Like lemurs toward destruction...

[telophase]

...Thog's Masterclass now has its own website.


Thog's Masterclass is a segment of the monthly SF fanzine Ansible, where rather ... unfortunate turns of phrase from published SF books are printed for our edification and amusement.



Mello has no opinion, but Koumyo is amused.

Comments

[cawingcrow.livejournal.com]

Arrgh! My brain has been sucked into the Thog-o-matic (http://thog.org/thogmatic.html)!

Luckily, I wasn't using it for much today anyway.

[chisotahn]

Haha, that's WONDERFUL. Just what I needed to procrastinate thoroughly!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My favorite Thoggism appeared not in a book, but in a class paper turned in to Sherwood Smith: "Then the hand of fate stepped in."

[telophase.livejournal.com]

My absolute favorite one EVAR is from this little news blurb. It was printed in Science News12/13/97, Vol. 152 Issue 24, p380, 1/6p. I trust I will not have to make explicit the line that had me howling.

SOUND WAVES TRACK HEAD INJURIES
Section: Materials Science

From a meeting in Boston of the Materials Research Society

People who have suffered head injuries often go through an uneasy period of watchful waiting to see whether their injuries become more severe over time. Computer-aided X-ray tomography (CT) can help in that surveillance, but brain scans are expensive and potentially dangerous if a comatose patient must be moved. Now, researchers are testing the feasibility of using an inexpensive ultrasound method to monitor the status of such patients at their bedside.

The method, being developed by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, involves attaching a sound wave emitter to a person's skull and recording an ultrasound "fingerprint," or pattern of images, of that person's head. Changes in the fingerprint indicate changes in the brain, such as swelling or the appearance of bleeding.

The ultrasound technique, says Peter B. Nagy, is like "looking through a frosted glass," unlike the clear picture of the brain given by a CT scan. For example, ultrasound can indicate that a change in the brain has occurred, but it cannot identify the exact location. If doctors notice a change, they can then order a CT scan, Nagy says.

So far, the researchers have tested the method on a fake head--a skull filled with gelatin, cadavers, and several healthy volunteers. They plan next to expand the study to head injury patients.

[plasticchimera.livejournal.com]

I imagine the healthy volunteers weren't too thrilled. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I showed it to my mother when I saw it. Her response was "God bless 'em!"

(You know it's a good screwup when a reader remembers it for almost a decade. XD)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! For want of a dash, several healthy volunteers were lost.

My Dad always used to use this example of that particular error (is a misplaced modifier?): "I saw a herring cleaning my refrigerator.

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

::facepalm:: Punctuation is your FRIEND.

Either his armor needs replacing, or her nipples have been lifting weights

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

`Even through two layers of combat armour, I felt her nipples brush against my back ...' (Karl Hansen, War Games, 1981)

[wyrdness.livejournal.com]

The mental image of weight-lifting nipples is particularly amusing.

Re: Either his armor needs replacing, or her nipples have been lifting weights

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Clearly, the enemy needs to give up on weapons and replace them with armor-piercing nipples.

OT

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Did Tpop lose your latest column, or what? I thought you turned it in last week.

We're on Tpop Time now

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Tpop's schedule is known only to itself. It goes up when it goes up.

I'll be writing the next one tonight, but at least there's no serious urgency to get it in today since the previous one hasn't gone up yet.

[madame-manga.livejournal.com]

God, my eyes are still stinging...from laughing until I cried! That's better than the Bulwer-Lytton contest.