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Һерцлихен Глүквунш цум Гебурцтаг, Н_тру!

A word that some will probably avoid in polite conversation

The word is French and it's nycthémère.

A French speaker I spoke with once (years ago) had half-remembered the word but I only just found out what it is (after seeing the English equivalent, nycthemeron).

Bonus slang points for anyone who knows why French people might not want to use the word casually.

A study of the _Galaxy Song_ by Eric Idle

Someone set out to check whether the facts mentioned in the Galaxy Song (from The Meaning of Life) were still true, according to commonly accepted astronomical knowledge.

Here are his conclusions. (Executive summary: most of them are pretty good. Only some of the numbers are a bit off, but most of them not by an order of magnitude or more.)

[meme] Johari, or, how do you see me?

Snagged from isabeau

Especially if you know me well, or have known me for a while, go to http://kevan.org/johari?name=pne and select the words you associate with me. (It's a personality awareness thing, and I'm curious.)