Marco's blog An [almost] daily rant 

Thursday, November 16, 2006

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Location, Location, Location: Neighboroo.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

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Just in time for the Charlie Brown Christmas, It's Jihad, Charlie Brown.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

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A Free Translation Online alternative to bablefish. Anybody tried it?

Sunday, September 17, 2006

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It is back: Xdrive. All you need is an AOL Screen Name.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

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Maybe more people will carry on The Times.

Monday, September 11, 2006

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The gathering storm? But, which one?

Friday, September 08, 2006

Monday, August 28, 2006

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One hundred percent effective Cracker Attack Technique.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

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Positive feedback illustrated in A brief history of air-conditioning.

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The winner. And, best of all, Ubuntu runs from a CD-ROM. No installation necessary.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

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Comcast says they have upgraded our Internet Service. Not what they promised, but I used to get 1301.4 Kbps. Today, I got 2354.3 Kbps. Whoo-hoo. UPDATE: Early on a Saturday morning, CNET claims I got 3607.4 Kbps. But, while Broadband Reports agrees that my download speed is 3495 kbps, my upload speed was only 353 kbps.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Thursday, August 10, 2006

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What's a vacation without Wi-Fi?

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

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Order Is Restored: Yankees First, Red Sox Second.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

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All you need to know about Enron: "Enron was not brought down by fraud; while the company committed fraud, its fraud was primarily an attempt to cover up tens of billions of dollars already lost--not embezzled--in irrational business decisions. Most of its executives believed that Enron was a basically productive company that could be righted. This is why Chairman Ken Lay did not flee to the Caymans with riches, but stayed through the end."

Friday, July 14, 2006

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This runner is a very cool tessellation, but it hurts my eyes.

Monday, July 10, 2006

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What's the catch? Free backup up to 2GB.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

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For a funny definition of 'net neutrality, try Rian's blog, Virtual Karma.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

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Who is surprised at success without central planning? The New York Times.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

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At Johns Hopkins 25% of freshman families getting need-based aid earned more than $120,000 per year.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

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Is Classic Car Seats spamming your Blog? I have deleted six of their posts this week. And I found them on other blogs, not just mine. Don't buy from spammers.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Thursday, June 08, 2006

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Better than my old Zone Alarm? Comodo Personal Firewall 2.0.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

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Asymmetrical Information: Can one oppose polygamy without opposing gay marriage? Sure, if one is icky and the other is not.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

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This comment to How Soccer Explains The World explains soccer.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

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Looks like a feature to me, not a bug. PDF Security Compromised in Gmail.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

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My hotel offers High-Speed Internet, rated by the CNET Bandwidth Meter Speed Test at 583.7 Kbps. UPDATE: But, I am very glad to be home, and not just because I get 1301.4 Kbps.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

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A Duke Law Professor of whom the lacrosse team can be proud.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Thursday, April 13, 2006

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The New York Times channels Adam Smith in Fries With That?

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

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I will try to be Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File. UPDATE: Day 1, and nothing is broken, and some ads are not displayed.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

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Technology to the rescue? Has anybody tried the AeroPress Coffee & Espresso Maker?

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Monday, February 06, 2006

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I always hated taking meeting minutes.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

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After a million miles, I was stunned to have to follow a blog link to learn that my US Airways dividend miles are expiring. Hat tip: View from the Wing.

Monday, January 30, 2006

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Who says America is losing its manufacturing base?

Friday, January 27, 2006

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A doctor buddy of mine recommends The Fix-It Myth for a succinct description of our health care "crisis".

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

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Who benefits from M&A work? KPMG among others.

Monday, January 23, 2006

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Ends and Means: A Nasty Business. It is never as simple as we wish it were.

Friday, December 30, 2005

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The free online resource Wikipedia is about as accurate on science as the Encyclopedia Britannica, a study shows.

Friday, December 09, 2005

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Who is the best expert on slippery slopes? The Volokh Conspiracy.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

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At least in Britain they can call it a Christmas party.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

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Gimme some of that Global Warming!

Thursday, December 01, 2005

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Good thing he was the IT Director.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

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If you let in only the brilliant, then you produced bookworms and bench scientists: you ended up as socially irrelevant as the University of Chicago (an institution Harvard officials looked upon and shuddered).

Monday, November 28, 2005

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Good guide to Apache License and GPL, called Academic v. Reciprocal licenses.

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This just in. Pharmaceutical sales reps are cute.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

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Has anybody actually done real work using a Web-based Office Suite? UPDATE: A pretty good review of Writely.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Sunday, November 13, 2005

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Meet the Flinstone's. Where? Pennsylvania.

Friday, November 11, 2005

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Bottom line - if you are buying music CDs - check if they have Sony on the label, and if they do, don't buy them.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

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So exactly who is representing Frank Chavez?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

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Great investigative reporting on Sony's Rootkit malware. And MS makes you edit your registry to disable CD Autorun.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

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Central Economic Planning is really Central Political Planning.

Monday, October 24, 2005

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Want efficient Rationing? Try gouging.

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Are senators really that smart?

Sunday, October 23, 2005

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I oppose the Miers nomination. Conservatives deserve better; Americans deserve better.

Monday, October 17, 2005

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Good movie, maybe. But is 'Good Night' good history?

Monday, October 10, 2005

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On a much-delayed flight, I was able to really read my Johns Hopkins Magazine, where I learned "Unknown to most of the record crowd of 44,920 in Philadelphia, seven of Hopkins' top nine scorers, including Harrison, had suffered significant injuries during the two weeks leading up to the finals". We wondered why there were so many unsung heroes.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

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One statistic from The Bell Curve, made easy by Arnold Kling, who must be a great teacher.

Friday, September 23, 2005

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Would I get caught? Probably by an Ego-Hack.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

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Common sense revolts at the idea that creating a virtual card catalog is not fair use.

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Two Hundred Billion Dollars divided by One Million People equals $200,000. PER PERSON, FEDERAL SPENDING ALONE. Steven E. Landsburg says take the money and run.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

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It seems that even Cato is resigned to Katrina spending. And I would add half a billion for CPB to Cato's list.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

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Reason: You Don't Save What You Don't Own: Disaster amplifies the private-public incentive divide. Greyhound, after all, did not leave hundreds of its buses to be destroyed. And, of course, this very fact caused Nagin to scream for "every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country" to come to the aid of his city.

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Soporific sues sophomore.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

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My memory of almost 25 years on Opportunity Cost is better than 78 percent of the economists questioned.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

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John Roberts: Judging [his] Faith and Following the Money. But I thought profits were good?

