This is the perfect 21-century research topic! We don't know how to build a warp drive, but we do know how to criticize any aliens who do.
Clough, Katy, Tim Dietrich, and Sebastian Khan. 2024. “What No One Has Seen before: Gravitational Waveforms from Warp Drive Collapse.” The Open Journal of Astrophysics 7 (July).
Monday, August 19, 2024
Really, really fast
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Add it up
I am skeptical of the notion that, from the age of 15 to today, Gordon Gano even once had trouble getting a fuck, kiss or screw.
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Losing the thread of things
From Wikipedia's "Sovetsky" article:
Modern Sovetsk has sought to take advantage of Tilsit's tradition of cheese production (Tilsit cheese), but the new name ("Sovetsky cheese") has not inherited its predecessor's reputation.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Life in a country with no First Amendment
U.K. university (a member of the University of London) fires a professor without warning for politically inconvenient research, and confiscates her data while they're at it.
https://archive.ph/DeWSK#selection-2759.5-2797.54
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Trusting the elites
A silver medal struck by the Kaiser's Lauer mint in Nuremberg, to celebrate the "liberation" of East Prussia. It features a naked, potbellied and anatomically correct Hindenburg, about to give a coup-de-grace to the Russian bear.
I presume that the same sort of people who thought that invading France was a good idea also thought that this coin was a good idea.
It's easy to get lost among the many graceful features of this fine work of art, but one feature you want to note is that the Great Man's broadsword is too long for the terrain; it is physically impossible for him to hit the bear without shifting his sword grip. On the other hand, Hindenburg's belly, testicles and anus are unprotected and each within a single swipe of the bear's claws, and the only things between his neck and the bear's teeth are Hindenburg's stout courage and body odor.
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Nordstream sabotage
Russia's attitude seems to be that it's not in Russia's interest to sabotage their own pipeline, because they could have just as easily turned off the gas pressure. That's true, but it certainly wasn't in their best interests to invade Ukraine, or to send thousands of untrained soldiers into a war zone, or to mobilize their reserves for a fight in which reserve soldiers without trained officers are less than useless.
Furthermore, if Russia intends to use nuclear or chemical weapons in the Ukraine in the coming days, it wouldn't expect to get any hard-currency revenue from the pipeline for many years; thus destroying NordStream would send a pointed message about the seriousness of their intentions, at no expected cost to the regime.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/damage-nord-stream-pipelines-unprecedented-may-have-been-sabotaged
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Quote of the day
- Yoshio Agaoka, Degree of Triangle Centers and a Generalization of the Euler LineThe number −2 appears in several places in elementary geometry ...
Monday, December 04, 2017
Quote of the day
I'm beginning to think that possibly the most catastrophic vulnerability a modern nation has is not hackers, nukes, plague, fake news or autonomous robots, but the act of attempting to upgrade the software that its infrastructure runs on. - Richard James
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
R
Monday, September 14, 2015
Cheers
Cliff: You know Rebecca , I don't know why you're so concerned about your figure. You know, back in the Renaissance times, full figured women were revered.
Norm: Get out.
Cliff: It's true! Yeah, yeah, artists would only paint big, voluptuous women. In fact, that's how they got rid of a lot of their old paint.
Quote of the day
A mind like a mousetrap, only he ought to let some o' those poor mice go.
- Poul Anderson, Hunters of the Sky Cave
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Quote of the day
So now I think I finally know why people conventionally picture heaven as populated by harpists and not contrabassoonists.
- David Feldman
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Leading a horse to water
Taak any bryd, and put it in a cage,
and do al thyn entente and thy corage
to fostre it tendrely with mete and drynke
of alle deyntees that thou kanst bithynke,
and keep it al so clenly as thou may,
although his cage of gold be never so gay,
yet hath this brid, by twenty thousand foold,
goon ete wormes and swich wrecchednesse.
for evere this brid wol doon his bisynesse
to escape out of his cage, yif he may.
his libertee this brid desireth ay.
- Chaucer, Manciple's Tale of the Crow.
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Hey, it's 2015!
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals. Except the weasel.- Homer Simpson
Friday, November 28, 2014
Thursday, November 13, 2014
MLLP (HL7 interface) buffer termination character in Python ...
