Nov 15
Growing up, I was really into reading science fiction. In college, I discovered the whole fantasy genre and that’s 95% of what I read now. However, I still manage to get my weekly dose of sci-fi thanks to Steve Eley and Escape Pod.
This awesome (and free) podcast runs a different short sci-fi story pretty much every week. These are not just any short stories, they are top-notch stories from, in many cases, very well-known authors. They are often narrated by some well-known (in literature and podcasting circles) people as well. And, if that’s not enough, Steve introduces each story with a thought-provoking and entertaining short diatribe. He’s been doing this now for a long time and there are some fantastic stories out there.
So, do Escape Pod and yourself a favor, check out EscapePod.org, subscribe to the podcast via iTunes (or your favorite RSS feed reader), and enjoy the stories. Of course, I’m also excited about the upcoming PodCastle–a podcast completely dedicated to my personal favorite genre: Fantasy.
Nov 07
I’m not generally in the habit of checking Yahoo! News (I think I’m still a bit ticked off at them due to the fact that as soon as I bought some of their stock, it lost like 20%), but a friend of mine sent me this link to a Y! News story about Britain’s most stupid laws.
Nearly 4000 people (I assume, British) were surveyed to determine what the most absurd law in Britain is. There are some real gems in this one.
Top of the list is dying in parliament. I’m not really sure how they punish you at that point, but apparently, it’s illegal. You better not wear a suit of armour (yes, that’s spelt correctly) to parliament either. Yep, illegal!
Additionally, Liverpool fish stores are either the most interesting retail establishments in all of Jolly England or the most horrifying. Why? Because it is legal for clerks in tropical fish stores in Liverpool to go topless. Only in tropical fish stores, though. Don’t you dare try it in a hardware store!
By far, the high point of this article for me was the #10 most ridiculous law. Only a mere 2% of people voted this one to be the most ridiculous. Apparently, it is perfectly legal to murder bow-and-arrow-toting Scots as long as you are within the ancient city walls of York. The fact that this particular law was voted the least ridiculous of all (including being beat thoroughly by the law making any dead whale heads the property of the King) tells me that there is probably still a bit of bad blood between the Brits and the Scots.
Perhaps we should refortify Hadrian’s Wall and make sure that it’s staffed with a contingent of armed guards at all times.
Well, I need to close this post out so I can make my travel arrangements to go Scotsman hunting. (Just kidding, friends.)
Nov 05
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, agreed to do some publicity event in the video game (ahem, “online virtual world”–thank you Dwight Schrute) Second Life. As part of the event, he took detailed headshots of himself and had an avatar created that apparently bears a striking resemblance to him.
To really spice it up, he offered the opportunity for attendees to come on-stage after the event and virtually kick him in the digital stones. Of course, someone took it upon themself to record it, set it to music (Dean Martin, in this case) and post it to YouTube.
Make sure you watch until about halfway through when a virtual Dilbert starts kicking Scott’s pixelated butt. It’s ok, though, because at the end, they break it down and dance together.
Also, here’s Scott Adam’s blog post about the whole ordeal.
