Xsessive Confusion

(Sorry, couldn’t seem 2 figure out a way 2 fit ”2” in2 the topic. Sorry for the excessive puns 2– erm, too.)

I wrote earlier about the confusion surrounding the name of the new X-Men movie. Well, it would seem that I am not alone. The Guardian, for example, carried a 1/4 page ad for the movie on Friday, and guess what? Yup, it says X-MEN 2 quite clearly. Actually the words are superimposed on an X, but still.

Here things get even trickier. As noted in the Guardian Review, in the US the official name of the movie is X2: X-Men United. In the UK, it’s quite simply X-Men 2. So much for trusting the IMDB. I guess this has taught me a valuable lesson. Then again, probably not.

Word 51: Abdicated

Edward VIII was dependent on his brother’s generosity after he abdicated, and had almost no personal funds. William, in contrast, is sitting on a cool £8m inherited from his mother.

abdicate (v) : commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, ”The king resigned his crown,” sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people – source: The Independent Review 9.5.2003, p. 3

Timezones corrected

Wow, blosxom just keeps getting better and better. Thanks to a timezone plugin, the timestamps are no longer skewed! Woohaa.

The chronically nerdy might enjoy knowing that now I’m using the (modified) absolute, allconsuming, autocorrect, better_title, calendar, date_translate, directorybrowse, entries_index, flavourdir, foreshortened (for RSS feeds), interpolate_conditional, logger, (modified) menu, readme, referer, timezone, and writeback plugins.

Caught in testing hell

And quite literally too. The Dante’s Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!

Here is how you matched up against all the levels
Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 – Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 – The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 – Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante’s Divine Comedy Inferno Test

Blogger code

My blogger code is B2 d t+ k- s-- u-- f+ i o++ x-- e l- c. Create your blogger code.

The Army screws things up

Oh dear, oh dear, it would seem that the Army can’t get anything right. I ordered a free introductory DVD from them and what do I get? An old-fashioned VHS. I shudder to think what could happen on the battlefield if they can’t even get their merchandise straight.

I am, however, delighted to inform you that I ordered the package using the highly intellectual name of Miss V Persilma. Can’t even remember what the V stood for. I think she was a 26-year-old Austrian doctor, or something. As Calvin once said, I love messing with statistical data.

The first sentences in the brochure are In the Army, you’ll live life at 100mph and it’ll be crammed full of action and responsability. You’ll experience the ultimate mix of travel, adventure and sport. Suddenly the Finnish version is looking much better.

More on the brochure once I have some free time. Right now I’ve got more pressing matters at hand, like stalking the shower. Damn these shared house mornings.

Word 50: Extirpated

What was left of the nation of impious men has been extirpated.

extirpate (v) : to pluck up by the stem or root; to root out; to eradicate, literally or figuratively; to destroy wholly; as, to extirpate weeds; to extirpate a tumor; to extirpate a sect; to extirpate error or heresy – source: What If?, p. 113

Word 49: Scabrous

The saintly mood lasts until I refill the milk glass on a tiny, scabrous old lady with wild white hair who looks like she’s been folded into her wheelchair and squished.

scabrous adj 1: (biology) rough to the touch; covered with scales or scurf [syn: lepidote, leprose, scaly, scurfy] 2: dealing with salacious or indecent material – source: Nickel and Dimed, p. 66

”Discover Finland”

I’ve still got one more story about today’s Guardian, for it was accompanied by a wonderful little advertisement titled ”Discover Finland”. How lovely, I thought, they’re finally noticing us.

Well, yes and no. See, Finland has actually been voted the readers’ favourite European Country. Twice. In a row! Now that’s something to be proud of. I guess. Sadly the contents are nothing to go wild about. Helsinki City Tours, a quick pop to Turku and Lappeenranta (whatever, dudes), skiing in Lappi.

But there’s one delicious twist left. The pamphlet was put together by ”the Scandinavian specialist” … Norwegian Coastal Voyage Limited.

Okay, so the company is actually owned by the Guardian. But it’s still funny as hell.

Murderous

Today’s episode of Murder, she wrote was called Prediction: Murder. I’ve heard of limited vocabularies but this is just plain old silly.

A Heartbreaking ∞ of Staggering Genius

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