it normally comes after Thursday

Posted on Friday, 2004 May 28 by Anton

Friday? How did it get to be Friday already?!

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and more to come

Posted on Friday, 2004 May 28 by Anton

Brian Micklethwait took a mess of pictures of the EU complex in Brussels. One that caught my eye shows the words “European Parliament” in eleven languages, leading me to ask myself what rule decided the sequence. It appears to be alphabetical by native name: Dansk, Deutsch, Elliniki, English, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Português, Suomalainen, Svenska. (Spanish and Italian are identical; Danish and Swedish differ by a hyphen. If such they are.)

Afterthought – what are the native spellings of Slovene and Slovak? I seem to remember that the adjective for Czechoslovakia was Československo. (The first letter of that word, in case your font lacks it, is C with caron.)

Later: My old friend Ulrika tells me svenska, not svensk. Is the Swedish word for language feminine, or what?

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those who will not learn from history are frequently reëlected

Posted on Friday, 2004 May 28 by Anton

I’m told that the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 commanded that sales of ammunition be reported to police, and that that provision was repealed circa 1986 at the request of police who were weary of handling data that had never been useful. But when does the state of California ever learn anything? (Cited by Claire Wolfe)

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“a reminder”

Posted on Thursday, 2004 May 27 by Anton

Wo, Jim, catty much?

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watching the talkies

Posted on Tuesday, 2004 May 25 by Anton

Tonight’s feature presentation was His Girl Friday (1940), and it left a bad taste. Summary: a chick digs a guy who’ll do anything, including framing innocent people for felonies, to win her.

Do they still make movies in which a reporter dupes someone for a story and then repents? (It Happened One Night (1934), Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Roman Holiday (1953) . . . )

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beauty’s where you find it

Posted on Tuesday, 2004 May 25 by Anton

There is a website for strange search-strings that turn up in your referral logs, but is there one for funny randomly-generated spam titles? Today’s Ogre prize goes to gretchen sovkhoz wesleyan.

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I almost hear voices

Posted on Tuesday, 2004 May 25 by Anton

Someone just rang me from a 678 number, but hung up in two seconds. Do I know anyone odd in Georgia?

September 27: Or in Utah?

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