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
4,835,716,461,499 percent
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Faculty time study
This is even more incredible when you consider that faculty now make up less than one-half of the payroll at universities nationwide. At the turn of the twentieth century, almost all of the money we spent on higher education went to teaching and research. What percentage of tuition, endowment and taxpayer money actually gets spent on teaching or research nowadays? 25%? 20%? Nobody knows.
Monday, October 06, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
Quote of the day
Those who make the nation's songs (so much more admirable than its laws) advise us to look for the silver lining, to seek the blue bird, to put all our troubles in a great big box and sit on the lid and grin. Alice Coker had been unable to follow this counsel. Old Man Trouble, that foe of the songwriters, had plainly conquered her proud spirit.- P.G. Wodehouse, Bill the Conqueror.
Monday, August 18, 2014
What a headline ...
Shipwrecked tourists swam 6 hours towards erupting volcanoFrom the New York Post: "Tourists who escaped a sinking boat in Indonesia swam to an island with an erupting volcano and survived by drinking their own urine and eating leaves."
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
First gay marriage, now this.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Thursday, May 01, 2014
Babies, bathwater, potato, potahto
Age-adjusted [End-stage Renal Disease] rates are 982 people per million among black and 256 people per million for white individuals, a 3.8-fold racial disparity.
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
This sounds more traumatic that it was
Saturday, March 01, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
Quote of the day
En vérité, avec tous ces cônes, on dirait d'un temple baroque dédié au dieu Suppositoire.- Dubois (1911) Our beautiful Niger
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Beat that, Occupy Wall Street
Monday, October 28, 2013
Quote of the day
To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. That's literally true most of the time. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goal—if you reach it at all—feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary.- Scott Adams,
Monday, October 07, 2013
Wile E. Coyote, Super-genius
Variable Code has not been declaredThis error message is nowhere to be found in the Saxon Javadoc, or anywhere it the Saxon source code, and according to Google nobody has ever reported it before. Nor could I find any hint about what a "Variable Code" could be.
This morning I looked at my own code and, yes, I used an XSL variable which I called "Code" and which I neglected to declare.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Swiftboating Adolph Hitler
Actually, it seems that people who actually served with Hitler tried to debunk his fibs while he was spinning them, but millions of German citizens decided to believe the politician's flunkies rather than the evidence of soldiers who had actually been there in battle at the time.
Strange but true.
Monday, September 09, 2013
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Quote of the day
We parents of young kids think that our children are the most precious things in the world, but it seems that, at least statistically, few other adults want them.- Philip Greenspun
Nature abhors a vacuum
An atheist "church" in Lake Charles, La., run by lapsed Pentecostal Jerry DeWitt, conducts periodic services with many of the trappings expected by the pious -- except for the need to believe in a supreme being.
Such "churches" (reported The New York Times and Washington Post in coincidental stories the same day in June) can help soothe the "biological" needs for survival and avoidance of loneliness by congregational rituals (such as celebrating a sabbath) and in helping find meaning "in something other than (oneself)."
For example, atheist Sigfried Gold praised a "rigorous prayer routine" (beseeching a "vivid goddess he created") in overcoming his weight problem. [New York Times, 6-24-2013; Washington Post, 6-24-2013]It's difficult to imagine the personal pain or trauma that would cause somebody to reject God, and then make up a new god to fill the void that's left. You picture mothers who abandon their babies and then start playing with rag dolls.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Loaves and Fishes, a lifeline for the homeless in New Milford
Loaves and Fishes is a lifeline for many of the homeless in New Milford. Their soup kitchen feeds about 100 people dinner each day.
It is easy walking distance to the HART bus stop, and also to the camp that the homeless have set up in recent years near the Housatonic bridge (which I am told the police regularly raid, and the homeless for some reason regularly come back to. Don't they have better places to be?)
Since February, the mayor of New Milford has been trying to move the soup kitchen to a location 6 miles from the center of town. Does she think that this population needs a 12-mile walk each day to stay fit? The poet Neil Silberblatt compared the Mayor's proposal to Jonathan Swift's modest proposal to eat the poor. He notes that most of the homeless "are residents of New Milford and are no less residents than those who have gorgeous country homes in that town."
In the words of Rachel Sampson:
"There but for the grace of God go I" -- anyone could be in need of social service assistance, even the mayor, some day.And in the words of my Aunt, Penny O'Gorman:
My son is Major Robert Kitchen, a New Milford High School graduate who went into the U.S. Air Force and became a high-ranking, highly decorated officer and veteran of two wars.
