Monthly Archives: July 2003

a question for philologists

Is the phrase “some are more equal than others” older than Animal Farm?

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never mind, waiter

After the Thin Man was on telly last night. There was one scene that I recognized, with some surprise: I thought the ‘sea bass’ bit was Marx Bros.

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an even number of odd links

In a surprising place, a history of the hamburger. (Linked by Bruce Sterling.) Time Cube Central: your unofficial timecube resource (found through Crank Dot Net). 2006: dead.

Posted in humanities, sciences | 1 Comment

the fatal flaw

Vanessa Layne observes (in mail): One of the significant problems in the marketplace for office automation software is that the person who uses it is almost never the person who decides to buy it. The feedback loop is never closed, … Continue reading

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the creation of tradition

Aha! When this blog was young and innocent, I asked how the heck Madison came to be a favorite name for girls. Rick Heller cites a NYT article with the answer: a movie that I never saw.

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would they understand the joke?

My One True Ex, home from a week of theatre-hopping in London, reports that there exists a chain of sex-toy shoppes named Lovecraft. Do they sell Cthulhu dildos? tentacle rape manga?

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metaphor is where you find it

Angie Schultz calls my attention to James Lileks on Star Trek. I have to disagree with him on this point: [The Borg] were joyless cyborgs intent on crushing all cultural differences. They were the Republicans! The Borg are utterly egalitarian, … Continue reading

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