1-800-Suicide Needs Some Help...
I've become a fan of Post Secret. They asked people to spread this video.
June 29, 2008
June 22, 2008
Alternative to NASA's Project Constellation
NASA announced Project Constellation as the replacement for the aging space shuttle quite awhile ago. The Project Constellationproject is interesting, but it has a lot of shortcomings - you can read more about Project Constellationon it's Wikipedia page here. I was reading a slashdot article recently and I found this alternative. I wonder if it is a better choice. There is a Wikipedia entry about it here.
They also made a youtube video:
May 16, 2008
Cable Vendor
So, this is a bit of a departure from my normal postings, but I want to give a recommendation for Deep Surplus. If you need some ethernet, coax, whatever cable - you should check them out. Cheapest I've found, and it ships right away from so. cal.
April 21, 2008
The record for the most time in space
This guy is well over the two year mark.
Krikalev was the Commander of Expedition-11 which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 14, 2005 aboard Soyuz and docked with the ISS on April 16, 2005. Following 8-days of joint operations and handover briefings, they replaced the Expedition-10 crew who returned to earth aboard Soyuz. During their six-month stay aboard the station the crew continued station maintenance, worked with scientific experiments, and performed a spacewalk in Russian spacesuits from the Pirs Airlock. The Expedition-11 crew in their Soyuz spacecraft landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan on October 10, 2005. In completing this mission Krikalev logged 179 days and 23 minutes in space including an EVA totaling 4 hours and 58 minutes.In completing his sixth space flight, Krikalev logged a total of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes in space, including eight EVA's.
March 26, 2008
Darn Pennies
I'm all about getting rid of the penny. Ever since that west wing episode.
The fact that the Mint loses money on penny production annoys some people, because one-cent coins no longer have much economic utility. More than a few people, upon finding pennies in their pockets at the end of the day, simply throw them away, and many don't bother to pick them up anymore when they see them lying on the ground. (Breaking stride to pick up a penny, if it takes more than 6.15 seconds, pays less than the federal minimum wage.)
March 10, 2008
Get Rid of 'em
Are we done with the fucking pennies yet?Because it is time. The American public hasn't been using them for about a decade. They have become so worthless, that people give them to each other as a matter of routine. Get your change, pick out the pennies, and leave them there for the next guy. Need a penny or two? Well, there should be a few there for you, because the last guy sure as fuck didn't want his. That's the game.
From best of craigslist. Link.
October 4, 2006
Seems like a good thing to know
Tips 18
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim quickly he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours, which is tough. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. But doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, ie: It is sunny out today)
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
-- Passed along by Michael Hawley
September 30, 2006
MySpace for Parents
This woman has totally lost all sense of perspective. I copied the below text from MySpace for Parents.
Enjoy.
I have a question. Why is it, that as parents we feel it is some form of a violation against our teenager’s rights to randomly drug test them, go through their rooms or search their cars?
Let me get this straight….It’s alright for a virtual stranger who wants to hire your teen, to send them off to a lab and have them pee in a cup, but it’s just not reasonable, if as parents, we want the same thing done in our home?
I feel strongly, as a mom, that if you have any reason (or maybe no reason at all) that it is our right to randomly drug test our teens….search their rooms…and yes, go through their cars.
I truly believe that if you are feeling like your teen is slipping away and that drugs or alcohol could be the culprit, then by all means, visit your nearest drug store and purchase a drug screen kit or buy one online. Have it handy and at a drop of a hat, spring it on your teen when they walk in the door an hour past curfew with some lame excuse.
I will put money on the fact that your teen won’t be late again for fear of “the drug test”….hopefully your teen will pass the test with flying colors but now, at least the ground rules have been established and your teen knows your not messing around with this stuff.
As for going through the room and snooping in the car. I also believe these things to be important in knowing exactly what our teens are getting into. Parents who are on to this behavior have found most of the incriminating evidence is in the trunk of the car, glove compartment, in the girl’s make-up bag in her purse or your teens backpack.
So, you know where to start, where to look and hopefully have a local drug store nearby…..so it’s now time to say….PEE IN THIS!
