thrill, imagine watching a few hundred at one time"

For several weeks in September, as thousands upon thousands of ruby-throated hummingbirds pass through towns near the Gulf of Mexico in their fall migration, thousands of people gather to watch them.

...
Lamar Story, the chairman of the Rockport event, said that he went through 40 pounds of sugar last year during the two-month-long hummingbird migration
Read more.

Friday, August 24, 2007

The secret history of the Nazi mascot

Alex Kurzem came to Australia in 1949 carrying just a small brown briefcase, but weighed down by some harrowing psychological and emotional baggage.

...

In 1997, after raising a family in Melbourne with his Australian bride, he finally revealed himself. He told how, at the age of five, he had been adopted by the SS and became a Nazi mascot.

...

But his SS masters never discovered the most essential detail about his life: their little Nazi mascot was Jewish.
Read on.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

"China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission"

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."
Newsweek.

"Gilligan’s Island" reimagined as "Lost On Gilligan’s Island"

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Dr. Fate custom action figure

Lots of figures in this gallery.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Scans from "The Mighty Marvel Strength and Fitness Book"

Scans here.

"under the right conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organized into helical structures"

These structures can interact with one another in ways that are usually associated with organic compounds and with life. Not only do these helical strands interact in a counterintuitive way in which like can attract like, but they also undergo changes that are normally associated with biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, say the researchers. For example, they can divide to form two copies of the original structure. These new structures can also interact to induce changes in their neighbors. And they can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma. 'These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter,' said the lead researcher. 'They are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve.'
Link.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Blood Under The Door Advertising Campaign

The fake blood was slid under doors to promote a horror film festival.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Nesting doll of measurements

Buy.

Southwestern Baptist offers a degree in homemaking

Southwestern Baptist, one of the nation's largest Southern Baptist seminaries, is introducing a new academic program in homemaking as part of an effort to establish what its president calls biblical family and gender roles.

It will offer a bachelor of arts in humanities degree with a 23-hour concentration in homemaking. The program is only open to women.
Read about the coursework here.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Vrindavan: Where widows in India go to die

Ms. Devi did what poor Indian widows have been doing for centuries: She packed a bag and made her way to Vrindavan, a holy town in northern India that is also known as the City of Widows. After a night sleeping on the pavement, she found a bed in an crowded ashram – a house of prayer – for widows, where she says she will spend the rest of her life.
Read more.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

The woman that inspired Clapton's "Layla" has written a tell-all

George Harrison wrote the love song Something for his wife Pattie Boyd. Eric Clapton wrote Layla for her. Theirs was the most extraordinary love triangle in rock history.

...

He played it to me two or three times, all the while watching my face intently for my reaction. My first thought was: 'Oh God, everyone's going to know this is about me.'

...


And there were other women, which really hurt me. George was fascinated by the god Krishna who was always surrounded by young maidens. He came back from India wanting to be some kind of Krishna figure, a spiritual being with lots of concubines. He actually said so.
Read more.

You can major in fermentation science at Oregon State University

You major in brewing beer.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Google News Pillow

Listing the top 10 google searches of 2006. Buy.

Monday, August 6, 2007

3D Doodle Kit helps you draw instant 3D images

"The 10.5cm compass style instrument allows images to be drawn in duplicate red and blue lines which must be a small but constant distance apart." Buy here.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

How would you transport a $1.9 million rare coin?

SOS:
Feigenbaum had purchased a coach ticket, to avoid suspicion, but found himself upgraded to first class. That was a worry, because people in flip-flops, T-shirts and grubby jeans do not regularly ride in first class. But it would have been more suspicious to decline a free upgrade

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Airplane vs. Zero Hour

"The rights to the movie Zero Hour were purchased by the makers of Airplane!, and they were able to use the screenplay almost verbatim."