verbminx

The Best Neuroscience Study Guide Ever (Because It Has Cats)

You're welcome. Maybe.

It's insanely cold here: around 7 degrees (F). It won't be much warmer tomorrow; I don't yet know what the forecast looks like for the weekend.

I'm making bean and chicken soup this afternoon -- specifically, Bean Cuisine's White Bean Provencial. It's not the cheapest thing in the world to make -- the mix itself is $4 at World Market, plus it takes three pieces of chicken, some fresh vegetables, a can of tomatos, a few containers of chicken stock, and some wine -- but I find that it goes a long way (three meals or so for two people). Soup with buttered hearty bread is probably my favorite winter meal.

Um, WOW. Last night, suburbangothshowed this to me in an attempt to one-up my lulz-y chain of videos (in which j-rock star Gackt's "cool" dignity was gradually eroded, albeit admittedly with his full consent).  I am not sure it quite tops "EMERGENCY STAIRCASE," but do tell me what you think.

It's a fan video, but really... it looks like it could totally be the real thing. The fact that it's not intentionally funny makes it all the better.

This is not even nerdcore rap. Or Irish.

It's amazing how nearly-accurate a pastiche this is. Probably the most accurate part is the "hallway scene" with the heart attack. With regard to other elements, I think that the video seems a little later than 1984... a few more posts coming up for contrast.

It's also amazing -- almost annoying -- how catchy a synthpop track this is! I bet you could play it at an 80s night at a club, between Duran Duran and Erasure, and nobody who didn't know it would immediately recognize it as a fake.

(For reference, this link might help.)

I need this as an animated icon.

Oh, you'll see.

&$#@*!, my roses have Japanese Beetles on them right now. Pretty, as beetles go, but they'll make roses look lacy at best and digested at worst. Little jerks. I just clipped off a couple of blossoms that were A)beyond repair and B)full of beetles, and chucked them over the fence. It's important to get the beetles away from the plant, since they leave a scent behind that attracts others of their kind. One repellent is, seriously, to smash them and leave their bodies lying around. (I didn't do that.)

David Mitchell talks to Japan Today about his upcoming novel, which will be about Nagasaki in the early nineteenth century. I heart David Mitchell; go read all his novels. He says some really smart and interesting things about writing and imagination here. (via Bookslut)

rPhone - the finest in steampunk technology. rPhone is the first portable telephone constructed of materials you've come to associate with progressive technology... from its exquisite rosewood paneling to the handsome brass frame, it shouts "This is the 18th century!" (via MeFi)

PuzzleFilter - MeFi post about Puzzability, a puzzle-writing company started by three former editors of Games. (via... duh.)

I have a bad cold. This just amused me a lot. via Bookslut.

THESE shoes rule! THESE shoes suck!
(NSFW, due to language.)

I really like Kelly's red-and-white striped tights.
I don't own this many shoes anymore, but when I moved up here a few years ago I had something like 60 pairs. I didn't wear most of them, so I gave them to Goodwill.

Still up with headache! I found some "liniment" in the cabinet downstairs called something like Arthritis Relief Rub. It looks like a patent medicine and claims to have no bad smell.

Um, LIES! Its primary ingredients are things like camphor, wintergreen, and rosemary extract, so you can imagine how totally Ben Gay it is. Icy Hot! I rubbed it all over my neck and shoulders and it made my eyes tingle. I wore a hot-wrap around my neck.

I also put liniment on my gardening injury.

Also, I did a New York Times Friday crossword puzzle (which I believe are supposed to be very hard... they ARE hard; I cheat a lot by checking my answers).

When I was doing a lot of Office training last week, which I have to get back to tomorrow, I was having eye problems, and my head started to hurt. That was actually the genesis of this headache, which I have been fighting off for days. I will have to wear my oft-ignored glasses if I want to do more training.

All I really want to listen to is classical music.

So it is official! I have become elderly. *sigh*

(What other old-people things could I be up to?)

Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog - yeah. If you have problems with the Middle English, try reading it out loud: it makes more sense when you hear it, rather like a game of MadGab. Y means "I", yclepen means "is called/named" or "calls him/herself", Frensshe means "French." Etc. There's one entry that's a very funny Brokeback Mountain parody somehow involving the Pearl poet: “I WOLDE I KNEWE HOW OF THEE I MIGHT BE QUITTEN!” Also, endless references to a Chaucer/Gower rivalry.

via MoFi where someone got it from languagehat.