October 31, 2004
Fall back
Thanks to J Levin for the Dean for America bumper sticker! My car is now fully restored. I actually saw a Dean for America sign in Arlington yesterday. I was momentarily puzzled until I saw a "Write In" sticker in the upper right. C'mon Deaniacs, that's not the best was to dump Bush.
A couple of friends are in PA this weekend cavassing. They report that it is very fun (and I can confirm from experience). But don't take my (or their) word for it: travel to your nearest battleground state and knock on some doors!
And don't forget to turn those clocks back.
October 26, 2004
I Think She's Out Of Your League
A lesson I learned on the Dean campaign first-hand: Be careful with your emails.
The Bush campaign also learned the hard way, as several emails accidentally sent to georgewbush.org (as opposed to .com) were released today.
Among the most damaging emails: a staffer fantasizing over a picture of a Bush daughter (search for "Jenna" on the link above) and a potentially illegal Florida voter list.
October 25, 2004
"A Curse Born Of Hate"
With the Red Sox leading 2-0 in the 100th World Series, it looks like the "Curse of the Bambino" might be finished. I wanted to pass along this indepth history of the curse, which has some startling insights.
October 22, 2004
West Wing or ER: DC?
I don't want to go off on a rant here but...
What happened to The West Wing? We were definitely spolied by watching Season 1 on DVD instead of reruns over the summer. Regardless, the premier was absolutely horrendous. First off, what happened to "Roman Empire" Jed from the "disproportional response" episode? They completely changed the President's character. He is not a liberal dove; I think they confused him with Andrew Shepherd.
And where did the subtlety in this show go? Paraphrase: "I'm not using this terrorist act as an excuse to bomb a county we don't like." Wow, not sure what that's referring to in real life.
Woman-with-bangs pissed me off too: shouldn't she (1) bring a pen to the meeting and (2) discuss strategy with the President before the call? And enough close-ups of the phone already: we know they're on speakerphone! Mr President, just a hint: if Nancy was always wrong, why would her replacement be any better? Of course, maybe the Pres needs Bangs-Woman's advice, he was the one that suggested Israel poison-pill the peace conference to gain the US's backing on the wall.
The redundant dialogue is where the current show most obviously deviates from seasons 1-4. The Josh/photographer and Jed/Abbey/Celtics discussions added nothing to the plot and gave us no new information. We know Israel and Palestine don't get along very well; if we didn't we'd be watching The Amazing Race instead.
Which brings us to Josh and Donna: they are not in love. As Chicklet aptly put it, "they are traumatically bonded." There's a difference and trying to force a relationship between them is painful to watch. As a contrast, Luke and Lorelei actually know each other's motives and inner personalities; Josh and Donna just flirt.
And what happened to Charlie? Dule Hill is a fabulous actor and not giving him more than four words to speak in the entire episode is just criminal. The same goes for Fiderer. If you don't have a plot line for either of them, it's okay to leave them out for an epi (though maybe not the premier); but giving them 10 seconds of air time that doesn't contribute to the show is a poor excuse for editing.
I should probably say at least one thing positive about the premier: Josh kept the same cell phone from last season so at least they have prop continuity... .
October 17, 2004
Week update
We're really in the final stretch in the campaign, and wow are the polls tight. So if you get a chance, please please volunteer for John Kerry. You can log in to the volunteer network or look up your local contacts, which I used to find VA volunteering opportunities. So help out!
Hopping off my soap box, here's a quick weekly update. I had to forego West Wing Night in favor of crunching the numbers for the debate that night. Friday night, though, I did get the night off work, and a subset of the WW crew played board games at Sean's house. We started with Clue: The Great Museum Caper. We only lasted two rounds of that game because I played too conservatively as the thief, thus prolonging the game. (When it came time to actually leave the museum I was stifled by two locked windows.) We had much more fun playing Guesstures (in which I opted not to attempt to charade "lingerie").
Two weeks to victory!
October 10, 2004
The Council of Numeria
A fun logic puzzle I ran across. More here. Enjoy!
On the island of Numeria each of the natives is one of two types: Truth-Tellers who always tell the truth, or Liars who never tell the truth. The island is governed by a Council of Elders who will only answer questions that have numerical answers. In fact the only answers they give are whole numbers, either zero or positive. Furthermore, they will never give an answer greater than the current number of council members. This number can vary daily, but is never less than 4 or more than 40. Also, the Council will only answer questions whose correct answer is independent of who is asked (e.g., no questions such as "How old are you?").
One day three native students, Ann, Bob, and Cal, were given an assignment by their teacher to question the council. They each asked a question, which was answered by every council member. Afterward they reported to their teacher and made the following statements:
(1) Ann: I asked the council how many of them were Truth-Tellers.
(2) Bob: I asked the council how many of them were Liars.
(3) Cal: Those statements are not both true!
(4) Ann: All of the answers I received were different.
(5) Bob: All of the answers I received were different.
(6) Cal: At least two of my answers were different.
(7) Ann: The sum of my answers is a palindrome.
(8) Bob: The sum of my answers is a palindrome.
(9) Cal: The square root of the sum of my answers is not less than the number of council members.
What was the number of council members on that day?
October 6, 2004
Cheney vs Reality
Got the night off work (!) and watched the debate last night with the West Wing crew. The amount of lies Cheney told was astounding.
This one was a particularly pernicious double-lie:
"Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight."
Guess he forgot about the (at least) three times they met before.
One could argue that it's plausible he truly forgot about those handshakes with Edwards. Perhaps Cheney also forgot where is he is every Tuesday.
