"How clever Amazonians are" written by Terry on estrip.org

05/12/05 01:35 - ID#35726

How clever Amazonians are

Looking to quench my burning fantasy thirst, which has been reoccurring since early childhood, I turned to Amazon for a suitable selection. I don't intend to actually buy the books, just find promising ones and then borrow from our pretty expansive library collection. It's very handy for reviews and book covers (which usually have so little to do with what's inside, but nevertheless prove crucial) and synopsi and such. They added lists a couple years back where you can read the suggestions of other like-minded individuals (ie: the 21 must-read fantasy books of all time), and now have come up with SIP

or Statistically Improbable Phrases. I guess it's a catalog of oft-occurring phrases throughout the book, and extension of their "Search Inside! program" which displays the text of a limited amount of pages. Here's the SIP I got for this cheap fantasy novel I was looking at:

his inner barriers, tiny spiral horn, spear thread, large blackwood desk, shattered crystal chalices, dark psychic scent, communal eyrie, seduction tendrils, landing web, landen village, shattered chalice, gray jewels, controlling ring, jewel darker, gutter son, his dark wings, jewel chips, psychic thread, aristo families, bladed stick, witch storm, psychic tendril, fawn tail, snake tooth, her gold eyesQuoted from: Amazon.com: Books: Black Jewels Trilogy, The

Pretty neat stuff. I love the pure innovation. They got these anomalous phrases by first cataloging a vast amount of data and then isolating the various phrases within each book which occured significantly only within the pages of that particular book. So random yet oddly useful.

sidenote: My reluctance to use dictionaries has once again led me astray. Today's word of the day

is ameliorate which I thought I knew. I thought it meant to get rid of or to lessen or something. In fact it means, very logically, to grow better (think Spanish mejor=better). See, the problem is that it's always used with bad things (dict.com's examples include "ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances" and "ameliorate human suffering") which if they are ameliorated are in fact being diminished or done away with. If I ameliorate my TV addiction I am making it better but it is also lessening. Right? It wasn't like I was misunderstanding the word just misinterpreting it. Yeah.

Permalink: How_clever_Amazonians_are.html
Words: 406
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/09/05 01:44 - ID#35725

Vacation suggestions

Next week the boys and I have vacation time. Of course, we have failed to make any serious plans or decisions about exactly what we'll be doing or where we're going. We have vague ideas about Vermont and camping. Definitely something outdoorsy and cheap. Any ideas? We want to keep it relatively near (say a maximum driving distance of 8-10 hours) and relatively cheap. Please your suggestions are greatly appreciated.

sidenote: Kung Fu Hussle

was just great. Exactly my type of movie. Great Kung Fu masters from various schools with crazy techniques (like the Buddha Palm, the Lion's Roar, and the Leaping Toad) just pound out the action the entire time. It's just like an anime but with real actors and the hi-tech digigraphics to pull it off. If you liked Shaolin Soccer (thanks (e:shawnr) for that great recommendation) you've got to see this movie. It appears that it may not be here much longer (I just noticed there's only one showtime at Regal now) so go out and see it!

Permalink: Vacation_suggestions.html
Words: 183
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/06/05 11:59 - ID#35724

Basra wants a walk

To eat scrumptious dandelions. Where every step brings mouthfuls of green juiciness. He's been staring at me for 10 minutes now, pleading, "let me out." We'll see, it needs to be 65 for your cold-blooded tortoise metabolism. Else, you'll fall into a stupor. And then what good are all those tasty greens?

Permalink: Basra_wants_a_walk.html
Words: 50
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/01/05 01:48 - ID#35723

I am bowing to public pressure

my journal shall now have more graphic, more mundane, more sordid facts of life. I will report on Dave. And how we watched the Wall, a very important piece of artwork, We don't need no fucking teacher control. I'l tell all. Everything, goddamit. Just you wait and see!

Permalink: I_am_bowing_to_public_pressure.html
Words: 48
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/30/05 06:01 - ID#35722

Got to get out of the house!

I bought this video game on Thursday and have just forced myself to stop playing. I'm already over 19 hours. Yeah, pretty disgusting. So, I'm going outside now. I don't know where, and it's raining, but I'm going. Pick up an Artvoice, maybe find some exciting show to go to...maybe not...maybe come home and play video game...yummy video game...game...must...play...stop it !!! ahhhh. K, maybe I'll see some other wet peeps out and about. Probably not. Ciao.

