The Grand Panjandrum

"Official" is one thing. "officious" is something else. Some folks are officials, but not officious. Others are officious but not in an official capacity.

Some folks look forward to Friday because the next day they'll be away from the officious official who runs the office: for two days, anyway.

That brings the Lemming to the word panjandrum. That's:

• A person who is important or influential
  • Often overbearing
  (Princeton's WordNet)
• An important or self-important person
  (The Free Online Dictionary)
• A powerful personage or pretentious official
  • Origin:
    Grand Panjandrum, burlesque title of an imaginary personage in some nonsense lines by Samuel Foote
    First Known Use: 1856
  (Merriam-Webster.com)

And now, for those whose life would not be complete without reading it:

• "The Grand Panjandrum"
  Samuel Foote, via an 1820 novel and Wikisource (1755)

Here's the 1820 version:

"So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf, to make an apple pie ; and at the same time a great she-bear coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. 'What! no soap?' So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top; and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots."
(Samuel Foote, via Maria Edgeworth)

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Gaylord: A Car, Another Car, a Company, a Town, and a Block of Wax"
  (November 18, 2011)
• "Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?"
  (October 21, 2011)
• "Pickles Aren't Always Pickled"
  (October 18, 2011)
• "Sesquipedalian!"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "What's a Vook about Hopping Rotochutes with Gigavision, Spying on a Shootout?"
  (January 14, 2010)

No Google Reader After June, But RSS Goes On

"How to Keep Following eagereyes After the End of Google Reader"
Robert Kosara, Blog, eagereyes (April 7, 2013)

"With Google Reader shutting down July 1st, now is the time to find alternative ways to follow your favorite blogs. For this one, you can now get new postings on Facebook and through a dedicated Twitter feed, in addition to the RSS feed. See below for some RSS aggregator/reader alternatives to Google Reader.

"Facebook and Twitter

"I don't use Facebook and Twitter to follow feeds, that's what I have my RSS reader for. But for people who like doing that, perhaps using Flipboard or similar, I have now created pure feed accounts. No talking, just links to new postings...."

The Google Reader has been a pretty good service, one the Lemming used occasionally. But as Robert Kosara points out, it's not the only way to keep track of blogs.

An important point is that RSS will still be around. Depending on who's talking, RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. It's a way to publish frequently-updated online content in a more-or-less standardized format. Google Reader used RSS, but it's far from the only RSS reader around.

In a way, today's situation reminds the Lemming of the days when America Online (AOL) was doing a good job of marketing its online community. Some folks seemed to think that AOL and the Internet were pretty much the same thing, and that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Google Reader Ending, FeedBurner, and This Blog"
  A Catholic Citizen in (April 14, 2013)
• "The Lemming's Got a Feed (big whoop)"
  (March 10, 2012)
• "Blogging is Dead! Long Live Blogging!"
  (December 16, 2010)
• " 'Machine Gun Twittering:' Probably Not Cool"
  (June 23, 2010)
• " 'How to Make Your Blog Stand Out:' Trite Title, Good Advice"
  (May 21, 2010)

Lemming Tracks: Boston Marathon, Bombs, Death

"Source: Bombs were likely in pressure cookers in backpacks"
Josh Levs, CNN (April 16, 2013)

"The deadly bombs that turned the Boston Marathon into gruesome devastation were apparently placed inside pressure cookers hidden in backpacks, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.

"The blasts were likely detonated by timers -- not by cell phones, a law enforcement official said.

"The U.S. government has warned federal agencies in the past that pressure cookers -- air-tight pots used to quickly cook or preserve foods -- have been turned into bombs in parts of the world. A Department of Homeland Security memo called it 'a technique commonly taught in Afghan terrorist training camps.'..."

The Lemming is not at all happy about what happened at about 2:50 p.m. Monday in Boston. Three people were killed when bombs exploded. That was a tragedy. Other folks survived, but are now missing limbs. That's far from good news.