Recently, my son passed a homeless man on the street while he was on his way to work. He brought the man to a coffee shop, bought him breakfast and chatted with him.
I am as proud of him for that action as I am of his many military accomplishments.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Business advice of the day
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that when your competition is using "We Won't Sue You" in their promotional materials, you might be doing something wrong.- Jack B, commenting at Popehat.
наименьший в мире скрипок
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, irony is still dead
Thursday, April 04, 2013
"Today, the school systems in 20 states employ more non-teachers than teachers"
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Quote of the day
We ought to be living in a golden age of public discourse, given how many people now have the opportunity to attend college. But we are not.- Catherine Sevcenko
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Quote of the day
No one should have an excuse not understanding this book.- Martinus Veltman, in the preface to his book Diagrammatica: The Path to Fenman Diagrams.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
A very New York story
Yesterday afternoon I took a city bus to the Metro-north train station in Manhattan. There were only a few passengers, including two guys with two small children. The older child was four or five, and was eating cookies out of a cardboard containter. He was stretched out on the seat using his dad as a backstop.
The younger child was about 6 months old. His father was obviously exhasted, but every time he tried to sit down the baby cried. So he kept standing, and the baby got to look out of the bus windows at the cars and people.
After about a mile, the father with the baby got off the bus. The kid who was using his father as a day-bed looked up and said: "Boy, was that baby spoiled."
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Quote of the day
The primary design goal [of] MUMPS was to create code that, once written, can never be maintained by anyone ever again ... At the company Bryan worked for, they didn’t just use MUMPS, they used it cleverly. Partially as a result of MUMPS’ limitation and partially because they had all gone insane.- Alex Papadimoulis
Monday, January 14, 2013
Quote of the day
In every walk in life, whether among the coarse, rough and ragged, untidily mouldering ranks of the lower orders, or among the uniformly frigid and tediously tidy higher orders -- in every condition of life a man is likely to behold at least once in his life a vision unlike anything he has ever seen before, which for once rouses in him feelings unlike those he is destined to experience all the rest of his days.-- N. V. Gogol, Dead Souls (translated by George Gibian)
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Happy New Year
Friday, December 14, 2012
Moms are such killjoys
I only used scalp electrodes on my daughter, since my wife wouldn’t let me drill holes in my daughter’s head.- Dr. Chris James, University of Southampton, via ExtremeTech and the Times of India.
Monday, December 03, 2012
Sunday, December 02, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Quote of the day
What about the generals? The women couldn't have made any progress in the role of "social liaison" if the generals didn't want to be liaised.- Ann Althouse
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Sex and the single personality cult member
Monday, October 22, 2012
Reading faces
"Stop wiggling. That's it. Don't you look nice! Now say 'Cheese!'"
"No!" (this was the baby, not the man)
"'Cheese!'"
"No! No! No!"
The man had the sheepish "aw come on, I'm not that bad" look that guys have when they have something to apologize for, but I assumed that I'm just not any good at reading faces. As I walked past the woman said, "I'm going to kill your mother for teaching him that word."
Monday, October 08, 2012
Two dedicated employees
The suspect went on to say that while he and his coworker have an alarm code to get into the building, he couldn't get his keys to open the front door, so he hopped on the roof in an attempt to drop the package through a window leading to his boss's office.
When asked why he had to drop off the package on a Saturday night, the suspect said it was time sensitive and that his boss needed itPretty lame, huh? But here's the rub: the police called UPS security and found out the man's story was true. He couldn't get in to deliver the package, so he went up on the roof to throw the package in through a window. Now that's a dedicated delivery company.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Quote of the day
Well you've got to hand it to Mitt Romney, 'cause President Obama sure did.- Seth Meyers, after the first Obama-Romney debate.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Quote of the day
Sales are down because no-one knows who to bribe.- Beijing salesman, quoted by the Wall Street Journal's China Realtime Report.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Quote of the day
Obama and Clinton are currently starring as the Siskel & Ebert of Pakistani TV, giving two thumbs down to Innocence of Muslims in hopes that it will dissuade local moviegoers from giving two heads off to consular officials.- Mark Steyn
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Dr. Strangelove
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Quote of the day
If you want to live forever, then don't stop breathing, like I did.- Val Patterson
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Where's a good Third Amendment lawyer when you need one?
