Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Neat site

For those of you who like The Hunger Site, I've discovered another site that's similar, only better. It's freerice.com. First of all, it's a lot more interesting than just a button you can click; it's a game, or a quiz, depending on how you look at it. When you go to the site, you'll be presented with a multiple-choice vocabulary question. Get it right, and you donate 10 grains of rice to a hungry person somewhere in the world. That may not sound like much, but the nice thing is that unlike the Hunger Site, which limits you to one click per day, freerice.com lets you keep playing as long as you like. The questions get harder as you go until you miss one, and then it bumps you down a level or two. So you get to learn new words and help the hungry at the same time. How neat is that? (And if you aren't that into learning fancy words, you can try one of the other subjects, such as geography, chemical symbols, or famous paintings.)

So far, the best I've ever done with the vocabulary quiz is level 53 (out of a possible 60). I usually get to somewhere around level 50 and then I start running into words I don't recognize. For someone who doesn't encounter unfamiliar words that often, it's a rather humbling experience. So I guess I just have to keep playing until I've learned them all. :-)

Friday, August 14, 2009

Monsoon time

You know that old expression, "It never rains but it pours?"

Well, my work life, after a prolonged drought, is now going through a monsoon. See, there was this health book I was supposed to start working on way back in November. When Thanksgiving came and went, they told me the project would be delayed until the new year. Come January, they told me it would probably start up in March... and so on, with the start date being pushed up by two months each time I asked.

Until now. Last month they got back to me and announced that they were now ready to get started--and oh yeah, they wanted me to write the entire book. All 21 chapters. Including second and third drafts. In six months. Because after eight months of delays on their end, there obviously wasn't a minute to waste.

So after spending the better part of the past year doing no work at all for money, I can expect to spend the next six months doing pretty much nothing else.

So, to anyone who actually reads this blog: I hope you'll understand if I don't get around to posting here too often.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A New Word EXCLUSIVE!

ONLY AT MODERNTROLL!

New words, never before seen on the Internet, available in all colors of the alphabet while supplies last! Guaranteed meaningless! Yours to define if you act now!


antecuum
blorphrect
confligial
demporiate
esbetral
fraticlastic
gleptrum
hubrotal
ictiflic
jepterial
kintortic
lorbiculum
morcastry
nuglestic
orfnestrial
phrodial
quiblectic
ristricular
syntumptic
tesmonect
uphrumpium
voblial
wriptinic
xantamulus
yabloudia
zofrial

Moderntroll is not responsible for injury or ridicule resulting from use of meaningless words offered at moderntroll.blogspot.com. End user assumes all risk associated with definition of meaningless words. No animals or particularly interesting plants were harmed in the production of these meaningless words. Meaningless words have not been approved by the USDA, FDA, or SPECTRE and should not be considered to have any nutritional, medicinal, or sinister properties.