Monthly Archives: March 2003

thanks for dropping in

Traffic on this site spiked on March 13, thanks-but-no-thanks to 877 hits from 172.176.73.9 and 701 from 172.184.236.112, neither of which shows up in traceroute. Life’s little mysteries . . . . After searches gone astray, the biggest number of referrals this month … Continue reading

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

do I get to blame Microsoft for this?

Increasingly, my lists carry mail from people who (I’d have thought) ought to know better than to quote the entire thread so far. (The rot seems less advanced in Usenet – perhaps because only old fogies post to Usenet.) Also … Continue reading

Posted in general | Leave a comment

the language barrier

Leaving the house today, I heard a neighbor mention to a visitor that he had taken Russian in hi-skool. “So did I!” said I. So he asked: “Kogdá idú?” I remember just enough to know that this means When am … Continue reading

Posted in California, language, me!me!me! | 1 Comment

adieu

Joe Fuhrig – golfer, economist, teacher, swell guy – died suddenly on March 3. His ashes were scattered furtively on a golf course. At the memorial service today, his family may have been taken aback at the size of the … Continue reading

Posted in California, economics | Leave a comment

my favorite example of funny-foreigner-talk

Achille Talon: Le Roi des Zôtres ZOTRTRUPPEN! Mitt eine grosse Köningsdeklaraverdung, ich kanonnert vertradukverlang: Grenadiersoldaat Prumpf nicht mehr mit militär obligazionen verankikineerd ist, und Kolonel der zpezial personnäl Achille I.er Royalenkommando vernommert immediääterdung ist und vier semänen kongépayé kan mitt … Continue reading

Posted in cartoons, language | 1 Comment

Rock Names

Yesterday I picked up a remainder copy of Rock Names from ABBA to ZZ Top: How Rock Bands Got Their Names, by Adam Dolgins. Looking through such a reference, naturally one thinks about what to call one’s own hypothetical band; … Continue reading

Posted in language, music+verse | 1 Comment

the PIS/SE standard

Peter Stickney writes in alt.peeves: Voice recognition will not be mature until a system can transcribe “Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)” with 95% accuracy, in real time.

Posted in music+verse, neep-neep | 1 Comment