You mean the Internet can be wrong?!

Once again, I love The Onion. I just finished reading "Factual Error Found on Internet." Shocking stuff, absolutely shocking.

"Recently Unearthed E-mail Reveals What Life Was Like in 1995" is another fun technology-related article. It reminds me of this book I had when I was a kid, Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. An archaeologist from far in the future examines a burial site that readers will recognize as being a motel, interpreting the things he finds there in a hilariously wrong way. Neither this book nor The Onion's article are very flattering depictions of the work that archaeologists do, but they're still both funny. I guess I should wrap this up with an archaeologist-themed article--

"Archaeologist Tired of Unearthing Unspeakable Ancient Evils" - Some writer at The Onion must have been brainstorming one day and said to himself, "Imagine if Indiana Jones were a real guy..."

Interesting books cataloged Feb. 17-20

I got a little behind on listing interesting books, but there really wasn't much I felt like listing. Actually, I'm thinking I might make these TBR lists a weekly, rather than daily, thing.

• Writing well : the essential guide by Mark Tredinnick [PE1408 .T74 2008] - Not something I'd necessarily want to read for fun, but it seemed like it could be a very helpful, yet still readable, book.
• Blood legacy : the true story of the Snow axe murders by James Pylant [HV6533.T4 P95 2008] - Local (or nearly local - I think this happened not far outside of Stephenville) history. The photographs alone make this something not suitable for those with weak stomachs. I had to create the LC call number for this - I chose to class it as "Murders in Texas" rather than as "Snow family genealogy" although the record I was asked to choose does list the "Snow family" aspect as one of the first subject headings.
• See Sam run : a mother's story of autism by Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe [RJ506 .A9 H43 2008] - This is one that just grabbed me while I was flipping through it. It looks to be a very interesting and honest description of what it was like for the author to raise an autistic child. There's a little bit at the end written by Sam in 2005. The annotated bibliography also looks very good.

The Onion's Hurriphoonado

I love The Onion - it can make me laugh until I cry. I just finished reading "Hurriphoonado Cuts Swath of Destruction Across Eastern, Western Hemispheres." It's like every single natural disaster news article from the past few years, all balled up in a giant mass of world-destroying horror. I particularly liked the bit about the hurriphoonado being classified as "an F4 tornado, Category 5 hurricane, and Level 7 redemptive act of God." By the way, this world-destroyer's name is Claire. Since this is the first-recorded hurriphoonado, shouldn't its name begin with an A?

Google Street View - Chicago

Today I discovered Google Street View - it's surprisingly addictive, even though it's also a little freaky. I can't help but be reminded of an article I read in The Onion a few years ago - "Google Announces Plan to Destroy All Information It Can't Index." (Another fun Google-related article which has nothing to do with this post but which reminds me of some computer instruction classes I used to help out with - "Google Launches 'The Google' for Older Adults.")

Google Street View doesn't have everything (yet - cue evil laughter), so I could only virtually visit one of the places I've lived/visited, Chicago. Here's a short tour:

I tried the address for the tiny apartment I stayed at while in Chicago, but Google Street View couldn't take me there. This is the closest I came - I think the apartment is only a short way up this street, to the left.

To the right is the Barnes and Noble I used to walk past in order to get to class and work. I was a poor student, so I didn't often go in.

Here is where I worked, attended lectures, and spent hours doing research for what ended up being a 60-page paper. The Newberry Library is a beautiful place and has some great resources, but I'd have to say that the best way to experience it is to get some kind of job that will allow you to go into the stacks. This is a closed stacks library, so the average user has to request things in order to be able to see them. I can't remember what the department was called now, but when I worked there I worked in the area where they do microfilming and digitization - I entered information from many, many cards into FileMaker. Originally, I had thought I'd be creating simple metadata for train blueprints (this is what my job description said I would be doing during the four months of the program I was taking part in), but that job was given to an intern. I was a bit jealous of the students who got jobs as pages - they got to go into the stacks all the time. On the plus side, my hours were more flexible than theirs.

My absolute favorite restaurant in Chicago was Panang, a place with (while I was there, anyway) reasonable prices and really good Thai food. I got addicted to their lychee smoothies (the chewy "bubbles" were fun) and did my best to work my way through their menu. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to try everything - I could only afford to eat there once a week, tops. If you ever get a chance to visit Chicago (or if you live there), I highly recommend this place.

I've got one more Google Street Maps post planned, one about the Street With a View project, but I don't think I'll be getting to that tonight...

Wolverine - Fun future and familiar characters

I've known about the Wolverine movie for a while, but I didn't really start looking into it until today. I admit, I wasn't too excited about it (Wolverine's backstory, while not uninteresting, is not something I want to watch for an entire movie), but now that I've found out a few extras details I'd really like to see it. The main thing that makes me want to see it is that I've just found out a few of Marvel characters I like are going to turn up: Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch) and Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds). I believe Gambit's name flashed onscreen sometime during one of the first two X-Men movies, but I hadn't ever really expected him to show up. I'm guessing that, with the age difference between movie Gambit and movie Rogue, the comic book's romantic storyline involving those two characters probably won't come up. However, you never know.

As far as Deadpool goes, I'm just amazed he's being allowed onscreen. I love the character, I really do, but I also realize that there are a lot of things he does that could be considered unacceptable in a live action movie (versus a comic book). Just as a general example, the guy is cheerfully homicidal and keeps an elderly blind lady prisoner (sort of - it's a really complex and strange relationship). He kills lots and lots of people, and yet, the way it's done in the comics, this is sometimes more funny than horrific. In Wolverine, Deadpool is just going to get a brief appearance, but there are already rumors that he'll be getting a movie of his own. That's nice, but how will moviemakers balance the original story's bizarre humor, violence, and drama? He can't be Deadpool without the full mix.

The article I read ("10 Essential Facts about 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'" by Matt McDaniel) mentioned that the Wolverine movie is only the first of a whole slew of movies planned to be made that will be set in the same world. Only two are mentioned in this article - "Magneto" and "X-Men: First Class." Although "X-Men: First Class" has the potential to be too geared towards a teenage audience (there's a whole article about that, as well), I'm still more interested in that than "Magento."

Toilet of Modern Art in Vienna

I'll quit with the weird stuff soon, I promise. But first - the Toilet of Modern Art in Vienna! Yes, there really is such a thing. Actually, what I pictured in my head was much stranger than this. It was probably fun to put together, though.

I'll have the Stir-fried wikipedia

I spend way too much time looking at weird stuff on the Internet. This latest is a travel blog with a few entries about really terrible translations (and funny signs, archaic/odd laws, etc.). The book The Dumbest Generation (see my earlier post) had me thinking about things like Wikipedia, so the stir-fried wikipedia had me choking on my discounted Valentine's Day cookies.