(n.) someone trained to operate aboard a spacecraft, braving such dangers as the pitiless vacuum of space, the burning agony of unshielded radiation, the wasting-away of their bone and muscle mass, and the existential agony that accompanies total realization of one's insignificance in the grand scheme of things, all in the hopes of exploring totally uninhabitable places with generally little in the way of mineral wealth.

astronauts may be said to blur the line between courageous heroism and flagrant stupidity

Dutch Garden of God where He may walk in rectilinear freedom, keeping off the grass.
(also: god)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

title used for royal lawyer-knights

(v.) going to war with scammers of various sorts and wasting their time. often entertaining when produced as youtube videos/ twitch streams. also thought to inflict an opportunity cost on the scammer, as they cannot spend that time on an actual naive/ vulnerable person (victim).
there's a small hesitation with completely falling into the mindset of "scammers are evil" and therefore "scambaiting is justified and even righteous" because, well, it's not addressing poverty & other social problems that have sprung this kind of behaviour to begin with... it's like chopping off the dandelion stem, but not even digging up the roots.
but to watch a few hours of scambaiting content, or do some scambaiting (in phone call or email format) yourself, is a valid form of entertainment and, to a lucky few, this provides a proper income.

(also: scam)
(also: scammer)
(also: opportunity cost)
(also: mindset)

(n.) a somewhat roguish canine creature, not quite as rugged as a wolf, roughly analogous to wood-elves in the same manner domestic dogs are analogous to hobbits. usually red in color with splashes of white.

species of fox live on every continent except antarctica. the hunting of foxes in britain is an example of the kind of pointlessly cruel idiocy (see bloodsport) characteristic of the upper class.

the secret salvation test. as it is written, "the smash you give is the smash you shall receive"

(also: smash)

(n.) drops of water which condense within clouds and fall from the sky. this tends to happen only when the weatherman said it would not

Deliverance of sinners from the penalty of their sin, through their murder of the deity against whom they sinned. The doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy religion, and whoso believeth in it shall not perish, but have everlasting life in which to try to understand it.

---

We must awake Man's spirit from its sin,
And take some special measure for redeeming it;
Though hard indeed the task to get it in
Among the angels any way but teaming it,
Or purify it otherwise than steaming it.
I'm awkward at Redemption — a beginner:
My method is to crucify the sinner.
—Golgo Brone
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

A member of the Parliamentarian party in the English civil war — so called from his habit of wearing his hair short, whereas his enemy, the Cavalier, wore his long. There were other points of difference between them, but the fashion in hair was the fundamental cause of quarrel. The Cavaliers were royalists because the king, an indolent fellow, found it more convenient to let his hair grow than to wash his neck. This the Roundheads, who were mostly barbers and soap-boilers, deemed an injury to trade, and the royal neck was therefore the object of their particular indignation. Descendants of the belligerents now wear their hair all alike, but the fires of animosity enkindled in that ancient strife smoulder to this day beneath the snows of British civility.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(1542-1604) third ruler of the mughal empire, which was based in india but whose ruling class was persian. akbar was a fascinating study in contradictions; although illiterate (possibly dyslexic), he was a patron of intellectuals and philosophers. although an accomplished military leader in a land of sectarian conflict, he promoted peace and understanding between his muslim and hindu subjects

under his rule, the mughal empire grew to encompass much of india, and reached a golden age characterized by unimaginable heights of prosperity. then everything just sort of fell apart after he died. ah well.

no, he was not a space squid, and he did not help destroy the death star

(adj.) occurring in or belonging to the era before the Flood.
a wonderful way to describe a boat that's falling apart.


(also: three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog))

In literary affairs, to become the fundamental element in a cone of critics.

hollywood big shots enjoy making movies (or at least, they keep doing it; who knows if they enjoy it). but scripts take a lot of time to write, and sometimes it saves time to simply take a pre-existing work of fiction and modify it for the big screen. however, sometimes the source material does not pass through such modification unscathed.

the movie-fication process often takes pains to shorten, lengthen, doll up, ugly up, or in other ways mutilate the source material. e.g.:

* apocalypse now: the original book, 'heart of darkness,' is set in 19th-century Africa instead of vietnam.
* a clockwork orange: alex is cured of his violent tendencies in the end
* forrest gump: gump goes into space with a monkey and a porn star
* jurassic park: the lawyer wasn't a bad guy but hammond was
* starship troopers: the movie and the book both examine the message of "the army is way cool, and better soldiers make better citizens." the book honestly expects the reader to agree with this message, while the movie is laughing in your face for thinking it for even a second.
* who framed roger rabbit?: is about comic strip characters, not animated cartoons, and the killer is like a magic genie or something.
* every stephen king book: doesn't suck. well, not all of them.

(n.) one who is foolish or contemptible; the word, originally Hebrew, is widely recognized as an inherently funny one to say

(n.) the internet's child of grammar and humour, of play on words, of interweaving references

n. One of the most important organs of the female system — an admirable provision of nature for the repose of infancy, but chiefly useful in rural festivities to support plates of cold chicken and heads of adult males. The male of our species has a rudimentary lap, imperfectly developed and in no way contributing to the animal's substantial welfare.

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(n.) that which helps establish a rhythm and a balance to poetry. feel the flow of your words and thoughts, don't force it. forced rhymes are like nails on a chalkboard, and no one wants that.
unsurprisingly, it is etymologically (thereby, historically and psychologically) connected both to mathematics, precision, reason, as well as to soul, flow, symmetry. a bridge between oft-warring factions (of science and spirituality).

earlier, also written as:
(also: rime)
(also: rhime)

(v.) Conducting disputes over minor marginal issues, while overlooking more serious ones.
Derived from the scenario of people arguing over what color to paint the bicycle shed while the house is not finished.

(also: pedantry)
(also: law of triviality)
(also: peter's principle)

(also: grammar nazi)

(n.) a party that celebrates surviving one year past a certain event. if the event is a birth it's called a birthday

After years of education they gave you a confy boss chair, but they also make you shame to sit on it.
You have to be in field with workers to whip them.

Definition: I shouldnt look like lazy, athough i look like an idiot on foot.