tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63511782011-04-22T00:48:54.550-04:00CUNCTIPOTENT CUNCTATORMath, puerile word games, occasional bouts of baseball commentary, and all sorts of nonsense. 29 % unwholesome.Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comBlogger1401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1150149768934836412006-06-12T15:21:00.000-04:002006-06-12T21:34:57.280-04:00HISTORY of GRIMSLEY HIJINKSThose of us who follow baseball are undoubtedly familiar with the Jason Grimsley HGH matter. (A brief summary appears at the bottom of the post for those who are not familiar with the matter but wish to be.)What I had not been aware of was that Mr. Grimsley was also involved in the 1994 Albert Belle corked bat switcheroo. That story is laid out quite well here, and I Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1148269408608119692006-05-21T22:12:00.000-04:002006-05-22T00:16:13.406-04:00READER MAILKnow dear readers that your frequent pleadings for cunctipotent blogging have not gone unheard. To honor them, I open the reader e-mailbag:Reader "renee roberson" sends a lovely missive entitled: Re: Your wealth., bastard granite.I had been hoping that someone might reply to the many mentions of my wealth (see, for example, the post on last December 3rd entitled Lookee here at all thisCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1140904092562270682006-02-25T16:46:00.001-05:002006-02-25T16:48:56.000-05:00TEN WAYS DICK CHENEY CAN KILL YOU. (Not sure where I saw this first; perhaps The Rat.)Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1139434864101728552006-02-08T16:36:00.001-05:002006-02-08T16:42:02.106-05:00I WAS GOING TO MAKE SOME SORT OF "FALLACY" JOKE, BUT REALLY, WHAT'S THE POINT?Here's a sentence whose sole purpose is to provide a Link.Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1139431877343723412006-02-08T15:33:00.000-05:002006-02-08T16:08:10.813-05:00WHOSE VOICE WILL YOU WAKE UP TO IN THE MORNING?Until recently, probably not Alex Rodriguez (unless your name ends in "Jeter"). But now you can order a wake-up call from A-Rod, for you or your friends!I find the message truly puzzling: "Mornings are the most valuable time of the day, and I should know." Huh? 10-year 252 million $ contract, zero morning games. The man never has to see another 6AM Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1135886502943452562005-12-29T14:35:00.000-05:002005-12-29T15:15:00.176-05:00ONE MORE ENTRY IN THE DAMON-SIGNS-WITH-YANKEES-BITTERNESS LOG, AND THEN I PROMISE* TO SHUT UP ABOUT IT*(Not really.)Congratulations to the Alien Loves Predator comic for predicting this transaction over a year in advance. I await the unfolding of some of its other prognostications.Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1135141507616139892005-12-20T23:32:00.000-05:002005-12-24T02:02:39.800-05:00WHY? WHY?A few minutes ago the television -- normally a calm and predictable device -- which had been sitting peacefully and alone in the next room, spontaneously turned on. There was an air of darkness in this strange omen. I approached, at first intending only to put the device back to bed, but, possessed with a fateful temerity before this black foreboding, I turned up the volume. In so doing Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1135065180778598242005-12-20T02:40:00.000-05:002005-12-20T03:19:19.173-05:00MATH IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PUERILITYVery nice, though I think one needs to qualify the "world's greatest" claim. Perhaps it's the world's greatest math limerick. Or at least the greatest math limerick not involving a mathematician from Nantucket.And here's one more math joke for good measure.Prerequisites: Calculus and analysis, respectivelyCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1134610785819811132005-12-14T20:15:00.000-05:002005-12-20T02:53:43.686-05:00NO, I'M NOT DEAD OR MISSINGMy computer is currently, to borrow a euphemism, differently abled. Hence the lack of posts recently. As soon as the term ends I shall return with many things to write. Probably in complete sentences then. Or perhaps in enough sentences backwards and fragmentary that boggle will the mind.In the meantime, here's to the principle that a legal precedent and its nickname Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1124728684713449702005-08-22T12:02:00.000-04:002005-08-22T12:38:04.766-04:00You don't need me to tell you that Capital Phi is a male of the most very masculine kind. You can pretty much smell the Brut as soon as you've committed him to paper, I imagine Capital Phi to be one of those guys who spends a lot of time kissing his biceps as he patrols the testosterzone.That's from a most enlightening post over at Gooseania; to learn the genders of some other symbols used in Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1124319364195986282005-08-17T18:46:00.000-04:002005-08-17T18:56:04.200-04:00'In my opinion you and Lady Florence were quite unsuitably matched. Her ladyship is of a highly determined and arbitrary temperament, quite opposed to your own. [...] And I have it from her ladyship's own maid, who happened to overhear a conversation between her ladyship and one of the gentlemen staying here -- Mr. Maxwell, who is employed in an editorial capacity by one of the reviews -- that itCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1123464791063278252005-08-07T21:28:00.000-04:002005-08-08T00:34:04.230-04:00SAD, BUT TRUE:Niether "cunctipotent" nor "cunctator" is among the 86,800 most popular words in the English language. At least not according to this site, which has a searchable list. (Via the Rat).Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1123121372912944392005-08-03T21:16:00.000-04:002005-08-07T20:06:19.026-04:00SO HOW 'BOUT THOSE [INSERT BASEBALL TEAM OF YOUR CHOICE, OR, FAILING THAT, THE TEAM-ISH SOUNDING BIRD, BEAST, OR RACIAL STEREOTYPE OF YOUR CHOICE]?It seems that Rafael Palmeiro of the Baltimore Orioles is the newest member of the accidentally ingested performance-enhancing drugs-of-the-month club. (Click here for last December's inductee). Mr. Palmeiro seems to have worked quite hard for the Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1121631186273421462005-07-17T16:09:00.000-04:002005-07-17T16:13:06.273-04:00'I beg your pardon, sir?''Don't call me "sir". Call me Comrade. Do you know what you are, my lad? You're an obsolete relic of an exploded feudal system.''Very good, sir.'--An exchange between Jeeves and Comrade Butt, from Wodehouse's The Inimitable JeevesCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1121139440233634222005-07-11T21:54:00.000-04:002005-08-19T17:41:05.093-04:00"BLOG"? WHAT IS "BLOG"?I haven't any good excuse for not posting in a while, and I haven't even anything snappy to say about it. Sorry. Moreover, the following post almost certainly will not interest you as much as it interests me (unless you are me when I reread the post, in which case it will interest you exactly as much as it interests me).I've been away from my internet reading for a while ("Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1118012624217156012005-06-05T18:50:00.000-04:002005-06-05T19:03:44.223-04:00Dear Eve Tushnet,"Synethesia" (synesthesia) is composed of mostly warm tones, reds and oranges. "Gay" (gay) is predominantly green. Therefore syneshesia cannot possibly be gay. (Thursday June 2nd post, lines 30-31: "Anachronism is gay/ Synesthesia is too").Regards,Cunctipotent CunctatorCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1117261683359663052005-05-28T02:20:00.000-04:002005-05-28T02:28:03.363-04:00Here's a benefit of blogging which I hope never to need. Here's a newspaper account.Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1117073796504103872005-05-25T22:13:00.000-04:002005-05-28T01:34:25.886-04:00IF THE IRS HAD DISCOVERED THE QUADRATIC FORMULA (Via Isabel's Math Blog)Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1116227992279113422005-05-16T01:41:00.000-04:002005-05-18T23:57:41.540-04:00BUELLER ... BUELLER ... :While it may seem like I have been "lazy" about "posting", I have in fact been enacting a three-week work of minimalist performance art. It was based on the experiences of an actual mathematics graduate student whose work around final examination time was so mammoth that he had to forsake food, sleep, and communication with the world outside of the library.This week I Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1114297378541232022005-04-23T18:27:00.000-04:002005-04-23T19:26:00.896-04:00CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION, BUT DAMN:Mark Liberman of Language Log points out that "language" is negatively correlated with "beer" -- at least according to BlogPulse's Trend Search, which shows data about word usage in blogs. A number of colorful interpretations came to mind. Well, we're out of beer. Better break out the phonemes! But alas, Mr. Liberman is able to provide a more sober Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1114226121521578732005-04-22T22:46:00.000-04:002005-05-22T23:45:38.946-04:00Mr. Lehrer has had a long and varied career in the field of entertainment, starting with nine years at Harvard University, where it was that he first decided to devote his life to what has since become a rather successful scientific project, namely the attempt to prolong adolescence beyond all previous limits.--Tom Lehrer, introducing himself at a 1959 concertAPOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR THIS ONE (Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1113105545813283832005-04-09T23:25:00.000-04:002005-04-09T23:59:05.816-04:00THIS POST IS 2% EVIL:Cowboy in Black: The good die first.Tom Servo: Most people are morally ambiguous, which explains our random dying patterns.--from MST3K's treatment of GunslingerIf this site is correct (and why wouldn't it be?), my humble blog is 71% good and 29% evil. I also tested the blogs on the link list to the right. As of now, Double-Tongued Word Wrester and The Millions receive the Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1112756332749011312005-04-05T21:31:00.000-04:002005-04-05T22:58:52.753-04:00A DENSE SLAB OF SLATE:Here's a nice article on robot soccer.But at the bottom it links to this older, not-so-nice article. Not-so-nice as in dumb.It's a critique of what sounds like a silly technology-is-about-to-go-too-far book, but the critique itself gets silly (mostly in the second half):The problem with this sort of thinking [that we are at an especially momentous/grevious step in Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1111905672878671032005-03-27T01:38:00.000-05:002005-03-27T01:41:12.880-05:00Many a visitor to New York's Museum of Modern Art has probably thought, "I could do that."A British graffiti artist who goes by the name "Banksy" went one step further, by smuggling in his own picture of a soup can and hanging it on a wall, where it stayed for more than three days earlier this month before anybody noticed. Pictures here. (Via Geekpress).Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1111901577808302192005-03-27T00:24:00.000-05:002005-03-27T00:32:57.810-05:00SELF-TITLED TITLE:Well, it's not going to write itself, thinks the blogger. Yet he writes not, and nothing is written.Until now. For, you see, I'm tired of sitting around unupdated. I've been wearing the same lame post at the top of my page for weeks, so long that I wasn't sure if I'd ever get it off.Oh, but I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Cunctipotent Cunctator -- but not the indolent Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1109984490380538082005-03-04T19:23:00.000-05:002005-03-04T20:01:30.386-05:00IF IT'S 50% HIGHBROW AND 50% LOWBROW, DOES THAT MAKE IT MIDDLEBROW?:This is a little word game I like to call Trading Nouns.What happens when you take the nouns (and any convenient adjectives and phrases attached to them) from the fourth paragraph of Larry Summers' flap-inducing talk and use them to replace the nouns in (part of) Sir mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back?Answer -- This:Baby Got Standard Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1109390059202761712005-02-25T21:50:00.000-05:002005-02-26T00:52:20.430-05:00LOVE POTION NUMBER 2.71828182846:As you may know (unless you are very fortunate), a flap has been flapping over at Harvard, where President Larry Summers, speaking at a conference, suggested that the relative lack of women in upper-level math and science is due in part to innate differences in ability. A steady flow of underinformed and poorly reasoned remarks have been bandied about in response Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1108879031517654172005-02-20T00:35:00.000-05:002005-02-20T00:57:11.520-05:00DIAGNOSED:As a law blogger links the latest decisions and most important articles, as a political blogger links the most notable rumors and ravings, so then do I link articles most pertinent to this blog's genus.Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1108443086816482872005-02-14T23:38:00.000-05:002005-02-14T23:51:26.816-05:00A TAME POST:Can foxes be domesticated? Apparently so. In the picture they look rather like border collie pups. (Via Geekpress).Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1108441362392353982005-02-14T23:06:00.000-05:002005-02-15T00:20:03.100-05:00TO A CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS NOT ACTUALLY A BRITISH NOBLEMAN DESPITE HOW HE MAY REPRESENT HIMSELF:I've never been called a "poor misshapen freak" in such a gentle and kindly manner before. Nonetheless, I would like to remind my friend the 14th Earl of Gurney that "misshapen" is a relative term. (On the other hand, "poor" and "freak" are, I confess, unassailable.)Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1108439866036873002005-02-14T20:28:00.000-05:002005-02-14T23:25:51.956-05:00REGARDING WORDS THAT DIRECT SEARCH ENGINES WAYWARDLY...What do set theory, lesbian phalluses, and Heidi have in common? Not nearly enough for Geoffrey Pullum, who has this excellent post at Language Log.But one of his witty asides -- "if ever a word did not need scare quotes IMHO, it is the word sex" -- brought to mind another source of strange and unnecessary scare quoting that I have noticed ofCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1107662424381617322005-02-05T22:57:00.000-05:002005-02-05T23:39:57.913-05:00BRAAAK, POLLY SHOULDN'T BE:
"Why not just use a calculator?"
"A CALCULATOR? Where's the God-defying taboo-smashing science in that, I ask you? A CALCULATOR? Why, if we'd thought along those lines I'd never have been able to drive my flatulence-propelled winged jet dog to work, now would I?"--Lileks, here.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1107589364623740082005-02-05T01:14:00.000-05:002005-02-18T17:06:04.490-05:00PROOF THAT MATHEMATICS IS SOULLESS, DULL, NITPICKY AND SILLY: There are lots of good, in the sense of bad, in the sense of dorky, math jokes here. But, in the interest of making math even unfunnier, I thought I would make what I think is a correction to a correction to one of the jokes. (Be forewarned that this is one of my very mathdorky posts; you may wish to adjust your reading habits Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1107397229427429882005-02-02T21:08:00.000-05:002005-02-02T21:20:29.426-05:00"The painter is Esref Armagan. And he is here in Boston to see if a peek inside his brain can explain how a man who has never seen can paint pictures that the sighted easily recognise - and even admire. He paints houses and mountains and lakes and faces and butterflies, but he's never seen any of these things." See some of his paintings here. (Via Geekpress).
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1107230956644067752005-01-31T23:05:00.000-05:002005-01-31T23:09:16.643-05:00BRAVO. (Via The Rat)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1107071978320876172005-01-30T02:14:00.000-05:002005-01-30T02:59:38.320-05:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
(Be advised that this one knows not the confines of good taste.)
Without ellipses:
I'm herewith resigning as a member of the liberal media.I'm joining up with the Education Department to help President Bush during personal problems and the Health and Human Services Department to work on the agency's $300 million initiative to encourage Mr. Bush to "ignore the pain and Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1106972481255620292005-01-28T23:18:00.000-05:002005-01-28T23:22:11.020-05:00OH MY: A Mathematical Seduction. Quite amusing. (Via Isabel's Math Blog)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1106455600516060362005-01-22T23:36:00.000-05:002005-01-28T23:21:43.666-05:00HAH: They fight crime! (Via Eve Tushnet).