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

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Microsoft Names Former Wal-Mart Exec As Chief Operating Officer. And where did he start? As an hourly sales associate.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Thursday, July 28, 2005

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Courage is sometimes little more than stating the obvious.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

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National Champions Gallery: Photos courtesy of Homewood Imaging and Photographic Services.

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Not much about Harry Potter, but a gem about Half-Wit Prigs.

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What's all this I hear about endangered feces? ... Never mind.

Monday, July 25, 2005

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How would you answer these Confirmation Questions?

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

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Who is on the Plame trail? Power Line and the WSJ. But not the Today Show.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

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I like these Terrorism Lessons From 1870, especially since I think Arnold Kling strays from his area of expertise quite nicely.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

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ScrappleFace: Kennedy Slams Unnamed Supreme Court Nominee. Tactic: Nominate Ann Coulter, and then anybody will seem moderate. UPDATE: Life, OK, Chuck Schumer imitates ScrappleFace.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

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If "Gary Becker is the grand old freak", then Freaky Research is some of the most important.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

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Robert J. Samuelson explains why 1990 is the Kyoto baseline year.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

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PC at Ground Zero? No way, says Jeff Jarvis.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

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How common is your name? The Baby Name Wizard answers not only that, but answers it over time.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

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How We're Heading Back to the Future is worth reading even without the aside, "What, you think people invented agriculture for bread?"

Sunday, June 12, 2005

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Why read him, when you can just read the Fact Checking?

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Monday, June 06, 2005

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John Podheretz: Why Gitmo's no gulag. And the final word from Charles Krauthammer.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

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What a great weekend. JHU wins twice. And HickokSports had the list updated by Monday. And even the West Islip boys win 'A' title.

Friday, May 20, 2005

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At Hopkins, the Nagging Cold Spell is the subject, while the GPA spike is in the fourth-from-last paragraph. I will be looking to break the bad luck streak of playoff games I watch in person.

Monday, May 16, 2005

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Yet another example of our technological superiority. Hubris: Islamic World Outraged By Alleged Flushing Of Koran. Even the Aussies are far behind us.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

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Asserting that Cardinal Ratzinger should have questioned the orthodox Catholic position that though individual Catholics can err morally, the church and the pope cannot is about as sensitive as asking a Rabbi whether he has accepted Jesus as his Lord and savior.

Monday, May 09, 2005

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Had the Afrikaners boycotted this election, would that have made Mandela's government illegitimate?

Monday, May 02, 2005

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Thursday, April 21, 2005

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Monday could have been another BearingPoint.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

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Gotta love this story about vendor claims.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

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FEE Books without a fee. How cool is that?

Monday, April 11, 2005

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If Craigslist for-rent ads scraped and placed on Google Maps is not transformative, I do not know what is.

Thursday, March 31, 2005

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I agree. I want wireless everything.

Monday, March 28, 2005

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Bryan Caplan illustrates How Everyone Can Get Richer as Per-Capita Income Falls. Shocking even though we know intellectually that you cannot average averages.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Monday, March 21, 2005

Saturday, March 19, 2005

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Syracuse should have been worried, but so was I. My inamorata knew better, as we listened to a great comeback.

Monday, March 14, 2005

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Like good Trekkies, we have become Original Law & Order junkies, rejecting spin-offs. So we appreciate this Requiem for a Cop - Jerry Orbach.

Friday, March 11, 2005

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John Derbyshire gives I am Charlotte Simmons a favorable review, and I agree, having received the book as a Christmas present, and enjoyed it also.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

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These Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload are good, but only really work if adopted by entire organizations, as internal e-mail is much more of an issue for me than external.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

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We were part of the largest crowd ever at Class of 1952 Stadium as we watched No. 1 JHU beat the third-ranked Princeton Tigers in their opener, 9-6.

Friday, March 04, 2005

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JHU Men's Fencing Wins MACFA Championship. Bishe's 13-0 record in foil leads the Blue Jays to another first-place finish at Haverford.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

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My sis, who once lived there, sends me The Somerville Gates.

Monday, February 21, 2005

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Strong password policies are actually weak, when implemented by humans with limited memories.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

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Power Line makes fun of a NYT correction, but my sis adds another correction, "The actual formula is a^2 + b^2 + 2ab(cos c) = c^2 and in the case of a right triangle cos c is zero, so it simplifies, but the formula can be used on any triangle [not just right triangles]. Geeky enough?"

Monday, February 14, 2005

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If you want to know what a Fisking looks like, take a peek at this offering from Tim Blair.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

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I got to Danbury CT no problem. If you have never used the Hertz GPS, you are really missing something. They gave it to me free, but I would gladly pay for it out of my own pocket next time I traveled somewhere unfamiliar. The hardest part was learning to ignore my own directions and instead trust the device. Alas, they will have to come down in price before they gain mass appeal. And the hotel has big rooms and free high-speed Internet Access. Of course, I forgot how CT dirts their roads in the winter.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Thursday, February 10, 2005

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I was watching, and it is about time Rummy got a chance to clear the record.

Friday, January 28, 2005

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Here is a good way to meet your contractual SLAs.

Monday, January 17, 2005

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Breaf, and great short story. The Chaser: John Collier.

Friday, January 07, 2005

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Friday, December 31, 2004

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Come January, Boston fans noticing a distant rumble and a funny smell will have to wonder: Is that just the subway, or is it payback time again?

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

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Fisking is easier to pronounce than Herberting.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

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Markets for everything! Except if my inamorata notices this.

Monday, November 29, 2004

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It takes the NYT thirteen paragraphs to get around to noting that Carlos M. Gutierrez, the commerce secretary nominee, "has a compelling personal story, having been forced to leave Cuba in 1960 at the age of 7 after his father was threatened by Fidel Castro. He never completed college and got his start with Kellogg in the 1970's in Mexico City driving a cereal delivery truck." Wonder other compelling personal stories, say about a patrician senator who by the way served in Viet Nam, get similar treatment.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Thursday, November 18, 2004

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With this survey Daniel B. Klein can kiss his tenure goodbye.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

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ScrappleFace: NBC Reporter Declines Al-Jazeera 'Best Video' Award. If the story of Fallujah isn't on that NBC videotape, should you just take it out on Tom Brokaw? And maybe these Kerry-like heroics were justified?

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

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NPR star Keillor sure sounds like more like a bigot than a humorist. I guess counting all the votes really means counting all the votes he wants to count.

Monday, November 15, 2004

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McBride said. "You have a big company beating up on a little company. You put that up in front of 12 people in Salt Lake City a year from now, and we like the outcome of that." Of course, regardless of the merits, a fair read of ZDNet: Fact and fiction in the Microsoft-SCO relationship would lead you to believe there are two big companies involved.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

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I think this seems like a great product. PDF4Free creates PDFs as easily as printing. It was one of PC Magazine's Fall Freeware Recommendations.

