tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80928962024-03-07T03:53:50.473-06:00CantànimaDiary of a Catholic mathematician.jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.comBlogger815125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-52349548532881590832010-07-03T09:13:00.000-05:002010-07-03T09:14:17.862-05:00FinisFor reasons that I do not care to elaborate, this weblog is hereby terminated.jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-15466769939775088412010-06-27T09:23:00.003-05:002010-06-27T09:26:28.700-05:00Canada burns at the hand of violent right-wing militias...…oh, wait, no. Those are left-wing groups, doing the same things they've done for centuries. Not exactly news.Nothing to see here; let the kids have their fun. Keep looking out for those dangerous, gun-toting Tea Partiers, war veterans, and other possible terrorists.jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-86774655201927871852010-06-25T18:17:00.004-05:002010-06-25T18:21:23.244-05:00Tip to self: never, NEVER agree to have a reporter aroundWhy am I not at all surprised that Rolling Stone has been, hmm, "not exactly truthful" about what they said to McChrystal?For some mysterious reason, you have to read the entire article before coming to the real evidence:In the last question, the fact-checker asked "Did Gen. McChrystal vote for President Obama? (The reporter tells me that this info originates from McChrystal himself.)"Boothby jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-64290122092338520242010-06-24T14:02:00.002-05:002010-06-24T14:12:12.159-05:00A sign of the apocalypse if ever I saw oneIn Groups C and F of the world cup, the teams that advanced are teams that have won no more than one game.Spain, the supposed favorites to win, was humiliated in its first game — to Switzerland, a team that everyone was saying should have been happy just to show up.France was not merely humiliated; its team was a disgrace.New Zealand played better soccer than Italy. New Zealand!!!Slovenia jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-64781209513171758582010-06-15T19:48:00.003-05:002010-06-18T08:48:23.545-05:00Green Italians are, apparently, not "true" ItaliansI still remember how in the 1990 Cup Neapolitans whistled against Argentina when Italy played them in the stadium at Naples. In the words of one Neapolitan, ho fischiato il mio dilettissimo Maradona, e abbiamo perso lo stesso. I thought it was a neat phenomenon, but I was told later that it was in fact ugly, unsportsmanlike conduct by the Neapolitans. Still, it was less annoying than those awful jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-43808237694166560122010-06-11T06:39:00.003-05:002010-06-11T06:45:38.236-05:00South Carolina politics have reached a new high-water markDoubtless you've heard of the fun that South Carolinians (not True Carolinians) had in their primary. (a) A woman raised as a Sikh who converted to Christianity has been called a Manchurian candidate and accused of infidelity, with one accuser even taking a polygraph test. (b) A veteran who won the Democratic primary for Senate gave no speeches, held no campaign events, and paid with $10,400 of jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-18016347602258842842010-06-10T22:01:00.002-05:002010-06-10T22:12:20.362-05:00Sweet and uprightI accidentally prayed midday prayer from the wrong week, but I rather liked what Ps. 24(25) had to say anyway:Dulcis et rectus Dominus, propter hoc peccatores viam docebit;diriget mansuetos in iudicio, docebit mites vias suas.(Sweet and upright is the Lord, for this reason he will teach sinners the way;he leads the mild in judgment, and will teach the meek his ways. [or: will teachjack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-81295437270636509332010-06-10T18:58:00.004-05:002010-06-10T19:29:17.561-05:00Animation Movie MemeFrom here; I've linked to references I've made to some. (Why are they out of order anyway? ;-))X what you’ve seenO what you saw some but not all ofBold what you particularly likedStrike-through what you hatedCLASSIC DISNEY——————————-[ X ] 101 Dalmatians (1961)[ X ] Alice in Wonderland (1951)[ X ] Bambi (1942)[ X ] Cinderella (1950)[ X ] Dumbo (1941)[ X ] Fantasia (1940)[ X ] Lady and the Tramp (jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-65870663437667848442010-06-08T23:00:00.003-05:002010-06-08T23:17:16.464-05:00Be Seeing YouYes, I broke down and watched The Prisoner. Which version? you ask. Both, I answer. The first one's better, isn't it? you ask, looking for affirmation. I shrug.It's hard to compare because they're so different. I don't think the second one is trying to remake the first; it's just taking some of the same ideas and running with them. Both series are somewhat disjointed, if you ask me; many episodesjack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-11673478582337412292010-06-08T22:49:00.003-05:002010-06-08T23:00:18.773-05:00Someone check the book of RevelationThis must be one of the signs of the apocalypse. One of my students just sent me an email that hails,Hey whats going on with Mr. Perry.This is wrong on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. So I won't.Well, yes actually, I think I will, if only to express my incomprehension at modern times.Is it now