Archive for November 2000

They do Things Differently in China

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2000 – no comments

They do things differently in China.

My office-mate, Tao, is originally from China, and he has a Chinese stapler.

You know how on some staplers, the little metal plate that bends the staple around is reversible, so that you can bend the staples either inward or outward? Well, Chinese staplers have the same feature, but mechanism is, er, somewhat different!

People Poll

Thursday, November 16th, 2000 – no comments

Self-marking psychological test to determine how in-tune you are with your fellow man:

Which number is picked most?

1 2 3 4 5 Results

Which number is picked least?

1 2 3 4 5 Results

Note: You gotta hit “Vote” twice, once for each question!

Update, Ponderings

Wednesday, November 15th, 2000 – no comments

Sorry for not updating much. I’ve been working on my thesis. So I’m behind in my email, my guestbook love, life…

My mind wanders. Sometimes I try to think of first names that begin with a doubled first letter. The ones I’ve come up with: Aaron, Lloyd,–and here we get obscure–Oona (O’Neill–the playwright Eugene O’Neill’s daughter, wife of Charlie Chaplin) and Ffion (Jenkins–William Hague’s wife). Are there more? I wonder.

Other questions consume me too. Another is: inventions I could’ve come up with, if only I’d been born at the right time. There are so many: the flush toilet, stirrups, the printing press, bicycles, safety pins, tumbler locks. And I reckon I could’ve worked out perspective, circulation, germs and zero if I’d had the chance. Now there’s only bullshit math stuff left, like how many spins a Higgs Boson has left after being rammed seven times by a Charm Quark.

The New Yorker said that Beebo.Org “functions as a blog best-seller list.” Ha! Sorry, New Yorker readers, sorry: I’m not actually doing the ratings anymore. I didn’t like my code, I didn’t like weblogs, I didn’t have time, and I just didn’t care. Anyway, I can report that having your site mentioned fleetingly in The New Yorker barely registers on your stats.

Ten Answers

Monday, November 13th, 2000 – no comments

Nosferatu in Love, Jim Shepard, p. 63 (a card made at a printer’s, handed out by Allmenröder and Murnau when cornered–they are WWI pilots):

PLEASE!!!

Do not ask us anything about flying.
You will find the usual queries answered below:

1. Yes, we are part of a pursuit squadron.
2. Sometimes it’s dangerous, sometimes it’s not.
3. The higher we fly, the colder it is.
4. We notice that by freezing when it’s colder.
5. Flying height, 2000-7000 meters.
6. Yes, we can see things at that height, though not so well.
7. We can’t see through a telescope because it shakes.
8. Yes, we’ve dropped bombs.
9. Yes, we’ve downed enemy aircraft.
10. Yes, we’ve see the loss of many friends.

If I had one:

PLEASE!!!

Do ask us anything about this website.
We do not mind. We are seldom asked.
For your convenience, you will find the usual queries answered below:

1. We have had a website for a long time.
2. Almost certainly longer than you.
3. Sometimes it’s dangerous, sometimes it’s not.
4. It depends on whether we have a paper due.
6. We take photographs with a Lomo.
7. They look that way because the camera is flawed, it being Russian.
8. No, we’ve not dropped bombs.
9. Yes, we believe most sites are indulgent.
10. Yes, we’ve seen the loss of many websites.