Friday, November 12, 2004

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Too much triumphalism is How Hillary Clinton Won the Elections of 2008 and 2012, by Dave Kopel, Independence Institute.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

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While there were more anti-Bush voters, Roger L. Simon lays out the anti-Kerry case.

Friday, November 05, 2004

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Why is netiquette never enough? Shirky says Social Software must avoid the tragedy of the commons. As a bonus, you get the Slashdot FAQ and the Federalist Papers in the same sentence.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

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Can you distinguish between John Kerry, Osama Bin Laden, and Michael Moore? I took The Political Quiz, and scored less than 50%.

Sunday, October 31, 2004

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Became a real suburban dad this weekend. Yesterday, we joined Costco, and today, my inamorata provided cider for the neighborhood Halloween block party.

Friday, October 29, 2004

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"'Yogi,' someone asked toward the end of the evening, 'is this going to become an annual event?' 'Well, yeah,' replied the Hall of Famer, 'if we do it every year.'"

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

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Can you tell the difference between the beliefs (not the tactics) of Al Gore and the Unabomber?

Thursday, October 21, 2004

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Not that we believe in curses, but now we need to count on the NL to stop the Red Sox.

Friday, October 15, 2004

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Charles Krauthammer calls it An Edwards Outrage.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

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Just in case anybody forgot, the rush to war may have prevented more killing fields.

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Hugh Hewitt thinks Bush won, but the real loser is Shieffer and MSM. With bias in the open like this, Bush was wise to not to refuse to participate in a debate moderated by a CBS airhead.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

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To know him is to reject him.

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Whoo-Hoo. This United States Patent: 4,022,227 has now expired, and the comb-over is back in the Public Domain. The Donald, who is no doubt reading this blog, is notified.

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Today our little emby turned six months old.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

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Word for word, Instapundit is an underrated humorist.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Friday, August 27, 2004

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I hope that any settlement will not even pay for a Big Mac.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

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Hit & Run claims Bush and Kerry are related.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Monday, August 16, 2004

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Now that we have been on wifi for a month or so now, this essay on the relationship between physics, engineering, and regulation, and their effect on our culture (so strong I did not think about it until I read the essay), seems much more interesting that it would have been a year a go.

Friday, August 13, 2004

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Last night, our little emby slept through the night, for the first time ever. UPDATE: He slept through Friday night again, but Saturday and Sunday he returned to form.

Thursday, August 05, 2004

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Finally, an intelligent alternative to random airport checks on grandmothers, coming, of course, from an economist.

Monday, August 02, 2004

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Alcohol sharpens your brain, say researchers. What would we do without researchers?

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

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Even better than recycling, because this is a real (though small) incentive.

Monday, July 26, 2004

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Last week, our little emby learned to roll from front to back. Yesterday, he finally achieved his goal of rolling from back to front. Today, he is more frustrated than he ever has been, because he cannot crawl.

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Who says polyticks cannot be fun?

Monday, July 19, 2004

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

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Glad I moved away from the Most Expensive in America. Three of the top four most expensive publicly listed homes in America were on LI.

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Did J.P. Morgan Chase waste billions so its CEO could keep his job? How about $3.5B/year? And then, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank announced it is relinquishing its New York state banking charter to convert to a national bank and merge Bank One's principal banking subsidiary and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank under one national charter based in Ohio.

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Five flooded towns in NJ declared a state of emergency, and for us, our shopvac got a workout, but we were fine otherwise.

Sunday, July 11, 2004

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Wireless, with one less tripping hazard.

Friday, July 02, 2004

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Johns Hopkins Is Top Hospital. In your face, Mayo Clinic and Mass General.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

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Our little emby made it to his first non-family birthday party yesterday at The Philly Zone, and then he went out to dinner with his parents and his nanna. Needless to say, he was perfectly behaved. We dined al fresco, and he woke when a car alarm went off, but did not even fuss.

Friday, June 25, 2004

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A week too late, the NYT writes, "Iraqis, Seeking Foes of Saudis, Contacted bin Laden." Their headlines screaming "No Collaboration!" are now just hair-splitting. Update: Andrew C. McCarthy agrees with me.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Thursday, June 17, 2004

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More geeks, fewer skateboarders in Love Park, thanks to Wireless Philadelphia.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

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A big day for our little emby. At 9.5 weeks, he had his two month physical. He now weighs in at 13.6 pounds (80th percentile, and that is without his diaper even on, and he surely could break 14 pounds after a good feeding), and is 25 inches long (95th percentile). He was also a big star at pushing up while prone, but he could not manage a social smile despite the loud tie on the pediatrician. Then came the trauma. His DTaP, Hep B, IPV, Hib, and Pneumococcal vaccines were a bit tough. He tolerated the first two, started crying on the third, and let us know he was very unhappy by the fourth. But, never has he slept so well in the afternoon.

Monday, June 14, 2004

Friday, June 11, 2004

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When you go on a fishing expedition, patience is a virtue.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

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Reagan did not triple the deficit. In this presentation of the The Laffer Curve, we read, "The most controversial portion of Reagan's tax revolution was reducing the highest marginal income tax rate from 70 percent (when he took office in 1981) to 28 percent in 1988. However, Internal Revenue Service data reveal that tax collections from the wealthy, as measured by personal income taxes paid by top percentile earners, increased between 1980 and 1988--despite significantly lower tax rates." UPDATE: Opinion Journal (last item) eventually gets around to reading the same paper.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

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The new Iraqi government is thanking America and Bush. Why are the media silent? Well, not ALL the media.

Monday, June 07, 2004

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

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Hello allows me to add pics to my blog. Whoo Hoo! Posted by Hello

Sunday, May 30, 2004

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After Syracuse ousted No. 1 seeded JHU 15-9, let's hope the USNA can salvage yet another disappointing Memorial Day Weekend.

Friday, May 28, 2004

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Gotta love Newsday's T-Rock's Take, not just for the prediction, but for his sense of humor. UPDATE: Of course, all three of his final four predictions were wrong, but it was funny nonetheless.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

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One of the reasons Hofstra still holds the Lacrosse quarterfinal record with 12,289 in 1999 is that I took my father and sister there to watch the Jays avenge a regular season loss to Hofstra there.

Monday, May 24, 2004

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I watched JHU beat Carolina on Comcast Sports Net, and with that victory, I zoomed all the way from 839 to 658.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Thursday, May 20, 2004

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Did you know Paul Ehrlich won a Heinz Award for stupidity?

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

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I needed a 1st-round upset, so now I am tied for 839.

