Category: General

While having discussions about how my work life may have changed now that the company I worked for was acquired by a very large company, I learned a new word from some people with more time in the very large company environment: bureaumancer. Bureaumancer n. One with a mastery of the arcane skills required to manipulate the bureaucracy (as of… Read more →

So, seriously, is it wrong that I really, really think that a scotch decanter made out of a dead squirrel would be dead funny? That’s only one of the amusing items at Custom Creature Taxidermy Arts. This artist’s story begins as an unassuming science nerd who attended art school to study painting and sculpture at the Minneapolis College of Art… Read more →

A few stories that could broadly be interpreted as “science related” caught my eye today. Let’s do a quick run through them, with some additional commentary by me… Let’s start with one of the borders between politics and science. The unmatched vitality of the United States’ economy and science and technology enterprise has made this country a world leader for… Read more →

Two funny things here: 1) the last time I played D&D–years ago when I lived in Ontario–I played a character of this type (although this predated the specific prestige class mentioned here) 2) I love that spirituality score. If I could completely get rid of that lingering love of the notion of karma, I could probably get that right down… Read more →

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada. Monday is a real holiday here. No work, probably no blogging, until Tuesday. Remembering that sadness changes into something beautiful, something big, bigger than words; that sadness is warm, like the ocean that welcomes the setting sun, and full of dignity, like the mountain with its iron fist. And finally, your thought for the… Read more →

From The Panda’s Thumb The Intelligent Designer’s Prayer Our Intelligent Designer, Who art in the unspecified-good-place, Unknown be Thy name. Thy flagella spin, Thy mousetraps snap, On Earth, as it is in the Unspecified-good-place. Give us each day our unchecked apologetic. And forgive us our invidious comparisons, As we smite those iniquitous Darwinists With rhetoric. And lead us not into… Read more →

If you read the preceding post and thought I was being too worked up about a bunch of people being dumb, I refer you to the The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, specifically the Fourth law: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under… Read more →

I love the idea of concepts that other languages posses words for, which my native language does not. The kinds of things you can express in a language tells you something about the way native speakers of that language see the world–this can reveal concepts to you that you previously literally could not think about (or at least not think… Read more →

This post is really just for my old pal the Classics Phd, since she’s probably the only person I know (possibly excepting Chris the Sub Wizard) who could actually read it: Read more →

Instead of actual content, a placeholder, in the form of happy and sad links from around cyberspace. Part of the reason I don’t have time for real entries today is that tonight is poker night, and the first link I’m bringing you is something that would be a definite hit with the poker fools–it’s kind of like alcoholic Di Di… Read more →

So, it’s a pretty well-known fact at this point that I think Veronica Mars was the best thing on TV last season. So how is it that I’m finding out only now that Kristen Bell starred in a musical version of Reefer Madness? Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Update: The DVD of this appears to be available for pre-order.… Read more →

My favourite paragraph about post-Katrina reconstruction on the internets today comes from author John Scalzi: Bush wants to spend $200 billion to rebuild the South, which is good in theory, but I expect his administration to do a good job at the effort about as much as I expect my cat to whip up a light and tasty souffle. Word… Read more →

Hm. I seem to have just taken a 10-day family vacation. I’m shocked to discover that A) I can survive 10 days without being connected, and B) things keep happening even when I’m not paying attention. Anyway, work has piled up, as have other things, so I may be a bit sketchy for the next couple of days. In lieu… Read more →