The Old New Thing

Non-Computer - The Old New Thing

German, the language of love?

January 23, 2004 Jan 23, 2004 01/23/04
Raymond Chen
Love lures French kids to German: Come and learn German - a language of love! Hundreds of advertisements in France this week will promote the unusual message to try to woo teenagers to a language they often consider difficult and ugly. "Language is the key to understand a partner, his culture, working manners and lifestyle," [...

Aw, poor guy, he's so depressed

January 16, 2004 Jan 16, 2004 01/16/04
Raymond Chen
I suspect Tanzi isn't going to get much sympathy from, well, anybody. Parmalat's Tanzi is "Depressed" Lawyers for Calisto Tanzi, the jailed head of now-bankrupt European food and dairy group Parmalat, claim that he is "depressed" in prison, constantly asking about his family. The lawyers have suggested that Tanzi be released from prison and...

Google just keeps adding stuff

January 15, 2004 Jan 15, 2004 01/15/04
Raymond Chen
ResearchBuzz pointed out still more google search keywords like area codes, UPC, and whois. I'm still waiting for PLU, those code numbers on the food in the produce aisle. Here's a brief history of PLU codes for those geeky enough to care (like me...

If you know Swedish, the world is funnier

January 13, 2004 Jan 13, 2004 01/13/04
Raymond Chen
As I was driving through Seattle the other day, I saw a sign for a personal storage company called "Stor-More". I then had to laugh because in Swedish, "Stor-Mor" means "Big Momma". It's not restricted to Swedish. On my trip to Germany last year, my travelling companions found several German signs amusing: When he told some German ...

"Friends" is so trendsetting

January 12, 2004 Jan 12, 2004 01/12/04
Raymond Chen
The characters on the television program "Friends" are apparently trendsetters in the use of the word "so". [People with way too much time on their hands] spent a year going through transcripts from each episode of the first eight seasons of Friends, taking note of every single adjective... [T]he show's popularity peaked at the ...

Is there an exclusionary rule in Sweden?

January 11, 2004 Jan 11, 2004 01/11/04
Raymond Chen
According to Friday's Klartext (note: link valid only for one week, then it gets overwritten by the next Friday's Klartext), Vi ska börjar klartext med berätta att en åklagare nu ska undersöka om fler än två hundra poliser i Sverige har brutit mot lagen. Poliserna letade rätt på information om ...

Ten-year-old + Microsoft Flight Simulator = terrorist

January 9, 2004 Jan 9, 2004 01/9/04
Raymond Chen
Apparently a ten-year-old who put Microsoft Flight Simulator on his Christmas wish-list became the subject of a terrorism investigation. (Warning: I suspect that link will go stale in a week, so read it while you still can.) As always, The Register puts a snarky spin on the story...

How to stop delivery of telephone books

December 31, 2003 Dec 31, 2003 12/31/03
Raymond Chen
Like many of you (I suspect), I don't use the paper telephone book. If I want to look something up, I go online. Yet every year I get a dozen different telephone books. I don't like them because a telephone book sitting on my front porch screams, "Rob this house! Nobody's home!" Besides, it's a waste of paper. So for the past few years I've ...