Mindless Philosopher

Microsoft, at it again. This provided quite the puzzlement today as we were playing with tab- and comma-delimited files.
Also, you may have noticed that this blog was recently attacked by blog spam bots (they put links to porn and other sundry topics in the comments). Well I fought back with MT-Blacklist. I highly recommend it.

“I know from my own experience that America is a land of opportunity, where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.”

and it’s only 4am. Wow, I almost have a 9 to 5 job…wait, I think that’s the other 5…

Saturday morning, as I am wont to do since I’m not at work (rare, I know), I watched Saturday morning cartoons. Or, at least, I attempted to watch. There is certainly a dearth of choices nowadays. I came across one, Winx, that was truly terrible. Among it’s many problems:

• It reinforced gender stereotypes in a huge way: e.g., in order to be popular you must show your midriff.
• The moral of the episode I watched was: negotiate with terrorists. Seriously, I’m not kidding.
• The show used the tired story-theme of “the magic shoes were in the off position the entire time!”

I wistfully remember Digimon, with its extended debates on whether to be isolationist or internationalist (with respect to 7 kids on a fictional island, but still the concepts are the same). And Voltron, Transformers, and Thundercats were pretty good in my day as well. Where has my Garurumon gone?

Update on CAPPS:
CNN reports: “Because the CAPPS criteria are so well-known, Transportation Security Administration officials acknowledge terrorists can easily circumvent the system.” Not exactly our main thesis of Carnival Booth, but a decent one sentence summary. Glad to know that someone was listening.
On a completely unrelated note, saw DC United play last night. It was an internation friendly against England first division’s Nottingham Forest. Saw a lot of Freddy Adu, but he couldn’t quite put one in the net. After a 1-1 tie through the regular 90 minutes, they went right into penalty kicks. Successful tries by Adu, Quaranta, Gros (who has an amazing game), and Olsen secured the win for the home side. That’ll teach those Red Coats to mess with the colonies.

In the immortal words of Joshua Lyman:

Victory is mine, victory is mine, great day in the morning people, victory is mine. Donna, bring me the finest muffins and bagels in the land.

Okay, so victory is more like ours in this case, but this indeed is starting out as a great day!
Note that the article says that CAPPS II “is being dismantled because of concerns over privacy and effectiveness.” I would like to think that we had a tiny part in that :)
On to November 2nd!!!

but he still doesn’t get my support:

BRITTANY: “I’m Brittany.” LARISSA: “I’m Larissa.” BRITTANY: “You probably know our dad…” BOTH: “John Thune.” THUNE: “That’s me.” BRITTANY: “Aside from being smart.” LARISSA: “He’s very much a South Dakota guy.” BRITTANY: “He grew up in Murdo.” LARISSA: “Married his college sweetheart.” BRITTANY: “That would be…” BOTH: “Mom.” LARISSA: “Worked for Ronald Reagan.” BRITTANY: “I remember him.” LARISSA: “You were two.” BRITTANY: “There were pictures.” LARISSA: “Whatever.” BRITTANY: “Anyway…He spent six years in Congress where he did a lot of really cool stuff…” LARISSA: “Like tax cuts.” BRITTANY: “Athanol. (laughter) Athenol. Ethanol.” LARISSA: “And that whole Lewis and Clark thing.” BRITTANY: “We know it’s about time for the campaign to start and before things get really crazy… LARISSA: “We just wanted you to know that we think our dad would make a really great Senator.” BRITTANY: “And that he’s still a pretty great guy.” LARISSA: “Even though he’s, you know, getting kind of old.” BRITTANY: “And the tough part is…” LARISSA: “We’d be willing to share him with you.” BRITTANY: “Ok Dad, you can do your line now.” THUNE: “I’m John Thune and I approve this message.” LARISSA: “Why does he say that?” BRITTANY: “I think he wants to be in our commercial.” LARISSA: “Figures” (Hotline sources, 7/13).

As pointed out by da chicklet, everyone’s favorite Dean-turned-JK staffer was in the Times.

…Just not this one.

For your viewing pleasure in case anyone missed The NY Post’s “exclusive” story. Well done Murdoch, well done.
I think you can safely increment the number of battleground states to 21.

The weekend started as I managed to get out of work at a reasonable time (five minutes ahead of schedule aactually) and take the Metro all the way up to Wheaton to visit Abi for Shabbat. Randomly, on the Metro I sat down next to someone also reading HP: OTP.
Alas, Abi’s fiance was not in town this weekend, so I couldn’t wish both of them a Mazel Tov. I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare before Shabbat started (yay for long summer days) and we walked over to shul for Ma’ariv. It was pretty much your basic Orthodox service. Came back to Abi’s very nice apartment where she stuffed me with food and uniquely-shaped challah. Since it was inappropriate for me to sleep at Abi’s place, I stayed at a married couple’s house within walking distance. Michael and Sharon, my hosts, had a cute 1-year-old baby boy. They were also playing hosts two quite attractive Israel girls who were visiting the east coast after teaching Hebrew in California for a year.
Saturday was services followed by lunch at Abi’s with another couple; then the traditional Shabbat nap and walk. We saw a couple Orioles (Maryland state bird and mascot of a star-crossed baseball team) on our outdoor trek. Seudah Shlishit, the traditional third big meal of Shabbat, was a gathering of many MIT Hillel alums replete with fascinating political discussions.
I left shortly after havdalah on Saturday and didn’t get home until very late. Of course that didn’t stop by from reading HP until the wee hours of the morning. Wow, Harry has some serious issues in this book; I really think he has Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
Sunday I made vegetarian reubens for lunch with abridged WW crew. I didn’t completely drain the sauerkraut, so they were a little soggy. I thought they tasted great, but I must admit that wasn’t the unanimous sentiment. I probably should just stick to Rice Krispie treats.
Sunday evening I went to a family friend’s wedding in Leesburg, VA. My table was quite boring: too many F/S types. So I went over to another table that included a cool cousin, her very nice boyfriend, and her cousin who looks just like an 11-yr-old Ginny Weasley. I spent much of the last half-hour teaching Ginny (okay, her name was really Emily) genetics and heredity. The discussion started when I mentioned Adam and Eve and she retorted (with a touch of sarcasm) “I believe in the monkeys.” And that’s why I like kids so much.
LOTD (from enjanerd): a self-referential story