Somewhere in misfitland…

Finally someone has successfully defined the difference. This simple nerd/dork/geek/dweeb Venn diagram should save us all a lot of time and frustration in the future—without the need for exhaustive explanations. Now imagine adding a red dot with a “You Are Here” call-out…

(thanks to Bruce M Campbell for introducing me to what seems to have become a popular memetic infographic some time last year—original source of the diagram is unknown)

Isn’t it great how the days are starting to linger… longer?

(original image source unknown)

A vacuum salesman appeared at the door of an old lady’s cottage and, without allowing the woman to speak, rushed into the living room and threw a large bag of dirt all over her clean carpet. He said, “If this new vacuum doesn’t pick up every bit of dirt then I’ll eat all the dirt.”

The woman, who by this time was losing her patience, said, “Sir, if I had enough money to buy that thing, I would have paid my electricity bill before they cut it off. Now, what would you prefer, a spoon or a knife and fork?”

Moral o’ the day: Hubris ends in failure; pride precedes a fall.

(source)

Somewheregrad… in Russia

Hello, lovely ladies… interesting, I must say, to receive (completely unsolicited) the almost daily communiques from you by e-mail. Please let me be very upfront and straightforward with all you would-be Russian brides though (Anastasia, Ekatarinna, Irina, Izabella, Katerinka, Katushka, Luliya [and your remarkably attractive gymnast cousin], Oksana, Svetlana, Vikulya, and Yana… forgive me if I’ve missed a few)—while I am predictably flattered at your charming overtures and bold offers of intimate relationships and marriage, I’m honestly “not looking” (if you know what I mean), and I think it’s only right to suggest that you expend your energies more productively elsewhere.*

It’s nice to know that you think I am an interesting person (your stated reason for deciding to get to know me better—though how you know this is still a mystery to me) and it is very thoughtful of you to wish that I could be truly happy (I actually thought I was until you pointed out that perhaps I wasn’t). It’s quite generous for you to share all that personal information about yourself (with interests including ballet, fencing, music, reading, books, equestrian sports, theater, computers, old movies, gourmet cooking, good conversations,“and the many other things that make life beautiful”—you sound like the real Renaissance woman) and the fact that you have never been married (I have—did you know that?), that you “do not have a boy friend at this stage of your life,” that you work for a living (a real asset, I’ll admit), and that “all you miss is a beloved person” with whom to “have a family in the future.” I agree that “we should use every chance we have to find happiness…” (hard to argue with that logic), but back to the point I was trying to make earlier, “I’m really not looking”… and I suspect that if you really did your homework well, you’d find that I’m likely considerably too old for you anyway. |-:

Oгорченный. (that’s Russian for “sorry,” right?)

*On the off chance that a third party with more nefarious motives is using your likeness and good name in a solicitous manner, I thought you’d want to know…

Edmonton, Alberta

It’s been reported that up to 80% of Canadians watched the gold medal Olympic hockey game on 28 February (a nail-biter battle into overtime against the USA). That may actually be more Canadians doing one and the same thing at the same time than ever before in history (as this tends to be a land of individualists, largely wary of anything related to unison or group-think).

A more graphic depiction of the grip hockey has on this country comes from EPCOR, the water utility of the city of Edmonton, Alberta (yes, Wayne Gretzky’s former home town)—they have published a remarkable graph of water consumption on that day that is very telling indeed. It seems that the majority of that city (and by extension, “the true North strong and free”) was peeing and flushing in unison—during the breaks between game periods of course. Quite fascinating what graphical depiction can reveal…

Thanks to photographer friend Ian McCausland for the story; original source here.

New York et al (as seen from Berlin)

Christoph Niemann hits home with cartographic brilliance once again… in today’s New York Times.

(some things I just know to be true)

Any questions?