Courtesy LispClub.com: Sue and Bob take turns rolling a 6-sided die. Once either person rolls a 6, the game is over. Sue rolls first. If she doesn’t roll a 6, Bob rolls the die; if he doesn’t roll a 6, Sue rolls again. They continue taking turns until one of them rolls a 6. Bob …
Author Archives: Randall
A Laptop Problem
(Warning: boring nerd rage ahead) I need help finding a new laptop. For the last couple years, I’ve have a Fujitsu P1610 (which replaced my stolen P1510). It should last me for another year or two, but I’m pretty hard on my computers. This one has started developing problems typical of an overused, aging machine …
Sledding
I went sledding in Danehy Park in Cambridge recently, with my brother and some friends (including Mike, one of the other Boston-area people with a ball pit). The snow was packed, icy, and awfully slick, and we were wondering just how fast the sleds were going at the bottom. When you slide down something with …
Some Lists
After a hectic few months, I finally have some projects that are in the early stages. But since nothing is worth posting about yet, here instead is a list of phrases that (at the time of this posting) turn up no hits on Google: “ate a violin” “driver-side bidet” “unlike normal furries,” “Sarah, plain and …
Debate Drinking Game, New Yorker, Burlington Vermont
I am currently at the tail end of the Debate Drinking Game, wherein you take a drink every time McCain says “my friends” and Obama starts a response with “Look,”. Since both candidates had their verbal tics under control, I just took a drink every time someone said a pronoun. I am not in a …
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Youtube Audio Preview
Wow. It seems someone at YouTUBE took this comic seriously and decided to add an “Audio Preview” feature. Now you can hear your comments read aloud to you. Of course, it’s an optional button using speech synth rather than a mandatory dramatic reading, so it’ll just be used for entertainment by people who haven’t played …
Federal Reserve Skateboard: A Short Story
(Written after sitting in a car for five hours listening to financial news stories.) ——- Damn these subprime lenders, thought Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, barely keeping his balance on the wobbling skateboard. We can’t afford more debt. He snapped a grappling-hook-tipped quarrel into his crossbow as the skateboard slowed. When the country owes trillions and …
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The Goddamn Airplane on the Goddamn Treadmill
Sorry for the forum/blog downtime today. Many things went wrong during davean’s heroic upgrade. (I blame the LHC.) Feynman used to tell a story about a simple lawn-sprinkler physics problem. The nifty thing about the problem was that the answer was immediately obvious, but to some people it was immediately obvious one way and to …
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Pi-Con, Math, Gender, Glaubama
Pi-Con: This weekend I’ll be at Pi-Con, a convention in West Springfield, MA. It’s run by some old friends of mine, and will feature Cory Doctorow. I’ve never actually met Mr. Doctorow in person, so it should be fun. In my mind’s eye, he still wears a red cape and goggles everywhere he goes. I …
Oops (delayed post)
In today’s comic, I have the rain-stick thing happening in Jaynestown, when it actually happens in Our Mrs. Reynolds. I lose three nerd points. When writing the comic, I actually compiled a list of references to wood in Firefly by searching the scripts. They included Badger serving Jayne wood alcohol and Inara likening Mal’s sword …
xkcd 