July 18, 2006
WalMartSpace
AdAge article: Wal-Mart Tries to Be MySpace. Seriously.
I'm not sure if I should be sad or horrified. It's too bad they spent so much time and effort creating something so, well, lame. You'd think they could have done better.
May 18, 2006
Myspace
God Myspace sucks. It is the example of why we don't let kids play with css. I finally revised my myspace page. The css is better, but still needs a lot of work. Check it out at http://www.myspace.com/aspenjonah.
May 17, 2006
English?
Ok, so is anybody else getting annoyed at being a "guest" everywhere? When did I stop being a customer?
Definitions:
customer
1. a patron; one who purchases or receives a product or service from a business or merchant, or plans to
guest
1. a recipient of hospitality, specifically someone staying by invitation at the house of another
2. a patron or customer in a hotel etc.
3. an invited visitor or performer to an institution or to a broadcast
Unless I'm sleeping there, I'm a customer. Stop calling me a guest. While we're on the subject GameWorks is an arcade, and I am an employee of Gemini Mobile Technologies not a crewmember.
May 8, 2006
David Blane
So, I somehow let someone talk me into watching this David Blane spectacle on tv last night. Ugh, I want my 2 hours back.
May 5, 2006
Improv Everywhere
Their tagline: "We create scenes"
What happens when 80 people dress like best buy employees and go hang out in a Best Buy?
Click on the link below to go find out.
http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57
May 2, 2006
From Stephen Colbert
Speaking with a representative from Ohio:
"22 Astronauts were born in Ohio, what is it about your state that makes people want to flee the planet?"
Hm... someone should look into that.
April 14, 2006
Wireless Carriers
So for some reason I get drawn into a conversation about Wireless Carriers several times a day. Could be that I'm looking for them.
Either way, I thought I'd draw up a quick chart describing all the carriers in the bay area and what I see as their strengths/weaknesses.
First, the handy-dandy table:
| T-Mobile | Cingular | Verizon | Sprint/Nextel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service | A+ | F-- | C | B |
| Coverage | B | B+ | A | B |
| Phones | C+ | A+ | F-- | C |
| Plans | B+ | B+ | C | C |
Explanation of grades:
A - Exceptional
B - Above Average
C - Average
D - Poor
F - Lame
F-- (special category for exceptionally lame)
The whole thing reminds me of the "fast, friendly, cheap, pick any two," joke. None of the carriers are really head and shoulders above the rest. They each have their strong points, and each one as at least one negative. Unfortunately it's not about picking the best wireless carrier, it's about picking the one that sucks the least. I'll go into my opinions of each below.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile is my current and favorite carrier. T-Mobile has exceptional customer service which is open 24/7. The agents there have almost always been polite, helpful and quick to solve any issues I've had. They only make you wait 30 days after buying a phone before they will unlock it for you, and they don't give you the run around when you call and ask for it. T-Mobile tends to have relatively generous plans. More minutes per price level than any other carrier and they don't try to nickel and dime you to death like Sprint or Verizon. I do wish they had rollover minutes though, and they can't do anything if you run out of minutes in the middle of the month, which was a problem for me last January. The big downside for me with T-Mobile is the fact that they stopped carrying Sony Ericsson phones a few years back. This is a bummer for me because generally Sony has had the best phones out there lately. I can't wait for the new K790a to come out. 3.2 Megapixels of Sony CyberShot goodness. Almost all Sony phones have Bluetooth and they're GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Some of my friends complain of network weirdness from T-Mobile. I haven't had any problems lately, but I do know of a few things that have bothered me with T-Mobile's network in the past. For a long time Cincinnati was in the wrong time zone. This meant that our "evening" hours didn't start until 10pm (they'd fix our bill if we called them about it). This was lame, but then again, Cincinnati is lame, and I don't live there anymore. I really don't care if they've fixed this or not, although I think they have. The other problem I've occasionally had with T-Mobile is weird behavior when roaming. Things like calls going to voice mail without the phone ringing, or trouble getting a signal. I don't think this is as bad as it used to be, but a few years ago I had problems when I was visiting my family in Aspen. In the bay area I rarely find that I don't have a signal.
