Tuesday, 30 September 2008

How to Hug a Girl - wikiHow

How to Hug a Girl - wikiHow:


# Don't hold her too tight, so don't squeeze her. Hold her firmly enough so she's comfortable. Just give her a light squeeze.

# Some hugs are like a teddy bear, others are like a fortress. Sometimes they are both. Keep that in mind.

# You may want to whisper something in her ear while you're hugging.

You can learn anything on the Internet these days.

Spam for beginners

Here’s another message I received, which if not spam is clueless in the extreme. It begins:

My name is Joan M. Miller, working with (WORLD YOUTH ORGANIZATION FOR HUMAN WELFARE) California, U.S.A. We are organizing a global Youths combined conferences taking place from November 19th - 22nd 2008 at Anaheim California in the United States and in, Dakar Senegal from 26th - 29th November 2008.

If they think I’m a youths, I’m almost tempted to go. I may not get another chance.

Spam and spammability

Illustration from Sense and Sensibility by Jan...

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a chunk from a spam email I received:

Mrs. John Dashwood had never been a favourite their sakes avoid a breach with their brother. Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught. Marianne's abilities were, in many which overpowered them at first, was voluntarily renewed, was sought for, was created again and again. They gave themselves up wholly to their sorrow, seeking increase of wretchedness in every forbearance. Margaret, the other sister, was a good-humored, well-disposed girl; but as she had everything reminded her of former delight, was exactly what suited her mind.

And here’s a passage from a completely different piece of spam:

Three thousand pounds! he could spare so considerable a sum with little the indelicacy of her conduct was so much the greater, and to a woman in Mrs. Dashwood's situation, ever, had not the entreaty of her eldest girl induced her first to reflect on the propriety of to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led which overpowered them at first, was voluntarily renewed, was sought for, was created again and forbearance.

There’s much more, and so far one other similar message.

The alert reader will have spotted that the text is a quoted passage from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. My heart leapt when I saw it, because I imagined for a second they were targetting me individually. But I don’t think so.

I think all they’re doing is drowning the spam message in a huge wodge of text so that the message has less chance of setting off spam triggers. The spammers are awful ghastly rat bastards, obviously, but you have to admire their elegant taste in this instance.

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Sunday, 28 September 2008

Red




Your Mind is Red



Of all the mind types, yours is the most impulsive.

If you think it, you do it. And you can get the bug to pursue almost any passion.

Your thoughts are big and bold. Your mind has no inhibitions.



You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about love, your dreams, and distant places.

Saturday, 27 September 2008

Paul Newman

The most gorgeous man in the history of cinema has died. And one of the coolest.

I remember when Steve McQueen died, I was stricken by a kind of disbelief, because he was such an icon to me when I was growing up. This could not be happening, I was thinking, because icons don’t die.

I’m older now, but I still believe in the immortality of those I admire. Newman went on to grow old and frail, which McQueen never did, but it didn’t detract from his aura one little bit.

I’m no fanboy, but this one has me choking up. Newman got his big break in 1956, in Somebody Up There Likes Me. That’s when I started out, too. He’s been there all the time I have. And now he’s not there any more.

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Short shameful confession

Pecorino Sardo CheeseImage via WikipediaRooting around at midnight for something to snack on, as you do. I rummage in the fridge and find a piece of Fiore Sardo, a rich strong sheep's milk cheese I bought at the market and forgot about until now. As I unwrap it and start shaving pieces off, I suddenly realise that the panting noise I hear is coming from me. I'm attacking this piece of cheese like a wild animal. But I don't allow it to disgust me until after I've finished eating.


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Happy Birthday Go10ogle

Google

Saturday, 20 September 2008

Friday, 19 September 2008

Don’t tell Kramer

My father, meanwhile, had settled into a chair next to Zephyr and had assumed the expression of a person straining to overhear some distant conversation. It is a look of intense disinterest, and I know it well. I fetched a vial labelled At the Beach 1966 and thrust it under his nose. With an upward roll of the eyes, he inhaled. Then he took the sample from my hand, sniffed again and nearly leapt to his feet: the scent had triggered a memory of summers he spent lifeguarding on Long Island as a teenager. On the CB website, Christopher describes the fragrance as "Coppertone 1967 blended with a new accord I created especially for this perfume--North Atlantic. The base of the scent contains a bit of Wet Sand, Seashell, Driftwood and just a hint of Boardwalk." If that sounds too fanciful to be true, you should smell it.

A report on a quirky perfume business.

HE HATES PERFUME | More Intelligent Life

Time's wingèd chariot

A statue of the poet Andrew Marvell, located i...Image via WikipediaI came in from work to an empty house, and fell asleep -- bad idea -- on the couch. Woke up with a sense of melancholy, as after a crying dream. The other day you spoke about going away, and now I felt that the time was already upon us.

The world stretches out in front of the young, to the far horizon. Time telescopes as you get older, and every future falls within reach. It doesn't matter how long it's going to be, in my eyes it's already here.
Andrew Marvell, in his marvellous poem To His Coy Mistress, writes:

But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near
Read the rest of it here.
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Thursday, 18 September 2008

Sunday, 14 September 2008

Saturday, 13 September 2008

Name profiler


The map shows the frequency of the surname Grapes in Europe. As you can see, there are occurrences in Languedoc in France, in Lombardia in Italy, in Rogaland in Norway, and in East Anglia in England. Not shown: the Hawkes' Bay area of New Zealand, where the name is most prevalent.

Check out the worldwide distribution of your own name with the Name Profiler. I've already looked for a few people I know, including some of you, and it's remarkable detailed, right down to the local commune in one case.



Link

Kids these days



Link