...at least, according to The Weather Channel right now:
The winds around Bill--not particularly fierce to begin with--will diminish as Bill spins through southeast Louisiana this afternoon and early evening and into Mississippi tonight, but heavy rain and the threat of serious flooding will continue.
I should feel dizzy, but I'm more indignant -- not particularly fierce to begin with? My winds are plenty fierce, thank you! And don't be so quick to downgrade me to a mere tropical depression (such a humiliating term -- why not just say "wet blanket?") -- I could still swirl north and bring heavy rains and some scattered flooding throughout the Deep South and parts of Tennessee! Behold, I have not yet unleashed my warm-water-borne fury! Puny humans, I shall...
...oh, all right. Who am I kidding? I'll probably collapse into a weak low front overnight.
Okay, settle down, class.
Michelangelo and Gram Parsons, while both great artists, at first blush wouldn't seem to have much in common. Michelangelo (1475-1564) was responsible for the Sistine Chapel ceiling and a sculpture of David; Gram Parsons (1946-1973) was the man behind the Flying Burrito Brothers and Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Yet there is a most surprising overlap between their two biographies.
What is the unusual element common to the life stories of Michelangelo and Gram Parsons?
The usual rules apply: don't Google, don't consult reference books, do stare at the ceiling and mutter to yourself while trying to answer the question. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you like. The first correct answer will receive, from Bill, a genuine confetti strainer from New Orleans, useful for removing all varieties of festive ephemera out of your Hurricane glass.
Ha ha ha! The workers seize the mode of production!
I'll be hosting tomorrow's world-famous Wombat Quiz, but thought I'd take this opportunity to say that I've been reading some interesting material today on the economy of online games such as EverQuest, and how said economies rub up against real-world economies, producing financial frottage.
You might start with Julian Dibbell's excellent article on selling real estate in Ultima Online.
His research inevitably led to his addiction to UO; somewhat less inevitably, it led to him trying to make a living by buying and selling UO property fulltime. He writes about it in his blog.
And the esteemed Greg Costikyan provides a game designer's perspective on what it means for people to transform broadswords into bucks.
Visions of the End of the 20th Century, 19th-century style. (Via, of course MeFi)
You have one chance to deny Christ! (via Grim).
The longest of all fishes (MeFi tangent)
Best customer comment about an American Idol CD? Nope. It's here.
Apologies for the trickle of activity around these parts of late. But coming soon -- an updated version of the only-works-on-some-browsers PowerPoint memoir "Shoplifting," which should make it an accessible waste of time for nearly everyone.
Now, on to this week's momentary distraction...
Yesterday was his birthday. On judge Richard Posner's controversial 2002 list of most-mentioned"public intellectuals" he ranked No. 9, beating out such figures as George Orwell and Toni Morrison. For ten years he was a copywriter for the advertising firm Ogilvy & Maher, creating in one instance the neologism "incredibubble" (for candy). In 1992 he published a monograph on "The Wizard of Oz." Christopher Hitchens has suggested that he has earned the Nobel Prize.
Name the brain!
Bonus points -- who was No.1 on Posner's list?
First correct answer posted to comments wins a rare copy of the Mort Walker/Gilbert Shelton 1969 hit Hi and Lois Meet the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, in which Thirsty takes a comical ride on DMT. No calling up Cornel West for hints, and please don't Google. One guess per comment, but post as often as you like.
After last night's frenzy of activity at Low Bar in Dumbo -- where among other readers a trembling M. Wombat presented his multimedia extravaganza "The Wuss-Out: A Case Study in Self-Leadership Challenge" -- the morning's mood calls for a simple, low-key quiz, as comforting as toast and tea. We turn therefore our trivial attention once more to the world of books, although the subject of this week's question is no mere scribbler:
He directed the first feature film to incorporate digitized images. He wrote one of the top 10 betsellers of 1975. And he appeared most recently on bestseller lists in 2002 and early 2003. Although it was not a bestseller, he has also written a biography of Jasper Johns.
Who is this man?
First correct answer posted to comments wins a bag of Bitter Patch Kids gummy candy (anise flavor). No Googling or using that new Turbo5000 search engine thingy, and don't even think about calling your old roommate who used to work at Kim's Video. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you like.
(And to those of you who came out last night, your presence and indulgence was beyond appreciated.)
An odd piece of satire from Jack Shafer at Slate. It looks like he's sending up his own prior articles on now-ex-New York Times editor Howell Raines.
After a morning spent dealing with interestingly tautological digital-imaging people
You say they didn't tell you it would cost more if it was in .TIF format? And they told you specifically to bring it in .TIF format? That's funny, because actually it costs more this way. Didn't they tell you that? Because the thing is, the rates for .TIF files are actually higher.
and then some bracingly jump-to-it folks in our production department
So it's showing the wrong book on the live site? Yeah, that's a problem. We should show this to the content tools group so that they can figure out what caused it. You say that the problem is that the error is live and you want it fixed immediately because the gateway page is pointing thousands of users to the wrong book? Well, how is the content tools group going to figure out what caused it if we fix it right away? What? You say you're tearing off your own ear out of frustration right about now?
and an afternoon working with a helpful customer service representative
Well, sir, the reason your wife couldn't use the gift certificate there is because you can't use the gift certificates at any of our "in-store" locations. Yes, she should have anticipated this before spending hours trying on clothes there. Yes, she should have thought when she walked in that she should check and see if, by any strange chance, this particular location for arcane reasons does not honor the gift certificates the company sells over the website. You say the helpful directory of locations that arrived with her gift certificate includes this "in-store" location, thus implying the certificate could be used there? I don't know anything about that, sir. I haven't personally seen the gift certificate mailing. You say that you're wondering why no one you've talked to yet has offered an apology? I can give you the voicemail of the person who might be able to handle that. You say that you can't hear me because you've torn your remaining ear off out of frustration? Sir? Hello?
this made me laugh right out loud.*
Today's quiz comes to us from Scott Williams, the reclusive clown historian and chronicler of international dead-squirrel sightings, from his secluded home in the untamed Maryland wilderness. Scott's challenge is as follows:
In 1963, Bozo the clown's TV show was cancelled, and McDonald's restaurants -- which had had some success advertising on the Bozo show -- decided to get their own clown. The man who had last played Bozo suggested the name Ronald McDonald, and was the first to play the burger-shilling clown.
Who was that man, and, for extra credit, why was he fired?
First correct answer posted to comments wins a Franklin Mint reproduction of the original "burgerschilling" coin used to purchase "Ein Grosse Mac" in 19th-century Hamburg, Germany (at that time located in southern Illinois). No Googling or frantically thumbing through your copy of Fast Food Nation, please. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you like. Scott himself will adjudicate the competition.
From the L.A. Times:
Not only does "Super Diaper Baby" promote bathroom humor, Santi said, but its 125 pages encourage irreverence to authority, overflows with intentional misspellings and offers a 12-point lesson on how to draw Deputy Doo-Doo — sheriff's hat and all.