If the latter didn't convince the Germans that he'd used a one-time pad then I deserved to be shot

[sovay]

This week got away from me somehow. So did a lot of this month. Rabbit, rabbit.

Most of today was spent with rushthatspeaks, watching Pasolini's La ricotta (1963) as a follow-up to Mamma Roma (1962)—and then trying to look up what Derek Jarman said about it, being intermittently distracted by photographs of Karl Johnson in the process—and discovering that the capsaicin rush produced by an order of garlic chili chicken hearts from DooWee & Rice plus half a dozen of their lime habanero chicken wings is functionally indistinguishable from being high. We went through a lot of water and paper napkins. I can breathe through my nose for the first time in weeks. We also went grocery shopping, but on the whole that was a lot less exciting, although I did learn one can buy a dozen Unreal peanut butter cups at Market Basket for the price of three from Store 18. That's dangerous to know.

Yesterday, derspatchel and I braved the mall crowds at the CambridgeSide Galleria in order to go clothes shopping: we both hate it, so we went together for mutual moral support. I have never been able to walk out of a food court with a sumac chicken roll-up (with extra pickled turnips when I asked for them!) and a bottle of Karoun's yogurt drink before, but evidently that's what Sepal is for. We were standing outside Best Buy when the blackout hit. Rob had just described retail stores as "the dark circus of the soul." The lights flickered and we were plunged into post-apocalypse. Say thank you, Cambridge.

Right, and here is where I should mention that we were clothes shopping because we are leaving next Thursday to spend six days in Orlando. It was becoming inevitable. My stuffed Figment has been living at the foot of Rob's bed ever since I unearthed him from the cedar closet right after Halloween. I haven't been to Disney World since I was eight.

The rest of this post composed of things either I wanted to link earlier this week or was just amused by. Look, there's five of them.

1. I have been following the story of the pigeon's wartime code since Rob sent me a link at the beginning of November. It went to Bletchley; now it's gone to the internet. If the sender used a one-time pad, the information may never be recoverable. I would love to find out it was encrypted with one of Leo Marks' poem-codes.

2. Also courtesy of Dean: this week was Live Like a Stoic Week at University of Exeter. I find the idea of a Stoic revival fascinating. I am now waiting for someone to propose living like a Cynic, which will be a lot less snarky than it sounds from a modern perspective unless everyone involved models themselves after Diogenes.

3. Michael Cisco has posted readings from his latest novel Celebrant (2012), which I heard a chapter from at Readercon and then happily read for myself. It has rabbit girls, Tibetan philosophy, forgetting country, and lead poisoning; it may be my favorite of his novels so far, and that's including the one where the protagonist is a paper-stuffed golem.

4. On the evolution of Lolcats. "It is unknown how the memetic mutation that caused Breadcats (Felis virtualis panis) has any adaptive advantage whatsoever."

5. I had no idea llama font was a thing.

Oh, and have a poem about Shakespeare. I am going to finish re-reading So You Want to Be a Wizard? and go to sleep.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Fabulous!

Nine

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I am now waiting for someone to propose living like a Cynic, which will be a lot less snarky than it sounds from a modern perspective unless everyone involved models themselves after Diogenes.

On the plus side, that would be excellent news for coopers.

[selidor]

Orlando! I do hope you'll have a chance to visit the manatees. I stopped counting after seeing fifty...

I do hope they find the decoding for the pigeon code. It's too good a story to be left forever. Or perhaps it'll become the first thing that a proper quantum computer is set to crack, as a nice historical note.

The Young Wizards books have a special place in my heart. (Even if I never did forgive High Wizardry for basing the entire plot resolution around a misunderstanding of cosmology. *mutter*)

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

I wondered if you'd been following the pigeon code story. Hopefully somebody will decode it.

I need to read some Cisco, but the Duffy's an absolute joy. Which of his novels has a golem protagonist?

Have fun in Orlando!

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Have fun at the House of Mouse, and don't accidentally wander into the off-limits hidden lab where they hide the cryogenically-stored body of Uncle Walt unless you have a camera :P

[cafenowhere.livejournal.com]

Have you read PopCo by Scarlett Thomas? I just finished it about a week ago, which is the only reason I understand anything in your first numbered link. :) The main character's grandpa seems to be based on Leo Marks, but without the poem-codes.

I like the idea of llama font, but since seeing "Llamas with Hats" I'm worried the llama-font llamas will all turn to look at me with hand-eating hunger in their eyes. (that must be my record for most "llamas" used in a sentence)

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the Duffy link -- a fine poem that asks rereading. Reminds me, among many other things, that I recently tried to describe to someone your wonderful brief prose fantasia of Kit and Will reacting to Anon -- but you can't really, not effectively, or I couldn't anyway; you just have to read it. And wished again that you might turn your scene into a longer story. My own short play about the boy Shakespeare has been under submission for some months now, though as happy as I am with it I'm not at all convinced it will ever see the light of day. Though I'm now starting to imagine it as the seed of a full-length play.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the chicken wings and hearts cleared your sinuses.

Also glad ye survived clothes shopping and the blackout.

I have never been able to walk out of a food court with a sumac chicken roll-up (with extra pickled turnips when I asked for them!) and a bottle of Karoun's yogurt drink before, but evidently that's what Sepal is for.

I really hope this is a trend. I'd still do my best to avoid malls and food courts, but it would be nice to know I could get something worth eating in them. (There was actually a good tandoori chicken place in the mall nearest where I grew up, but it's long years since I've been there and I've never seen it happen in another mall.)

I hope ye have a wonderful time in Orlando.

4. On the evolution of Lolcats. "It is unknown how the memetic mutation that caused Breadcats (Felis virtualis panis) has any adaptive advantage whatsoever."

This is wonderful. I'll have to share it with a friend who's only reachable by Facebook. Would you prefer to not be credited there as my source for it?

5. I had no idea llama font was a thing.

Same here. And a thing it certainly is. Thanks for sharing!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The Cambridgeside Galleria. Does it still have an outpost of the DMV in it? I recall getting my license renewed there between overseas journeys.

The pigeon's wartime code! Fantastic! I only read the headline--that was enough to intrigue, but must go back and read the whole article. You say you've been following the story--any updates?