The only downside being the too-smart-to-get-laid thing. Hopefully you won enough to buy something to drown your sorrows with.
I bet it'll be interesting working with Jenna Bush.
That man's name was Linus Torvalds. And now you know the rest of the story.
This is just part of the general phenomenon of people getting jobs based on how professional they look and sound, not on any actual qualifications, isn't it.
Probably the man's voice thrilled Ogged like no voice had ever done before.
Blink, luck, genius, being on the hiring committee. I saw that episode of House, I think.
Maybe ogged was able to divine that the candidate didn't know how to spell "transferred", the criterion on which hires at his company are made.
As luck would have it, Cala The Cynic, I was out the day they made the decision.
how to spell "transferred"
It didn't look right to me, but Firefox didn't underline it. You'll understand in about ten years.
You'll understand in about ten years.
I already understand that your reliance on automated tools to do your thinking for you has led to the atrophying of your own powers of thought.
In the old days, of course, people used to compose epic poetry in their heads and know it all by heart; ever since that most pernicious tool of thought, writing, made its appearance on the scene that quotidian accomplishment has only been available to the blind, and more than that, the genius blind, such as Milton and Joyce.
...people used to compose epic poetry in their heads and know it all by heart...
Could someone let us know whether Milman Parry is spinning in his grave?
I already understand
Youth is cruel, and has no remorse...
(brief googling) is he the guy who wrote about eastern european bard-types? Weren't they illiterate?
I thought they composed some of it by heart, but that there were certain fragments or "set pieces" or whatever they're called that they relied on from memory, and didn't create themselves, for parts of their epics.
The scraps of the Parry family history that googling turns up are pretty intriguing. Milman Parry dies at 33 of a gunshot wound (one site says "possible suicide") and his son, also an excellent classicist, dies at 43 of causes I haven't been able to find.
Milman Parry was the originator of the "oral-formulaic" theory" of epic poetry composition, based on his observations of traditional bards in the Balkans, which postulates that the epics formed by illiterate oral poets over many generations telling stories using a strict meter and memorized formulae. The upshot of this is that an epic poem under Parry's theory cannot be said to be "composed" in the sense that we understand it today, because neither the story nor the language in which it is told are new creations of any individual poet. Thus, Flippanter's 12, expressing Parry's likely reaction to ben's 11.
Parry's theory was later elaborated on and given a controversial and perhaps unnecessary rigidity by his protege Albert Lord, and it is now usually known as the Parry-Lord theory.
To clarify 18, the core of the theory is that the poem is different every time it is recited, even by the same poet, because that poet is recreating it anew using the meter and formulae as guides to be used as needed. It is therefore neither "composed" nor "memorized" in the usual sense.
The only downside being the too-smart-to-get-laid thing. Hopefully you won enough to buy something a Real Doll to drown your sorrows with.
Unfogged commenters actually had this discussion before, leading to the observation that Robert Fagles, among others, doesn't quite buy the Parry theory. I bet if it weren't for poor widdle misunderstood St/even D/en B/este, google could find this discussion.
The conversational lull traditionally means that you're supposed to lean in for the kiss, but if you're not sure it's usually best to continue the exposition.
Good show, Teo and Flippanter!
Ben, go read The Singer of Tales.
Feh to Fagles. I'm 4eva Lattimore's girl.
I composed 15 out of the fragments of other explanations, but the wording was different.
Somebody go help oudemia, she (he? It? They? We?) is stuck in a meter.
I thought Finnegan's oral poetry book was awful
22: A lot of people don't quite buy it, especially in Lord's formulation, which is based very closely on the practices of 20th-century Yugoslav bards.
If this is what you're talking about, slol, I'm going to start charging you for every archive search I do.
What Ogged is not telling us is that he himself made the offer to the candidate just so he'd be able to collect on his bet.
If this is what you're talking about, slol
Mmmmaybe. But did you find the herring joke?
Probably the man's voice
I'm guessing this person was not a man.
shivbunny has an awesome phone voice with a very disarming 'Hello, how are you?' which then makes salespeople, USCIS personnel, the phone company etc., cheerful and do his bidding.
That's what it takes to land a catch like Cala, eh? he should give lessons at the Unfogga-dee-cee-on.
Most boring thread ever.
