Author: Camelopardalis

"Twitter tells us that the act described in the third panel of today’s strip is called a “Key West…"

“Twitter tells us that the act described in the third panel of today’s strip is called a “Key West Boomerang,” but I’m afraid to prove this assertion with a keyword search because then I might see what looks like.”

- Penny Arcade.  I would suggest that you not click the comic itself if you’re the sort of person who might be squeamish about a little rough language.  Hysterical rough language.

Umm, a younger Conan O’Brien did not TRY to steal Robin’s costume.

It’s pretty clear from the narration of events that he and his team (this story is from the 1980s, when O’Brien was a member of the infamous Harvard Lampoon) succeeded. I don’t think that they were planning to keep Burt Ward’s Robin costume; in fact, I’m getting the impression that Ward thought that this entire thing was both hysterical, and flattering (I’d say that it was both, myself).

I have no idea why I wanted to get this on the record, either.  It’s just been kind of bugging me.

Hot Air & the WSJ need to back off on this Tootsie Roll thing.

Secretive company with mysterious, yet profitable operations? An almost militant indifference to developing good publicity?  Closed-off facilities?  Sorry, but this whole story SCREAMS “government-controlled front for Black Ops” to me.  They probably have a secret facility deep under Chicago where elite NAFTA agents are trained in the esoteric psionic techniques that are unlocked with a steady supply of carefully-designed bits of chocolate.  That’s why Tootsie Roll acquired all of those other brands: they needed different recipes for different techniques.

…at least, that’s how I’d run it in my campaign.  If I was running a RPG campaign, which I’m currently not.

So.  Jailbreaking.  This is a thing? …I ask because…



So.  Jailbreaking.  This is a thing? …I ask because it’s apparently dead simple to get a jailbroken iPad to recognize a Bluetooth mouse, and I have been at war with Apple over its user assumptions since the day I pulled my iPad out of its shipping container.  I will choose what I am going to do with my electronic equipment, not some corporation in California; and if my view of the end result differs from Apple’s, that’s their failure of imagination, not mine.

RIP, Harry Harrison.

(Via Ace) I somehow missed that he had passed, earlier this week.  Harry Harrison was always one of the more complicated folks when it came to, say, the alternate history genre: he did a lot of good work… but you weren’t always sure when.

[There was going to be a picture here, but… Tumblr apparently expects to steal other people’s bandwidth? The heck?]

Still, the major reason why The Stainless Steel Rat doesn’t seem dated, despite being a half-century why, is because Harrison had that much influence over how other science fiction authors wrote.

Buy A PC, get an xBox! …For COLLEGE?

Apparently so.  Goodness gracious - now there’s a phrase you probably don’t often see on Tumblr - but that just says everything about modern education, right there. Look, if you want to buy an Xbox, go ahead (no, seriously, go right ahead, click that link, and buy one).  Heck, if you want to buy me an Xbox, go right ahead.  But let’s not pretend that doing one will be a net positive for your grades, ‘kay?

(Via @JakeW)