other media

Posted on Monday, 2003 December 01 by Anton

This morning I watched a five-way conversation in sign language, in which two of the participants were blind: the blind ‘listener’ rests a hand loosely around one of the speaker’s hands. I was surprised at how little touch was apparently needed.

Posted in California, language | Leave a comment

through a mathematician’s eye

Posted on Saturday, 2003 November 29 by Anton

Google claims 111 hits for group.theory square.dance OR square.dancing.

Posted in mathematics | Leave a comment

live and learn

Posted on Saturday, 2003 November 29 by Anton

QOTD:

I’ve seen a lot of science-fiction movies. Before now I never knew what a couple hundred thousand flying metal squid fighting a couple thousand heavily armed steel apes in a concrete hemisphere about a quarter mile across while occasional giant drill bits fall from the ceiling like deadly stalactites (pause for breath) looked like.

John & Belle Have A Blog: Matrix Revolutions

Incidentally, I wonder how many of you who write raw HTML take a secret pleasure in re-wrapping the lines to emphasize the phrasing, using EOL as an invisible demi-comma. (2004 Oct 26: That habit came back to bite me, when I converted my archives to WordPress which may be considered to have a bug when it comes to newlines.)

Posted in cinema, neep-neep | 1 Comment

au palais des vaches

Posted on Saturday, 2003 November 29 by Anton

Last weekend the National Geographic Society had a clearance sale at the Cow Palace, with bunches of $50 “coffee table” books for $10. I had dinner afterward with an old friend, who remarked, “When you said you were going to the Cow Palace, I assumed it was a gun show.” His sweetie put in: “Don’t be silly, Anton isn’t a gun freak!”

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

the possibilities of time-travel

Posted on Saturday, 2003 November 29 by Anton

Jane Austen and the Terminator (cited by Chris Martin in a comment at Crooked Timber)

Posted in prose | Leave a comment

Let’s Party

Posted on Friday, 2003 November 28 by Anton

Guns and Dope Party

May we Suggest
EVERYBODY FOR PRESIDENT!

— Well, at least everybody who feels ready for the responsibility of self-goverment. Those who still need a Big Daddy or a Big Momma to discipline and dominate them should vote for whatever führer or saviour they like best. If you want self-government don’t vote for the Two Lying Bastards of the Democan and Republicrat parties . . . . . or for any minority party that also wants to govern you . . . .

WRITE IN YOUR OWN NAME

2006: The domain is now junk.

Posted in politics | Leave a comment

what won’t be in RotK

Posted on Thursday, 2003 November 27 by Anton

The cutting-room floor:

Houses of Healing: . . . . It’ll be on the DVD.

Saruman: Jackson filmed [Saruman’s death] – and then cut it because it felt like old business, which slowed the new movie. A shame. Again, that’s what DVDs are for.

The Scouring of the Shire: . . . . Jackson never liked this section of the book, and never even shot it, so don’t look for it on the DVD.

I saw that coming, or not coming. Did you too?

Posted in cinema | 1 Comment