Apr 16 2012
Here’s a screenshot from today of Hacker News, a popular tech aggregator:
Dear hackers: have mercy! Your product or company name should not be as difficult to pronounce as that of an Elder God. Spend another hour and come up with a human-friendly name. If you do not, Cthulhu might eat you.
Feb 20 2010
"Now, does anyone else think that the law of excluded middle is a fallacy?"
Big thanks to XKCD!
Jan 25 2009
The famed San Francisco columnist Herb Caen had a regular feature called “Namephreaks”, which featured people whose names are related to their occupations. Well, meet Carla J. Dove, director of the Feather Identification Lab in the National Museum of Natural History. Dr. Dove is in charge of identifying the birds that hit US Airways Flight 1549 and forced it to crash-land in the Hudson River.
Nils Holgersson Airlines
Jan 23 2009
Sarah Lyall of The New York Times has just published an article about places in the UK with… unfortunate names. One such place is Crapstone, Devon. One of its residents has taken to telling people that “It’s spelled ‘crap,’ as in crap.” And pity the people who live in Butt Hole Road, South Yorkshire: pizza companies hang up when they say their address, thinking it’s a prank call.
Ever methodical, the Gray Lady included a map of some of these spots. It would make for a great road trip in England! After gazing at the historical colleges of Cambridge, why not take a side trip to nearby Titty Ho?
Americans might now be chuckling about those quaint Brits with their funny names. They should look closer to home, such as at Bald Knob, Arkansas or Hicksville, Ohio. (Thanks to the good people at Squidoo for collecting all too many such place names.)
My favorite poorly-named town would have to be Hell, Michigan, because I lived 15 miles away, at Ann Arbor, for 3 years.
Jul 09 2008
The Wilhelm Scream (originally called “Man being eaten by alligator”) is an inside joke in Hollywood: it’s a short but distinctive scream that has been used in hundreds of movies. Someone with too much time on his hands compiled this video with clips of many of the movies where the scream appears:
The more you watch this video the funnier it gets. Villains scream it, usually while flying through the air. Animated characters scream it. Every Star Wars movie features the scream, as do Star Wars spoofs. Sometimes even heroes scream it. It gets so ridiculous you want to scream it yourself. Oiaaaaargh! The next time you host a party, have a Wilhelm Scream Competition. The winner gets a Lacoste shirt.
Compare the Wilhelm Scream to Howard Dean’s famous scream during the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, the one that ended his chances. He really nailed it! (Turn up the volume for full effect.)
(Via Freakonomics)
Jun 01 2008
The Obama compaign is hiring developers to create software for his presidential campaign. It was suggested to make this software open-source. But why stop there? Whenever a successful website comes along, someone invariably creates a service that lets anyone churn out a clone in five minutes:
He coulda been a contender, if only he'd had Contendr. (Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront")
Suggested features:
The name is available (but sadly, the domain is not). Act now, and help democratize the democratic process!
