Bad Barr
Freedom of association is a libertarian principle. (Context)
If the Saddleback debate had been a government sanctioned / funded debate (and as neither McCain nor Obama are yet the official nominees for their repsective parties, I don't see how it could be), that would be somewhat understandable for Barr to sue for inclusion. But my understanding of the Saddleback debate was it was put on by the
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:17:54 -0500
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CRT is #1! (or from a different perspective, I'm a small small man)
I find this cool and have no one in the office to tell about it, so I thought I would share here.
My little start up is now on the first page of Google search results for "cognitive radio". (both with and without the quotes, though oddly higher without). This was a specific goal for this year, and we satisfied it with 3.5 months to go. (FYI: we also had the goals of a) 6 patents applications -
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:19:19 -0500
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College Bowl Cool
Via a sequence of links starting with the puppy blender comes this Dowd sentence:
For McCain, being cool meant being a rogue, not a policy wonk; but Obama manages
to be a cool College Bowl type, which must irk McCain, who liked to play up his
bad-boy cool. [emphasis mine]
Who knew? There's cool College Bowl types. Why then weren't we getting more action?
I think VTACO needs to start an
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:00:34 -0500
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Knoxville Church Shooting
No one I know (or my immediate family knew) went to the church (Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church on Kingston Pike - for the VTACO folks - that's the 7 miles of restaurants road.), but for the ex KnoxVegas expats, here's some relevant links:
News & Advance thread on the shooting
WBIR thread on the shooting
Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:29:27 -0500
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How I could support Obama
Via a US News article on the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF):According to an internal memo, a recent independent poll shows that members
rated Obama higher on "pocketbook" issues and, overall, believe that "Obama has
a better record or will be a better president when it comes to fire service,
labor, and IAFF issues," according to union president Harold Schaitberger. And
that
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:35:35 -0500
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What not to say to the fire extinguisher inspector
"I don't know where the fire extinguishers are."
Said by the girl at the front of the Pizza Hut where Thason and I had lunch today when informed by the man with the clipboard that he was there to inspect the fire extinguishers.
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:35:45 -0500
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Banking world turned upside down
Here in Lynchburg about two blocks away from each other are the following offers from two different banks.
First Citizen's has a home equity line that has 1) an APR of prime - 1% (that's 4% right now), 2) no closing costs (for lines > $50,000), 3) no early termination fees, 4) generally no appraisal fees (they check recent sales and tax assements in the area). Together, that makes it virtually
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:54:38 -0500
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Why my job is so cool, Part 2
I was just officially awarded a SBIR (scroll down to N08-099) to prototype an extension to my dissertation.1 It's rare that you get to continue the work you started in your dissertation, and it's effectively every PhD's dream that their work would actually get used.
FYI, it's not a lot of money and a portion of it is going to a much larger DoD contractor whose radios I'll end use to make the
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:01:34 -0500
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Of course they support him
Who else would they support? I'm just surprised that the Obama campaign website is actually hosting the "Marxists for Obama group"
Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:33:00 -0500
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An example of why my job is so cool
I just submitted a report to DARPA (actually to the project prime who'll ship it on to DARPA) that showed via a derivation from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (specifically the energy-time formulation) that a secondary research objective of a multi-billion dollar military R&D program was impossible. Impossible by several orders of magnitude impossible, actually.
Getting paid to do work you
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:19:35 -0500
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Easily the most disturbing thing I've seen
It's work safe, but holy mother of God this video is disturbing. Makes the Britney episode of South Park quasi-believable.
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:07:12 -0500
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CBI No More
Thason was going to blog this and many of you who attended either Walt's or JP's wedding learned of it this weekend, but CBI is no more.
After 31 years of collaboration with the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), the College Bowl Company is suspending the College Bowl campus program, effective immediately. College Bowl will no longer produce question packets for campus, regional
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:35:06 -0500
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Open Office Comment Revision
Yesterday during JP's wedding reception (congratulations to JP and Laury and in the immortal words of Rob Schneider in the Waterboy, You can... well you get the idea) (also congrats to Walt and Kate who got married the day before - hectic weekend), I said that one of my issues with Open Office was that it doesn't do macros.
