I'm a lasagna boy!

Numismatic feminism

I stopped in at the bank to pick up some of the new fifties th' other day. The sprightly young branch manager directed me to a window, where a grandmotherly woman addressed me: "Slide the card, dearie," and, when she learned my stats from the computer, she called me by my first name. I asked for a couple of the new bills, and she was excited: she unwrapped a package, and began doling them out. I then pressed my luck, and asked if she had any $2 bills. She wandered to each of the other tellers, asking if any had some Jeffersons. She returned, disappointed. "But I'm sure they'll be glad if you give them dollar coins," she suggested. "How old are the children?" And then we decided that I'd give the kids (which kids? She was assuming some bouncing nieces and nephews, no doubt) some Sacagaweas and a few Susan B.s. " ... though the Anthony dollar is not widely used, many operations such as mass transit systems and vendors currently use it." She and I chatted some more, and she asked me why I didn't keep more money in short-term CDs. "It's liquid, but it earns interest!" she told me energetically. I wished her a good day while the bank manager glared -- during our exchange, the queue for the tellers had grown four-deep.

My next-door neighbour (also grandmotherly) gave me a dollar coin when I met her, in 1979. Why are the only two pieces of U.S. currency to feature a woman relegated to short production runs and a usefulness only in mass-transit vending machines? I suggest we put Harriet Tubman on the quarter-dollar. Washington's played.

Everybody stop moving.

What's going on at LAX? I'm heading out of the United terminal, and first TSA personnel and now LAPD are combing through the area. We've been asked to stop moving and stand where we are, but I fancy sitting.

Derridada

Jacques Derrida died last week.

radiocicleta

Bollocks to the network media, the three-finger salute to your dot-com, and a big ol' Bronx Cheer to the newsweeklies: this is how you get the information (and the exercise).

Listening to the beautiful purple-box Galaxie 500 anthology. Little did I know that the label that issues Zappa's back-catalogue (you can buy 65 albums for ten benjamins) would someday put out a suitably understated and beautiful box set for this lovely band.

Good morning, captain

From Aram comes word:

All Tomorrow's Parties are very proud to announce that legendary Louisville, KY musical pioneers Slint will surprise and delight fans by reuniting to perform at and curate the first weekend of All Tomorrow's Parties of 2005, on February 25th, 26th and 27th at Camber Sands Holiday Centre, East Sussex, UK.

Core Slint members Brian McMahan, David Pajo and Britt Walford will be selecting an eclectic line-up for the weekend and will themselves be playing music from their albums "Tweez" and "Spiderland" as well as the posthumous untitled ten-inch single. Soon after the 1991 release of the acclaimed "Spiderland," Slint disbanded but their remarkable music went on to inspire and influence an ever-widening legion of fans. Now, for the first time since their separation, Slint returns for this very special edition of All Tomorrow's Parties.

Although I abide by the sticker on the back of the Spiderland disc and only listen to the vinyl copy of the album, I was able to find a shared copy of tweez, and thereby proceed to irritate the bejeezus out of my cube-mate.

How to be a millionaire

Did the bike-and-train thing today, with Mr Bolsinga.
I don't have any kids to put through college, nor do I have to put a down payment on a house, so what should I spend my money on?

These are two of my favourite things!

The Secret Lives of Words

ANTIMACASSAR
This cloth covered the backs of chairs from the nineteenth century on to protect them from greasy hair, unwashed or pomaded or both. The oil was Macassar, a proprietary brand made by Rowland and Son, supposedly from ingredients found in Makassar, part of the island Sulawesi, once Celebes, in Indonesia. Some folk still have antimacassars in their possession, but the need seems not to have survived World War One, not that men began using less oily hair creams, although there was a distinct shift in men's pomade from the brilliantines of yesteryear to less perfumed lotions such as Brylcreem, easily squeezed from a tube and stably perched on the palm. Brylcreem left the hair feeling tight and rigid, with no need of antimacassar behind the recliner's head. Another name for Makassar was Mangkasra, hardly commerically concise.

From the Secret Lives of Words, a hit-or-miss endeavour by Paul West.

I recollect that in Flight 714, the millionaire Laszlo Carreidas is kidnapped while flying his new aeroplane over Sulawesi; the last radio contact is with Macassar tower.

aye-POD

Moonset in Catalan. The original site has a cheery FAQ:

Q13. What if I used to be a millionaire but then I believed something I read on APOD and now own only a single dented bucket?

The authors also post irrational.

Collect them all!

The Zoomorphs web site is now in full Flash effect!