Residents of the 17-story tower, about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Olympic Park in east London, say the missile battery could make their homes a terrorist target.The government would have a problem doing this here in the US. The Third Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says that "No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."
But the judge said the missiles presented no real threat.
Of course, according to Justice Roberts, I suppose that the feds can make you pay a tax if you don't allow the soldiers in your house. And another penalty if you don't give them broccoli every night.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
You win some, you lose some.
US violent crime rate down for fifth straight year.
- MSNBC
Hitchhiker writing 'The Kindness of America' memoir shot by motorist in Montana.
- Christian Science Monitor
Friday, May 11, 2012
Universities around the world
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Playing detective
The teen, who was still wearing the hoodie and the wig, told police that his actions were based on a dare, police said. He said his classmates had levied the dare at him, but did not specify the contents of the dare, police said.
There are rumors that the dare involved climbing a roof in a wig.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
McDonald's on Route 1 in Fairfield
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Economics joke
Some years ago a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in Greece.
The Mayor of the Greek town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor he wondered how he could afford such a house. The Spaniard said; “You see that bridge over there? The EU gave us a grant to build a four-lane bridge, but by building a single lane bridge with traffic lights at either end this house could be built”.
The following year the Spaniard visited the Greek town. He was simply amazed at the Greek Mayor’s house, gold taps, marble floors, it was marvellous. When he asked how this could be afforded the Greek said; “You see that bridge over there?”
The Spaniard replied; “No.”
I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to explain how this relates to Connecticut's current budget situation.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
The humblest thing that V.I. Arnold ever said
This attempt to produce something useless ended with a failure.- Arnold (1998) Higher dimensional continued fractions, Regular and Chaotic Dynamics (3) pp 10-17.
Arnold died last year at the age 0f 72.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Depends on your point of view
Putting Everything in Perspective
"I want to cut his nuts out."--Jesse Jackson on Barack Obama, quoted by the Chicago Tribune, July 10, 2008
"The ultimate insult."--Jesse Jackson on Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's pointing her finger at Barack Obama, quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 28, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
"What's he telling me?"
Sofia Walker, 3, was dwarfed by Malik, a 7-year-old "stroppy" lion, as she pressed up against the glass that separated her from the enclosure.
The close encounter happened last Wednesday morning, just after Malik had been given his breakfast.
Sofia and Malik looked directly at each other before the lion angrily pawed at the glass - upset someone disturbed his meal - which seemed to surprise the young girl, but not scare her.
Sofia was called away from the glass by her mother, Sharon, but instead the girl stood her ground and asked: "What's he telling me?"
One of the zookeepers said that Sofia had a "lot of spunk." But her father doesn't think she wants to grow up to be a zookeeper herself. "She'd much rather be a fairy."
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Handy translation tool ...
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Quote of the day
Experts say that people need to try new challenges to keep their minds sharp. That's especially important in my case because I plan on living to 140, and I don't want to spend my last 60 years trying to find the TV remote.
- Scott Adams in The Wall Street Journal.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Years, Tokelau!
The date line dance came 119 years after U.S. traders persuaded local Samoans to align their islands’ time with nearby U.S.-controlled American Samoa and the U.S. to assist their trading with California.
But the time zone put Samoa and Tokelau nearly a full day behind neighboring Australia and New Zealand, which are increasingly important trading partners.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Quote of the day
All other things being equal, we would not expect a 2% resurrection rate.- Bill Ricker, commenting on the breast cancer survival curves produced by Edward Tufte.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The end of days
If the above image doesn't convince you that the apocalypse is just around the corner, try looking at this. Grim times. (And if this isn't a sign of the antichrist, then I'm not sure what would be. H/t Overlawyered.com)
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Aren't kids cute?
The stop of defendant’s car was with reasonable suspicion that it was involved in a bank robbery. After the stop, defendant’s three year old daugther was found in the car, and she was asked where they were coming from, and she pointed toward the bank. Asked if they were at the bank, she said yes. The registration of the car was expired, and its impoundment was valid. United States v. Brumfield, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137834 (N.D. Ga. February 17, 2011).
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Um, Congratulations
I was Greg's mathematics professor in college. Since the lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math, I have mixed feelings: my position is roughly the same as that of a Sunday School teacher who finds out that one of his former pupils has won critical acclaim in the pornographic film industry.
