Latest on twitter:
What English Sounds Like to Foreigners
An Italian rock star wrote a song intended to sound like English, but is entirely gibberish. It’s pretty rockin’ too. This is always something I was curious about, and whenever I meet people who speak English as a second language, I ask them to imitate English sounds. I asked a guy from India to do this, and he responded, “Oh, I don’t know. I do know that when I am home and I accidentally start using English, my grandmother yells at me, ‘You are always speaking English! You sound like prah prah prah prah!’” Could also be titled, “What Popular Music Sounds Like to Old People”
Okay. It looks like we have a love triangle on our hands. Ben and Mike, I propose some sort of duel. Phasers? That weird Vulcan nerve pinch to the shoulder?
The winner gets to escort this fine lady to the the next Comic Con…
We would have to wait until for the koon-ut-kal-if-fee, the ceremony at which she will be wedded to the mate chosen for her as a child. At that she could claim kal-if-fee and select Mike or I to fight her mate for the right to marry her. I don’t know if there are provisions for a three-way fight or if we would have to take turns fighting to the death until only one remained standing.
In any case, that sequence of events is highly dependent on her wishes and our abilities to kill a Vulcan male in hand to hand combat. To expect a beneficial outcome for either Michael or myself would be highly illogical.
“real PEOPLE,” but yes..
Are you PEOPLE enough?
Go out there and fight like a PERSON.
Just PEOPLE up and do it.
Lt. Selar, Vulcan medical officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D for the entire length of its commission. Given that, it is a travesty she didn’t appear in more than a handful of episodes.
Edit: She was mentioned in a handful of episodes, but appeared in only one. Travesty!
For you, nerdwife, I will watch more Star Trek.
Automatic sexy Vulcan reblog.
She looks a lot like the Vulcan medical officer who appeared in “The Schizoid Man”, the TNG episode that was on last night. I almost fell in love: aside from being attractive and rational she was standing in for the cranky and unpleasant Dr. Pulaski.
This is something I really believe, but for some reason (probably beer-related), I said otherwise at a party. I have felt massively guilty since, as if I’d lied about my best friend. Guys, I am actually religious. I hope that doesn’t freak you out. <3 BB
I want to believe. I used to believe. But every year is harder to explain than the last.
I attended a speed dating event last night
Technically, I was an extra for a television show (What Not To Wear) that was crashing a speed dating event. Not enough men had signed up, so the producers recruited extras to participate.
It was kind of fun, mostly because I was there on a whim and didn’t have any stake in it. But after it was over I was able to overanalyze and become a lot more cynical about it.
I noticed that, as the evening goes on, speed dating itself becomes a more prominent conversation topic. I pointed this out to one woman, who replied that she didn’t want to be repeating herself. Apparently, a Piaget was wrong about elimination of egocentrism occurring in the concrete operational stage. Yes, you may have already talked about yourself earlier, but you weren’t talking to me.
Another woman told me that she enjoyed the fact that speed dating allowed her to have many dates in one night, thereby giving her an excuse to stay in on another night. I don’t want to go out this weekend, I’ve already been on ten dates this week!
I told her that was interesting, and since I have an engineering background, the efficiency aspect appealed to me.
What I should have told her was, that’s a fucking pathetic rationalization for avoiding contact with people.
For Ellen, if she’s reading this.
In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a rundown of all the myths floating around about the MTA.
via ohhleary: The New York City subway has the highest farebox recovery ratio of any public transit system in the United States. That is, the MTA relies on our passenger fares for over 60% of its revenue for the subway. As a basis for comparison, Chicago’s CTA has a ratio of 44%, LA County’s Metro has a ratio of 30%, and the lowly Staten Island Railroad’s passenger fares account for just 15% of its revenue. Where does the rest of its revenue come from? Mostly from state subsidies. And as we’ve already addressed, Albany gutted the MTA’s funding years ago. If you ride the subway, I recommend taking a few minutes to read the whole post. If you don’t have a few minutes, know this much: the MTA is at the mercy of the New York State Legislature, up in Albany, and the only way anything will improve is if you direct your complaints (and clever signs) at them.
I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company
Vintage Coca-Cola Christmas commercial from the 70s.
Always makes me feel warm and fuzzy…
This summer I visited a friend in Atlanta and made a trip to the World of Coca-Cola museum. One of the exhibits is a room where they simply play commercials on a big screen.
It felt like a strange form of therapy: the commercials are designed to elicit positive feelings, after all. Actually focusing your attention on them, watching them one after another, uninterrupted by the news or a sitcom, was really nice.
Any feelings of oh-wait-no-am-I-being-brainwashed don’t hit until you leave the room, and if the anxiety gets to be too much, you can always go back in for more singing and polar bears.