Cingular
Cingular has exceptionally lame customer service. Their customer service is actually the worst customer service I've ever had from any company in any industry. That's including credit card companies, car dealerships, and even the evil Best Buy. They've earned the special F-- for their atrocious customer service. If you really don't care about customer service, and I mean customer service that randomly turns off your account and can't give you a good reason why, Cingular has a few positives going for it. It has generally good coverage in the bay area, and it carries Sony Ericsson phones. If you really want a Sony phone, buy it from Cingular with a prepaid account, wait 90 days, ask them to unlock it and then use it with T-Mobile. Or even better, buy an already unlocked one with the OEM Firmware off eBay. T-Mobile will even tell you how to reset your internet settings to work with their network. I guess I should also mention that Cingular has roll over minutes, so if your usage varies a lot from month-to-month this might smooth things out for you. Cingular off-sets this a little by giving you less minutes per price point than T-Mobile.
Verizon
Verizon has the best network hands down. If you want coverage everywhere, this is the one to go with. A lot of this comes from the technology they use. Verizon uses a CDMA network that is much more advanced than GSM, they're bringing up their EV-DO network, and most of their phones still work with the old school AMPS analog network. There is a huge downside to this though - it means you have to wait for phones to be developed specifically for Verizon's non-standard technology. If it wasn't bad enough that their phones are 2-3 years behind the GSM phones from T-Mobile and Cingular (and those are at least a year behind the ones in europe) Verizon cripples their phones. Verizon locks out the OBEX protocol on their Bluetooth phones. This means that while you can use a Bluetooth headset, you can't sync your address book with your computer. It's about the lamest thing I've seen a company do. It's right up there with Best Buy's rebate policies. I guess they did market research and found that only geeks ever actually transfer files, contacts, photos, ringtones or whatever using bluetooth and everybody else just wants a wireless headset. The logic behind this is that it forces you to use their expensive network to get your photos off your phone, and you have to pay them for ringtones, you can't just copy them over to your phone. Verizon Wireless actually had to settle a class action lawsuit because of this. This is a total deal breaker for me, both because it's just lame and because I have a Mac. One of the coolest things that Macs can do is they can use a program called iSync to sync your address book on your computer to your phone. I never loose my contact list. I don't loose phone numbers and it really isn't a problem for me when I get a new phone. This is all due to the magic of iSync. All this adds up to earn Verizon a special F-- for phones. Their customer service can also be a total pain in the ass. It took a friend of mine months of calling them to get her phone account separated from her ex-boyfriend's after they broke up. Overall, unless you really, really need the network strength (like your parents live in Maine), I'd stay away from Verizon.
Sprint
Ooo spiffy! You can have push-to-talk. Actually, that's a feature of the now long gone Nextel. I basically got nothing against Sprint. They use a network technology that, like Verizon is only used by them. Ok, to be totally fair, Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS and a few others all use the same technology -- but their phones won't interoperate on each other's networks. This means their phones, like Verizon's are outdated. They also like to retain control of their brand, so you don't buy a Samsung phone to use with Sprint, you buy a Sprint phone to use with Sprint (made by Samsung). Their plans are so-so. They require long contracts (I think they were the first company to go to two-year contracts), and almost everything else about them is unremarkable. I did really like Nextel when I used to have a company provided phone. The push-to-talk thing is kinda handy, but it's not that much more useful than just dialing someone. Nextel also was the first company to do a really neat user-interface thing with their phones (since copied by Sony Ericsson and others). If you store multiple numbers under a contact you can scroll up/down to select that contact in your address book and then use the left/right buttons to select which number you want to dial. It really is the best way to navigate an address book I've seen so far.
MetroPCS
I want to say I haven't heard anything negative about MetroPCS. If you never leave the bay area they do have decent phones and really cheap plans, but they charge roaming anytime you go anywhere - which just doesn't work for me.
Well, that's it. If you've got any comments (or Cingular horror stories) you can leave them below.
