Monthly Archives: July 2005

time-sink of the week

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 July 12 by Anton

Planarity, a Flash puzzle: rearrange the vertices so that no edges cross. (Cited by Joshua Burton.) When a solution is near, the program gets very slow, which seems backward. (Thursday: It has been changed to test only on the player’s … Continue reading →

Posted in mathematics | 3 Comments

they can’t always be wrong

Posted on Monday, 2005 July 11 by Anton

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant. Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle. You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important. You tend to thrive … Continue reading →

Posted in me!me!me!, psychology | 1 Comment

That all you got, punk?

Posted on Monday, 2005 July 11 by Anton

Dean Ing’s first novel Soft Targets (1979) suggested that against terrorists the most effective weapon is mockery. Since the London bombs I’ve seen hints of such an approach. Arthur Silber (2006: that link is gone bad, here’s another) gets in … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Leave a comment

blowing up a star, and afterward

Posted on Monday, 2005 July 11 by Anton

(This post was previously part of another one, severed for what now seems to me greater convenience.) Charlie Stross‘s recent novel Iron Sunrise has a surprising number of minor errors. The distance between Moscow Prime and Old Newfie is stated … Continue reading →

Posted in prose | Leave a comment

scifi

Posted on Sunday, 2005 July 10 by Anton

The last book I finished was Charlie Stross’s The Family Trade. Spoilers:

Posted in prose | 3 Comments

language peeve of the day

Posted on Thursday, 2005 July 07 by Anton

A set comprises its members; a set consists of its members; a set is composed of its members — but a set is not comprised of anything. “Thank you for observing all safety precautions.”

Posted in language | Leave a comment

protecting the public

Posted on Wednesday, 2005 July 06 by Anton

Argh! No traffic tickets for twenty years, and now two in 16 months – both from BART police. Two more months and I could have cleared both by the curious device of “traffic school”.

Posted in California, me!me!me! | Leave a comment