woolie t.

The niche areas afforded by the internet are of limitless supply. Take, for example, Volition, a sincere story crafted by Matt Web (of Schulze and Web). Part physics lesson and part morose romance.

The way you show the existence of just one of these ghosts is you stop dancing and you barrel across the dance floor as hard as you can, shouting and roaring, barging ghosts and dancers alike hither and thither, scattering them and knocking them flying. If you get it just right, you splash a clearing in the ghosts, and if you’re luckier still there’s a moment before they get to their feet where you can grab one, sit on his chest and hold him down by his neck and grab his chin so you can wrench his dirty face round to look straight at yours and lean in real, real close and, panting, whisper straight at him through your gritted teeth: you little fucker: gotcha.

I’ve got a debit card transaction showing up that I most definitely did not make. It’s nothing too serious or sinister. There are no identity thieves or russian mobsters involved. I spoke with the merchant and was told the transaction would be canceled (it was still in “pending” limbo), but today I checked and it had actually posted to my account. So I called Visa.

»»» but wait, there’s more reading to do »»»

Did you think woolie had something to do with clothes or sheep? Not anymore, for it hath been redefunned.

The Big Word Project is a website to be set in your “my brain no ideas make” bag alongside The Million Dollar Homepage. The nuts and bolts of it is this: you pay a buck a letter to buy any valid word from them, and their site will link to your site using that word. I’ll let Paddy and Lee run a use-case by you:

For example, you may buy the word ‘Donkey’ for $6 and it will link to your site dedicated to donkeys. The word ‘Donkey’ will then be the gateway to your site and the definition will be changed. No longer will the word Donkey mean ‘a woodworking apparatus consisting of a clamping frame and saw, used for cutting marquetry veneers’, instead it will now be represented visually by ‘Chris’s Donkey Site’.

I bought woolie. Like donkey, it’s a six dollar investment. Here’s my badge:

What’s funny about all this is that I had a pretty strong desire to buy the word. There was, of course, the powerful incentive to experiment with link purchasing, and I’m sure that was the push that put me over the top. But there was also a strange need to buy it…some weird send of ownership I had to fulfill.

Kudos to the guys behind this. Great idea.

enfeeble

Main Entry:
Pronunciation:
    \in-ˈfē-bəl, en-\
Function:
    transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
    en·fee·bled; en·fee·bling
Etymology:
    Middle English enfeblen, from Anglo-French enfebler, enfeblir,
    from en- + feble feeble
Date:
  14th century

: to make feeble : deprive of strength

Had I not actually come across this word at Merriam-Webster’s site, I would have figured it to be something akin to “Embiggen”, a word coined by The Simpsons which later made its way to a published physics paper.

Thanks Debilitating!

Clusterflock has a very simple post with a modest two words linking out: Dear Jesus. Following that link takes you to the personal blog of Matt, called “you are the only person not reading this blog“. Matt likes to incorporate letters to Jesus in his blog. It turns out that Matt saw clusterflock writing their own ‘Dear Jesus’ and he’s not happy about it. He links back to clusterflock to make sure we see it. This creates a wonderful circle. Was that clear? Doesn’t matter.

We’ve reached the origin, which is the original clusterflock post:

At the beginning of every season of The Wire when I hear the new version of the theme song I think how odd it sounds and how I will never forget the old one. Then I do. Please forgive me.

My wife and I are currently nearing the end of season four of The Wire (in case I never get around to giving it its own entry let me quickly just state that it is one of the best shows ever in the whole world throughout history and stuff). The single flaw that stands out to both of us in an otherwise flawless series is the theme song. For those of you who don’t know (and I don’t feel this is spoiler territory here), each season of The Wire uses as its theme a different cover of “Way Down in the Hole” by Tom Waits. The season four version hasn’t been horrible. The first couple really were just awful. I do like the montage of clips that sort of filter through that season (foreshadowing and reminding), but the whole thing just lasts too long. Or at least it seems to last too long because of the song playing over top.

In conclusion, I thought the clusterflock “Dear Jesus” was funny.

via clusterflock → Matt → clusterflock.

I tend to become slightly obsessive when it comes to finishing endeavors I’ve started. This does not apply to the long term (unfortunately), only the immediate future. To put it another way: if I stop working on this now, I will never complete it. Another caveat is that it tends to be true when the activity is something I enjoy. Not all that long ago (a decade give or take a couple of years), I would spend anywhere from 6 to 12 hours straight creating and recording music. In more recent years it might have more to do with code (Late Hours, je vous présente WordPress. WordPress, Late Hours).

And of course, you always have to finish your books. I have a strong tendency to view new chapters as built-in bathroom break reminders and not as logical points at which to say “okay, time to let ‘er rest a bit”. I am not (let’s be clear) claiming to be a voracious reader. There are dry spells and then fervent rushes, with the droughts lasting months and the hot times being two or three books. But even if it it’s just not possible to pull an all-nighter to reach “The End”, I still have a very strong desire to finish that book sometime in the immediate future. It is rare that I get more than a few pages into a book and then not complete it. So this AskMeFi question was new territory for me. It basically boils down to “How do you pick books to read?”. But there is also discussion about knowing when to give-up on a particular book. It’s amazing to me is that the majority of responders actually do this. There are many responses from people who state that they will, very quickly, drop a book if it’s not holding their immediate interest.

