Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

People are complicated. Love is not.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Let me file that under fuck it.

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Quick, look around and grab the closest book to where you’re sitting. No scooting over to that unopened copy of Whitehead’s Function of Reason, cheater, just grab what’s nearby. Willing to say what it is?

Tom Levenson just tagged me with the “123” meme so it looks like I have no choice. My mission, should I choose to accept it:

* look up page 123 in the nearest book
* look for the fifth sentence
* then post the three sentences that follow that fifth sentence on page 123.

Tom appears to have put off answering until he could get closer to his copy of On The Origin of Species. Hmm. We’ll have to run that past the rules committee.

As for me, I’m still sitting right where I was when Tom tagged me at 3:00, so let’s see…uh oh. Right next to my MacBook is Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, fourth edition in paperback. What do you think is the likelihood that I will find three consecutive rules that I respect all the way through an average day of blogging? Me think odds not good. Lucky for me my copy ends at page 105.

Next closest is Les Âmes Grises by Philippe Claudel. I hope you speak French.

En définitive, Matziev, même si je l’ai connu quand il a tourné ordure, valait bien mieux que lui. Au moins, une fois dans sa vie, il n’a pas fait honte a sa qualité d’homme. Qui peut en dire autant?

For those who don’t speak romance languages like you should, I took advantage of AltaVista’s free online tool to translate the passage from French to German to English. Enjoy.

Finally, Matziev, even if I knew it, if it turned waste, were worth very better than it. At least once in its life RK it dishonor quality has its man quality. Who can say of it just as much?

Postmodern!

As for who to tag next, it’s a tough call; bloggers as a whole tend to be literate people with interesting perspectives. For various reasons I pick Fester, PZ Meyers and Jim Henley.

***

Oh, by the way. Beatboxing.

Reader Interactions

185Comments

  1. 1.

    4tehlulz

    You asked for it:

    They do not show the quality of image to be attained in the final printing, but they provide a means of checking the accuracy of the contents. As with repro, the editor should check to see that all parts are in place and all previous corrections have been made. Blues should also be scanned by both editor and designer or production department for extraneous marks or type blemishes that me be caused by dirt or debris on the negative (see also 3.35).

    Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed., Section 3.57, “Blueprints.”

    If I wasn’t at work, it would have been something much more interesting. Manga probably.

  3. 3.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    It was the middle of a slow afternoon on a cold day in the Rockies, and there were only a few paying customers at the bar, all of them deeply engrossed in their own business…. They were locals, cowboys, and gamblers, and the last thing any one of them needed was a high-speed Italian motorcycle.
    The stranger took a long look at the place, then slumped on a bench near the window and ordered a sloe gin sling. — Generation of Swine, Hunter S. Thompson

  5. 5.

    shera

    From “Kushiel’s Justice,” by Jacqueline Carey:

    Alais looked away, and I saw her throat move as she swallowed. Although I’d spoken gently, they were harsher words than I’d ever said to her. “Are you. . . do you mean to ask Father about the Maghuin Dhonn and why the ollamh wouldn’t talk about them?”

    Given the state of my apartment, this just won out over the Bluebook and a bodice-ripper (which shall remain unnamed).

  7. 7.

    Zifnab

    If you needed a date data type to use in comparison formulas or other formulas that worked well with dates, you had to perform fairly involved conversion routines to pick apart a date string. You needed to determine its individual month / day / year parts, convert these to numbers, and supply them to the Date function. For example, if your legacy database contained dates in string fields formatted as “mm/dd/yyyy,” you would have used a combination of string subscripts, the ToNumber function, and the Date function to turn them into dates.

    Crystal Reports 8.5: The Complete Reference

  8. 8.

    Matthew White

    “Waterhouse Rejoiced that

    ‘This work I found contained just what I wished, a series of experiments, conducted by a learned physician, long conversant with the causal and inoculated small-pox, in the largest city in the world. The publication bore an additional weight from the opinion given me by Dr. Haygarth of the book and author.’

    As a result, Woodville’s book, rather than than the memoir promised, became the topic of Waterhouse’s second letter to the Academy.”

    From Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse: A Life in Medicine and Public Service (1754-1846) by Philip Cash

  9. 9.

    Tax Analyst

    Uh…”JK Lasser’s, Your Income Tax 2007″ The three sentences following the 5th sentences are so boring and meaningless to virtually any sentient being on the planet that I have chosen to redact them. They are bout “…bonds, debentures, other evidences of indebtedness of the buyer that are readily tradeable in an established securities market.” This may be the most boring part of the whole damned book. (It’s actually a very good book for Tax research, by the way – but wholely uninteresting if you have no specific need or reason to be in it.)

  10. 10.

    plus C

    Obtain the node-voltage equations for the circuit in Fig. 3.111 by inspection. Then solve for v0.

    Find the voltage v0 in the circuit of Fig. 3.112.
    For the circuit shown in Fig. 3.113, write the node-voltage equations by inspection.

    Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, 3rd ed.
    Not much of a plot.

  11. 11.

    SGEW

    But I saw no crimes in the individuals that merited confiscation of their substance, nor those cruel insults and degradations, and that unnatural persecution which have been substituted in the place of meliorating regulation. If there had been any just cause for this new religious persecution, the atheistic libellers, who act as trumpeters to animate the populace to plunder, do not love anybody so much as not to dwell with complacency on the vices of the existing clergy. This they have not done. They find themselves obliged to rake into the histories of former ages (which they have ransacked with a malignant and prolifigate industry) for every instance of oppression and persecution which has been made by that body or in its favor in order to justify, upon very iniquitous, because very illogical, principles of retaliation, their own persecutions and their own cruelties. After destroying all other genealogies and family distinctions, they invent a sort of pedigree of crimes.

    Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.

    Man, that guy could write. And how pretentious is it for this to be the book that’s actually closer to hand? (I wish th’ Paine was closer to hand than th’ Burke, but there you go). Blame my Jurisprudence professor.

    (I’ve got a LeCarre novel nearby, but I’d have to stand up to reach it)

  12. 12.

    gypsy howell

    “I am talking about the sin against society of which you are guilty.”
    “What?” Mr Gonzales’s lower lip quivered.
    “Attack!” Ignatius cried to the battalion. “This man is totally without charity!”

  13. 13.

    Zifnab

    If I wasn’t at work, it would have been something much more interesting. Manga probably.

    Tosan! Itakimasu! Douchte!

  14. 14.

    Wilfred

    Ok, From Nigel Harris’ Beliefs in Society: The Problem of Ideology (1968)

    The ‘solution’, however, suggests mass disloyalty would be a reasonable response to a new economic crisis.
    It might be noted, in passing, that pre-war corporatist theory saw the integration of society in terms of corporations corresponding to social, occupational or professional strata, estates: so that, for example, labour might be organized in ore corporation, capital in another. The accounts briefly examined here, by contrast, see all strata of society bound up in a series of vertically organized corporations: the workers, managers, owners and others employed in General Motors will be solely represented by General Motors itself.

  15. 15.

    Roonieroo

    Closest book? Okay…

    To rebuild all catalogs associated with a database, complete the following steps:

    1. Start SQL Server Management Studio, and then connect to a server.
    2. Use Object Explorer view to access a database. Expand the server noe and the Databases node.

    That’s what you get when I’m working. Depressing huh? SQL Server 2005 Adminstrators Pocket Consultant. Wheeeeeeee

  16. 16.

    p.a.

    The TX(transmitter) receives analog and digital RF signals, and modulates the RF signals onto a 1550nm optical stream at 8dBm of output power.

    The TX output is routed to an optical Pre_Amp which provides

    z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z …

  17. 17.

    gypsy howell

    In case we were supposed to reveal what the book was, mine from above:

    A Confederacy of Dunces.

    But you all knew that.

  18. 18.

    calipygian

    “How’s all de folks on de old plantation everywhere I roam? Hello, dad. No, it isn’t cocktails – least, just one very small cocktail – it’s youthful spirits!”

