Very Important Poll: Dot Physics Census
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find as many different computers as I can to vote.
(I see there was a “not Tom” listed as one of the “other” submissions. That’s OK. If there’s an antiTom, though, I’m going to be worried.)
Uncertain Principles: Using Analogies on the Internet Is Like Doing a Really Futile Thing
No matter how carefully you set up your analogy, somebody will come along and interpret it in the most stupidly literal way possible, find some tiny point where it fails to correspond perfectly with the actual topic of discussion, and decide that this disagreement is an utterly devastating counter-argument to whatever point you were trying to make.
…
This is incredibly frustrating, because argument by analogy is a tool with a long and distinguished history among intelligent people debating topics in good faith.
Arguing in good faith on the internet has disappeared like a rabbit down its hole.
Aw, crap.
The AHT Guide to Hamburger and Cheeseburger Styles
This is styles, rather than recipes. It includes the guberburger
Burgers with a generous dollop of melted peanut butter ladeled on.
and the cheese-stuffed burger
If you’ve ever tried to duplicate one at home, it’s trickier than it would seem. You’ve got to seal in the cheese securely so you don’t have a blow-out, and, as the cheese melts and puffs up the patty, you’ve got to prick it quickly with a toothpick right after you flip it to let the steam escape. It’s better to leave it to the experts.
Mouseover switches from UV to a visible image. Also available: high resolution UV image
The Onion: Rare Centuple Play Ends Mets’ Season
This was the most outs recorded on a single play since the 2004 Montreal Expos were eradicated from the league after hitting into an ∞-play
I’m a Yankees fan, making it easier to laugh at this national-league humor.
The xkcd book is now officially available in the store!
If you work in a large organization you will undoubtedly be exposed to some level of bureaucracy; the only variable is the degree to which we are mired in it. I work for the federal government, so I’m exposed to it more than some. Every so often a directive is issued that makes absolutely no sense — the action simply will not address the problem that it was meant to tackle. When I was younger and less experienced with how the system works (or doesn’t work), I’d start making a list of reasons why the directive was stupid and a waste of time and effort, and offer these up in an attempt to save myself (and others) from these drains on our productivity. Sometimes I succeeded, but usually I failed.
The key is knowing where the decision-making power lies. When arguing with someone who doesn’t have the authority to make a decision (or is too dim to understand the issues), logic and facts are dull weapons. It’s like a Nerf vibrator; it has the vague appearance of something effective, but when push comes to shove (as it were) it’s not going to get the job done. So it happened again recently — work that needs to be completed, because someone high up in the food chain decided “we need to do something, and this is something.” Everyone who agrees it’s pointless is someone not able to make a decision.