»»» but wait, there’s more reading to do »»»

Stressing over the perfect name for your band (or blossoming solo act)?

Where’s My Jetpack? has a novel approach: Google News.

Just scan the headlines and pick that which rocks the hardest. Looks like if you need some cover art, Jetpacks might be able to whip something up right nice too.

Here’s some great names I came up with using my locally filtered news:

• Summer Reading Program
• Tough Times For Tow Trucks
• Baked Peaches with Raspberries
• Salute to an urban general

You are the only thing in any room you’re ever in

Guy Garvey is a fantastic lyricist. The above is from Elbow’s most recent release, The Seldom Seen Kid. The song is Starlings, and its the first on the CD.

If I had to pick one for you to listen to, though, it would be One Day Like This. Listen to it and tell me it doesn’t force your senses to perk up.

‘Cause holy cow I love your eyes. And only now I see the light. Lying with you half awake. Stumbling over what to say. Well anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day. So throw those curtains wide. One day like this a year would see me right.

Charles Darwin organized his thoughts on marriage into two columns, Marry and Not Marry.

Some Why Nots

• Freedom to go where one liked
• Not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle
• less money for books

Yesterday, on our drive to Pensacola, my daughter told one of the funniest jokes ever. Well, I guess it wasn’t really a joke. She was recounting a scene from a Nickelodeon show she likes, “Drake & Josh“. It was seriously one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a while, especially as told by my seven-year-old. I’m pretty sure its from episode 56, since it starts off with “So Drake and Josh were skydiving…”

…and Drake looked out of the window and said “Those people look really small”.

And the pilot said, “That’s a preschool”.

Good one.

I originally saw this quote in the Feb. 25 issue of Sports Illustrated. They have a little spot called “They Said It” in which they post a quote by some athlete. I couldn’t find it at the Sports Illustrated website, but I did find it here. When LPGA golfer Paula Creamer was twelve, she had to decide between cheerleading and golf. The advice give to her by her father:

“My dad asked me if I wanted to cheer for other people or have people cheer for me,” Creamer says.

I think that’s pretty inspiring. When I asked my seven-year-old daughter if she knew what that meant, she summed it up perfectly by saying basically “Do you want to be the one who scores the points“. That’s such a great way to approach life.

I was reading this story the other day in the paper. It’s about an 11 month old boy found 150 yards from the slab that used to be his house. A tornado ripped it apart and killed his mother. Miraculous and heartbreaking stuff. Even though I live in a part of the country where they are extremely rare, and have never personally had an experience with one, I’ve had nightmares about tornados. I think maybe four or five in all over the past maybe fifteen years. And so when reading that article, this description recounted by one survivor really stood out:

James Krueger, a 49-year-old electrician, opened the door to look out of the 100-year-old home he was restoring and the wind sucked the door from his hand. He dived onto the ground “as if I was sliding into first.” The house was pulled out from under him — and when it was over, he was on bare ground.

Can you imagine? I could only hope that if in the same situation, it all happens too fast for the fear to have time to take hold of me. And if later asked by a reporter how it all felt, I know my quote wouldn’t be nearly as enthralling as what this man provided:

“It was like God was holding my leg and beating the (expletive) out of me for everything I’ve done in my life,” said Krueger, of Lafayette. “Maybe I tried to question God too many times, but the bottom line is something kept me there.”

I wish I knew what the “expletive” was though. Regardless of how you feel about language like that, there are most definitely occasions where it’s called for, and I would love to have that quote exactly as it was given.

»»» but wait, there’s more reading to do »»»

Main Entry:
  twirp

variant of

Main Entry: twerp
Pronunciation: \ˈtwərp\
Function: noun
Etymology: origin my father-in-law
Date: circa 1980

: an underwater toot

Definition of twirp as given to my wife, by her dad, when she was a kid. This was relayed to me the other night at supper and I laughed for a couple of minutes on the outside, and am still enjoying a sustained chortle on the inside.

Inspiration struck and out from within my soul poured the sweet liquid of poetry.

Where for art thou mobīle phone?
Someone from inside this home,
Please call the phone so it will ring,
And I can find that %$&! thing.

Please notice the macron over the ‘i’ in mobīle (i.e long vowel sound). Say it long and say it short. I’m sure you’ll notice it’s much better when “mobile” rhymes with “crocodile”.

My wife introduced me to the psychological phase Extinction Burst tonight. If you are trying to eliminate unwanted behavior through conditioning, there is a period of time during which that behavior will significantly increase before dropping back down and eventually disappearing for good.

Here’s a nice example:

My favorite example is the elevator button. Let’s say you ride the same
elevator every day. You get in, you push the button for your floor, and
you’re rewarded by the doors closing and the elevator taking you to your
destination. One day you get in and push the button, and nothing happens.
Do you immediately say, “Oh, this must not work anymore, I’ll just take the
stairs to the 11th floor”? Or do you push the button again? And again?
And harder? And faster? And in special sequences? That’s the extinction
burst.

That’s a great phrase. Nifty concept too.