The Null Device
2000/8/13
A small preview of new words in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, with some timely ones (webcam, gaydar, breatharian), some cringeworthy marketese (e-tailer, screenager), and a few cross-cultural oddities (such as chuddies).
Not really surprising: Ireland is set to become the third wealthiest country in Europe, and is about to overtake Germany. Not surprisingly, they're quite a bit ahead of the UK already, as the British government has its head up its arse in a lot of matters (witness the RIP bill, for one example, not to mention dropping the ball on telecom deregulation and e-commerce). I imagine a lot of this is due to Ireland not having the luxury of saying "we conquered half the world, we're a major world power, we can do as we bloody well please" and proceeding to cock things up. In any case, I suspect that a lot of companies based in the UK will be moving over to Ireland in future, and not just to evade the British government's surveillance laws (as some ISPs are). (via Leviathan)
Obscure factoid of the day. In cats, there are about four different hair colour patterns which are classified as "tabby". The two most common are the mackerel tabby and the classic tabby. The mackerel tabby is actually the genetically dominant one (breed a mackerel tabby with a classic tabby and you get mostly mackerel tabby kittens), but the classic tabby is much more common in most of the world. Why is this so? This is an artefact of the British Empire. Classic tabbies were more common on the British Isles for some reason, and when the Poms went to America, Australia, India and everywhere else, took their cats with them; and so, a breed of cats colonised much of the world. Isn't history fascinating?
I'm Wayne Kerr, and if there's one thing I hate...
It's dance nazis.
I went to see the Ku-Ling Brothers tonight. Not a bad show, with synths,
turntables and live drums/guitars (if a bit confused and
generic-breakbeat-dance in places; not quite as cutting-edge as I had hoped
something featuring the founder of Cabaret Voltaire would be).
At one stage, as I was watching the show, a girl behind me tapped me on
the shoulder and said, "excuse me, but you're standing in the middle of the
dance floor." Well, excuse me, Ms. Dance Nazi , but I came here to see a
band play. As it happens, I didn't feel like making the effort of going
through socially-acceptable dancing motions throughout it; had I felt that
way I'd have gone to one of the many nightclubs the kids go to to shake their
booty to canned doof, as opposed to going to see a live fucking band.
</RANT>
Anyway, that's my story, so spread the hate. And praise "Bob".