Still, he was one of my favorite students, hardworking and honest. So I guess I'm happy about the whole thing.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Bohemian Rhapsody ...
... and by the Muppets:
... just in case you've stumbled on my blog and don't want to think about Wall Street or Washington.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Open Letter to Herman Cain
Sincerely,
Jeff
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Historic picture from East Norwalk: 1961-2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Rivers after the Hurricane
Here's the Norwalk River, looking north from Merrit 7:
and here's the Norwalk River looking towards Glover St. and the old Perkin Elmer building:
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Visiting the Supreme Court
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Oh, what a surprise
Monday, August 01, 2011
Fender-bender last week
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
I can't think of a title for this post ...
Friday, June 17, 2011
Pearl Harbor, Shmerl Harbor
20 of them have asked their union to appeal their termination. No word yet on what their defense will be; maybe their lawyers can make an ADA argument?
Saturday, June 11, 2011
"Please don't Taser the cow"
Everyone was kinda yelling, ‘Please don’t taser the cow, it’s only going to make it worse.'Happened in Pelham, NH. 'nuff said. (H/t Simple Justice)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Monday, June 06, 2011
Worker's "rights" vs. citizens' rights
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Friday, May 06, 2011
Thursday, May 05, 2011
One of the great things about living in Norwalk
Dear Officer,A picture of the note is at Soignorant. I wonder if Corrine lives in Westport?
I have temp plates because someone keeps stealing my front plate. NOT because I'm a drug dealer, but thanks for telling my little brother you suspect me of being one. Also, my FACTORY tints are legal and all 7 tickets you've written me for them have been dismissed. Please find another vehicle to harrass.
Thank you, Corrine.
P.S. If I were a drug dealer, I
could afford a garage!
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Shuffling out of Buffalo
Downtown police are looking for a man who is handcuffed to a chair.
The man escaped shortly after 4 p.m. today from the Central District station at Tupper and Main Streets.
A robbery suspect, he apparently fled out of a back door onto Washington Street, according to police radio transmissions.
Described as tall and muscular, he was dressed in black clothing and wearing a white hat.
Police think he still has the chair with him because it is missing from the station.
They handcuffed him to a chair? They should have handcuffed him to a toy poodle; then at least they could have found him by following the dog's yapping.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
United States of Awesome
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Ow.ly down this morning
Friday, April 15, 2011
Gilbert and Sullivan fans didn't even make the list
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Quote of the day
Chessplayers have been setting down rules ever since they discovered it was easier than following them.- Andrew Soltis, Karl Marx Plays Chess
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thanks, guys
Cubans famously enjoy far better free health care than their far-wealthier US neighbors, and continue to set high standards for developing nations with excellent hospitals and doctors throughout the country.
The free health care in normal Cuban hospitals should only be used when there are no private clinics available.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Quiz of the day
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Three things that I really didn't want to know this morning
- Moamar Qaddafi and Silvio Berlusconi have the same plastic surgeon.
- The strongest supporters of Israel in Norway "seem to be the Evangelical Christians and the gay community."
- The police in Ft. Lee, New Jersey are as incompetent as their reputation suggests.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
A very Tennessee story
Mark Smith cartoons
Monday, March 21, 2011
All the men are in Benghazi
An old woman, in her late 70s at least, I'm told, entered the bank to collect her 500 Libyan dollars ($410; £253) in state aid announced a couple of weeks ago.
There were two long queues - one for men and one for women. She stood in the men's queue.
The men urged her to move to the women's section. "Why?" she challenged.
A man told her: "Ya haja [a term of respect for an elderly woman] this line is for men, women is the other one".
She loudly replied: "No. All the men are in Benghazi."
The room is said to have been stunned into silence and she remained in her place until her turn came and she walked out with her money.
Friday, March 04, 2011
With friends like this ...
One of the men questioned afterwards was his recent colleague Sgt. David Guliuzza. David sound like a very loyal guy, and he offered the police the following absolutely wonderful defense of his ex-boss:
Mr. Luna's cell phone was an Iphone and is a complicated piece of equipment. Sgt. Guliuzza believed that if someone did not own that type of phone, then you would not be able to operate it. A.C. Melendez has a Blackberry cell phone. Sgt. Guliuzza does not think that A.C. Melendez has the knowledge to work an Iphone, let alone erase data from it.
