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ABF Friday:  Now with 40 percent more arbitrariness!

Today, we introduce a new “head-to-head” feature of ABF Friday!  So, without further ado:  which is better?

Passenger-side airbags . . . or the second movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony?

Charles Mingus’s “Moanin’” (off Blues and Roots) . . . or the episode in the Simpsons’ “Tree House of Horror” in which Homer goes through a mysterious portal into the third dimension?

Wallace Stevens’ “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction” . . . or game seven of the Twins-Braves World Series in 1991?

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion . . . or the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong”?

The French Revolution . . . or DVDs?

Remember to show your work! . . . and have an arbitrary weekend, everyone.

Posted by on 10/20 at 07:56 AM

  1. A double-cheese GNF pizza deliverd to your door free of charge on ABF Friday . . . . the 3rd word on the 4th page of the 5th book on the 6th shelf in the 7th row on the 8th floor in the Nth hexagon of the ... in the library of Babel?

    captcha: “special”

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  09:33 AM

  2. The French Revolution . . . or DVDs?

    Oh, oh, I know this one!  The answer is:  it is too soon to tell.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  09:56 AM

  3. A, B, B, A, B.

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/20  at  10:12 AM

  4. Chou En-Lai, or Purina Dog Chow?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  10:19 AM

  5. The New York Review of Books . . . or sex?

    Posted by John  on  10/20  at  10:31 AM

  6. John, you’ve got to stop reading those back-of-the-mag Personals

    PLAY DOCTOR WITH A REAL DOCTOR. Psychatrist in early 80’s, almost brilliant, and professionally active, seeks seasond woman with lively mind and joie de vivre.

    — NYRB October 5, 2006

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  10:45 AM

  7. Beethoven (beauty before safety), Mingus (the 3-D Homer freaks me out), Stevens (baseball? enh), pass, and could we have DVDs without the French Revolution?

    The purr of a kitten… or the Kyrie from Bach’s B minor Mass?

    Posted by Scott Spiegelberg  on  10/20  at  10:49 AM

  8. Luther ... or Lenin?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  10:56 AM

  9. Olson ... or Ruppert?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  10:56 AM

  10. GNF ... Glenn Reynolds’s Singularity?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  11:00 AM

  11. difference . . . différence?
    theory . . . Theory?
    Coke . . . Pepsi?

    OR:

    Pepsi . . . Coke
    Theory . . . theory
    différence . . . difference

    captcha: “back” as in “back to back”

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  11:03 AM

  12. This is about 172% more arbitrariness, by my measure.

    m.ho’s answer in #2 . . . or peter ramus’ question in #4?

    As to #3, the Twins-Braves game.  Duh.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  11:14 AM

  13. This is addictive! I’ll try to restrain myself after these last ones:

    Bill Clinton ... or George Clinton?

    George Bush ... or Reggie Bush?

    Hee hee! ... or Bwaaaa ha ha! ?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  11:15 AM

  14. My way… or the highway?

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/20  at  11:16 AM

  15. Show your work… or have an arbitrary weekend?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  11:20 AM

  16. Frailty, thy name is Protevi. Here’s the last one, I promise!

    The Tigers ... or the Cardinals?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  11:21 AM

  17. All of these dichotomies are irrelevant. Lutheran surrealism is the bestest of all!

    Soup...or salad?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  11:29 AM

  18. Lay on, Personals
    (rhyme scheme courtesy of Chris #3)

    How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
    Stolen on his wing my six and twentieth year!
    My hasting days fly on with full career,
    But my late spring no bud or blossom shew’th.
    (And, Jayz, the doctor tells me no more beer)

    detournement, …or Uncle Miltie.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  11:34 AM

  19. captcha: “miles” as in: selim . . . miles

    davis, that is

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  11:36 AM

  20. AVOID TERTIUM QUID:  Gregory Corso used to advise that when in doubt between two things to always choose both.

    Take Lutheranism AND surrealism.

    Take Bolshevism AND ice-skates.

    The sewing machine AND the umbrella.

    Posted by Kirby Olson  on  10/20  at  11:48 AM

  21. Ten innings before finally a run ends the last Major League game of the 1991 season, pretty dramatic in what passes for drama in baseball. The scoreless eighth inning had its moments—Lonnie Smith getting deked & not scoring on Pendleton’s double, bases loaded inning ending double plays for/against both teams. That the game winning “hit” was a can of corn fly ball over an outfield playing shallow to prevent the run is both inelegant and fitting: victory in baseball is mostly routine acts.

    Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction looks long, is structured in tenths. Had I another degree (captcha) I might muster more trenchant observation.

    Survey says—1991 World Series Game 7.

    (Kinda related to baseball and poetry, Baseball Almanac’s online box score of Game 7 includes a couple of observations on the pith of the box score version of a game’s story.)

    Posted by black dog barking  on  10/20  at  12:03 PM

  22. Vassalation… or the 7th hour in a game of Risk.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  12:10 PM

  23. John Protevi, you beat me to the Luther.

    My variant:
    Lutheranism ... or Velcro

    Habeas corpus ... or an exquisite bottle of Campanile Pinot Grigio enjoyed with the creme de la creme of the Washington media and political elite in the privacy of your tastefully-decorated Georgetown home.

    the 3rd word on the 4th page of the 5th book on the 6th shelf in the 7th row on the 8th floor in the Nth hexagon of the

    But the 4th page was Mark Foley’s 2nd honey bun, and they were both out on Highway 61.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  12:26 PM

  24. Lutheran surrealism… or Zwinglian modernism?

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/20  at  12:29 PM

  25. Oh, Ramon…

    Beethoven, Homer, Stevens, Romy and Michelle, and DVDs.  liberté, égalité, fraternité my freedom-loving ass!

    affect… or irony?

    Posted by Arkadin  on  10/20  at  12:38 PM

  26. Zwinglian medievalism . . . or cubic zirconium from Alpha Centauri

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  12:41 PM

  27. "The French Revolution . . . or DVDs?”

    I do believe the Buddha uttered this right before enlightment.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  12:42 PM

  28. Bass… or Superstructure?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  12:43 PM

  29. captcha: “meaning” as in the stuff that’s generated through binary oppositions, even surrealistic ones with 40% more arbitrariness than the average bear

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  12:43 PM

  30. Passenger-side airbags . . . or the second movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony?

    Airbags, but my response would have been different if it had been the first movement.  Had it been the first movement, at least the poco sostenuto, they would be roughly equivalent since each can come and smack you upside the head if you’re not paying attention. 

    Beethoven’s 7, I, poco sostenuto:
    http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven_sym7_1a.mp3

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  12:47 PM

  31. Am I to understand that you’ve found a way to add 40% percent more arbitraryness to an already wholly arbitrary set of relations?

    Zounds!

    FS,

    Captcha: “modern,” as in Freud (born 1856), Saussure (born 1857), and Émile Durkheim (born 1858) laid the foundations for modern psychology, linguistic theory, and sociology.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  01:06 PM

  32. Look, the arbitrariness of 40% is completely justified by the need for an accurate measure of the volitility associated with arbitrary fridays.

    Mountains… moe-hair.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  01:22 PM

  33. Better?

    Better for what? for whom?

    Inquiring but arbitrary minds want to know.

    Captcha is “bad” as in “the French Revolution was good for guillotines but a DVD is a bad weapon unless you’re very talented with martial arts throwing stars.”

    Posted by George  on  10/20  at  01:25 PM

  34. moe-hair . . . curly fries?

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  01:26 PM

  35. Curly fries… Bono.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  01:27 PM

  36. U2, or YouTube?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  01:33 PM

  37. Washington Irving or Dr. J?  (To steal a joke from *Spinal Tap*)

    And screw Lutheran Surealism: I want Zoroastrian Futurism!  Or Fundamentalist Christian Dada!  Or Reformed Judaic Vorticism!  (Actually, that might be Ron Silliman’s new term for Zukofsky.)

    Capcha: “weeks” as in, How many til the midterm elections?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  01:43 PM

  38. I’d love to stand here discussing whether it’s appropriate to steal jokes from Spinal Tap, but I’ve got to go sit in the lobby and wait for the limo.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  01:50 PM

  39. I meant to say avoid false dichotomies and embrace the tertium quid!

    Why take either black or white when you can take zebras!

    Posted by Kirby Olson  on  10/20  at  01:52 PM

  40. Zebras...or crossword puzzles?

    Penguins...or old B/W Stooges shorts?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  01:59 PM

  41. Iggy Pop ... or Tootsie Rolls

    Dustin Hoffman ...or LSD

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  02:08 PM

  42. Michael, you’re killing me. Can’t I read Wallace Stevens and watch T-Rex the first baseman perform the best illegal tag ever in the best world series ever? Maybe one with each eye?

