I agree, it does

Despite the incredibly arrogant, contradictory comments following the post, this blogger is right.

And while his first proof is very very informal, the result should be obvious to anyone who took two or more semesters of calculus. (Convergent infinite series, anybody?)

Behind of his time

I wish I had this guy's problem -- he was a star in a foreign country, never even knew it, and now his biggest problem is figuring out why he never saw any royalties.

Or maybe I really am famous in another country? Hello, Mongolians?

Blunt

Ok, the blogosphere completely failed me -- I just found out about the new Weird Al song today.

How did this happen? I'm subscribed to tons of geeky blogs and music blogs, and I'm a huge Weird Al fan, yet this particular factoid did not filter down to me. Damn.

Complete the task!

So do you like Larry the Cable Guy before he changed his wardrobe and discovered his Southern drawl?

I didn't think so.

Freeway math

On the freeway back from Frankenmuth today, I saw a car with the license plate 1 DIV 0. Being that the car was a Maxima, I thought it was cute.

But it would be cutest if the car were an Infiniti.

Schindleria preamaturus

Does anybody know what this giant orange blob in Bolivia is?

I wouldn't be so fascinated except that it's a mile long.

Litter-ati

I think this is rather harsh -- Kathy Griffin is at least on the C-list!

Good night, Michelle

I hope I'm not the last person to see this.

Wheel of Fortune realizations

When I saw Pat Sajak on TV this evening, I remembered that he was a hard-core conservative (maybe even a libertarian).

Then I realized that Wheel of Fortune is the perfect metaphor for the conservative philosophy. You stand around and spin your wheels, treat people like they're morons, and if someone goes bankrupt, make sure there's no safety net.

And now I have to pee

I'm still getting used to the new sounds of my apartment. Like tonight... I jumped up and thought, "Holy crap, did my kitchen sink just spring a leak?"

No, it was just the lawn sprinklers going on automatically.

Uhhhhh

Grrr! I can't think of what I wanted to blog about!

I know there's a blogpost sitting up in my head, but every time I sit at the computer, I draw a complete blank. Do you remember what I was supposed to blog about?

I love green vistas

CNN, June 7, 2006:

Imagine a weeklong vacation spent lounging on a sandy beach in Florida, touring a Napa Valley winery, visiting an art gallery in New York, exploring a historic Cape Cod lighthouse and golfing surfside on Hilton Head Island.

Sounds great -- except for the expense, the complicated travel logistics and the exhaustion.

Now imagine a leisurely vacation on the west coast of Michigan, where similar destinations are close enough to each other to be enjoyed in a lot less time, for a lot less money...

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan (AP) -- Call it the return of the green slime.

Back in the 1960s, foul gobs of algae along Great Lakes shorelines made swimmers and sunbathers miserable before a crackdown on phosphorus pollution repelled the invasion.

Now, the algae are mounting a comeback and controlling it may be tougher this time, according to the Michigan Environmental Council...

Predictable failure

Alan Wolfe's essay "Why Conservatives Can't Govern" is fantastic. If you want the short version, here it is:

If government is necessary, bad government, at least for conservatives, is inevitable, and conservatives have been exceptionally good at showing just how bad it can be. Hence the truth revealed by the Bush years: Bad government--indeed, bloated, inefficient, corrupt, and unfair government--is the only kind of conservative government there is. Conservatives cannot govern well for the same reason that vegetarians cannot prepare a world-class boeuf bourguignon: If you believe that what you are called upon to do is wrong, you are not likely to do it very well.

Eliot's whimper

It's considered impolite to bring up politics or religion in casual conversation.

I think we may need to change that rule. More and more, I'm finding people either know nothing about the political landscape, or have very disturbing views. The most common disturbing view is, "who cares if the Bush administration listens in on my phone calls? It's only a problem if you have something to hide."

Oh, how I long for the days when we had certain unalienable rights. Why aren't people talking about this?

UPDATE: After rereading this entry, it feels like I wrote the same introduction before. If that's true, I apologize. I endeavor to be more creative!

Push the button, Frank

Thanks Daring Fireball for linking me to Peanut Gallery, another program I wish I had thought of. Grr.

(Of course, if I had written this, I would inevitably be sued by the MPAA.)

Industrial strength encryption

A comment on an Unsanity article relating to serial number schemes jokes,

You're suggesting ROT13? Sheesh! We upgraded to double-ROT13 years ago.

Trapped in the kitchen

My MacBook Pro gets hot too.

It's intelligent air-wiggling, duh

To the LazyWeb:

Has anyone figured out why the range of your remote keyless entry increases dramatically when you hold it near your open mouth?

Apartment notes

• The other day I tried to open my apartment door with my car's remote keyless entry. This was not effective.
• Sometimes I'll walk into the common entryway and think, damn, did I leave some dairy out to rot or something? Then I realize it's just my neighbors cooking.
• I hope I'm never the one responsible for the lingering odor.
• Today a large flying spiderish bug flew at me and my laptop screen. I chased it around my apartment and eventually killed it with a sudoku book. This sounds manly, but when I was initially attacked, I shouted, "oh god". (It was not high-pitched; I'm not that girly.)

Bohemian rhapsody

Here's some classic John Hodgman (you may know him better as the Deranged Millionaire, the PC, or as the Daily Show's Resident Expert):

You are essentially asking that age-old question, must I suffer for my art? The answer is no. True art comes from within, not from external circumstance. And true art is only made truer by comfort, fluffy pillows, and climate control. Why do you think Salman Rushdie temped at Pfizer last summer? You have to beat the heat somehow. I think air conditioners are good as well because the hum helps me to sleep at night, and by cooling individual rooms they make the surrounding city hotter. And when this city heats up—man alive, you know there's going to be a party somewhere. Or a stabbing.

Did you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than in your head?

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo links to a great post hoc ergo propter hoc today. It's from a review of An Inconvenient Truth in the New York Post:

Global warming hasn't noticed that we got the lead out of our gasoline or that Stage One smog days in Los Angeles fell from 121 in 1977 to zero in 2004. All regulations and taxes to date have done nothing. Does this hint that pollution isn't the cause?

I'm guessing this will be the next big talking point coming from the conservatives, since it's got so much truthiness.

Ah... lilacs

You might not think this is the funniest headline ever:

Wander the fragrant streets of Mackinac Island

Um, Cottage Living magazine? Try visiting Mackinac Island, and you'll experience another invigorating fragrance.