Comments on: Shout out

Shout out

boo_radley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:10:55 -0800

Merlin Mann <3 us Eideteker

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:12:33 -0800

Oh god. I thought mixing matter and antimatter did something different than culminate in a MeTa shoutout.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:15:00 -0800

mixing matter and antimatter
Well, if it doesn't matter, maybe when you mix them it's just indifference?

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:16:56 -0800

can i lick the spoon?

By: quin

quin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:20:49 -0800

It is a great quote. Unfortunately the link on Mann's page doesn't go to the actual metafilter comment though. It's here.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:22:26 -0800

Oh god. I thought mixing matter and antimatter did something different than culminate in a MeTa shoutout.

It's the Big Bung.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:42:07 -0800

You're the Mann now, Eidogeker.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:10:06 -0800

Who is Mërlin Männ, dog?

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:26:55 -0800

mixing matter and antimatter

FINE, I'll drink it myself and keep the olive.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:29:16 -0800

Whoa, callouts. Have I now "arrived"? Will my comment be sidebarred? Will folks start including me when they have MeFi dreams? Will I be name-checked in eine cortexsong?

It's all too much. Maybe I should disable my account before I develop the nefarious disease known as "blogebrity."

And, for the record, I dislike the way I worded that sentence. I'm never ever satisfied, like doves crying and all. It should read: "Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself from two things you'd rather not be doing by doing both simultaneously." A bit more elegant, no?

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:31:35 -0800

Have I now "arrived"?

You were only waiting
For this Mer-Mann to arrive

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:35:50 -0800

Ahem. Now that that's out of my system, one question remains: How can I make a quick buck from this?

A: Like any fad, publish a book. So look for Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself from two things you'd rather not be doing by doing both simultaneously, and other things that other people have favorited that Eideteker said coming to better bookstores near you as quickly as I can hastily copy and paste this page into MS Word and then ship the whole mess off to lulu.com. Free copies to anyone who's ever favorited more than 50 of my comments.

*snif* I'll remember you all when I own the Internet!

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:42:58 -0800

Page-a-day calendar, dude.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:48:27 -0800

The hilarious thing is that I saw someone named "merlinmann" had favorited a comment of mine, and gee, doesn't that name sound familiar? I'd made a mental note to look it up later, figuring it was some late-60s prog-rock reference. "Merlin Mann? Wasn't that the follow-up group that emerged from the breakup of Focus?"

I will have to make a note to be more stalkery with my favoritees. Gotta check to see what they list for "my homepage" in their profile.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:49:57 -0800

More like 17-page-a-day calendar, assuring at least one mildly amusing quip a week. Quantity IS quality.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:50:37 -0800

* takes a deep drag, exhales out the side.

Yeah, I knew Eideteker before... before he got big. I remember "Multitasking is the art of whoa hey check out what the dog is doing", although he'd rather I not. We kinda drifted apart, although we weren't ever that close. I guess he didn't like having someone near who could be really honest, instead of, well, you know.
Like what?
Well, he wanted to sell metachat merch for some reason, we were high as kites on his roof in his Kenosha place, watching the sun rise, and he started playing around with the bottle of tequilla, pitched the screw top right off into the glittering lake. I told him I'd have to get a bottle stopper, and he said "what like a bung?" and giggles, and then just starts chanting bung over and over.

Later that day, he gave me a cork with a MeCha bunny made out of sculpey superglued on top, calling it a "bungey, you know like a ''bungey rabbit''" and hooting. I told him I'd drank the rest of the tequilla and that his idea was terrible. I guess that was the start.

I'm not, you know, angry with him, I guess. Doing good for himself and all.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:56:52 -0800

My prospective book titles:

People Who Don't Have Kids Are Pussies Who Are Afraid of the Big Rides

The Less I Do the Better the Result. This Is Just Like My Day Job!

BURN THE PRESCRIPTIVIST! and other tales of horror and the macabre

Zombies Don't Get Cancer

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:01:25 -0800

Don't get as in don't understand? Because I imagine it would be a difficult task; explaining cancer to a zombie. Not sure it would make a compelling book, though.

If I'm chatty in this thread, it's because I'm nervous. The last time I got anything remotely resembling a positive callout in MetaTalk, I woke up to a week-long ban the next day.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:02:13 -0800

worried about a banning? that's a banning.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:06:58 -0800

Last time I got a callout, the very next MeTa post was a bug report filed by yours truly.

OH GODS THE PROFICY IS COMING TO PASS AGAIN!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:09:04 -0800

Zombies just don't understand, is the idea. I thought that was pretty clear.

Anyway, congratulations, I guess! Let me know when the movie comes out. I hear they're looking at Vin Diesel for the lead role?

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:09:46 -0800

and garrison keillor as merlin mann?

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:10:51 -0800

That would be awesome! Judy Dench could play a saucy strong older woman from England.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:13:32 -0800

Ooh, and Paul Giamatti as a grumby but loveable schlubby supporting guy.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:19:16 -0800

Yeah, that's brilliant. And Bart Giamatti as Zombie League Baseball Commissioner!

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:20:58 -0800

Judy Dench could play a saucy strong older woman from England.

She's pretty hot, I'd, uh....

