(I’m not really turning Discordian, it’s just this ddate thing I was telling you about earlier, which I put in my .bash_profile.)

Let’s assume C is strongly typed, lol

I’ve been following the trial of Hans Reiser, accused of murdering his wife. It’s a popular trial so there is live coverage from both Wired and the San Francisco chronicle — if you’re interested, it’s worth reading both sources as they present interestingly different perspectives. For example, an acquaintance of Reiser’s, Cimarron Taylor, was recently cross-examined. In the Chronicle liveblog, he comes across as rather considerate and even-handed, admitting Reiser would over-estimate his own ability, but “that’s also true of most software engineers”. In the terser Wired coverage, this follow-up is omitted (making Taylor seem a little more vindictive) but we learn that apparently Reiser was embarrassed by Taylor’s testimony.
The picture, from the excellent series of sketches Wired has included, shows Reiser’s father on the witness stand, Hans Reiser, seated, and Reiser’s attorney William Du Bois.

After showering, I dry myself with a towel. In fact I've got several towels, of different sizes and colours.

I don't wash my towels after every use, and I've noticed that unless I hang them in a spot that is highly conducive to towel drying (such spots are, sadly, frequently rather awkward in all other respects) they tend to get wetter with repeated use, even taking into account the regular 24-hour-or-so drying period.

Anyway, recently I ran out of bath towels and so I started using a beach towel. This towel is about twice the size of my normal towels, but it has managed to stay drier for far longer than I'd expected. It's definitely outlasted the bath towels.

So: is the dryness size-related? I guess moisture spreads pretty-much evenly to all parts of the towel. In that case, any given spot on a larger towel would be drier than a similar-sized spot on a small towel. So the towel will feel drier quite soon after a shower. But since this towel has stayed dry over multiple showers, there must be more to it than that. I thought perhaps there was some sort of nonlinear relationship between moisture level and drying time, but, since there is simply more surface area in a larger towel, that probably isn't necessary: Larger towels dry quicker just because there's more towel exposed to the air. Makes sense. Hadn't thought about it previously.

I wonder if there's a break-even point?

Because safety is a priority “You Got 30 Minutes™” is not a guarantee but an estimate. You may get more.

— “legal stuff” on dominosbiz.com

If there’s one thing I’m vain about, it’s that I’m willing to stare facts in the face. And my mother enjoyed the world more than I do. She did more things in the world than I do. She took more pleasure in the world than I do. Those are all facts. I don’t think that’s a particularly strange or masochistic thing to say.

— David Rieff about his mother, Susan Sontag (ref)

**^D

! End of file on the terminal... why?

I’m sorry, pdftex, but there are some things that I just can’t explain.

As I may have mentioned I’ve been watching TV recently. It’s been very entertaining: tonight I watched the TV Shopping Network, and so I idly considered the benefits of ISOWhey while I worked on the abstract for my paper.

In the middle of the (hour-long) pitch, the attractive, personable, but non-expert woman interrupted her less-attractive but still engaging co-host, who was talking about some of the finer details of the glycolytic pathway, to let everyone know that someone had called in and asked about the blender they were using. Within five seconds they had an ad for the blender on the screen, too — in seven different colours, for $299 (it seems expensive, but this particular Kitchenaid has a very powerful blade). 

“That’s very impressive work,” I thought.

But then I started to wonder: perhaps nobody called in at all. Perhaps nobody ever calls the TV shopping network, and perhaps the “interruption” was part of the whole program. But surely nobody else is as cynical as me!

In any case, it’s futile to attempt to second-guess TVSN.

When a possum dies among the shrubs its body falls onto a bed of leaves, face down, tail already stiffening. By the second day its fur is matted and tufted, and ants crawl over its body, and flies come. By the third day the fur is a carpet, slowly, silently, dissolving into the leaves -- and it's really a beautiful process, returning to the earth, the energy in its flesh spreading throughout the garden.

But it smells terrible, so I had to bag the thing and dump it in the rubbish anyway.

I haven’t watched TV for a while.

While reading this article I started wondering about who it was exactly who invented Velcro. Well, George de Mestral invented Velcro, after seeing the way burrs stuck to his dog, and was granted a patent in 1955. The name is a portmanteau of velour and crochet.

This is a good way to use pita bread that’s going stale. First, create the pita bread triangles using your preferred method. Lightly coat them with oil, then cover with one or more of:

1. Garlic
2. Garlic salt and pepper 
3. Cinnamon sugar
4. (Bonus!) Nothing

… then bake at 210 degrees C until crispy — this happens quickly, perhaps within 3-5 minutes. I highly recommend option 2! 

When a coin is flipped, the outcome is either a head or a tail; when a magician guesses the card selected from a deck, the magician can either be correct or incorrect; when a baby is born, the baby is either born in the month of March or is not.

 - Binomial Distribution

After extensive accidental experimentation I’ve discovered that ants love red bean cakes, don’t like milk chocolate, and are not particularly fond of Lord of the Rings DVD boxes.

The Fanta has a nasty, synthetic edge. She wonders why she bought it. The tabloid doesn’t go down any better, seeming composed in equal measure of shame and rage, as though some inflamed national subtext were being ritually, painfully massaged, for whatever temporary and paradoxical relief this might afford.

Paraphrase of this story.
Steve: Give me your money.
Tom: Are you serious? You, with that obviously fake gun?
Steve: Actually it’s a real gun. Want to find out? [waves gun]
Tom: Come on, Matt, don’t be stupid. Wait till your father finds out about this back at the factory
Steve: My name’s not Matt and my dad’s a zookeeper. Let’s make this quick.
Tom: Look, why are you robbing me anyway?
Steve: I’m homeless. Look, I just need something for food. I’m not here to chat.
Tom: Well, why don’t you go to a shelter or something?
Steve: [sighs] They’re all full, and it’s first-come-first-served.
Tom: [Thumbs through wallet] Well, I’ve only got a 10.
Steve: No, you don’t. You’ve got at least $25 there. 
Tom: Give you 15?
Steve: Fine. [runs off]