Monday, May 17, 2004

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OK, I have been gone for a while. Short excuse: I became a father on Monday April 5. Longer version: I found myself in a race with MB (emby = embryo; my nickname has stuck, to the chagrin of my inamorata's mother, but we have tried not to refer to him that way recently). Saturday morning, nine days before he was born, I was just putting the second coat of white on the walls of his nursery, and Saturday late afternoon I put the third. Then, on Sunday before noon Mass, I taped around the trim, and painted the trim. Sunday afternoon, I painted the doors, and Sunday evening my inamorata's brother helped me move the furniture back in after WEEKS of having to edge around furniture piled in the alls, and beds stacked against walls. Monday, the crib and changing table arrived, and Monday night, I scraped the paint off two of the windows. Wednesday night, I attacked the third window. Then on Thursday, my inamorata put up the window treatments, and all seemed picture-perfect, but I could not get the entire image into my viewfinder. My inamorata had her last Doctor's appointment Thursday morning, and all seemed well, we checked into the hospital (ahh, bellhop?), Sunday night, trying to time things for Monday morning, April 5, which has been our due date all along. That way we started with the A-Team and they could still be done by sundown on Monday, Passover.

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Sunday, March 21, 2004

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A first for me. After listening to the webcast on WAER-Syracuse where the Blue Jays crushed the Orangemen, I called into sports talk radio show, and got on the air.

Friday, March 19, 2004

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

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We got an 80% on our Biophysical Profile. A lifetime of scored test results awaits.

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Christopher Hitchens wields the sword of sarcasm pretty deftly.

Saturday, March 13, 2004

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Of course this is a parody. The real NYT Op-Ed columnists are infamous for not having to run corrections.

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The Viacom-EchoStar dispute illustrates why content providers and cable monopolies need to be separated.

Friday, March 12, 2004

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I passed my Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification Examination this morning. No more flashcards for me.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

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I went to Princeton Athletics' page, and after a half-hour plus download of RealPlayer, I caught most of the second half from their radio. It appears that I joined in just when we took over the game.

Saturday, March 06, 2004

Thursday, March 04, 2004

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Now here is a gut.

Friday, February 27, 2004

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Google saves yet another document from the memory hole.

Friday, February 20, 2004

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"Smart Cars" in New Mexico?

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

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The BBC reports that a Valentine kiss exhausted an Italian man. But who believes the Beeb, especially on a story so incredible?

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Come to San Francisco and get your license.

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

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Can you say disproportionate impact? Sure you can.

Sunday, February 08, 2004

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Alice knows how to train her replacement. This would even work for an off-shore replacement.

Friday, February 06, 2004

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Without access to something like the Google Cache, bloggers would find it harder to prove MTV was rewriting history.

Monday, February 02, 2004

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Surprise: The Russians and French were the leading beneficiaries of Saddam's oil. I guess the protesters were correct. It is all about oil.

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On Saturday, my inamorata, her brother, and I took in My Architect, an excellent documentary.

Friday, January 30, 2004

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What, no more brandy, chess, and conversation? Well then, the academy will have to do without me.

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Michael Kinsley never gives up, and neither do the candidates who aren't conceding anything. Where's my towel?

Monday, January 26, 2004

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Can US Airways be saved? Forget that, what about saving my frequent flyer miles? I suppose I go to the back of the line.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

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If everybody agrees, it must be true. Osama is on Mars.

Monday, January 12, 2004

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Good news. Johns Hopkins Maintains Waiver For Men's and Women's Lacrosse, as the Division III Membership Votes Overwhelmingly In Favor of Amended Proposal.

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Dick Grasso's secretary made a whopping $250,000 a year, and his two drivers made $125,000 apiece, according to The New York Post. Well, I can type, and I can drive, and if they paid me half a million, they could save on benefits.

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We saw the Eagles advance to the NFC Championship game with a thrilling victory over the Packers. My inamorata got invited to a skybox, and we took the Broad Street Subway Line with some rather boisterous fans, walked passed Kate Smith, and a guy receiving medical treatment (my guess, he was atop his vehicle and fell off), breathed a sigh of relief when we entered relative calm of the box area, and enjoyed one of the most exciting games I ever saw in relative warmth. I say relative because the daughter of the guy with the box kept cracking open the window to better experience the full-throated fans, and the rear door kept getting opened (by the waitresses, the fans in the box sneaking out for a smoke, by a trio of cheerleaders entering to warm up, and during the overtime, the guards who kept the sky box section secure basically just camped out in our box), but I was pretty comfortable. On the return subway ride, a true gentleman who offered my inamorata his seat, redeeming all of humanity, or at least the typical Eagles fan.

Saturday, January 03, 2004

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Michael Crichton speaks at Caltech. Not a page-turner, but more worthwhile (and I like his novels).

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Michael Kinsley discusses the Novak affair. Cynically, but well, if within a narrow field of view.

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

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Eric Raymond discusses Libya twice. First, he adds not just truth (as he claims) but vitality to the NYT account. Second, he gives us an election prediction. Spot on in both instances, IMHO.

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If she had lived, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her [Mary Jo Kopechne] in her old age. Or to be more accurate, would have taxed us to send checks to her.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

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Visit stopprop65.com and help save JHU Lax (or protect our football players from Division I). But be careful. The website allows you to write to NCAA President Myles Brand. No matter what you think of the NCAA, let's not be counterproductive.

Monday, December 22, 2003

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

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W.H. Auden reviews The Return of the King. Good review, better book.

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Hackers say, "Happy Anniversary, Wilbur and Orville". One picture, or a thousand words?

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SelectSmart.com tries to match all candidates to my Platonic ideal (a 100% match). Bush leads the generic Libertarian Candidate 70% to 66%. Howard Phillips is next at 41%, and Joe Lieberman leads the Democrats at 36%.

Monday, December 15, 2003

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An appropriate way to celebrate our first anniversary yesterday, with the Messiah.

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If we are all nerds now, then none of us are nerds.

Friday, December 12, 2003

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Trust the NYP to cut to the heart of the matter, when they outline The Weasels' Just Desserts. Andrew Sullivan is similarly spot-on. It might become the international version of The Little Red Hen (maybe I would link to The Dallas Morning News version, if it were not for their stupid and evil linking policy), especially now that we got him.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

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Could M$ really be patenting a visual HTML editor?

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If you could Hold Moonbeam in Your Hand, what would the speed of light be while you were holding it?

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Say it ain't so, Andy. You chose the Astros over the Yankees?

Sunday, December 07, 2003

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After shoveling out from our first snowstorm, I turned in a spectacular couch potato performance, as I watched Navy beat Army.

