Or so says Merriam-Webster.

Yes, the word that originated with gamers was voted the word of the year on their website. It’s certainly a popular enough word, although I’m more prone to trusting that it did indeed originate from users of Quake III jumping, rather than from “whoot”. I could be wrong and I’ll leave that to the professionals to argue.

Want to celebrate? I’ll bet the w00t t-shirt at ThinkGeek.com is very popular.

Technorati Tags: w00t, word of the year

Eep! Christmas is getting really, really close and I’m not ready!

1. Buying the kids’ presents.
   I’d be done with this except we have to do the shopping this time for the presents from my inlaws. Considering we’re also currently working on decreasing the total number of toys and the kids have plenty of clothes, this is tough.
2. Decreasing the number of toys.
   Been meeting some rather natural resistance on this one from my daughter but I think she finally is getting the idea that if I have to do it alone she will lose more toys than if she helps. It’s slow having her help but a very good lesson.
3. Putting up the Advent calendar.
   Not sure why this one keeps slipping.
4. Getting the house ready for company.
   I get to host Christmas dinner this year for the locals, and my mom gets the big dinner when everyone else finally gets into town a couple days later. I am SO not ready.
5. Planning Christmas dinner.
   Have to start plotting with the locals to see who’s bringing what.
6. Finding a gift for my husband.
   I have a bit of stuff but I need to finish.
7. Putting up the Christmas tree.
   This, at least, is deliberate. Our living room is too small to have it up the entire season. But this weekend or next at the absolute latest it needs to be put up.
8. Putting up outdoor decorations.
   We bought them, but they’re still in boxes. No lights since we don’t have an easy way to plug them in out there. We have plastic decorations we’re going to hang. Not as pretty at night, but should look nice during the day.
9. Feeling like it’s Christmas.
   It just seems too soon!
10. Posting on my sites.
    No, doesn’t really have anything to do with Christmas, but all the running around for Christmas is making it harder to keep up with my regular schedule. Oh well. All in a good cause.
11. Making raspberry chocolates.
    This one is going to be a surprise for the family gathering. Not even my husband knows about it. Good thing none of them read this blog either. They’re more aware of my other sites. Then again I could be wrong and may have just blown the surprise. But I doubt it, and none of them read any of my sites regularly.
12. Being evil enough for my niece’s gift.
    I think I’m doing pretty well with it, but will it be enought? Bwhahaha!
13. Coming up with things I’m running behind on.
    Because what can I say except it’s really not all that bad.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

I’ll give the folks over at Fark this much - they have a sense of humor. At least it seems to be more of a prank than anything else that they are trying to trademark “not safe for work”, or NSFW.

As the article notes, such a trademark is already pretty much unenforceable, and unlikely to be granted in any case.

And as noted by Drew on his blog:

About the NSFW Trademark Application, I can say three things:

1) Yes, we applied for it.

2) Can’t comment on the prank angle other than “stay tuned.”

3) Muhahaha.

Any time you do something that allows you to say “Muhahaha”, it has to be good.

Technorati Tags: fark, trademark, nsfw

One of the things I look for in Christmas presents is something that will not cause clutter. Most adults I know already have a problem with clutter. This lead to one of my favorite presents to give when budget allows… Netflix.

The memberships can be pretty cheap, starting at $4.99 a month, which translates to a bit less than $60 a year, and the person can get up to 2 discs a month. For a lot of people that’s probably plenty. How many movies do you usually rent a month anyhow?

Netflix is really, really fast about shipping out discs. That’s one of the things that always amazed me, that they could be so efficient at it.

This is what my sisters and I got for my mother last year, although it was a more than minimum subscription. She’s gotten good use out of it.

It’s a gift I’d enjoy too, although I really don’t watch that many movies. The selection is just amazing, more than you can get at a regular video store or even those vending machines that rent movies I’ve seen a couple places.

Technorati Tags: netflix, gift ideas

1. Hooray for online shopping! I get to avoid the lines and the crowds.
2. Why is a daughter who wants everything she sees advertised on TV so hard to shop for?
3. If online shopping is so easy, why am I not done yet?
4. Too bad my inlaws will be out of town. Kids are going to miss their grandparents. But at least they get to see my sister-in-law have their next grandchild. But we’re doing their shopping for our kids too.
5. I love shopping at Amazon.
6. ThinkGeek.com can be a lifesaver when I don’t know what else to buy.
7. Or eBay when my shopping ideas are a bit more obscure.
8. It was fun finding a certain special gift for one of my nieces just by accident when my sister had been looking all over town for it.
9. Really have to finish shopping soon or pay extra for fast shipping.
10. Keeping the kids’ presents hidden is a part of the fun.
11. I have to get Cars for my son. He loves that movie and he’s never seen the whole thing.
12. They may not be old enough to read them on their own, but my kids are getting The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls this year. They’ll still be fun to go over together and should last for years.
13. One good thing about my inlaws being out of town - I get to borrow their car, making any local holiday shopping that much easier.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Some people get some really weird ideas. Take this one: A couple in Arizona has created a mirror to focus the light of the moon. Seems they feel moonlight has not been tested enough for potentially intriguing properties, whatever they may be.

Umm… last I checked, moonlight is reflected sunlight. It’s also, you know, light. Not much special about it, aside from it being dimmer. Possibly different proportions of UV and infrared, since the light is reflected, and of course some differences in the visible range, but that should be about it.

Sure, focusing light can do some interesting things. Just ask any ant caught by a child with a magnifying glass. Or think about lasers. But that doesn’t mean there will be anything special about moonlight.

Some have claimed that going there and standing in the focused moonlight has helped medical conditions. Reminds me of a quote I read somewhere… “Some people will get better from ANYTHING!” Placebos are wonderful things and I find that far more likely than actual results due to moonlight.

Technorati Tags: moonlight, arizona, focused moonlight