That's right, he believes his pal is innocent because committing a crime involves using an Apple product, and Apple products are too complicated for the accused to use.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Quote of the day
By the way, what is "hands-on, interdisciplinary study"? Do we get to fondle a sociologist?- Wisconsin law Professor Ann Althouse, commenting on a speech by Erwin Chemerinksy.
Friday, January 28, 2011
University of Manitoba turning into a "diploma mill"?
Earlier this month Gabor Lukacs received two letters from University of Manitoba president David Barnard. One invited the assistant professor of mathematics to a dinner in acknowledgement of his teaching excellence award. The other informed him that he was being suspended without pay. (Macleans)
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Lunar eclipse tonight
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Quote of the day
Perl - The only language that looks the same before and after RSA encryption. - Keith Bostic
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Money, what a concept
The bad news is that it isn't ours.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
San Fransisco Giants
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Reductio ad absurdum Rex
The Democrats' message, in short, is that the Democrats are really lousy at delivering a convincing message. Since nobody finds this message convincing, it has a certain surface plausibility.- James Taranto, Best of the Web Today
Monday, October 18, 2010
Economics
Thomas (age: 8): Mommy, when Santa brings us presents, does anyone have to pay?Mommy: Yes, dear.Thomas: How does that work?Daddy: He sends us a bill.Thomas: So did you send Santa his money?Mommy: No, not yet.Thomas: Well, that can't go on forever.
Chicago
Emma (age four): Uncle Jeff, have you ever been to Chicago?Jeff: Yes, I have.Emma: Did you go to the American Girl store?Jeff: No, I've never been there.Emma: You went to Chicago but you didn't go to the American Girl store?Jeff: Nope.Emma: What stores did you go to?Jeff: I don't think I've ever been to a store in Chicago.Emma: You went to Chicago but didn't go to any stores?Jeff: That's right.Emma: I think that must have been a different town.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
One for you, and one for me
Monday, October 04, 2010
Speak up
Glenn Reynolds makes the predictable and scary corollary point: don't worry, government healthcare will be fine.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Overheard in the men's room of an I-95 rest area
Athlete with camera: Hey, look at this great pic I took last night in Boston. I'm putting it on my Facebook page.
Athlete at urinal: We played in New York last night.
Athlete with camera: No, we're on our way to New York right now.
Athlete at urinal: Man, bars all look the same nowadays.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Hartford vs. Bucharest
Romanian lawmaker Alin Popoviciu is blaming fear for the failure of a bill he sponsored that would have imposed new regulations and taxes on witches and fortune tellers. He claimed that the legislation had failed because lawmakers were afraid they would be cursed if they passed it.
I'm sorry that Mr. Popoviciu wasn't able to pass his bill. Maybe he could send some of his country's witch lobbyists over here to curse a few members of the Connecticut General Assembly? I could send him a list if hexing works long-distance.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Yes, Ms. Althouse, this is too creepy
Gee, a girl sure plucked a lemon inBeing born so weak and feminine.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Google's animation today
I wonder if it celebrates the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm/ Markov chain method? It looks like the location of each ball is being randomized and then bounces around its natural position. Towards the end, the x and y error (perturbation away from the natural position) of each ball would look like a fuzzy caterpillar if plotted against time.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Quote of the day
Does the Left really cherish the rights of Islam, or is theirs but a short-sighted alliance with the enemy of their enemies?
- Andrew Klavan
Monday, August 09, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Never say I-told-you-so
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
True daughter of old time
According the Faculty Senate of the University of Virginia, “science,” and indeed “scholarship” in general, is no longer an attempt to establish truth by replicable experiment, or by looking at evidence that can be checked by anyone. “Truth” is now to be established by the decree of powerful authority, by “peer review.” Wasn’t the whole point of the Enlightenment to avoid exactly this?
You silly mathematician. Don't you know that whole point of the Enlightenment was to provide Merchant Ivory actors with an excuse to dress up in powdered wigs and frilly dresses? Or was that the Renaissance? I forget. Which one starred Helena Bonham Carter?
State Department releases Lockerbie letter
August 12, 2009
Rt Hon Alex Salmond, MSP
First Minister for Scotland
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1 SP
Dear First Minister:
I have enclosed a copy of a communication from my government that was passed to the Scottish Ministry of Justice on August 9. I am aware that competence for the decision on the matter discussed lies with the Scottish Minister of Justice, but given the gravity of this matter, I thought it important that you receive directly and be aware of the views of my government as your authorities approach a decision.