Friday, December 05, 2003

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Maybe the real Wal-Mart shoppers are well-behaved, even when offered $29.87 DVD players.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Thursday, November 27, 2003

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Major League Baseball gives Yankee fans hours of pleasure, decade after decade, and provides invaluable learning opportunities to xSox and Cubs fans, so maybe MLB deserves its Antitrust Exemption. Now, the MPAA, RIAA Seek Permanent Antitrust Exemption. They will probably get it, so they can get better at bullying innocent people. UPDATE: MLB does not deserve its Antitrust Exemption. They are trying to deny me my Yahoo pitch-by-pitch updates.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

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Whom shall we boycott? I vote we start with Madonna, as that might be easier than Time Warner, the Gap stores, and eBay.

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Our difficulties in Iraq are pointing at least one Op-Ed Contributor to The Three-State Solution, my fave.

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I would be more willing to sit on jury if I could pick the trial. I would start with this case of Spam Rage. Definitely mitigating circumstances.

Sunday, November 23, 2003

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Last night, my inamorata and I attended a gala for the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. If this blog gets me into trouble, I hope they will represent me.

Monday, November 17, 2003

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We should not be so quick to underestimate the ancient technology. Roman aqueducts we can see, but it appears that Mexican Indians knew something about applied genetics 4,400 years ago.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

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The CounterRevolutionary helps the Times find a quagmire.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

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It is a boy. My inamorata and I went for the high-resolution ultrasound today, and within the limits of the equipment, they discovered no problems. Of course, there are plenty of more diagnostics (amniocentesis, triple blood test) they had been willing to do, but we had passed on them.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

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Imagine a UN-run Internet. Let me join the Black Helicopter Crowd.

Friday, November 07, 2003

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Here's hoping that either the Bronx DA or a NYC jury has more sense than the NYC cops. But, maybe they will manage to accidentally mangle their paperwork.

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

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At least one person, Mark Medish, thinks Iraq should not repudiate Saddam's debts. The NY Times might someday disclose that he is a lawyer representing international corporate creditors of Iraq, and that he previously favored canceling the Soviet-era debt still outstanding on Russia's books.

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A partial victory as CBS exiles its planned Reagan mini-series to Showtime. Of course, Showtime, unlike broadcast TV, could also show an uncensored view of the Clinton Presidency, but I doubt they would have entertained that idea. And, ultimately, did Drudge and the new media save CBS from itself? BTW, my inamorata has repeatedly confirmed that what Terry Teachout blogs, "Newspapers, in case you didn't know, take cancel-my-subscription-you-bastards letters very seriously—if they get enough of them". Her publisher not only reads them, but replies to them.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

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Just when you worry that the Left has no sense of perspective, they surprise you and offer balanced reporting. For example, Ellen Gray reports that Ronald Reagan has a lot more friends [than Adolph Hitler].

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Andrew Sullivan makes Fisking Andy Rooney look easy. Is that because Sullivan is so good? Or maybe because Andy Rooney is so bad?

Sunday, November 02, 2003

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On Friday, over 100 Trick-or-Treaters visited my inamorata and me. On Saturday, I finally got a haircut (a good one) at Raph's in Bryn Mawr, and after a two-fer (All Saints and All Souls), we settled in to watch The Thomas Crown Affair on DVD.

Friday, October 31, 2003

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What's worse: getting your blog posting copyedited or lawyered?

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

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ACLU Sues Bush for White House Ramadan Feast. Truth or ScrappleFace? We report. You decide.

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They are not anti-war. They are just pro-anything so long as it is anti-American. The best reporting I saw on Saturday's protest came from Belligerent Bunny, a blogger. At no extra charge, Belligerent Bunny quotes P.J. O'Rourke. "'How come,' I asked Andy, 'whenever something upsets the Left, you see immediate marches and parades and rallies with signs already printed and rhyming slogans already composed, whereas whenever something upsets the Right, you see two members of the Young Americans for Freedom waving a six-inch American flag?' 'We have jobs,' said Andy."

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A spammer has found my favorite personal in-box. What does spam cost your company? And, not that I think either will be effective, but lawsuits and national legislation tap an anger that I share with many.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

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Treat your employees like dogs, and manage a 300% turnover rate, treat them as humans, and you can have 5% turnover rate. Maybe even get a decent reputation, and get better employees in the first place. UPDATE: My inamorata reminds me that inbound and outbound telemarketers have very different turnover rates. Of course, outbound telemarketing is a less pleasant job, and the 300% turnover rate surely applies to them.

Monday, October 27, 2003

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Glad he has got that vision thing, but I hope is he proves more effective than most Wilsonians.

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Required reading for dinosaurs: We're Not Losing the Culture Wars Anymore by Brian C. Anderson. Why are we not losing? Three new developments: cable news, the Internet (especially bloggers), and a democratization in publishing.

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

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Of course Jeff Jacoby is correct strategically. But tactically, how about opening one front at a time?

Monday, October 20, 2003

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For my birthday, after an excellent dinner at Fork, my inamorata and I arrived at the Philadelphia Orchestra just as the house lights dimmed. First, a showy orchestral piece Richard Strauss' Don Juan, and then an incredibly showy cellist, Steven Isserlis, who played the Elgar Cello Concerto, which I had never heard before. He played like a violinist, not just the speed of his finger work, and the ease with which he hit high notes, but he also frequently raised his bow with a flourish. For his encore, played a rapid pizzicato plucking with the neck hand as well. Then my inamorata noticed that he had anonymously joined the orchestra for the "Enigma" Variations, also by Elgar, but the principal cellist got to perform the solo as the variations rotated around the orchestra members. And Sunday night, I got treated to cake and ice cream, and amiable madness. Good preparation? I hope not.

Saturday, October 18, 2003

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Yet another reason to boycott the NYT. Self-hating American is bad, but a self-hating New Yorker is unforgivable. And, no, it is not for the money.

Friday, October 17, 2003

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The most common Leadership Style? You guessed it -- follower.

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My sis sent me an e-card last night, writing "Happy Birthday! As of 11 PM Thursday, the Yankees just got back into it. May be they will win in honor of your birthday! Have a great day and Happy Birthday, Happy Friday!" Of course, my inamorata and I were already tired, and the pizza lasted longer than we did, so we did not get to see the Yankees honor my birthday by extending the Curse of the Bambino over the BoSox.

Thursday, October 16, 2003

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Who needs digital TV? I don't, and if it cripples current functionality, neither does Dan Gillmor.

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Good News: IBM's Performance May Indicate Better Times Are Coming. But it would be better news if we "will hire 10,000 new workers" in the US.

