A week or so ago I made a post telling you that I wasn't happy with the 'smart' links that appear around commenters' names, so I was taking them out.
I've now written a plugin to give the combination of links I want, so the comments are back. Please tell me if you notice anything odd about them.
I've now written a plugin to give the combination of links I want, so the comments are back. Please tell me if you notice anything odd about them.
Blessings of All Hallows' Eve, for those subscribing to such things. Don't expect seasons' greetings from me as a rule, since it's only here so I can go completely off topic for the next part.
Hallowe'en, also called November Eve (according to Webster), is of course NaNoWriMo eve, so I'm here to warn you that my dismal posting rate is likely to get even lower for the next month. I may have something to show you all by the end of it though...
Hallowe'en, also called November Eve (according to Webster), is of course NaNoWriMo eve, so I'm here to warn you that my dismal posting rate is likely to get even lower for the next month. I may have something to show you all by the end of it though...
Those of you who've been a party to my recent hardware problems (which is most of the people I know in Star Wars Galaxies, but only a couple of other folks) will know that for some time now I've been planning to get a new motherboard. I ordered one from dabs.com along with a better graphics card and a spare sound card (you never know when some extra sound channels might come in handy, when people are hassling you to join their Ventrillo server) two weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago I bought the first two seasons of the X-Files on DVD. The first series was fine; to my surprise I could remember having seen every episode, but it's something that survives repeat viewings pretty well. The second season is excellent as well, but different in an important way: It has Dutch subtitles...
It also has plentiful chapter breaks, of which normally I would be most appreciative (or more likely simply unaware), but it accentuates the problem my DVD player has. Now I don't even bother turning off the subtitles, I just sit back and ignore them. Except that sometimes they appear before the line is spoken, and sometimes there's a caption onscreen and the subtitle is more prominent...
Incidentally, I've come to the realisation that the plot twist in the Empire Strikes Back perhaps wasn't as unforetold to Dutch speakers as it was to the rest of us. I'd noticed the similarity in German, but never had any cause to look at it in other languages.
Update: The episode named Firewalker involves a team of volcanologists taking samples from a volcano, and inadvertantly bringing a dangerous lifeform back with them. It becomes slightly confusing when listening to the English and noticing the odd word of the Dutch subtitle, since the words 'sample' and 'specimen' seem to translate into 'monster'...
It also has plentiful chapter breaks, of which normally I would be most appreciative (or more likely simply unaware), but it accentuates the problem my DVD player has. Now I don't even bother turning off the subtitles, I just sit back and ignore them. Except that sometimes they appear before the line is spoken, and sometimes there's a caption onscreen and the subtitle is more prominent...
Incidentally, I've come to the realisation that the plot twist in the Empire Strikes Back perhaps wasn't as unforetold to Dutch speakers as it was to the rest of us. I'd noticed the similarity in German, but never had any cause to look at it in other languages.
Update: The episode named Firewalker involves a team of volcanologists taking samples from a volcano, and inadvertantly bringing a dangerous lifeform back with them. It becomes slightly confusing when listening to the English and noticing the odd word of the Dutch subtitle, since the words 'sample' and 'specimen' seem to translate into 'monster'...
Someone has just brought to my attention a comic strip at Irregular Webcomic. I feel from the tone that the author perhaps hasn't been won over by the concept of NaNoWriMo like I have, but the comic is good nonetheless.
The one on the evils of MS Powerpoint is genius though...
The one on the evils of MS Powerpoint is genius though...
Well that was a strange night.
Text message in the early afternoon: pub at 6:30. Fair enough; a bit early, but there are a few birthdays coming up and I can never remember when, so I was expecting to be summoned to pubs a couple of times in the next few weeks. Rang to confirm, and was told that it was early because they were going to the theatre after. Seems sensible enough, until I found myself roped into going with them...
Text message in the early afternoon: pub at 6:30. Fair enough; a bit early, but there are a few birthdays coming up and I can never remember when, so I was expecting to be summoned to pubs a couple of times in the next few weeks. Rang to confirm, and was told that it was early because they were going to the theatre after. Seems sensible enough, until I found myself roped into going with them...
I'm sorry to anyone who has left comments and put the URL of their site in the correct box, but I've turned off the hyperlinks under commenters names because I'm not happy with the way it handles e-mail addresses (namely that it makes mailto: links of them...).
I'm still looking for a plugin to fix this, otherwise I'll just have to write one.
I'm still looking for a plugin to fix this, otherwise I'll just have to write one.
Currently working on a decent way of having a sticky item up top. Bear with me...
Unsolicited trackback time: The Stalker has brought to my attention NaNoWriMo. Go and read, because I wouldn't do them justice with a sentence or two of description (even with the extent to which I write unnecessarily long over-punctuated sentences).
Basically the National Novel Writing Month (which would be International, but it didn't have the same ring to it) is all about writing a novel in a month. I'm tempted to take part.
Basically the National Novel Writing Month (which would be International, but it didn't have the same ring to it) is all about writing a novel in a month. I'm tempted to take part.
My DVD player, getting on in years I suppose, has established a couple of little ... quirks.
While it will happily give me a film with the sound in English, whenever subtitles are available in Dutch, it will turn those on. After I get rid of them, it will put them back on at the start of each new chapter. When the DVD menus are available in German, it will give me those rather than the English; thankfully this is quite rare (since presumably if Germany wants localised versions of the big films it can get them) and there isn't usually much to work out, but it's still annoying.
I don't think I know anyone in Germany. I'm sure I don't know anyone in the Netherlands. I know one or two people in Belgium, where I gather Flemish is virtually the same language, but they have good English (or close enough), and in any case one of them is actually Norwegian. So clearly I don't need to learn Dutch, but the DVD player insists on trying to teach me...
While it will happily give me a film with the sound in English, whenever subtitles are available in Dutch, it will turn those on. After I get rid of them, it will put them back on at the start of each new chapter. When the DVD menus are available in German, it will give me those rather than the English; thankfully this is quite rare (since presumably if Germany wants localised versions of the big films it can get them) and there isn't usually much to work out, but it's still annoying.
I don't think I know anyone in Germany. I'm sure I don't know anyone in the Netherlands. I know one or two people in Belgium, where I gather Flemish is virtually the same language, but they have good English (or close enough), and in any case one of them is actually Norwegian. So clearly I don't need to learn Dutch, but the DVD player insists on trying to teach me...
Must get around to looking at how this thing works.
(Lengthy 'TODO:' style post follows, hence pre-emptive use of 'space-wasting prevention' measures).
(Lengthy 'TODO:' style post follows, hence pre-emptive use of 'space-wasting prevention' measures).
The blog lies stagnant;
Empty mind like winter sun.
Perhaps spring is soon.
I don't want to start metablogging, and I don't necessarily want to unleash the full glory of my arsenal of tragic hobbies on you at this stage, so I'm still at a loss as to what to write. And I'm bored. So pardon terrible Haiku.
Empty mind like winter sun.
Perhaps spring is soon.
I don't want to start metablogging, and I don't necessarily want to unleash the full glory of my arsenal of tragic hobbies on you at this stage, so I'm still at a loss as to what to write. And I'm bored. So pardon terrible Haiku.
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