I am at your disposal to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,
Richard LeBaron
Chargé d'Affaires
Enclosure: as stated
BEGIN TEXT OF ENCLOSURE:
-- We greatly appreciate the Scottish Government's continued willingness to solicit the views of the United States and the families of its victims with respect to a decision on Megrahi's transfer. This issue is of great importance to the United States.
-- We understand that Scottish law permits the Scottish Government to release individuals in Scottish custody on license if there are compassionate grounds justifying the release, and that as a matter of practice such release is not granted unless the prisoner has a life expectancy of less than three months. We also understand that the Scottish judiciary has the ability to grant bail, and in the case of Megrahi the judiciary has indicated that it is prepared to entertain a renewed bail application on compassionate grounds if Megrahi's prognosis worsens and becomes more certain.
-- The United States respects that decisions concerning compassionate release and bail are reserved to Scottish authorities and are to be made in accordance with Scottish law and policy.
-- The United States is not prepared to support Megrahi's release on compassionate release or bail. We understand that Scottish authorities are ensuring that Megrahi receives quality medical treatment, including palliative care, while incarcerated. The United States maintains its view that in light of the scope of Megrahi's crime, its heinous nature, and its continued and devastating impact on the victims and their families, it would be most appropriate for Megrahi to remain imprisoned for the entirety of his sentence. This was the understanding and expectation at the time arrangements were made for his trial in Scottish Court in the Netherlands, were he or his confederate to be convicted and their appeals upheld.
-- Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the U.S. position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose.
-- If a decision were made by Scotland to grant conditional release, two conditions would be very important to the United States and would partially mitigate the concerns of the American victims' families. First, any such release should only come after the results of independent and comprehensive medical exams clearly establishing that Megrahi's life expectancy is less than three months. The results of these exams should be made available to the United States and the families of the victims of Pan Am 103. The justification of releasing Megrahi on compassionate grounds would be more severely undercut the longer he is free before his actual death.
-- Second, the United States would strongly oppose any release that would permit Megrahi to travel outside of Scotland. We believe that the welcoming reception that Megrahi might receive if he is permitted to travel abroad would be extremely inappropriate given Megrahi's conviction for a heinous crime that continues to have a deep and profound impact on so many. As such, compassionate release or bail should be conditioned on Megrahi remaining in Scotland.
-- Again, while we are not able to endorse the early release of Megrahi under any scenario, we believe that granting compassionate release or bail under the conditions described (i.e. release with a life expectancy or less than three months and with Megrahi remaining in Scotland under supervision) would mitigate a number of the strong concerns that we have expressed with respect to Megrahi’s release.
-- We appreciate the manner in which the Scottish Government has handled this difficult situation. We recognize that the prisoner transfer decision is one that the Scottish Government did not invite, but now must take. We hope that the Scottish Government would consider every available alternative before considering the granting of Megrahi's prisoner transfer application.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Quote of the day
(pro se defendant cross-examining his accuser)
DEFENDANT: You sell drugs out of your house, don’t you?
WITNESS: No.
DEFENDANT: I know that’s a damn lie. I’ve bought weed and crack there myself.
- Overheard in Court, via Legal Antics.
Quote of the day
Kill them all, starting with the math teacher!
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Friday, July 09, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Every compliance manager's nightmare
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Spokeswoman: "it was something we decided to address and make the edit"
Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo confirmed through a spokeswoman that this year’s diplomas were printed without the phrase “in the year of our Lord.”“That was a complaint that came in from a parent last year and it was something we decided to address and make the edit,” said schools spokeswoman Michelle Wade.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Erk
Magnificent quote of the day
.. the Church by the gang of liberticides and libertines that misrules this country ...
- Fabio Paolo Barbieri
Friday, June 18, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Quote of the day
Your views and mine are currently very much the same on the euro. . . . What most troubles me as it does you is that members of the euro have thrown away the key. Once the euro physically replaces the separate currencies, how in the world do you get out? It’s a major crisis. As a result, I would strongly agree with your view that the euro should be abandoned before January 1, 2002. At the same time, the odds are very great that it will not be abandoned. The defects of the euro will take some time to show up; nothing happens very rapidly in this area. There are fewer than three years to go. Even if difficulties deriving from the euro occur in those three years, the political system is unlikely to react quickly enough to end the euro. As a result, I think it would be very desirable for some systematic thought to be given to devising some way to get out of the straitjacket of the euro after 2002. The least Italy should do is to keep intact the plates which are used to produce lira.
