there can be only one

Posted on Sunday, 2002 March 10 by Anton

What is the Latin plural of Elvis?
I’ve just seen Elvii, which is clearly wrong (the singular would then be Elvius).
The most obvious candidate is Elves, but of course one cannot count on one’s readers to pronounce it with two syllables.
On another hand, maybe it’s a consonantal stem, with a plural such as Elvires, Elvites or Elvides. The existence of the feminine form Elvira (no pun intended) suggests the first of these.
(In each of these the last /e/ is long.)

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don’t overdo it

Posted on Sunday, 2002 March 10 by Anton

Maybe your new CSS would look drop-dead spiffy in a browser newer than NS 4.76. But it seems a bit fishy that I’m forever reading that claim in either blue-on-black or white-on-white.

(I did manage to install NS 6.21 a few days ago. The Inbox refuses to update, and the Bookmarks won’t let me see the date columns.)

Posted in neep-neep | Leave a comment

exclave

Posted on Saturday, 2002 March 09 by Anton

The physicists at Los Alamos sometimes had trouble interfacing with local government, and so a new small county was carved for them out of Sandoval County. But a small bit was left over, so now Sandoval has an exclave of about 3 km2 between Los Alamos and Santa Fe counties. I found a map [old link removed] that shows the fragment, and also the reason for its existence: it is part of San Ildefonso Indian Reservation. (The rest of the Reservation is in Santa Fe County; and the map also suggests that the eastern part of the new county was taken from Santa Fe.)

Later: Another map (click Topo and zoom in).

Posted in history | 2 Comments

Zegnatronese Liberation Army

Posted on Saturday, 2002 March 09 by Anton

Zegnatronic Man has a new sign! He has given up his impeachment campaigns, and now wants the world to know this:

I MAGNIN
12 GALAXIES
ALPHATRONIC PROFANED PERJURIES
AGAINST THEM RULING
THE UNIVERSE AND
DECTROTRONIC
PROPOSITIONS

(The italic parts are in stick-on letters. What with not being in The City so often lately, I missed seeing this new sign in its pristine state; can anyone tell me what’s underneath the amendments?) (Compare his old sign.)

Posted in California | Leave a comment

regulate guns like cars?

Posted on Saturday, 2002 March 09 by Anton

David Kopel in Reason:

Most cities do prohibit property owners from storing their cars in an unsightly manner (say, on cinder blocks in the front yard), or from parking too many cars on the public street in front of their homes. Fair enough. Gun owners will have to accept laws against leaving nonfunctional guns strewn about their front yard, and they will not be allowed to leave excessive numbers of guns on the street. (Anti-gun groups frequently complain that there are “too many guns on the street.”)

Posted in politics, weapons | Leave a comment

Dell pardoned

Posted on Friday, 2002 March 08 by Anton

Is anyone pushing a boycott of Dell Computers over the Weigand Combat Handguns matter? Please don’t.

Posted in politics, weapons | Leave a comment

you like us, you really like us

Posted on Friday, 2002 March 08 by Anton

For the three of you who haven’t seen it: Google Loves Blogs

Posted in blogdom, neep-neep | Leave a comment