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

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Who says that geeks cannot compose works of art? Compare NaDa to silent compositions.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Friday, October 10, 2003

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Just as somebody must believe that OJ is still looking for the real killer, and somebody must believe that the WP is still looking for the real leaker, I suppose somebody must believe that that Saddam was curing Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever. Surely (stop calling me Surely) a shame his search was interrupted.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

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Gotta be tough to live without your CrackBerry.

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Congrats to my sis and her hubby. The Atlantic Monthly rates the 'tute Number 1.

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Now Wall Streeters may get a taste of their own medicine, as as they try to cut costs by looking to India.

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One of the chemists receiving a Nobel Prize was from Hopkins. He became the 30th person associated with Johns Hopkins to win a Nobel. As a 1974 graduate of the School of Medicine, he also became the 13th graduate of the university to do so, in a line dating back to Woodrow Wilson, Ph.D. 1886, who won the Peace Prize in 1919. And he is using his bully pulpit.

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

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My inamorata and I got to break in our dining room chairs for the first time with non-family guests. We started off with a great crab dip appetizer, followed by roast turkey with mashed potatoes and asparagus, and ended with a double dessert: a Martha Stewart Apple recipe and cake.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

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My inamorata reads in the Hindustan Times that Kuwait foils smuggling of chemicals from Iraq, and she wonders "How does one smuggle weapons of mass destruction that do not exist?"

Thursday, September 25, 2003

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Here is a scoop: Attention Is a Finite Resource. OK, the real story is that a growing body of research evidence indicates that multitasking actually erodes, rather than enhances, productivity.

Thursday, September 18, 2003

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The U.S. Capital is on a crisis footing for Hurricane Isabel, and so are we. I ran out for bread, and my inamorata is filling our gas tank.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

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The NYT discovers that when people who can get somebody else to pay for services will line up for all that they can get.

Sunday, September 14, 2003

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Almost a year ago, I installed my first pop-up stopper. I am usually slow to upgrade an existing configuration for a minor benefit, but in this case, Google's toolbar is a huge improvement.

Saturday, September 13, 2003

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It is a shame we could not watch Johns Hopkins Roll Past Washington & Lee, 36-7, especially since my inamorata's Irish lost to Michigan.

Thursday, September 11, 2003

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Welcome aboard. The New Republic has started a blog by Gregg Easterbrook, and he gets off to a pretty good start. But, if pressed for time, try Signe's version.

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

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Bias at the NYT is not new. In their September 9, 1976 obit, Mao Tse-Tung was merely the pre-eminent figure of the Chinese Communist revolution and the leader of his country since 1949. No mention of the fact that, if you exclude reckless but not purposely murderous government policies--for example, the loss of over 20 million Chinese during the famine of 1959-'62, which was caused by the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao was the number two mass-murderer of all time.

Monday, September 08, 2003

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Frustrated IT managers are ready to bolt if the economy heats up. Of course, that is a pretty big if. And that means that somebody has a perverse interest in ensuring that the tech recovery is postponed (or moved off-shore). Good thing I generally do not believe in conspiracies.

Sunday, September 07, 2003

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Worked in the office yesterday (and today), missing a great opening day for football. Hopkins beat Rochester 27-9, as Merrell connected with Wolcott for three second-half touchdowns. Meanwhile, my inamorata's Villanova edged Temple in double overtime, while her number 19 Notre Dame pulled out an overtime victory against Washington State 29-26.

Wednesday, September 03, 2003

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Yet another model allowing us to choose between Rousseau and Locke, as well as a couple of others, but I suspect few will fall in the other two quadrants.

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

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The Dow's biggest winner was IBM, which soared $3.75 to $85.76 after Goldman Sachs upgraded computer hardware stocks. Good thing we are a hardware company today.

Saturday, August 30, 2003

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And who will bell the cat? Wally?

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

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The NCAA is getting some bad press. So, what do they do? Force Hopkins to leave Division III, including football. We would surely be black and blue. But maybe we can play Division I cricket, just as our fencers have always faced Division I opponents?

Monday, August 25, 2003

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Maybe not a better mousetrap, but funny, if sick.

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Pretty productive Sunday. In one day, chipped, sanded, primed, and painted the northeast (smallest) exterior face of our family room extension. Let's see how it looks when dry.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

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If we're all geeks now, then none of us are geeks either.

Saturday, August 16, 2003

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The Blackout is over, and my inamorata and I made it to LI, but my work e-mail is still down.

Friday, August 15, 2003

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The NYT has just given me permission to subtitle my Blog "All the news that's fit to print". But, I like my current subtitle better.

Thursday, August 14, 2003

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Gem-quality, cultured diamonds, near-perfect carbon crystals, undetectable by scratch tests or a jeweler's loupe. And I thought we would have to wait fifty years for nanotechnology to change the supply chain.

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

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My sis submitted the item to the Best of the Web Today about John Kerry wanting Swiss cheese on his Philly cheesesteak. But, in fairness to Kerry, I have been able to order provolone in place of the de rigueur whiz.

Monday, August 11, 2003

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The NYT re-discovers States' Rights.

Friday, August 08, 2003

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So the NCAA's idea of reform is to eliminate scholarships. Sounds like a monopolistic cartel to me.

Thursday, August 07, 2003

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

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I wonder if the FBI does as well on its Most Wanted list.

Monday, August 04, 2003

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Yet another reason to use only your own bank's ATM Network.

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Early Saturday morning, my inamorata and I schlepped to Bucks County to look at dining room chairs. We sat on set of shield backs, but thought a Chippendale set to be sturdier, and preferred mahogany to cherry. By Sunday night, ours was the winning bid. But I think we can recommend the entire Seller's List as fairly priced.

Friday, August 01, 2003

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A federal court ruled that I.B.M. violated age discrimination laws when it converted its traditional pension plan to one that cut benefits to about 130,000 workers and retirees. Of course, workers who get "resource actioned" before they reach a traditional retirement age benefit from the newer plan. And those who have held more than a few jobs might have never vested in any significant pension under traditional plans.

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I guess in the Doonesbury version of cultural literacy, military terminology is omitted from the curriculum. A klick is slang for a kilometer. BTW, Doonesbury is sponsored by Slate, which features "Bushisms". Actually, now that I think of it, both GWB and GBT are Yale alumni. Maybe something in the New Haven water?

Thursday, July 31, 2003

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Nuance makes a welcome appearance in this NYT Opinion column on the Pentagon's proposed "terrorism futures market", which has a better intellectual pedigree than most of its critics.

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

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Now that tight neckties have been linked to glaucoma risk, I am glad to sport an open collar.

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My mother had a soft spot for Bob Hope, Master of One-Liners and Friend to G.I.'s.

