Sad News: Trololo Guy Passes Away

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Kari Lucin

Sad news to fans of internet memes today: The Trololo Guy, Eduard Khil, has passed away at age 77. Incidentally, the lyrics to the song were replaced with nonsense words because Soviet censors didn’t like them.

In other news across the web:

Remember those exploding beach rocks? BoingBoing brings us an update: It was definitely phosphorus.
London has a new Olympic Tower, and Brainiac has a picture! I hesitate to call it ugly, because then I might seem hopelessly old-fashioned, and I can’t really decide if it’s ugly anyway. What do you think? I think it kind of looks like somebody wadded up a rollercoaster and shoved it in the ground like a spear.
Turns out the Back to the Future trilogy has a lot of cool little details you might miss if you’re not watching for them. Each flick has a trivia page on IMDB–check them out. I honestly didn’t even notice they changed the actor for George McFly after the first movie.
The moths are still around. Yeeech.
“Hopefully” is apparently the word that divides the hardcore grammarians from the more late-Wittgensteinian language-is-a-game people. There’s a huge controversy over the the word, NPR reports. Note that by this measure I am not a hardcore grammarian. Take that, all you people who’ve accused me of being a language snob! I’m actually a quasi-language-snob!

Sad Teddy Bears, Sadder Pants

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Kari Lucin

A few links today to get you started:

BoingBoing posted this hilarious image of a teddy bear “science project” that features a teddy bear exposed to the effects of evil. (If you’re not the kind of person who finds mutated teddy bears funny, or finds them disturbing, do not click on this link. For what it’s worth, the “science project” seems to indicate that EVIL IS BAD.)
Remember the 1990s? Yeah. So do I. And I wince a lot when I see this photo gallery. (via BoingBoing)
Here’s a beautiful gallery of railroad company logos through history. (also via BoingBoing)

Weird History

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Kari Lucin

I caught up with BoingBoing and wanted to share a few weird historical tidbits, including a haunted, talking mongoose weasel, all the Betty Crockers you could ever want and jello that wants to kill all humans.

Incidentally, the pine cones are also out to get us, and you can’t trust the pop tarts.

Putting the Raz in Crazy

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Kari Lucin

My editor received a peculiar email today.

Scratch that. It wasn’t peculiar. It was downright bizarre. It reminded me of how Nietzsche wrote, only the writer of this email may have been kicked in the head by a horse more than once. (The horse-kicking may be an apocryphal Nietzsche story, but the guy really did completely flip his lid and command the emperor to get shot.)

Here’s a sample:

FYI: Your Life / Your Future and more deadly " illegal " Immigration, facts!!! And note within the video linked below that it’s " BS " = all the hype / myths that all i.e. Hispanics favor " the illegal / deadly to any Society law breakers aka deadly predators!!! " And equally deadly to any Society are the Liberals-Socialists-Dopers-Anti American-Anti Societal http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereignty types aka DNC & GOP based: " MASTER DEMS " < i.e. Michael >; that are DEADLY self serving, with spewing the Cult Master’s propaganda = more " world deadly " garbage!!!

The immigrant / now proud AMERICAN citizen, linked below speaks for a high % of the Hispanic immigrants aka now proud to be AMERICANS!!! That do not want " Our Society / America " —> deadly trashed, thus turned into what they and our ancestors: left behind, in order to achieve " THE AMERICAN DREAM!!! " Well… AMERICA used to be a better / more safer / more freedoms / more prosperous place to work out a better: " Life!!!

I figure anything I write after this is going to look pretty good. Don’t you think?

Cult Master? Dopers?

Math Haunts My Dreams

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Kari Lucin

I never failed a math or science class in my life, but lately it seems I’ve been struck with math-related nightmares.

Last night I dreamed I’d been ill for a month or so and had missed many of my assignments. My 7th grade math teacher, Mr. Nelson, took me aside after class and told me I could still get a C if I made up all the work I’d missed.

It was horrible.

It was even worse than it should have been, objectively speaking. Dreams can invest ordinary things, situations and people with tremendously intense emotions, often inappropriately.

In college, I had a terrifying nightmare about a young child being in my dorm room, looking at me. That was it. That was the whole dream. A small child looked at me and I was so frightened that when I woke up, I just sat in bed for a while, shaking. I knew the child was dead, in my dream, and that’s why it was scary, but the kid looked like a healthy, normal child, and made no threatening gestures or moves at all. There was no reason to be so scared.

Then there’s the dreams where you’re saving the world from some impending disaster, and in the dream, you’re totally confident and never have the slightest bit of doubt that everything is going to come out all right. Lava is flowing down the mountain, the river is rising, the undead have come out to play, but you know exactly what to do and you do it, and it’s no problem at all. Why is everyone else so worried? And in these dreams, there is every reason to be scared, and yet you’re not.