-Milton Friedman, from a letter to Antonio Martino, in 1999 (!). Quoted by Christoper Fountain.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 07, 2010
Quote of the day
Dr. Rekers, if you’re listening, I want to tell you two things: (1) I am, among other things, prideful, wrathful, slothful, and gluttonous, and (2) I’ve always wanted to take a three-week trip to Australia.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Health care and the 27th amendment
But the twenty-seventh amendment to the Constitution says that
No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.So unless the twenty-seventh amendment means something very different than its plain text (*), it seems to me that Congress can't get fed to the wolves like the rest of us until after the 2010 Congressional election, and they can't vote to save their coverage unless they opt themselves out before the election.
(*) this phrase may a sure sign that I have scientific mind and not a legal mind. Hallelujah!
Friday, April 09, 2010
James Joyce lives on at the Connecticut Department of Transportation
It read:
Distracted driving kills.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Selling stolen property on EBay
If the Simon Wiesenthal Center after three days can't get eBay to cancel an auction of property stolen during the most thoroughly documented crime in the history of mankind, then what chance does an ordinary person have of recovering their stolen I-Pods and cell phones when they are auctioned on eBay?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Quote of the day
Yes, I'm a man possessed by many demons. Polite demons that would open a door for a lady carrying too many parcels: but demons nonetheless.- Kevin McDonald, Kids in the Hall, Season 2 Episode 2.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The "vice" in middle-school vice principal
(H/T: Volokh Conspiracy, Boing-Boing.)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
How many communists does it take to row a boat?
"Just like two people rowing a boat, if the United States first throws the strokes into chaos, then so must we."(Note to self: never, ever row a boat with this guy.)
Friday, February 05, 2010
Dealing with our government
Submitter
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Notice of Document Faxed Upside Down
Your request to record a document in the United States Patent and Trademark Office was received via electronic fax on XXXX.
The faxed submission was received upside down. We are unable to continue processing these images.
Please resubmit your document.
If you have any questions, you may contact our customer service center at XXXX.
Office of Public Records
Assignment Division
Source: Eric Sherman at Bnet.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Mel Gibson
Despite the occasional foray into biblical interpretation or drunken anti-Semitic outburst, Mel Gibson has always been about fighting injustice, and his latest film, "Edge of Darkness," which opens on Friday, is no exception.
I presume that the "foray into biblical interpretation" is Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. Thus it seems that the New York Times is a newspaper that thinks that executing convicted criminals in an injustice, but that the Crucifixion wasn't.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Groundhog day?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
War on Christmas vs. the war on H1N1
So if your mom is dying and you want to see her one last time before Christmas then tough luck, kid. And if that bothers you, leave. Taunton is no place for cry-babies.
War on Christmas gets nastier
It seems that his principal asked "why did you use x's for his eyes?" The little boy replied "because he's dead." So naturally the principal consulted with the school psychiatrist and refused to let the 8-year old return to school unless his family got a letter from a psychiatrist certifying that he wasn't a threat to the school.
The rest of the story is predictable. The kid's dad was angry, the school superintendent wrote a smarmy response, and the traumatized kid was transfered to a new school (which is probably traumatic in itself for most 8-year-olds.)
Want to fight back for this little boy? Tell someone "Merry Christmas" today, and mean it.
War on Christmas gets weirder
Actually, according to the New York Times they were going to get rid of the creche altogether, but then decided that that was too provocative, and then finally changed their mind again and moved it into a dark corner. I would be remiss if I failed to point out that this is a repeat in miniature of the President's Afghanistan policies over the last year. Let's hope that bin Laden is less competent at defending himself than the baby Jesus.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Quote of the day
All around me people cough. I particularly object to bronchitis as a substitute for incidental music.- Alexander Wolcott, Mr. W's Little Game
Friday, December 11, 2009
Quote of the day
Before nominating her for U.S. Attorney General for Montana, Senator Max Baucus gave the staffer he was bonking a $14,000 raise and took her along with him on a taxpayer-paid junket to Asia. At least Tiger Woods pays his prostitutes from his own pocket.- Christopher Fountain, For What It's Worth