It may interest some few of you to know that in the last several days I have been unable to send mail to world.std.com.

2004 October: Seems it’s not only me (I always assumed World had blacklisted my ISP). The moderator of a list hosted there recently got disgusted at the number of similar complaints, and asked for advice about where to move it.

Yesterday someone relayed to me an exhortation to commemorate the unsolved murder five years ago of a transsexual, who (it was mentioned) had a habit of addressing people by their Zodiac signs. How progressive, I thought, to go around labelling others according to an accident of birth!

I’ve looked into “reassignment” (I just know that my natal chart ought to have more Air) but my HMO won’t cover it.

I’m unlikely ever to get a tattoo, but if I did, I incline to the armband type; and I just got an idea for one: a ‘Mercator projection’ of Escher’s hyperbolic fish. Instead of a circle, the horizon would be two parallel lines, with one straight line of fish through the middle.

Later: See also.

numerous translations of “Why can’t they just speak [my language]?”.

I am, to no-one’s surprise, slightly acquainted with Michael Denny, libertarian candidate for mayor of San Francisco (and somewhat better acquainted with his campaign manager Chris Maden).

Commenting on Alas, a blog, one DonBoy writes:

Damon Runyon, original version:

One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an earful of cider.

Year 2003 Version:

Never, never, never, agree to be on a reality show.

(I observe in passing that Blogger‘s BlogThis bookmarklet takes care of demoting nested quotation marks, a custom that is lately in deplorable decline. You don’t see it because I replaced the inverted commas, as they say in the Former Empire, with indentation.)

2004 Sep 01: Last week I saw the film version of Guys and Dolls, in which the phrase “do not bet this man” becomes “do not accept this bet.” Non c’è più religione.

October saw a big jump in this site’s traffic, by every measure. I wonder why.