I have several much-read paperbacks (and a few hardbacks) that have lost their covers from sheer mechanical wear after dozens of readings. The portion of the cover stock that was glued to the spine is largely intact, but the front and back covers are gone gone gone.
Given that, the "this is a stolen book" text always seems to be making a dangerously specific claim: if I sell my copy of The Two Towers to a friend for a quarter (not that I would: that book is mine, yes, Precious), has Ballantine committed libel?
Ok, now I've got What Did you Learn in School Today going through my head:
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
(repeat)
I learned the Republicans have a plan
For health care for every woman and man
And the reason why the cost's not high
Is when you get sick, you DIE, DIE, DIE!
And that's what I learned in school today.
That's what I learned in school.
Four more highly-legible monospaced font possibilities to throw into the mix: Anonymous, Pragmata, ProFont, and Proggy
Also, for really small sizes (but not monospaced), check out Minuscule It looks truly bizarre at larger sizes, but it's readable at 2pt, which is just cool on its own.
A dehoy who was terribly hobble,
Could only cast stones that were cobble,
And bats that were ding,
From a shot that was sling,
But he never hit links that were bobble.
Having had chicken pox at 17 1/2, the vaccination question was an easy one for me. And while chicken pox is bad for an adult, it's nothing like mumps.
Beware yourselves the moops.
Re the YA suggestions: several I've enjoyed as an adult (they weren't published until I was in my mid-20's):
Kara Dalkey (Little Sister, The Heavenward Path)
Geraldine McCaughrean (Plundering Paradise, The Kite Rider)
Kenneth Oppel (Airborn, Skybreaker)
Mary Dell: I don't know whether this is one of the side effects others had in mind, but I know a couple women for whom Depo permanently borked their thyroid. The long-term consequences of that one aren't pretty. (Not that bone-mass changes are, of course).
I'd be tempted to give the "here are some things you can do that are (a) fun, (b) non-procreative, (c) safe, and (d) will get up your parents' noses even more than having unprotected sex will" talk instead, but that would be Wrong of Me. The Condoms Talk is a good idea, though.
RichM @ 38: It's not exactly what you had in mind, but LanguageHat has a story up today on pentalingual sonnets.
Greg London @276, Terry Karney@300:
I'm really hoping to be able to afford one of these someday. The front rider is recumbent, and the back rider is upright, so everyone can see the road (and the drivers can see the bike), and the riders' heads are close enough to talk. We had a tandem when I was a kid, but the whole bigger-person-in-front thing means the smaller rider can't see much; and it's tricky to get a frame that works for riders who are of drastically different sizes (I'm a good 35cm taller than my wife).
I gather that some people even take the Sunday crossword out for a nice long ride, since the recumbent rider has their hands free.
Cheryl @307:
I have pretty long hair (I haven't measured recently, but I'm 2m tall and I can sit on it), and I can fit my (Trek) helmet over a low ponytail or small (6cm diameter) bun. Mine has a fairly high rear harness (or whatever the technical term is) -- I've also seen some that have a lower harness, with a space for a ponytail to come through above it.
I'd suggest going to a bike store and trying helmets on with your hair up: the staff may have fitting suggestions, as well. That may mean buying a new helmet, but you're supposed to do so every 4-5 years anyway (or whenever you've been in an accident).
eric @486: You have a trailer hitch that you can jump potholes with? Dude.
Xopher @494: I actually had a similar experience with sleep once as a kid. From my viewpoint, my mom tucked me in for a nap, walked to the door, turned around, and walked back and shook me. An hour just disappeared with no transitions at all. I was going to say that it freaked me out, but I mostly just didn't believe that it had happened.
The most significant reason I can see for wanting to eat single-origin chocolate is that you can tell whether it was produced with slave labor. Unless chocolate is organic, fair trade, or single-origin (and not from Côte d'Ivoire), you have no such assurance.
Now personally, I like some of the subtle differences among varieties of cacao, though that's more a matter of their being single-variety than single-origin. But taste preference is very subjective.
If any Fluorospherians know of evidence that slavery is no longer a problem in Ivorian chocolate production, please tell me. I have enough other issues to worry about; an occasional victory for the Forces of Good is much appreciated.
Susan @545: what security type is the home network using? Some vintages of iBook only support WEP (and not WPA). I don't think that would be reported as "wrong password", but I'm not positive.
If the network is using WEP, there are restrictions on password length for cross-platform compatibility; I've only encountered errors connecting PCs to a Mac-based wireless network, but it might work the other way as well. And that one definitely does show up as "wrong password". If I remember correctly, 128-bit WEP keys have to be exactly 13 characters.
If the network is restricted to specific wireless cards, that might give you a "wrong password" error as well, but I think that's less likely than the password length issue.
Lee @ 453: the SF club in college had a tradition of going Pumpkin Caroling at Halloween with filks of Christmas music.
Most of the filks were the usual goblin and Fake Witch fare, but one member of the group invented a Halloween version of the Hallelujah Chorus on the way to the house of one of the religion professors. It was great fun.
For you are/Going to give us/Candy.
Halloween! Halloween!/Halloween! Halloween!
Or we will/Never stop this/Singing.