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1106454662326654142005-01-22T22:07:00.000-05:002005-01-22T23:33:37.080-05:00ADSUM
There is no finer way to begin a Saturday than by getting up at 8 a.m. to take a four hour exam. Fine in the sense of thin, as in sharp, as in the sensation of being stabbed in the head continuously for 4 hours. And there's nothing like a walk home through a blizzard to dull the pain. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow, etc.
But I am here. I returned to campus about a week agoCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1105132116552116832005-01-07T15:53:00.000-05:002005-01-07T16:08:36.553-05:00LOOK, IT'S CALLED CUNCTIPOTENT CUNCTATOR FOR A REASON:
Blogging will continue to be sparse/nonexistent for another 2 weeks or so while I prepare for a rather weighty examination. In the meantime, consider making a donation here if you haven't already. You know why. You might also spare a thought for the passing of a giant. If you're not familiar with the fellow, here's a good place to start.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1103502021016468492004-12-19T17:51:00.000-05:002004-12-19T19:20:21.016-05:00QUOTING AND LINKING IS EASIER THAN THINKINGI used to think the human brain was the most fascinating part of the body. Then I realized: look what's telling me that.--Emo PhilipsMy brain having been exhausted by my final exams, I think I shall put my letter omission game on hold until I recover, which, based on my current mushy-headedness, should only take about 5 years.
In the meantime: what Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1103071521429819922004-12-14T18:08:00.000-05:002005-08-22T12:44:54.486-04:00ODDS ARE THAT YOU CAME HERE TO READ ABOUT "WHY THE CONCEPT OF EVEN AND ODD IS A PHILOSOPHICAL ILLUSION". ALTHOUGH I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN ABOUT THIS ON THREE PREVIOUS OCCASIONS, I AM A PERSON OF THE PEOPLE AND WILL GRACIOUSLY SUMMARIZE MY FINDINGS FOR YOU ONCE AGAIN(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, try this post first. UPDATE: Blogger seems to hate me, so the previous sentence may or may Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1103010315245796762004-12-14T01:54:00.000-05:002004-12-14T18:07:48.353-05:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Henceforth omitting, except in direct quotations (or Dowdified passages), the letters {a,f,p,u}.
I exercised Dowd's ellision trick on this Dowd text. The text might be considered old by blog norms, yet I think Dowd texts ooze timelessness -- yes, not even time seems to diminish the shrill silliness. (Moreover, her most recent NY Times entry is ... this.) So enjoy.
WithCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1102142310513025182004-12-03T19:56:00.000-05:002005-02-05T23:04:48.620-05:00SHOCKING NEWS: BONDS' GROWTH INTO COLOSSO-NOGGIN HOMER-HITTING BEHEMOTH WHILST IN HIS MID 30's IS THE EFFECT OF STEROIDS:
Henceforth omitting (except when quoting directly) the letters {a,p,u}
Mr. Bonds himself testifies: he took steroids.
He insists, however, he did not know they were steroids when he took them.
To most this might seem highly not likely, yet most do not know how very tricky Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1101696611860428322004-11-28T18:30:00.000-05:002004-11-28T23:40:58.286-05:00GRUMBLINGS, WITH ONE NOTE ON OMITTING LETTERS:
Henceforth omitting the letters {a,p}
Note: Since deciding to omit one new letter for every blog entry, I've begun to miss the multitudinous uses of the first letter (consider this to be my Showing-Recognition-of-Indebtedness Time reflection for the week) . I know such difficulties will grow quickly while I eschew more letters. Before every new blogCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1101019475646164832004-11-20T23:36:00.000-05:002004-11-28T21:58:03.993-05:00THIS POST DOES NOT INCLUDE THE LETTER WHICH COMES BEFORE "B": During the most recent sunrise-to-sunset period, I spent numerous hours correcting tests from the course I help intruct involving the study of limits invented by Newton & Leibniz. Forgive my circumlocutions -- their purpose will be decribed shortly. For you see, while my method of correction followed exceedingly generous precepts, veryCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1100932272254359702004-11-20T01:10:00.000-05:002004-11-20T02:16:32.060-05:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Below I have dowdified some of Ms. Dowd's answers from this Q&A session. I think the results have a nice aphoristic quality (hence the numbering): I. John Kerry did have a gender a while back but it faded after the conventions. John Kerry, long known as "the Mommy" because of domestic issues, now has "no gender of note" and his support fell off after riding women in theCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1100590153195022112004-11-16T02:19:00.000-05:002004-11-20T01:52:22.656-05:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Without ellpises: One good thing about church would be glistening Christian love cheek. I'm not getting peace, charity, and forgiveness from conservatives and evangelicals. I'm getting head!Bob Jones III, president of the fundamentalist college of the same name, has written a letter approving "paganism". Christian hearts are chasing 74-year-old Arlen Specter through the Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1100066775290538532004-11-09T23:33:00.000-05:002004-11-10T01:06:15.290-05:00DEAR NIGERIAN BUSINESSMAN,