    I’ll shit myself if anyone knows where that is from.

  19. 19.

    Digital Amish

    Kohout Jack & Jan 282 W. Bluff Dr ***-4362

    Kokopelli Grill 203 E. Front St. ***-8181
    Kokrda Shellie & Randi ***-0303

    It’s only interesting if Lauren Bacall is reading it.

  20. 20.

    J. Michael Neal

    He’s got a huge problem controlling his temper, a problem that has resulted in arrests off the field, multiple suspensions, huge arguments with umpires, teammates, and coaches, and a reputation as one of the worst headcases in the game. It’s sad, really, given that Dukes has immense natural talent, has developed good skills to go with it, and actually seems to work hard at baseball on the field. He just can’t seem to get a handle on the emotional side of the game, and life itself, it seems.

    John Sickels, The Baseball Prospect Book 2007

    That’s much better than if the 2008 book had been at the top of the stack. There, you would have gotten the last sentence of the Matt Dominguez report, as well as the first two sentences of Jason Donalds’. Elijah Dukes makes for much more interesting reading.

  21. 21.

    p.a.

    Digital Amish Says:

    Kohout Jack & Jan 282 W. Bluff Dr ***-4362

    Kokopelli Grill 203 E. Front St. ***-8181
    Kokrda Shellie & Randi ***-0303

    It’s only interesting if Lauren Bacall is reading it.

    I’ve heard it said Van Morrison could sing the phone book and make it worthwhile to listen.

  22. 22.

    p.lukasiak

    Great. I have hundreds of books behind me, and nothing at all at the desk. I only open book I have (which is in the bedroom) is Solzehnitzen’s Lenin in Zurich. (just finished all three parts of Gulag Archipelago, thank you very much!)

    so, I’ll use Lenin in Zurich…

    The combat groups should not wait, there will be no regular training. Let each group begin training itself — if only by beating up policemen! Or by killing a plainclothsman!

  23. 23.

    gypsy howell

    I’ll shit myself if anyone knows where that is from.

    No way could that happen here, calipygian
    ;-)

  24. 24.

    garyb50

    “The crack as the frame was shunted wide, leaving the door with nowhere to go but in and down, forced hard to the floor by the fleet of the SO19 officers who streamed across it into Conrad Allen’s flat.

    In a matter of seconds the shot was empty again, a flat shadow beyond the doorway, while its chaotic sound track was broadcast from half a dozen radios, exploding like bursts of gunfire from the speaker.

    Bouncing between the metal walls of the van: a collision and a curse; an order given to get out of the way; and an instruction to anyone on the premises to make themselves fucking visible very fucking quickly.”

  25. 25.

    4tehlulz

    Tosan! Itakimasu! Douchte!

    lulz. Actually, if I remember right, it would have been Eden, not really known to make weaboos break out the KAWAII DESU NE!

  26. 26.

    flavortext

    I don’t want their stories included with mine!
    Then, too, I must explain that I always dismantle magazines with my stories in them, because I just can’t manage to keep intact those magazines containing my stories. There are too many magazines and not enough room.

    Isaac Asimov, Buy Jupiter (1975). Still haven’t finished it, sadly.

  27. 27.

    Tom Levenson

    No…really. I swear. The nearest book was The Origin. I just couldn’t blog till I got home last night and I left the book right where it sat on my desk, waiting for me to do some heavy duty procrastination this morning.

    Meanwhile, your commenters,Tim, make any of my claims of preemptive geekiness pale. Good crowd.

  28. 28.

    ArtB

    In fact the difference method is quite flexible and may be used to evaluate sums even when each term cannot be expressed as in (4.6). The method still relies, however, on being able to write u_n in terms of a single function such that most terms in the sum cancel, leaving only a few terms at the beginning and end. This is best illustrated by example.

  29. 29.

    srv

    Well, that didn’t work – one is a compilation with each chapter renumbered, the other is poetry and the fifth sentence runs to the next page. So it’s a tie between two sitting together, and I pick this:

    When other oficers had followed his urging and introduced loyartly oaths of their ow, he wetn them one better by making evrey son of a bitch who came to his intelligence tent sign two loyalty oaths, then three, then four; then he introduced the pledge of allegiance, and after that “The Star-Spangled Banner,” one chorus, two choruses, three choruses, four choruses. Each time Captain Bloack forged ahead of his cometitors, he swung upon them scornfully for their failure to follow his example. Each time they followed his example, he retreated with concern and racked his brain for some new stratagem that would enable him to turn upon them scornfully again.

    Catch-22, Joseph Heller

  31. 31.

    srv

    When other oficers had followed his urging and introduced loyatly oaths of their own, he went them one better by making every son of a bitch who came to his intelligence tent sign two loyalty oaths, then three, then four; then he introduced the pledge of allegiance, and after that “The Star-Spangled Banner,” one chorus, two choruses, three choruses, four choruses. Each time Captain Black forged ahead of his competitors, he swung upon them scornfully for their failure to follow his example. Each time they followed his example, he retreated with concern and racked his brain for some new stratagem that would enable him to turn upon them scornfully again.

    fixed

  32. 32.

    Sirkowski

    The government will not use the personnal information you enter here for any purpose other than to register you to vote.

    By filling out this form, you attest you are a United States citizen and that you will be 18 years old on or before Election Day.

    (If you will not be 18 on or before Election Day but could pass for 18 and need some quick cash, fill out form V-18, available in basement room B-05 after 7 p.m. Ask Carlos)

    The first book was a comic book, but it didn’t have 123 pages. :p

  34. 34.

    Patrick

    Caution must be exercised to keep the brushes and cleaning liquid lines clean to prevent secondary contamination. Also, the brush height above the wafer must be maintained to prevent scratching the wafer surface.

    Surfactants may be added to the DI water to increase the cleaning effectiveness and prevent static buildup.

  35. 35.

    Joey Maloney

    O’Reilly’s Javascript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Ed., familiarly known as the Rhino.

    Let’s see, not counting code snippets:

    This syntax still works in JavaScript 1.2, but its use is discouraged.

    Every function has a prototype property that refers to a predefined prototype object. This prototype object comes into play when the function is used as a constructor with the new operator; it has a very important role to play in the process of defining new object types.

    Boring, but there you have it.

  36. 36.

    Gus

    Why should we speak Romance languages? Why doesn’t this Phillipe Claudel speak American? It was good enough for Jesus.

  37. 37.

    Jay in Oregon

    Heh, you’re lucky, because my closest book has 124 pages.

    The dir([object]) function is useful for inspecting attribute namespaces; print object.__doc__ often gives documentation.
    print and raw_input() use sys.stout/stdin streams: assign to file-like objects to redirect I/O internally (or use new print >> file, text statement format.
    Use from__future__import featurename to enable experimental language features that may break existing code.

    From Python Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition.

  38. 38.

    Oregon guy

    Hmmm.

    For assessment, the C/J/G/S2X section and specifically the HOC –
    – Monitors all HUMINT reporting to ensure that requirements are being met.
    – Refocuses efforts of assigned assets as needed.

    12-10. The HUMINT operations section (if one exists) and the OMTs of tasked collection units determine which HCTs are best suited to meet specific collection requirements. The team leader of the tasked HCT selects the specific collectors and sources to meet collection requirements, reviews the collection plan, provides technical support to the collectors, coordinates with the supported unit, and monitors all team reporting for format and content. He identifies additional lines of questioning and approaches required to fulfill collection requirements.

    FM 2-22.3 HUMAN INTELLIGENCE COLLECTOR OPERATIONS, September 2006.

    The Army knows how to write the worst run-ons EVAR.

  39. 39.

    Scrutinizer

    Figure 5.13 illustrates frequency response curves for a typical NSOM fiber probe in air (ambient) and in water. Notice that the response peak broadens in water as a result of the added viscous damping from the water. Figure 5.14 shows a plot of the tip amplitude (inverted) versus tip-sample separation under ambient conditions.

