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March 27, 2006
Laundry Etiquette
My apartment building has a shared laundry room with three washers and three dryers. That means at any given time, up to 42 different people with dirty clothes could be vying for a machine. On more than one occasion I was forced to unload other people's unattended clothes. All of this is pretty typical of apartment life. On Saturday I brought two loads of laundry downstairs, only to find my downstairs neighbour loading her clothes into two of the three machines. This is one of those uncomfortable confrontations neighbours would rather avoid.
Neighbour: "Oh... how many loads do you have to do?"
Me: "Two."
Neighbour: "I have two as well..."
Me: "Well, since you were here first, I'll just take the free machine."
Neighbour: "Well... too bad. I was here first, so you're going to have to wait."
Me: "Um... that's what I said."
Luckily for me, not all my neighbours are this pleasant.
22:17 | Stuff | Comments (0)
March 24, 2006
Thy History is An Epic of the Most Brilliant Exploits
Congratulations to Rew, who correctly guessed the translated song was, in fact, O Canada. To get these lyrics, I used Google to translate the official French version of the anthem into English, which yielded a very different song than the official English version.
Google, however didn't get it perfect, and couldn't translate the words aïeux (forbearers) and épopée (epic). Sadly, I didn't know what these words meant either, so I had to hunt for a dictionary for the translation.
Comparing Google's version with the official English translation of the French version, you can see it did a pretty good job (the worst being "Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers" translated as "Your face east girds glorious florets"). Looks like translation services still have a ways to go.
07:37 | Entertainment | Comments (1)
March 23, 2006
Perdu Dans La Traduction
I'm sure all of you have played the online translation game, where you take some text in English (to maximize entertainment value, I recommend song lyrics), translate them into another language using an online translation service, then translate them back into English. It's good clean fun.
Bored, I did something a little different using Google Translate (with a little help). Can anyone guess what the song below is, and how I got it?
Ground of our forbearers,
Your face east girds glorious florets.
Because your arm can carry the sword,
It can carry the cross.
Your history is epic,
more brilliant exploits.
And your value,
from soaked faith,
Will protect our homes and our rights.
Will protect our homes and our rights.
08:19 | Entertainment | Comments (2)
March 21, 2006
Mirror, Mirror
In the spirit of my facial hair blog post, I bought a new mirror for my apartment. Sure, I could have gotten a boring old shaving mirror, but I wanted something a little classier. It's a beard guide mirror.
Now the big decision: for my next look, The Sidewinder, or The Hulihee?
07:51 | Stuff | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
And You Thought Those Ballpark Dogs Were Bad For You
As if normal stadium fare wasn't unhealthy enough, The Gateway Grizzlies, an Illinois minor league baseball team, just unveiled their latest culinary abomination: The Doughnut Burger.
The ballpark sandwich will include a hamburger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon -- all between a "bun" made of a sliced Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut.
...calorie counters predict the monster will set you back about 1,000 calories and 45 grams of fat.
The team hopes to sell at least 100 of these burgers per game. I sure hope paramedics will be standing by.
Thanks to Shawn for the link.
16:38 | Stuff | Comments (2)
March 6, 2006
For Your Safety
Everyone knows of at least some of those unspoken bathroom rules we have. Rules like always wash hands before leaving, no talking between urinals, turn the sound off if you're playing games on your laptop in a stall, etc. So if you're looking for all the common (and less common) rules all in one place, check out Johnzo's guide to restroom safety. Let me say, I've learned a lot.