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I grew up in western Suffolk County, and it was fine, but "perfect for young families" is a stretch. And "Just 15 minutes from New York City"? Has anybody from MSN ever been east of the East River?

Monday, July 28, 2003

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My inamorata and I went to the beach and then celebrated my mother's birthday with the entire clan at the Pridwin. It was the first time we were all together since my inamorata and I said "I do". And the next morning, we completed the crossword puzzle.

Saturday, July 26, 2003

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Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez was baffling the Yankees, whose starter, David Wells, walked five batters. Mariano Rivera blew a save. All that, and the Red Sox still lost. The curse of the Babe continues.

Friday, July 25, 2003

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What ever happened to the Powell Doctrine? Now that Pentagon leaders are warning of dangers for U.S. in Liberia, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell favors sending forces there.

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

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Multimillionaire John Gilmore is suing the government to remain anonymous. Is this the last stand for privacy? But we'll give away our life story for a Big Mac.

Saturday, July 19, 2003

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First Sex Arrests on a Gay Beach in the Hamptons, next "a train to Buchenwald". And better watch that public drinking.

Friday, July 18, 2003

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Whom do I hate more? Internet pornographers or somebody who, in 1992, managed to patent video compression over networks, and is now looking for some little guys to maul before going after big bucks from deeper pockets. Students were writing compression algorithms in the 1970's, so I guess if you are trying to move the [large] video data files across a network, wouldn't the idea of compressing the data be obvious?

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

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The Alligator Zydeco Band was on our plaza today at noon, and I managed to slip out for five minutes to enjoy an Italian Water Ice (lemon, of course) and listen to some fun tunes.

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Can you say substantial non-infringing uses? MP3 is only a technical specification, so MP3 files can contain more than just music shared from strangers. Alert your network administrator if he is busily scrubbing all MP3s from your network.

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Is there a tech recovery? Accenture tops net revenue, earnings expectations. Yahoo's Q2 Net Revenue Jumps 42%, and, most important, IBM's profit grew by a quarter billion dollars after non-recurring charges were added back to last year's number.

Monday, July 14, 2003

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Relaxing and enjoyable weekend. On Friday night, my inamorata and I hosted her brother for pizza and a movie. Funny, not laugh-out-loud funny, more like a building strange situation. Saturday night was our night for fine dining with friends. And Sunday we recovered with a green salad featuring chicken from the grill, followed by a great warm, homemade blueberry pie.

Friday, July 11, 2003

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Karl Malone will play for LA for $1.5M. Maybe a ring is worth $17.7 million. But, in any case, he is a real athlete.

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

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Blogging is to the media as open source is to proprietary software?

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Wow, a cloaking device. Now, if only I could connect it to a radar detector...

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Dilbert knows a bad day.

Monday, July 07, 2003

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Assuming that this is not just another Modest Proposal, we can add one more to the ranks of libertarians. Now all we will ask of Michael Kinsley is a little consistency.

Thursday, July 03, 2003

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So now you can go off-shore for your radiologist also.

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

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So feel free to comment on my blog; I have one less thing to worry about.

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Can NYC learn from China? I doubt it, but at least a NYT regular can.

Monday, June 30, 2003

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Saturday night, my inamorata and I celebrated the anniversary of our engagement at Bleu, where we ate after she said yes on the last Saturday of June 2002. It has been a very good year.

Friday, June 27, 2003

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Sometimes an Op-Ed column needs a picture. Even better, in full color.

Thursday, June 26, 2003

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I like the symmetry here; when I hear that calls may be monitored, I wonder by whom?

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

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Now my sis contributes to the Best of the Web also. See the human shields article under the "Stupidity Watch". But she outdid me, because on Monday it was the featured story, as the top box read, "BEST OF THE WEB TODAY / DNA discoverer says stupidity can be cured! But then where would we find "human shields"?"

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I might like the idea of rationality, but sometimes when negotiating, or to sidestep the prisoner's dilemma, maybe irrationality (or at least, the appearance of irrationality) is not such a bad thing.

Monday, June 23, 2003

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As for our new offices, I now have an internal "tie line" phone number, but had no nearby LAN connection until almost 1:00. So, on Monday morning, I stretched a long hot-pink CAT-5 patch cable to a hot drop in another cube (waddageek, but I did my part in the effort to help decorate our offices). On the bright side, the IBM network is much faster now that we do not go through the PwC network, out over a VPN tunnel through the Internet, and back through the IBM network.

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On Friday night, my inamorata and I went to Spezia for some outstanding fish. The waiter poured the wine very generously. Good thing it was a BYOB.

Friday, June 20, 2003

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No phones after 12:30 or so Friday. Some peace and quiet, but plenty to do, at least while the network is up. I now have a futuristic phone on my desk, unconnected and ugly, but sporting fewer features. On the other hand, there are more generic houseplants.

Thursday, June 19, 2003

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My inamorata, her brother, and I will be checking out Buddy Guy and Los Lobos.

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

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Number four out of 40. Not too bad. I hope I am helping.

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The search for WMD continues. Are they in Maryland?

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Monday, June 09, 2003

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Come on, it is not THAT bad, is it?

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My inamorata and I just got back from San Francisco. On Thursday, we had a good flight out, and we checked into the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf (adjoining my parents' room). On Friday we visited Muir Woods and had a great dinner at Tommaso's, which was recommended by my inamorata's friend from law school whom we met later that night in the Mission District. Saturday, we rode a cable car to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and went to a wedding with the fun side of my family. Sunday, we had another good flight back. Now we are sleepy, but back to our routine, and maybe a little grateful for it.

Thursday, June 05, 2003

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Off to SFO with my inamorata.

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Vindication. Top New York Times editors resign, thanks in part to the many bloggers who have kept the issue alive. Maybe if they only had cartoons?

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

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We still have not found the (still-hidden? destroyed without record?) Iraqi WMD, but that does not mean they never existed. And in any case, "literally every neighborhood and town [in Iraq] is reporting possible [mass] grave site".

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Let's see. First we mislead a jury, and then we worry about federal sentencing guidelines. Which is the bigger problem? According to the NYT, it must be the federal sentencing guidelines. Follow-up: the jury got the result it wished, despite being denied a full role in the process.

Friday, May 30, 2003

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Reconfiguring my new laptop, with the IBM standard image replacing the PwC standard image. So far, no complaints.

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What, the LA Times is only occasionally liberal and politically correct? Still, John Carroll can spot a problem almost as well as his ex-readers and a lot better than Howell Raines.

Thursday, May 29, 2003

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Support my right to keep and bear arms. My choice, HMS Vengeance. Only $4,500,000.

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Great I love, but invisible? Maybe JHU needs a better Ministry of Propaganda? Thanks to my sis for the link.