    —Near Field Optics: Theory, Instrumentation, and Applications. Michael A. Paesler, Patrick J. Moyer; Wiley Interscience,1996.

  40. 40.

    null pointer exception

    For example, this class defines a method called getNodeValue(), which returns a String. Sounds like a good idea, right? Without having to cast the Node to a specifict type, you can quickly get its value. However, things get a little sticky when you consider types like Element.

    Java and XML. Bleh.

  41. 41.

    Keith

    More sophisticated report items such as the list, table, and matrix may be used to create tabular and pivot reports that perform functions like aggregate, subtotal, and group and provide drill-down and drill-through functionality. Data formatting can be achieved using simple, standard format strings, explicit format expressions, and conditional logic that uses programming functions and expressions. Several report items can be used to paginate a report statically or based on the size and content of data regions.

  42. 42.

    Ellie Smith

    I think we can balance this tech-speak with a little more subversive literature:

    You die a thousand casual deaths–with none of that intensity which squeezes out life…and no blood runs cold anywhere. Because even as you die you know that you will come back in a different hat. But no one gets up after death–there is no applause–there is only silence and some second-hand clothes and that’s–death—

    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard. Bonus points for anyone who know what Guildenstern does next!

  43. 43.

    Bill Arnold

    Eek. From the prehistory (aka pre-internet) of computer science, Knuth vol 3,
    “The worst case is still of order N**2, but such slow behavior will hardly ever occur. W.D. Frazer and A.C. McKella [JACM 17 (1970), 496-507] have suggested taking a much larger sample of 2**k-1 records, where k is chosen so that 2**k approximately equals N/ln(N). The sample can be sorted by the usual quicksort method, then inserted among the remaining records by taking k passes over the file (partitioning it into 2**k subfiles, bounded by the elements of the sample).”

  44. 44.

    dadanarchist

    From Margaret Duras, “L’Amant” (Éditions de Minuit) – [I’m in France at the moment and not just ripping you off]

    “Et elle, elle continue à s’abandonner dans la direction exacte qu’il a prise quand il a commencé à jouer. Et d’un seul coup c’est elle qui le supplie, elle ne dit pas de quoi, et lui, il lui crie de se taire , il crie qu’il ne veut plus d’elle, qu’il ne veut plus jouir d’elle, el les voici de nouveau pris entre eux, verrouillés entre eux dans l’épouvante, et voici que cette épouvante se défait encore, qu’ils lui cèdent encore, dans les larmes, le désespoir, le bonheur. [paragraph breal] Il se taisent tout au long du soir.”

  45. 45.

    BettyPageisaBlonde

    Oy.

    In this example, myFirstBall and mySecondBall have the same constructor (i.e. are both objects derived from the same cladss), but they exist as separate unequal) instances:

    function Ball() {
    //….initialization code goes here….
    }
    myFirstBall = new Ball();
    mySecondBall = new Ball();
    myFirstBall == mySecondBall // false

    As shown in Chapter 3, composite data values are compared by reference, not by value.

    ActionScript for FlashMX by Colin Moock*

    Geek. I know.

    *I’m working on learning AS3, just not today.

  46. 46.

    Keith

    Bonus points for anyone who know what Guildenstern does next!

    Well, since about all they do is flip coins, I will go with that, friendo.

  47. 47.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    Whenever you use a class, you’ll probably want to inherit features from other, more-general classes, and have other, more-specific classes inherit features from it. These are the normal semantics you get from classes in the UML. However, you can also specify that a class may have no children.

    The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, 2nd ed.

  48. 48.

    stickler

    Oh, I’ll play.

    Borbet and Rohland represented successive generations of metallurgical militarism on the Ruhr. Borbet was a nationalist of the old school. He was also a committed gun-maker, who harboured a lifelong envy of Krupp for the priority it claimed in armaments manufacture. During World War I Borbet had pioneered the introduction of low-cost gun steels requireing a minimum of imported alloys, and in the 1920s he made the Bochumer Verein into one of the centres for the development of centrifugal casting, a revolutionary process in which gun barrels, rather than being bored out of solid steel ingots, were spun out of molten metal.

    From Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy, Viking 2006. Tooze is describing the consolidation of the German steel industry before 1939. During the war, Walter Rohland’s Deutsche Edelstahlwerke would be the leading manufacturer of Panzer hulls. Borbet’s technological innovation made low cost mass-production of 88mm cannon possible.

    I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Tooze does a masterful job.

  49. 49.

    t jasper parnell

    Insufficient public attention has been given, on the whole, to the law which, shortly before the outbreak of the present war, created two new grades in the military hierarchy. For a long time there was no higher rank than that of General of Division. It was left to the GHQ to determine what function officers holding that rank should perform, and they might just as likely be appointed to the command of an army, or even to that of all armies, as to a corps, or, still more logically, a division.

    Marc Bloch, “Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940”

  51. 51.

    Pb

    Torina56: any females out there want to talk

    BAbby23: 16/m

    SpinGle2345: age 23/m

    — Naked Pictures of Famous People, Jon Stewart (“Vincent and Theo on AOL”)

    …too bad you missed the first five sentences.

  52. 52.

    myiq2xu

    Do y’all really want me to tell you what’s on page 123 of “It Takes a Village?”

    It’s either that or “Penthouse Forum”

  53. 53.

    demimondian

    Fitted natural-spline functions for each of the trams in the final model select by the stepwise procedure. Included are pointwise standard-error bands. The *rug plot* at the base of each figure indicates the location of each of the sample values for that variable (jittered to break ties).

    — _The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction_, Hastie, et al.

  54. 54.

    Bubblegum Tate

    Most commonly, the instrument’s output is plugged directly into the D.I. box (where it is stepped down in level and impedence) and the box’s output is then fed to the console or mixer. If a “dirtier” sound is desired, certain boxes allow for high-level signals to be taken directly from an amplifier’s external speaker jack.

    A DI box and microphone can be mixed to create a subtle combination of the punchy, full sound of the mic with the crispness of the direct sound.

    —Modern Recording Techniques, Fourth Edition

  55. 55.

    Laertes

    Python’s strings serve the same role as character arrays in languages such as C, but they are a somewhat higher-level tool than arrays. Unlike in C, in Python strings come with a powerful set of processing tools. Also, unlike languages such as C, Python has no special type for single characters (like C’s char); instead, you just use one-character strings.

    Snooz.

  56. 56.

    gogiggs

    “He did not mention Everett and Parmenter by name. He did not tell them who their target was or where the shooting would take place. He would let details drop, here and there, in time, as need dictated.”

    From “Libra” by Don Delillo.

    The exercise actually stops one sentence short of, perhaps, the most important sentence in the book, “The other thing he did not say is that they were supposed to miss”.

  57. 57.

    Alex

    The second-closest book to me is Effective C++: Third Edition, which yields some boring stuff about why explicit casting of data types is bad practice.

    Fortunately, I realized that my bookbag is closer and contains some pleasure reading that yields this:

    You might smirk at the menu’s relentless use of proper-noun pedigrees, but the overall Chez Panisse experience is, in a word, unpretentious.

    Yet, paradoxically, no restaurant in America has inspired, yea, invited, more cultish worship and precious food-crit overdrive. Chez Panisse is the ultimate manifestation of the baby boomers’ contribution to the American food revolution, tracing its bloodlines directly to the Free Speech Movement that rocked the University of California’s Berkeley campus in late 1964.

    David Camp: The United States of Arugula: The Sun-Dried, Cold-Pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution

  58. 58.

    bryanD

    The five sons of Eirik returned to Norway, together with their mother Gunnhild, now fairly to be entitled konungamo(th)ir, Mother of Kings. Hakon’s nephew Tryggvi Olafson still held his eastern territories and Gudrod Bjarnarson ruled over Vestfold. North, in Trondheim province, jarl Sigurd held sway.

  59. 59.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Side Panel Into Metal-Mark the metal blank for the fender side panel using the pattern as a guide. Use a soft-lead pencil-never use a scriber-where stretching, shrinking or special work is required. Cut out the blank and shape it using the rendering as your guide.

