Geek code - why do I do this, again?

So, it was pointed out to me today that my current Geek Code, shown at the bottom of every page of this blog, is significantly out of date. As I always mention when publishing these updates, version 3.12 of the Code was formulated in 1996, so my available options for the various categories aren't particularly reflective of how things really work in the world these days.

In any case, here's my new Code:

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GIT/MU d+@ s:+>: a->+++ C++> ULXB++++$ L+++ M++ w--() !O !V P++ E--- W+++
N o++ K? PS PE+ Y+ PGP++ t !5 X- R- tv+@ b++ DI++++ D--- G++ e*++ h r? y?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

If you really care about knowing what that all means, you either know the code already, or you can get it decoded for you here.

Today's xkcd

With a reference to Calvin & Hobbes... fantastic!

Dr. Fun

I was poking around some of my old bookmarks today and ran across the following comic. It's over 14 years old now, but it's still great (and probably my favorite from the entire run of Doctor Fun).

Dr. Fun - The shocking truth behind zucchini nut bread

Today's Wondermark

Good stuff.

Wondermark #463; In which the Future is Saved

Today's Dilbert

Heuristics!

In the wake of recent events

As is often the case, Dave Barry's humor column makes an important point.

You know what I miss? I miss 1960. Not the part about my face turning overnight into the world's most productive zit farm. What I miss is the way the grown-ups acted about the Kennedy-Nixon race. Like the McCain-Obama race, that was a big historic deal that aroused strong feelings in the voters. This included my parents and their friends, who were fairly evenly divided, and very passionate. They'd have these major honking arguments at their cocktail parties. But unlike today, when people wear out their upper lips sneering at those who disagree with them, the 1960s grown-ups of my memory, whoever they voted for, continued to respect each other and remain good friends.

What was their secret? Gin. On any given Saturday night they consumed enough martinis to fuel an assault helicopter. But also they were capable of understanding a concept that we seem to have lost, which is that people who disagree with you politically are not necessarily evil or stupid. My parents and their friends took it for granted that most people were fundamentally decent and wanted the best for the country. So they argued by sincerely (if loudly) trying to persuade each other. They did not argue by calling each other names, which is pointless and childish, and which constitutes I would estimate 97 percent of what passes for political debate today.

The rest of the column is good and funny, but this bit struck me as immensely poignant.

(hat tip to Doc Searls)

Dave Barry: And the winner is . . . the man with the martini | MiamiHerald.com

So…

First of all, I realize that this will be the third time I’ve had a blog post with this title, which might make this one a bit more ironic.

In any case, last night I was thinking about the American tendency to end sentences by trailing off into the conversational ether. For example, when people start a story or thought and then finish with “so…” without really coming to a full stop. I know I'm guilty of this myself at times, and I can’t really point fingers, so…

I’ve decided that the reason for this is mostly laziness. It’s basically saying, “I’ll lay down the tracks for this train of thought, but hopefully you can see where it leads and I won't actually have to articulate the whole thing.” Of course this is mostly done between people who know each other well enough to finish each others’ sentences anyway, but that still doesn’t excuse the ennui that leads to deliberately unfinished thoughts.

After all, when I used to be an editor (the links at the beginning of this post are quite old; that’s no longer my job) I would never let an author end a phrase with an ellipsis. Granted, I mostly dealt with sheet music, but I also edited the accompanying text and I'm passionate about the written word as well.

The “…” punctuation literally stands for an undefined, and possibly unuttered, group of words. For instance, if you wish to quote someone and leave out a portion, you'd use it in the place of what you blanked out: “Mary had a […] lamb.” When it's used deliberately (by that, I mean “not editorially”) at the end of a phrase or sentence, it leaves the intention of the writer completely up to the interpretation of the reader. And since my number-one priority as an editor and a writer is clarity, using an ellipsis in such a way is completely anathema to my preferred style.

That’s not to say that it doesn’t have its uses. In casual conversation (i.e. the spoken word, personal email), I suppose it can be tolerated quite a bit. And, in the hands of a skilled writer, it can be an interesting rhetorical device. However, when the intent is to convey information clearly, three dots in succession just don't belong anywhere.

My thoughts on this matter were perfectly punctuated this morning by the new Wondermark (link below). I don’t know whether to laugh at the absurdity or cry over the reference to modern lack of expression. I’ll probably do both.

Wondermark by David Malki ! - 420: In which One Thing sparks Another, and So On

Another comic link

I know I've linked to a lot of Webcomics of late, but when there's a talking musical instrument I'm just compelled to share it...

Wondermark by David Malki ! - 406: In which there's a Problem in the Orchestra

Malki does it again

Today's Wondermark is great... especially, of course, the mouse-over text.

Wondermark by David Malki ! - 402: In which Martin could rethink his Pastimes

Andy Ihnatko's Pearls of... Something

Andy noticed something new in his grocery store, and (wouldn't you know it) he just had to write something witty about it.

Nature's Most Perfect Food on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

TED's "T" falls over, Robin Williams brings the funny

At the TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), a technical glitch caused some "dead air" that was promptly filled by actor/comedian Robin Williams, who was in the audience.

Since I'm no longer sharing things via Google Reader, there'll be a lot more link-bloggish stuff like this on this blog...

Robin Williams Saves the Day at TED When Tech Fails | Epicenter from Wired.com

Webcomics Extravaganza

First, a pair of strips from Wondermark, the second of which actually made me laugh out loud. Thank goodness I got in earlier than everyone else this morning so nobody could hear me...

Wondermark by David Malki ! - 383: In which a Fortune is sought
Wondermark by David Malki ! - 384: In which are tried Unconventional Methods

And, since xkcd expressly allows republishing, here's today's strip (this one speaks to me very personally, of course):



As usual, check the text you see when you hold your mouse over the images for all three strips.

/me laughs out loud...

moar humorous pics

Today's FoxTrot

Priceless...

FoxTrot for February 17, 2008

Art for Geeks

"Paul the Wine Guy" has started a photoset on Flickr entitled "Understanding art for geeks." In it, he has taken famous works of art and overlaid some geeky "explanations" to help the visual-art-impaired figure out what is going on. It's also continuing to expand; he's added a few more since I looked at it a couple of days ago.

Here are a few of my favorites:
Andy Warhol
Paul Cézanne
Caravaggio
Auguste Rodin

The whole set is pretty great, though...

Understanding art for geeks - a photoset on Flickr

Here comes another bubble...

Thanks, Ze... this is great!

xkcd... still great

This is from Monday, but despite being a few days old it's still pretty awesome. As usual, the punchline is actually in the mouseover text.



xkcd - Success

That new dictionary is ginormous!

Well, the new edition of the official Meriam-Webster dictionary has been finalized, and there are plenty of words that now enjoy the status of being recognized by MW as parts of the English language.

I first heard the most outlandish new word in the movie Elf, where Will Ferrell's character (a human who was adopted and raised as an elf at the North Pole) exclaims "These toilets are ginormous!" when he first encounters a human-sized public restroom.

Additional newly-minted words include "sudoku," "smackdown," and "DVR."

New dictionary includes 'ginormous' - AP

What Should I Eat?

Great Wondermark... don't forget to check the image mouse-over text, which is the best part of this one.

Wondermark by David Malki ! - 310: In which Paul asks a Question of an Eel

xkcd did it again

Great stuff... I especially like the bit right after "visible light" and "UV light."

xkcd - Electromagnetic Spectrum - By Randall Munroe