Although I have used "electronic mail" for years now, I cannot recall ever having received your well-traveled offer -- until today. I was starting to think that you would never notice me. But now when your ubiquitous scam mail is the subject of a geeky gibe, I no longer need to smile insecurely to conceal my inexperience in such matters. I no longer need wonder: Is it Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1100044618400467482004-11-09T18:52:00.000-05:002004-11-09T18:56:58.400-05:00AMERICAN OBESITY ACCOUNTS FOR 3.8 MILLION EXTRA TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSION: Indrectly, that is. An average weight increase of 10 pounds is pretty dramatic.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099980476263524042004-11-08T23:45:00.000-05:002004-11-09T17:20:13.350-05:00BREAKING NEWS: CONCEPT OF ODD AND EVEN STILL NOT A PHILOSOPHICAL ILLUSION
According to my research, there are hordes rampaging across the internet in search of an answer to the question: why is the concept of odd and even a philosophical illusion? Some have even been so rash as to seek an answer on this very site. To them I say: desist. Under no reasonable interpretation of "philosophical Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099892263764581502004-11-08T01:17:00.000-05:002004-11-08T00:37:43.763-05:00OK, THEY'RE BOTH NAMED VERNON, BUT THIS IS STILL PRETTY ODD: "The Major Leaguers won the first three games and Alou has been raking it. ...He's been the elder statesman in the outfield, playing right field aside Vernon Jordan and Carl Crawford." (Quoted from this article).
This is Vernon Wells.
This is Vernon Jordan.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099885336139331742004-11-07T22:03:00.000-05:002004-11-07T22:51:12.586-05:00A POST WHICH IS ITSELF AN UNINSPIRING UNION OF HITHERTO DISJOINT MATTERS: The Cartesian coordinate system must have been an epiphany for those who considered it for the first time: the study of algebra (e.g. solving 2x^2+3x-1=8) was suddenly wed to the study of geometry (e.g. the Pythagorean theorem) in a deep and powerful way. It was this union and the intellectual transfiguration it induced Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099716415541777202004-11-05T23:44:00.000-05:002004-11-05T23:46:55.540-05:00OH DEAR. (Via Dave Barry's Blog)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099714571208839792004-11-05T23:15:00.000-05:002004-11-05T23:16:11.206-05:00THE LAST RED SOX POST FOR A WHILE, I SWEAR: But I really enjoyed this.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099711328741380392004-11-05T22:13:00.000-05:002004-11-05T22:22:08.740-05:00JAUNDICE McFROG, THE PENCIL HOLDER:
"The yellow and checked pattern do provide an interesting contrast, but you could say the same thing about a vat of acrid urine and a dozen Krispy Kremes."If you haven't read that sentence before, you should go here: Lileks' online preview of his Interior Desecrators book.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1099710457289857702004-11-05T21:29:00.000-05:002004-11-06T01:28:11.083-05:00CUNCTIPOTENT CUNCTATOR INCOHERENT? THAT'S UNPOSSIBLE!: A friend of mine e-mailed me about my "Ad Fail Math? That's Unpossible!" post (scroll down); I thought I'd post part of the question and part of my response (edited to be slightly more coherent and to include 50% fewer stultifyingly stupid grammatical mistakes) and recap some of my thoughts on the matter.
The question: Calling the concept ofCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098949882535596262004-10-28T03:29:00.000-04:002004-10-28T03:51:22.536-04:00WEBLOG = WEENIE EXCESSIVELY BELCHING LONGILOQUENCE OR GRATUITOUSNESS
So it's 3:30 in the morning, and I'm inebriated and joyous. The Red Sox have just won the World Series (and this is a sentence I only ever anticipated typed while composing some work of Apolocalyptic fantasy fiction), and I'm about as happy as I've ever been. Is this wrong?
Why does a children's ball game make me so happy? Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098946920314470722004-10-28T02:56:00.000-04:002004-10-28T03:03:03.653-04:00RED SOX NO LONGER SYMBOL OF HUMAN DESPAIR FOR CAMUS-ESQUE ABSURDISTS:
My vote for the best subhead of a "Red Sox win after 86 years" article.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098943618336736602004-10-28T02:00:00.000-04:002004-10-28T03:13:15.526-04:00DAVID ORTIZ SAID I COULD HAVE THE NEXT 3 DAYS OFF. WHO AM I TO CONTRADICT HIM?
How is it that 1 baseball game and 5 beers can make me love humanity? And I mean every last person? Hell, forget the 5 stouts: it's the baseball game. It's as if 86 years of goodwill have leapt into my 23-year-old heart. God bless you all!
UPDATE: "We proved we could win. We broke The Curse. I'm just so happy. I Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098936775325395282004-10-28T01:02:00.000-04:002004-10-28T00:44:05.156-04:00B-EAU-TI-FUL!
I'll never be sober again!
BBB-EEAAAUUU-TIII-FULLL!