    Ron & Sue Fournier, Metal Fabricators Handbook

    I am in my garage…lol

  60. 60.

    calipygian

    gypsy howell Says:

    I’ll shit myself if anyone knows where that is from.

    No way could that happen here, calipygian

    Damn you, creators of Google! Damn you all to HELL!

    And public domain books suck, too.

  61. 61.

    mantis

    Technical prescience aside, Paradoxes of the Infinite is also remarkable for its metaphysical agenda. In this, too, it resembles TNS and some of Cantor’s later work. Bolzano’s basic deal is that he disavows the Aristo-Scholastic chain of being and believes the created universe to be both infinite in expanse and infinitely divisible.

    Everything and More: A Compact History of ∞ by David Foster Wallace

  63. 63.

    scav

    A dictionary, we’re in trouble. Kluging a bit.
    [electron] – microscope, an instrument of immense magnifying power in which controlled rays of electrons are used instead of light rays.
    e-lect-tro-neg-a-tive (…) a. carrying a negative charge of electricity.
    e-lect-trop-a-thy (…) n. treatment of disease by means of electricity.

    In defense of my lifestyle, next to it were “Clear Technical Writing” and “The Oxford Book of Days” which is a clear indication of how little lifestyle I have to defend.

  64. 64.

    Halteclere

    If you turn only hardwood, you may want to increase the angle a bit. Roughing gouges take an incredible beating and need sturdy bevel angles so survive. As usual, you want to lowest bevel angle consistent with edge retention, but with this tool that angle is larger that you might ordinarily expect.

    The Complete Guide to Sharpening

  67. 67.

    bago

    6. (a) If 30 records with keys that map to the first three primary storage tracks are added to the sequential file of Figure 4.2, what would be the greatest number of records possible in an overflow chain? (b) the smallest number in an overflow chain? (c) an average number?

    From File organization and Processing, by Alan L. Tharp.

    I’ve been working in the DataMines, all the live-long day.

  68. 68.

    Apsalar

    “I gather from your reaction,” says the Main Guy, “that this has been of continuing interest to you as well.”

    Waterhouse wonders what his reaction was. Did he grow fangs?

    Cryptonomicon.

  69. 69.

    srv

    ‘metallurgical militarism’?

    At least there’s something other than just normal geekp0rn. I’ll have to learn the differences between centrifugal and spin casting now.

  71. 71.

    John S.

    It focuses your thinking and your promotional efforts. It guides and governs your decisions about how to promote yourself. This short phrase serves as an anchor that helps people remember what you do.

    Self-Promotion for the Creative Person by Lee Silber

    He is referring to a tagline, of course.

  72. 72.

    R. Stanton Scott

    Fortune’s Warriors by James Davis:

    “The combined ferocity of the attack front and rear was too much and the Veronese broke. Ordelafi tried to call forward his own horsemen, but the human tide of his fleeing army made it impossible. Hawkwood’s archers dismounted and fired shaft after shaft into the panicked ranks of Veronese.”

  73. 73.

    Geoduck

    The nearest book I can reach while typing at this computer? Fine. Depending on how nitpicky you are about the definition of “sentence”…

    Sounds like pure Lovecraft, but this remains far from the Arkham territory that H.P. so vividly explored in his literate, blood-chilling tales. Directecd by Daniel Haller. Lex Baxter’s music is the best thing in this James H. Nicholson-Samuel Z. Arkoff production.

    –Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again by John Stanley

    Can anyone ID the movie being described without going to the IMDB?

  74. 74.

    ttw229

    These relative distances customarily were expressed in terms of the distance from the earth to the sun, a quantity known as the astronomical unit. But nobody knew what the distance to the sun might be; in other words, the value of the astronomical unit had not been determined. Here was a clear challenge.

    Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris

  75. 75.

    Delia

    “Don’t you think you’ve played enough today?”

    “Nonsense! Grab a bat and we’ll play to the first point.”

    I picked up a bat as a ball careened past me.

    Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book

    At least I was doing fiction.

  76. 76.

    ThymeZone

    The distance is about 580 geographical miles, and the journey is generally performed in fifty days. These wagons are very long, narrow, and thatched with reeds; they have only two wheels, the diameter of which in some cases is as much as ten feet. Each is drawn by six bullocks, which are urged on by a goad at least twenty feet long: this is suspended from within the roof; for the wheel bullocks a smaller one is kept; and for the intermediate pair, a point projects at right angles from the middle of the long one.

    The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin.

  77. 77.

    Z

    One final note: although this program runs correctly even if there are multiple observations with the same BY variable in both data sets, you would be wise to check for unexpected duplicates as described in the previous chapter or to use the NODUPKEY option of PROC SORT on one of the datasets.

    Let’s “play computer” to see how this program works. Both data sets contain an observation for PATNO=1.

    Cody’s Data Cleaning Techniques, Using SAS Software- Ron Cody

    The next nearby book was SAS Programmer’s Pocket Reference… that was even more boring.

  79. 79.

    pharniel

    The observed effect vary, ranging from mild phobias to full-blown dementia. Oddly enough, Malkavian neonates seem largely immune to the mind-warping aspects of the Embrace itself; it is the members of the other clans that need to watch their childer’s transitions carefully.
    Less pressing, but with longer-term consequences, is the peril of doing too much damage to a potential childe before the Embrace.

    *Guide to the Camarilla* by White Wolf

    I’m at home on the box top flying from undercity to burning steps for my epic ‘lock mount quest, and at the same time trying to liquidate my old Vt:M stuff on e-bay.

    sadly i think that’s the most interesting book near me right now.
    (Switching and finite automata theory not being that engaging)

  80. 80.

    Mortimer

    The seas, therefore, which struck us to starboard were much broken by the vessel’s side, only reaching us in fragments as we lay flat on our faces; while those which came from larboard, being what are called backwater seas, and obtaining little hold upon us on account of our posture, had not sufficient force to drag us from our fastenings.

    In this frightful situation we lay until the day broke so as to show us more fully the horrors which surrounded us. The brig was a mere log, rolling about at the mercy of every wave; the gale was upon the increase, if anything, blowing indeed a complete hurricane, and there appeared to us no earthly prospect of deliverance.

  81. 81.

    tessellated

    Every one who has done any kind of creative work has experienced, in a greater or lesser degree, the state of mind in which, after long labour, truth, or beauty, appears, or seems to appear, in a sudden glory — it may be only about some small matter, or it may be about the universe. The experience is, at the moment, very convincing; doubt may come later, but at the time there is utter certainty. I think most of the best creative work, in art, in science, in literature, and in philosophy, has been the result of such a moment.

    “A History of Western Philosophy” — Bertrand Russell

  82. 82.

    Mike P.

    “I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard the phrase, ‘You went to Dartmouth? I find that hard to believe.’

    THE BAD NEWS
    Admissions is an arbitrary and demoralizing process, and no matter how hard you work, The outcome is often determined by personal connections. You know what else is like that?

    Life.
    +++++++++++++++++++++

    From Steven Colbert’s “I Am America. (And So Can You!)”

    I don’t know, does the sentence within the sentence count as a separate sentence…. And what about..

  83. 83.

    Mortimer

    Sorry – Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was on top of it, but that was too easy…

  85. 85.

    Chris Johnson

    I win. By cheating. The closest book is through a wall, and I’m ignoring some Apple Logic manuals, and if it was physically larger it would’ve been ‘Dune’, AND I’m counting scribbles and letterhead as sentences as it’s a photostat page, but it was SO worth it…

    You treacherous jabbering pimp! I have people in Washington who will jerk you up by the back of your pants and shoot you full of angel dust and slam you onto the Bush campaign bus with your nails painted pink and your mouth blazing fiery red lipstick and your fly open and the tips sliced off of your thumbs.

    Guess who ;)

  87. 87.

    DougJ

    Later we shall have something to say about another special case: transitive action of a Lie group G on a manifold.

