Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide Typewriter Up for Sale [Hitchhikers]

Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide Typewriter Up for Sale [Hitchhikers]: "

See that battered old Hermes Standard 8 typewriter there, in a fetching shade of institutional brown? I'd practically saw my own leg off to own it. Why? Because I'm a huge Douglas Adams fan, and that battered old thing is the very typewriter DNA used to bring The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to the world. A surprisingly analog gadget, for such a self-avowed technology fan as he. And get this: it's actually on sale by a British bookseller, as part of a package with a 'fine' condition first-edition copy of Hitchhiker's. The package, complete with autograph on the typewriter lid, will set you back over $25,000. A vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big sum. But, boy... wouldn't it be worth it? [Abe Books via BBG]

(Via Gizmodo.)

Word of the Week — July 14-20

ignominious • \ig-nuh-MIN-ee-us\ • adjective

1 : marked with or characterized by disgrace or shame : dishonorable 2 : deserving of shame or infamy : despicable *3 : humiliating, degrading

Example Sentence:

The director's first film was an ignominious failure, panned by critics and ignored by moviegoers.

Did you know?

The "-nom-" of "ignominious" comes from "nomen," the Latin word for "name" or "repute." (It's also the root of "misnomer," "nomenclature," and "nominal," among others.) The "ig-" part of the word is akin to the negative prefix "in-"; when joined to the root "-nom-," it indicates the namelessness that goes with shame or dishonor. To suffer an ignominious fate is to lose the opportunity to make a name for oneself or to lose one's good name. When "ignominious" was first borrowed from a French form of the word in the 15th century, it meant "disgraced" or "dishonorable." "Ignominious" continues to have such meanings, but it also has somewhat milder meanings -- "embarrassing" and "humiliating."

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster Online

VOTD: Muppets July 4th Viral Video

Oh my GOD! I may not be American, but this is the funniest thing I have seen in a LONG time! E-mail it to all your friends!

VOTD: Muppets July 4th Viral Video: "

Muppets’ July 4th Viral Video

The Pitch: Have no idea where this comes from, or who created it, but once I saw it I knew that we needed to post this second Video of the Day on July 4th. ‘I, Sam the Eagle, present a musical salute to America.’

(Via /Film.)