Buckner forgiven, ghost of the Babe departs, mathematician-in-training more happy about a sporting event than any sensible human should be, complete sentences forsaken in intoxicated stupor. Huzzah huzzah huzzah!
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098935467069767342004-10-27T23:49:00.000-04:002004-10-27T23:54:08.200-04:00BEAU-TI-FUL.
"We're a bunch of idiots but we did it."
--Manny Ramirez, right now
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098916068522741622004-10-27T18:23:00.000-04:002004-10-27T18:29:47.110-04:00UPDATE: YANKEES STILL LOSERS
Despite the disappointment of many fans, the Yankee losers could do little to change things. Hotdogging failure Derek Jeter, for instance, is as much a loser today as he was immediately upon losing terribly in game 7.--Mike Nelson
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098337982296845412004-10-21T01:07:00.000-04:002004-10-21T20:44:11.533-04:00$180 MILLION NOT WORTH A SCHILLING: Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
"I want to be part of a team that does something that has not been done in almost a century," Schilling said in a news conference, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with his new credo, "Why Not Us?" ... "I'm not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098241274647605132004-10-19T21:17:00.001-04:002005-08-22T12:47:48.256-04:00AD FAIL MATH? THAT'S UNPOSSIBLE! : I'm listenening to the Red Sox vs. Yankees on the radio (and sorry to discuss my baseball fanship -- I know that reading about someone else's sports allegiances is about as pleasant as reading about someone else's unwanted hair growth -- but I wanted to set the scene). I heard something that agitated me enough to blog during an excellent game, and this somethingCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1098058605412902112004-10-17T18:52:00.000-04:002004-10-17T20:16:45.413-04:00I MADE A LIST. I MAKE LOTS OF LISTS... : While I'm being a dork, here's an article (via ALDaily) about ranking the greatest equations of all time, and here are the top twenty. It seems to me that the physics equations and the math equations should have gotten separate lists; if they had been separated, and had I been asked to vote, my choices would have been:
Physics: Newton's Second Law F=ma
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1097901587905262512004-10-15T19:00:00.000-04:002004-10-19T18:35:06.783-04:00I MADE A GRAPH. I MAKE A LOT OF GRAPHS... :
Recently Eve Tushnet has been referring back to her Questions for Objectivists blog, especially this page. I am not now, nor have I ever been an Objectivist, nor am I especially interested in Objectivism, but I've given the page a read and there are at least two mathematical injustices that need righting. No shrillness is intended, but my whiny nasal Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1097448121794113382004-10-10T18:18:00.000-04:002004-10-11T13:09:34.240-04:00A PLANE TO PROTECT THE ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY:
Here are closing statements of the latest US Presidential Debate translated into N+7. If you're too lazy to follow the link, that means I've replaced all the original nouns with nouns that occur seven entries later in the dictionary. I used this transcript from the NY Times, so the verbs and adjectives may not correspond to what was said Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1097282865571636132004-10-08T20:07:00.000-04:002004-10-08T20:47:45.570-04:00FUZZY MATH AND CRIMSON STOCKINGS:
[7 hours of grading exams + 2 hours of teaching + 10 hours of study + 2*(my own 2 hour exams)]/2 days = tired.
I've also come to realize that "2+(1/3) = 5/3" is false. It's a good thing in the sense that, if it weren't false, arithmetic wouldn't work. It's a bad thing in the sense that one of the asymptotic expansions I wrote on my exam was partly based on that Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096791681339807922004-10-03T04:08:00.000-04:002004-10-03T04:22:36.363-04:00TO SLEEP AND PERCHANCE TO DREAM: You might infer from the publish time at the bottom of the previous post that I have insomnia. You would be correct. I blame the culture of Total Entertainment All the Time.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096790824687760362004-10-03T01:47:00.000-04:002004-10-09T03:11:39.316-04:00UNCHARITABLENESS FOLLOWS, SO STEEL YOURSELF:
I was going to carefully critique this article linked by ALDaily. It blames consumer culture for certain pedagogic issues in the humanities. I was going to criticize in a measured, even tone.
I was going to excerpt quotations like this, where Mr. Edmunson, speaking of teacher evaluations, writes:
... I was put off by the ... implicit belief that theCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096676337941815922004-10-01T20:08:00.000-04:002004-10-01T20:22:14.186-04:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Without ellipses:
President Bush has his own Mini-Me now, someone to wee in the vice president's lap as the two men warble a duet so perfectly harmonized you wonder if millions of people are being bombed. It’s John Kerry’s fault for expressing his doubts about Vietnam. Doubters risk rousing Mr. Cheney's attack boat.
W. believes that using a puppet decreases the chances Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096510443311956722004-09-29T22:11:00.000-04:002004-09-29T22:14:03.310-04:00OCCLUSION ILLUSION: Neat. (Via Geekpress)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096264035440677482004-09-27T01:58:00.000-04:002004-09-27T01:47:15.440-04:00IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE BLURST OF TIMES, and I ONCE WAS LOST, HERE'S HOW I WAS FOUND:Cunctipotent Cunctator is currently your #13 source for "thorium toothpaste" according to Google (French Google, anyway). And if you're looking for "subset of integers Z bounded below" you've apparently come to the second-best place.