    William M. Boothby, An Introduction To Differentiable Manifolds and Riemannian Geometry.

  88. 88.

    Darkness

    “So formal?” she asked, her tone arch. “When we are to be family soon?”
    Maledicte stiffened like an affronted cat.

  89. 89.

    gypsy howell

    Damn you, creators of Google! Damn you all to HELL!

    I’m so disappointed that you think I didn’t know the citation without teh googelz.

    Of course, you’d be right.

    :-D

    But if it makes any difference, I *have* read it. It’s actually sitting right on top of “They Thought They Were Free” on the end table next to my sofa. Would have been a lot more interesting if that were sitting on my desk next to my computer instead of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces.’ At least I’d feel a little more in league with the rest of the commenters.

  90. 90.

    calipygian

    howell –

    The sad thing is that that book was sitting on the floor next to My Command Chair because a month or two ago, I was trying to find a quote out of it for a post somewhere else and after I gave up looking for it in the book, I just threw it down and there it lay until now.

    You should see my kitchen and bathroom floors.

  92. 92.

    Krista

    I think you guys might recognize this one:

    The door was opened, and the gust of warm air revived us. Zeebo lined On Jordan’s Stormy Banks, and church was over.

    I wanted to stay and explore, but Calpurnia propelled me up the aisle ahead of her.

  93. 93.

    jag

    The Story of Art, by EH Gombrich. Recommended reading for anyone who (like me) grew up without much in the way of an artistic education.

  94. 94.

    jake

    Closest book, eh? Thanks a lot I’m sitting in the library. OK:

    Habitat Streamsides, moist forests. Range NY n NJ, PA; local in mtns. south. 9′.

    -National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States.

  95. 95.

    skippy

    w/all due respect, isn’t blogging already a big enough waste of time without these totally unnecessary exercises in pointlessness being passed around?

  96. 96.

    Ekim

    “Of course I haven’t heard a word from her since I’ve been tied up here!”
    You’ll be able to find out about her now,” Nancy assured him. “Do you know how many people are working with Stumpy Dowd?’

    The Bungalow Mystery, 1960 edition

    By the way Skippy, if you don’t like it, dont’ do it.

  98. 98.

    JGabriel

    House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski:

    Oh fuck, page 123 of this book has text in four separate sections, including a margin printed upside down, a window with separate text, footnotes, and a continuation of the narrative from the previous page. I guess I’ll use the narrative part, and include any footnotes that show up:

    Soon enough he is stalking doorways, leading the dancing moon of Jeb’s flashlight with the barrel of his rifle, and always listening. Corners, however, only reveal more corners, and Jed’s light only targets ashen walls, though soon enough they all begin to detect that inimitable growl (155), like calving glaciers, far off in the distance, which at least in the mind’s eye inhabits a thin line where roooms and passageways must finally concede to become a horizon.

    “The growl almost always comes like the rustle of a high mountain wind on the trees,” Navidson explained later, “You hear it first in the distance, a gentle rumble, slowly growing louder as it descends, until it’s finally all around you, sweeping over you, and then past you, until it’s gone, a mile away, two miles away, impossible to follow.” (156)

    (155) In describing the Egyptian labyrinth, Pliny noted how “when the doors open there is a terrifying rumble within.” (X)

    (156) The Last Interview.

    .

  99. 99.

    Jen

    And now for something completely different.

    Stir in the chicken broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, and brown sugar; bring the soup to a low boil, reduce the heat, and simmer and stew or about 5 minutes to meld the flavors. Stir in the blended paste and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the fish and kale and simmer the stew for about 2 minutes, until the fish is cooked through but still holds its shape.

    I cannot remember why I had a cookbook next to the computer.

  100. 100.

    JGabriel

    Given the state of my desk, it was a close call between:

    1. Danielewski
    2. Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
    3. Weird and Tragic Shores – Chauncy C. Loomis
    4. Best American Poetry 1990 – Editors, Jorie Graham & David Lehman
    5. The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman

  102. 102.

    Jen

    caustics, why was your cookbook next to the computer? Maybe it will help me. That sounds like a recipe for…tabbouleh, maybe?

    Mine’s Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking.

    Oh! Now I know! I needed cheese descriptions from wiki. Whew.

  103. 103.

    jag

    And here’s the passage from the Gombrich book (The Story of Art):

    It represents the figure of St Matthew writing the gospel. It had been customary in Greek and Roman books to have the portrait of the author represented on the opening page and this picture of the writing evangelist must be an extraordinarily faithful copy of this type of portrait. The way the saint is draped in his toga in the best classical fashion, the way his head is modelled in many shades of light and colour, convinces us that the medieval artist had strained every nerve to give an accurate and worthy rendering of a venerated model.

  104. 104.

    myiq2xu

    Reverend Sykes shuffled some papers, chose one, and held it at arms length. “The Missonary Society meets in the home of Sister Annette Reeves next Tuesday. Bring Your sewing.”

    I got a genuine Hillary Nutcracker for the first person to figure out what book that came from.

  105. 105.

    NickM

    Before he knew what was happening, the birdcatcher came and took him prisoner. “What a nice fellow you are!” the lark exclaimed. “If this is the kind of colony you build, you won’t find many emigrants to settle down in your city.”

    Aesop’s Fables, Adapted by Jack Zipes(!)

  106. 106.

    conumbdrum

    “She made a Furtive Movement. We kept to procedure.”

    “Here–this furtive enough for you?”

    Boys, boys!”

    Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day

  108. 108.

    tBone

    Where do you think you’re going? Get back over to the shrimp bowl!

    Go on!

    Electric eel coming through!

    “Sherman’s Lagoon: Yarns & Shanties and Other Nautical Baloney”

  109. 109.

    Hunter

    From Elaine Scarry’s The Body in Pain:

    So, too, the twentieth-century litany of war deaths occurs in the same way: for the United States, the Vietnam War is not 57,000 names but names, bodies, and embodied culture-not Robert Gilray but Robert Gilray, from the left the artillery shell approached, entered his body and began its dark explosion, exploding there, too, the image of the standing crowd that each week watched his swift run across the playing fields of Chatham; not Manuel Font but Manuel Font, around his fragile frame the fire closed in, burning into his skin, and skull and brain, burning even into the deep, shy corners where he studied at school. So the list would continue through tens of thousands of others. That the war deaths occurred on behalf of a terrain in which pianos could be played and bicycles could be pedalled, where schools would each day be entered by restrained and extravagantly gesturing children alike, must be indicated by appending the direction of motive, “for my country,” since the deaths themselves are the unmaking of the embodied terrain of pianos and bicycles, classmates, comrades, and schools.

    Incidentally, the sub-title of the book is The Making and Unmaking of the World. It’s a little hard to read these days, but should probably be required reading for every American in these times…

  110. 110.

    JGabriel

    bryanD:

    The five sons of Eirik returned to Norway, together with their mother Gunnhild, now fairly to be entitled konungamo(th)ir, Mother of Kings. Hakon’s nephew Tryggvi Olafson still held his eastern territories and Gudrod Bjarnarson ruled over Vestfold. North, in Trondheim province, jarl Sigurd held sway.

    Wild guess, but: Laxdaela Saga? Vinland Sagas?

  111. 111.

    calipygian

    Reverend Sykes shuffled some papers, chose one, and held it at arms length. “The Missonary Society meets in the home of Sister Annette Reeves next Tuesday. Bring Your sewing.”

    I didn’t know that mockingbirds cracked nuts.

  112. 112.

    MikeF

    Quinn is a prominent senior priest of the Waukeenar clergy, having served at the church’s major center of worship, the Goldenspires in Amn. It was there that Quinn enjoyed the wealth and prosperity of Waukeen’s favor, but he longed for a challenge. As the weeks passed and this longing grew, Quinn became convinced that Waukeen was calling upon him to prove his worth.

    Icewind Dale – Heart of Winter guide book

  113. 113.

