Through a long and tortuous chain of links and lookups1, I came upon an interesting wikipedia entry: Flag of Convenience. Did you know that you can register a ship (an ocean-going SHIP!) in Mongolia! You can have a ship sailing around the world, carrying cargo, with a large name on the back (say) Poseidon, out …
Category Archives: Opinion
First Round Pain!
Well, so much for me picking Iowa to win this years NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. [sigh] I was doing well first round right up to that moment. All of my first round picks that had not made it to second round were slated to lose there anyhow, so I still had plenty of opportunity to …
"Forced To Resign"
I was reading a NY Times article today concerning the difficulties Harvard’s President is having with his Faculty. Sounds like they are having fun up in Cambridge. However, that’s not the point of today’s random rambling. Inside the article was this phrase. “Some faculty members also say they would like the university’s governing board, the …
SOTU 2006
It’s good to see that the State of the Union this year was once again: 1) Vague Platitudes 2) Unfunded Initiatives 3) Veiled insults to the opposite party Does anyone remember the “Death to People who Use Steroids”? I do…
ACLU Discussed to Death!
If you are not a reader of The Bad Astronomy Blog, I’ll point you to a recent post which has received a lot of comments. Quite interesting reading, from low to high brow.
Child's No Behind is Left
Thanks to friend Fraudirector, I was made aware of this very scary article concerning the state of America’s College students. I’m not sure if I’m depressed or overjoyed. Depressed for America’s failing education system. Overjoyed that I have some serious job security. After all, you need to divide and multiply in my job. Even use …
Email Tripwires
In a bit of conversation a few weeks ago, a person related their plan to deploy tripwires in all of their outgoing email to cause the NSA headaches if they happen to be monitoring for certain phrases or words. She would include words such as bomb, missile, nuclear, radioactive, radioisotope, dirty bomb, terrorist, etc., in …
Lion Country: Don't Roll your Windows Down
Today’s NY Times has an article entitled Florida Wildlife Park’s Lions Lose Some Freedom to Roam, by Abby Goodnough. It concerns a safari park that is near and dear to my childhood memories, despite only one visit. I remember driving through the park with my parents and sisters listening to this lioness asthsmatically hack like …
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Professional Ungineers
Today I received a solicitation from the National Society of Professional Engineers concerning my membership—I’m not a member—and exhorting me to contemplate the benefits of association with their august group. Here is a quote from the beginning of the cover letter: Dear William: Nothing says “professional engineer” like the PE license. Ummm, duh? I’m at …
Gross Irregularity in Harry Potter Film
Seven days until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire hits the theaters. I was poking around in the internet movie database and discovered a shocking irregularity. Spoilers follow! In this studio still from the filming, you will see the names on the tombstone where Harry is used to bring Volemort back to his mortal …