Author Archives: Anton

bedfellows

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

Andrew Bulhak observes: (The identity of heroes/villains in films can be telling; for example, there’s Four Feathers, which glorifies the British Empire (which can be seen as a rather prestigious model to proponents of a a global American empire) and … Continue reading →

Posted in cinema, history | Leave a comment

a use for the stuff

Posted on Sunday, 2002 October 20 by Anton

George Byrd, who has contributed to this space before, comments on the urine item below: I recall reading somewhere that during the last years of the Civil War, some southern cities instituted regular collection of urine from chamber pots, from … Continue reading →

Posted in history, technology | Leave a comment

million-dollar idea

Posted on Thursday, 2002 October 17 by Anton

Holster stickers (only a philistine would glue anything to the gun itself): sticky-back strips 1cm high by about 7cm wide, imprinted with humorous phrases. My Other Gun is an Arbalest Make a Joyful Noise One Round at a Time Just … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, weapons | Leave a comment

they see you when you’re sleeping

Posted on Tuesday, 2002 October 15 by Anton

I go to sign up for a Berkeley Extension course and find: The University is required by federal law to report your Social Security number and other pertinent information to the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to the reporting requirements imposed … Continue reading →

Posted in tax+privacy | Leave a comment

render unto pixels

Posted on Saturday, 2002 October 12 by Anton

The Virtual Terrain Project collects links about the state of the art in realtime simulated environments, from “why can’t you make better trees?” to “how do you decide when part of the field of view can be rendered more sloppily?”.

Posted in eye-candy, technology | Leave a comment

a name

Posted on Friday, 2002 October 11 by Anton

I was thinking about English spellings of Indian names when this hit me: Does Chatterjee mean something like quadruply honored ?

Posted in language | Leave a comment

shopping for a [car]

Posted on Friday, 2002 October 11 by Anton

Oh, this just fills me with confidence. I responded to a car ad on Yahoo and got this: DEAR [name]THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING [source] TO PURCHASE YOUR NEW [vehicle] .I AM EXCLUSIVELY DEDICATED TO WORKING WITH [source] CUSTOMERS LIKE YOURSELF.AS … Continue reading →

Posted in California | Leave a comment