Man, no kidding. If people had focused on my genius, the way they were supposed to, this could have been something.
40: Sure, but let's just treat it as Unfogged's first step towards recovering sanity.
That's what it takes to land a catch like Cala, eh?
I'm sure witty blog commenting could do it, too.
42: yes ogged you are like a superhero. The HR ANTICIPATOR can see the future of hiring decisions! Cower, evildoers!
Oh no! It's your nemesis, The Headhunter! This will be an epic battle of hiring criteria! Quick, Interviewing Lad, fetch ogged's magic resume!
You're kind of judgmental today, Tweety. I foresee terrible things in your future.
I was actually wondering -- are we supposed to be quizzing you about how you knew, or just marvelling at your intuition? If there's a thought process, spill.
48: boy are you misreading that one.
46: Shh. You'll make shivbunny nervous.
16: A motorcycle accident, I believe.
I recall being told that Parry's death followed a speech that decried the rising Fascist regime in Italy.
I want to understand your genius. So this voice you risked so much on -- Marilyn Monroe or Troy McClure?
a very disarming 'Hello, how are you?'
This is also the opening move for a Canadian sneak attack.
So, ogged, um, in the spirit of 49, what led you to walk over to your co-worker and bet that an offer would be made?
I want to understand your genius.
What are you, a scientist? You can only bask in its reflected glow.
just marvelling at your intuition?
Yes!
I think this is like the anti-thread. Ogged is trying to teach us something deeply zen.
There will be no talking in the anti-thread!
My guess is that the person on the phone turned out to be extremely tall.
Ogged is trying to teach us something deeply zen.
The difference between "whimsical" and "random."
it would be clever if [Company Name] and [Name] shared a similarity.
Tomorrow, someone here will let their hair down and take to a fishing boat.
You can only bask in its reflected glow.
Oh yeah, that's way more interesting than oral-formulaic poetry.
Oh yeah, that's way more interesting than oral-formulaic poetry.
You're going to get some soon, Teo, I can feel it.
If you're going to be feeling it, ogged, shouldn't the two of you take it to IM?
someone here will let their hair down and take to a fishing boat
Take six or eight someones from here and you've got another sitcom. Who wants to be Gilligan?
...[F]or thou rememberest how
In those old days, one summer noon, and arm
Rose up from out the bosom of the lake,
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,
Holding the sword -and how I rowed across
And took it, and have worn it, like a king....
The Lady of Shallot?
I'm not familiar with that pseudonym.
67: so teo what'd you think about that recent NYer article on the subject anyhow?
74: Haven't seen it. What did it say?
Frank Norris might have taken the "epic" part of his "epic of the wheat" idea too seriously. As I remember it, he used homeric epithets for some of his characters in The Octopus. At least his book was an original creation.
shivbunny is less nervous than he used to be, in case anyone was taking his jealousy to be more serious than a joke these days.
And oddly enough, the philosophers were always obviously the 'safe ones.'
75: I can only find an abstract online.
the philosophers were always obviously the 'safe ones.'
Hilarious. Presumably he's met some of that type.
Given the application letters Ogged has shared with us, I'm going to bet that he knew this person would be hired simply because they had appropriate phone manners.
78: Sounds interesting. Also, New Yorker abstracts are so weird.
Ben, go read The Singer of Tales.
Do I really have to make explicit that I don't actually think that Homer, eg, composed the entire thing(s) in his head? I read Knox's prefaces to the Fagles translations in which he discusses work on the oral tradition; I know that there are lots of set pieces, etc. Keerist.
79: He has, but I think the reasoning was more a) I cannot be a jealous asshole about my girlfriend's professional colleagues, because that would make me a Bad Man b) if they're philosophers, they count as colleagues even if for all intents and purposes they only seem to talk about cock jokes.
Keerist
Hey, some of my best friends are keers.
New Yorker abstracts are so weird trivial:
Writer believes that the religious significance of the epics is what has kept them alive.
Suck it, philosophers! You're stuck in the non-threatening colleague zone! Meanwhile, the technical writers are stealing your laydeez.
82: OK, fine. You're excused. Go read All Day Permanent Red instead.
my girlfriend's
But what about yours?
That abstract is weird. I read the article at the time, but the abstract says it talks about Vergil's epics being orally composed. That would be a new theory indeed.
