gwjc

Brilliant!

I like this Douglas Adams quote :

“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful

without having to believe that there are

fairies at the bottom of it too?”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

To begin with, it’s a misquote, the line is “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

More interesting is this:

By “protest,” Gertrude doesn’t mean “object” or “deny”—these meanings postdate Hamlet. The principal meaning of “protest” in Shakespeare’s day was “vow” or “declare solemnly,” a meaning preserved in our use of “protestation.” When we smugly declare that “the lady doth protest too much,” we almost always mean that the lady objects so much as to lose credibility. Gertrude says that Player Queen affirms so much as to lose credibility. Her vows are too elaborate, too artful, too insistent. More cynically, the queen may also imply that such vows are silly in the first place, and thus may indirectly defend her own remarriage.

 Macrone, Michael. “The lady doth protest too much.” Brush Up Your Shakespeare. Cader Company, 1990. eNotes.com. 2007. 4 Mar, 2008

Samsung has partnered with Korea university and developed the machine-gun equipped robotic sentry. This thing will spot and shoot you, or your enemy.

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Wrangles over a washing machine have pressured the US’ Environmental Protection Agency to regulate commercial products containing silver nanoparticles. But it is not yet clear how the surprising policy, which has been called a ‘kneejerk reaction’, will be enforced.

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This is an incredible acoustic cover by Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker. It’s reminiscint of Iron and Wine but more spartan. This is simply an awesome song, it’s one of the few covers I’ve heard, that’s better than the original.

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NASA’s newest spacecraft at Mars has completed the challenging half-year task of shaping its orbit to the nearly circular, low-altitude pattern from which it will scrutinize the planet.

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This is one of those things everyone should either know how to do, or have it on their 43 things. Knowing how to read sheet music and understanding music theory opens a new window on music. It is the universally accepted method of communicating songs, a lingua franca made up of notes, that transcends history. There are great sites filled with quality sheet music in the public domain; and many people who love share their knowledge.

This is one of the better games Spassky ever played; Not that I’m really a worthy judge, but hey Bobby Fischer said it too. Nicely done chessbase player on the site with a good analysis and some interesting facts about the game. I particularly liked this bit: “Another strong player - nearly of GM strength, and part of the Soviet contingent - is supposedly have reported to his bosses that Spassky had just blundered a piece and now was lost. (I heard this story from an expatriated Russian - who was present at this match - at a World Open one year.)” Anyway, even if you haven’t played for a while, you’ll appreciate what a great game this was.

It appears Digg intends to make sweeping changes to the ways that stories are promoted to the front page. This has upset many of the top diggers, causing some, including the currently number 1 active digger, to quit the site.

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