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

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The Blue Jays ended an otherwise great season as they were outplayed (by more than the 9-7 score would indicate) by Virginia in the NCAA lacrosse final. Worst of all, the Virginia goalie is a junior. But we can wait until next year also, as we are losing only one first team All-American, and two second team All-Americans. Another consolation was the quality of the fans on our sofa.

Sunday, May 25, 2003

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On Saturday, I settled on the sofa with my inamorata, but could not stay settled as we watched No. 1 Hopkins roll into title game with a 19-8 victory over Syracuse. JHU now faces UVA in the final.

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The rest of the week progressed well. I became our group's designated presenter, and I managed to walk to and from the hotel between all the rainstorms. And on my way back to the hotel, after the rainstorms ended, somebody in a van leaned out and asked if I needed a lift. Second time it happened to me this week. I guess he assumed that a pedestrian is somebody with car trouble, because I was the only pedestrian, despite the good sidewalks. Also, I heard from my manager. AMS is planning a "resource action", but I will be spared this round. On Friday, the weather broke, and we saw the sun for the first time. Passed the first of the IBM certification examinations, and was able to get to ATL well before my scheduled flight. Delta no longer offers standby, but does offer confirmed same-day departure changes, for $25. Well worth it to depart at 5:05 instead of 8:00, but I wanted to make sure the flight was on time. Sure enough it was, so I went though security, without my belt as planned, and without my shoes on, as recommended by the TSA folks, and got to my gate in the nick of time. Of course, by the time I got there, it was showing an hour late, because of bad weather in Philadelphia. Must be the scattered showers forecast in the McPaper.

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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For the first time since our marriage, I am away from my inamorata, as I start the process to become IBM-certified as a project manager. On Sunday, she dropped me off at PHL nice and early, and I used my Delta FF card to print my boarding pass at a kiosk, so I did not need to stand in the ticket agent line. There was a good fifteen-minute security process, including five minutes while they re-ran my shoes through the X-Ray and pawed through my bag. Still, at 2:50, a whole hour early, I was sitting at the gate, with my laptop open when they announced a gate hold because of weather in Atlanta. The first announced departure time was 4:40, with boarding at 4:00. Then, at 4:20, they announced a 6:00 departure, but at 4:30, we seemed to get a clearance and they tried to get us to start boarding in a hurry. But, I guess some passengers had scattered for bars, telephones, Crown Room clubs, whatever, and they tried to accommodate other delayed travellers, so we were not loaded until 5:30 or so, when we pushed back. By then, we learned we lost our clearance, so we went to a remote spot and shut down our engines until 6:20, when I called. And, by 6:30, we were airborne, taking off to the east, and circling north, then west before turning south, giving me a great view of Philadelphia. After an hour and a half in the air for an (I guess they schedule the flight for over two hours because they know about delays and runway traffic), we landed at 8:00, but we could not get to a gate until 8:30, and it was after 9:00 when I checked in to a nice Hyatt with a great IBM rate. After all this, I understand why more business travellers are using regional airports to avoid big ones with reputations for delays. And through it all, I missed Hopkins move into final four with 14-6 win over Towson. After a night of poor sleep, typical for my first night in a strange hotel room, I walked over to the IBM Education Centre. My table selected me to present Monday morning, and it was well received by the entire group. Had a quick lunch, like everybody else, and like everybody else, I dashed to replicate email. Tuesday, on the walk back to the hotel, I passed by a nice ($20 entrees) restaurant called Houston's. I noticed its tough dress code. Baseball caps need to be worn brim-first. Rain today, so I am checking out the hotel's wireless high-speed network. Sweet - blazingly fast and idiot-proof. The receiver was a separate box, powered via my USB port, with a cable to plug into my network adaptor.

Friday, May 16, 2003

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So hard to figure out whom to hate more, Chuck Schumer or Melvyn Weiss.

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Strike One: New Net, Inc. wants to subvert the DNS system. Strike Two: It abuses its lusers with Foistware. Strike Three: It takes on one of the best free downloads ever, Ad-Aware.

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Why is it so difficult to provide universal health care? Despite leaving off two issues, replacing [almost] first-dollar insurance with catastrophic only (I know, what is catastrophic to me might not be catastrophic to you), and the administrative and reporting burden, and barely mentioning the direct and indirect costs of medical malpractice claims, I think this is some smart talk from a Robert Shapiro, a Clinton economist. Maybe the NYT could hire him, and dump Paul Krugman.

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What is a greater threat to Linux? Bare knuckles (if not illegal) competition from Microsoft, or SCO, which now threatens to sue all commercial Linux users. Any proof from SCO? I suppose software companies have a cycle: losing money while creating; making money on license sales; making money on professional services; making money on maintenance; trying to sue others. Well, they must be at the end of their cycle, because they have forfeited all credibility in the tech community.

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Brian Shuster, a porn baron, is seeking a buyer for his US patent covering pop-up ads. Normally I hate stupid patents (weren't they supposed to promote the useful arts), but I hope he finds a buyer who will enforce this one with a vengeance.

Thursday, May 15, 2003

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Federal advisory jury declines to find gun industry liable. Will the judge take some sound advice?

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Christopher Buckley is a scream, and he has Donald Rumsfeld down pat.

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Now, did this need to be revealed? Forty years ago, it would have been news (albeit of a very personal nature), but now? All it proves is that Bill Clinton's morals were not unique.

Tuesday, May 13, 2003

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Spammers: sleazy, stupid, and just plain evil. OK, on second thought, they might just be lazy instead.

Monday, May 12, 2003

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On Saturday my inamorata and I picked out our wedding pictures (we are almost done) and on Sunday we hosted Mothers' Day. Mmmm leftovers.

Sunday, May 11, 2003

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The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays advance to the round of eight, beating Army for the first time in years. Next week, they will face Towson at Towson.

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Bush might not be smart in the academic sense, and I hope is smart enough not to be too flattered to be compared with Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Ike, and Reagan.

Tuesday, May 06, 2003

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More fun with numbers. How much is a high roller really betting? Say I go to Preakness Day (an old vice), and bring $100, my usual stake. On the first race, I bet my usual $12 ($2 on each of two horses to place, and then boxing the exacta). Say I cash $20 worth of tickets. So, I feel lucky, and for the second race, I double my bets, but again only cash the same $20 worth of tickets. I continue betting $24 for the remaining eight races, cashing $20 each time. How much did I bet? Well, I went in with $100 to risk. But I left with $72. So, was it $28? Or was it the $228 I dropped at the ticket window over the course of the day? Any single number is misleading, but in my simple example, my total bets were almost an order of magnitude greater than my net loss on the day.

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