News You Can Bruise for 2000 October 9

It is as I suspected: Neal Stephenson is a much better writer when his imagination is constrained by historical fact. I started reading Cryptonomicon today and have yet to be gripped by the urge to put the book away in disgust.

Also, I like that Vitamin B6 is actually another name for pyridoxine hydrochloride. This could be the foundation of a great hoax of the "dihydrogen monoxide" form. "Stop! Don't you realize that that banana contains pyridoxine hydrochloride?"

Another tale of the DOJ's never-ending crusade against innovation.

FHW: Red Hat Responds to Quality Allegations. Damn those persistent rumors of quality!

Giant Trilobite Passes Horrible Prehistoric Judgement Upon Puny Humans. Uh, I mean, Giant Trilobite Discovered.

I'll show you the life of the mind! I'll show you the life of the mind! Look upon me!

I remember Adam saying that the way John Goodman says it at the end of Barton Fink. It's probably my favorite memory of Adam.

Mike wants me to make Guess the Verb! T-shirts. He even pointed me to cafepress.com (which I think Kris uses, and which is really cool) to tempt me. I personally think he's just a little too excited about Guess the Verb!. T-shirts would be cool, though.

I forgot to mention: this week's cheese is Gruyere. It's of the Swiss family, but not as good as Jarlsberg and probably not even as good as Swiss. It doesn't melt very well. It's not bad, though.