Author Archives: Anton

recycling

Having made the plunge and ordered Knuth’s third edition, what should I do with the volumes I bought twenty-odd years ago?

Posted in me!me!me!, neep-neep | Leave a comment

umbra Saturni

the view from Saturn’s shadow My latest finding of “dictionary translation”, at a pet store: ONE-STORY CAT CAVE UNE CAVERNE À CHATS D’HISTOIRE I’d make it caverne à chats à une étage. Funny that I missed this three years ago … Continue reading

Posted in astronomy, drugwar, eye-candy, language | 1 Comment

an atlas of fantasy

Cited in a comment at Strange Maps, appropriately, is this map of micronations. Its purpose is not obvious to me, but it has a goofy charm. What happens when all the virtual land is claimed?

Posted in geography | Leave a comment

a good pie

Formative years in a college town in Illinois left me with definite opinions of what a pizza ought to be. I am pleased to report that Pizz’a Chicago in Santa Clara (the apostrophe is meant to suggest a pun with … Continue reading

Posted in California, food | Leave a comment

twisted

This strange map recently appeared in Powell BART station: Forward is to the left because that’s the way the train goes, as seen by a passenger facing the map. What’s strange about it is that the minor branchings are true … Continue reading

Posted in California, geography | Leave a comment

better late than never

Guess what I got for my birthday? Hint: It’s not in these pix.

Posted in me!me!me!, pets | Leave a comment

do real cops behave this way?

I’ve seen it a hundred times: the TV detective says “I think we’d better continue this conversation at the police station,” and the interrogee meekly gets into the car. Just once (and I thought I’d already said this) I’d like … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, politics | Leave a comment