Technical writers are hella lotharios. "Now, slowly unclip the two hook and eye clips located at the rear of the brassiere. If this is unsuccessful, see Appendix 1, troubleshooting."
"Note: if the subject's father actually was a thief, use line of approach B instead."
"Caution: there are no user serviceable parts inside."
"If subject's ass is in fact on fire, extinguish by covering with a wet towel."
"May contain a packet of dessicant used to absorb moisture. Do not eat this packet."
67:
Teo, the discussion of oral-formulaic poetry was interesting. The thread referenced* in 32 is more interesting.
* It pains me to type that word. A lot.
If the baby does not thrive on raw milk, boil it.
"Insert tab A into slot B."
Alternative configuration: Insert tab A into slot C.
Caution: This may void warranty for some models. See Appendix 2 for details.
101: Kobe Baby? Fed on milk and massaged into delicious tenderness?
Kobe Baby? Fed on milk
All babies are Kobe babies! And therefore delicious!
I have a modest proposal for a Wagyu baby enterprise. What kind of beer do babies like?
I have a modest proposal for a Wagyu baby enterprise.
Same problem as veal calves: high proportion of bone in the total carcass weight.
107: OTOH the Chinese produce a hell of a lot of them, and like veal calves, there's little demand for one gender.
WOULD YOU REALLY MAKE THESE JOKES IF YOU KNEW THEY WOULD BE READ BY SOMEONE WHO WAS A VICTIM OF BABY-EATING
The thread referenced* in 32 is more interesting....* It pains me to type that word. A lot.
When did "reference" become a verb? I hate that usage. I see people here who are clearly academics use it, and it makes me want to grit my teeth. I really feel like its advent is a mark of the decline of our civilization.
I always find myself rewriting sentences. It's particularly bad when "reference" is used as a transitive verb, e.g., the meaning of "he referenced comment 32" could just as easily be expressed with "He referred to comment 32."
BG, you can help me! As can the women of this blog. I have a suit that I bought that has a low, round neckline. (I would call it a scoop neckline if it were a shirt but I don't know what it's called on a jacket.) It's really cute, but I have no idea what sort of shirt goes under a suit with a low neckline and I can't go shirtless because otherwise there is too much cleavage. I think a shirt with a normal color would look goofy.
Academics just shouldn't own suits, we don't know what to do with them.
Academics just shouldn't own suits, we don't know what to do with them.
And yet, they apparently keep buying them.
Sometimes I need to wear a suit to university thingies, because otherwise I look like I'm twelve or the grad student scullery maid or something.
Cala, It sounds to me like oudemia has the best fashion sense of any of the short women of unfogged. (We are going to go shopping together sometime, right?.) Let me think for a minute.
115: what color is the suit? i'd think a shirt with a similar scoop neckline, but just a bit higher than the suit, in a white or otherwise neutral color would look good.
Ha! I wish. I was just contemplating . . . If the collar is low and rounded, you can't go v-neck. So that is right out. A low rounded collar seems too dressy/femmy for a standard sort of oxford collar. So maybe something higher and rounded? Or even a turtle or cowl neck?
Portrait neckline? And this sounds like a job for something in the camisole category of garment -- just enough of a shirt to tone down the cleavage, but not to interfere with the look of the jacket. (Although I can't quite picture the jacket. It's the sort of thing where no shirt would make sense, it's just a little too cleavagey for work?)
I'm not sure that I have the visual-spatial reasoning/ imagination to picture what you've got, but my first impulse is to say that a simple silk t-shirt would probably work. Is that too obvious? Totally wrong?
So far consensus for higher rounded collar!
119: or alternately, a camisole but with a very straight neckline in a contrasting color. maybe a bit like this, though the jacket neckline is different.
Don't you wear a camisole-type thing under it? With a higher neckline (scoop-line) than the scoop of the jacket?
So the line of the under shirt goes sort of straight across, just above your cleavage line, under the jacket's scoop neckline?
I'm sure that's eminently clear. But that's what I'd do.
Being assigned to work on a case in Hartford is the second is the third worst thing evar.
Every hotel in Hartford proper being booked and having to stay in East Hartford is the second worst thing evar.
The fact that I'm going to screw over my fellow first-years in getting myself pulled off this project is the worst thing evar.
