Posting it forward

[muckefuck]

I'm not normally a meme-spreader, but bitterlawngnome made me this spiffy new icon and now I'm obligated to follow in his brightly-shining footsteps. So reply to this post and, as the feeling seizes me, I will:

1. Reply with a word I associate with you
2. Describe one of monshu's Yixing teapots
3. Rant about a random subject (generated using the method previously posted here).
4. Generate an exotic new nickname for you.

Comments

[rollick.livejournal.com]

So wait, is this random yet? Or to put it another way, do you give him the shit for overuse of the word "random" that you give me?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I've never understood the outrage generated by bioengineered transgenic organisms. For one thing, it's a natural process. Plants in the wild exchange genes all the time. Our own DNA includes sections picked up from bacteria. Moreover, human manipulation of plants and animals is not exactly a modern phenomenon. We've been doing selective breeding for a long time (I didn't realise quite how long until I read Jared Diamond) without someone creating the frankenfood that will kills us all.

Of course, the most vociferous opponents always seem to have a shaky grasp of the science involved. In my youth, one of the biggest of them was Jeremy Rifkin and he's still active--his website claims that his 1998 The biotech century "is the most widely read book in Europe on the genetic engineering revolution", which would go a long way to explaining the Luddite attitudes there. He has no more formal training in science than I do and considerably less than a high-school science teacher like my father.

I'm not saying there are no risks to biotech and anyone who's lived through or read much on earlier reactions to radiation (Nuphy, like most people his age, remembers watching his toes wiggle in the x-ray machines available at every shoe store) has reason to sceptical of much-trumpeted advances. What I'm saying is: Where is my superdextrous prehensile tail? (I know: Same warehouse as my flying car!)

[rollick.livejournal.com]

My gosh! How random?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

660.65 Genetic engineering

[owenthomas.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"Buffetto"

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

How could I not respond to no.2?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"Jingdezhen"

[trom.livejournal.com]

Bring it on.

-Mort

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"Strop"

[trom.livejournal.com]

I love it....

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

"Strop"

Is that #1 or #4?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

You're gonna use a new icon? Git out!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I can't think of anything to say about the American Statistical Association, as statistics is something I'm too woefully ignorant about for the formation of strong pet peeves. I've wished this was different. Statistics and probability are the two areas of math that I would most like to know more about, but I've balked at trying to teach myself more and all talk of "standard deviations" and "pseudorandomness" only confuses me more.

Still, I know just enough to be dangerous--enough to be really annoyed by how statistical results are commonly misunderstand and misrepresented. I've heard way to many times "you can prove anything you want to with statistics" and it simply isn't true! Yes, it's quite easily to manipulate statistics to present the picture you want, but this is not the same thing as "proving" anything. An intelligent, sceptical observer should not have much trouble noticing and questioning when very selective use is made of statistics.

I'd like to think that members of the ASA are as annoyed by this kind of nonsense as I am.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Count me in!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"iggernut"

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you could be seized with the feeling to generate an exotic new nickname based on a random subject's relation to teapots?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"Tisaine"

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

How could I pass this up?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

"Romag"

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

Me oh me oh me!
Except the word and the nickname can't be related.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

1. "pimp"
2. Rich reddish-brown in colour, almost like high-quality molten milk chocolate. Shaped like a fish, with incised overlapping scales over most of the pot. The fish's mouth and eyes are cut in stylised fashioned onto a smooth, rounded, triangular lid. The handle is not at all whimsical, being a simple grip with internal curves to accommodate three fingers attached to the ridge of the fish's back.
3. How the hell did Metastasio become the go-to guy for opera seria libretti? Can you name a single of his stand-alone dramas that's performed today? Not even many of the operas are, except perhaps Clemenza di Tito, which I'm sure has everything to do with its composer and nothing to do with its librettist. I've heard it said that secondary literary properties are often the ripest for adaptation and while I've found this generally true in the world of cinema, I think the work of Boito, among others, belies for the world of opera. But for decades, Metastasio was as ubiquitous as John Grisham is today. What gives?
4. "Cro Kytchinagh"