From over on McSweeney’s, Sexual Euphemisms That Won’t Catch On. Here’s a small sample:
Paying extra for refills
Do-boning the salmon fillet
Compounding 4 percent interest annually
Taking the F train to Queens
Thanks to a friend of mine on LJ for posting this, I can’t remember which one I read it on though.
When Microsoft opened up the MSN Music Store the other day, there was a comment about Apple and how their system is “closed”. This was given as a reason that MSN is better.
“iTunes has done a great job of helping to elevate the [digital music] market,” said Christine Andrews, lead product manager of MSN. “We’re different because Apple is a closed system. If you want Apple, you have to use the iPod. A lot of people want choice and we offer that.” [macnn.com]
So let’s see. My choice is use iTMS and an iPod, or buy a whole second computer in order to use the MSN Music Store. Let’s be honest, they’re both closed in different ways. IMHO MSN’s is more closed because I can’t even use it on my computer. Though I wouldn’t hate Apple if they opened up access to their DRM a little bit. Given their market share I think they can afford to let people use a few other players. There is still a market for flash players that aren’t that expensive.
Today on my way back from Framingham, I just had to stop and take a few pictures of the leaves. They are really amazing this year. And even though I knew it was October, I hadn’t expected to see them this colorful yet. That means CT should be hitting peak in the near future. I’ll hopefully get some pictures of the street my parent’s live on, because it’s always really nice down here.
Click on the picture to see a few other pictures I took.
I realized that the individual archives for here have been screwed up for probably the last week. They should be fixed now (finally). I really need to update my contact me script so people can tell me about this stuff.
One thing I notice more and more is that fansubbers seem to do a much more complete job with their translations, and many times seem to come up with cleaner sounding subtitles. One recent example of this was the first Inu-Yasha movie, which was released by Viz. The fansub I saw of it translated the title something like “The Love That Transcends Time” (I don’t have it right in front of me at the moment). Viz translated it as “Affections Touching Across Time”. They both pretty much mean the same thing, but given a choice between what to call it I’d probably lean towards the first. The second just sounds kind of clunky.
The other thing I really like that I see in fansubs are the little notes that many of them have explaining various things in the show. Usually things to do with Japanese culture or explaining jokes. Too many times I see DVDs where they try to americanize the jokes more and they just don’t work that well. The Azumanga Daioh DVDs are a good example of this to me. While I think ADV did a decent job with it, I’ve seen them do so much better.
So here’s my plea to ADV, Geneon, Viz, Anime Works, FUNimation, and everyone else. Start having a subtitle track that also has notes like this. Or have them on an alternate angle or something. I like learning about the various little bits of the culture.
Once again, someone has been fired for running SETI@Home.
Man Said He Used Computer During Off Hours
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The search for extraterrestrial life has ended at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The department on Thursday fired a computer programmer who admitted to using a state-owned computer server to process data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, run by the University of California at Berkeley.
Charles E. Smith, 63, told administrators he didn’t think loading the SETI software on the server was much of a problem because he ran the program only on weekends and on weekdays between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the server wasn’t being used, according to a disciplinary report.
Department director Tom Hayes disagreed.
“I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn’t find it in the mirror in the morning,” Hayes said. “I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building.” [newsnet5.com] [via AP]
I’m not sure if I posted about this kind of thing the last time it happened, but without knowing more background I’m not sure how to react. At most places I’ve worked there has been an official policy that you aren’t supposed to install unauthorized software. This was mostly to try and stop people from installing every little thing they download from the net, and to be able to scold them when something they’ve downloaded broke their computer. In the case of something like this though, I almost have to wonder if the application was actually cutting into computer resources. But, the article doesn’t give us any information about that (though I’d be curious to know more). The other issue is that I think the department director’s comments are a bit unprofessional and unnecessarily insulting.
Hmm, maybe I should give SETI@Home a download and start it running on one of the machines I have floating around.
