July 29, 2005
Iraq Update
As many as twenty-six people were killed by a suicide bomber in the U.K. today.
Just kidding, it was in Iraq. No big deal. Move along.
So how is that Iraq thing going? Who knows. As of May, electricity production was still below pre-invasion levels. On the other hand, oil production, compared to the level of two years ago, is also down.
July 27, 2005
Space
Unlike the good folks over in Farringtonia, we have electricity here at the WMDS House. I am making fine use of it, watching a live video stream of the Sun setting behind the curved limb of the Earth, as seen from a camera on the Space Shuttle Discovery, while I track its progress across the terminator in my browser. We may not have robot butlers (yet), but how can one not be inspired?
July 24, 2005
Sudoku
This is a sentence about a very weird article about Sudoku.
July 14, 2005
An Open Letter to the Other People in My Head
Are you there? It's me, David.
Let me explain. Yesterday, before I left work, I copied a bunch of files over to another directory for somebody to examine, but I forgot one file: TableDialog.java. Without that, the build breaks. Oops!
Later on, long after the sun set, I went to bed. I had turned out the lights and turned on the fan (to make that soothing white noise -- but you already know about that). I closed my eyes, waiting for that sleepy feeling, when, all of the sudden, apropos of no thought running through my head --
YOU FORGOT TO COPY TableDialog.java !!!
Where did that come from? And why then? Here is my working theory:
[Earlier that day, David has just finished copying the files, when ...]David Co-entity 1: "Hmmm, looks like somebody forgot to copy a file!"
David Co-entity 2: "Well, maybe he did it on purpose. Maybe he wants to work on it at home and copy it then."
David Co-entity 1: "Are you on crack cocaine? He just forgot. He's a dumb ass."
David Co-entity 2: "Look, give him the benefit of the doubt."
David Co-entity 1: "Man, you're almost as st00pid as he is. Fine, we'll see if you're right."
[Later that night, as David is about to drift into dreamland ...]David Co-entity 1: "Ahahaha! Sucker! In. Your. Face. He's not going to copy the file. He's going to sleep! It's my birthday, it's my birthday ..."
David Co-entity 2: "You know something, David Co-entity 1? You're a real dick."
David Co-entity 1: "Awww, you're just sore 'cause I'm right and you're wrong. May I do the honors?"
David Co-entity 2: "Go ahead."
David Co-entity 1: "*ahem* YOU FORGOT TO COPY TableDialog.java !!!"
So is that the score? I'd just like to know.
-David
July 12, 2005
More Failure
Two women killed in suicide bombing in Netanya
Reuters news agency reported that Islamic Jihad had released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, in a telephone call to the agency's office in the West Bank city of Tul Karm.
Islamic Jihad said after Tuesday's attack that it remained committed to the cease-fire. Islamic Jihad has said that despite the truce, it reserves the right to retaliate for what it perceives as Israeli violations, such [as] arrests of Islamic Jihad members.
July 11, 2005
Empty Spaces
This makes me sad. And it makes me wonder: Will I be around when (not if) it is torn down? Who will do the tearing?
One word: Failure.
Andri's Last Night in Town
Andri is my friend. Andri used to live next door to me, before I moved. Andri just passed her PhD thesis defense and is heading to Budapest for her new job as an economist.
While we did have a going away Tea for Andri, her grad student friends totally beat us after the punch by throwing a going away party this past Saturday night -- Andri's last night in town -- at Banana Cafe on Capitol Hill.
These econ grad student friends of hers are much cooler than I imagined. In my mind I pictured a bunch of Alan Greenspans (some with longer hair and bigger breasts, though). As it turns out, they are young and hip, they know how to drink, and all are in danger of rocking out at any given moment. You are looking at one and then BAM! they are rocking out.Of the sixteen or so people there, the only Americans seemed to be spouses or significant others. From this unscientific sample I can tell you that in the future, all economists will be polylingual non-Americans who will kindly humor you and your monolingual, parochial world view.
Interesting fact: another country has a "Columbia" too, and their "Columbia" is the entire country.
More useful information: Banana Cafe has pretty good margaritas, but be prepared to get kicked out at 1 AM! What kind of monster would serve you delicious margaritas and then make you leave the source of those margaritas? Nobody knows ...
Bye bye, Andri. You will be missed.
* * *I finally saw War of the Worlds. I had to go by myself. If you would like to discuss War of the Worlds with me, I am available for that.
July 07, 2005
Even Worse Than High Blood Pressure
There's no way I'm going to the beach now:
Several graduate students were mixing sodium chloride — a highly flammable chemical known to react violently with water — on the third floor of the Chemistry building Thursday when the explosion happened. No injuries were reported.
Details can be found here.