    Blue Neposnet

    “If you have trouble walking, just look at your feet. The perspective’s a bitch, if you’re not used to it.”

    They were standing in a broad street that seemed to be the floor of a deep slot or canyon, its either end concealed by subtle angles in the shops and buildings that formed its walls.

    Neuromancer by William Gibson.

  114. 114.

    Len

    The next three sentences after the fifth sentence on page 123:

    The rightful owners of the wetawe could influence the weather, One Bull explained.

    There was another band of people who might have some answers. The Mexicans, like the Indians, were largely invisible.

    Timothy Egan – “The Worst Hard Time”

  115. 115.

    Perry Como

    Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the water, tomatoes, and half the thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring just to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

    Molto Italiano, Mario Batali, recipe for “Cooked Water” Soup

    I made a Sicilian pesto, traditional pesto, and marinara last night. Mmmmm.

  116. 116.

    David

    “Go on,” whispered Mr. Beaver.
    “No,” whispered Peter. “You first.”
    “Sons of Adam before animals, “whispered Mrs. Beaver back again.”

    —The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, 1980 paperback. Dug it out after watching the movie on DVD, and it was still on my desk.

  118. 118.

    SocialScientist

    One of the most pressing daily problems for the homeless is to find a way to get some money immediately. Many of the homeless deal with this dilemma in part by seeking casual, day-labor jobs. As the term day labor implies, these jobs are secured on a day-by-day basis.

    Snow and Anderson, Down on Their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People (1993)

  119. 119.

    grumpy realist

    Hmm, closest book? Well, there are a mess of accounting books over on the table, but ignoring those I get….

    “Normalement, le pouvoir de convoquer un concile appartenait au pape, mais, s’il refusait d’agir et mettait ainsi l’Eglise en danger, l’ensemble de la communaute possedait un droit intrinseque de s’assembler. Il en etait de meme, ecrivait Gerson, d’un chapitre ou d’un doyen, “ou de toute corporation et de son recteur.” Au XVe siecle, il n’etait pas necessaire d’etre un juriste professionnel pour penser facilement en termes de structure corporative.”

    Brian Tierney, Religion and Law in the Development of Constitutional Thought (1150-1650), French edition.

  120. 120.

    Scandi

    Another moment-

    THE MONTEREY POLICE HELD HIM IN THE JAIL IN MONTEREY until his brother Chris could get there from New York. Chris ran into Kesey at the jail.

  121. 121.

    Helena Montana

    “Seems to me there’s an extra allowance of fools in my family,” said Peter gloomily. “Well, what could she have done, poor girl?” asked Parker. He had been growing almost cheerful again.

  122. 122.

    Anne Elk (Miss)

    The climax of these investigations came on his 1959 masterpiece, Giant Steps, the title track a tricky slalom of careening chords. Afterward, Coltrane set about assembling his own band, which by the the end of 1961 had coalesced into his galvanic “classic quartet”: McCoy Tyner (one of the period’s most influential pianists), bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones. The empathic interplay of the four reached a peak on A Love Supreme (1964).

    from Jazz: The First Century

  124. 124.

    Chase

    The majority of monkey species are located somewhere in between: they combine subsistence on leaves with a preference for more easily digested and nutritious items like fruits when such are available.

    The Woman That Never Evolved, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy.

  125. 125.

    empty

    “Looking back from the current location, we find a match to a at an offset of two. The length of the match is one. Looking further back, we have another match for a at an offset of four; again the length of the match is one.” Introduction to Data Compression, Sayood.

  126. 126.

    RSA

    A MANOMETER, a device used for measuring gas pressure, can be made by partly filling a bent glass tube with colored water. The level in both sides is normally the same, but when you blow through another tube squarely across one open end. . .

    You get the idea. From Boys FUN Book of Things to Make and Do, copyright 1945.

  128. 128.

    evilbeard

    My book only has one sentence on page 123, “Losing your luggage: It’s a terrible misfortune, but it doesn’t have to end with your lifelong slavery as a dishwasher.”

    Sorry if that doesn’t fit the meme.

  129. 129.

    J.R. Labrador

    Her face was as powdered as an American doughnut.

    “Eh?” I said.

    -“Absurdistan” – Gary Shteyngart

  130. 130.

    Fraud Guy

    “It was only later that he discovered that the women themselves had been instrumental in devising the system. The competition gave them a certain sense of worth and dignity and, at least in their own minds, made their situation something above a state of forced prostitution. The distinction was largely illusionary, but in the Therem Alliance, even an illusion was better than nothing.”

    Their Master’s War, Mick Farren

  131. 131.

    wb

    Huh, would you believe that the 5th sentence on page 123 is actually on page 125? In fact, page 123 is one sentence. Also one paragraph. The whole page. So no, I will not be posting the next three sentences after it.

    BTW, the title is: “Agreement Between General Motors Corporation and the UAW”

  133. 133.

    tBone

    THE MONTEREY POLICE HELD HIM IN THE JAIL IN MONTEREY until his brother Chris could get there from New York. Chris ran into Kesey at the jail.

    I wonder if this same book is on Birdzilla’s desk?

  134. 134.

    Nazgul35

    From Policy, Office or Votes? How Political Parties in Western Europe Make Hard decisions by Wolfgang C Muller and Kaare Strom:

    Dispite the obvious difficulties, some progress toward a new agreement with the Christian Democrats was reached. However, this was achieved during the absence of Prime Minister Van Agt, who was visiting the United States. Upon his return he felt betrayed by Den Uyl.

  135. 135.

    gaucho

    His response was the same as before, and the Muslims counter-attacked and drove the Franks back to the hill. Again I cried: “We have beaten them!” but my father turned to me and said: “Be quiet; we shall not have beaten them until that tent falls!” As he spoke the tent fell, and the Sultan dismounted and prostrated himself in thanks to God, weeping for joy.

    Arab Historians of the Crusades – Translated by Francesco Gabrieli

  136. 136.

    Darkness

    evilbeard, is that the second Fletch book? loved those books. Haven’t thought about them in years, but I can see him saying that to the rich woman who ends up working at a restaurant on some beach highway in Brazil.

  137. 137.

    Daniel

    “After our thirteenth death, three of my boys just didn’t appear for morning attendance the next day. I knew they hadn’t been killed, but that they had just walked away from a losing game. I saw the logic of it.”

    Vikram Chandra, “Sacred Games”

  138. 138.

    The Disgruntled Chemist

    The Bohr theory and the subsequent incorporation of relativistic principles and elliptical orbitals by Sommerfield gave a good account of the behavior of hydrogen and hydrogen-like atoms. The spectra of He+, Li++, and Be+++ are identical in all details to the hydrogen atom spectrum except for a strong displacement to shorter wavelengths. The Rydberg constants of these hydrogen-like atoms differ from that of the hydrogen atom by the changes in the values of μ and Z.

    From Experimental Physical Chemistry by Bettelheim.

  140. 140.

    misc

    From Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz:

    Kombucha mothers are also available from G.E.M Cultures (See the Cultural Resources section).

    Ingredients (for 1 quart):
    1 quart water
    1/4 cup sugar
    1 tablespoon loose black tea
    1/2 cup mature acidic kombucha
    Kombucha mother

  141. 141.

    nitpicker

    We may have, however, great difficulty in recalling the difference between ovoid and obovoid, in the shapes and edges of leaves, or between acids in ic and in ous. There is some difference; but just what? Or, we know what the difference is; but which is which?

    – From How We Think by John Dewey

  142. 142.

    Once-ler

    She was something over twenty-seven years old, and had never been married, although she was formally betrothed to Prince William and the marriage day appointed more than once, but circumstances interfered and the nuptials were never consummated.
    The Princess was a granddaughter of old Kamehameha the Conqueror, and like all of that stock, was talented. She was the last female descendant of the old warrior.

    – Mark Twain’s Letters from Hawaii

  143. 143.

    Fwiffo

    That’s very strange, the closest book to me was also Strunk and White, fourth edition, paperback; a copy which I just got today.

