Just got a spam email at work with a URL that included "Potato Transformation Symposium." Not going to click it because (a) malware and (b) whatever's there will be a disappointment compared to what my mind conjures up from that phrase.
Yeah, I looked it up and after some digging was sadly disappointed myself. Potato transformation is basically the process of going from small-scale subsistence farming who happen to grow potatoes to more specialized farmers whose output is primarily intended for the market or long-term contracts. I'd been hoping for something more gengineering-based.
It's like when perusing a book of item nomenclature at a museum job I had a number of years ago. I came across the existence of an object called a "barking spud," and while I know it is from the logging industry and therefore probably has to do with removing bark from logs, I'd rather not know for sure.
That was the same job that had an abridged dictionary which, at times, was less than useless, albeit highly entertaining. I'd kill time by opening it to random pages and reading definitions, and will never forget the entirety of the definition for "spanker boom," which was "A boom for the spanker."
I don't quite have anything of that nature in terms of occupational words, but I do have the comfort of knowing that whatever else may be said about my hobby, it offers guaranteed dimensional stability. (Matubo brand SuperDuo beads are of 'guaranteed size and dimensional stability' in their ad copy. I am aware that this probably has to do with pressure issues but prefer to assume it means these beads will not contribute to any Star Trek-like anomalies even if used in mass quantities.)
I have a photo from London of a building front with the name "Centre for Possible Studies" on it. I think it may be some sort of art studio, but I like the potential.
See, my mind immediately jumped to the supremely creepy horror story by Nicholson Baker, "Subsoil" [Wikipedia article about it, not the actual short story]. I haven't been able to look at potatoes sprouting without getting creeped out a bit, ever since.
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That was the same job that had an abridged dictionary which, at times, was less than useless, albeit highly entertaining. I'd kill time by opening it to random pages and reading definitions, and will never forget the entirety of the definition for "spanker boom," which was "A boom for the spanker."
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I have a photo from London of a building front with the name "Centre for Possible Studies" on it. I think it may be some sort of art studio, but I like the potential.
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