2003 – Page 20 – commonplacebook.com

The Golden Days of Usenet: Godwin’s Law

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 10, 2003
Post category:Brain Food

Godwin’s Law: prov. [Usenet] “As a Usenet argument grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin’s Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin’s Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.

Toynbee Idea’s in Kubrick’s 2001 Resurrect Dead on Planet Jupiter

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 10, 2003
Post category:Brain Food

Toynbee Tile

Toynbee Tiles are tiles embedded into city streets with a odd messages on them – and they appear on hundreds of streets in dozens of cities, including here in Indianapolis, Indiana. The messages are almost all alike and contain some variation of “Toynbee Idea’s in Kubrick’s 2001 Resurrect Dead on Planet Jupiter.” The tile in Indianapolis, appears on Georgia and Meridian Streets, according to this site.

What does it mean? No one’s certain, but it apparently has something to do with a man name James Morasco who has no voice box, secret short-wave radio broadcasts, and playwright David Mamet.

Another URL Lori Pointed out

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 10, 2003
Post category:Politics

Lori sent me this Fark Photoshop contest of Ann Coulter shooting something in her backyard. See the original photo from her site here.
Several of the photoshoppers emphasized something interesting about the picture of Ann… she’s white trash. Look at the house, look at the people on the porch. Jesus if she’s really got a best-seller like she claims, why doesn’t she buy a friggin’ new house? Sittin’ around shooting stuff off the back porch… how more more of a redneck can you get?

Buy the House Next Door to Me

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 10, 2003
Post category:House and Home

The house next to mine is going up for sale at the Sheriff’s auction on September 17th. The auction is held in Room 260 of the City-County building, and bids can be put in starting at 10 a.m. The auction starts after 3:30 p.m.

It would be really wonderful if someone bought and renovated this house, because it has a great history and has really beautiful architecture. Plus my property value would go up.

2005 Update: someone did end up buying the house next to me, and is doing a great job of renovating. Very exciting.

Don’t forget to tip your waiter…

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 10, 2003
Post category:Art Indianapolis Recently Read

Funny link I found on my friend Lori’s site about tipping waiters. Apparently there’s a gay waiter who’s a bit pissed off. I wonder why he’s mentioned the name Ben Solomon… I can’t tell if he’s dissing Ben or not. Ben is one of the wealthy gay men in town.
I also like the other post about “the richest people” who don’t tip. I remember back when I was roommates with Dennis Williams who was a waiter at the Black-Eyed Pea and at Houlihan’s, the people who never tipped him were the Christians who came to eat lunch on Sundays after church. Either they’d leave no tip at all or instead of money they’d leave a religious pamphlet about how expecting a tip is un-Christian and about saving your soul. Somewhere I still have one of those; I should dig it out. A lot of Christians are just complete ass-hats. Not all of them, of course, just some.

How Much Is In A Sharpie?

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 9, 2003
Post category:Recently Read

Rob Cockerman does it again, with a great experiment that I’m glad that I didn’t have to carry out myself because I don’t have that kind of time. Hell, I don’t even have time to find homes for kittens.

House Painting

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 9, 2003
Post category:House and Home

The guys started work on my house today – repairing siding and scraping paint, which will go on for the first week or so, while they do the prep work before painting. I’m so excited about it, that I almost went home for lunch to see what they have done so far. But I decided that was a little obsessive, and probably would annoy the guys. Who are — Rick, the head painter (click site) dude, and Nick and Frank. Apparently everyone on their crew has to have a name that ends in “k.” The owner of the company is Mike Mullins, and he lives in my neighborhood at 1610 N. Delaware. I’ve seen two houses that they’ve worked on and both are excellent. I also gave them my first check today for 1/2 the work. Big check.
So check out what my house looks like right now, because it won’t be that way for very long.