    The rest are relatively easy: Beethoven, Romy & Michelle, the French revolution on DVD.

    P.G. Wodehouse, or London Calling?

    Captcha word force, as in “force on third.”

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  02:09 PM

  43. Moonlight in Vermont/A plastic bag twirling in the wind?

    Posted by Liv Pooleside  on  10/20  at  02:13 PM

  44. Styx… or Styx.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  02:17 PM

  45. B, A, B, B, A.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  02:18 PM

  46. Definitely Styx, Paradise Theater era.

    Styx...or stones?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  02:22 PM

  47. Hot Wheels...or ragtime?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  02:31 PM

  48. Styx or Stones was voted the most likely question to be asked by St. Peter at the 1983 Summit for a Wierder and Wilder Catholic Experience… or Dentistry.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  02:41 PM

  49. Twenty-Five...or Six to Four?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  02:50 PM

  50. deja vu . . . . Memorex? 

    captcha: “bad” as in “I got it and that ain’t good”

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  03:01 PM

  51. i don’t know why i didn’t think of this when i originally posted, but:

    liberté… or Bérubé?

    captcha “turn” as in

    The Cultural Turn… or “To everything - turn, turn, turn, there is a season - turn, turn, turn...”?

    Posted by Arkadin  on  10/20  at  03:04 PM

  52. Pets… or Meat?

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/20  at  03:17 PM

  53. The proverbial airbag’s homer hit toward supreme’s reunion on DVD, of course!

    Since captcha word is “ago” then that or now??

    Tough one from last night at local highly upscaled bar--
    25 yr old Lagavulin.... 30 yr old Laphroaig

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  03:19 PM

  54. I’ve been waiting for an appropriate thread to express how mortified I am that my A’s gave America such a bad show in the ALCS.  This post with 40% more arbitrariness seems about right. I along with most people, was really hoping for a good (competitive) series. Ugh.

    We are all Tigers now, Charles.  Except for Oaktown Girl, of course. (Michael -10.12.06)

    I have officially joined the We Are All Tigers Now party. Hope that doesn’t bode too ill for the Tigers.

    Answers: the Beethoven Allegretto movement; and I, too, find the 3D Homer episode kind of creepy. It didn’t even have a funny or happy ending.

    Michael - I find it hard to believe it’s arbitrary that this ABF Friday has exactly 40% more arbitrariness. How convenient. It’d be more believable if today’s ABF Friday had, say, 43% or 47% more arbitrariness.

    Posted by Oaktown Girl  on  10/20  at  03:19 PM

  55. ask yourself:

    Neko Case Solo (ex. “Hold On, Hold On")...... or Neko Case with the New Pornographers (ex. “These Are the Fables")

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  03:23 PM

  56. The obvious one, but not yet stated:

    Tigers or Cardinals
    (easier, since the Mets didn’t make it--we are all Tigers now indeed)

    The Wizard of Oz… or Don Was?

    Obviously, the French Revolution.

    Because if it had gone even better than it did, we would
    (1) all speak French;
    (2) have a logical system of weights and measures (3) something better than DVDs or the Internets in general would have evolved

    Captcha “Pay” the Piper

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  03:52 PM

  57. This is about 172% more arbitrariness, by my measure.

    It is indeed, Charles (comment 12).  The “40 percent” figure is just to put people at their ease.  But the important thing is that this ABF Friday is 10 percent better than Olivia Newton-John’s “Have You Never Been Mellow.”

    The scoreless eighth inning had its moments—Lonnie Smith getting deked & not scoring on Pendleton’s double

    black dog, I think Knoblauch’s was one of the great fake catches in baseball history.

    Passenger-side airbags . . . or the second movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony?

    Airbags, but my response would have been different if it had been the first movement. 

    The first movement?  The first movement?  We’re all about the good tunes here, Jon.  Give us those good tunes.  The stately second movement it is.

    Michael, you’re killing me. Can’t I read Wallace Stevens and watch T-Rex the first baseman perform the best illegal tag ever in the best world series ever? Maybe one with each eye?

    No.  This one, Rachel, was difficult for a reason. But you’re right, the Romy and Michelle/ Foo Fighters one was too easy.  Let’s change that to Romy and Michelle . . . or Clinton’s expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit?

