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January 26, 2008
Your American English Accent Divined
For this side of the Atlantic people only, a test of American English regional accents. It came out correct for me, divining my Noo Yawk origins, although the results appear to be generically regional (N. East) in determining accent origin rather than very local. But for each of doze of y'all who may reckon to be fixin' to enjoy some soda pop (soda pap?) and do some regional American linguistics, pack yaw caah in the havid yad, and give it a try.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:11 PM | Comments (9)
January 13, 2008
Transcription Software q's: "Dragon Naturally Speaking"
Although I never met a dragon, and certainly not one which speaks naturally, there is software with a related name. If anyone has thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, advice, offers, counteroffers, estoppel, promises, considerations, puns, etc. on "Dragon Naturally Speaking" or any other software where one can drone on verbally and have it automatically typed out, please share. I mean, is it reasonably time-saving, or is it like state of the art OCR namely, generating gibberish sprinkled with occasional words, but doing so in this case for the vocal chords, rather than printed text?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:41 PM | Comments (5)
December 09, 2007
More Brains Equals Less Happiness (with related Jumbled Thoughts on anti-Bush/anti-Jock sentiment)
Too little time to ramble appropriately. But here's a jumble of semi-related issues on nerd alienation, anti-Bushism and anti-jockism. First, the comments to this posted article on growing up brainy but inevitably unhappy are interesting, even touching (the comments are more interesting than the article). Though myself a fully formed non-jock last-picked-for-any-team somewhat "brainy" nerd, I nevertheless experienced less trauma than these folks did with "jocks" and other less eggheady types. Perhaps because the school environments I had were not too pro-jock, and were definitely pro-nerd. (That didn't stop all of the usual expected adolescent brutality and social ineptness coming my way, however). Then, I jump below to a bunch of slightly related half-formed theories here, going from the social exclusion of nerds to a distantly related political one: a working theory that alot of anti-Bush personal (not political) sentiment is fundamentally anti-jock resentment by nerds. To which discussion I append an appreciation of jocks.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:53 AM | Comments (11)
December 01, 2007
Need Gadget-Geek Info: Vinyl to Silicon
I am hinting around for a Xmas present: a device that has a turntable, a CD thing, and the necessary software so that one can transfer the contents of the old vinyl record to a CD. I saw this device in a consumer-ish outlet (did not get product name); does anyone know of the worthwhileness/reasonable pricing (USA) of such products or particular models or alternatives.? I imagine there are also legal issues of reproduction, but that's for another day.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:12 PM | Comments (5)
November 26, 2007
The Ultimate Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
I think I stumbled on the ultimate example of a self-fulfilling prophecy the other day. Go to a social event with your spouse and introduce him or her as "my future ex-[wife/husband]". No, I didn't do or have this done to me. Yet.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2007
Beowulf ynne thae fylmmen? Hwaet tha fukkke? Godes yrre baer.
That great hard-of-hearing epic, Beowulf, the one that actually begins with a shout of "WHAT!" (spelled Hwaet!), has made it onto the big silver mead-hall screen. A great line from one review says "as you may remember from Cliff's Notes. . . .", but your humble servant actually has read the thing in its original, um, English and always wondered how, aside from some good monsters, this drama-less one-dimensional Dark Age gangsta rap could possibly be made into a good story. I haven't seen the film yet, but I shouldn't have been surprised at Hollywood's ingenuity in that area: they made stuff up.
Continue reading "Beowulf ynne thae fylmmen? Hwaet tha fukkke? Godes yrre baer."
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:35 AM | Comments (4)
October 26, 2007
Petty thoughts: She's not worth it
An "oldie" of sorts, like me the listener, on the radio. Tom Petty's Listen To Her Heart. And the opening line that I hated then and now. So I just have to say this these many years later.
Continue reading "Petty thoughts: She's not worth it"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2007
Jiggle the Key: Things I Should Have Known before 30
This vanity entry is part of a series I hope to compile for future children of my own or others. These are things that most humans know or should know early but I never learned til age 30. This entry is "Jiggle the Key". You see, until about age 30, if I put a new key in a lock and it didn't turn, I'd give up and declare it didn't work. Or if a door wouldn't open, I wouldn't yank and shake until it did. First try, a failure, then that was it. Jiggle the key. Bang the thing. Refeed the dollar into the change machine a few times, the card into the ATM. Now most people learn this at 5, but I was instead asking others to help (like a girl! -- sorry for the sexism), moping about frustrated, waiting for another place or opportunity. (Next entry on this topic: look at the ball when you swing).
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:30 AM | Comments (9)
July 02, 2007
Ayn Rand Had Nothing to Do with it, OK?
I am a "classical liberal", a libertarian, or whatever it is. Brilliant, dumb, or neither, but just for the record: Ayn Rand had nothing to do with it, OK? Sentences like this just keep cropping up, though: "Ayn Rand, the Russian émigré novelist and philosopher who inspired more people toward a combined emotional/intellectual commitment to individual liberty than any other figure in the 20th century" or book titles like this: It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand. No, it didn't. Thank you. And "Objectivism" is stupid too.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 04:34 AM | Comments (9)
June 10, 2007
Working on the Jane's Gang
First, there's Janes' All the World's Airships. Ok. Then, Jane's . . . . Fighting Ships. And Jane's Defence....Weekly. Now there's Jane's Defence Forecasts - Combat Vehicle Programmes, and Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.
I don't know who this Jane is but don't you get the impression she must be one helluva bitch?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2007
Existence: A Parable
Written under the combined inspiration of some thoughts of our Site-mistress, a reading of the Book of Revelation, a cool old Twilight Zone episode, and indigestion. A pre-emptive astaghfir'llah to all.
Continue reading "Existence: A Parable"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:03 AM | Comments (6)
April 03, 2007
The Windsor: What makes this knot different from all other knots?
OK, I needed a Passover pun. Apologies to all 12 tribes of Israel (plus the Levites, depending on the reckoning.) And Happy Passover too to all. My knot concern, brought on by a recent semi-formal appearance, is this: although a Confirmed Slob, I retain, nevertheless, an almost womanly passion about that clothing decoration called a tie. (Wipe that Freud off your face!) Yet, sadly I don't know how to make the classy cool Windsor Knot, as opposed to the standard wussy and uneven inverted trapezoid. I am the son of a master Windsor Knotter but he got Alzheimer's before imparting the Secret. The Wikipedia link is circular and this page is only deceptively user-friendly, hopeless to follow. Is there anyone out there to help?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:04 PM | Comments (16)
