Why don't we do this dance instead?

Numfar Dances the Dance of Joy
Angel S02E21 - Through the Looking Glass

Lorne the Host returns to Pylea, his home dimension, with Angel and co. in search of the displaced Cordelia. The prodigal Lorne is reunited with his mother for the first time since he abandoned his music-less world to pursue a singing career on Earth, much to the joy of his brother Numfar. Joss Whedon, creator/writer/director of the show, makes a special cameo appearance as Numfar.

I just thought I'd let you know that

Nerd Corner: Samurize

The first time I took up Samurize was documented in this previous post. Having successfully removed the clutter from my desktop workspace, the background developed a potential for functionality. At that time, I chose to turn it into an at-a-glance Heads Up Display of sorts for things like battery life, processes, CPU, hard drive and RAM usage. In the intervening years, the little widget on the bottom-left corner of my desktop evolved from being amateurish eye-candy to a more utilitarian box of bars and numbers.


It was adequate and useful, but generally a bit of an eyesore because it looked so out of place. So pitiful was the design that I even set a keyboard hotkey to hide the thing from view. For the most part, I prefer form and function to walk hand in hand and those previous attempts left something to be desired. However, I never bothered to change it because I never really had any particular urgency, or any particular inspiration, to gussy it up.

Last week, a blog post on Lifehacker popped up on my radar. They have been featuring the desktop customizations of an enterprising and generous individual. Naturally, seeing something awesome makes me want to be awesome too.

I won't burden you with having to see the 'before' desktop (it was boring) or with how it was created, per se, as Samurize has a bit of a learning curve that cannot be expained with words as well as it can be learned from trial and error.

Here is the new one:
Click the screenshot for notes. Click here for full size.

List of Programs (etc) that contributed to this desktop:
Overall Theme: FlyaKite w/ Leopard 3.0 Visual Style (Dark)
Wallpaper: Dawn in Madrid
Windows Explorer Address Bar: QT Address Bar
Windows Task Bar: Finderbar 3.1
System Tray: Dexpot and Notebook Hardware Control
Application Launcher: Launchy 2.0 with MinimaLaunchy skin
Dock: ObjectDock with Konfabulator Glass skin, Leopard GTD Icons
Desktop Monitor: Samurize, collapsible self-made config

System: Asus Z63a Pentium M 1.83 GHz running Windows XP SP3

Don't Let It Die

Pushing Daisies: the best show you aren't watching



Out of the Question


Sentimental Monkeys


Childhood Influences/Kick Pooh, Kick!


Zombie Rights/I don't think that anymore


Burly Bruce and the Real Girl


I Never Thought to Ask

The English Major: Discretionthe better part of valour since 1598

Time to put my tuition fees to good use. In a spate of nerdery, I rebranded an old post with a new Pocketfish category. Without further ado, may I present the inaugural post of The English Major, where I get militantly uptight and anal retentive about literary things that matter very little. I also get to use big words!

What has become a severe point of consternation to me in recent years is the disregard for the subtle discrepancies between the words discrete and discreet. The blithe denial of any difference between the two in some writers (accomplished ones at that) is symptomatic of our socio-cultural climate of writin' the way I talk (not to be confused with the satire that is LolSpeak).

The misguided lexical belief is that if two words look the same and sound the same, they must be the same. This is most prevalent in Canadian schools due to the fact that Canadian English has no identity; is it British or American? is it -our or -or? English itself is but a pastiche of neighbouring tongues. While some nationalities command an iron-cld control over what makes it into their lexicon, it has been said that English is the language that mugs other languages in dark alleys for their words. Small wonder that the swapping of two letters in words so similar can cause such confusion unbeknowst to the hapless writer.

The goal of the English Major, then, is to cast light upon such errors (and allow me to be, momentarily, a self-righteous pissant like a Pharisee of phonology).

Discrete and discreet are discreetly discrete words.
Discrete and discreet are homophones. They both sound ('phone') the same ('homo-') when spoken outloud. As these are not words commonly employed in colloquial communication, when one chooses to do so, one gets confused because both are accepted by spell checkers.

From Dictionary.com
discrete: adj.
1. apart or detached from others; separate; distinct: six discrete parts.
2. consisting of or characterized by distinct or individual parts; discontinuous.

discreet: adj.
1. judicious in one's conduct or speech, esp. with regard to respecting privacy or maintaining silence about something of a delicate nature; prudent; circumspect.
2. showing prudence and circumspection; decorous: a discreet silence.
3. modestly unobtrusive; unostentatious: a discreet, finely wrought gold necklace.

The English Major salutes all those that now understand the distinction between discrete and discreet. If you see such error in your future travels, discreetly make the correction.