    And one more, in honor of last night’s game:  Valentin’s strikeout in the sixth, or Beltran’s strikeout in the ninth?

    Posted by Michael  on  10/20  at  04:04 PM

  58. Chavez’s catch, or Molina’s homer?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  04:10 PM

  59. Or, Chapman’s Homer, for that matter.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  04:12 PM

  60. A few sports-related ones:

    Zidane ... or Materazzi?

    The sister insult ... or the mother?

    Pele ... or Maradona?

    Man U ... or Liverpool?

    The mullett ... or the Fu Manchu?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  04:14 PM

  61. Michael, that’s astounding: in the past week, not only did I at last watch Romy and Michelle, but I also heard OLJ’s Have You Never Been Mellow—for the first time in at least twenty years—over the muzak system at a local market!  (And remembered most of the words, frighteningly enough.)

    This week’s Friday edition has been anything but arbitrary-- it’s downright spooky!  And by the way, Olivia once bought a flute from me.  No, really!

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  04:19 PM

  62. Viktor Shklovsky or Martha Graham?

    captcha: court, as in Court and Spark or In the Court of the Crimson King

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  04:26 PM

  63. The first movement?  The first movement?  We’re all about the good tunes here, Jon.  Give us those good tunes.  The stately second movement it is.

    Take that Deustche Gramophon off the shelf
    I’ll sit and air-conduct it by myself
    Chamber music got way less esprít
    I like that old time symphony
    Don’t try to take me to a string quartet
    You’ll never even get me here on a bet
    Those damn violas really should choose a key
    I like that old time symphony

    Give me that old-time symphony
    the kind of music soothes the psyche
    nostalgic for immense antiquity
    with that old-time symphony

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/20  at  04:52 PM

  64. 1

    OR

    2

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/20  at  04:53 PM

  65. The Elvis Costello problem ... or Michael giving an exam and 90% of his students not answering the questions and, instead, coming up with questions of their own.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  04:54 PM

  66. Forget Tigers versus Cardinals. I want to see tigers versus cardinals.

    Pray all you want, old men! Those fancy red hats won’t save you from a 1500-pound feline killing machine!

    Tigers versus bishops would be more sporting, I suppose, what with the crosiers and all.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  04:55 PM

  67. Chavez’s catch, or Molina’s homer?

    I’ll have to go with Chavez’s catch, Peter.

    And Chris, I just love the part of that song where the music drops out and we all stomp and clap and sing!  Woo yeah!  More cowbell!

    Posted by Michael  on  10/20  at  05:03 PM

  68. I am now picturing Chris Clarke dancing in nothing but his underwear and a monocle, beneath a guilded bust of L.Ron Hubbard.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  05:12 PM

  69. The Magna Carta ... or the Military Commissions Act of 2006?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  05:12 PM

  70. The sublime ... or the ridiculous?

    Posted by John Protevi  on  10/20  at  05:17 PM

  71. Got the DVD i sent you to work after all, eh CCP?

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/20  at  05:45 PM

  72. Dirty girl.

    Posted by Central Content Publisher  on  10/20  at  05:54 PM

  73. Bolsheviks on skates ... or Mensheviks in skirts?

    Posted by kirby olson  on  10/20  at  06:01 PM

  74. Jon Belusi as Beethoven,’Tell me What I Say.’ Simpson’s 3D. As a Braves fan, W. Stevens. Run, Lonnie, and don’t look back! Mira Sorvino, always Mira Sorvino. (Unless you can count Marty Casey’s version of ‘Everlong,’ then it’s Mira by a post-it.)
    DVDs, but only after you remove the shrink wrap.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  06:06 PM

  75. With inspiration from Bill in #64 -

    Jughead or Gilligan?

    Posted by Oaktown Girl  on  10/20  at  06:13 PM

  76. People chained up in Plato’s cave, or brains in vats?

    Betamax or “dittos” (aka mimeographs)?

    BacOs, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, or SteakUms and Eggos?

    Posted by Dr. Free-Ride  on  10/20  at  06:57 PM

  77. This fur jacket...or Duran Duran’s Rio?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  07:08 PM

  78. B, A, A, B, A.

    Whirled peas or a liberal application of Bush-B-Gone?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  07:25 PM

  79. Whirled peas or a liberal application of Bush-B-Gone?

    Sometimes I need to be reminded:  this blog is not an either/or kind of blog.

