Ephemera

travelingcolors: Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast | Australia (by...

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:05:13 -0400

Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast | Australia (by Duncan Rawlinson)

This looks like the cover of a 1950’s science fiction novel.

Stephen Fry’s latest appearance on Craig Ferguson’s...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:22:00 -0400

Stephen Fry’s latest appearance on Craig Ferguson’s show was excellent. Here’s a link to an earlier show Craig devoted to Mr. Fry.

All of the censorship in this program seemed appropriate except for something Stephen Fry said at 3:46. Commenters on Reddit speculate that the offensive phrase was “a woman waiting for me by a chink in a chain link fence..”

Photo

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:53:00 -0400

Combine #3 and #4, maybe? (via Boston.com: Can Boston Be Safe...

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:08:28 -0400

Combine #3 and #4, maybe?

(via Boston.com: Can Boston Be Safe for Bicycles?)

Beginner's Luck

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:46:00 -0400

Well, it’s not beginner’s luck, exactly. I don’t know what to call it.

It happens whenever I go bowling or play a sport that requires muscle memory like golf, darts, or billiards. If I haven’t tried it for a while my reflexes always feel sharp and I play out of my mind for the first half hour or so. Despite my denials everyone thinks I’m some kind of sandbagging pool shark or bowling dork. After that initial warmup phase my normal bad habits quickly reassert themselves and I start miscuing easy shots, driving golf balls deep into the swamp, and completely missing the dart board as my skills evaporate. It never fails.

I’ve only found a way to use this habit of athletic false advertising to my advantage once. When I was thirteen I tried out for the local Babe Ruth baseball league and when it was my turn to hit I blasted a dozen balls into the outfield. The manager of the best team was impressed enough to pick me, but he could only curse and watch helplessly during the season as I struggled to drive anything out of the infield and posted a blistering .162 batting average.

I never know what to expect when this happens in social situations. I once attended a singles meetup at a pool hall in downtown Boston where the goal was presumably to meet people. After circling the crowd and failing to start a conversation for an hour I found two women and a man who needed a fourth person at their table so I joined them. When my turn came up their expressions quickly slid from smiles to rolling eyes to frowns as I started running the table. I couldn’t help it. As the balls disappeared I began attempting ridiculously difficult shots in the hopes of missing one of them, but for the first ten minutes I could do no wrong. Cross-the-table prayers, three ball combinations, blind multiple bank shots, shooting left-handed… every shot went in. After a few turns the game ended and one by one my new acquaintances all found reasons to mingle somewhere else.

Last night’s experience at a meetup in a bowling alley was better. The main difference is that in bowling I can’t prevent other people from playing when I’m doing well. If anything they get to take their turns faster. I didn’t make a big deal about my usual run of good luck in the beginning. When a few people looked up at the monitor near the end of the game and noticed my score they gave me some good-natured ribbing. But they didn’t leave.

I ended up randomly breaking 200 for the first time since high school. For all I know that might have been my best score ever. And I don’t even think I bowled particularly well. My second game was much lower, naturally.

Tumblr adds different phrases when a new user fills out the age...

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:21:33 -0400

Tumblr adds different phrases when a new user fills out the age field.

I love the shade of green that most trees wear in the spring....

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:47:44 -0400

I love the shade of green that most trees wear in the spring. (at Kendall Square Fountain)

Daft Punk - Doin’ It Right [with Panda Bear] [The Golden...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:49:00 -0400

Daft Punk - Doin’ It Right [with Panda Bear] [The Golden Pony Remix]

The one track that everyone seems to be talking about, though, is “Doin’ It Right (feat. Panda Bear)”. I’d expect it to be discussed on blogs like mine, as Noah Lennox and his music definitely float in these circles, but I’ve seen it on forums across all spectrums of the web. It’s filthy catchy, and it features the marriage of two artists folks love.

Enter The Golden Pony, who took the laid back verses and vocal sections of Noah Lennox/Panda Bear and upped the dance equivalent to at least 35. Once the bass thunders in that first time you’ll be ready to do it right, too. The warm weather has taken it sweet time to get here, but it’s finally reached 80+ so this is a good way to kick that off.

(via Sirens of Decay)

I will not overshare and turn this blog into a record of my saddest thoughts. Admitting that...

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:08:27 -0400

I will not overshare and turn this blog into a record of my saddest thoughts. Admitting that I’m struggling with them is enough.

ilovecharts: Things Yahoo! Has Made Better

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:07:25 -0400

ilovecharts:

Things Yahoo! Has Made Better

Priorities

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:12:50 -0400

When a coworker learned that I never mentioned my birthday several months ago she was upset.

“You deprived us all of a birthday cake. It’s not about you, it’s about me having cake.”

We love our neon oil company signs here. (at Shell Gas Station)

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:53:22 -0400

We love our neon oil company signs here. (at Shell Gas Station)

1: “Join me…” 2: “No, join...

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:57:00 -0400

1: “Join me…”

2: “No, join me…”

1: “No! Join me…”

I see a face. (I drilled down through several layers of blogs...

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:59:14 -0400

I see a face.

(I drilled down through several layers of blogs and couldn’t find a source or even a location.)

Chipotle’s nutrition calculator is well designed. And my...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:41:00 -0400

Chipotle’s nutrition calculator is well designed. And my lunch was a few hundred calories less than I expected. That’s an extra beer at trivia tonight!

This is how version numbers get ruined.

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:06:00 -0400

This is how version numbers get ruined.

Yeah.

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:05:00 -0400

Yeah.

Iron Man was sold out yesterday afternoon so I hung out with a...

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:25:58 -0400

Iron Man was sold out yesterday afternoon so I hung out with a swan. (at The Swan Boats)

Ah, this explains a few things about GeoGuessr. The blue shaded...

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:15:00 -0400

Ah, this explains a few things about GeoGuessr. The blue shaded areas represent parts of the world covered by Google Street View imagery.

MapCrunch is more fun if all you want to do is see random locations one after another with the option to locate them on a map. Just keep pressing the green “Go” button and be a virtual tourist.

historical-nonfiction: Kim Jong Il, jealous of Seoul’s Olympic Games in 1988, decided to create his...

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:23:47 -0400

historical-nonfiction:

Kim Jong Il, jealous of Seoul’s Olympic Games in 1988, decided to create his own. He called it The World Festival of Youth and Students. To prepare, Pyongyang was cleared of people who were disabled and shorter people had to take ‘height medicine’ to grow taller.