January 5, 2007
January 5, 2007
An African parrot, N’kisi, has demonstrated an amazing grasp of the English language, with the ability to invent words and phrases when encountering new stimuli. He also shows evidence of a sense of humor. (from BBC News)
When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N’kisi said: “Got a chimp?”
With a 950 word vocabulary and the ability to use tenses properly, N’kisi is not only one of the most advanced users of English in the animal kingdom, but also displays more language mastery than the average US public school student, President George W. Bush, and drummers.
January 5, 2007
There appears to be a Mac tablet in the offing, and guess what? It’s not from Apple.
As much as the industry has been screaming for a tablet Mac, I’ve got to file this in the “Believe it when I see it” category. Besides the fact that this could trump anything that Apple was going to announce in their own Keynote (iPhone be damned!), I can’t imagine, if this is Apple-approved, that they wouldn’t want to be the ones to announce it. Five days till the big day…keep an eye on the rumor mills.
January 4, 2007
I was so hoping this article could be found online so you’d actually believe me. From this morning’s Elmira Star-Gazette, the best typo I’ve seen in years:
Taxes are high, in part, Spitzer said, because we have too many governments (4,200, by his count)
Check out the original article if you’d like to take a shot at figuring out what they meant. 4,200 governments…and not a one of them can get it right…
January 3, 2007
While it may have been disappointing, I don’t think anyone was really surprised by the outcome of Monday’s game. The highlight, though, of the entire experience was the commentary on USC’s quarterback. At various times, Booty rolled out, Booty was shaken, and Booty got pounded. I am indeed twelve years old.
January 3, 2007
Watching (and re-watching, I’m mildly obsessed) Russian fantasy/horror film Night Watch, and was struck by a section of the director’s commentary. He mentioned that this was the first Russian fantasy epic movie, which made me think about just how radically their film industry must have changed since the end of the Communist era…which then made me wonder about the nature of the Treaty between the Light and the Dark (both sides eternally in balance and policing each other), and if the author intended to refer to the Cold War or if it’s such a part of Russian culture that it just pervades the literature. Or if I’m overreading a story of good and evil. (Either way, go and rent the film. And make sure you navigate Fox’s awfully packaged DVD properly, put in the back side and watch it in Russian, with the artistically integrated subtitling, the way it was actually released in the States and meant to be seen. Boo and boo again to Fox. Keep these peculiarly, delightfully Russian films Russian!)
December 31, 2006
Not that there haven’t been bizarre incidents in American sports over the past year, but I think Italy may have won the insane sporting story award for 2006 with the delivery of a severed goat head to a soccer GM as a Christmas present. No funny comments on this one, folks…the story wins.
December 29, 2006
Since I’ve fallen across this one (thanks to Cliff Johnson, brain-twisting author of The Fool’s Errand, who’s now grinding through the final stages of bugfixing on it’s sequel, The Fool And His Money, the game I’m most excited for in 2007! Jesus, enough commas? -ed.), I must now share the pain with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, I can’t find this one on YouTube, so the joy and the horror will be reserved for those brave enough to click.
December 28, 2006
Darn it! Now I want a Wii *and* a Roomba…
(Slowly spinning back up to blogging speed after the long absence…be patient!)
