351. Tom 7 (h-66-167-9-236.phlapafg.covad.net) –
29 Oct 2002 22:54:28
[ CT Info ]
I'll be there for winter break, I just don't know when yet. |
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350. Marc (user-2ive0du.dialup.mindspring.com) –
29 Oct 2002 11:29:07
[ CT Info ]
Tom, I'm pretty sure that you are right about CT having the largest income/class disparities of all the states. There are also a couple other things in that list certainly aren't anything for us Connecticutians to brag about (the first hamburger, if that's true, and the first nuclear submarine).
So you're going to go to Connecticute for a lousy 2-day "holiday" and not for any of Winter break? Wuzzup with that? |
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You know maps, like old maps, and the politics of maps, are pretty interesting. You might never guess that cartography would be a contraversial thing, but a lot of politically/nationalistically motivated bias has made its way into various common (and uncommon) maps. Like for example, have you ever seen a map of the globe that is rendered in proportion to the actual sizes and shapes of the countries and continents? It looks nothing like what you're used to seeing in classrooms and whatnot. The southern continents look a lot taller, but more than that, they are WAY bigger than the northern ones. More specifically, South America and Africa are actually 2 or 3 or 4 times larger (sorry, haven't seen a map recently to be more specific) than North America and Europe. But what most of us are used to seeing is what's called the Mercator map, which is VERY Eurocentric. It's kind of pathetic, actually, that there are some folks (I don't know, the cartography 3l33t?) feel so insecure or pompous or something that they need to look bigger than other continents that are actually way bigger. Anyway, if you're curious, the actual-sizes map is called tehe Peters Projection map. At least the flat version, and actually that's another area of debate, some folks think that no global maps should be flat because they stretch at the bottom and top ends (obviously).
And also, why is north always on top? It has been always like that in recent years, but through older times maps were oriented in all sorts of ways (again, folks claim that's Eurocentric cartography).
Even more pathetic: When evidence was discovered that human life may have originated in Egypt, there were actually people who just couldn't handle the thought that human life began in Africa and started making maps were Egypt was cut off from Africa and more a part of the Middle East (not that the Middle East is all that popular with Anglo folks).
I remember also, when I was in Puerto Rico last Spring, I went to the national museum in San Juan and the featured exhibit at the time was an exhibit of maps of Puerto Rico. There were hundreds of them, and all kinds of krazee-ass representations of the island, names for it (from misspellings to very different names), etc. Some of that was incopetence or lack of information, but often there were political or cultural reasons (the person who put together the exhibit was there and talked to me about a lot of the maps). |
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348. Tom 7 (gs82.sp.cs.cmu.edu) –
28 Oct 2002 20:45:48
[ CT Info ]
I might be back for Thanksgiving, for Winter break I don't know yet... |
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347. Karthik (216-54-219-234.gen.twtelecom.net) –
28 Oct 2002 10:57:56
[ CT Info ]
yay for CT!
When are you going back to this great state for the winter?
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346. Tom 7 (h-64-105-108-15.phlapafg.covad.net) –
28 Oct 2002 09:57:28
[ CT Info ]
Neal: They have drive-through liquor in Ohio, still!
Anyway, CT is not all good: we also have (I believe) the largest economic gap... I think I remember that we have a top-5 richest city and a lowest-5 poorest (or something like that).
Hock: Well, I don't have any more info than what the page said, but unlike the countless places that claim they invented, say, the hotdog (the O?), Louie's looks like he really could have. That place is old and his equipment is victorian. He sort of reminds me of the soup nazi from seinfeld, too, because he only lets you order one thing at his restaurant and you can't get it "your way."
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345. Neal (sf-du412.cybermesa.com) –
28 Oct 2002 02:10:34
[ CT Info ]
Wow, nice state Tom.
My state is the only state with two official languages.
It ranks shittiest in pretty much anything worth ranking including Education, Drunking Driving, Poverty, Literacy, and Infant Mortality.
We were the last state to outlaw drive-up liquor stores.
We are the first state to have a cop dougnut run executed with a police helicopter.
We are the only state where people still die from the Plague.