    Posted by Michael  on  10/20  at  09:43 PM

  80. in honor of the career:
    ferrari.... renault??

    but since this blog is not an either/or kind of blog
    the proposition shalt read “Schumi in red”!!

    and because Queensryche played to a sold-out house here last night, for no apparent reason, the Earned Income Tax credit expansion goes to cover the future financial problems stemming from Beltran’s strikeout.

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  10:03 PM

  81. Oar or Ore?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  10:39 PM

  82. O’er or Orr?

    captcha: between! Torn between two lovers putting forth a false dichotomy, feeling like a fool.

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  10:56 PM

  83. Eww ou Ooh?

    Posted by  on  10/20  at  11:08 PM

  84. The Oder oder odor?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  11:21 PM

  85. Going out on Friday night...or sitting home within spitting distance of the computer?

    Posted by Orange  on  10/20  at  11:22 PM

  86. Brian B or u?

    Electraand or estes?

    blog crush or ange?

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  10/21  at  12:21 AM

  87. Dr. Bérubé,

    Here’s my paper.  I’m sending it as an attachment.  I’m sorry it’s a little late, and I know you wanted it printed out and turned in in class, but I was called away to attend to a very important matter in Detroit this weekend, and so here it is.  I really enjoyed doing the assignment.  It made me think about things I never thought about before.

    headtohead.doc

    Posted by J—  on  10/21  at  01:20 AM

  88. Easy.  Malik’s between his legs shootout goal to win the game for the Rangers earlier this season.  Or.. what was the question?
    Oh, yeah… or John Ashcrofts refusal to fly commercial in the summer of ‘01?

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  01:37 AM

  89. A, B, B, A, B—or ABBA?

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  04:39 AM

  90. Either/Or . . . Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/21  at  06:11 AM

  91. Elevate ... or music?

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  07:03 AM

  92. Elevate [through] music

    Cf. JP (80) and KO (82):

    waver. . . quaver?

    captcha: “consider” as in: Consider the fact that Samuel Taylor “Kubla Khan” Coleridge saw a connection between his initials, “STC” and “ecstasy.”

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/21  at  07:22 AM

  93. J--, I am giving your fine essay an A- because I’m afraid you’ll rat me out to Sean Hannity for liberal bias if I don’t.  But yes, next time I would prefer that you hand it to me in class, because sometimes the Internet tubes get stopped up.

    Posted by Michael  on  10/21  at  08:15 AM

  94. roto-router . . . Fox News?

    captch: “went” as in wabbit-speak for a tear in the fabwic of weawitty

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/21  at  08:40 AM

  95. Joe Paterno...and Vergil!

    Hey, Colbert right now leading the NU Homecoming parade, go ‘cats…

    Posted by A. G.  on  10/21  at  09:34 AM

  96. The Olsen Twins or the Minnesota Twins?

    Posted by Bob in Pacifica  on  10/21  at  10:41 AM

  97. David Horowitz the elder or David Horowitz the younger.

    Nah....

    Captcha: “results,” as in “Warning: reading David Horowitz results in brain-numbing.”

    Posted by Aaron Barlow  on  10/21  at  10:55 AM

  98. I can’t believe nobody’s done this one yet:

    Sideshow Bob or Sideshow Mel?

    Damn, now I can’t stop…

    Mayor Quimby or Fat Tony?
    Dr. Hibbert or Dr. Nick?
    Lenny or Carl?
    Ralph or Milhouse?
    Moe Szyslak or Groundskeeper Willie?
    Must...stop…

    Posted by Oaktown Girl  on  10/21  at  01:59 PM

  99. Sunni/Shia
    Cross/Crescent

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  04:34 PM

  100. Bleeding Gums Murphy . . . Stephen Jay Gould?

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/21  at  04:48 PM

  101. Penn State or UPenn?

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  05:29 PM

  102. Daniel Dennet.... Richard Dawkins

    oh wait, this isn’t representing substantive difference, so much for their speciazation

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  05:32 PM

  103. Richard Dawkins/’Rottweiler?’

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  05:37 PM

  104. Richard Dawkins or Darryl Dawkins.

    Posted by J—  on  10/21  at  05:45 PM

  105. Dan Dennet . . . Max Sennett?
    Richard Dawkins . . . Sadie Hawkins?

    captcha: “products” as in “both those guys are products of John Brockman”

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/21  at  06:07 PM

  106. Brockman: John or Jane; or Bachman Turner Overdrive
    BTO… GTO’s
    GTO’s… Malibu
    Malibu SS… Impala 409 SS
    Impala… thompson’s gazelle
    William Irwin Thompson… Evan Thompson
    Evan T… John B???

