imagine

You're in Hell. And you want to get out (has sound, is work-safe content).

Absolutely fabulous.

a periodic table of visualization methods

I think this may just be the coolest thing I have ever seen.

i can has lolcats?

Now that I have found a guide to lolcat grammar, I feel better about writing my own captions.

I found some pretty good ones on the Bar Exam Lolcats group, but now that I've found the generator...let's see...

note to self

Must remember. Do not tell judge that she is a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

so maybe i should lay off the postcards

I mean, look. This guy lost his disability insurance benefits and gained a criminal conviction and bar sanctions.

On the other hand, for him it wasn't just postcards, it was POSTCARDS.

"enough of these silly letters"

Sometimes a judge has just had enough (not to be confused with the lawyer who had enough in my last post).

i'll have another, your honor

This is amazing.

Amazing.

He lost his license.

permit and proceed

This description is confusing, but bear with me.

First, there was Second Life. I've signed up, but I have enough self-awareness by this age to recognize what a thief of time this could be for me.

Second, there was First Life, or more accurately Get A First Life. This competent parody site had a link that invited cease-and-desist letters to be posted on the author's blog.

Third--oh, well-played indeed--Linden Labs's lawyer responded with a parody of a cease-and-desist letter. Memorably, Ginsu Yoon replied in pertinent part:

Linden Lab objects to any implication that it would employ lawyers incapable of distinguishing such obvious parody. Indeed, any competent attorney is well aware that the outcome of sending a cease-and-desist letter regarding a parody is only to draw more attention to such parody, and to invite public scorn and ridicule of the humor-impaired legal counsel. Linden Lab is well-known for having strict hiring standards, including a requirement for having a sense of humor, from which our lawyers receive no exception.

the biology of boredom

It's not my fault I can't concentrate on stupid stuff. So there.

for those idle office hours

Just the thing while waiting for those long jobs to print.

happy, um...

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress,
nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the holiday of your choice, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular
practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular
persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice
religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and
medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally
accepted Gregorian calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for
the calendars of choice of other cultures, and without regard to the
race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual
preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:

This greeting is subject to clarification, modification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no
promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for
her- or himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is
revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted
to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for
a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday
greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement
of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the
wisher.

No trees were harmed in the posting of this message;
however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.

why i can't find my keys

It turns out that different layers of the brain process information at different speeds. Very cool stuff.

the dorsal striatum and the prisoner's dilemma

As far as I know, researchers in neurology and the game theory types aren't talking much to one another, which is a shame. I have in hand a fascinating article called "The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment" that is causing me to rethink many of my assumptions about how to apply the Prisoner's Dilemma in my daily business life.

The gist of this article, which can be found readily in full text on the Web, is that people derive a sense of satisfaction that can be empirically observed and measured in the dorsal striatum from punishing violations of social norms. This sense of satisfaction can seem more desirable than avoiding economic costs. I am tired enough tonight that the deeper implications of this seem too obvious to explain.

It also makes me wonder if the converse is also true. Do we derive a sense of dissatisfaction from observing violations of social norms that we are unable to punish? This might explain why I've never really liked Rigoletto.

subversive cross-stitch

I really, really want a sampler that says WTF? for my office. Even though embroidery has always given me a severe case of the fidgets, I am willing to make the sacrifice in order to enhance my own subversive office decor.

the bryn mawr college cookbook

What's cool about this is that I sort of watched this book being built, because the recipes were collected through the alumnae listserv. Truth to be told (and I always do) I didn't pay much attention to the whole process other than to idly note that the recipes flying about during the testing process all sounded pretty good. I've never seen a book written that way before.

The cookbook is also available in hard copy (paperback), but the .pdf version has the simultaneous salutary qualities of being the cheapest and making the most money for the College. Anassa kata.