Mutant genres 21 Oct 2007 This is a meme started by PZ Mackers. I will exact retribution upon him later. In the meantime, I have been tagged There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, “The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…”. Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations: You can leave them exactly as is. You can delete any one question. You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change “The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is…” to “The best time travel novel in Westerns is…”, or “The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…”, or “The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…”. You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form “The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…”. You must have at least one question in your set, or you’ve gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you’re not viable. Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions. Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them. My great-great-great-great-great grandparent is Pharyngula My great-great-great-great grandparent is Metamagician and the Hellfire Club My great-great-great grandparent is Flying Trilobite My great-great grandparent is A Blog Around the Clock My great-grandparent is The Primate Diaries My grandparent is Conspiracy Factory My parent is The Skeptical Alchemist [the mungrel!] The best time travel novel in SF/fantasy is: No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop The best novel of Jewish literature published in English is: My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok The best page-turner book in Nobel-prize-winning fiction is: The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer I am propagating this meme on to: 1) De Rerum Natura 2) The Lippard Blog 3) Catalogue of Organisms 4) Musgrave’s Astroblogger 5) Sunbeams from Cucumbers 6) Thoughts in a Haystack Administrative Humor
Administrative Travel funds 18 Mar 2011 I have, as readers know, no actual position right now. This also means that I lack all travel funds, but there are several events in America in June, ISHPSSB and the 2011 Evolution Meetings in Oklahoma, that I would love to attend and present at. Anyone got any ideas about… Read More
Humor People Get Ready 18 Jan 2009 People get ready There’s a bus a’comin’ Don’t need no deity Just get on board Won’t hurt believers If you can’t hear God’s mummery You’ll still need a ticket From the Transport Board People get ready For the bus to show you All people are passengers From coast to coast… Read More
Administrative Ronin Institute for masterless scholars 6 Jan 20136 Jan 2013 As readers may know, I, along with a great many other researchers, have no permanent position, making do with casual work to get by. This is an increasing problem around the world as educational institutions transition from being a public good to a service provider to government and economic goals…. Read More
GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: Thus follows the Revenge of the Deadly Myers Mutant Meme! FX: DRAMATIC CHORD FOLLOWED BY FAY WRAY SCREAM FOLLOWED BY SPLASH ECCLES-MYERS: I’ve fallen in the water. GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: Silly damp boy. Neddy, Neddy, come here and let me dry you off with this syllogism. SEAGOON: But I’m not wet. FX: TOILET FLUSHING GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: You were saying? SEAGOON: What, what what? What is that you are injecting in my upper leg. GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: It’s the deadly Myers Mutant Meme Syllogism. SEAGOON: Sapristi knocko! It’s changing! GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: Exactly! SEAGOON: You mean… GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: Yes, it’s becoming… FX: DRAMATIC CHORD GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: … an in-thigh-meme!! FX: RIM-SHOT FOLLOWED BY SOUND OF HOUSE COMING DOWN
Perfectly good 17th century English: “In this enumeration I do not mention the Mule, because ?tis a mungrel production, and not to be rekoned as a distinct species.” Bp John Wilkins FRS, An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language, 1668, p164
“I don’t know who you are, Sir, but you’ve done me a power of good.” -His real name is Spike Milligoon