Geeknews » Word Geek

Romeo and Juliet in Binary

Andy — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:08:59 +0000

Here’s a geeky gift for that guy or gal in your life that has everything. It’s Romeo and Juliet printed in binary format.

This Shakespeare story has been translated by Steven Rutledge, is available on Lulu and comes in hardcover binding for US$29.95 or downloaded for US$5.00.

Here’s part of the first page, so what do you think?

Word of the Day: Negawatt

Andy — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 07:43:08 +0000

negawatt n

A unit in watts of saved energy. [Wiktionary]
“The saving of a megawatt of power by reducing consumption or increasing efficiency.” [from Sustainability Dictionary]

Etymology:

Coined by Amory Lovins, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute as a contraction of negative watt on the model of similar compounds like megawatt.

What Words Would You Add to the Microsoft Spell-Checker?

Andy — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:45:33 +0000

The other day the Seattle Times profiled the Microsoft Natural Language team and their challenges in keeping the up with spell-checking since languages are constantly in flux.

Now the paper’s blog asks us “What words would you add to the Microsoft spell-checker?“. Here’s a few quotes:

A friend who works in the sciences said it’s difficult to trust the spell-checker in her field. “You think Bromodichloromethane or 4-Methyl-2-Pentanone are in there? Or whenever we use borehole the suggested correction is brothel…”

A man who works in Olympia had this question: “I’ve often wondered why a corporation based in Washington has a spell-checker that doesn’t include Walla Walla as an acceptable proper noun instead of insisting that it’s a repetition… Apparently, Microsoft thinks there’s a town called Walla, WA — where they grow Walla onions.” (Only half as delicious, I’m sure.)

Neal Stephenson Once Again Proves He’s the King of the Worlds

Andy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:02:53 +0000

Neal Stephenson has a new book to be released Sept 3 2008 (pre-order on Amazon).

Wired.com writes about Stephenson’s motivations and where the ideas came from for this 960 page novel.

Set on a planet called Arbe (pronounced “arb”), Anathem documents a civilization split between two cultures: an indulgent Saecular general population (hooked on casinos, shopping in megastores, trashing the environment—sound familiar?) and the super-educated cohort known as the avaunt, or “auts,” who live a monastic existence defined by intellectual activity and circumscribed rituals. Freed from the pressures of pedestrian life, the avaunt view time differently. Their society—the “mathic” world—is clustered in walled-off areas known as concents built around giant clocks designed to last for centuries. The avaunt are separated into four groups, distinguished by the amount of time they are isolated from the outside world and each other. Unarians stay inside the wall for a year. Decenarians can venture outside only once a decade. Centenarians are locked in for a hundred years, and Millennarians—long-lifespanners who are endowed with Yoda-esque wisdom—emerge only in years ending in triple zeros. Stephenson centers his narrative around a crisis that jars this system—a crisis that allows him to introduce action scenes worthy of Buck Rogers and even a bit of martial arts. It’s a rather complicated setup; fortunately, there’s a detailed timeline and 20-page glossary to help the reader decode things.

A Yearn to Kern: Fonts Are the Clothes That Words Wear

Andy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:05:13 +0000

TypeCon 2008 – a font conference, or as I like to call it, a “font festival”.

It was last week and presented by The Society of Typographical Aficionados. It looks like they had a great time and some interesting sessions, wish I could have attended. Alas, I’m not that involved in Fonts, Kerning and Typefaces, but I know what I like when I see it and Helvetica is it.

The National Post has quite a humorous take on the event.

Animal Tales: What Do Animals Think Of Humans

Andy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:01:32 +0000

From the New Yorker, Animal Tales, what do animals think of humans when they’re talking to each other.

Example, Dalmatians:
“Hey, look, the truck’s stopping.”
“Did they take us to the park this time?”
“No—it’s a fire. Another horrible fire.”
“What the hell is wrong with these people?”

Placeholder Names

Andy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:15:38 +0000

Kadigan is a term used to describe placeholder words. The ‘kadigan‘ Wikipedia page is all about placeholders.

I LOVE this page.

For instance, a few placeholders for ‘People‘:

Joe Blow

Tom, Dick and Harry

Joe Public

The Joneses

Buddy

So and So

John Doe

Frick and Frack

Or placeholders for ‘Numbers‘:

squillion buhmillion, frillion, gazillion, jillion, kajillion, hojillion, schmillion, zillion

eleventy-; e.g., eleventy-four

mumblety, used specifically to conceal one’s advanced age, as in “I shall be mumblety this year” or “mumblety-three”

umpteen

oodles

tons

scads

buckets

some-odd

a couple

a couple-few or coupla few

bunch

[expletive]-load e.g. shitload or shitloads

metric fuck-ton

The Winning Word Is "guerdon"

Andy — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:31:50 +0000

Tip of the hat to Sameer Mishra, winner of the 2008 Scripps US National Spelling Bee tonight. His winning word was “guerdon,” a noun with 14th century Middle English origin, it’s meaning is a reward.

Sameer is an Indiana eighth-grader making his fourth and final attempt to be the nation’s top speller; he bested 288 spellers from around the world.

Go to ABC News for the story.

Naughty Librarians Convention (Hurray, Girls in Glasses!)

Andy — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:01:45 +0000

I guess small towns like Seattle, even though it’s fairly cerebral and book’ish, may never partake in this kind of book event. Good for you San Francisco, hope you enjoyed your Naughty Librarians Convention.

On behalf of geeks everywhere, including those that make passes at girls that wear glasses, we’re looking forward to NLC 2009!

100 Best Last Lines from Novels

Andy — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:30:56 +0000

American Book Review has compiled a list of the top 100 best last lines from a novel (PDF). It’s very comprehensive, here’s a few choice endings-

#37 “P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise” Trout Fishing in America (1967)

#72 “The old man was dreaming about the lions” The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

#77 “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” Gone With the Wind (1936)