Finally up to those twenty...

( Geekage alert as usual )

Was raking up leaves in Grandpa's garden today (no small job, and only about a half have come down so far so I'll have to do it again next weekend) as I ran into the corpse of a small hedgehog, hidden under the fallen leaves.

It had probably been dead for a week or so and it was impossible to tell what had happened to it, only that something had certainly fed on it afterwards. It was pretty much bones and skin (and spines) but really more of a sad sight than a yucky one. Grandpa said that since it was small it was entirely possible it had died on its own, now that it's getting cold.

I dug a small hole in the ground and buried what remained of the poor little hedgie.

*bwaah*

From skrik...

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

(I have very little knowledge about Tarot cards as I've never really "done the card thing", but what little I've read about them indicates that they're a pretty interesting phenomenon. And no, I don't believe in divination.)

Okay, anyone wanna help me out here?

What I want to do is buy a song on the 'net and put it on the mp3 player I have in my Nokia cell phone.

I tried buying it, downloading it on my computer and then transferring it to my phone via Nokia's own software (which works just fine with most CDs I own), but no go: the software said there were copy protection issues. (And not even my computer will play the song. Which was bought from a quite regular Finnish mp3 store...)

What am I supposed to do to get this to work? Or is it just plain undoable?

I happened to run into a music video (Coin-Operated Boy) by The Dresden Dolls. The song now plays nonstop in that infamous private jukebox in my head, and I don't even mind. At all.

How come I never even heard of this band before?! Are they that marginal over here in Europe, or do I just live way too mainstream for my own good?

I have a history of picking up new favorite bands and musicians on basis of just one song (Bohemian Rhapsody -> Queen, Gypsy -> Suzanne Vega, In These Shoes? -> Kirsty MacColl...), and I have the strongest of feelings that this is going to be one of those things too. Too bad I just don't really have the money to run around buying CDs right now. (Not that the local stores have anything like this music for sale. Yes, I checked already... The library doesn't have any Dresden Dolls CDs either.)

Just joo.

Piti oikein kalenterista tarkistaa, että milläkös vuosituhannella nyt ollaankaan menossa...? Jonkun kai pitäisi kertoa se Alma Median johdollekin.

For some reason, the private jukebox in my head is tonight stuck on the two "big" songs from To Have and Have Not: How Little We Know (sung by Lauren Bacall as Slim) and Hong Kong Blues (sung by Hoagy Carmichael as Cricket).

Incidentally, I actually like this as such quite flawed movie better than the celebrated (and admittedly good, not to mention much better written) Casablanca. The Bogie/Bacall chemistry is wonderful and there's plenty of fun to be had with all sorts of minor characters. And these songs are damn good, I wish I could get them on CD somewhere. (Or just the movie as a decent DVD, even.)

Oh, and regarding these videos: the lowness of Bacall's singing voice never fails to surprise me. And Hoagy Carmichael (and everything he does) is almost unbearably cute. And Bogie still rules.

MR BANKS MARTINS appears to be approaching me with the interesting question CAN YOU BE TRUST?

Well, I'm not the personification of Trust, no. Which is sort of why I deleted this message without opening it.

Interesting ways some guys make science. I wonder what their percentage of returned ducks is going to look like. (Also, right on cue...)

And taking a step in an even sillier direction, here's how EU tries to attract young people to science, apparently. Har har.

In other news, margaret_ and I went to hear the Irish traditional-music band Foolin in Doolin (Michael "Blackie" O'Connell, Karol Lynch, Cyril O'Donoghue) last night, and I was glad I went. Irish music is just really catchy and absorbing, they played very well (and had a delicious sense of humor), and some guys from the audience improvised a bit of very cool dancing to go with it. I just had to buy their record, and to compliment Michael on his awesome Star Wars t-shirt. :-)

I seriously need to go to Ireland someday... for the music, and the people, and the horses.

Obviously, this survey is pretty much meant for Americans. I nicked it from skrik.

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Beta-blocker Blues and other pharmacological hits to be heard here.

(I heard them live tonight in a "science show" for the general audience which was a part of the European Researchers' Night. They're all amateur musicians of course, but rather fun stuff anyway.)

A classic quote that for some reason fascinates me tonight (I knew it before, sort of, but was reminded of it today as I happened to read Suzanne Vega's speech at her stepfather's memorial):

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less... Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

(John Donne, 1572-1631)

'nuff said.

(Anyone with too much time in their hands and a willingness to delight me may dig up an appropriate Monty Python icon to go with that title, though.)

Re: yesterday's school shooting, I'm not exactly surprised at this but I'm still, of course, majorly pissed off.

(The Wikipedia article on these sorry excuses for human beings is interesting. I do applaud the counter protests.)

A hint to anyone who wishes to have anything to do with religion: if what yours does to you is inflate your ego while encouraging you to blame everything imaginable on any group of people out there and/or to attack them in thought, word or deed, you're doing it wrong. And I shouldn't wonder if the one your God really hates is you.

In domestic news as I type... There's very little information yet, I can only hope it's nowhere near as bad as the Jokela shooting last year.

Update: they're saying there are nine dead now. Heavy sigh. :-( :-(

When doing spreadsheet calculations and using complicated formulas, make damn sure to use the parentheses whenever needed.

Better overuse them just to make sure rather than rely on the software getting it right. Excel at least can be most unbelievably dense about these things.

Uh, this is weird...

Remember when I made salmiak cookies in the summer? Well, for that purpose I bought a little bag of ground Tyrkisk Pebers (= a type of hard and strong salmiak candy). Not all of it went into the dough I made, so I closed the bag with a clothespin and put it in the kitchen cupboard.

Today I noticed that some things on the same shelf with that bag were rather badly stuck to the shelf surface. Looking into the matter, I found that almost everything on that small shelf - particularly any packages with paper on them - had a thin and dried but very sticky layer of salmiak (definitely salmiak, just by the smell) all over their bottom and generally up their sides as well.

The bag of ground candy itself was quite clean. And closed.

Well, I seem to remember that the bag had opened up at some point in the summer (and it could be it was only then that I added the clothespin), perhaps spreading some little bits of salmiak candy around, but still this is way weird. And very messy.

I can't believe I missed Talk Like A Pirate Day yesterday! I just totally forgot and didn't even notice until I saw the Dork Tower strip this morning. I should mark these things down on my calendar.

Oh well. Last year I was inspired to order Cap't Slappy's and Ol' Chumbucket's book Pirattitude!, then promptly registered it with BookCrossing and sent it for a tour of Europe, from which it returned this summer. In case anyone is interested in my own and the other readers' comments from that bookring, just head right here.

If what drunkenness does to you is make you scream your lungs out and throw heavy things around in your apartment in the middle of the night (3 a.m.), then newsflash: odds are you shouldn't drink at all.

(Doesn't sound like you're beating anyone up while you're at it, so you might also just plain get yourself a detached house so you at least won't wake a whole lot of people right up.)

Yeah, this only seems to happen once every four months or so, but I'm getting tired of you all the same - and I bet your other neighbors are too.

So... This one is from benebu:

1. There are 30 questions.
2. Next to each number, write only the name of the person who fits.
3. Answer one question with one name.
4. Don't tell the questions to anyone who isn't doing the meme.

The answers:

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30. Nothing sinister here really, I swear. :-)