Irrational Games has started talking up Bioshock, the spiritual successor to System Shock 2. Gamespot has a preview of the game and I just may have to see how cheaply I can throw together a PC to be able to play this one when it comes out. System Shock 2 is still one of my favorite computer games ever. It was one of the creepiest games I’ve ever played.
Irrational Games originally conceived of its cult-classic hybrid game System Shock 2 as a “spiritual successor” to the original game. And Irrational’s next game will, in turn, be a “spiritual successor” to System Shock 2. We’re pleased to bring you the first official details on BioShock, a new game that will attempt to further the open-ended, emergent gameplay of the previous games by offering even more choices for players to creatively interact with the world around them and to solve the challenges that face them.While System Shock 2 represented what Irrational general manager Ken Levine describes as “a convergence of technology and commercialism” (that game took place on a corporate-sponsored starship), BioShock will instead represent “a convergence of technology and biological life,” or more specifically, genetics. It’s important to note: BioShock is not a sequel to any of the System Shock games, nor does it have any official relation to those games. But like the previous games, this one will offer a horror-themed gameplay experience in which what you observe, and what happens to you, will be tempered by your own choices. “[At Irrational], we think emergence is the future,” says Levine. [gamespot.com]
Btw, a request to the Mac gaming world. Please get in contact with these folks and do a Mac port of both System Shock 2 and Bioshock. Even though System Shock 2 is a few years old at this point, it’s still such a kickass game that really does deserve a Mac port.
There’s an article in the New York Times today about Wingwomen.com. It’s a service where you rent a woman to help you meet other women.
Are You With Him? Why Yes, Want to Date Him?
… When he expressed no interest in the next woman she pointed to, a brunette in a preppy sweater, Ms. Frenkel shrugged. “He’s the man, whatever he wants,” she said. “It is not about me.” Then Mr. Blumberg gestured toward the bar area. “What about that Kylie Minogue look-alike over there?” A moment later the couple headed over.Ms. Frenkel was not on a date with Mr. Blumberg, in pursuit of a kinky threesome; she was on the clock. A 29-year-old graduate student, she is one of a dozen women who work for a New York-based Web site called Wingwomen.com, earning up to $30 an hour to accompany single men to bars and help them chat up other women. The Web site’s founder, Shane Forbes, a computer programmer, started it in December after realizing he had more success with women when he went to clubs with female friends. “Every time I was with them, I would meet women,” he said.
The wingwoman is the latest twist on the wingman, that devoted male sidekick who helps a buddy pick up women at bars and clubs. Originally a “Top Gun” kind of term that referred to a pilot flying protectively behind his squadron leader, its more recent meaning entered popular culture around 1996 through the movie “Swingers,” about two men road-tripping to Las Vegas, serving as each other’s wingmen in attempted conquests. [more] [nytimes.com]
Peter Sellers
“There used to be a real me, but I had it surgically removed.” [via Quotes of the Day]
I hadn’t heard about this article until just now so thought I’d share it. My doctor did not recommend that I try this treatment as he felt that the variety of IPF I had wouldn’t be helped by it, but I know of a lot of people who were really happy with the results they had on it. So I am kind of surprised at this report. At least there seems to be hope that it will help people with mild to moderate symptoms.
Interferon a No-Go for Pulmonary Fibrosis
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDayNews) — A once hopeful treatment for pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal disease of the lungs, appears to have little or no effect on progression of the disease or on quality of life, a new study has found.
There remains some optimism, however, that the treatment, interferon gamma-1b, might benefit patients with mild to moderate symptoms of the disease. The authors of the study, which appears in the Jan. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, are launching a new trial to test this hypothesis.
The median survival time for patients diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis is only two to three years. The disease results in a scarring of the lungs that eventually prevents the lungs from fulfilling their primary mission of delivering oxygen to the body. The only effective treatment is lung transplantation, although many people are treated with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs, both of which have side effects… [www.medicinenet.com]
As for me, I’m just waiting for a lung to come up for me on the transplant list and wondering why this article just popped into my aggregator now if the article is from January.
