I may be a bit late in discovering her podcast, but last week I found out about Grammar Girl, and it’s been love ever since. For those of you who are later to the game than I, Grammar Girl is a semi-weekly podcast about English grammar. I am a self-styled Grammar Nazi, so when I found out about her podcast, I knew I had to listen. Over the course of two days this week, I listened to around 30 episodes. Each is around 5 minutes long, so you can listen to several of them during a normal commute. Her topics ranged from the correct use of hyphens, to when to use “who” and “whom,” and on to “You and I” vs. “You and Me,” plus many other topics. This stuff is fascinating, but more than that, it’s useful. She explains what the correct usage is, and then usually goes on to explain why it’s correct, which is why I think I like it so much. If you like learning things, you should definitely check her out.
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I’m Going To WordCamp Birmingham
I paid my registration fee on Friday, and I’m really looking forward to attending. I’ve only been using WordPress since late June, but I’m already hooked. Anyone else going? I’ll be driving to Birmingham on Friday night, since things get going at 9:00 Saturday morning.
I Was Wrong – They Weren’t Foxen
I mentioned the other day about [cref animals-out-of-place seeing two foxes] in the parking lot of my office. I saw the smaller one again on Thursday afternoon and I started to doubt my identification of them as foxes. It occurred to me that they might actually be coyotes. I did some research this weekend, and I’m convinced now that they are coyotes. They’re still gorgeous animals, but not foxes.
Cuil Thinks I’m More Relevant Than Dr. Horrible
I was looking through my web stats this morning and I noticed that I had a link from cuil.com, the latest in a long string of supposed “Google Killers.” I clicked on the link, http://www.cuil.com/search?q=”dr horrible” and was quite surprised to get the results shown here
You probably can’t tell from the small version, so click on it for a larger version. Notice that on a search for “dr horrible,” instead of getting drhorrible.com, as you should, you get me. Twice, in fact; two different blog postings I wrote about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog. That’s right. According to cuil.com, I am the best match for “dr horrible.” WTF? There have been lots of sightings of bogus results from cuil, but I was really surprised to find one featuring me.
Since I was already at cuil.com, I decided to egosurf and see if they had fixed their results for my name. Nope. Searching for me at Google returns a mostly-correct set of results. There are two link in there about the former Playboy playmate who shares my name, but all the rest of the front page results are about me.
Animals Out of Place
About 15 minutes ago I parked my car in the parking lot of my office, which is in North Atlanta, near Perimeter Mall. As I was walking across the lot toward the building, I saw something move, out of the corner of my eye. I turned, expecting to see a goose or maybe a cat. But it was a fox! A beautiful, grey fox, about two feet tall at the shoulder. It quickly ran into the bushes, and then something else caught my eye. I turned to look where the fox had come from, and there was another one. This one was smaller, maybe a foot and a half high, just as beautiful. It was probably a juvenile, probably the first fox’s child. I tried to get out my iPhone to take a picture, but the sound of the velcro on the holster spooked the child, and he darted back into the bushes.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a fox that wasn’t in a zoo, and I certainly didn’t expect to see one in such a busy area. I really wish I could have gotten some photos.
When General Motors Was Dreaming
The New York Times has a slideshow today of gorgeous old cars called When General Motors Was Dreaming. Some of the cars were just prototypes, but some were production. And all of them had beautiful angles and style. Most cars on the road today are almost identical to every other car. My friend Fred says they all look like “melted Hershey bars” which is just about true.
I still have this dream that one day I’ll buy a car from the 50’s. That was the true golden age of American automobiles.
Ever Seen Purple Potatoes?
I have. Last night. I bought a bunch of “fingerling” potatoes and when I sliced the dark-skinned ones, they were purple on the inside.
Unfortunately they had a really funky flavor that just didn’t work with the olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper I put on them before roasting them. They were pretty, but not very tasty. 😦
Our Dyson Vacuum Sucks
We have a Dyson vacuum, and it sucks. In both bad and good ways. On the good side, it has better suction, with a far fuller tank, than any vacuum I’ve ever used. It’s also fairly light and easy to push around.
On the negative side, if you should ever happen to go against the nap of the carpet, it makes the most horrible noise. In fact, this is not our first Dyson. I took the first one back when I heard that noise. But apparently that’s “normal” for these vacuums. You’d think that for as much as the damned thing cost, it wouldn’t do that. We’ve had a host of cheapo vacuums in the past that never made noises like this, and they cost hundreds of dollars less than the Dyson. But, they didn’t last all that long, either.
No “Pirate Sun” For Me Yet
I just got back from Borders attempting to buy Karl Schroeder’s Pirate Sun, but they don’t have it yet. Argh. I’ll be finished with The Yellow Admiral in a few days and I really wanted to dive back into Virga. Maybe the Borders near my house has it… need to check…
08/08/2008 Update: I ordered it from Amazon. They tell me it will be here around the 12th of August.
That Smell
You know that smell? You know, when you’re cooking. And you heat up a skillet and you start heating a little bit of oil. And you mince up some garlic and maybe some onions. And you put the garlic and onions into the pan. And you stir it up a bit.
And then you smell it.
That smell.
The garlic and the onions giving up their heavenly aroma.
I love that smell.
Joey Gibson's Blog 