My apologies to anyone who came here looking for something useful.Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096260557970879332004-09-27T01:41:00.000-04:002004-09-27T00:49:17.970-04:00LEST IT SEE MORE PREVENT IT. OUT VILE JELLY!: Hypothetically speaking, if someone were to chop homegrown habanero peppers whilst wearing contact lenses and, despite having washed his hands innumerable times for interminable durations, six hours later remove said lenses with said hands, I bet it would still hurt like hell.
Yep, he says, as he stares bleary eyed at the computer screen.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096181878121806092004-09-26T02:49:00.000-04:002004-09-26T03:03:50.936-04:00"How can life be so bountiful, providing such sublime rewards for mediocrity?"
--Jacopo Belbo, in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1096091254856722172004-09-25T01:29:00.000-04:002004-09-25T01:47:34.856-04:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Without ellipses: I had to come all the way to Hollywood to find John Kerry among the despised liberal elite lusting for Clinton. "Kerry's always trying too hard to prove his guy-dom," one influential Democrat sighed.The spandex-coated Mr. Kerry has taken to perverse private calculation about Vietnam and cotton-candy. We have Mr. Kerry in a fantasy world, guilty of Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1095817864302978632004-09-21T21:34:00.000-04:002004-09-21T21:51:04.310-04:00GUAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? Somewhere out there, someone's whimsical simile has been debunked by this piece of cold, cruel science.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1095732375654109502004-09-20T21:09:00.000-04:002004-09-21T01:49:07.493-04:00LILEKS ISN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN ATTRACT WAYWARD GOOGLERS: If I told you that today Lileks' Bleat mentions "creepy cross-gender dominatrix worship," "the Onan award for spillage," "hot and green as an Orion slave girl," and a howler about, er, member removal, would you guess that this edition of The Bleat is about
A). prurient Star Trek fan fiction,
B). the perils of avant-garde performance artCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1095572905265930002004-09-19T01:34:00.000-04:002004-09-19T02:03:15.596-04:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Without ellipses:
Here's how bad off the Democrats are: They're whispering a preposterous fantasy about Karl Rove, the dirty act, and his odd refusal to take his required physical when ordered. In this vast left-wing conspiracy theory, Mr. Rove exposed the goods, then shot the secretary who told her boss to take a physical. "It was big,'' she said, adding that Mr. Rove,Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1095470784442377542004-09-17T19:19:00.000-04:002004-09-27T00:30:58.830-04:00A GENERALLY DULL POST, OR A GENERALLY DULL POST, OR BOTH: The English language has some features which don't square too well with mathematical communication. While some curiosities and incongruities are to be expected -- because of the need for specialized terms in math, for instance -- others are more troublesome. The terms "or" and "in general" come to mind, and they're quite annoying from a Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1095463144339544122004-09-17T19:17:00.000-04:002004-09-17T19:19:04.340-04:00THE UNBEARABLE WHITENESS OF BEING: I saw an albino squirrel yesterday.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1094594973178685852004-09-07T18:04:00.000-04:002004-09-07T18:09:33.176-04:00MY NOMINATION FOR BEST CAPTION FOR A PIG PHOTO FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR:
... I don’t know why pigs get a bad rap. They have the ironic smiles of a book critic who’s just been dumped by someone who misquoted a classic movie. ...--James Lileks, of course.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1094409937179437902004-09-05T14:29:00.000-04:002004-09-05T16:39:25.046-04:00PERILS OF DESCRIPTIVISM?*: Shouldn't that be "David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim's Progress had had had, had had had had," not "David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim's Progress, had had had, had had had had"?
*(OK, maybe not, but I like the near parallel with the linked post's title.)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1093996349810976762004-08-31T18:55:00.000-04:002004-09-01T12:51:23.070-04:00PROOF THAT THERE ARE INFINITELY MANY PRIMES:
In a nice little math post over at volokh.com, Prof. Volokh relates this story:
Incidentally, I once ran across an article whose author was saying some political question was unanswerable, much like the question whether zero is even. I e-mailed him to say that the is-zero-even question is very much answerable. He responded with an apology, and a Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1093916547218105642004-08-30T20:35:00.000-04:002004-08-31T18:28:06.916-04:00IN DEFENSE OF DISPARAGING WORD GAMES:
I really enjoy Language Log (that’s why its perma-linked on the right) so I when I saw this post I was enthusiastic, then disappointed. I was enthusiastic because I immediately saw that it involved philosophy, language, and — best of all — disparaging word games (browse this site and you'll see I'm quite partial to them). I was disappointed when I actually Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1093905173371560182004-08-30T18:24:00.000-04:002004-08-31T18:31:34.250-04:00OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTES SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS:
I believe always in the necessity of being attentive first of all to this phenomenon of language, naming, [...] [t]o what this compulsion signifies, translates, or betrays.
