signal interference

Posted on Saturday, 2007 September 08 by Anton

I tried to remember the title theme of Dexter and all I could summon was that of The Odd Couple. Hmm.

Posted in cinema, music+verse | Leave a comment

not from the inside

Posted on Thursday, 2007 September 06 by Anton

Mike Linksvayer has “One question for temporary dictator applicants”: What will you do to reduce the power of the presidency? Mike admits,

I’m afraid I’d have a hard time providing a specific non-lame (and not pie-in-the-sky) answer myself, but what I’d want to hear are specific structural and cultural changes that would make it more difficult for the president to act in an unchecked manner.

I suppose a President can appoint judges who take the Ninth and Tenth Amendments seriously, but in the long run the only non-revolutionary answer is institutional dispersal of powers. I have a couple of suggestions.

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awww!

Posted on Wednesday, 2007 September 05 by Anton

I was awakened by a voice: “How cute!” I opened my eyes to find the Little Demon perching on my chest.

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the honorable hippie from Texas

Posted on Wednesday, 2007 September 05 by Anton

Sunday I saw some Ron Paul banners on overpasses in Santa Clara County, one of which read

Ron Paul
REVOLUTION

— where the letters EVOL were really LOVE backward and slightly misaligned to make the point, whatever it is, more obvious. Tuesday I saw someone hanging an improved version of that sign, with EVOL in red.

Ron Paul is an obstetrician by trade, so I’m reminded of GWB’s remark about his colleagues who “aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country” because of frivolous malpractice lawsuits.

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the flickering image

Posted on Thursday, 2007 August 30 by Anton

Bela Lugosi was more interesting in a supporting role in The Black Camel (Warner Oland’s second Charlie Chan picture) than in Dracula, made the same year.

Also recently watched: the first disc of season 10 of South Park. The first episode (“The Return of Chef!”) has its moments but the next three (“Smug Alert!” and two-part “Cartoon Wars”) are heavy-handed, mostly unfunny and (of course) coarse. Are earlier seasons any better?

Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been enjoying the banter of Gilmore Girls.

The Marx Brothers’ first few movies disappoint me. I wonder whether later ones have more plot.

As for more recent movies, we went to see Death at a Funeral, a stinker. My companion remarked that English comedies of this sort rely on straining a convention of civility at all costs, and American directors don’t know how to milk it. Also it shares a scriptwriter with last year’s Caffeine, which she described as disappointing.

Posted in cinema | 1 Comment

spam trends

Posted on Wednesday, 2007 August 29 by Anton

For a while there, nearly all the comments submitted to this blog linked to files in an obscure directory on a minor university’s server, which in turn redirected to a porn site. After I reported it to the webmasters of the two universities affected, I got no comments here at all for two or three days.

This morning, 14 spamments linking to Geocities.

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C(52,5)

Posted on Saturday, 2007 August 25 by Anton

Played poker last night – for the second time in my life, if I haven’t miscounted – with some Stanfordites; I think I was the only one there over thirty. Won $2.50.

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