I’m very pleased to see that someone else is attempting to solve my Script Challenge. Check the most recent comments. I’m still surprised that it remains unsolved after three years.
Short Story or Rock Band?
While reading about an unusual new embuggerance over at the always-excellent Language Log, I’ve been introduced to a curious theory about naming practices.
Has anyone ever explored the apparent lack of overlap between short story titles and rock band names? I mean, is there any doubt which category e.g. “The pit and the pendulum”, “A perfect day for bananafish”, “REO Speedwagon”, and “Neutral Milk Hotel” belong to?
I think Mark Liberman may be on to something here. Perhaps we need to test this theory, using something similar to Steak House or Gay Bar? or a gamed-up version of the rather awesome Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be thinking so early in the morning…
Patch Monday: Is cloud right for your business?
[Oops. Not only was the Patch Monday podcast filed late, so it kinda became Patch Tuesday, I forgot to post it here. Well, that’s fixed now.]
The key IT buzzwords for 2010 seem to be “cloud computing” and “virtualisation”, but is cloud really right for your business?
Will it provide a cheaper, more flexible option? Or can companies not afford to store data and run applications outside their business?
In a program recorded at the annual Kickstart Forum on IT trends, I spoke with Rosemary Stark, Microsoft Australia product manager for Windows Server and infrastructure solutions and Craig Deveson, CEO of Devnet, one of Google’s enterprise and web development partners.
Meanwhile, Michael Rich, managing director of Attaché Software, explains why he thinks IT vendors have got it wrong by attempting to sell products instead of providing business value.
You can listen below. But it’s probably better for my stats if you listen at ZDNet Australia or subscribe to the RSS feed or subscribe in iTunes.
Please let me know what you think. We accept audio comments too. Either Skype to stilgherrian or phone Sydney +61 2 8011 3733.
Cheap fake tan and fat thighs? Snooki!
“There needs to be a special word for the combination of a cheap fake tan and fat thighs.”
I expressed that view on Twitter early this evening. Thanks to @SophieAG I now know there’s already such a word: Snooki.
This class act’s name is Nicole Polizzi (pictured), though she goes by the nickname “Snooki” and “stars” in an MTV reality TV program called Jersey Shore.
Watching the trailer tells you everything you need to know.
According to The Hollywood Gossip:
She fake-tans and acts like a bit of a skank. Then again that sums up the whole cast, so what are you really gonna do. That’s just what she does…
Nicole has made headlines already … for having brown skin. Like for real brown. Not tanned, like she’s been rolling in the mud or something. Yech.
Apparently Snooki is such a skank that advertisers have pulled out of the series.
“I just have one thing to say to Domino’s, Dell, UNICO and all the other haters out there: Fuck you! If you don’t want to watch, then don’t watch.”
Snooki added: “Just shut the hell up! I’m serious… Fuck you!”
…
UNICO, the Italian-American organisation that claims the show perpetuates negative stereotypes, plans to keep pressuring sponsors to boycott the show.
“She is not an embarrassment to Italian Americans. She is actually an embarrassment to the entire human race!!!!” UNICO said of Snooki in a statement.
Apparently Snooki’s idea of the ideal man is the Guido stereotype.
Given the monumental appropriateness of naming an entire sub-class of humanity after this woman — and I do mean sub-class — other suggestion faded in comparison.
Script Challenge revisited
After two years of sitting online unchallenged, my Script Challenge is finally being tackled by a couple of people.
Can you figure out what’s said by this unknown piece of writing?
It’s a quote from a novel by Ursula LeGuin.
Bob Bain and Jason Langenauer started having a go across the weekend, and a high school English teacher said he might show it to his class. So, no more clues for now — except to say that people are missing one very important point about alphabets.
[I’ll close off comments on this post so that all the discussion stays with the original article.]
This is just to say…
I am, of course, the third-last person on the entire planet to listen to This American Life, the US public radio program presented by Ira Glass. But now I have. And in doing so, I stumbled across some amusing poetry.
The poems are based on an original by William Carlos Williams, called This Is Just To Say. In an episode of This American Life entitled Mistakes Were Made, program contributors created their own versions.
My favourite is the trio by Shalom Auslander:
1
I’m sorry you’re overweight
And drinking
And feeling like everything
In your life
Is doomed to failure
But this is probably why
Mom said
I was her favorite2
It sucks, little doe
That I hit you
with my carBut at least
You weren’t alive
To watch the hunters
Shoot your children3
He was a troublemaker, okay
And didn’t know when
To shut upStill
We never would have killed him
If we’d known he was the Lord
There’s not much poetry here. Should there be more?