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:21:53 -0800

All right. Fuck all y'all and your zombie shit talk.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:23:39 -0800

What're you gonna do? Eat my brain? HAHAHA stupid zombo!

By: waraw

waraw — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:28:58 -0800

Is there nothing but space where it should be?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:34:52 -0800

I twittered Merlin with the right link like two hours ago and he hasn't fixed it. I bet he's MONOtasking!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:51:57 -0800

Monotasking, very nice! What do you call that thing when you're doing less than 1 thing at a time? Oh yeah, MetaFilter.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:57:03 -0800

Finally found it! Here's the PubMed entry for blogebrity:

A disease of the nervous system, blogebrity incubates in the Islets of Doctorow within the pancreas. Rather than transmission through traditional paths within the circulatory system, it works its way past the blood-brain barrier by travelling through passages resulting from inflammation of the Nodes of Krose. Symptoms at this stage are similar to the effects of "Micropée", though this connection is unremarkable as the two diseases are related. The disease enters the brain fairly quickly, at which point treatment is almost impossible. Patients autopsied at this stage of infection resemble victims of Mad Kottke diease (blogine spongiform encephaly, or Gawksfeld-Seedmob disease), in that the brain is porous and spongy; riddled with empty cavities and voids. Patients suffering from this stage of the disease were classically called "twits" or said to "have their minds a-twitter", though these terms have acquired a pejorative cast and thus fallen into disfavor. In advanced stages of the disease, these cavities in the infected cortex fill with a moist solid suspended in a viscous, aqueous solution; similar in consistency and odor to bovine excrement.

Symptoms of the disease are almost entirely behavioral, until such time as the condition is uncurable. Behavioral symptoms include narcissism, malignant narcissism, solipsism, mania, monomania, uncontrollable masturbation, multiple personality disorder/disassociative identity disorder, and ADHD. Symptoms may also resemble schizophrenia, in that the patient may feel that voices (usually referred to by the infected as comments or talkbacks) are speaking to them from the æther. These voices may suggest the afflicted do such things as switch political parties, refrain from discourse with other humans (or "STFU"), or perform unspeakable and taboo acts with one's mother. These messages can, understandably, have a negative effect on the patient's affect.

If caught in the early stages, blogebrity is treatable by removing the infected from the proximity of electrical devices, including cell phones, and distancing them from radio waves that carry "WiFi" signals. Fresh air is recommended, but only if the patient is denied a camera or other recording devices, as the presence of either while outdoors may cause the patient to "flicker" (a form of relapse) upon return to the domicile. Similarly, exercise is recommended as long as care is taken that the patient cannot in any way track or record their "progress". Excessive concern over this matter may be indicative that the disease is already proceeding to an advanced state and that more intensive and isolating treatment is required. Caretakers are discouraged from entering into any dialogue with the infected regarding their obsession, as this is the most common vector for the spread of social networking diseases.

By: merlinmann

merlinmann — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:26:45 -0800

I'm on a monovacation with my family, but I'll fix the link now. Many thanks, J.

By: waraw

waraw — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:33:52 -0800

No mention of kevinrosacea?

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:40:50 -0800

Nodes of Krose was originally Nodes of Kottke, before I decided on Mad Kottke disease. I like the k.rosacea, though, except it's not really a neurological disease.

iow, I wish I had been clever enough to think of that.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:45:33 -0800

I'd have gone with Nodes of Kos myself.

And I thought the condition was spread by link exchanging, pinging and shoutouts.

And symptoms of blogebrity also include widgets, gravatars, feedburning sensations, googled analytics, akismetation, looping and other feelings of wordpressure, as well as instapundancy, talking points. mashability, arse technica (and the related anal dash), denton decay (which often leads to gizmodalization, kotaku, valleywagging, lifehacking and deadspin), godinism, techcrunching, scobling, daily dishing, sartorialis, malkinization, attacks of coding horror, inflamed winer, pharyngula, missed cellania, hot air, mattcutts and the extremely painful and debilitating beppe grillo.

Late-stage blogebity is characterized by unpublishing and Haydenmoderating, loss of adsense and uncontrollable popurls. By then, you're pretty much dooced.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:48:48 -0800

And how could I possibly forget the symptoms of meepzorp and everlasting blort? (And the related presurfing)

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:53:34 -0800

Whatever guys. Islets of Doctorow FTW.

Well done eideteker.

(PLEASE LINK TO ME O GREAT BLOGEBRITY)

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:03:20 -0800

I introduced somebody to Slashdot and MeFi yesterday. They'd never heard of them before. Not just the sites, the concept of multiple people writing blog entries concurrently.

It blew their mind.

I think this person will ever visit either of them again. Instead, when they're curious about whether something has been discussed on the Internet, they'll email me or phone.

I hadn't told this person about eideteker.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:32:59 -0800

Popular on the Internet (NSFA)

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:47:31 -0800

Aww man. This is like a moral quandary or something, because I'm a big fan of Eideteker's stuff (even his more recent releases), but Merlin Mann is a person who is impressed by the notion that it's a real good "hack" for a professional or aspiring writer to "keep a pen and paper handy to enable them to write things down". And now I just don't know what to do.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:01:05 -0800

Have I now "arrived"? Will my comment be sidebarred?

Only if this multitasking of which you speak includes some sort of dick punching.