Monthly Archives: February 2003

new Ninth Circuit gun case

Though Nordyke v King follows the Ninth Circuit’s gross misreading of US v Miller (1939) in its Hickman ruling, it’s interesting because Gould’s concurrent opinion says: I join the court’s opinion, and write to elaborate that Hickman v. Block, 81 … Continue reading

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maybe it’s a sex metaphor

Okay, I can understand Viagra, breast enlargement, Herbalife, mortgages — but why do I get so much spam for Norton Utilities?!

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letters on sticks

Ian Frazier visits a typewriter wizard (Atlantic Monthly, 1997). Martin Tytell has stories to tell about converting typewriters for other alphabets: There he received his hardest job of the war – a rush request to convert typewriters to twenty-one different … Continue reading

Posted in language, technology | 1 Comment

squids in spaaace

I’m reading Ken MacLeod’s Dark Light, the middle of a trilogy begun in Cosmonaut Keep and to conclude in Engine City. (I first re-read Keep; it was easier to follow the second time.) “Octopodia” as “the key insight,” how cheeky! … Continue reading

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I hear Charlie Brown’s kite-eating tree is available

Yet Another Film Parody. ARAGORN: You know what would have been really cool, though . . . EOWYN: What? ARAGORN: An army of flesh-eating trees to destroy the Orcs who are running away. AUDIENCE: Yeah, that would have been cool.

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The Parking Lot Was Full

Cartoon on the criminalization of life.

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a family outing

My stepbrother Seth Chabay and I have the same birthday, and this year (turning 42 and 21) we celebrated together for the first time. Here we are looking at the kangaroo of a curious little zoo in Wake Forest, North … Continue reading

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