Well, today as part of doing a laptop recovery w/o handy CDs, I
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:43:29 -0500
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Celebrity blogging
Don't normally do it but I couldn't pass up commenting on this:
Gwyneth Paltrow is going to get pregnant again - or else! The wife of Coldplay singer Chris Martin and mother of two had this to say in the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar: "I may force myself to do it one more time because the result is so worth it."I'm not certain what Chris is doing, but I'm sure he's doing it wrong.
Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:50:04 -0500
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For he is the Kwisatch Haderach
or the Messiah or something... From an interview with Obama...
GG:Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:Yes.
GG:What is sin?
OBAMA:Being out of alignment with my valuesGold, frankincense and myrhh shall be His.
(Pic from reuters)
(FYI, I'm voting Barr / Root. Found out a write-in for Fred wasnn't likely be reported in any meaningful way.)
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:12:22 -0500
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Libertarian Debate
Going on right now on C-SPAN.
Quick thoughts -
I don't think I would vote for Gravel (he's implicitly told Libertarians the government is the answer a few times); Phillies voice will turn off voters; Jingozian speaks better, but amazingly looks dissheveled - seriously the man needs a haircut.
So I think the nominee will come from the pool of Ruwart, Kubby, Root and Barr.
I think I prefer Root
Sun, 25 May 2008 08:20:38 -0500
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Upcoming Bacchanalia in the Area
This is perhaps only of interest to me (and is really just convenient bookmarking for me) but the following are opportunities to get your drink on in the Lynchburg area.
June 14,15 Blue Ridge Tasting Tour
July 5,6 Wine Down the Music Trail
July 12, Horse & Hound Festival (Preethi's favorite)
August 2,3 Son of Blue Ridge Tasting Tour
August 9 MicroFestivus
October 11-12, Garlic Festival
Wed, 21 May 2008 19:55:28 -0500
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Update on the Darth Mauling
Following up on this post, Arwel Wynne (dressed as Darth Vader) avoided jail time for his assault on the founder of the Jedi Religion in the UK. I assume using his amazing mind powers.
Also of note from the article:
In the 2001 United Kingdom census, 390,000 people - 0.7 per cent of the
population - listed Jedi as their religion.
They are not alone - 20,000 Canadians also listed their religion
Tue, 13 May 2008 16:21:14 -0500
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Payday Loans for Businesses
On Thursday, I had a couple folks from a bank drop in for an unannounced visit.1 They were partly there just for introductions, but were specifically interested in presenting a product of theirs where I could sell them my 30 or 45-day invoices to get cash sooner.
I instantly thought of the payday loan analogy (though said nothing along those lines) and found it interesting how successful
Sat, 10 May 2008 11:32:03 -0500
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Obama's secret imperialistic plans
He let's the cat out of the bag - when Obama's President, there will be 57 states!
More than likely, he was just tired and meant to say 47 states. But I think this is the funniest campaign moment since the Huck-Chuck facts.
Update
1) I just found out that Chuck is in town tomorrow. (Liberty commencement speaker)
2) The jokes write themselves:
See, Obama, this is why you wear the flag on your
Fri, 09 May 2008 23:58:18 -0500
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Silverman, Obama, Clinton mashup
It may not be appropriate for work, but when has that stopped me from linking?
Sun, 04 May 2008 06:39:09 -0500
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Free Comic Book Day
is today. You can find your nearest participating store here.
I missed out on cone day (there's not a B&J in Lynchburg and even the Blacksburg store wasn't participating this year).
Sat, 03 May 2008 08:28:31 -0500
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In Da Jeopardy pool
I have nearly completed the academic competition hajj.1 Today I got entered into the contestant pool for Jeopardy. Ken Jennings willing, I'll get selected for a taping sometime later this year, which I won't be able to tell anyone anything interesting about until 3 months after the taping (when it airs).
So if I get on, Polyscifi will be 2 for 4. Matt, Jeremy - come on slackers, you're holding
Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:19:42 -0500
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The conservative in me
was just appalled to see a National Guard recruiting ad in all Spanish....
The libertarian in me says, you go where the market is....
I'm going to go eat some late-night Frosted Mini Wheats.
Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:04:52 -0500
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Academic Awesomeness
I think this ranks up there with PhD Comics. (h/t mankiw)
Stronger from ticoneva on Vimeo.
Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:54:08 -0500
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