No Clever Plan

No Clever Plan

Well, folks, the week's made it to a close, and my plan — Did I mention my plan to post a daily entry about some product that I'd be reporting on during CES, or were you able to discern what I meant to do without my having to say it? — failed. Yeah, that plan, like so many other 2006 plans, came to an abrupt end soon after it began. I'm beginning to think that some people just aren't made to make plans. And I might be one of those people. Though a plan can be symbolic of so many wonderful things, and I think it's those things that I'm really attracted to — the act of making a plan, to my mind, holds no special charm — the things which have brought the most joy to my life came with no clever plan. They were big, beautiful surprises.

To Make a Proof "Foolproof," You Need to Get Rid of a Lot of Fools

To Make a Proof "Foolproof," You Need to Get Rid of a Lot of Fools

You've got to love an essay that has the following paraphrase of Plato's <I>Meno</I> dialog:
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<I>Socrates</I>: Here is a square with sides of length 2 and area equal to 4. If we double the area, to 8 units, what will the length of a side be?

Huckleberry's Full Elvis

Huckleberry's Full Elvis

"Are you lonesome tonight,
<BR>
Do you miss me tonight?
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Are you sorry we drifted apart?
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. . .
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Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare?
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Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?
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Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again?"

Radio Collector: A Documentary About David Kraeuter

Radio Collector: A Documentary About David Kraeuter

Peanut tubes!
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Vandersteens and puzzlement

I smiled when, again, the fine review of the Vandersteen 2Ce Signatures left Art Dudley very pleased and JA "puzzled". Art listened over a long period of time and offered, in some detail, his estimation of the speakers' performance. JA measured, in some detail, and provided the data which led to his puzzlement. I thought of Art and JA again today as I was rereading Mark Helprin's excellent text of the legend of "Swan Lake". For those who haven't read Helprin's account lately or at all, the guy is a marvelous story teller.

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