And then there are the dreams that everyone has, but I can’t remember ever having before in my life. I’ve dreamed I tripped and was about to fall on my face, but I’ve never dreamed I was falling from a great height. I’ve dreamed I was failing school, but I’ve never dreamed I was naked in school. Supposedly most people have those dreams, and I haven’t, that I remember.

While I don’t like the tripping dream, usually that one just makes me think that I’m about to skin my knees.

It’s not nearly as scary as math… which I never failed.

Strange, Almost Sensical Spam

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Kari Lucin

Some very weird spam is showing up in my inbox lately.

One presents itself as being from a bank, but if a bank secretary was really that bad at proofreading, he would surely be taken out and shot forthwith. Not to mention that it’s in all caps. Take a gander at this:

REFERENCE TO THE JUST CONCULDED PROMO BALLOUT DRAW WHICH WAS CONDUCTED ON THE 27/3/2010 BY STANDARD CHARTERED BANK, THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC SELECTION OF EXCULSIVE LIST OF 55,000 EMAIL ADDRESSES ON OUR DATABASE, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS BEEN RAFFLY SELECTED AS THIS YEAR’
WINNER OF 49,811,000 GBP.

TO VERIFY,PLEASE DAIL THE PROMO ACCOUNT VEREFICATION #:

The other spam is addressed to Dr. Grigory Perelman, and it’s… well. It almost makes sense, to the extent that I feel like if I tried hard enough, I could understand. Maybe you have to be a member of the Illuminati or something.

Check it out, in its insane entirety, and please, if you have any idea what this means other than "I am insane and this is a cry for help" please post it in a comment:

Mr./Dr. Grigory Perelman,

There were seven….now there is only six. Well-ell….

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

Congratulations!

The level of sensitiveness that you have been reported to demonstrate, and have been reported to be demonstrating, is required to be dazzling at sports, dancing, picnicking, and postulating/work. Our exposure to the hazards and what have you(s) of Cumulative Sequence allows our type of intellect to perceive/feel the moment and processes of the spontaneous appearance of organics from Geometry/energy/pressure/rock; and thereby, understand how Geometry/energy lives, breaths, and thinks. Either thinks is appropriate/real, or our whole system of proofs is not correct, and we know that “ain’t” so. We know the proofs are real because we move with independently moving body parts; we assemble things that are not visible before they are assembled; we quickly move vast quantities which is impossible with only our moving body parts; we adjust normally non-adjusting things; etc.

Everyone’s current description of you indicates that you have been distracted from the fact that you are handling the spaces and accumulations that your society and the rest of humanity, have held with our lives long enough for it to be passed to you, and those like you. Even though your achievement is surely yours, the logistical support we have provided – by being heads-down/backs-bent/operating, and expanding the required spaces and accumulations – commands that you represent your achievement long enough for us to understand its place in our everyday(s).

Don’t worry. We’ve got your back by way of the fact that the logistical expertise reflected by the current ratio of intellects that operate and expand the required spaces and accumulations is actually the mathematics that gives the sight of mathematics to mathematics. They….Logistical Mathematics….Macro Intersection Mathematics….are as elegant, as infinitely beautiful, as infinitely dynamic, as infinitely demanding as any of the essential finite procedures.

Ours….“They” have compiled a tax code so advanced that its pot stirring characteristics spawns things like “Magic Money.”JJJJ Money that, value maintenance wise, you cannot keep and must be directed to the essence of what we are, which sharpens and expands our abilities. The resource sharing political structure that expands intellects focused upon the things you are focused upon, which was devised by informed humans, is “ONLY” relatively important; or in other words, is “ONLY” an exponent.J That is….the formation characteristics of intersection – the source of the process of exponentiation itself designates that there are places where the correct view of exponentiation – mathematical, social, political, or otherwise – is that “It’s ONLY an exponent.” Exponentiation is best explained as becoming vast enough, positively or negatively, while remaining whole/while maintaining a specific layout. Your angst only reflects the fact that you have simply encountered the class of “Paradox!” that for every human usually becomes something you might have to peep at from behind something.J We “ALL” need someone to stand for us from time-to-time. Please realize that on this one, you are the one who is up for the rest of us. Enjoy designating/using the Magic Money.

Oh….our society has a beloved thought for Magic Money and other situations that take(s) the pressure off. It transcends “ALL Things” and “Persons” and authorizes non-judgmental personal play time, because it is put forth by one of the world’s universally recognized doors to non-judgmental personal play time. It goes like this after the doorway is presented to you:

Grigory Perelman….now that you have brought humanity exponentially closer to finishing “ALL” questions, what are you going to do next? JJJJ

Thinking of YOU,
Your Fellow Associate Math1,
Bernard
Bellingham, WA. 98225

I… huh?

