yendi: (Default)
yendi ([personal profile] yendi) wrote2004-12-15 10:30 am

Wednesday Stuff

Last night was the last night of Hanukkah, and we got to celebrate more than usual, because we had the wonderful [livejournal.com profile] ocean_song with us when lighting candles! Yay! And one of my mom's gifts to Elayna was Wizards of the Game. I love it when Elayna gets gifts that I want to read too. :-)

After Ocean_Song left, [livejournal.com profile] photognome came by, and we introduced him to the joy that is Arrested Development before watching the Tag Sale episode of The Venture Brothers (yay for Tivo!).

Anyone still wondering about the box question should go read the comments in my two posts from yesterday, where just about every sort of good explanation can be found. Items really worth noting are the perl script that [livejournal.com profile] trochee points to, and the Java applet that [livejournal.com profile] shawnj noted. My favorite thing is that the correct answer is still in last place in the poll. :-)

BTW, the catalyst for my talking about this was my recent re-reading of Raymond Smullyan's Satan, Cantor, and Infinity. The book's out of print, but worth tracking down. Aside from Smullyan's usual logic puzzles involving knights and knaves (truth-tellers and liars), there's a big section on Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem (much of which, I freely admit, flies over my head, as does the robot programming stuff), and the titular final section on the nature of infinity. The last section, alone, is worth reading, as it's the clearest set of explanations of infinity (including infinite sets, denumerable infinite sets, etc) that I've seen. And remember -- I'm not a math person at all. But Smullyan is really that damned good a writer (and if anyone ever comes across a copy of the long-out-of-print Alice in Puzzle-land that's affordable, by all means let me know), placing his logic puzzles in a fun narrative that allows him to educate without even coming close to boring the reader.

Other stuff:

First, yes, Minaya proved to be either the dumbest or the smartest man in baseball yesterday. I know where my money lies. Meanwhile, a free agent that we should have been chasing just signed elsewhere.. I swear, I think there's a fucking conspiracy to force the NFL to be the only pro team sport I follow.

This song (see "Now Playing") may be my favorite Cole Porter cover ever.

Two days until A Series of Unfortunate Events! Yeah, it might well blow. But I'm hoping it doesn't.

Thing that Should Not Be, #242. Seriously. When it comes to Freddy Mercury, there can be only one, dammit!

Image of the day, sent by an ex-roommate:

And on that note, more work beckons. When your morning post doesn't get finished until 10:30, that's a sign that it's going to be a hectic day.

[identity profile] misskitten77.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Being a huge Queen and Freddie Mercury fan, that is just blaspheme! There is no way anyone can replace Freddie.

[identity profile] harold3.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Sadly, most pictures like that are usually taken out of context, but that's what makes them funny.


Scarily, I have no idea what possible legit reason someone would be on their knees fiddlin with the president's crotch. so... it's even more funny.

[identity profile] miintikwa.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Um. If you don't think that $16 plus shipping is too expensive... Alice in Puzzle-Land (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=387713660) is here for sale. :)

[identity profile] miintikwa.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
You're welcome! It looks good- I'm looking for cheaper copies, too. ;)

[identity profile] miintikwa.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Like this one! Hey, it's an ex-library copy, but it's probably still readable:

http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/inv.cgi?offer_id=1254115435&meta_id=1&cpid=1168730580&domain_id=1856

[identity profile] miintikwa.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I'm the same way. But half.com isn't a half-bad place to find good used books. I'm currently debating ordering a copy of Daggerspell from them, because it's cheap and looks to be in decent shape. *wibbles*

It is something to keep in mind, anyway. :)

The Secret Service duties are many and varied....

[identity profile] ydnic.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
...and I'm just going to leave it at that.

[identity profile] eyewrist.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
best. picture. evar.

[identity profile] slipjig.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Raymond Smullyan rules all known universes.

[identity profile] robyn-ma.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
NO. NO NO NO.

When Freddie died, Queen ceased to exist. The remaining band members are allowed to do solo projects. BUT QUEEN WITHOUT FREDDIE IS NOT QUEEN. QUEEN WITHOUT FREDDIE IS A THING THAT MAKES THE SAD.

...um. I'll sit down now.

[identity profile] xforge.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
This is completely beside the fact that Paul Rodgers has ZERO vocal range compared to Freddie. It's like "Luciano Pavarotti couldn't make it tonight, so Roseanne Barr will be subbing."

[identity profile] boutell.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my god! Joan Jett and Paul Westerburg covered "Let's Do It!" I didn't believe you until I googled for it. Good gobs of gravy, man, that's insane. Is it any good?

[identity profile] blither.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Erk. Erk. Erk.

Must restart morning now!

(giggling, this time)

[identity profile] museumfreak.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
omg i love that song, didn't know anyone else had ever heard of it!

let's do it!

[identity profile] xforge.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh, only anybody who's heard of Cole Porter.

[identity profile] losgunna.livejournal.com 2004-12-15 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Out of curiousity, where did you find that picture?

[identity profile] thermidor.livejournal.com 2004-12-16 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
That's hilarious!