Actually, one more thing. Before I step off my soap box I have to say that the whole "network locking" thing is crap. If I buy a GSM phone I want it to work no matter who's SIM card I put in it. Maybe the mighty carriers have studied this and found it stops fraud, or keeps their customers, but quite frankly all I think it has done is create this cottage industry around unlocking phones. Anyone who wants to can download software, or go to chinatown and get their phone unlocked. To me it's just a stupid way to piss off customers. Okay, now you can leave comments
April 5, 2006
For Guys Who Need a Clue
I'm shamelessly copying this from someone who shamelessly copied it from someone else... but such is the way of things on the internet. I cleaned up the formatting a little, but I left the capitalization mistakes, only because I find them ironic, and I don't care enough to fix them.
sometimes being a guy is frustrating, because if you're not like a typical male, the actions and patterns of typical males make you want to rip your organs out in a fit of rage, shrieking profanities. in that light, i'd like to offer a few pointers to all you guys out there who still think the phrase "SO WAHT ARE U WARING" will win you the favor of any woman, especially online.
- for god's sake, use a fucking spell check. literacy is your friend and makes you appear more intelligent, which is becoming increasingly more important in a woman's eyes. they can get a brawny dipshit anywhere. dare to present yourself well.
- "do u wanna fuck" = REALLY lame attempt. can't you do a little better than that? this is an indication of your penchant for immediate gratification. i've laid groundwork for up to six months leading to the seduction of a woman i desired. LEARN SOME PATIENCE.
- incessantly steering conversation towards sex makes you reek of desperation. and in fact, that sort of desperation implies that you need to be validated... which makes you sound like you have a little dick. you may someday discover that being able to engage a woman in conversation that doesn't center around your penis from time to time will get a much better response.
- you are not god's gift to women. so don't assume a girl will be interested in you just because you may have taken the initiative to talk to her.
- don't bother talking to a woman if you don't have anything interesting to say. all that small talk shit is worthless. they've heard it all before, and from much better looking and more interesting guys than you.
- women are as unpredictable as the weather, and therefore not necessarily subject to formulaic approaches. don't assume the same approach will work on all of them.
- insecurity is apparent in everything that you do, and it's unattractive. some typical manifestations: seemingly unwavering bravado, an obvious and desperate need to impress, uncertainty regarding what course of action to take, obsession with (and the constant mention of) material possessions that you feel set you apart from the crowd.
- don't always try to steer the conversation towards topics that you're knowledgeable about just to seem intelligent. it SCREAMS "i am insecure", or at the very least, "my knowledge is too specific for me to be interesting".
- women who are not virgins are not "defiled" or "tainted". women who *are* shouldn't be considered more desirable just because nobody's "been there" before. this is an immature and amateurish attitude towards women and sex.
- lying or pretending you're something you're not just to get laid is SELLING OUT to get pussy. you obviously aren't good enough to get any without deceit as a fulcrum. i would pity you if you didn't make me fucking sick.
- it's really not that hard to tell a girl up front if your interest in her has boundaries. and then you won't seem like a piece of shit when you reach those boundaries.
- a girl is not obligated to kiss you or provide you with ANY sort of sexual gratification under any circumstances WHATSOEVER, no matter what. get over your ego. you don't deserve SHIT. nobody does. you are not special.
- emotional retardation is universal. guys apparently don't seem to understand women's emotions. women don't understand most guys' lack thereof. open up a little, for fuck's sake. being afraid to open up emotionally denotes fear.
- the majority of human beings seek out other human beings, subconsciously or otherwise, with the intent of feeling better about themselves. you may want to question your pursuit of another for any purpose if this applies to you.
I could go on and on and on, but i don't feel like it. keep in mind that, like all rules and guidelines, these have exceptions. But remember, exceptions don't rule out the possibility that you're a douchebag. so you might want to work on yourself or your technique a little. thank you. drive through.
March 20, 2006
The Small Government Liberal
Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others." [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
My governmental philosophy is basically this: stay out of my life. I believe the government should basically make laws that protect people from one another. Government should not protect people from themselves. This basically means if I want to endanger my own life, so be it. Quite honestly, if lots of people want to endanger their own lives, that's really not the government's problem.
To this end the government should not regulate abortion, prostitution, homosexuals, polygamists, seat-belts, helmets, drugs or child-rearing.
