Month: November 2004

“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.”

— Harlan Ellison

Seen on Slashdot:

Laws are designed to help us co-exist with each other, to respect one another and bring order and a set of rules to abide by so that we can pool in our interests and progress as a civilization. People or “things” like RIAA and MPAA abuse these laws, which were written to help bring progress. They abuse them into filling their coffers with wealth that is meaningless when it does not really help anybody. More so when it happens at the expense of others, and at the expense of progress.

I sincerely hope that one day our society is rid of parasitic savages of the likes of MPAA and RIAA. They’re the scum and a disgrace of our civilization. They are the true deterrents to progress.

Amen, brother!

Today’s idiotic spam award goes to the guy who represents fabulously wealthy people who want to invest in my company.

Of course there’s the usual… they’ve got cash:

Total amount to be invested
$75,000,000,00.usd………………………….Cash investment.

But, in a rare twist, they also have:

4Metric tons of AU in
dust………………………Treasure investment.

Sweet! Four metric tons of gold powder! I can load that into a fertilizer spreader and make my lawn all shiny or something.

On a Linux newsgroup, of all places, there’s been a two-day discussion about the famous Monty Hall Paradox. From the UC-San Diego math department comes this explanation of the problem:

The particular game that we are concerned with here is where Monty Hall offers you the opportunity to win what is behind one of three doors. Typically there was a really nice prize (i.e., a car) behind one of the doors and a not-so-nice prize (i.e., a goat) behind the other two. After selecting a door, Monty would then proceed to open one of the doors you didn’t select. It is important to note here that Monty would not open the door that concealed the car. At this point, he would then ask you if you wanted to switch to the other door before revealing what you had won.

Apparently in September 1991, a clever reader wrote to Marilyn vos Savant (reputedly one of the smartest humans alive) and presented this problem. She answered that you should switch your choice to the other door and thus double your chance of winning. Apparently thousands of people wrote to her and said she was flat wrong, and that in fact your chance of winning remained 50-50 because there were now two doors from which to select.

It makes your brain hurt to think about, but the math shows irrefutably that if you pick the other door your odds of winning are 66%, compared with 33% if you’re stubborn and remain with your original choice.

Now if I could just find someone with three doors, two goats, and a nice car…

Well, today Microsoft announced that it might sue Chinese companies– or even the government– for using Linux, which it claims infringes on nearly 300 patents owned by Microsoft. While the details are more complicated, and while they may even have a case, this seems like a disastrous public-relations stunt doomed to fail.

In any case, perusing the various MS-bashing messages on Slashdot I found this great post likening Microsoft to the regime of Sauron of Morder… and anything that bashes Microsoft while simultaneously incorporating the Lord of the Rings storyline is good to me.

OSGILIATH (Reuters) – Mordor Corp. warned Middle Earth kingdoms on Thursday they could face the wrath of Orc armies for harbouring and aiding Gandalf and his fellowship of hobbits instead of rightfully bowing to the will of Sauron.

The growing popularity of Gandalf – a wise and benevolent wizard who freely aids all in need and is a friend of all free people of Middle Earth – is a thread to the global dominance of Sauron’s Dominion of Evil. Gandalf’s fellowship has illegally kept Sauron’s valuables, Mordor’s Mouth of Sauron said at the regime’s Middle Earth Kingdom Leaders Forum in Osgiliath. He did not provide any details on what, exactly, the nature of Sauron’s valuables are, which the Fellowship disputes.

Ex-hobbit Gollum McBride, who claims that “nasty hobbitses stole his preciousss”, is suing elves and hobbits alike, including the Shire. Rohan’s Riders of Defense at Gandalf’s council last month readied 20,000 horsemen to face the assault of Mordor Corp instead of submitting freely to the evil reign of Sauron. Other kingdoms in the region are also beginning to rally under one banner. Gondor, Arnor and Erebor this year agreed to jointly combat Sauron’s forces at Gandalf’s request.

The Mouth of Sauron said that security fears some rulers had about surrending to Mordor were overblown. “We think Sauron will provide far more security than Gandalf ever could. Sauron is a better protector for you lot because he has this awesome Ring which he forged, he fixed and he stands behind. Gandalf doesn’t have an awesome Ring,” he said.

Well, it finally happened: Laralee has officially started listening to Christmas music. It’s always a question of how long before Christmas we’ll start hearing the tunes. She’s in the process of compiling an MP3 collection for her car player, so she’s going through our thousand and one Christmas tunes while she works on other stuff.

‘Tis the season!

Our friends the Lukowskis just moved to North Carolina, much to our disappointment. (I mean, come on… North Carolina?) I called them today just to say “hey” and see how things were going– they’re moving into their new house soon, and Rachel is due to have their second baby.

She picked up the phone, and when I asked how things were, she said they were actually on their way out the door, headed for the hospital. Apparently the baby decided today’s the day. That made for a short conversation! Hope all goes well for them.

It was only a matter of time before someone got serious about amending the Constitution to allow non-U.S.-born citizens to be eligible for the presidency. Of course it’s being driven by people who think Governor Schwartzenegger should be President Schwartzenegger.

Check it out: www.amendforarnold.com.

If they weren’t eighteen bucks, I’d pick up a few of the spiffy t-shirts as Christmas gifts…

“Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it’s important.”

–Eugene McCarthy

Crap. Abba won’t be getting back together. Saith Bjorn Ulvaeus (either the first or second “B” in the band name):

“I can understand that people are longing for Abba, but deep in my heart I know that they would be deeply disappointed if they saw us back up on the stage again today.”

Thank you, Bjorn, for having the guts to do what so many other washed-up bands can’t do.

Interesting side note: in 1985 the four were offered a billion (yes, that’s nine zeros) dollars to hook up again, but they turned it down then as well.