Mary Dell @ 6: 96° F is also my normal body temperature (well, actually I run a bit hotter than 96, but below 97). It made it really hard to convince the nurse that I was sick in elementary school, since 2 degrees of fever looked just like "normal".
I guess I'm permanently pre-ovulatory, so it sounds like I'm in range.
Lee @ 90: I like Sing We Noel, by the Boston Camerata. It's all carols that would be period for Colonial America (so, of course, a lot of them are much older than that), and the singing is lovely. And you get carols like Ad cantus leticie and Nova, nova; Aue fitt ex Eva.
For the store situation, knowing other words to the same tune (either filks or more traditional material) works wonders for me. I haven't yet burst into The People's Flag/Keep the Red Flag Flying in a mall, but I've been tempted.
Janet Croft @ 145 re the AAA recommendation: ...or Better World Club. Pretty much all the benefits of AAA, but with better carma (pun theirs). Plus they do roadside assistance for bikes, too!
Susan @ 185: ack! how can anyone sing Good King Sauerkraut ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Wenceslas in anything but a sprightly manner? I mean, a dirgelike We Three Kings is okay, but Good King Wenceslaus?
Earl Cooley III @ 202: do the "Oh woe is me/Oh woe is me/Oh once I had/A hamster tree" lyrics fall in that category?
flowery tops and Xopher (well, and anyone else, really):
In the squamous and rugose holiday vein, this year's Ars Technica Holiday Gift Guide includes "An Even Scarier Solstice" by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
I personally think the original ("A Very Scary Solstice") looks better though. I mean, how can you pass up classics like "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fish-Men," "Awake Ye Scary Old Ones," "Freddy the Red-Brained Mi-Go," or "I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog Sothoth"?
My favorite hard-core brownie recipe is:
1/2 lb butter
6 oz unsweetened chocolate[1]
7 eggs
1/2 t salt
3 1/2 c sugar [2]
2 t vanilla
2 c unbleached white flour [3]
2 c chopped walnuts
Melt butter and chocolate together
Beat eggs with salt until foamy; gradually add sugar to mixture while continuing to beat; add vanilla
Fold chocolate-butter mixture into egg mixture
Add flour; partially mix in with a few strokes of the spoon; add walnuts an mix until barely blended.
Pour into shallow (1-2") buttered and floured pan.
Bake at 325 for about half an hour; remove and cool in pan for 10 minutes.
Cut brownies in pan and remove with spatula; top with ganache.
[1] fair-trade or organic, by choice; I don't think I'd bother with any of the single-estate varietals, though, because I don't think the subtleties would come through
[2] I actually use more like 2 c, but I have much less of a sweet tooth than most people
[3] it's good with whole wheat pastry flour or a 50/50 mix, as well
I rarely actually make this because it's lethal.
Thanksgiving this year was a clay-pot turkey with mole negro, various root veggies, and three pies: sour-cream apple, ginger pear, and pumpkin. Mmm.
John Houghton@106: The version of the bellwether story I heard was that, at the start of mating season, shepherds would separate out the rams, and put the ewes in a field with a wether with a bell and a bag of some sort of pigment around his neck.
If they heard bells ringing in the sheepfold at night, whichever ewe had a colored blotch on her back in the morning was coming into season. She could then be separated from the rest of the ewes and put in with an appropriate ram for covering.
(So for those of you in the bellwether states, when campaign season starts up, you know you're going to get _______ again. Ba-dump ching.)
Nicole TWN @72 (or anyone else, really): So what are the two little cartilage triangles (well, cones, really) about a centimeter in front of my right tragus?
("Abnormal" would probably be true, but that's a description, not a name).
Xopher @281: Well, I self-identify as Christian, and I do maintain that certain books in the New Testament are pretty much full of it (or to be more polite about it, that once you discount the political biases and infighting between sects, you're left with a book that's about a quarter the size). There's some good stuff in there, but some of it needs a lot of sifting.
But I'm sure some people would claim that I'm not a Christian on that basis.
After your comments about Gardner, I've got English Country Gardens going through my head. Aargh!
Serge @55: I'm assuming that your putative goggles will be used in air; otherwise, you'll need to have your prescription changed, since the index of refraction of the exit medium makes a difference.
(My dad had bifocal SCUBA goggles back in the '70's sometime, and the prescription wasn't quite the same as the one for his normal glasses. He probably had rather an easier time finding someone to make them, though, since he was an optometrist.)
Oh, and to bring this a little more on-topic, congratulations Teresa! May the reach of your awesome moderation powers never grow shorter!
Ok, a few old verses (by me, but I made them up about 12 years ago):
We will worship all the Vanir;
I just cannot make it plainer.
They drink beer that needs a strainer,
but they're good enough for me.
Oh we all will worship Verra,
Demon Goddess of Dragaera;
She's got finger joints to spare—uh,
Well, she's good enough for me.
And we all will worship Barlen,
Verra's crocodilian darlin';
Though he's worshipped in a far land,
Still, he's good enough for me.
Xopher @ 142:
I'd heard in an anthropology class that middle-kingdom egyptian was rather similar to Icien (from Northern Uganda). Or rather, that Icien was closer to middle-kingdom egyptian than to anything else that the linguist who encountered it could figure out. That's probably of very little use for pronunciation, though.
Ok, end digression.
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