New Old Calendar!


ursulav

New Old Calendar!

December 31st, 2012: I got the Old Farmer's Almanac calendar this year, to replace 365 days of Songbirds, and having put it up today (a day early, fine) I have already learned several exciting things. And the writing is positively lyrical. There is a note informing me that

At New Year's tide
The days lengthen a cock's stride.

and on the 26th, the cryptic phrase:
Full Wolf Moon

The full moon eats clouds.

Then it segues into how Ben Franklin introduced kohlrabi to America. I have never actually read the Old Farmer's Almanac, but I am starting to think that I have been missing out all these years, if this is the sort of thing you get!

(I am also irresistibly reminded of the Flathead Calendar from the Zork Zero packaging, which included such delights as "Pac Moon." The number of people who get that reference are vanishingly small, but a surprising percentage, I would wager, read this blog.)

2012-12-31 08:28 pm (UTC)

!! And the month of Frobuary (originally called Fidooshiary until it was purchased and renamed by the Frobozz Magic Month Company).

... man, now I have to call my parents and see if they still have my old copy of Zork Zero.

krin_o_o_

2012-12-31 09:28 pm (UTC)

Full "Wolf" moon - second full moon of winter

See this article for a good writeup on it.
It also relates the original meaning of "blue moon" before it got mangled. </p>

http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucapsj0/moon/index.html

thnidu

2013-01-01 01:51 am (UTC)

OMG, a (corner of a) Hollerith card! Great Apollo, what memories that brings back.

klwilliams

2012-12-31 10:47 pm (UTC)

I wish there were still a way to play Infocom games. If you know of any (besides owning a very old computer), please let me know.

carlhh

2012-12-31 11:31 pm (UTC)

If you mean MS-DOS then it's DosBox. http://www.dosbox.com/

klwilliams

2013-01-01 11:26 pm (UTC)

No, I have a Mac. Thanks, though.

jazzfish

2013-01-01 11:44 pm (UTC)

So you get to use Boxer, then. (Boxer is a gorgeous OSX front-end for DosBox.)

Also, if you're an iOS user, Activision just a few weeks ago released a Lost Treasures of Infocom collection; search the app store for Infocom and it ought to turn up. Zork I is free, other stuff is pay.

(Or as

dranon mentioned, find an interpreter. And play games by Andrew Plotkin and Emily Short, while you're at it. :)

derakon

2013-01-03 04:30 pm (UTC)

Start with Lost Pig, really.

hermitgeecko

2013-01-13 05:05 am (UTC)

Surprisingly, there still exists an extremely active interactive fiction community. I should know, I'm part of it.

My best recommendation for finding awesome new text adventures: hit up http://www.ifcomp.org/, the best-known yearly IF competition, and look for recent winners. A ginormous list is available here.

Also, if offbeat humor is your thing, give Beet the Devil a shot - it's a game about rescuing your dog from ultimate evil while armed mostly with vegetables. I admit that I wrote it, but seriously, it's fun. http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=iwnjysclklhi1zwn

dranon

2012-12-31 11:51 pm (UTC)

If you have the original game files, all you need is an interpreter. Scroll down to the "What to get" section and pick one that sounds good. There are lots of people making new games these days, too.

ceruleanst

2013-01-01 04:02 am (UTC)

You can download the Zork Trilogy or play it in Flash.

klwilliams

2013-01-01 11:25 pm (UTC)

I was extremely happy for a few minutes until I tried to play one of the games. I'm on the latest (and greatest?) Mac software version, and the Classic environment is no longer supported. Sigh. I'll look for an emulator. But thanks for the link!

rikacmo

2013-01-03 06:38 am (UTC)

Try looking at http://www.gog.com/!

They have the Zork games at least, and may have others if you search for individual titles. I have been super pleased with them for my Windows computer, and they've just added a Mac section.

mikailborg

2013-01-03 06:56 am (UTC)

Mini vMac is a great OS 6 / 7 emulator that runs wonderfully on Lion and Mountain Lion.

fatfred

2012-12-31 11:23 pm (UTC)

Love and Luck to you and Kevin for the New Year!

(Did the Regret arrive safe? If it opened, it could be classed as HazMat.)

ursulav

2013-01-01 07:04 am (UTC)

It arrived and Kevin loves it. Much to his personal detriment.

derakon

2013-01-03 04:33 pm (UTC)

Ha! My suspicion was right! (It's horrifically hot sauce)

greyduck

2012-12-31 11:57 pm (UTC)

...Pac Moon. Excellent.

thnidu

2013-01-01 01:53 am (UTC)

HurogGirl

2013-01-01 04:32 am (UTC)

My preferred almanack: http://books.google.com/books/about/Poor_H_Allen_Smith_s_Almanac.html?id=CivJGAAACAAJ Poor H.Allen Smith's Almanac
Especially the goat story.
And the horoscopes.
And the gardening with fish
And the gardening with corn oil.
You'd appreciate the latter two, if nothing else.

But I suspect you'd appreciate most of it. The man was a fruitcake.