    Posted by  on  10/21  at  11:37 PM

  107. the one or the many?

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  12:23 AM

  108. To be happy just to hear your song ... or to let someone else be strong?

    Yikes-- in keeping with the arbitrary thrust of this thread:

    For the first time in ages, I just scrolled through the comments and idly clicked on my own name-link.  Unfortunately, it led to a long-defunct email address used in in the early days of this blog; I’d been duly entering a current address in the “Email” field, but apparently that’s superseded by the URL field-- which has long been left blank.  Wassup with that, prof?

    I’ll conduct experiments in the next few days; don’t have the energy or erudition for that right now.  Has anyone else encoutered a similarly arbitrary dysfunction?

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  01:14 AM

  109. Dammit: here’s the missing n.

    We West Coasters are a major disadvantage--shuddup, Chris--since we’re usually heading downhill by the time these threads wrap up.

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  01:30 AM

  110. That should be at a major disadvantage-- see?

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  01:34 AM

  111. Holy shit: I left a <i>d/i> out of that last one, too!  See y’all in a month or two…

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  01:37 AM

  112. Sadie Hawkins dance at the high school gym . . . or Christopher Walkens’ dance for Fat Boy Slim?

    Posted by J—  on  10/22  at  09:28 AM

  113. State College, Pa or ... Jerusalem?

    Posted by Kirby Olson  on  10/22  at  11:20 AM

  114. Ritz Crackers? Or Che Guevara?
    Euler’s Formula? Or Chicken Tikka Masala?
    Bourbon? Or The House of Bourbon?
    Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction? Or Sugar Maples?
    As a civilization, it is clear we are faced with a choice.

    Posted by John Fromm Uconn  on  10/22  at  02:37 PM

  115. The French Revolution… or, The French Connection!

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  03:51 PM

  116. French fries . . . Free Willy?

    Quoth Willy: Give me liberty or give me Freedom fries.

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/22  at  04:01 PM

  117. Quantum Gravity ... or Theory

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  04:09 PM

  118. Light a candle or curse the darkness?

    goddam darkness...(grumble, grumble)

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  04:32 PM

  119. Yo-Yo Ma .... or Yo Mama

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  05:49 PM

  120. Yoyodyne .... or Yojimbo
    yogurt .... or yohimbe

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/22  at  06:05 PM

  121. To be… or not to be?

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  07:22 PM

  122. That’s not an appropriate question to put forth, Will.

    Posted by Orange  on  10/22  at  10:14 PM

  123. It is, however, the definitive existential question for each bit in any binary storage medium.

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  10:31 PM

  124. Everyone’s a critic. Okay, how about this one:

    “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
    By any other word would smell as sweet.”

    Translated: A rose… or a rat? Can *you* smell that difference?

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  11:24 PM

  125. Incommensurable values, … or the Ground of Being.

    captcha: “self”

    Posted by  on  10/22  at  11:59 PM

  126. All-season radials ... or The kindness of strangers

    Posted by  on  10/23  at  01:03 AM

  127. Anne Coulter . . . or waterboarding?

    Posted by Grumpy Old Man  on  10/23  at  05:04 AM

  128. the lady or . . . GNF?

    gnf

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/23  at  06:27 AM

  129. va va vooom! . . . kablooie!#%@!!!

    captcha: “beyond,” as in “to infinity and beyond”

    Posted by Bill Benzon  on  10/23  at  08:20 AM

  130. It’s probably far too late for anyone to be reading these comments, but I got e-mail this morning from my fine graduate institution telling me there’s a talk being given Tuesday evening titled “Surrealism meets Kabbalah.” Can Lutheranism really be far behing?

    Captcha: deep, as in “devil” or “deep blue sea.”

    Posted by  on  10/23  at  12:08 PM

  131. Michelin or Bridgestone

    Oh, that’s right, F1 Sports decided arbitrarily to only use Bridgstones on all cars next year.

    Posted by  on  10/23  at  09:35 PM

  132. i appreciate with your post.... thanks for your post....

    Posted by Cubic Zirconia  on  12/08  at  05:20 AM

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