I'm going to take these bullets as representative of the larger theme. First lets talk about sex. Abortion, prostitution, sexual preference and well, let's throw polygamy and polyamory in there while we're at it. Sex basically happens behind closed doors, we'll ignore the exhibitionists for the moment. I really don't care who or how many people sleep with as long as I don't have to watch and I also don't care if there is money involved. Now some people will bring up fringe groups like people who have sex with children, dead people or animals, but they miss the point. Children need the protection of the law from pedophiles and the like because sex is harmful to them which goes to my earlier point, I want the government to protect me from other people. I want the government to protect children from other people. Dead people and animals can't give consent therefore we should protect them as well.
Now, abortion and polygamy basically fall in the same basket. A woman's choice to have or not have a baby is hers. If she wants to include other people in that discussion she is completely free to do so. Many women choose to involve their friends, their spouse, the father, their church, their deity or their parents in that decision, but ultimately it is their decision. Until the child is actually born, it is basically just a biological function of the mother. Polygamy is also basically personal choice. As long as everyone involved is old enough to make the choice freely, who are we to judge. If people want to marry more than one person, why should I care? It has no bearing on my life whatsoever. Same goes for homosexual marriage while we're at it.
Basically, as it says on the bumper sticker: "Against abortion? Don't have one."
Helmets and seat belt laws are another stupid example of mommy-ing by the government. Look, if people don't want to wear seat belts then fine, as long as their not wearing a seat-belt doesn't affect my safety (and there might be an argument there, but I've never seen statistics to back that up) then they should be free not to wear them. We might "protect the children" by mandating that parents put seat-belts on them, but quite honestly if you and your children aren't wearing a seat-belt and you get into a horrible crash and your hole family dies, I call that natural selection.
Finally, lets talk about drugs. See, the "war on drugs" is a miserable failure. No sane person could argue otherwise. I think that unless the widespread use of a drug threatens the health of the general population, then they should be legal. This basically means that any drug manufacturer would have to put a drug that they wanted to bring to market through clinical trials and then clearly disclose the risks and let the people decide. The only real exception to this is antibiotics and similar drugs. Over prescription of antibiotics leads to diseases that are resistant to the antibiotics. This affects my personal health, so, the government should protect me from that. On the other hand, if you want to shoot heroin into your veins 3 times a day, go for it, just don't go driving afterwards, because then you've put my life at risk, and I don't appreciate that. This would lead to good things. One, is tax revenue. Americans spent hundreds of billions of dollars on illegal drugs last year, just think about what a tax similar to what we charge on cigarettes could do there? Ka-ching!
A few links:
March 16, 2006
From Earth to the Moon
I've been watching the HBO Mini Series From Earth to the Moon. It's really amazing. I can see how going to the moon inspired a whole generation of scientists and engineers. I am truly in awe of the accomplishments of NASA and it's engineers.
March 14, 2006
Crazy Math Nerds
Happy pi day.
March 13, 2006
In America
This translated text came from http://www.watchingamerica.com The original is from a chinese newspaper.
If you or your friends or relatives go to America, and the following events happen, don't think too much of it, because these things happen only in America:
In America, if you order a pizza and an ambulance at the same time, the pizza will get there faster than the ambulance.
In America, people will park their expensive cars outside their homes, while the garage is filled with worthless old clothes.
In America, people will use phones with caller ID and voicemail, but will never return calls.
In America, pharmacies will allow patients to hand in their forms at the back of the store, but allow healthy people to but their cigarettes near the entrance.
In America, when people order a double cheeseburger and a large fries, they may order a diet coke to go with it.
In America, banks will leave their doors wide open, but because of "safety" concerns, secure the fountain pens on the counter with string.
In America, there are many restrictions on under-eighteens being able to drive, but at the same time, the army allows teenagers of the same age to drive tanks and airplanes.
In America, people under 21 may not smoke due to health reasons, but people who are 21 in the army can use all kinds of weapons.
In America, politicians will use tens of millions of dollars to investigate an official whose mistress accepted a bribe of tens of thousands of dollars.
