not falling down

“The sky over the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

In 1984, that meant the gray fuzz of static; in 2007, it mostly means the lurid royal blue that modern TVs automatically substitute when they don’t get a signal. Most cultivars of apple at the grocery are now red and green, rather than bright red. Peppered moths are now peppered again, instead of black (and were once black instead of peppered).

Are there other colors-by-reference that have changed in living memory?

I’m twenty-five and I drink at least one sugary soft drink a day. I specialize in baking cookies. I rarely drink milk and I don’t chew sugarless gum. Yesterday, I went to the dentist for the first time in three years.

I have, as always, zero cavities.

WHERE IS YOUR SCIENCE NOW?

Humans! I seem to remember that some of you live in Portland? Maria, the Revolution and I are here too! Until Saturday! Maria is attending a conference for people who know everything, and I am sitting in a hotel room working. Later? I may go to a coffee shop.

Anyway, we should get lunch, or you should at least recommend things to try. Unless you don’t care about us! Dick.

Hey internet, is there a Flickr for music?

I remain enfranchised.

There is a package coming to me. I live in Louisville. Where the big UPS hub is.

Somebody sold you a bad algorithm, UPS.

Update 10.25.2006 0057 hrs:

Do you know anybody who pronounces it “po-tah-to?”

What’s two months old and can climb over a two-foot fence?

1. Sight
2. Smell / Taste
3. Touch
4. Hearing
   • Sub-sense: being able to tell when a TV is on in another room, even on mute
5. Whether I Have Exactly Five Items in my Pockets Sense
6. Blackdar
7. Sense of When a Soccerball is Approaching, So I Can Close My Eyes and Throw My Hands Out Awkwardly
8. Hungrysense
   • For me, I mean. Whether I’m hungry
9. Iambic Pentameter Sense

What senses do you have?

Because I am a sucker, I read the WENN bullet points on IMDB about every day. I don’t think they have permalinks, so I’m reprinting this one in full (copyright World Entertainment News Network but I don’t care):

Jackson’s Snake Film Creates Huge Buzz

Samuel L. Jackson’s new mile-high thriller Snakes On A Plane has created such a buzz among internet film fans, movie bosses have called for re-shoots – to give the film a tougher rating. The film, which stars Jackson as an FBI agent trying to keep a federal witness alive onboard a plane full of snakes, wrapped last September – but went back before the cameras earlier this month for five days of additional shooting. Film bosses at distributor New Line Cinema opted to add new scenes to the film to take the movie from PG-13 into R-rated territory, according to industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter. They claim the second round of filming became necessary after intense and growing fan interest in the film, which is scheduled to be released this summer. Among the reported additions to the film is a foul-mouthed rant from Jackson in which his agent character bellows, “I want these motherf**king snakes off the motherf**king plane!” The line is expected to take on cult status. The film-makers have reportedly added more gore, more deaths, more nudity and more snakes to the finished product.

Let’s emphasize the part that makes me wince.

The line is expected to take on cult status.

Aww, guys. Guys, you can’t… you can’t do that.