Spam

In today's snail mail, an RNC/McSellOut fundraising letter.

I need individuals like you, [...] who have done so much to help our Party in the past...

Whoa. I've been paying pretty close attention since I came of voting age, and I'm pretty sure I've never lifted a finger to help that particular party. On the other hand, I can't imagine that the McCain campaign would outright lie, so maybe I'm mistaken.

We've all seen the Democrats' massive rallies, record-setting voter turnout and colossal fundraising efforts. It is obvious they are pulling out all the stops to win.

Fascinating. It must be bad when people get so excited about politics that they show up and vote. Instead, why don't we just stick a ballot box right at the entrance to church, then scare everyone else away with lies, lies and more lies about taxes, sex and, yes, the bridge. No comment yet on whether the 'other' Ohio is drinking the cool-aid, or just enjoying the post-drooling-mainstream-media-coverage-of-the convention bounce.

Friday fun

Whoops; I missed Friday. I've been a bit behind lately, as it is. I didn't hear until recently about the GOP (grandpa's oligarchy?) anointment for VP, and let me tell you, I'm thrilled. We now have a win-win election: either a palatable pair of intelligent experts [1] who might deviate just enough from business-as-usual to inject a bit of deference to the proletariate and respect for the bourgeoisie, or a spooky sell-out accompanied by a lumberjack.

What, not that Palin? Crap. Even so, once taken over by GOP 'handlers', M. Palin would probably end up more like his character in Brazil. Anyway, that's not the funny part; there's nothing funny about my baseline blood pressure being 20 points higher for the next two months as I'm reminded by poll after poll that an enormous number of Americans either don't see the world like I do or are too stupid to know the difference. *sigh*

Furthermore, why hasn't the phrase "hope-smoking hippie" come into the common lexicon? [2] I'm not sure what side it would help more, were it to; but, I hereby proactively reclaim it, just in case.

I may have posted a while ago about the XKCD geohashing comic. Brilliant. And now, posted to the associated blog a few days ago, this description of a bicycle-kayak trip to find the day's location. Again, brilliant. I wish the internet had been invented back in my school days, so I could have done cool things too.

Finally, kudos to the professor teaching a stochastic modeling class (read: math of random things) I'm taking, who's policy for late work reads

Homework that is n weeks late will be accepted, but its total score will be multiplied by p^n, where p is a random variable drawn from the uniform distribution on the interval [0,1].

[1] How have I heard eight thousand recent pop-media discussions about Obama's level of experience without a single mention of the fact that he has a J.D. and taught no small amount of law at a little school in Illinois? I drool at the prospect of hiring someone who understands law to enforce our laws.

[2] Props to Jason for the turn of phrase, which as far as I can tell was original when written in this post.

Friday funnies

Take one: sign posted at local coffeerie.

Unattended children
will be given espresso
and a free puppy

Take two: now-playing All Songs Considered is sponsored by PBR. Huh.

Nerd yoga

I was just swimming back from the campus library (it's really humid out), and there were a bunch of people doing yoga on the quad. Yoga. On the quad.

Sure enough, this is a regular occurrence; perhaps I would notice these things were I to emerge from my subbasement laboratory more often. The group looked like a very awkward of non-hip faculty (or at least adults) and uber-nerdy summer students (read: grunt labor).

Next week, I'll bring my mat.

Spanish techno

Driving to work this morning, I passed two consecutive bumper stickers:

"Favored and highly blessed"
"We're all family; we all have value"

I feel a cage fight brewing. Is driver #1 better than those around him because his deity digs his trunk magnet choice? Will driver #2 pound him for being part of the problem, not part of the solution? Stay tuned. A bit later I saw one of the semi-ubiquitous "My child is a peacemaker at Coventry school" and felt better about the world.

I received a cheque in the mail yesterday, of unidentified origin but paid through a bank in Barcelona. From past experience I know this to be some sort of work-related payment (I work for a European company, which apparently likes to pay some accounts transiberianly); I also know that it'll take a few extra days for the funds to appear after depositing it, as I learned last time this happened when I planned to turn the money around for an imminent car purchase.

If instead my funds were being paid through the other Spanish banks, I'd be happy to pick them up myself.

In typing that, my cerebrum has quickly filled with the beats of Spanish Techno, one of several ueber-catchy tunes from the New Pornographers (don't worry - it's just a wiki article), whose latest couple of releases I haven't been able to entirely strike from my mind since my acquisition of them months ago. Curse you, free association!

Reviewing the New Pornographers' Challengers and Twin Cinema
Pros: folksy singing, vocal harmony, great hooks, interesting instrumentation, varied songwriting, Canadian content
Cons: just a bunch of 3:00 pop songs
Listen to: "The Jessica Numbers", "Sing me Spanish Techno", "Challengers", "Adventures in Solitude".
Goes best with: coffee, long pants, Volkswagens

DNA as art

An Ottawa-based firm offers to take a sample of your DNA, run a PCR, and create a wall-worthy image of the blot. The whole effort runs in the $500-1000 range: a little steep for my pocketbook (I'd go for a plush giant squid first), but I appreciate the "found art" aspect of the endeavor.

As a poor-man's approach, perhaps I should collect some existing blots in the lab and take some photos, then recreate them on canvas for a similar effect.

For that matter, another type of assay might make for a geekier wall hanging. How about a full gene chip analysis, e.g.,

ornithological variety

commercial signage on Mayfield Rd:

ALL BRANDS
VACUUM
PENGUIN
CLEANERS

that advertising two distinct establishments: one dealing in floor cleaning, the other in laundry. I, of course, always read it as "all brands penguin" (maybe the first words are bigger or offset), but catch myself before pulling into the lot to see if they have any deals running.

an uncanny minivan density

in the fading darkness, a Grand Theft Auto moment:
an erratic caravan
(or town, country)
driven transsuburbially
light green, light grey or beige
swerves across painted perforation
joins a tumour of littermates
six noses
for two pumps
of unleaded

I actually saw this at about 6:45. Literally, a half dozen could-have-been-identical minivans, all pulled haphazardly into a Marathon station. Fleet vehicles? Soccer-mom convention? Elaborate hold-up?