Okay, so skydiving has never been too high on my list of things to do. In fact, I don’t think you could pay me enough to do it voluntarily. However…
…skydiving naked just seems even crazier.
Thanks to Jeremy for this one.
Links
Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.
Best. Mefi. Thread. Ever.
There’s an absolutely wonderful thread on MeFi right now. It started with a link to Greasy Kid Stuff, a wonderful little trip back to the playground, and all the rules that kids live by…
Nyah nyah nyah nyaaahh nyaaahh. Few grade-school kids could successfully define the word “schadenfreude” if asked, but you had better believe they know what it means. Furthermore, they have even less interest in disguising their glee at another’s misfortune than most grown-ups (viz. Nelson’s gratified “HA ha” on The Simpsons). Taunting another kid she knows she can outrun, cackling as another kid gets in trouble — nothing pleases the average child more. If you listen carefully, you can hear adults chanting “nyah nyah nyah nyaaahh nyaaahh” when other adults who just cut them off get pulled over by a cop.
The ensuing discussion is filled with all sorts of further childhood fun, games, and other dangerous activities. Everything from looping the swingset to taunt trivia to other fun variations of ‘tag’, and lots, lots more.
Things like this are why I still love the ‘net.
Journalistic Integrity at its finest
Best newspaper retraction ever:
The Daily Evergreen would like to sincerely apologize for an injustice served to the Filipino-American, Spanish-speaking and Catholic communities on the front page of Thursday’s Evergreen.
The story “Filipino-American history recognized” stated that the “Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza,” the galleon on which the first Filipinos landed at Morro, Bay, Calif., loosely translates to “The Big Ass Spanish Boat.” It actually translates to “Our Lady of Good Hope.”
Parts of the story, including the translation above, were plagiarized from an inaccurate Web site.
— From the Daily Evergreen Online
so whut r u wearing
If you’ve ever used IM systems such as AIM or Yahoo! Messenger, this is too funny…
BinLaden9151: did u get my message
XprezbushX: whut message
BinLaden9151: u know, my message
BinLaden9151: it wuz delivered by airmail
BinLaden9151: right into ur trade towers
XprezbushX: shut up that wasnt funny
BinLaden9151: lol
XprezbushX: SHUT UP!!!! :X
BinLaden9151: r u mad
XprezbushX: yah
BinLaden9151: why??????
XprezbushX: u messed with my country
Thanks to them.ws
NaNoWriMo
I’m not entirely sure yet, but I’ve just run across something that I’m really tempted to make a shot at — National Novel Writing Month, in which all participants have one month, from Nov. 1st to Nov. 30th, to write a 50,000 word novel (approximately 175 pages). Quality isn’t a concern, nor is style, form, or anything of the sort — merely doing it, or attempting to do it, is the point.
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
I haven’t got the faintest clue what I’d write about. I don’t even know if it’s a real possibility, when I work a full 40-hour week, plus some on the weekends. But I’ve got the next month to think about it, to see if I can come up with something worth writing about (or even something not worth writing about, just to see how it ends up), and to see if I really want to give this a shot. I think I do…
Oooh – he’s cute!
More or less at random, I stumbled across Because I Say So! not too long ago, and have been thoroughly enjoying Jodi’s posts to her blog. Especially when she comes up with posts like this…
So listen, studs. Looking at someone of the same sex and appreciating his beauty, does not mean you’re (literally) into guys. Admitting that you’ve noticed another man, and admitting that you think he’s attractive, does not mean you are attracted to him “that way”. Marco the Magnificent Magician isn’t going to swoop down on you, black cape a-flappin’, tap you on the dick with his magic wand, and — poof! presto, homo! — you’re a homosexual! (Oh, the horror!) No. It just means you have eyes. Nothing more, nothing less.
A link for dad
Just found a new place on the web that I could spend hours at, and I think dad would get a kick out of this too, given our mutual enjoyment of words — there’s even an e-mail list to sign up for…
Welcome to the home of the Word Spy. This Web site and its associated mailing list are devoted to recently coined words, existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older words that are being used in new ways.
Each weekday, the Word Spy presents a new word, its definition, and a citation (usually from a major newspaper or magazine) that shows how people are using the word. You also get extra goodies such as background on the word’s formation, a list of related words from the Word Spy database, quotations on words and language, and more.
Thanks to Backup Brain for this one.
A gun for words
I’ve heard about self-fulfilling prophecies — could this be a self-defeating prophecy?
The problem with reading wonderful writing by truly great authors is that my own writing suffers, dramatically, in comparison. Everything I write lately just sits on the page, flat, dejected, and suffering. If there was such a thing as a gun for words, I would shoot each of mine and give them a quick and painfree end.
Boy, do I ever understand the feeling Burningbird describes here, but what really caught me was how spot-on that was, while in the midst of being frustrated at her own writing.
And speaking of being dissatisfied, I just stumbled over how to put this post together through about three false starts. You’d think a simple “I think this is nifty” post would be easy, wouldn’t you?
Oh, hell.
I think this is nifty.
‘Up-skirt’ photography ‘reprehensible’ but legal
Well, here’s something handy just in case I decide to take my photography in a new direction — in public areas, peeking up skirts is completely legal.
The state’s voyeurism law protects people who are in a place where they “would have a reasonable expectation of privacy” — meaning the person could expect to be able to undress in seclusion or “be safe from hostile intrusion or surveillance.”
But the court found the law doesn’t apply to filming people in a public place, even if it’s underneath their clothes.
“It is the physical location of the person that is ultimately at issue, not the part of the person’s body,” Judge Bobbe Bridge wrote.
Laws are funny things, sometimes, both with what they cover and what they don’t.
Breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law!
Okay. More stupidity. Or maybe ‘stoopidity’.
It’s just come to my attention that in my post “Kudos to the Onion“, and in Kirsten’s comments to “Stoopid. With two ‘O’s.“, my site is in violation of The Onion’s (don’t-)link policy.
Can I use a headline to link to The Onion on my site?
The Onion does not support the use of its headlines without the express written consent of the publisher. You can put a link to The Onion on your site but may not use the headlines or content. More information on how to link to The Onion is available at our Link Page.
Oh, come on. Looks like whatever ‘powers that be’ that exist at The Onion have decided to join the many other sites with stupid anti-linking policies. That’s a shame, too.
Oh, well. I’ll keep everything linked as it is, until such time as I get a cease-and-desist letter from the Onion (not likely to happen — this isn’t exactly a highly-trafficked site — but ya never know, do ya?). If that happens…well, I’ll probaby end up taking all links to The Onion off my site. Would be a bummer, but hey (shrugs). I won’t be the first.