Dangling Conversations

Colour commentary on the world we live in

Words and Names

Posted 26 Apr, 2006 at 23:04 by kael in /Words | Permanent link

I found this site while stumbling around the web this morning. It's a great site describing the evolution of names.

Amongst other things, it explains (to me) why the Hungarian word for orange is what it is (it's much closer to the word's root than English, as it turns out).

It also shows some provocative changes in meaning of words (as in 'brave' originally meaning 'cowardice', and 'girl' originally meaning 'a young person of either gender').

Shiny!

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Puzzle 1 - From Brazil

Posted 21 Apr, 2006 at 11:11 by blue in /Games | Permanent link

I can't take credit for creating this puzzle, and can not give credit as the person who told it to me only said that it came from Brazil. None the less, it is a clever little puzzle and I think those of you who read the site will enjoy it.

If you get it, let me know in the comments. I'll post the solution there in a week or so if no one else has solved it by then.

See more ...

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Check your PC

Posted 16 Apr, 2006 at 19:53 by brent in /System | Permanent link

There's possibly a virus/worm/etc living on someone's machine that is successfully authenticating to the mail server and sending spam. Please check your PC for any such malicious software...

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Mystic Ball

Posted 12 Apr, 2006 at 08:12 by blue in /Games | Permanent link

I'll jump on board the 'awesome things' bandwagon with one of my own recent finds.

This link is to a short segment related to the documentary film called Mystic Ball. Think of it as hacky sack with a half sized soccer ball.

It is showing as part of the Hot Doc's festival here in Toronto. You can get the showtimes here.

I think it looks very cool. What about you?

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Things which are awesome, part 1

Posted 06 Apr, 2006 at 19:13 by matt in /Science | Permanent link

The fishapod.

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Sending to hotmail through my servers is failing

Posted 05 Apr, 2006 at 01:27 by brent in /System | Permanent link

Letting everyone know that apparently sending mail to (only) hotmail.com is failing.

Possible candidate reasons are:

I've sent mail to the NOC at MS inquiring further.

Comments (4 comments so far)

Hooked on Firefox....

Posted 04 Apr, 2006 at 23:35 by kael in /Technical | Permanent link

I've been contemplating reverting back to Opera as my default web browser. It's not that Firefox is feature poor. It's just that it's bloated. Compared to Opera, it's pretty slow to load and has a big footprint.

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Hows & Whys
Who we are

Blue has been known to toss a disc around a field from time to time, and thinks that you should as well. He lives either on the Internet or in Toronto, depending on your perspective. Ask him no questions and there's a good chance he'll tell you no lies. [Site]

Brent hosts the box from which we dangle our conversations, for which we are all eternally grateful. Gratitude is most easily expressed in small bills. Formerly a pawn of the Evil Empire (or maybe a Knight), he has gone over the wall and now toils at a small computer game company in Alberta that no one except for ten million gamers has ever heard of. [Site]

Kael occasionally gets called "Mike"; mostly by people who don't know him. He cooks, he cleans, he maintains Unix servers... what else could you ask for? Currently a slave to the Man, by which we mean retail sales. He has secret plans, but we can't tell you about them. In fact, we've already said too much. [Site]

Lisa is a recreational therapist without a cause. She entertains dreams of ruling over an empire of scrapbooking. Has a well-deserved reputation for enthusiasm, common sense, and tiredness. Ask her about her teapots, but don't touch them.

Matt is just this guy, you know? A mathematician by training and a layabout by inclination; he currently has an Urban Commuter Campus in the American Midwest convinced that they should pay him for plying these trades. The designer and administrator of this site, which means in a sense this is all his fault. [Site | E-mail]

Sky is a salesman during the day. At night he doesn't bother: his words are like unto those of a god, and you can agree or you can be wrong. Lives in the World of Warcraft, with a sattelite office in Toronto. Known to play games on occasion.

Wendy has never run away to join the circus, but pursuing graduate work in medical imaging is perhaps just as good. She didn't choose her current abode on the basis of proximity to a Toronto Public Library branch, but we wouldn't put it past her. Married to one of the other authors here, but you'll have to read the archives to find out which one. [Site]

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