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melancholy apprehension.
It's been overcast here for the last month, and I am well sick of it. Where are the sunny beaches and brilliant blue skies I was promised? I don't dislike the clouds, but monotony is wearing in any guise, and cloudy skies are somehow more capable of monotony than any other weather. It's uncanny. To quote Jablokov:
In literature, the pathetic ( Read more... ) -
take for application to beneficial use.
Found out today that Queen's "Flash" is the anthem for those who want Apple to support Adobe's Flash format. I'm kind of amused and disgusted, mostly because I didn't think of it first.
He's for every one of us!
Stands for every one of us!
He'll save with a mighty hand every man, every woman, every child, he's a marvel -- Flash!
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causing it to move around vigorously.
Briefly watched a local Tea Party rally today. ("Attended" would be putting it way too strongly ( Read more... ) -
change in position or location.
Felt an earthquake 200 miles away, in Baja California. I thought at first that I had become drunk and woozy spontaneously and without noticing. The shaking went on gently and silently for a very long time. Eventually I remembered to breathe. I looked around to see everything swaying ( Read more... ) -
fix with power or firmness.
I really don't understand the rationale behind "checking in" for a flight online the day before. To my mind, the point of checking in is to hand off operational responsibility from you to the airline. It says that you've gotten to the airport under your own power, and now getting you on the plane is the airline's problem. Checking in at any ( Read more... ) -
take or have a position.
I sat in a restaurant, glowering at my half-eaten meal. Asked if I wanted anything else, I remarked that, although I was in general pro-gluttony, it was still only my second favorite of the deadly sins ( Read more... ) -
rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty.
Finally located my copy of Bear v. Shark, a deservedly-obscure (but entertaining) novel by Chris Bachelder.
Bear v. Shark revolves around a simple question: "Given a relatively level playing field--i.e., water deep enough so that a Shark could maneuver proficiently, but shallow enough so that a Bear could stand and operate with its characteristic ( Read more... ) -
usually sweet and often baked.
Found a cake while biking to work. It lay on the sidewalk in an open box. It was a large cake, chocolate, with some pieces cut out. I considered cutting a piece from the middle, where it remained undisturbed by human hands. It looked tasty and wholesome, and I stood beside it for a while and contemplated the words of Tycho.
You can't just find ( Read more... ) -
distinctive manner of oral expression.
Every so often people will comment on how slight my accent is, and I'll usually go "what accent?" because of course I think the way I speak is perfectly and entirely normal. (Because, as my cat would say, Ich bin AmerikanerBut I have noticed one pair of sounds that I can't seem to make correctly and unambiguously: Alan vs. Ellen. Do you pronounce ( Read more... )
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