Mindless Philosopher

I’ve been threatening to write the following Dar Williams parody for about four years now. After last week’s loss, it came together. And with tonight’s win (wow were the pollsters wrong), I have more courage to post it. (Also, an Iowa “tell-all” post is coming as soon as I get sign-off from campaign people.)
Iowa (Campaigning Again)
I’ve never had a way with winners,
But the hills of Iowa make me wish that I could.
And I’ve never found a way to serve my country
But if the chance came by, oh I, I would
But way back where I come from, our parents taught us values
We don’t like to curb our passions with focus groups and polls
And we walk in the world of apathetics
And past midnight we trudge home and we pay the toll
Iowa…chorus [x2]
How I long to be in front for a little bit
To gain momentum and win on election night
But I fear that day is so far off
That I’ll be too old to enjoy the fight.
So you know I asked a friend about it, on a bad day,
Her candidate had just dropped out, she shredded a memo they left behind
She said “Why do this? Where does it get me?
Whoever created this calendar is no friend of mine.”
Iowa…chorus [x2]
Once I had everything, I gave it up
For a politician who struck me with the words I’d never heard.
And so for them I came this far, across the country,
Abandoning my life with complete disregard.
..and I’d do it again
For tonight I went canvassing through a 10-below windchill
Too scared that of a scenario that I could not bare to discuss:
You were a-wandering out on the hills of Iowa
and you were not caucusing for us.

…and Bill! (And Yuhas, for you TMG folk.)

So my brother showed me up this year by making his own Chanukah card. The only thing I’m creative at is making up riddles, so here’s your end-of-Chanukah treat (true story too!):
My grad student friends and I sat down to play some driedel on the second night of Chanukah (the non-Jew wanted to learn how to play). The host didn’t have any dreidels, but thankfully I had a cheap one that I bought at Wegmann’s just before the holiday. As we began playing, we soon noticed a strange occurance: the pot was only growing in size. Of the four sides of the driedel, only Nun and Shin were landing. In fact, the dreidel landed on these two sides 24 times in a row (!!!) before we switched dreidels.
My question is: What is that chance of a fair dreidel landing on only two of its sides for the first 24 spins? I’ve worked out the calculation (it’s not that hard — plus, getting within an order of magntiude is fairly trivial).
Maybe I should give this problem to my game theory undergrads…if only I were precepting statistics instead, then I actually might.

I’ve never been much of an audiophile. In ninth grade, the school library conducted a survey of students to determine the tastes of the new class. Taking the survey was a breeze until I was asked to list my favorite radio station. I really had no clue; after some thought, I ended up listing the local sports station. Not only was that the station I listened to the most, but I actually didn’t know the name/call number of a single local music station.
Music did enter my life, slowly and mainly through the women I’ve known. The first girl I had a real crush on introduced me to Jewel, and I shortly bought my first CD: Pieces of You. More recently, Janeite acquainted me with The Decemberists, and my BFF sent me some incredible mixed CDs, which really opened my eyes to independent music (thanks Chicklet!).
I looked to develop this newfound music knowledge and stick it to the RIAA at the same time by joining eMusic (yay for no DRM!). In January of this year, via eMusic, I discovered The Weepies, this incredible singer-songwriter duo, who have an amazing story behind their union. They have been in my “Top 3 favorite bands/artists” list ever since.
Normally, my proclivities are far outside the bounds of normal pop culture, but in this case, I appear to be ahead of the curve. Last week when I was watching TV, I was excited to hear The Weepies’ song “All I Want” as the background for a JC Penny commercial. And that experience just repeated itself tonight with an Old Navy commercial, which features the song “Stars”.
My music tastes are hip — who knew?! A broken clock…

Chag Sameach everyone! I don’t think I’ll be able to light candles tonight, though celebration is in order as the Center for Jewish Life rented out an entire bar (Triumph, on Nassua St) for the evening. Plus, drinks are free from 8pm – 10pm: yay, no more $3 ginger ales! I don’t want to think about how much that cost….
On the candle-lighting side, grad student lighting is tentatively planned for Friday night. Thanks to the large class of new Jewish Woo first years, I have confidence that we can organize a decent crowd.
What do I want for Chanukah? A high response rate for my survey that I’m sending out tomorrow and a reason to change my dissertation status which has been stable far too long….ah, the needs of a grad student :)
Also, next trip to DC (and the last of the year) will be the weekend after next (e.g., 12/15). Let me know if you want to hang out!

In reaction to WaPo’s ugly Obama smear, Tom Toles does more than write the Ombudsman (which is all the power I have):

At least my favorite paper has enough class left to let that cartoon print. Hooray for the small victories :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Since my brother and I are on different coasts, this year’s festivities will be the first time that we won’t have the chance to talk about math puzzles around the Thanksgiving table. In honor of his absence, I present this fiendishly difficult “hats” puzzle:
Trogdor the Burninator is at it again, except this time he has hit the mother lode and captured an infinite number of peasants. As always, the peasants can escape their doom if they can figure out what color hat (either red or blue) Trogdor has placed on their heads. All the peasants guess simultaneously (no post-hat-placement communication), all peasants can see all the other hats on their peers’ heads, and the peasants can discuss strategy beforehand (though Trogdor will listen in). If only a finite number of peasants guess incorrectly, all the peasants go free; if not, Burnination for all. Can you help the peasants?
I can’t. I have a decent solution for a countably infinite number of peasants, but apparently there is a math-y way to save an uncountably infinite number of peasants too!
Good luck to all, and I hope this puzzle helps keep you entertained this weekend :)

Remember those sites that you clicked on an image to give fund feeding toe world’s hungry? Well FreeRice has taken the idea to a whole new level. The site tests your vocabulary as a way to capture your attention. (My best score was a 43.) The only problem is that the site is addictive and keeping me from working on my prospectus revisions.

Another great November Election Day for the Democratic Party — that makes three in a row. And in case anyone is counting (and I am!), that’s 3/3 Election Days under Party Chairman Howard Dean.
My predictions — updated

• KY-Gov: Beshear 58%, Fletcher 42%. Result: Beshear 58.7%, Fletcher 41.3% — not a shabby prediction
• Virginia State Senate: deadlock at 20-20, Result: Dems get 21 and TAKE THE SENATE!
• Virginia State Senate – 34: Peterson 51%-Devolites 49% Result: Peterson wins *huge*, 55%-45%. Sorry for underestimating you, Chap!
• Virginia State House: Democrats add 5 seats: GOP 52 – Dem 45 – Ind 3. Result: GOP 54 – Dem 44 – Ind 2. Again, I was very close, but not quite exact.
• NJ Assemble: Dems add to their lead in both houses. Incredibly, I got this one wrong. While the Dems added a seat in the Senate, they lost two seats in the House. (Technically, since two seats were vacant, they didn’t lose any while the GOP picked up two.)