Keming

David Friedman has had enough:

A few weeks ago, on April 14th, the theme of the New York Times crossword puzzle was “keming.” I think it’s time we talk seriously about elevating that word from internet joke and finally adding it to the dictionary. To that end, I’ve started a petition imploring Merriam-Webster to add “keming” to their dictionary, and you should sign to show your support for this important issue.

A fair point.

[Via Pixel Envy]

Guitar Heroism

It’d be interesting to know the demographics of folks who read the New York Times opinion piece on Why We Can’t Quit the Guitar Solo:

It’s easy to dismiss the guitar solo as an outdated, macho institution. The shredding lead guitar, once ubiquitous in rock music, can now feel like a relic of a bygone time.

Indeed it can. But if you’re in the right demographic – as I definitely am – it was well worth a read (and a listen.)1

[Via Ongoing]


  1. A bit of a shame that some of the samples weren’t muted after I’d scrolled down past them in the article so that I sometimes found myself distracted by (unintentionally) duelling guitar solos. That could have been a browser issue, but I was disinclined to dive into the source code to try and figure out what was going wrong. 

The Inheritors

Worth supporting?

The Inheritors is an intimate science-fiction short film exploring themes of race, family and belonging. Reflecting on the experiences of people with multiple-heritage, it’s a story about how societal polarisation creates walls that divide us, deprive us of love, of community, of a sense of identity, and ultimately of our deepest humanity.

[Via Orbital Operations]

Picard Season 2

Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard has been a poorly-paced tale that is so busy looking backwards that I have very little confidence that the coming third season will be worth my time, even if they are reuniting the TNG-era bridge crew and promising us “Federation starships galore”.1

On the other hand, sometimes it prompts MetaFilter FanFare comments like this and it all seems worthwhile:2

“Oh no.”
‘what’
“I just realized who the actress playing his mother reminds me of. Holly Palance.”
‘who?’
“Let’s just say that I hope ‘Look Up, Jean-Luc’ isn’t this plotline’s ‘Look at me, Damien, I love you! It’s All for You, Damien!'”
‘oh god, they wouldn’t’

Q: Jeez, Jean-Luc. I came here to teach you a lesson about romance. But I thought your Avoidant Behaviors about women were you just being, y’know, stuffy. Reserved.

(Vash told me she actually caught you doing the Picard Maneuver with a condom. C’mon man.)

I had no idea your mother made you a witness to her suicide!

Really messes up my plans for you and Laris loving it up and having the first Synth-Romulan hybrid baby; solving both my selfish Last of the Picards to Play With and making a point about growing by overcoming your deepest fears.

But no, you had to do your own thing. So now BorgRati is headed straight for the alternate dimension where AI is the dominant lifeform, from last season. The big portal full of robot tentacles? And I’ve seen enough hentai to know where that’s going.

posted by bartleby at 6:48 AM on April 15


  1. It’s crazy how often major, galaxy-threatening terrors turn out to have their roots in the histories of that one small group of Star Fleet officers, to the point where it’s starting to feel like a galaxy so small it feels like it was inspired by the works of George Lucas. 
  2. NB: That comment was posted before this week’s penultimate episode of the season, in which the first plot point mentioned turned out to be spot-on.