    Here’s from the next closest:

    The latissimus dorsi muscles have a major role in the deadlift: from the floor, the lat pulls back on the humerus to keep the arms from swinging forward away from the shins, and acts as an anchor on the upper part of the humerus to maintain the position of the bar directly under the shoulder blades until the bar crosses above the knees. The lats act in an essentially isometric way from the floor to the point where hip extension allows the arms to become vertical. At this point tension comes off the lats, and as the back becomes vertical, the arms drag the bar into the thighs as they assume an angle behind the vertical, opposite the starting position.

    Starting Strength, Basic Barbell Training, 2nd edition, Mark Rippetoe & Jon Kilgore

  144. 144.

    Zuzu

    But despite his aversion to money and conspicuous consumption, Chris’s political leanings could not be described as liberal.

    Indeed, he delighted in ridiculing the policies of the Democratic Party and was a vocal admirer of Ronald Reagan. At Emory he went so far as to co-found a College Republican Club.

    A little known fact about Christopher Johnson McCandless.

    From Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, p. 123.

  145. 145.

    cokane

    “He must offer the bull reserved for his purification-offering and make expiation for himself and his household. Then he must take the two he-goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He must cast lots over the two goats, one to be for the LORD and the other for Azazel.”

    Lev. 16.6 out of Oxford Study Bible

  146. 146.

    Josh

    “That and…One Other Thing. In this room, the salamander was squashed between the pages of the rhyming dictionary, thereby changing poetry forever. Here, Salome walked around with a big red fish held high up over her head.”

    Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All

  147. 147.

    rachel

    Differential feed dogs are TWO sets of teeth, one in front of the other. The speed of the front feed dog is controlled by a dial or lever with three settings, 0.7, 1 and 2.

    With differential feed set on number 2, the front feed dog moves twice as much fabric under the presser foot as the rear feed dog lets out, creating a gathering or “easing” effect.

    Sewing with Sergers, The Complete Handbook for Overlock Sewing, Gail Brown & Patti Palmer

    Easing is so much easier on a serger!

  148. 148.

    MNPundit

    What were the constants? A cheerful resilience; a competent readiness; an open conversability; a certain candour. How much of this was the sea, the common stimuli?

  151. 151.

    Rick Taylor

    Can’t reproduce all of this in ascii, but I’ll try to transcribe it in words as best as possible:

    “We also wish to define (a,b) = sum from i=1 to infinity of |alpha_i beta_i-conjugate|. To see that this is legitimate, note that, applying Schwartz’ inequality for C^n to the points , we have

    sum from i=1 to n of |alpha_i beta_i|

  153. 153.

    Ben

    We now consider two linear XY2 species in which there is only one occupied MO with Y-X-Y bonding character. This leads to the formation of a three-centre two-electron (3c-2e) bonding interaction. The [HF2]- ion (see Figure 9.8) has Dinfinityh symmetry and the z axis coincides with the Cinfinity axis.

  154. 154.

    Margo S.

    “The fire hissed in the waves; the same instant the ship shot by the bubble the sinking pipe made. With slouched hat, Ahab lurchingly paced the planks.

    Next morning Stubb accosted Flask.”

  155. 155.

    Brachiator

    Ground may be classified according to its nature as accessible, entrapping, indecisive, constricted, precipitous, and distant.

    Ground, which both we and the enemy can traverse with equal ease is called accessible. In such ground, he who first takes high sunny positions convenient to his supply routes can fight advantageously.

    Sun Tzu, The Art of War

  156. 156.

    Jack H.

    Unfortunately pg. 123 is a chapter title page, but I’m going Republican and making up my own rules and using it ’cause I feel like it.

    “The Wedgie Weed Whacker”
    From Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds) by Dav Pilkey.

  157. 157.

    Aaron

    The entirety of page 123 of the book nearest to me reads, in its entirety, as follows:
    “Starcraft”

    “Multiplayer”

  158. 158.

    bago

    EFF K: heres what yuo needs to do: maek a secrat cave, the Lair of Jeff K., and it has a cyclops in it hideing

    JEFF K: and he stomps around

    JEFF K: AND teh cave is really hard too get to

    Scott: What does he say to you?

    JEFF K: yuo haev to know teh secrat

    JEFF K: “RAWWWWWR! GRRETINGS TRAVELAR, I AM JEFF K., MYSTERIOUS CYCLOPES! WELCOME TO MY LAIRE OF DUNGEON!”

    JEFF K: and theres a quest too

    Scott: Do you kill him then?

    JEFF K: yuo haev to find his magic hat

    JEFF K: yuo still loose

    Scott: what does his magic hat do?

    JEFF K: and yuo cant were his magic hat becuase its so big!!! But if yuo find it and give it too Jeff K. cyclopes, he puts it on and then he falls alseerp

    JEFF K: it was nighttime cap

    JEFF K: and he give yuo 500 gold

    Scott: that sounds good to me.

    JEFF K: NOW I WILL PURCHASE YUOR GAMES

    JeffK in an interview with the Icewind Dale team.

    pB: I can’t really call out a college for credit with that book. More like my boss dropped it off my desk and said “You’re going to have to need to know this soon.” So in that case a shout out to my employer, whatever Expedia is listed as on the stock market.

  159. 159.

    Basilisc

    Has anyone actually read through all of these? Oh well, here goes:

    Liquidity preference, which is intimately linked to asset price expectations, is indeed liable to shift swiftly at times, and to bring about runs on the most certain forms of liquidity (bank money, and worse, central bank money). Ultimately, the liquidity of financial assets depends on the trust that they can be redeemed on demand. Such trust is probably more difficult to ascertain in the market-based, highly securitised world.

    – Arnaud Bervas, “Financial innovation and the liquidity frontier”, Banque de France Financial Stability Review, No. 11, Feb 2008.
    Translation from Econo-speak (French central banker dialect): When markets tank, people sell like motherfuckers and put everything into cash. Because everyone’s selling everything, especially the shit that no one understands [but bought like it was high-grade crack less than a year ago], no one’s buying.

  160. 160.

    Phil

    “Here, gentlemen, here,” and his voice rose slightly as he stabbed down with a fingertip, pointing at Hotchkiss’s map of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

    No one spoke.

    “Three weeks ago, before we started this campaign, you know that I met with President Davis.”

    Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, Gettysburg. I swear, it’s only here holding up a lamp on my desk! But the real interesting thing is the next sentence (Robert E. Lee is speaking):

    “Gentlemen, you might be filled with confidence, it is fair to say that our President is confident, but I tell you we are starting to lose this war.”

    This was published in 2003. Hmmmm….

  161. 161.

    Krista

    myiq2xu Says:

    Reverend Sykes shuffled some papers, chose one, and held it at arms length. “The Missonary Society meets in the home of Sister Annette Reeves next Tuesday. Bring Your sewing.”

    I got a genuine Hillary Nutcracker for the first person to figure out what book that came from

    Ha! We must be reading different editions, ’cause your page 123 was my page 120.

  162. 162.

    Tim C

    It’s entire powder magazine had exploded, much as the Almirante had during the battle in San Juan harbor. But no English shot had touched her and no one ever discovered why she blew up. Rumours had it that one of her German-born gunners was furious at the ship’s captain for making passes at his wife, who was actually on board, and so had torched the magazine himself (when the English examined the burned-out hulk, they did find a woman still alive inside).

    — To Rule the Waves, by Arthur Herman

  163. 163.

    Steve

    “So it’s no surprise that USQA’s data-warehousing strategy prominently features the Internet. Diamond’s staff is currently considering mechansims to ensure secure Web-based delivery of information to members and physicians.

