Guestbook Quote of the Moment
the mental capacity of recalling or recognizing previously learned behavior or past experiences. OR COMPUTER COMPONENTS THAT STORE DATA. 2 different definitions for the same word that you have mastered.
--Jenny, 2001.02.27
I'm not sure what this means. Is the word "memory"?

Movie Quote of the Moment
[Challenged to say if he considers anything holy.] Yes! The individual human mind. In a child's ability to master the multiplication table, there is more holiness than all your shouted hosannas and holy holies. An idea is more important that a monument and the advancement of Man's knowledge more miraculous than all the sticks turned to snakes and the parting of the waters.
Henry Drummond in From Inherit the Wind (1960) via IMBDB

Art of the Moment

Movie Quote of the Moment
"Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
--Gladiator

Saw that movie last night. Pretty good! I had some trouble believing some of the plot twists, but cinematically it was doing some really interesting things. But I really really like that quote. It catches so much of how I'm trying to cope with mortality. It has some kind of weird old world charm, invoking some kind of cordiality along with a general cheerfulness. I'd almost like it as my epitath.

Link of the Moment
OJR's Spike Report has some really well written story/link combos. At the moment, interesting coverage of the whole "did Shakespeare smoke marijuana" question-- was it the "noted weed" from Sonnet 76?

Image of the Moment
"That tanker split like a melon when it tore through the zoo's chain link fence. Sulfuric acid was everywhere."
"Oh, that's horrible. Was anybody hurt?"
"Thank goodness, no. But now I'll be haunted for all eternity by the image of penguins screaming as they dissolve."
--Red Meat, a very twisted comic

Thought of the Moment
"Anyone who says life is short really isn't paying attention."
--March 4 2001

Inappropriate AOL-IM Chat of the Moment
(On the San Diego School Shooting)
kirk: Oh, I was just going to say, so I'm watching the breaking coverage on CNN, and you know, I'm feeling pretty bad for them, it's a hell of a thing to go through, but damn it, I'm in a protoblizzard and these jerkies are in shortsleeves
brooke: lucky little traumatized shits

History of the Moment
While stairmastering I was watching "Wartime Deceptions" on the History Channel. Kind of neat stuff, but I was struck at how blatantly pro-American it was. Good cover of Operation Bodyguard (misleading the Nazis about where D-day was going to happen), and plenty about faking amphibious landings to fool Saddam during Desert Storm, but nothing about how he's run circles around us, or how Milosovich and friends totally fooled us with some really basic tricks-- we bombed a hell of a lot of fake tanks.

Link of the Moment
Salon.com had a story on Chuck Barris, the guy who gave us the Newlywed Game and the Gong Show. The author paints those shows as precursors to today's "reality programming". He's a very interesting guy.

Quote of the Moment
"God is silent, now if only we can get Man to shut up."
--Woody Allen, "Remembering Needleman"

Cartoon Quote of the Moment
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy... ...because your philosophy sucks."
--Lore, "more things"

Lore is a regular feature on The Brunching Shuttlecocks (usually one of the more reliably funny websites.) The entire Lore Archive is worth clicking through.

Story of the Moment
And so [Abraham] took Isaac to a certain place and prepared to sacrifice him but at the last minute the Lord stayed Abraham's hand and said "How could thou doest such a thing?"

And Abraham said, "But Thou said--"

"Never mind what I said," the Lord spake, "Doth thou listen to every crazy idea that comes thy way?" And Abraham grew ashamed. "Err--not really, no."

"I jokingly suggest thou sacrifice Isaac and thou immediately runs out to do it."

And Abraham fell to his knees, "See, I never know when You're kidding."

And the Lord thundered, "No sense of humor. I can't believe it."

"But doth this not prove I love Three, that I was willing to donate my only son on Thy whim?"

And the Lord said, "It proves that some men will follow any order no matter how asinine as long as it comes from a resonant, well-modulated voice."

And with that, the Lord bid Abraham to get some rest and check with Him tomorrow.
--Woody Allen, "The Scrolls"

It's funny thinking how I influence Ivan and Kayla. We're not biologically related, but we might as well be. They're both in middle school, and we often get together for Nintendo fests. I try to be a good influence on them, teach them how to be sarcastic and witty, make sure they don't grow up irony deficient, and how to trash talk with a certain amount of grace. What's funny is how months later they'll quote good lines back at me, like "You put the UCK back into suck" and (when their friend Hannah was having trouble manuevering her character's airplane in Diddy Kong Racing) "Fly Air Hannah-- you'll get there... Someday."

Quote of the Moment
"Love was a terrible thing. You poisoned it and stabbed at it and knocked it down into the mud-- well down-- and it got up and staggered on, bleeding and muddy and awful. Like-- like Rasputin."
--Jean Rhys, Quartet, via Bunny's .Sig Quotes

I've had romances like that.

Ramble of the Moment
Yesterday I started counting "1 2 3 4 2 2 3 4 3 2 3 4 4 2 3 4". That's the pattern people use to use for counting measures of rest in band. (Tubas sometimes get a heckuva lot of rests.) I haven't counted in that pattern for a long time.