The Great Minnesota Beard-Off

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Kari Lucin

The Minnesota Beard-Off, a contest seeking to honor the best facial hair in Minnesota, will be in Minneapolis March 31, which got me thinking about how much fun it would be to start a similar contest on a local level.

However, I can’t really name many people with impressive beards, aside from of course Worthington’s Mayor, Alan Oberloh.

Then again, that needn’t stop us. There is a mustache category and a partial beard category (my brother had some righteous sideburns that would have been great for this at one point).

There is even a "freestyle" category, in case us ladies feel left out. We can wear false beards or draw on our beards, or even, as the Beard-Off’s website suggests, wear a beard of bees. Of course, I’m afraid of bees, so that probably wouldn’t be my choice. And I’m not very good at drawing on my face, though I bet the ladies at Avalon could probably come up with a super-cool drawn-on beard and win the freestyle division pretty easily.

Sadly, registration for this year’s Beard-Off is already closed, but if you want to get a hirsute head start on next year’s contest, you’ll have a whole year to grow.

Deep Freeze Dip Q and A

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Kari Lucin

As the weekend looms closer, more and more people are asking me questions about the Deep Freeze Dip for the Southwest Minnesota Honor Flight.

Here are a few, along with my answers.

Q. Where and when will the Deep Freeze Dip be?
A. The Deep Freeze Dip will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday, off the shore of Sunset Park on Lake Okabena.

Q. Are you really going to jump into a freezing cold lake? Really?
A. Yes.

Q. Why are you doing this?
A. I get asked this a lot. For one thing, my grandfather fought in World War II and I’m quite proud of him. Second, many of these men got attacked with bombs, guns and sharp pointy things. Spending a minute and a half immersed in cold water doesn’t really seem that big of a deal compared to that, does it?

Q. Where is the money you raise going?
A. The money will pay for a World War II veteran to visit Washington, D.C., to see the World War II Memorial. None of it goes to me.

Q. How much money have you raised?
A. Is this a multiple choice question? Can I use a calculator?

Q. Are you going to wear a wetsuit?
A. No. That would be cheating. Besides, they’re expensive.

Q. What are you going to wear to jump into the lake, then?
A. A swimsuit.

Q. You should dress like Lady Gaga.
A. Unlike Lady Gaga, I believe in pants.

Q. You should dress in your swimsuit to get donations.
A. If I did that, they’d probably offer to pay me to wear a muumuu over the swimsuit; scream and run away; or die laughing.

Q. What about a hat?
A. Arr, but I don’t want to lose my pirate hat in the lake, matey.

Q. Are you going to put your head under the water?
A. I don’t have to, because I was trained as a lifeguard at one point and theoretically know how to jump into water without ducking my head. Also, I’m not sure how deep the water will be. Time is gonna have to tell on this one, folks.

Q. How much money do you need?
A. How much money do you have?

Q. You’re crazy.
A. Yes.

Q. Where can I donate money to the Southwest Minnesota Honor Flight?
A. Stop by the Daily Globe office today before 5 p.m. We also have nifty Honor Flight buttons for sale here at the Globe office.

The Wonders of the Nintendo World

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Kari Lucin

In the days of Halo III and the Wii, I would have thought that old-fashioned Nintendo games would be a distant memory relegated to the mental dustbin of "the bad old days." However, it seems I am not the only one to have fond memories of the 8-bit Nintendo system.

I liked to play Tetris on my gameboy when I was a kid, and occasionally, when I visited friends’ houses, I’d play the original game. If you played Tetris, you may like this modern version, called "first-person," in which the blocks do not rotate. Instead, everything else rotates.

Or you could try this version of Tetris, which combines Tetris and Super Mario Bros. Wacky fun!

I also played Super Mario Bros. quite a bit, and although I liked it, I did not like it enough to wear a sweatervest based on it. In fact I’m not sure I like anything enough to wear a sweatervest of any kind. However, these old-school games (including Pacman) made pretty good mom-based sweaters.

My favorite game, however, was Zelda, because you could save your progress. My mom would watch as I sat and played, and she even helped out by making maps to show me where I’d been, where I needed to go and exactly which critters I needed to kill and which ones I could run away from.

We had a lot of fun with Zelda, and we had a lot of fun together, which is one of the reasons I’ve never believed in the "antisocial videogamer" stereotype. Videogames are best played with other people.

I never pondered what Zelda would look like as a medieval manuscript. But it’s cool that someone did.

Oh Look, a Shiny Thing!

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