It doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence when the web site for the weblog software I am using is down.

One thing you can count on being online, though, is Cool Joe C’s photo guestbook—a good example of the quality of pictures a $60 webcam can take. My webcam cost that much and I must say I’m feeling pretty ripped off.

The photos I took at the Eden James album launch are online. Unfortunately James’ camera either wasn’t focusing correctly or had no depth of field, so they are fuzzy, but the colours are good. I should have taken the analogue.

insom.cx FAQ

What do you call a site which isn’t updated for three weeks?

You call it insom.cx.

I have been back at Uni for four (4) weeks so far, and I am working harder than I ever have before. Of course after four weeks you’re only just starting to get into it, whenceforth the whole thing starts looking rather daunting. Kewn has recently come up with a couple of Demotivator-style posters that I’m sure a lot of students will relate to.

So, in search of a motivatory motto for this semester, I had a look through the Aesop’s Fables—moral lessons with which most people would be familiar.

1. The best intentions will not always ensure success
2. Do not count your chickens before they are hatched
3. Nothing escapes the master’s eye
4. Better starve free than be a fat slave

Having pondered these and other woefully inappropriate morals, I decided upon the old favourite, Slow and steady wins the race.

Unusual Words

The aforementioned site will help YOU to expand your vocabulary, and horizons, with gems like these:

colposinquanonia — Estimating a woman’s beauty based on her chest
gynotikolobomassophilia — A proclivity for nibbling on women’s earlobes
tibialoconcupiscent — Having a lascivious interest in watching a woman put on stockings

There sure are a lot of big words about women. You probably won’t find any of these in your dictionary, but any boob with a diploma in etymology can write a dictionary. Consider the following about Noah Webster, the father of American English:

Webster believed in simplifying the spelling of words. He believed that children should learn to speak by pronouncing each syllable separately and clearly. Therefore silent letters such as the “u” in colour were discarded. Spellings such as “tough women” became “tuf wimmen”. Webster recommended some pretty radical phonetic spelling, such as “soop”, “fantom”, “tuf”, “hed”, “medecin” and “tung”. The dictionary sold very poorly, and Webster spent the rest of his life in poverty.

After Webster’s death in 1843, Charles and George Merriam bought the rights to his dictionaries and published the first Merriam–Webster dictionary in 1847. It was this dictionary, not Webster’s original, that became a runaway success all over America, and it left out many of Webster’s “improved” spellings.

It just goes to show how much American English sucks.

(Props to E2 for the quote)

UQ’s Big Gig was on once more.

Platform 6 got a small audience but rocked out nonetheless. Maybe at next year’s Gig they won’t have to go first.

Fellow locals The Daisycutters and Screamfeeder were also pretty good. The Screamfeeder guitarist soldiered on without his “D” string for a couple of songs, and Kellie’s bass rig dying for awhile probably gave some people a clue as to what a bass does.

Meanwhile, at the other stages, a hoarde of plebeians thrashed about to the compost of repetitive beeps and thuds commonly called dance music.

I sure have a lot on my plate this semester:

ECON1004 — Laughing As I Count My Money
LING1337 — Introduction to Alphanumeric English
COMS4263 — Advanced Sending My ISP Broke
CHEM3300 — Consuming an Ale

Ha ha, actually my real subjects are a bit of programming, a bit of databasing, and a whole lot of maths. Should be a challenge.