Gigantic update with many, many links.

This is the first time I’ve actually had time to set down and do my usual parade of links. So you get the weekend, plus a few days, all in one sitting. If you have to, take it in two bites.

U*CON ran smoothly, ran wonderfully, and it sounds like everyone had a blast. I’m glad, considering that might have been the last one I ever see or participate on staff in. We’ll see whether I wander back to Ann Arbor at some point in my life.

Went to the memorial service for Bo today. That’s right, I forze in Michigan Stadium for three hours, and there wasn’t even a football game.

Also, as an aside, I can apparently key out a nine-page paper less than half a day. Who knew? Thankfully, my memory was helpful in telling me which papers to get, and I got a little help from the government’s web presence (har, who knew?) to put the finishing touches on. Now we’ll see whether my instructor falls down laughing at it for being of poor quality. (Or whether Integral Man makes an appearance.)

It would appear that at least in California, for the moment, blogs and forums do fall under freedom-of-speech protections, if they’re reposting a potentially libelous comment, rather than creating it themselves.

For those of us intending on enjoying the turkey festivities, pay your compliments to the chef for good meals. Why? Taste affects our health. So if it can taste good and be healthy, then we’ve found the right idea.

Daddy Warbucks is now the richest fictional character. (Because Santa’s real, remember.) Interesting.

January 23 is the day when everyone needs their passports. So, if you feel like traveling to or from the U.S. at any time, make sure you plan well enough in advance to have your passport done. And smile for Homeland Security as they try to make you into a terrorist or something else because you want to vacation in France. We’re not quite to the point where cameras and microphones are listening to you, but we’ll probably get there. At least we’ll know where to come back to by the giant KFC logo on the ground.

That said, following up on a previous article linked to, there were 100 V verified waiting for the answer to a redress petition. They received no answer. Perhaps the presence of 1,000 V, if it can be managed, will provide it? What about 10,000 V?

Guy gets a refund from Microsoft for not using the Windows installed by default on his laptop. I seem to recall a User Friendly story arc about returning large volumes of Windows NT somwhere. On a different note, recycled movie billboards turned into bags and wallets. Good idea on the recycling job. I’m just not sure there are any movies I’d want to have that close to my money.

Three Days before Christmas, have a world-wide orgasm. Maybe we’ll find out that it really is a penis envy contest, and the sheer pleasure of the orgasm will wipe away the war desire. It’s a hope, anyway. Maybe since it’s admitted that George W. Bush reads the Guardian (or maybe he doesn’t and just didn’t wnat to look any more stupid than he does now), maybe he’ll read other parts of the world, too?

Putting together recycling and sexual activity, we produce... the bra that doubles as a shopping bag. Although there’s one tiny logistical problem I haven’t worked out yet. Namely, how does one remove the bra to create the bag without giving all the boys a public show?

Liberal Seagull reminds us that not all formulae work for all people - especially in satire. So Supertelevangelistic Sex-and-Drugs Psychosis works, but Left Behind's game of killing UN delegates, Jews and Atheists doesn’t. (At least, we wish it was satire. Kind of like we wish that people trying to poison the Supreme Court justices weren’t really trying that.)

For the more Sci-fi inclined among us, a pass at the Space Patrol Handbook might just be the thing needed... if only to appear on some Admiral’s collection of books.

Two good articles about the power of speech and language being bent to someone’s will. Suasive Diction shows how pronouns and certainty words are used to produce effects that may not actually appear, and The Language of Advertising Claims shows off how advertisers will do their best to get your money by making it sound like their product or service is the best, without actually telling you why. Of course, since the mere sight of money changes our behavior, maybe that’s why they want you to part with yours...

Last retort - apparently Nine in ten Americans believe in Heaven, but one in four believes there's a "Christians only" sign on the front gate. Wonder what other religions believe about their heavens.

Oh, look at the time. It’s bedtime, definitely. I’d better be able to get through class tomorrow. Water Clocks (which are neat), Moon clocks (which are neater), Pin clocks (which I would so definitely get... along with the other clocks so far), and a 24-hour hourglass, paired with the world's largest hourglass, a one-year model, all tell me, BED!

And so I go.

Midday update

Since I’ll be off to lands of the unknown, where the ‘Net does not have hold, you get a quick update before I go.

Galactus is Coming! It makes a more convining case, than, say, Kneel Before Zod.

Guantanamo heart patient cannot go to a civillian hospital. So get your treatment on base or not at all. Perhaps they’re worried about him talking to someone about what goes on? Or will he manage to shoot himself while in custody, like this person, who shot himself with a gun while handcuffed in a police cruiser, managed to. I’m really wondering whether “shot himself” is an excuse in this case for something else.

If you want to see some degree of what happens between the time a beauty model walks in the door and the image you see on the billboard, have a look at Evolution (available through The Hard Sell). It was part of the Dove campaign about “natural beauty”, and it demonstrates, in time-lapse, all the work that goes into making a pretty face. Including, as you’ll see in the post-production, distortion of the real features of the model.

Something that may please greenhornline more than anyone else - The Cat Came Back, the very next day. They thought he was a goner, but the cat came back...

’Tis the season... to do stupid things. A gent in Lousiana died in a car crash after stealing some Christmas lights.

We might be eventually seeing the days where a significant amount of our lights are actually going to be LEDs, thanks to an efficiency jump in white organic LEDs.

Ad-space sold on laptop = free laptop. Good ingenuity to make that work out, and ads aren’t in some place where they’ll necessarily be annoying or have to be looked at. Makes some of us wish that we’d thought of it first.

For taniwhanui; Alliteration of things I like, letter Y, ten things. (This took some thinking)

Yakisoba (Yummy!)
Yogurt (with fruit in it)
Yarn (to play with it, of course)
Yoko Shimomura, for her excellent work on Kingdom Hearts
Yoko Kanno - for her many contributions to lots of good anime soundtracks.
Young Frankenstein (That’s Frank-en-schteen!)
The Yokohama Giants (but only because Chiyo-chan does)
Yukari-sensei, but not for her measurements
“You’re welcome”
Yule, admittedly because of the prezzies associated with some other VEWPRF as much as the rebirth of the Sun.

Last remarks - here’s a couple flickr groups for the grammarians - Quotation Mark Abuse for “unnecessary” marks, and Grocer's Apostrophe, for when thing’s are not allowed, or something.