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Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.

-- Rolande Barthes


Tom Christensen
("xensen") . tom [at] rightreading.com
 

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Archive for 'offbeat'

Special offer: preview the Museum of Folly

If you are at all interested in the current arts scene, I’m sure you have heard a lot about about the imminent opening of the Museum of Folly; probably you are growing tired of the endless media coverage. What I have for you today is something entirely better. Blog.rightreading.com has arranged for a special preview [...]

hobbit house

This handsome structure was built by architect Peter Archer for a client who collects Tolkien.
According to finehomebuilding.com, “‘I came back my client and said, “I’m not going to make this look like Hollywood,”‘ Archer recalled, choosing to focus instead on a finely-crafted structure embodying a sense of history and tradition.”
More photos and story here.
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Seen on eBay

It must be the desk that ups the price.

This “writhing desk” recalls Harry Potter, or maybe Lewis Carroll:”The regular course was Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with; and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.”
Conceivably Related PostsNo related posts

My Sweet Lord

Looks like the Roger Smith Hotel in New York has caved in to demands from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to remove the art piece My Sweet Lord by Cosimo Cavallaro. A six-foot-tall representation of Jesus on the cross made of chocolate, the piece has apparently offended the League more by its [...]

Swim, Swim, Swim!

Are you in shape for following step 12 in the instructions shown in the screen capture?
Via Google Blogoscoped. While at GB, check out Raymond Chandler’s 1953 mention of Google.
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Invading Liechtenstein

On March 2 170 lost Swiss soldiers accidentally invaded neighboring Liechtenstein. But instead of claiming the principality for the Swiss empire, once they realized their mistake they simply marched back home. A spokesman for Liechtenstein said the soldiers had gone unnoticed, adding “It’s not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something.”
Could this [...]

“The Dumbing Down of America”

That’s how the source titles this page. It’s said to be actual courtroom testimony, taken down by “court reporters who had the torment of staying calm and quiet while these exchanges were actually taking place.”
Some examples:
ATTORNEY : What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS : Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
***
ATTORNEY [...]

200+ U-Turns

Google Maps offers the following:

Click image for more info.
Conceivably Related PostsDoFollow scrappedDoFollow: it was a noble experiment. But it brought me a lot of thin or spam comments that benefited…I Want to Take You Higher

That’s what Sly Stone sang back in the day. Well — boom shaka laka laka boom shaka laka laka –…WorldCat Library [...]

Green pigs that glow in the dark

Just in time for the year of the pig, Chinese scientists claim to have genetically modified pigs using DNA from fluorescent jellyfish. “The scientists from Taiwan University’s say that although the pigs glow, they are otherwise no different from any others.” Story and a small picture here.
Do you like green eggs and ham?
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World’s Tallest Man Saves Pair of Dolphins

image via random good stuff
Bao xishun, at seven feet nine inches, is said to be the world’s tallest man. But that’s not the item. The item is that he was called in by a veterinarian to save a couple of dolphins that had swallowed some sort of plastic. Using his extremely long arms, Bao reached [...]

Note to Self

Will Self’s writing room. A 360 degree view in 71 photos by Phil Grey

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Barbados Faces Invasion by Giant Snails

Barbados Faces Invasion by Giant Snails
“We saw snails riding on each other’s backs and moving in clusters,” said David Walrond, chairman of the local emergency response office that organized 60 volunteers for the hunt. “You’re just crunching the shells as you’re walking through.”
(via Exploding Aardvark)
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