I’m at the end of my rope. I must have seen this screen at least 30 times today:
It seems that Microsoft Word just doesn’t want me to accept changes. Seeing as the Track Changes feature is really the only reason to use Word in the first place, this is particularly frustrating. Please, somebody create a competitive program that is compatible with this feature! That way, the use of this program really could End Now.
I’ve wanted to own Christopher Guest‘s hilarious Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show since I saw them, but I never got around to buying them until A Mighty Wind was released and the three mockumentaries were offered together. Amazon.com’s free shipping, 25% discount, and additional $10 rebate convinced me to order The Christopher Guest Collection, and I can’t wait until it appears in my mailbox.
Finally, Spinal Tap won’t be so lonely on my shelf.
What does this look like to you?
Oh, how I miss Cambridge. The Holbrook Lab at Harvard observes the humor I often found in the following sign, posted outside Restaurant Changsho:
Clicking on the picture takes you to an appreciation of this sign that is equally appropriate from a denizen of that (no longer my) fair city.
I’m currently reading Nobody’s Fool, by Richard Russo. So far, it’s pretty good. It’s not quite as funny as Straight Man (one of the funniest books I’ve read in some time, on par with Chabon’s similarly themed Wonder Boys), but then it’s not quite as depressing as Empire Falls either. It strikes a good balance, making it both humorous and moving.
Just last week, I lamented the fact that my new web site did not support comments. I’ve now rectified this significant flaw, thanks to help from Enetation. (Since I can’t afford to donate money to them for this service, I thought I’d at least provide them with a little advertising.)
All you have to do is click the “comments(0)” link that follows my name and the time of the post, and you’re all set to post a comment directly to the page. I’ve tested it a bit, but you still might find it a little slow or buggy. If you have any trouble leaving a comment, please send me your feedback here, and I’ll get to work on a solution.
Fans of Magritte and/or Foucault might appreciate “this is not a web site,” which I stumbled upon inexplicably and quite by accident.
For today’s mindless diversion, check out your own name statistics and see if your name is as common as mine:
Brian is the #20 most common male name.
0.736% of men in the US are named Brian.
Around 901600 US men are named Brian!Sawyer is the #514 most common last name.
0.023% of last names in the US are Sawyer.
Around 57500 US last names are Sawyer!
Today’s my mother‘s birthday, so if you see her be sure to give her a gift, big hug, hearty handshake, or whatever the level of your relationship with her dictates. If you have no relationship with her at all, you should know that she’s the Barb behind Stitches by Barb. If you have even a passing interest in quilting, you should vist her web site for information on her patterns, fabrics, lectures, and classes.
Though by now this passage has become fairly ubiquitous in the blogosphere (see variations of it here, here, here, here, and here), few of my readers are likely to have seen it yet and some might find it interesting:
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
I actually first learned of it through an interoffice email, which attempted to flatter or patronize (I can’t decide which; you be the judge) myself and my fellow copyeditors:
Now, I am not saying all your work is unimportant. Everyone knows your work is important. But I thought you should see just how much can go wrong without hurting the sense of a passage. In fact, perhaps the evidence below shows why it’s so DIFFICULT to do a proof-read [sic].
At any rate, the only thing I might be able to add to the discussion is to point out David Harris’s update, which he blogged today:
I am quoted in today’s Daily Mail (London) news article about the scrambled letters meme. Bill Mouland, the journalist who wrote the piece, also contacted Dr Graham Rawlinson, now 54, living in West Sussex, who originally wrote about this idea in his Ph.D. thesis at age 27.
If you have any updates about the possible source of this fast-spreading linguistic ephemera, I’m sure David would appreciate it, as would I.
