Eclectic Views

    
Let us not have any degenerate solutions around here, please.  This is a
high-class establishment.

That reminds me of the Three Proofs That All Odd Numbers Are Primes,
By The Mathematician, The Physicist, And The Engineer:

Mathematician:
 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime; the rest follows by induction.

Physicist:
 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is a ... experimental error;
 11 is a prime, ...

Engineer:
 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is a prime, 11 is a prime, ...
  

    
Haw!

And of course these days you can add the Bush Physicist: "3 is a prime, 5 is
a prime, 7 is a prime, and we just fired the guy who said 9 isn't a prime."
  

    
The list of primes has been classified to prevent it from falling into the
hands of terrorists.  And copyright terms were extended to include the works
of Eratosthenes.
  

    
Today it snowed.  Today I was cold.  Later Today I got warm.  Now it
is tomorrow and I must go to bed.
  

    <scribbled by kyee Fri 30 Dec 05 10:22>
  

    

mmmm transmogrification
  

    
On this date each year the residents of Ilulissat, Greenland hike up
Holmes Bakke mountain for the End-of-No-Sun Gathering (and party) to
watch the sun rise for the first time since mid-November.
  

    

When I say that town to myself it sounds like a term of endearment. I luliss
at. Found some travel pics, the harbor is very inviting.
http://www.users.voicenet.com/~jstewart/nwt/ilulissat.html
  

    
Ah Disko Bay where the ghosts of.. (musn't make insensitive Bee Gee's
remark).
  

    <scribbled by picospan Thu 16 Jan 03 10:55>
  

    
TODAY i am tired of January. It's snowing again. 
  

    
TODAY pre.vue went live on the Well! YAY!!! Thanks to confteam for all
their support and help.


(also today, I played with newts in my garden while I cleaned out the
side yard. What fun!)
  

    


I heard a snipett of Bush on the radio, he was decrying the amount of
lawsuits that are brought against doctors.  Yesterday he was supporting the
suit brought against (excuse me, I can't recall the correct name) Univ of
Michigan (?) for denying admittance to some students in favor of other
students.

I sometimes wish I could ignore his bits of inanity.
  

    
I believe that it was the University of Michigan.  Personally, I think that
admissions should be based on performance and not on race, so I guess I
would support the students who are bringing suit.  I wouldn't call it inane
as sometimes there is a perfectly good reason to sue a doctor, but most of
them are not;  Sometimes people are legitimately discriminated and should
sue, but most of the times there is really no proof that they were..  Just
depends on what side of the stand you take, I suppose.
  

    
In the Michigan case, points are awarded for various attributes. For
example: 80 points for a 4.0 gpa; 12 points for a perfect SAT score; 15
points for state residency; 20 points for an athletic prowess; 20
points for underrepresented minority, etc, etc. 100 points is generally
enough to gain admission.

Don't know how many points one gets if daddy funds a new science
building, or if an uncle was the governor... 

I wonder if the 4 students got into other schools? Which ones? I'd
also like to know who's financing the lawsuit.
  

    
If I understand the policy correctly (and this would be my wishful
understanding), the underlying preference is for diversity.  Cultural,
geographical, skill- or interest- based.  Which would seem reasonable
to me.  
  

    
Are those real point values?  If so, it does seem unreasonable to give more
points for diversity or athletic talent than having a perfect SAT score.
  

    
Well, if diversity is a legitimate value to be pursued (in whatever
form), I'd think that the point values should be tailored to reflect
the perceived needs of the institution.  I'd also think that the point
values could be adjusted from year to year to reflect the changes in
need.
  

    
the numbers for the points are real, IIRC from the news report. Of
course, the news report could have been wrong!
  

    
TODAY, I came to this conference for the first time, and am enjoying
it. 
Thanks, you guys! 

In other news, I can't see the water, or the east bay, or ANYthing for
the bright white fog. Weird. It looks like Nothingness, out there.
Does the rest of the world still exist? Hello?  
  

    
Helllloooooooo, Jen! from down here on the relatively clear Peninsula.

Today, I saw the coolest thing, and I wouldn't have been able to see
it if my vision were good:

I was napping on the couch. I heard some gleeful noises not to far
away, and opened my eyes.

I looked outside without rising, which means I looked through: the
lower squares of a nine-pane front door; the horizontal white rails of
the porch; and the upright pickets of our white fence.

Two or three children were laughing by - small ones, no taller than
the pickets. So everything I saw was through this filter of one white
line crossed by another, and on and on, and the children were very
brightly dressed, and my eyesight, sans glasses, very bad.

Instead of seeing children, I saw mad chunks of vivid colors tumbling
through the white lines, amidst their kid-laughter.  Suddenly, I
remembered in stark detail the old kaleidescopes we had when we were
small, the chunks of color so plain in the one facet, so startling in
all of them.

It lasted all of one delicious second. What a neat second.
  

    
Yesterday as we were landing at SFO, we could watch the flight
information screen, including the air temperature.  As I saw it
drop from 59F at 3000 feet to 43F at 600 feet I could tell that
we had a major inversion layer going in the Bay Area, and that it
was sure to be hazy.  And it still is!
  

    

Time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians.

--Al Sharpton

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U27625E23





NY Times, need to register.
  

    <scribbled by kyee Fri 30 Dec 05 10:22>
  

    

I looked at my weblogs this morning and found some repeat visitors as well
as some new ones coming in via vueviv.