Freke Dorothy Fluck Lane, get in here now!

"This list has been compiled solely from records held at Cornwall Record Office and has been collected together over the course of the last six years. The only qualification to appear on the list is the possession of a name which can be considered silly or unusual."

The records date back to the 16th century. A sampling:

Abraham Thunderwolff
Freke Dorothy Fluck Lane
Boadicea Basher
Humfridus Hawkeye
Edward Evil
Talent Ferret
Clobery Silly
Joseph Alfred Rubbery
Naptholy Salmon
Onesiphorous Sheere
Originalhouse Snell
Philadelphia Bunnyface

In 3-D

If you think orawnzva's singing is a little flat, think again—he's clearly three-dimensional. Silly person.

To put it another way: some nice fellow has posted some stereoscopic Arisia photos, which are pretty nifty. I think this one perfectly encapsulates the whole congoing experience. There's a nifty shot of whirling poi, and plenty of young things in corsets (including the girl who made me wonder all weekend where her internal organs had gone).

(If you can't cross your eyes like that but you do have red-blue glasses, Ben is there too.)

On the efficacy of fireballs and mana shields

Take that, Diablo!

Yo ho.

/join #sheep

I want to model IRC chat room populations, let's say in #swil. There is some rate of influx of new people, which depends on the day (a 4 vs. an 8 vs. a day-divisible-by-1, a weekend vs. a weeknight vs. a holiday), the time of day (it will often see an upsurge at 8PM, then dwindle), and various other factors (like whether or not someone just mentioned IRC in their LJ). The amount of time each arrival stays depends strongly on the number of people who are already there—someone joining #swil and finding himself alone is apt to depart quickly, but finding a dozen people he might very well get sucked in for hours—and the time of day.

This should be possible to model with a set of linear differential equations, similar to a predator/prey model, and a bit of data. Patterns will emerge; I will be able to map out population tipping points with uncanny accuracy. I will have frightening, almost god-like predictive knowledge of my friends, calling into question the very nature of free will, which I will use only—or at least usually—for good. The data will indicate a singularity, a Katamari-like black hole of IRC attendance, in which everyone I know (and then everyone they know, and then everyone they know, and then one-fifth of those people's aunts, and then that'll be it) will be absorbed, unable to leave. By warning the world of this impending tragedy I will earn the undying gratitude of the masses, and I will have to hire secretaries just to handle all the /query requests.

Or I could start on Diablo II.