Cartoon Quote of the Moment
"Dirt doesn't need luck."
--Professor Farnsworth, Futurama

Something In-between Quote of the Moment
Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because, if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, which is why I would not live forever.
--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA Contest (via The Stile Project, a pretty raunchy site)

The scary thing is, I think she's kind of right.

Ah well, at least I have my health, according to the Doctor yesterday. And Mo found new work. And I've come to terms with life in all its shortness and longness.

Poetry of the Moment

Why I Hate Snow

Because it moves in like a bad love affair
Drifting down in ardent white sighs
Smoothing over the entire world
Only to crust overnight
And turn to dirty slush
At the first sign of day

Because it brings unreasonable joy
To dogs and small children
And causes both to leap cutely
As if the rest of us were missing the point entirely
When, in fact, we still have to go to work

Because it brings out our worst human pettiness
Sparks brawls over parking spaces
Causes minor politicians to die stupidly
Collects in our cuffs
And leaps into our boots
And turns our toes to prunes

Because, finally, Snow becomes our disappointment
in God
What begins in ornate flakes
Inimitable, divine
Ends in wet socks and pratfalls
In human grumbling over why there is mud on the carpet
And who will shovel the walk
--Steve Almond, transcribed from WBUR's Morning Edition

And he's working that old Republican magic-- polls indicate that people seem to like the general idea of republicanism though they disagree with most of the individual policies, same for Bush.

Quote of the Moment
"Programmers are going to be the assembly line workers of the 21st century."
--TWR on this Slashdot Board about this Salon Article about 'Geek Layoffs'.

More gist for the fret mill!

Link of the Moment
Wow. Thanks to Lee for sending me one of the most Horrifying Concepts of the late 20th century. The animation of that pig will live on in my nightmares.

In response, the ex-wrestler took off his coat, challenged one of the local boys to a match, and promptly threw the townie across the room. He then asked the youth, "Now do you believe that force won't change people's views?"

"Heck no!" the local boy hollered back.

"That's exactly my point," said the Quaker, who put on his coat and left.

--from Quakers Are Funny! by Chuck Fager, via rec.humor.funny.reruns

It's funny, that story mentions Coshocton. That's where my dad grew up and my grandmother still lives. I didn't realize it had a CPS camp there once. (Also, I think it's known for Coca-Cola memorabilia.)

Quote of the Moment
"It's so hard being neurotic. A normal person would be able to touch this [gooey brownie] with their bare hand, but not me."
--Rob Baum, 2001.03.15

Link of the Moment
Scarily plausible article on Slate: The Case For Northern Secession.

Quote of the Next Couple Years
"Initially, Bush wanted the bad economy to be associated with the Clinton era and was framing it as worse than it was and now he is framing things as being worse than they are in order to promote his tax cut to create support and rationale for his tax cut. It was disingenuous, and a really bad move. Because he's drumming up a pessimism about the economy that's a self-fulfilling prophecy."
--Salon.com on Bush's Shaky Hand

It points out that on the Clinton watch we had some sharp downturns that we managed our way through, but Bush is trash talking the economy to play up his taxcut plan, and that may screw us all. I have less faith in ever in Bush, and this electoral college driven mixup will haunt us for years.

Related Quote of the Moment
"I don't need viagra at all... all I need is a skinny, boney female"
--old guy on ad for The Daily Show

At this very moment I'm listening to this interesting radio essay on Fresh Air Weekend, an NPR show. It's linguist Geoff Nunberg. The piece is a bit of a defense of the word "like". He points out that it's not just a lazy filler as is "umm" and "you know", but rather it's a frame for a bit of a performance. When you say "and then he said" you're getting ready to quote words, when you say "and he was like" you're setting up a re-enactment. I had this same thought when I was in the British Isles with my family in 1995. I was near Catle Blarney it, come to think of (it's where I came up with "I just kissed the blarney stone, and now I'm wicked eloquent.) The Blarney stone is interesting, you have to lie on the floor high up in this castle, and bend at a very odd angle to give that thing a smooch. The tourist tradition is kissing it they say, and the drunk local's tradition is to pee on it...

Anyway, Nunberg traces back use of the word 'like' way back to the fifties hipsters. There might be a philisophical edge to the use of this word, that it also says we really don't know much of anything, but we can still identify traits and make guesses.

Link of the Moment
Project Omni, a brilliantly written (at least for the first few pages) account of some 20-something guys taking apart a 1981 Dodge Omni in the summer of 1997. Laugh out loud funny in parts.
(via Cruel Site of the Day)

Movie Quote of the Moment
Corky: You know what the difference is between you and me, Violet?
Violet: No.
Corky: Me neither.

--from Bound, the first movies from the as the Wachowski Brothers who would later bring us The Matrix. That is a great closing romantic line to a neat neo-noir film.

