...more recent posts
In the starting your day off with a bang department (could have been the safe driving thread, but…) Shortly after dawn yesterday, as I was entering Calvert Vaux Park along the Belt Parkway at Bay 44th St, a car came skidding over a rise in the Parkway, smashed through the guardrail, rolled over a few times, and came to rest on the grass strip between the highway and the service road, no more than fifteen yards from me. There were flames coming from under the hood, and I immediately dialed 911. As I was calling, the driver popped out and ran clear as the fire spread. Before I could explain everything to the 911 operator, an emergency vehicle was on the scene, followed quickly by a couple of police cars; they questioned the driver, who indicated that no one was trapped in the car, which was now entirely engulfed in fire. I moved on, but judging by the duration of the column of smoke, the fire was quickly extinguished. When I passed the spot on the way home there was little evidence beyond the crumpled guardrail, a few pieces of debris, and a small charred spot on the grass. In protest of the cultural trend towards substituting documentation for experience, I did not take any photos.
kind of interesting. the etymology of the name "louis."
Clovis is important in the historiography of the French Republic as "the first king of what would become France".[4] His name, a Germanic name composed of the elements hlod "fame" and wig "combat", is the origin of the later French given name Louis, borne by 18 kings of France.
personal libraries library in portland ...recreates and reconsiders the personal libraries of artists, philosophers, scientists, writers and other thinkers & makers.
BigRep One 3D printer. Has a build volume of 45 x 39 x 47 inches (46 cubic feet.) At $39,000 it's not cheap, but kind of sort of in reach for something that can actually print usable stuff. Like furniture. I thought Bill might be interested (and/or alarmed at the final output.)
Is it good or bad when your plumber, after cutting open your ceiling, sighs and says to his assistant, "fuck it, get the Sawzall"?
a brief history of the snowball fight
wintery mix. id better find my camping gear so i can delight the neighborhood ragamuffins with some snovaltine. bill, you still with us? bill? bill? god dammit...... pennsylvanias superset! i repeat, pennsylvanias superset! and they just got vertical hold, too. maybe its not too late. jerry saltz the road -- jerry rig the plows -- gerrymander heaven if you have to...! *sobs* *shakes fist at sky*
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
Powers out here. Running the generator. Internet works though.
For that matter, shouldn't Standard English also qualify?
Badum tish!
I can't find the thread in which I talked (ranted?) about multiplication tables, so I'll start a new one. This is very, very bad. Bad teacher, no apple! To have memorization trump conceptual understanding is a fundamental failure to understand what mathematics is all about. Besides ... commutitative property of multiplication!!! Even Wolfram Alpha know this.
In 1982, the Forest Agency of the Japanese government premiered its shinrin-yoku plan. In Japanese shinrin means forest, and yoku, although it has several meanings, refers here to a “bathing, showering or basking in.” More broadly, it is defined as “taking in, in all of our senses, the forest atmosphere.” The program was established to encourage the populace to get out into nature, to literally bathe the mind and body in greenspace, and take advantage of public owned forest networks as a means of promoting health. Some 64 percent of Japan is occupied by forest, so there is ample opportunity to escape the megacities that dot its landscape.
if something is not on the internet, did it ever exist?
anybody remember an ad for mexican tourism with the jingle tagline being --
"mexico... mexico... the arriba country"?
custom made cat furniture from germany
Interview with Lawrence Wright on his new scientology book.
RIP Portlandia?
Hilarious comments to this oregonian piece on a small herd of urban goats needing s new home asap.
six years, 201 countries, no planes. wow.
Look what the New Year's Serpent brought me:
Snowy Owl at Calvert Vaux Park, Brooklyn 1/1/14