But w/d, what kind of camisole will you wear?
Where's yoyo? Yoyo knows clothes.
Being stuck in East Hartford with the wrong kind of camisole is the true worst thing evar.
Yoyo knows clothes.
Women's clothes?
Okay, I tried it on again. (my husband thinks I'm weird.) It's a low neckline, and rounded is the wrong word. Wide. The jacket's first button is just level with my boobs, so the effect is like a shirt that's unbuttoned to bra line. I don't know why I thought rounded. I think the jacket may have been intended to be worn without a shirt, but the boobs have defeated it.
It's a light gray-lavendery color, depending on the light. (Not a color I'd normally wear, but I bought it for $15 at a tag sale and it is silk.)
131: Well, I'm sure he can be counted on to offer an opinion.
That sounds to me like a job for a white or other light neutral colored silk tee/shell, with a reasonably high neckline. Do I mean a jewel neckline? My vocabulary is so impoverished with this stuff.
Shell? Jewel? Scoop? Portrait? I know those words, but those words make no sense.
A sweetheart neckline is both flattering and modest on the woman who is not too busty.
LB: Yes, jewel neckline is right. It's a high, rounded neckline sort of like a tshirt's.
The jacket's first button is just level with my boobs, so the effect is like a shirt that's unbuttoned to bra line.
Dude, I wore something similar this past weekend (though it wasn't a light silk): go for a camisole underneath. Is there a reason that doesn't make sense? One factor, though: how fitted is the jacket? If it's rather loose-fitting, you'd need something more structured/fitted underneath.
btw, you should totally be planning to wear the jacket sans under shirt for shivbunny. Sometime.
BoBaLa, it's picture time. "For my internet friends, honey."
Further to 140: Yeah, if the jacket's loosely-structured, a higher neckline underneath.
140: Sounds like it makes sense to me. I don't own a camisole, and I wasn't sure if they were supposed to go under suits as cleavage-barriers. The jacket is fitted.
Also, what parsimon said. A camisole with a straight-across collar is good, too.
That's what I thought -- a plain rounded girl-tshirt neck, no lower than your collarbones.
137: A shell is a plain-fronted top (that is, not with buttons), like a tshirt but usually not stretchy. It can have tshirt sleeves or no sleeves.
Scoop neckline is round, but low enough that some cleavage shows, or at least low enough to show your collarbones and a little below.
Portrait is similar, but wider -- it may not go any lower than something you'd call a scoop, but it looks revealing because it exposes your chest and shoulders.
143: Any chance that shivbunny's right and you're being overly modest? Everything looks lower looking down at yourself instead of looking in the mirror, if you see what I mean.
145: Ah, at least two of those are intuitive.
Unrelated, why was I never told how much easier it is to get work done with two monitors?
If only the standard for "maximize" was to only maximize in one of the monitors rather than stretch across both. I don't want to see Unfogged cloven in twain, thank you very much.
I should totally show collarbone. I have awesome collarbones. Thanks for the help! Now I have to buy a camisole.
If only the standard for "maximize" was to only maximize in one of the monitors rather than stretch across both
Isn't it? What operating system?
Now I have to buy a camisole.
I know this awesome place in Paris. It's near my apartment there.
I'm sure he's just talking about fashion. This isn't the fifties, where this would be code for SEX.
yeah, i vote for silk camisole with straight-across neckline.
Or there's always eBay. Search for camisole, NWT, your bra size, and enjoy the cornucopia of semi-random but cheapish consumer options.
eBay or Paris. Your call. Think of your career.
Unrelated, why was I never told how much easier it is to get work done with two monitors?
gswift might disagree.
Did I mention I bought my wedding gown on eBay? eBay is my bitch.
OT to Chicago Unfoggetariat: if you could choose between one sixtyblue and Catch 35, which would you pick and why? It may help you to know that they are both restaurants. I'd invite you, but I'm introducing my girlfriend to my dad.
141: Oggeleh, you did not spell bubelah "BoBaLa".
you did not spell bubelah "BoBaLa".
No, I used Cala's last name.
Now I have to buy a camisole.
Unfoggedtarians, I barely know ye. Don't own a camisole? Gotta go find one? Worlds will be opening before you.
(What on earth do you wear?)