--Jaques Derrida. (The link is intended to point out the "Don't call your daugher Alexia" post. On my browser it sometimes lands on the post above or below that one.)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1093734935088658442004-08-28T18:51:00.000-04:002004-08-29T12:02:29.626-04:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Without ellipses:
It's easy for gutter assassins to craftily slice up the Faulknerian figure named Karl Rove. The weird thing is, given how transparently the creepy, dishonorable and undignified Michael Dukakis hit Frankenstein monster John McCain, he acted stunned and hurt when he was hit by the stomach-turning, vengeful John Kerry.
Charging on Thursday that Mr. Bush Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1093280785416314872004-08-23T13:01:00.000-04:002004-08-23T13:06:25.416-04:00Neat. Most optical illusions don't do much for me, but this one works well. (Via Geekpress)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1093140030081840972004-08-21T21:24:00.000-04:002004-08-21T22:57:11.843-04:00OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTES SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS (click for the silliness):
"From love of man one sometimes embraces anyone (because one cannot embrace everyone): but one must never let this anyone know it..."
--Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 102. Apologies to Mr. Nietzsche.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092971186349900912004-08-19T22:36:00.000-04:002004-08-19T23:06:26.350-04:00GREEKS ARMED TO THE TEETH
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092959488686658902004-08-19T19:39:00.000-04:002004-08-19T19:51:28.686-04:00DOWDIFICATION OF THE DAY:
Without ellipses:
The White House has become the palace of swagger and strut.
Selena Roberts in her usual chesty, preening behavior does not reflect well on American culture, but some United States athletes need to pound Ms. Roberts. Some need to scowl, stare and pump their gun. Somehow, she body-snatched our warlike national basketball team. It was impossible to Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092545057407618902004-08-15T00:34:00.000-04:002004-08-15T00:44:17.406-04:00THORIUM TOOTHPASTE, a radon pillow, radium suppositories, and mmm...radium bread. More here, including this little horror.
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092529839080772832004-08-14T19:37:00.000-04:002004-08-14T21:00:11.923-04:00THIS IS THE PART OF THE BLOG CALLED "MY UNDERINFORMED REBUTTAL OF A SMALL PORTION OF AN ARGUMENT BY SOMEONE MUCH WISER THAN I AM": For some not very important reason I was rereading this volokh.com post, and something bothered me about it (look at this post and this amusing little animation for context). The main point of the post is, as the title indicates, that one shouldn't blame the lawyers Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092327089628640022004-08-12T11:59:00.000-04:002004-08-12T12:12:19.036-04:00NOUN PERMUTATIONS: Read here for an explanation of noun permutations. Scrambling nouns gives an interesting look at an author's writing style (or lack thereof):
Principles even taunted Dowd for being so unprincipled as to raise presidents. Bush said of Dowd: "Will she learn the ticket of fixed liberals in advice, or will she continue to engage in truisms and expedient Democrats on Dennis Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092249035918344372004-08-11T13:44:00.000-04:002004-08-11T14:30:35.916-04:00BLOGGING JUST GOT EASIER, and here's a defense of indolence. The indolence article has a lot of questionable points, which even its whimsical tone cannot excuse. For example, I suspect a lot of the comforts which facilitate Mr. Hodgkinson's idleness would not be widely available if everyone followed his advice. And statements like
"Governments do not like the idle. The idle worry them. They do Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092177978902425672004-08-10T18:26:00.000-04:002004-08-10T18:51:10.000-04:00DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD, WE'LL SERVE ANYBODY! Disturbing. This site also has a link to a nice Borges site. (Via J&B)
Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1092065248162314572004-08-09T09:50:00.000-04:002004-08-09T11:27:28.163-04:00WOULD THE REAL HEIDEGGER PLEASE STAND UP? I've been playing around with a word game I've invented. I call it "noun permutations." To play, take a text, list the nouns, then list the nouns again but scramble the order. Now replace all original occurances of the first noun in the first list with the first noun in the second list. Replace all original occurances of the second noun in the first list Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1091993882014892582004-08-08T13:20:00.000-04:002004-08-08T15:51:30.800-04:00A POST GREATER THAN WHICH NONE CAN BE: The following is based on a strange little portion of a bit of fiction that I'm writing. I think this might also be a good place to play with it. It involves my favorite proof--which I recently posted--although though it is mostly about Anselm's Ontological Argument.
Anselm's Ontological Argument is easy to mock, and has been parodied since its own day, butCunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6351178.post-1091985469619976412004-08-08T13:00:00.000-04:002004-08-08T13:19:38.063-04:00MALAPROP OF THE DAY: That's one of the great things about sports: the competitiveness. It's win or lose ... there's not a lot of gray matter in there.--Hall of Famer Carl Eller(Although is it really a malapropism if compounds--"gray area" and "gray matter"--rather than single words are confused? And if I confused "malaprop" with a similar sounding word would the self-referential irony cancel the Cunctipotent Cunctatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189151790197986764noreply@blogger.com