Oh, excellent. I recieved my copy of the much-anticipated "Freedomnomics" today, and I opened a random page to see that the author is quoting Ben Stein, 'noted Actor and Economist'. As you may be aware, Ben Stein is currently embroiled in the PZ Myers/Richard Dawkins 'Expelled' controversy.
All signs point towards the book being both stimulating and educational, but probably not in the way that the author intended. Full review soon.
Recently, as a joke, I purchased a cravat from a secondhand clothing shop. My intention was to wear it to work instead of a tie for a bit of a laugh.
I've since bought a second, and am eagerly awaiting the chance to buy more. Far from just being a laugh, the cravat turned out to be an excellent tie substitute, allowing me to keep my top button undone while still wearing a 'tie' around my neck. It's more comfortable, easier to affix and I think it adds an element of grandeur to the office. Indeed, i'm wearing it as I type this right now, and I think we'd all agree that the tone of the blog has been raised considerably.
The only downside is that I suspect my nickname here at work has become 'Thurston Powell the Third'.
"Where are we now?" whined Captain Doobie.
Goodtime Slim poked his head up over the top of the Gregory's he was consulting. "Hoth," he replied, in a sullen tone, which Captain Doobie completely ignored, preferring to look out of the viewport instead.
"Why is it all white then?"
"Because it's an ice planet, that's why."
Captain Doobie leaned back in the copilot's seat. "Wierd," he remarked idly, twiddling his thumbs.
Goodtime Slim put down the Gregory's and fiddled with the knobs on the dashboard, trying to look as though he knew what he was doing. "Why is it wierd?" he sighed.
"Because it is. I mean, where I come from we have...I don't know, a bit of desert here, some ice up near the poles, that sort of thing."
Goodtime Slim fixed him with a particularly icy stare. "And your point is?"
"A bit of moderation, is what i'm asking for," Captain Doobie told him snippily, "That planet down there is just being greedy, that's all."
Dammit, it seems like i'm writing these every couple of weeks these days.
Arthur C Clarke, the grand old man of science fiction has died, aged 90, in Sri Lanka.
Of all of the old sci-fi writers from the Golden Age, Clarke was always one of my favorites. Not always consistent in his larger books '(2001', 'Rendezvous with Rama') to which he had the disarming habit of writing sequels far past the use-by date of the concept, my favorite books of Clarkes were his small 'once-offs'. In these you always got the sense that he'd had an idea for a piece of technology and wanted to introduce the reader to it. 'The Gardens Of Paradise', 'The Ghost From Grand Banks', 'Prelude To Space', all written to highlight a technology more than to tell a story.
Also a delight was his 'technical' writing, by which I mean his collections of essays such as 'Spring 1984: A Choice Of Futures', and 'Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!' in which he displayed a rare wit and a capacity to involve the reader. Few of his contemporaries shared this ability, but most notably Asimov had it, and I think that says something.
As a postscript, I remember an anecdote that Clarke told in which, when he was the Treasurer of the British Interplanetary Society (1938) he recieved a letter from George Bernard Shaw who wished to join because "he thought it was time he looked into the matter". At the time, George Bernard Shaw was 97, and I for one am glad to see that Arthur C Clarke took this lesson to heart, and never stopped learning, right up until the end.
Arthur C Clarke, we're missing you already.
1. Sausages.
As the name suggests, these are 'burns which curve. Beginning vertically at the ear, they sweep majestically away from the jaw-line, becoming horizontal towards the upper lip, culminating in a rounded point.
2. The Lightning Strike.
A 30's art-deco look, these begin at the ear, initially maintaining the standard 'burn line until they dogleg, then come to a point, resembling nothing so much as their namesake.
3. Hot Eggs In Bed.
Today the trend is away from straight. In much the same way as Sausages, Hot Eggs In Bed follow a curved path down from the ear then back up, with the effect being essentially a big hairy egg leaning with the small pointy end at the top of the ear.
4. Zulus At Dawn
A 'burn in honor of the Battle of Roark's Drift. Victorian England is the look here chaps, so start growing! One of the newer freeform 'burn categories.
5. The Gentleman's Excuse-Me.
Perhaps the most daring of all new-wave 'burn styles, this is a standard rectangular (or "Johnnyboy") 'burn, the hairs of which have been grown significantly longer than that style generally dictates, then waxed to a horizontal point.
"But you're not a psychiatrist."
"I am!"
"Alright then, prove it."
"Do you want to root your mum?"
"No!"
"Good. Now piss off."
"What do you think of Ague?"
It would be an understatement to say that this question took Goodtime Slim by surprise. He was slumped on the couch, where he'd fallen asleep whilst watching a particularly dry episode of The Smurfs. He was awoken by Captain Doobie's query and had to collect his thoughts before he could speak.
"Huh?"
Captain Doobie plonked himself down into his easy chair. "Should I go for Ague or Pleurisy?"
"What are you talking about?"
Captain Doobie shot him a whithering look. "Please. I'm trying to decide which of these old-timey diseases to catch," he told him.
Goodtime Slim was totally lost. "Why Ague or Pleurisy? Why not Dropsy?"
"Ooh!" cried Captain Doobie excitedly, scribbling it down in his notebook, "that's a good one!"
Goodtime Slim thought it was time to Sort Things Out. He found himself doing this a lot. Speaking slowly and clearly, he asked, "Why do you want to catch an old disease that no-one's ever heard of?"
Captain Doobie snorted in derision, made a complicated clicking motion with his fingers and peered down his nose at his housemate. "Because it's cool," was his reply.
"Cool?"
"Yes. Think about it: it's not just a virus, it's a retrovirus!"
Sometimes life is unintentionally hilarious. For example, on Amazon there's a new book out called "Freedomnomics". It's a 'response' to Stephen Levitt's "Freakonomics", and attempts to refute many of the findings of that book.
I will not comment further until i've read the book, but I will say that as a trained economist I found 'Freakonomics' to be generally correct, and I find it difficult to imagine how it could be found lacking, but I will read 'Freedomnomics' and decide for myself.
However, I should point out that I only discovered 'Freedomnomics' while on an Amazon search for Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment', and that in the little section on what other customer's bought, 'Freedomnomics' is in such illustrious company as 'A New Look At The Causes of the Great Depression', 'More Guns, Less Crime', 'Straight Shooting: Firearms, Economics and Public Policy', and "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left".
Until I read the book, I will leave that to speak for itself.
There are few things more troubling in this world than a porcine gait.