The Atomic Bomb was invented here, thanks to a bunch of people all of whom were not from here. |
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344. Hock (66.190.63.213) –
25 Oct 2002 22:53:19
[ CT Info ]
Louis' Lunch's claim is highly debatable. See http://www.geography.ccsu.edu/harmonj/atlas/burgers.html
Quote:
"The drive to claim primacy began when the restaurant was threatened with urban renewal and may have been a publicity action to save the family's livlihood." |
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343. Tom 7 (h-64-105-108-15.phlapafg.covad.net) –
21 Oct 2002 11:40:08
[ Multi.Babel! ]
Hey. |
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She's got a really nice voice. Great album! |
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341. Anonymous (213.42.1.171) –
21 Oct 2002 07:04:49
[ Multi.Babel! ]
hello |
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340. Jake (ny-norwich1a-263.aburny.adelphia.net) –
20 Oct 2002 22:21:12
[ Quake 3 Done! ]
I just finished the last of the levels on Nightmare. I think hunter with the lighting was the toughest. The last level was hard though but I out foxed him. |
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yeah.... these guys kick ass. |
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Certainly it's a good thing that RSADSI has a contest with cash prizes for cracking their cipher. But somehow the difference between "it *would* take 8 bajillion computers ..." and "it *did* take 8 bajillion computers" doesn't seem worth all that computing power. That's all I'm sayin'. |
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Re RC*-cracking: It is a waste of time to you and me, but it helps convince actual people (e.g. the unenlightened masses) about the true difficulty (as it stands today) of breaking encryption. "It took eight bajillion computers eight bajillion days to break this, so I guess I can safely send my credit card info over the web." This is presumably why companies are willing to sponsor this stuff. And if I get a chance at the prize for participating, why cough at it? Then again, GIMPS also has prizes associated. Finding giant prime numbers is sort of helpful because it may help establish a pattern which will lead to a conjecture which will lead to a cool proof, which allong with a collection of other proofs will lead to a comprehensive theory which will fundamentally change the way processes are undergone and thus revolutionize people's lives. But far, far likelier than not, all of those giant primes (which are produced at an excruciatingly slow rate) will remain an intellectual curiosity to a comparatively very small set of people.
Of course, I like GIMPS much more than distributed.net. |
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336. Tom 7 (h-64-105-108-8.phlapafg.covad.net) –
10 Oct 2002 21:52:47
[ My Brain ]
That's where I keep all my stuff. |
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335. Jeff (phd15.cs.yale.edu) –
10 Oct 2002 14:28:37
[ My Brain ]
What's that big hole doing in the middle of the second slice? You should have that checked out. |
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334. MrBawn (polystyrene.weh.andrew.cmu.edu) –
09 Oct 2002 23:26:28
[ My Brain ]
Tom's brain is WRINKLY! Which means he's smart. Big surprise there! |
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333. Tom 7 (h-64-105-108-8.phlapafg.covad.net) –
09 Oct 2002 09:53:28
[ My Brain ]
Don't touch it!! |
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332. ASA (cobamide7.bio.pitt.edu) –
09 Oct 2002 09:43:52
[ My Brain ]
Yes, That is concrete evidence... Tom has a brain. Now if he would only stop using his amazing mental capacities for evil ... |
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331. bot the bot (amarseille-107-1-6-90.abo.wanadoo.fr) –
09 Oct 2002 05:10:57
[ My Brain ]
groovy :) |
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330. Anonymous (63-100-210-100.reverse.newskies.net) –
09 Oct 2002 02:32:24
[ FLAMING TEXT ]
IMRAN |
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329. Anonymous (couch2-52.reshall.ou.edu) –
09 Oct 2002 02:21:06
[ My Brain ]
Neato and yet strangely unsettling.... |
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328. Zombor (the zombie) (hsa038.pool023.at101.earthlink.net) –
08 Oct 2002 03:02:29
[ My Brain ]
Rrrrrarrrrr....sweet....delicious....braiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnsssss. |
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327. Tom 7 (gs82.sp.cs.cmu.edu) –
07 Oct 2002 13:12:39
[ D.O.B. ]
Who you callin' skinny! |
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