Permalink: Got_to_get_out_of_the_house_.html
Words: 81
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/26/05 11:38 - ID#35721

Have to agree with Robin here

In reply to your post about cicumcision (e:shawnr) [inlink]shawnr,78[/inlink]. I agree that it is pretty barbaric and unnecessary to cut babies wee-wees, but it is not comparable to what is called female circumcison. Like (e:robin) said [inlink]robin,386[/inlink] they are cutting off the woman's entire clitoris not just a surrounding protective device. Most women are then unable to have any pleasure during intercourse, and many endure excruciating agony. Our dongs may look a little bare and uncovered (and maybe we really have lost a little sensitivity-though I can't see how that's measured) but most guys can manage to have a pretty good time with their uncovered glans, and certainly no one is in agony. But still, future parents, don't take a knife to your child. There just ain't no reason to anymore except vanity, and if you go to Europe or any other civilized place, that vanity will quickly become shame.

sidenote: the lights are back on on Main St. must have been a power failure or something.

Permalink: Have_to_agree_with_Robin_here.html
Words: 169
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/23/05 02:00 - ID#35720

driver in the dark

There are no streetlights between Ferry and Utica on Main. And I mean not a single one. Well, to be specific, there are lights, but they are not on. It starts a little before Ferry and then the next light is after Utica. Buffalo was the first place to have streetlights and we've digressed far enough that our Main st. is unlit. Oh the tragedy!

Permalink: driver_in_the_dark.html
Words: 65
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/22/05 01:55 - ID#35719

the miracles of modern science

Thanks to the demands of selective breeding we now only have to smoke half as much to get the same high our parents got. How exciting. Soon, I suppose we'll have only to swallow a little pill...oh wait...that's called marinol. So this big-ol' ad in the BuffNews seems to portray more powerful pot as a bad thing, when in fact, if you do try it you'll have less of a chance of smoking so much you'll develop lung cancer. And really, only hard-core dope-fiends really smoke a whole joint at a time. Almost everybody I know prefers some type of smaller device which contains roughly a quarter the amount of a typical joint.

I'd like to come up with a few ads featuring marijuana as the "antidrink."

"Don't want to wind up in a ditch and lose your licence?...Try marijuana. Marijuana has been proven to make users unusually tired and prone to falling asleep on the couch. Don't let yourself have the energy or motivation to get in that car. Try pot!"

Permalink: the_miracles_of_modern_science.html
Words: 177
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/17/05 04:47 - ID#35718

Lesson to self:

Do not play around with online ordering when 1) really really tired 2) slightly inebriated 3) any combination of the two.

About three weeks ago I ordered a router from Amazon. I was having a pretty decent case of number 3) above. We wanted a router that deals with both wireless and VOIP because now we have this awful mess under the monitors, which is not only unsightly but also very incompatible to the point of quasi-functionality.

So I got to the site and was looking at models and found two and got the one with two antennas instead of one (at (e:paul)'s suggestion).

So the package comes like two weeks ago, we find out by tracking it online. Problem number one, I had it sent to our old address. Whoops. So Paul and (e:matthew) go down and talk to someone who says it was delivered to the person that lives upstairs or something. They call UPS and find out it was delivered to a Newton who signed for it. Who signs for a package that is clearly not theirs? Anyways I got back from the LV and went down to the old hood myself to find the sitch out. I get the person upstairs who says the person downstairs got it and left it by the door marked RETURN. Far as I know UPS doesn't go door-to-door looking for packages to pick up. Whatev...

So I call Amazon, which has this really neat thing that you click on

and then your phone rings. So I got a nice guy who told me that I'd get a new one in a couple days. Cool. So on Monday we get our package. Guess what. Problem number 2: wrong friggin' modem!! Doesn't work with our Vonage at all. So now I have to return the stupid thing. Still debating whether I even want the right thing

now.

Permalink: Lesson_to_self_.html
Words: 382
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/12/05 02:50 - ID#35717

Back in Buffalo, out of time

I got back from Vegas about a week ago now. But I'm still outside of time, out of sync with life in general. My new work shift is 5 PM to 1:30 AM. It means I have afternoons free but can't manage to get to sleep till 4 at the earliest. It's taking some getting used to, but I'll be on it until about July, so I better cope. I have abandoned life outside of my house though. Hopefully with the advent of warmth that can change too.

Today I made fajitas (another weird side effect is that dinner has to be made around lunch time if at all), They look tasty.

I am convinced that just like women are pumped with fertility drugs and end up with sextuplets, peppers are pumped so full of something (or bred so specifically) that they have multiple babies growing inside them. I remember when I was young and we would get the odd pepper with babies and everyone would look at the freaky thing and comment. Nowadays everytime I buy a non-organic pepper it has babies. These last two were just nuts. These all came from just two peppers (an orange and a red). The green peppers were organic and had no babies.