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Monday, November 10, 2008

 

Let's think of happy things


Despite brushing my teeth after every meal and flossing at night, I have had to spend my morning in a dentist's chair getting root canal work. The crown will go on next week; in the meantime, I have a stump, like some old prospector. There were injections. There were spiky things. The dentist was a lovely person, but there was drilling. I am, as a result, mired in self-pity.

Here's a picture of a flower from my local park this summer, in an attempt to think of nice stuff. What else can you offer me? Come on, help a toothless girl out.

Comments:
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=787#
 
The world is in 3-D!
 
From the six-word challenge: "Before you ask, Fred's not hurt..."

Not mine, but my favorite: "time machine. I just invented a"

- - - - - -

How are you at algebra? The n-equations with n-unknowns format is fun! (The old standard: Farmer Brown raises ostriches and llamas. He counted 38 legs and 24 eyes -- assume each animal has the normal number of parts. How many of each critter does he have?)

These are solved by multiplication (the distributive property of multiplication, which says that x * a = a * x) and addition/subtraction (the distributive property of multiplication, which says that x + a = a + x).

===============

Today's word is "ovisaggi". This is eggs look like if the shell doesn't harden.
 
Thank you for the kindness, but I absolutely cannot take mathematics and dentistry in the same day. The two of them might push me over the edge; all I'd need to complete the picture would be some brussels sprouts. So I'm going to guess that he has fifty llamas, twelve ostriches, a couple of lamas from Tibet teaching spiritual wisdom to his staff, one Thai chef cooking tofu stir-fry in the back and several tap-dancing kittens who hop around too quickly to get an accurate count.

Actually I do feel a bit better now. Hey, algebra works!

I like Questionable Content, it's funny. Can I substitute cats or rabbits for dogs, though? I'm seriously dog-phobic. (And also notably ungrateful for everybody's suggestions, it seems!)
 
Well the title of the comic is "Cats too" so I suspect you can substitute whatever fuzzy animal strikes your fancy.
 
How are you at algebra? The n-equations with n-unknowns format is fun!

Gauss-Jordan is your idea of fun? Seriously? :-/

These are solved by multiplication (the distributive property of multiplication, which says that x * a = a * x) and addition/subtraction (the distributive property of multiplication, which says that x + a = a + x).

Er, neither of those is distributivity; they're both commutativity, of multiplication and addition respectively. Distributivity states that a(b+c)=ab+ac and (a+b)c=ac+bc.

Sorry to bring in more of the mathitude, I just couldn't let that go uncorrected... :P
 
Ick. Just had that done myself a few weeks ago; so let me start with sympathies.

Nice stuff to think of... Well, of course, I immediately jump to the topic of my wife and child. That probably doesn't help *you* very much, so I'll attempt to move from specific to general: how about the story (six word or otherwise) that picks up thirty seconds after this scene:

http://www.mockwriting.com/images/baby/DaddyPushesHisLuck.jpg

Speedy recovery to you,

Michael Mock

Today's word was "ernelli", which is a rare species of furry rodent, found mostly in southern climes.
 
Oh, here's one more that might help... and, just to prove that I'm not a complete egomaniac, it's someone else's:

http://www.countyoursheep.com/d/20040204.html

The word for this one is tzinglua, which is Estonian for a peculiar species of ear-gnawing vampire.
 
The somethingaweful Photoshop Phridays are usually funny -- they're certainly weird enough to take your mind off dentistry.

If Cute Overload and Can I Has A Cheezburger don't make you feel better, you're not the Kit Whitfield I think you are!

====================

Gauss-Jordan is your idea of fun? Seriously? :-/

Well, not like that! But determining the unknowns and the solution path is fun. (I'm a bit of a math geek -- when I see what appears to be a math problem -- what's "three easy payments of $39.99" come to -- especially one I can do in my head, I have to solve it.

neither of those is distributivity; they're both commutativity, of multiplication and addition respectively.

Yeah, I probably should have looked it up to make sure.

====================

[Pre-Preview word was "abile" -- the quantity of how well you do something. Post-Preview word is "rouse", which is German for "rose" (I know it's not -- it's the best I can do).]
 
Hey Kit, try this:

http://xkcd.com

It's a bit mathy in places, but you could always skip the math parts and just enjoy the sweet, soulful, romantic parts.

Verification word: consusia, a sexual position known only to the inhabitants of Southern Spain, and kept by them as a closely guarded secret.
 
How about awful cakes?

WV: Brobo -- an impoverished sibling. Generally a term for the male, but increasingly becoming gender-neutral after the word "Sisbo" never really caught on.
 
Flying snakes!
 
Some tortures are physical
And some are mental,
But the one that is both
Is dental.

~Ogden Nash

Hope you're feeling better by now!

Something cheerful? How about art cars? Or a Bluegrass Balloon Festival?

mmock, that was adorable. And I don't want to know whether Daddy's luck held out; I prefer to assume the best.

Word of the night is "nutdolin," an instrument used by insanely fanatic folk musicians at balloon festivals.

Addendum: that was the first word. I messed up the HTML on my first try. The new word is "bustun" which clearly refers to the state of my comment after it was busted for unconforming HTML.
 
Speaking of art cars, how could I have forgotten the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir?

And the new word is "denessi," the state of ennui produced by a session with a dentist. Fortunately a temporary condition.

(You know, I was feeling pretty down myself tonight. So thanks for forcing me to think about cheerful things for a while.)
 
Oh, teeth stuff. Ick. I hope you feel better now.

*I* usually think of Korval chickens when I need cheering up, but that's almost insanely obscure.

So as a more accessible lovely thought, I will offer up steamed milk, rich and frothy, laced with vanilla and dusted with nutmeg.

(word verification: "mograntr", a peculiarly bureaucratic sort of ogre who presides over funding organizations)
 
Piet Hein's Grooks.

Verification word "oumbk": a stringed instrument of the Enkmb ethnic minority of the southern Caucasus.

Oh, and if salsa (sorta) will do it (plus a reminder that your erstwhile colony is rapidly ceasing to be a danger to itself and others), try this .
(I guess I should have written "y'all's erstwhile colony," since we weren't your personal colony. Not that that probably wouldn't have been an improvement, overall.)
 
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