Category: Common Knowledge

Passing on links or other information that I think everyone just needs to know about.

SciFi Channel becomes Syfy… seriously

Press release
Syfy more clearly captures the mainstream appeal of the world’s biggest entertainment category, and reflects the network’s ongoing strategy to create programming that’s more accessible and relatable to new audiences. Syfy will continue to celebrate the traditional roots of the genre, while opening the brand aperture to accommodate a broader range of imagination-based entertainment.

scifi

Seriously? I’m not a huge fan of the term Sci-Fi because it connotes schlocky Lost in Space style entertainment as well as Klingon costume wearing losers. (This is one reason I don’t attend Norwescon.) But people also associate it with halfway decent science fiction and the like. It’s not that bad.

syfy

Syfy is awful. And I’m betting this is just an early move to get completely away from genre. Kind of like Court TV is now just edited scenes of cops arresting people called TruTV.

Syfy will flop. It will lose the few science fiction genre geeks still watching the channel, and it will not gain a general audience. Prepare for lots of bad reality television.

Autoresponding in Welsh

The English half of the sign is printed correctly and says, “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” Clearly enough, the point of the sign is to prohibit truck drivers from entering a residential neighborhood.

Since the sign was posted in Swansea, Wales, the bottom half of the sign is written in Welsh. The translation of the Welsh is, “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”

For explanation, see The Case of the Welsh Autoresponder at Revealing Errors, an awesome blog.

Truly Great Insults

With all the vitriol being spewed my way in the comments on my cforms II post, I’d have thought that someone would have come up with a truly great insult. The best insult of the bunch only compared me unfavorably to Gordon Brown. It’s much better as a crack against Mr. Brown than against me. The bulk of the insults are people calling me a moron or, heaven forbid, a rat. Sometimes in capital letters.

Now, I’m not a strong insulter by any stretch of the imagination, but I could have come up with something better than that. All it takes is a quick Google search for truly great insults.

To help inspire folks, if they are bothering to read anything else on my blog but that entry, I’m instituting a contest. I have no idea what Google PageRank that post will end up with, but it’s bound to be halfway decent (3, 4, dare I say 5? the mind boggles) considering all the links to it. Come up with a better insult! The best insult on either entry will win a link back to your blog! Juice yourself up a bit. I’ll close the contest when I get bored, or the ultimate insult comes along. Contest is over.

So, here’s a few links I found with good insults.

That last one reminds me of Josh’s insults. Hell, Josh could insult me better in his sleep than my apparent enemies can.

Anyway, have at it folks. Best insult gets you a link!