More monkey butts

Just when you thought it was safe to return to my blog--time for more monkey butts! After my last post on this fascinating topic, someone on Flickr saw my monkey butt pics and asked where she could find this classy product. Librarian that I am, I searched various arcane sources (OK, I Googled "monkey butt powder") and discovered that the manufacturer has a web site: http://www.antimonkeybutt.com. I can only imagine the comments when they applied for that domain name. Anyway, the site includes a store where you can buy Anti-Monkey-Butt Powder, along with hats and t-shirts. There's even a video of a commercial for the product. Imagine BJ and the Bear 20 years later, and you'll have the general idea.

I think I'm going to put the ladies' tank top on my Christmas list.

Myers-Briggs alphabet soup

So I went to a gathering with co-workers last night, and the subject of Myers-Briggs came up. Then, I logged into Meebo today, and the Meebo blog post of the day related to Myers-Briggs. I usually make an ugly face when someone mentions personality testing in general and M-B in particular, but since I got the M-B double whammy, I decided it was time to take the test again. I'm cynical about this test, because every time I take it, I get a slightly different result. Most versions of the test ask you to choose between opposites ("Would you rather go to a party or read a book?"), when I want to provide a nuanced answer ("It depends on my mood, what I've done all day, how tired I am, how good the book is, what kind of music will be played at the party, and how many hot guys will be there."). It's just like an English major to answer a yes/no question with an essay.

Anyway, the Meebo blog post included links to two different unofficial Myers-Briggs questionnaires: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp and http://www.kisa.ca/personality. I took both, and sure enough, I got different results. On the first one, which offered only yes/no options, I scored an ENFJ. On the other, which offered an "in between" option, I scored an ENFP. Based on the temperament descriptions, I think the ENFJ is more accurate. In each case, the strength of the preferences wasn't especially strong. That fits with what I already know about myself, that I seek the middle ground and am adaptable in most situations--or, as my critics would say, I'm wishy-washy and a flake. But I like my version better.

I wonder how I'll score the next time I take one of these silly things.

Lunar eclipse

As I left work tonight, I had a great view of the lunar eclipse -- and I had my camera with me. I don't have a tripod, so my closeup pic is a little blurry, but it's better than nothing.

Here's the moon over Doernbecher Children's Hospital. If you look closely, you can see the eclipse in progress.


And here's the closeup:


Both of these were taken at about 6:45 PM.

Usually we miss astronomical displays like this, because it's usually cloudy. Tonight, though, it's perfectly clear, and the view is amazing.

Hot words of 2007

Thanks to ResearchBuzz, a great blog for information junkies, for keeping me informed about the buzzwords of 2007. First, there's Google's year-end zeitgeist (see the ResearchBuzz post and the actual page). The page is fun, listing the hottest search terms for each quarter of 2007. The US list doesn't exactly restore my faith in humanity, but it isn't as bad as it could be. Sure, there's Anna Nicole Smith, but she's only #10. The list also includes slightly more substantive topics like MySpace, Facebook, and the iPhone. It would've been nice if people searched on Important Global Issues, but at least Britney Spears is nowhere to be found.

Then there's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year, which is: w00t! I bet that's their first Word of the Year to contain numbers. The page also includes a top 10 words of the year, but I'm not sure how they compiled the list. There are a couple of new words on it, like "blamestorm" and "facebook" (as a verb), but the rest of the list consists of words that have been around awhile.

I had planned to come up with some clever comment about "w00t," but I'm much too sleepy. I have to drag my butt out of bed at about 4 AM tomorrow for an early flight (w00t! Not.) so I'll save the cleverness for another time.

Mindset list for the Class of 2011

Let's take a break from the Alaska travelogue for a bit...

The kids are headed back to school, which means it's time for Beloit College's annual effort to make us feel old, the Mindset List. The Mindset List is an attempt to help us old farts understand Today's Young People (tm). This year's college freshmen were born in... 1989! Holy crap. I feel old already.

As is usually the case, some of the stuff on the list is an eyeopener, some of it is wrong (Sorry, but the World Wide Web has not "been an online tool since they were born"--at least not a mainstream tool--and some of us still roll down our car windows), and some is just plain scary. Here are a few of my favorites:

13. “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone. Really? I still accidentally leave my phone off the hook, but then I am older than dirt and still use phones that aren't cordless. I guess now the big problem is leaving it off the charger for too long.

22. No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” No one except Hannibal Lecter, anyway.

24. Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.

35. Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names. Sad but true, as I contemplate going to the Sleep Train Pavilion (known to me as the Concord Pavilion) for a concert next month.

44. Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time. Yep, and you're lookin' at it.

55. MTV has never featured music videos. That was my first indication that the '90s would suck.

58. They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper. Don't we all?

So there ya go folks. Just when you started believing that 40 was the new 30, along comes a reality check. I can practically feel my bones creak.

Protecting the viewshed from ginormous Bollywood speed daters

Confused? Then you haven't read the sample list of new words added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. If you really want to entertain yourself, go to the page and try to guess the meanings of any unfamiliar words on the list, then click through to the definition to see how far off you were.

Go ahead. Say it. I'm a nerd.

Funny spam subject line

You know how spammers use programs to generate random words in their e-mail subjects to defeat spam filters? Here's one I got today:

obsequious polar bear

Not sure what to say about it, but it made me laugh.