“You Failed Your Math Test, Comrade Einstein”, aside from having an intriguing title, explores an interesting topic: religious discrimination in the realm of mathematical education in late Soviet Russia. However, the book itself is too badly edited to be worth reading. Some examples are overexplained; others puzzle the reader from missing context. The sections are thematically discordant; some tangentially exploring the mathematical intricacies of sample problems, others considering the biography of noted dissidents. Worst, however, is that what does overlap is repetitive.

In the future, doublestuff Oreos will be considered regular Oreos, and triplestuff Oreos will take the place of doublestuff Oreos.

"Someone's job is to put the cream in the cookies. How cool is that."
“It’s done by machine.”
“It was once done by a person.”
“It’s always been done by machine.”
“What about Amish Oreos?”

“Japan is in Asia and is a small island nation. France is in Europe. Japan-France would then be a small island nation in Europe-Asia. Coincidentally, Europe and Asia aren't really two separate continents, and combined, they are actually called Eurasia. This is funny because Japan-France is not a real country, but Eurasia is a real continent.”

When will I learn to just shut up and be social?

"You're talking. See to that."
<gasps>
<long>"I respect that."
<shocked>"But he's just taking that from Firefly!"
<considers>"I still respect that."

Meat and greet. If you're reading this and in town, stop by sometime tonight for some lamb stew.

“So I was looking at that sign, and at first I thought it said Kabob Institute.”
If I ever open a kabob place, it’s going to be called Kabob Institute.
“Then I realized it was a hospital, and it said Rehab Institute.”
If I ever run a hospital, it’s going to serve kabobs.

“But if you lose, the devil gets your soul...”

What the devil? (What happened? Who am I?)
Speak of the devil. (Just a coincidence. Nothing special.)
Devil in the details. (The details are irrelevant. Hammer out the details.)
Idle hands are the devil’s tools. (Nailed to the cross. Working at cross purposes.)
Devil gets his day. (One day. Day by day.)
Give the devil his due. (Overdue. Do over.)
Make a deal with the devil. (Misdeal. Deal with it.)
Sell your soul to the devil. (Can’t buy happiness. Can’t go back.)
The devil made me do it. (I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say.)
Better the devil you know. (I don’t know. I don’t know.)

My 6s look like 2s.

Pot purchasing.

“Here’s $10. Can you go in and buy me some Nicorette gum?”

The wettest clothes 60 cents can buy.

“Bad Twin” is disappointing as a mystery; the conclusion is unsatisfying given the buildup. However, the book does feature many allusions and metaallusions to the Lost mythology for a fan to feel obligated to read it. I escaped purchase by utilizing my library perk at the bookstore. Which, like the show Lost, has its own layers of mysteries waiting to be excitingly uncovered.

Ramen is not a social food; it is a meal to be eaten alone, behind closed dining room doors. But what if friends were to happen to gather for an impromptu Ramen banquet, with the taboo whisked aside? Then the shocking details are laid bare, with diners able to observe the methods that others have divergently evolved. Some rely on the addition of liquid; others eschew that in favor of pure noodles. Some adorn with the contents of the opened silver packet; others disdain that artificial oversalinated taste in favor of more natural noodles. This one manipulates chopsticks with their fingers, that one lifts the bowl to their lips; this one spoons, that one forks. Everybody does it; no one ever talks about how.

Wiki-Google Proposition
Let the wikilink to x be the link to x’s page in wikipedia. Let w: {s: s is a searchable terms in google} -> N st w(x) = the rank of the wikilink to x in a google search of x. Let w' = max(w(x)).

w' is significant.


Wiki-Google Corollary
Let w* be the preimage of w'.

w* is significant.

Won Civilization Mafia with the town as Mao of the Chinese, despite being lynched Day 1. Which was mostly my own fault: identifying role flavor could not make up for ignoring the identification of antitown in the role PM, and being wildly wrong in my speculation hurt as well. While my suspicions may have been off, I do think my strategizing helped, at least after the second calculations. Though having the setup favor the town proved the biggest asset.

Memorial.

If the person you are stalking knows that you are stalking them, you are doing something wrong.

“sometimes i think it would be really funny to copy the away message of someone who is on my buddy list but shouldn't be just to see 1) if i'm on that person's buddy list (and then if you subsequently IM me in outrage/fear, you are just as scary for having me on yours; 2) if we have mutual friends who report my plagiarism; 3) stalking is fun!; 4) maybe someone will steal this lame away message in a [witty] attempt at rebound humor!”

If the person you are stalking knows that you are stalking them, you are doing something wrong.

11. You know this girl. Not superwell, but you go to the same school and know some people in common and share an activity or two. You’re bored one evening and reading away messages and wind up looking through her lj and come across one of those survey things, which contain things which don't seem significant, but yet at the same time enough to make you feel a little concerned. What do you do?

If the person you are stalking knows that you are stalking them, you are doing something wrong.

Bowled more than three games and more than one hand.

So hot right now:
Been down, isn't it a pity
Go out and find a girl
Dressed so fine and looking so pretty

“...In the summer, in the city...”

Trumping your partner’s ace makes them less of a man.

<->

read&initial
5.10.06
the “mary hasn’t done a new r&i in 3 weeks so danny will since he just finished his last final and is in a silly mood and I mean mary does it all the time so how hard can it really be” edition

Sales were something-or-other compared to last year. Might have been down, might have been up. Or possibly flat. I don’t really know. If you are really curious I’m sure someone knows so you could ask around. But I’d guess that more sales would probably be a good thing in any case. So greet customers, take orders, and don’t forget to smile! :-)