Information Consistency Problem

In the section entitled “Premise” it states:

V.I.C.I.’s features include superhuman strength and speed, an AC outlet under her right arm, a parallel port under her left arm, and an access panel in her back.

Further down the page in the section entitled “Characters” it states:

Vicki has an access panel in her back, an electric socket in her right armpit, and an RS-232 serial port under her left armpit.

A parallel and a serial port are 2 different kids of ports that differ in look and operation. I am not certain which one is correct, or if both of them are (which I doubt), but I would recommend this be researched and corrected. If both are correct, I would recommend mentioning both ports in both sections.

I love wikipedia.

A little over 140 years ago the residents of the American south rose up and began brutally slaughtering thousands of their fellow citizens to defend a despicable system of slavery.  They chose to kill and destroy instead of recognizing that the tide of history had finally turned against them.  Yet the memory of these traitors and murderers is honored, the reasons for their crimes santized.

I was always sleepy while at work, and I think this exhaustion was because I felt trapped in a contradiction: the fast pace demanded complete focus on the task, yet that pace also made any real concentration impossible. I had to actively suppress my own ability to think, because the more you think, the more the inadequacies in your understanding of an author’s argument come into focus. This can only slow you down. To not [...]

I suspect a lot of bloggers may be introverts, because blogging is great if you like to sit in front of the internet all day. If not for my aversion to specialising in one subject, I probably would have been an academic historian, because I think it would have suited me to work in libraries back before there was an internet.

This week, the Lexicon provides an introduction to virtue ethics.

(by Richard Florida) The economic crisis is hitting hardest at working class jobs, and rates of male unemployment have skyrocketed. A commonly asked question is how do we retrain them for emerging job opportunities in other sectors. The Globe and Mail`s Margaret Wente suggests the problem runs a whole lot deeper than we think. The new economy (over the long term) is creating tons of service jobs in retail, customer support, and personal care. The trouble is that [...]

According to reports out of Kabul, the Taliban announced that they have waterboarded three U.S. soldiers taken prisoner. The Taliban commander asserted that waterboarding is not torture and does not violate the Geneva Convention or U.S. law. He assured everyone that a medical officer monitored all waterboarding sessions to insure that no permanent damage was done to the soldiers. In addition, he said they were careful to follow the directions on waterboarding [...]

It’s not clear to me why that sort of thing should have precluded maintaining this website. Happily, the whole thing didn’t break while I was away. I’m looking forward to returning to you, my loyal audience of lighthouse keepers. Some things I’m thinking about doing this summer, blog-wise:

• blogging my way through a couple of books: Metamagical Themas, by Douglas R. Hofstadter (a book I’ve been meaning to read for about 15 years) and Brandeis and the Progressive Constitution, by Edward A. Purcell (Look, law-related content! That’s new!).
• returning to my great-great-granddad’s civil war memoir, which I was slowly converting into an e-book and annotating.
• climbing back to the top of the heap in chicago flag blogging.
• random other stuff, probably. I don’t see much more R. Kelly blogging in my future, sorry to say.

This proved to be the toughest group in soccer play this year. It also looks like a very tough group for national anthems. mp3 links coming soon.

First, the anthem of the Former Soviet Union.

• Anthem of the Soviet Union, 1977 version, first verse – sung by children’s choir.
• Anthem of the Soviet Union, 1977 version, all verses – sung by the Red Army Chorus.

English Translation:

Unbreakable Union of freeborn Republics,
Great Russia has welded forever to stand.
Created in struggle by will of the people,
United and mighty, our Soviet land!

CHORUS:

Sing to the Fatherland, home of the free,
Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong.
O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people,
To Communism’s triumph lead us on!

• Chicagoland Bicycle Federation
• Chicago Historical Society
• Heifer Project International
• Amnesty International USA
• Doctors without Borders USA

Anyway, if you felt like kicking in a few dollars along with me, that would be cool.

Bell Telephone System
Technical Publications
June 1930
Mongraph B-491

The Words and Sounds of Telephone Conversations
by N.R. French, C.W. Carter, Jr, and Walter Koenig, Jr.
American Telephone and Telegraph Company

“A study of the kind and frequency of occurrence of words and simple speech sounds obtained from telephone conversations on toll circuits terminating in New York City.”

This is just a little teaser for series of upcoming posts, where some surprising facts will be revealed:

• Proposed fifth stars for the Chicago Flag, including one that Richard J. Daley planned to “explore”.
• The original two stars on the flag might not represent what you thought!
• How sharp should the points on the stars be? Perhaps even sharper than you imagine!
• Alternative symbolism of the white and blue fields!

Stay tuned!