The system of the world

"Charles Dodgson" has highly spoilery thoughts on the point of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, based on things that come up in the last volume. I think he's probably right; the same elements that surprised him surprised me and I think Stephenson means something by it.

The wheel of comedy turns

I'm ashamed to say it, but we were just watching one of the SCTV Season 5 DVDs yesterday (the point where Martin Short started appearing on screen a whole lot), and it occurred to me for the very first time that Austin Powers is at least 60% Jackie Rogers, Jr.

Little Chef

New York Times article on Little Chef, a chain of British roadside restaurants serving crappy food of a comforting consistency:

"The food is bad, the service is terrible, the prices are overpriced and they haven't kept up with the times in terms of menu, style or cleanliness," groused Roy Gibbens, 32, a salesman on his way to an appointment. Yet there he was, wolfing down his Little Chef lunch: a thin slab of cheeseburger on a puffy bun, surrounded by French fries of the palest beige and a small mound of lettuce. "We're in a rush, and it's right by the side of the road," he explained, a little apologetically.

Funny: my first thought on seeing the logo was that it looked a lot like Speedee (not to be confused with Alka-Seltzer's Speedy), the original mascot for McDonald's.

Tethys and Dione

Still no pictures back from the Cassini Tethys flyby, but here's an awesome picture of Tethys, Dione and the rings from a few days ago. Dione's the one that looks bigger; they're actually about the same size, but Dione is closer to the camera. It's part of a whole sequence that I could have made into an animation if I wasn't lazy.