Tuesday's news includes a few new details. It looks like pressure cookers and timers were used to make the bombs.

We still don't know who was responsible. Whoever decided to cause death, suffering, and destruction, was probably motivated at by hate: at least in part. That, in the Lemming's considered opinion, is a bad thing.

The Lemming suspects that someone will seriously propose that pressure cookers, timers, and maybe backpacks, be outlawed: or that pressure cooker owners be required to register their kitchen appliances. Maybe we do need pressure cooker controls. Maybe not. And that's another topic.

Related posts:

• Common sense
  • "Boston Marathon Bombing: Tragedy and Uncertainty"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 15, 2013)
  • "Boston Marathon Bombs"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (April 15, 2013)
  • "Wisconsin: Dead Sikhs; Disrupted Lives"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 5, 2012)
  • "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
    (June 12, 2011)
  • "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
    (September 24, 2010)
• Dangerous technology
  • "Technology, Freedom, and 'Love Your Neighbor' "
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 18, 2013)br /> Particularly
    • Dealing with Dangerous Technology
  • "Lemming Tracks: Fire; 1,000,000 Years of Sizzling Steaks and Burned Fingers"
    (April 9, 2012)
  • "Next-Generation Prosthetic Hand - and Intel Says Direct Neural Interface Brain Chips by 2020"
    (December 2, 2009)
  • "DC Gun Ban, Online Censorship, Individual Rights, and Power to the People"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 27, 2008)
    Particularly
    • Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but the Printing Press is Deadly
  • "'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
    (January 22, 2011)

"While Strolling Through the Park One Day - - -"

This tune skittered through the Lemming's mind while watching a video:

While strolling through the park one day
In the merry merry month of May
I was taken by surprise
By a pair of roguish eyes
In a moment my poor heart was stole away.

Here's that video:



And now, a fellow singing the tune: in four part harmony:



Related posts:

• "Spaceships, Robots, and Being Catholic"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (April 12, 2013)
• "Robot Cheetah: No Head, but Really Fast"
  (April 2, 2012)
• "Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
  (May 26, 2011)
• "Flying Mechanical Penguins"
  (February 12, 2011)
• "The Terminator, Astro Boy, Bender, Marvin, and More"
  (January 25, 2011)

San Francisco-Oakland Bridge: LEDs, Cool Photo

(Teton Gravity Research, via Wired, used w/o permission)

"Check Out the San Francisco Bay Lights in 4K Glory"
Christina Bonnington, Gadget Lab, Wired (April 1, 2013)

"The Golden Gate Bridge has long overshadowed its grayer, plainer companion, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. That's changed, just a bit, now that the Bay Lights illuminate 'the other bridge' with the glow of 25,000 glittering LEDs.

"We've been lucky enough to see them each night since they first lit up March 5, and now you can enjoy them too - in stunning 4K definition.

"The video was shot with a RED Epic attached to Gyro-Stabilized Systems' C520, a portable five-axis gyro-stabilized camera platform. It's the first such system that is fully upgradable, interchangeable, and can accommodate 4K camera tech...."

It's a pretty cool photo. The copy in this post was cropped to fit the Lemming's format.

What's really impressive is what it took to get the video: for that you'll have to read the Wired article.

Normally, the Lemming would ramble on about LEDs, San Francisco, or maybe bridges. It's been one of those weeks, though, and the Lemming's taking a break.

Allegedly-related posts:

• "New York City, Stray Cats, Shag, and Sense"
  (December 28, 2011)
• "Television's Ephemeral Art: 'Click,' and It's Gone"
  (April 25, 2011)
• "Van Gogh, Art, and Greenish Phytoplankton"
  (November 25, 2010)
• "Bubbles!"
  (January 23, 2010)
• "Glow-in-the-Dark Flashing Tattoos? Prosthetics With Neural Interfaces? They're Coming"
  (November 20, 2009)