Congratulations

To all those south of the border, congratulations! This is, of course, only the first step on your long road to social justice (and socialism and fascism...). There is still the matter of actually providing medical care for all citizenry rather than having the IRS enforce the purchase of insurance from a private company, but at least some of the more unscrupulous aspects of the insurance companies (such as not covering previously existing conditions) should now be curtailed. Also, I sincerely hope that the collective hernia of all those horrified tea baggers doesn't overload your fledgling system.

Out sick, so a fun link

I seem to have come down with some sort of unpleasant bug this week, which has resulted in me getting very little accomplished. While I feel sorry for myself and wish my immune system would kick in, though, Sarah has gone ahead and made a fantastic St. Patrick's Day webpage full of mathematically oriented humour. Don't feel too badly if you don't get all the jokes, though - some of them are pretty obscure (especially for non-mathies like me). Even if you only get a few of the jokes, though, it's still well worth having a look at.

Monday Morning Quotations

Since I had such a slow week last week, I wanted to make sure I at least started this week off with a proper set of quotations.

"Science offers the best answers to the meaning of life. Science offers the privilege of understanding before you die why you were ever born in the first place." - Richard Dawkins, English biologist, 1941-

"As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy." - Christopher Dawson, English historian, 1889-1970

"Television... thrives on unreason, and unreason thrives on television... [Television] strikes at the emotions rather than the intellect." - Robin Day, British broadcaster, 1923-2000

"Politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians." - Charles de Gaulle, French soldier, statesman, and President of France from 1959-69, 1890-1970

Beyond The Streisand Effect

The Streisand Effect is a term bandied about on the internet to describe situations when attempted censorship backfires and ends up amplifying interest in the targeted information or event rather than suppressing it. In what is possibly one of the most dramatic cases of litigious bullying backfiring, the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) sued Simon Singh for libel after he called some of their unsubstantiated claims (such as chiropractic treatment for asthma and colic) 'bogus', and now find themselves in the ignominious and entirely fitting position of having one in four chiropractors under investigation for misleading medical claims (including some of the BCA's own officers). I am greatly impressed with Simon Singh's tenacity and backbone, and I think he and his supporters deserve a great deal of credit for taking a stand for critical journalism.

Big Decisions

Things are probably going to be slow around here this week (and belatedly, last week) as I contemplate my impending return to graduate school - decisions have to be made about where I am going to go and who I am going to work with. Of course, there is the possibility that the stress of decision making will produce a flurry of activity borne from a desperate desire to procrastinate... but that cannot be guaranteed.

Monday Morning Quotations

Moving into the D's, we have a trio of the Darwin family expounding on science.

"There is a grandeur in this view of life." - Charles Darwin, English naturalist and scientist, 1809-82

"A fool... is a man who never tried an experiment in his life." - Erasmus Darwin, English physician and grandfather of Charles Darwin, 1731-1802

"In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs." - Francis Darwin, English botanist and son of Charles Darwin, 1848-1925

With a nod to Olympic patriotism, here is a Canadian quotation to change things up a bit:

"I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker." - Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, 1913-95

Solutions to Puzzle Number 11

Well, it has been a week since the latest puzzle came out, so it is time for the solutions. I received puzzle responses from Scott, Robert, and Cornucrapia. I also would like to point out that Sarah impressively got the answer to 4 without any help from Google - who knew a physicist would be so awesome at zoology? Her solutions have not been listed below, however, because she lives with me and I am bad at not giving hints. I have reprinted the clues below with their solutions italicized below (and the media category in parentheses).

1.) At an Unknown Location
Lost (Television)
Solved by Scott and Robert

2.) The Manner in which I Became Acquainted with Your Most Recent Female Progenitor
How I Met Your Mother (Television)
Solved by Scott, Ian, and Robert

3.) The Misplaced Planet
The Lost World (Literature - I believe there is also a television show with the name, but I had Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel in mind).
Solved by Scott, Ian, and Robert

4.) Lampyridae
Firefly (Television)
Solved by Scott, Ian, and Robert

5.) Vigorously Cleans
Scrubs (Television)
Solved by Ian and Robert

6.) A Story About Two Population Centres
A Tale of Two Cities (Literature)
Solved by Scott, Ian, and Robert

7.) According to Your Preference
As You Like It (Literature - the obligatory Shakespeare title)
No one sent me a correct solution for this one.

8.) Personal Graphical Representation
Avatar (Movie)
Solved by Scott and Robert

9.) No Rural Region for Elderly Males
No Country for Old Men (Movie)
Solved by Scott, Ian, and Robert

10.) Overcook Announcement
Burn Notice (Television)
Solved by Scott and Robert

Well done to all the puzzle solvers.