The Old New Thing

Non-Computer - The Old New Thing

Being the Nobel Peace Prize

October 26, 2003 Oct 26, 2003 10/26/03
Raymond Chen
For Hallowe'en this year, I'm going to be the Nobel Peace Prize. (I like being things that people would never even think of as a possible Hallowe'en costume. Last year, I was an inter-office envelope. People addressed me from place to place.) I chose the Nobel Peace Prize in part because...

Kinder Überraschungen

October 25, 2003 Oct 25, 2003 10/25/03
Raymond Chen
Laura John entertains her colleagues with Kinder Surprise eggs. I love these things. I understand that Kinder Surprise eggs are illegal in the US for two reasons. Whenever I go to Germany I smuggle some Kinder Überraschungen into the States. (Yes...

Curling anyone?

October 18, 2003 Oct 18, 2003 10/18/03
Raymond Chen
The Granite Curling Club is having their annual open house today, October 18th 2003, from 2pm to 8pm. The Seattle facility is the only dedicated curling facility in the United States west of the Rockies. Bring sweatpants, flat-soled shoes, and $5. They'll provide the brooms and duct tape. I became fascinated with curling many ...

The much-misunderstood "nop" action

October 16, 2003 Oct 16, 2003 10/16/03
Raymond Chen
Last month, the printers were reconfigured in our building and we got an announcement that went like this: Subject: Printer/Copier Reconfiguration Microsoft Digital Campus Program Action Required blah blah blah printers are being reconfigured blah blah blah...

I'm doing this instead of writing a book

October 8, 2003 Oct 8, 2003 10/8/03
Raymond Chen
Some commenters mentioned that I should write a book. It turns out that writing a book is hard. A few years ago, MS Press actually approached me about writing a book for them. But I declined because the fashion for technical books is to take maybe fifty pages of information and pad it to a 700-page book, and I can't write that way. None of ...

Researchers discover link between music and drinking

October 6, 2003 Oct 6, 2003 10/6/03
Raymond Chen
A British scientific study shows that a bit of classical music can persuade diners to buy more fancy coffees, pricey wines and luxurious desserts. "North has shown that playing German or French music can persuade diners to buy wine from those countries." I found this to be true in my experience. If you get two thousand ...

Jag skrivar svenska inte so bra.

October 1, 2003 Oct 1, 2003 10/1/03
Raymond Chen
The nice thing about the schwa sound is that you don't have to spell it. Many thanks to C-J Berg for fixing my Swedish spelling errors. I probably introduced some new ones here, though. But why Swedish? Well, it wasn't Swedish initially. Many years ago, I saw an ad ...

Jag taler lita svenska.

October 1, 2003 Oct 1, 2003 10/1/03
Raymond Chen
Attended my first formal Swedish lesson last night. It's great to recapture the simultaneous thrill and frustration of trying to have a conversation in a language you don't really know. It's a small class - Swedish isn't exactly one of the "big-name" languages out there. I always feel ...