In America, you may go to court over a cup of coffee that is too hot; thieves that climb up onto the roof of your house and fall down may sue you, and robbers can also sue you because of your company's lack of oversight of their firearms.
In America, you can use ATMs while still in the car, and you may find that the keys were designed for the blind.
March 11, 2006
People I wonder about
I find it amazing the number of people we come across in out lives. As I was putting this website together I came to think of several people that I've lost contact with. The resons are many and complicated, but this I ask of you, if you are one of these people, send me an email to let me know what is going on with you, or if you know one of these people, ask them to send me an email.
People I Wonder About:(in no particular order)
From Aspen:
* Prema Trettin
* Shanti Trettin
* Alix Anderson
* Michelle Britt
* Greg Weible
* Nadia Teague
* Emerson Kurkoski
* Gina Liberman
From Elsewhere
* Gwenelle Louis (from Canada, last contact 1992)
* Amy Lowenstien (from Clearwater, FL, last contact ~1992)
* Marci Adilman (from Atlanta [CMU], last contact 1997)
* Rodrigo Canelas (from Bolivia [CMU], last contact 1994)
* Shiela Garg (from Valley Forge, PA [CMU/Ithaca], last contact 1998)
* Amy Brust (from St. Louis, last contact ~1990)
* Jo Mangru (from Bronx, NY, last contact 1998)
* Michelle Meyer (last I heard she was in MA, but I have no idea... last contact 1998)
* Dan Alroy (from Boston, MA, last contact 1994)
* Ethan Gutierrez (from NM, last contact 1993)
* Anni Liljegren (from Sweden, last contact 1994)
* Erica Tepfer (from NH, last contact ~1997)
* Kim Hottenstien (from WY, last contact ~1997)
* Quintin Garcia (from Long Beach, CA, last contact 12/27/1994)
There are more, but I can only remember the above list. To be honest, I do know how to get in touch with a few of the people in the above list, but if you know both of us, you probably also know why I can't (for reasons other than the practical) get in touch with these people, you can still say "hi" to them for me.
December 1, 2005
TS/TD & Hurricanes for the North Atlantic
This is pretty interesting. SUMMARY TABLE NAME DATES MAX WIND DEATHS U.S. DAMAGE MPH $MILLION --------------------------------------------------------------- TS ARLENE 8-13 JUN 70 1 MINOR TS BRET 28-29 JUN 40 1 0 TS CINDY 3-7 JUL 70 1 MINOR H DENNIS 4-13 JUL 150 41 1840 H EMILY 11-21 JUL 155 5 MINOR TS FRANKLIN 21-29 JUL 70 0 0 TS GERT 23-25 JUL 45 0 0 TS HARVEY 2-8 AUG 65 0 0 H IRENE 4-18 AUG 105 0 0 TD TEN 13-14 AUG 35 0 0 TS JOSE 22-23 AUG 50 6 0 H KATRINA 23-30 AUG 175 1200 80000 TS LEE 28 AUG - 1 SEP 40 0 0 H MARIA 1-10 SEP 115 0 0 H NATE 5-10 SEP 90 0 0 H OPHELIA 6-17 SEP 85 1 1600 H PHILIPPE 17-24 SEP 80 0 0 H RITA 18-26 SEP 175 6 9400 TD NINETEEN 30 SEP - 2 OCT 30 0 0 H STAN 1-5 OCT 80 100 0 TS TAMMY 5-6 OCT 50 0 MINOR STD TWENTY-TWO 8-10 OCT 35 0 0 H VINCE 9-11 OCT 75 0 0 H WILMA 15-25 OCT 175 22 14400 TS ALPHA 22-24 OCT 50 20 0 H BETA 26-31 OCT 115 0 0 TS GAMMA 13-20 NOV 55 37 0 TS DELTA 22-28 NOV 70 0 0 TS EPSILON 29 NOV - ?? DEC 70 0 0 -------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE...DATES BASED ON COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME (UTC)
November 28, 2005
Identity 2.0
So, this is a really cool presentation, but the subject matter is cool too.
Watch it :-D.
November 1, 2005
Irony
iro·ny
Pronunciation: 'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler
1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony