[liff] Be Nice To Others … They Outnumber You 7 Billion-to-One

2716.Sometime today, the world will welcome its seven billionth human being. We'll never be sure for certain exactly which one of us will be #7,000,000,000, but, odds being what they are, it'll be someone in India.

If you counted out loud, at one per second, it would take you about 113 years to count to the  number 7,000,000,000.

7,000,000,000 seconds ago, George Washington was being inaugurated President of the United states.

I went to this nifty website mounted by the BBC, The World At Seven Billion,  and I found out this much about myself:

… so you can call me sir, thankyewverymuch.

No fair guessing my birthday from this. Have some couth.

So, take a moment. Celebrate. Have a Twinkie. And look with love upon the horizons before us … because, likely as not, you're probably staring at someone. And staring is rude, yo.

They say that seven billion people, if placed shoulder to shoulder, could stand on Los Angeles. Of couse, looked at another way, we could also say they could stand on Zanizibar.

And so it goes.

[type] A New Font For Dyslexics

2715. (VIA) Dutch type designer Christian Boer's Dyslexie is a font which is designed to make reading for dyslexics much more possible.

The font is interesting even if you aren't so affected. Dyslexie achieves its aim by distorting shapes to, for instance, make the d and p less symmetrical, which prevents the dyslexic brain from "flipping" the shape. Other irregularities make for a very organic feel, which is not altogether unpleasant to look and is actually rather artistic.

Dyslexie font sample screenshot from designer's website

The font can be seen in action at this article in Scientific American (which has a link to a PDF of the article formatted in Dyslexie), and the designer's website Project Dyslexie (most of which is laid out with the font). A single-user license will set you back 69 Euros, or about USD 98.00.

[liff] France Is Bacon

2714.Seen on Google+ today: a person who had recently added me to one of their circles posted a sweet little story apparently seen on Reddit somewhere in which the correspondent related how he'd misparsed the famous dictum, expressed to them as Knowlege is power - Francis Bacon as Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon.


A dumb graphic wasn't far off, for me.

Aural graffiti has always been one of my favorite things.

[teh funnay] Another Movie We'd Like To See: 2001 Dalmatians

2713.The ultimate walkies:

Stardog. Groovy.

Since the joke is a little abstruse, compare:

[type] Can You Tell the Cheese From The Type?

2712.Cheese or Font is a quick, nifty, and simple little game that throws up a word … it's either a cheese name or a font name … and then just asks you to choose.

It's surprisingly difficult.

Http://cheeseorfont.com

[pdx] When a FOX12 Newsie Identifies With the Occupy Portland Troops …

2711. … even with all else being equal, it seems a game-changer, somehow, when a reporter from FOX 12 comes off so honestly.



I appreciate her candor. In a time like this, when so many are hurting and the news (FOX, particularly) just kind of hang on the sidelines with a "gosh, how interesting" detachment, it's nice to see honesty.

Jamie Wilson's been amongst our favorite KPTV reporters for a long time … oh, heck, we'll admit it, she's easy on the eyes.

But now we have to ask ourselves: how much will it cost someone like this to be caught out in the wild having an opinion … especially like this … of her own?

Stay (as they say in the biz) tuned.

[liff] And Now, This Word On Behalf Of My Bass Guitar

2710.Some time ago (here, in fact) I rhapsodized about my humble Harmony bass. Over on the WordPress mirror of this blog (http://zehnkatzen.wordpress.com) I got a cool comment that I'm just in silly love with, so I'm repeating it here. A visitor named Victor wrote:

Sweet man, She’s a beauty, not worth a ton, but I have the same one. Got it for 25 bucks at a flea market. Mine plays like a dream, do her a favor, and play her! Start simple, like money, and work from there.
And I can confirm it’s a h704 there not expensive, but rare to come by.

What a nifty thing to say, yes? I love the fact that Victor clued me on the model humber (H-704) and just had such a nice thing to say about her.

I wasn't buying a famous geet, I knew that. Just a good bass that'll be there for me. And apparently, that's just what I got. And I do know something about rarities … a thing can be rare but not terribly valuable. What determines collector value, other than the availability, is the demand. If collectors don't care about it, no matter how rare it is, it won't have a huge monetary value.

But, as I said, that's not why I got 'er.

And the phrase Start Simple, like money? Is this not poetry or what?

This has been a word on behalf of the bass guitar.