    ‘Member satisfaction is a them in everything we do,’ Dr. Diamond affirms.”

    e-Data Turning Data into Information with Data Warehousing,
    Jill Dyche

  164. 164.

    dAVE

    Autolisp Programming Tips & Techniques
    By Rod Rawls & Mark Hagen
    Pages are not numbered so by counting pages I get;
    Finally draw the new polygon. Document and name this file polyarea.lsp.
    (setq SIDE (* 2 RAD ( / (SIN (/ PI NUM))
    (COS (/ PI NUM)))))
    (end of page)
    If I go to Chapter 12-3;
    The following general rules and suggestions apply to the use of selection sets:
    1. It is recommended that variable names be assigned to selection sets . By using this technique, selection sets can be called by name at any moment during the editing process.
    2. Objects from one selection set can be members of another set. Thus, one object can be associated with many selection sets.

  167. 167.

    Nannergrrl

    “But stay! Did not that idea also occur to the injured Rupert Pentecost?”

    “Oh, yes Mr. Podd.”

    In the Teeth of Evidence, Dorothy L. Sayers.

  168. 168.

    4jkb4ia

    Consciously, and even subconsciously, our lives will become one with the Torah.
    This same transition from conscious fulfillment of the divine will (dibbur) to subconscious and intuitive “hearing” of the voice of Torah(kol) occurs every week. The six work days represent dibbur, as the Jew conducts himself in a Torah-true fashion amidst the pressures of daily life.

    “The Three Festivals: Ideas and Insights of the Sfas Emes on Pesach, Shavuos, and Succos”, ed. Rabbi Yosef Stern, Artscroll. This book really does not belong next to the PC like that. The context is the Song at the Sea: the “kol” is the sound of the unconscious crying out to Hashem and of innate spirituality while the “dibbur” is the ability to speak deliberately and consciously about the spiritual experience. Dibbur is what happens at the Seder table for example.

    I have finally gotten Aviva Zornberg’s “Particulars of Rapture”. Really excellent integration of all the sources including some I had never heard of.

  169. 169.

    4jkb4ia

    IIRC Purim is going to interfere with the sacred watching of the Tournament this year :) Expect victories for a 16 seed :)

  170. 170.

    Vlad

    +1 for John Sickels
    +2 for Lord Peter Wimsey (that one with the dentist was one of my favorite short stories as a kid)

    I’m at work, so the book closest at hand is a printed-out Gutenberg e-text I’ve been working through at lunch, Suetonius’s Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Page 123 is one of the bits from the life of Caligula:

    “Whether in the marriage of his wives, in repudiating them, or retaining them, he acted with greater infamy, it is difficult to say. Being at the wedding of Caius Piso with Livia Orestilla, he ordered the bride to be carried to his own house, but within a few days divorced her, and two years after banished her; because it was thought, that upon her divorce she returned to the embraces of her former husband. Some say, that being invited to the wedding-supper, he sent a messenger to Piso, who sat opposite to him, in these words: ‘Do not be too fond with my wife,’ and that he immediately carried her off.”

  171. 171.

    rachel

    chopper Says:

    Easing is so much easier on a serger!

    you’re telling me. what machine you work with?

    A Singer. It wasn’t my first choice, but I wanted something that I could abandon without too many qualms when I finally leave Korea. Yourself?

  172. 172.

    Sarcastro

    If your primary goal is is analysis of network performance and related problems rather than individual packet analysis, this is a very useful tool.

    The program trafshow is a packet capture program of a different sort. It provides a continuous display of traffic over the network, giving repeated snapshots of traffic.

    Riveting.

  173. 173.

    chopper

    i use someone else’s machine if i need it. most of the stuff i make doesn’t need decent-looking seams. tho prices are really nice for decent sergers these days, one of these days i’ll have to make some room for one of my own.

    my regular machine is a singer tho. i need to move up to something a little tougher but singers still have a surprising amount of power for a big hunk of plastic.

  174. 174.

    cminus

    Even before any changes were made in the police force, his presence implied great change. And five years after Daley first made it a campaign promise, the police chief finally moved his office out of City Hall and into police headquarters. “The amazing thing about the police scandal,” Alderman Simon has said, “is the way Daley turned it to his own advantage.”

    From “Boss,” by Mike Royko.

  175. 175.

    bryanD

    “mantis Says:

    BryanD, is that Vollmann?”
    ————————-

    A History Of the Vikings by G. Jones (Oxford U.P.,1968)

  176. 176.

    bryanD

    “mantis Says:

    Nevermind, thought that was The Ice Shirt. You should check it out. Collapse by Jared Diamond is an interesting look at Norse expansion, also.”

    I hope (HOPE!) you aren’t directing me to any any historical fiction! *picking up ax handle*

    Unless it’s a Twain “autobiography”; “Roughing It”, “A Tramp Abroad”, etc. Or pornographic literature from way-back when girls wore “shifts”.
    ————————–
    Gabriel Says:

    bryanD:

    Wild guess, but: Laxdaela Saga? Vinland Sagas?

    No, but Jones (AHOTV) riffs and dissects on all of the sagas as well as the legendary histories while keeping them well away from the fact bucket (his Forword explains this humorously). More reliance is placed on contemporary accounts (for example, Adam of Bremen and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles). Not that he’s afraid of suppositions. The Eruli are mentioned as possible forbears. He allows the classic Viking age to stand at 793-1066, but covers well the Roman contacts, the Swedish-Rus-Varangian metamorphosis, up to the time when Denmark scrapped its longboats for cogs.

  177. 177.

    BlueMonkey

    V4R4 %REM Numerator:Denominator (D) Performs integer division and returns the remainder from the division operation.
    V4R2 %REPLACE replacement string:source string {:start position {:source length to replace}} (D) String produced by inserting replacement string into source string, starting at start position and replacing the specified number of characters.

    V3R7 %SCAN search argument:string to be searched {:start position} (D) First position of search argument in string or zero, if not found.

    From The Modern RPG IV Language, Third Edition by Robert Cozzi, Jr.

    Oh god my life sucks…but I don’t feel like working right now anyway.

  178. 178.

    evilbeard

    Darkness Says:

    evilbeard, is that the second Fletch book? loved those books. Haven’t thought about them in years, but I can see him saying that to the rich woman who ends up working at a restaurant on some beach highway in Brazil.

    Don’t I wish! No Darkness, I’ve never actually read the Fletch books (something I will rectify soon). The quote is from The Villain’s Guide to Better Living by Neil Zawacki. It’s a coffetable/bathroom humor book and for some reason it’s the only book on my desk right now. I’d have much rather put in a quote from Tim Powers or Tom Robbins but I try not to cheat (very often). =P

  179. 179.

    Nicole

    “There was nothing to fear in the house- at least there never had been. The heavenly smell of peanut butter must convey only another token of the generosity and benevolence of the resident hominid. Anyhow, I had set the two Havaharts on the stove, and now I had two mice.”

  180. 180.

    Antonius

    “After he was initiated into Freemasonry in 1926, however, Case revised the course, and allowed any student who had reached an advanced level of study to set up a local chapter, or Pronaos. The first Pronai were established in 1928. In 1938 he renamed the order the Builders of Adytum.”

  181. 181.

    ChristieS

    Heh, I’ll play. My book at hand is Evelyn Waugh: A Biography by Christopher Sykes.

    Sentences 6-9

    Once more (or for the first time if a former diagnosis is incorrect) he made use of Tom Driberg as one of the most widely read journalists in the country.
    As a proficient columnist, Tom had mentioned in the Daily Express the damning review of Evelyn’s book (the talk of the town once more) by his co-religionist Oldmeadow. This suited Evelyn perfectly.

  182. 182.

    Wayne

    From “Trial By Terror” by Paul Gallico:

    “In this instance I was to report the results of my investigations to Ambassador Vannaman to furnish him with material as part of a plot in which he was involved with two Catholic bishops and a former Hungarian minister of the Christian Socialist party now turned traitor, the plot being to overthrow the Hungarian Government and seize power for the western imperialists.

    My immediate superiors in dealing with my assignment and sending me to Vienna to carry it out were Nicholas Strang, the editor of the Paris edition of the Chicago Sentinal, a former intelligence officer in the United States Army, and his..his…” Jimmy stumbled and slowed to a halt.

    Professor Varolyas looked up.

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