Quote of the Moment
"Oh I REALLY like your style, but this can't go up here, far too many nipples."
--gallery manager to deevaa. (She posts her art to the Love Blender somtimes, but you should check out her homepage for more)

More Art of the Moment
Willard Scott in an air shaft. I've always said art is what you can get away with, and I mean it.

Funny Costumes of the Moment
A lot of funny costumes on this page, 70s Live Action Kid Vid. All these cheese shows that lived on in syndication in the 80s... I remember the Bugaloos, but somehow missed out on the even more famous H.R.Pufnstuf. Anyways, this is a really well researched page.

A little closer to home was this Great Space Coaster tribute. I loved this show when I was a kid. I can hear the theme song now, and then the brilliance of Speed Reader and Gary Gnu... wow.

Finally it's Kaiju. I saw a sticker with the URL at the men's room for the Upstairs Lounge in Boston. It looks like people making up some more of these elaborate costumes and duking it out. The FAQ says it got its start at the School of the MFA, where I took some of my first programming classes (they had a tie in with Tufts.)

Link of the Moment
A talk with the author of The Phantom Tollbooth from Salon.Com. It's such a wonderful, intellectually playful book. Some of the images from the final climb up the mountain still live with me.

Quote of the Moment
"In other words--and this is the rock-solid principle on which the whole of the Corporation's Galaxywide success is founded--their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws."
--Douglas Adams, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

(Hmm, sounds like some dotcoms I know.)

Link of the Moment
This camptown races link seemed really cool until I realized the simple gimmick. "Easy when you know the trick, doo dah, doo dah." Still, the idea might come in useful someday.

The Mushroom Kingdom is a fan site that talks all about Mario, his history and that stable of characters. I love the encyclopdedic reference for all the characters, including all the minor bad guys, with images.

In related news, the Game Boy Advance is out in Japan. Kind of a sideways gameboy, but it can play games on par with the SNES (circa 1992 or so), instead of just the old NES (circa 1985 or so). When it comes out here in a few months, it's supposed to be retailing for $99! That's going to be a really interesting system. I'm almost sorry I got a Game Boy Color for Christmas, it's so outclassed by this one-- plus it has four player linking, including a feature with some cartridges that only one of the units has to have the game, the rest get what they need over the link. Neat.

This note popped up in my .sigfile rotation. It was written by my big college crush, on-again-mostly-off-again romance. I think it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever personally received. The day after it popped up, the grapevine was vibrating with news that the person may well have recently gotten engaged. Funny the timing of all that.

Quote of the Moment
"Kind of funny being the keeper of the Love Blender-- right now I'm not sure I know that much about either."

(After a discussion with Mo about all those Blender settings, as well as some wedding related rambling. I just got a 9 year renewal on the domain name.)

Guess I'm kind of bipolar when it comes to the jobsearch. Talked with the headhunter yesterday. Sometimes it seems like there's still plenty of opportunities for a good techie. Other times, it just seems like the whole online world is shriveling up. Sometimes it seems like I should take my time and relax getting a new position, other times it seems like I should go go go because who knows how long it will take, even once you've found the company.

Passage of the Moment
We conversed in French, a language alien to both of us, but more alien to me than to him. He said "gauche" for both "right" and "left" when he was upset, but when I was upset I was capable of flights that put the French people on their guard, wide-eyed and wary. Once, for instance, when I cut my wrist on a piece of glass I ran into the lobby of a hotel shouting in French, "I am sick with a knife!" Olympy would have known what to say (except it would have been his left wrist in any case) but he wouldn't have shouted: his words ran softly together and sounded something like the burbling of water over stones.
--from James Thurber's "A Ride With Olympy"

Quote of the Moment
"What? You're back again again already?"
"Hey, be nice to me. I've just been through a near-death experience."
"Really? When did this happen?"
"Well, it was kind of spread out over the last 15 years or so..."
--K-Rat, a weekly cartoon of the Tucson Weekly

Nostalgia of the Moment
In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.
--"The A-Team"

Man, I used to love that show. A while back there was an odd web phenomen: Mr. T vs, where people would make up photoplays of Mr. T taking on a wide assortment of forces of evil. Pity the fool, indeed.

Quote of the Moment
"Information wants to be a Socialist... not a Communist or a Republican."
- Karen Schneider

Hey-- I have the same birthday as UNIVAC! UNIVAC, the first commecial computer, is 50, and I'm 27... funny to think that I've been alive for more than half of this commercial revolution.

Politics of the Moment
"Welcome to the wonderful world of George W. Bush's brain, where it's always Casual Friday!"
--from the Salon article The unspeakable Bush about his descision to forgo traditional press conferences (where, as the article puts out, reports have this annoying habit of 'asking questions') in lieu of a less 'formal' way of doing things. Damn, we have not elected a smart guy. We didn't elect this guy, either, come to think of it. He is also adding a baseball field to the white house. If I gave a dang about baseball and/or thought he was doing a halfway decent job in other respects, I'd probably say that this is pretty cool.

Post of the Moment

please help me! where can I download 3 objects , such as chairs tables, sofas and so on, i have tried already 3D cafe, anu other useful websites??
Thank you!!
Nina