157: Haven't been to either.
It'll be really funny if she finds him really attractive.
162: you have a good memory. And a dark soul.
I would say shell, not camisole. Camisoles are underwear or very casualwear. In fact, a dressy tee shirt might be even better, if you can find a suitable one, to make it more likely that you can take your jacket off if you feel the need. Higher rounded neckline gets my vote, also, though not so high that it's a crew neck. A modest scoop.
I still need to find a good DARK red scoopneck shell or tee shirt to go under my own suit.
I think there's a Brazilian novel -- Amado? -- titled, in translation, Pen, Sword and Camisole.
I have little cotton underwearish camisoles, but nothing dressy enough for a suit.
you can take your jacket off if you feel the need
Redfox makes a very good point.
Isn't it? What operating system?
XP.
In your display properties, I think unchecking "extend my windows desktop yadda yadda" will solve your problem.
BG One of the reasons I use reference so much is that I think of the word more in the programming sense than any other.
A reference in computer science is something that points to the location of another instruction or piece of data. I deal with them so frequently that the term has become a more frequent part of my thought process than the word "refer".
This illustration of necklines was neat.
171: Does anybody actually wear the Queen Anne?
The Queen Anne is totally cool if your life is a costume drama.
169->166.
Indeed, since, thinking about it, I don't think it'll actually solve Ned's problem.
178: The solution is to ask for crazy-awesome 27" LCDs. Tell 'em StanleyCo. did it. And we're making mad skrilla. You can cite this blog comment and everything.
170 is correct. But I also use "dereference" as a synonym for "remember"/"place in context" so I'm clearly a poor English speaker.
Tell 'em StanleyCo. did it.
And Apostropher signed off on it. They won't know what to say.
I say a top of some thinnish fabric with a loose cowl neck would look smashing. There are a couple of cowlneck type blouses at Anthropologie, which isn't cheap but has nice femmey things. Until you find that, though, either a camisole type thing with a lace neckline--along these lines-- or a scoopneck type thing with a pretty neckline. Luckily those are kind of "in" right now--something like this, this or this, possibly.
What kind of beer do babies like?
PK liked Guinness.
177: From a wedding dress angle, it is a costume drama.
For everyday wear, not so much. But then, neither is the "Shoulder" neckline. Or the "Illusion."
Keegan liked Bass Ale.
Noah gets frantic when he sees wine with bubbles.
From a wedding dress angle, it is a costume drama.
True enough. But the bride runs the risk of being mistaken for Cruella deVille.
Noah gets frantic when he sees wine with bubbles.
Good taste, that kid.
185: C'mon, though. Of all the Disney characters, Cruella DeVille is the only one who had a decent sense of style.
Oh, good point. I haven't actually seen that movie yet. Because I hate the Chinese.
If a wedding is accompanied by stylee dress, why not make it a full-fledged promenade? Cruella, sure. And that collar is most flattering to some.
All Disney movies made after I turned nine are transparent frauds. Non-aryan damsels in a Disney movie? Walt is spinning in his freezer.
I never liked beer when I was a baby, but my sister did. She liked Moosehead, but that's all I remember my dad drinking at that time so she may not have had much choice in the matter.
I think Mulan is more of a Mongolian type than Chinese.
I think Mulan is more of a Mongolian type than Chinese.
Aren't the Mongols the *enemy* in Mulan? (I think they are simply referred to as "the barbarians", but the implication is clear; also, they have wicked Fu Manchu moustaches.)
Aren't the Mongols the *enemy* in Mulan?
Huns.
196: Do they wear ruffled Hunderwear?
Huns.
Somehow this comment from soup biscuit seems aposite.
My daughter wouldn't have liked it even as a baby, but my son did. Whatever the cheap bottled of the period in the house would have been, one in a long succession—probably Sp/c/al Ex. Although now that I think of it, my brother would have been the one most likely to have given it to him, and he always buys a case of cans when he stays overnight to tide himself over and not drink all of mine.
You know, B/d/w/is/r is a fine beer.
My wife used to drink a lot of non-alcoholic beer to promote milk production when she was breast feeding (hops do that, apparently), and the older daughter loved the stuff. Several times we got seriously dirty looks in public places from people who saw us putting the glass to the little one's lips for her to take a long swig or two.