proper to salute someone in the third person? Don't get me wrong; I like that, but I'm not jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-25288165938455722982010-05-29T12:59:00.003-05:002010-05-29T13:20:34.568-05:00How do they make money? never mind...I happened to visit an old friend in blue Virginia the other day, and while driving about town we stopped in a bank so he could get his name corrected. (They had added an e to the end of his name: so, for example, if it had happened to me, the account name would have been "Johne Perry".) My friend had opened an account there because they were offering a free flip ultra camcorder, which Google jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-71148278839680145172010-05-28T08:19:00.003-05:002010-05-28T08:37:36.529-05:00Maybe I should get a tattooTwo different weblogs (FT and Siris) I read refer to the Pew Research Center's quiz, "How Millennial Are You?" The higher the score, the closer you are to the Millennial generation supposedly, and those two authors reported a 19 and a 45.I got a 4.Yup, I'm in there with the so-called "Silent" Generation (1928-1945). I wonder if this means I can't relate to the new generation(s) (like my own!) andjack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-12942971475968540922010-05-21T22:21:00.006-05:002010-05-21T22:52:00.312-05:00You can't go home againMy wife and/or I noticed a few things on our drive from Mississippi to Virginia. In no particular order:The large trees that line the interstates and main highways changed en route. In the Hattiesburg area they were almost all pine; in North Carolina we noticed a lot of deciduous trees mixed with the pine.I noticed today that the birds sound different at my parents' house than at my own. The onesjack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-53077180025380727172010-05-21T10:23:00.004-05:002010-05-21T11:12:38.694-05:00A tradition that should be abandonedGeorge Weigel appears to have only recently noticed that university commencements have turned into screaming matches:When did it become socially acceptable for adults to shriek like banshees when their graduate’s name is announced? …The award of a degree ought to mark a point of passage into adulthood. Parents, siblings, and friends who understand that might want to stop acting like jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-24281039681575326082010-05-21T00:52:00.004-05:002010-05-21T00:57:00.580-05:00Thank you TSA and AeroflotMy wife left for Russia today, taking the kids with her. They'll return in late July.I just wanted to say that I found TSA at Dulles Airport to be very helpful and considerate, both when I contacted them by email some months ago, and when we dealt with them in person today. A thank you to a bunch of civil servants whose job is definitely not easy.Thank you also to the Aeroflot personnel who were jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-20755964455770820752010-05-21T00:38:00.003-05:002010-05-21T00:52:52.229-05:00After a few short years, I have entered a parallel universeA few years ago, it seemed that everyone was castigating Americans for not saving enough money. Castigating America for its deficit spending was old hat; what was new then was the castigation of Americans for imitating their government. The worrisome figure was that personal savings had declined to such a low rate that it was negative. Tut-tut, they said.Already a year ago, the tune had changed. jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-90490670268319612302010-05-13T13:00:00.000-05:002010-05-13T13:12:14.936-05:00Only when explaining perl...Found online, below a code snippet of perl:This clearly doesn't need any documentation, since it is just one line…I'd complaing that only a guy who codes in perl would say something like that, but that wouldn't exactly be true. That said, I do hate perl.jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-60998318165168509122010-05-13T12:53:00.003-05:002010-05-13T13:17:23.583-05:00No, actually, we don'tThe Daily Mail, a British newspaper, published a wonderful astronomy story which, yes, I do think you should read. The comments are something else entirely, and are best typified by what is by far my favorite comment:Don't Americans have their own newspapers to read?Two points:The comment is attributed to Bob the builder, Queensland, Australia. The Daily Mail is a British newspaper. It would be jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-62112832491906312010-05-11T08:09:00.002-05:002010-05-11T08:15:16.548-05:00Bronte Sister Power DollsThis starts off promising, but ends stupid—much like Wuthering Heights does, only, this is shorter.h/t: First Thoughts* I tried to give Wuthering Heights a second chance recently, by watching some adaptation my wife had placed in our Netflix queue. Despite a spectacular performance by Tom Hardy (who looked more or less the way I had always imagined Heathcliff to look) it still strikes me asjack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-82265559866092627602010-05-09T23:35:00.004-05:002010-05-09T23:45:07.513-05:00Last week's report on the oil spill was a little rosy!Last week I mentioned two reports that showed up in the newspaper:The spill would dissipate before reaching shore, and wouldn't have much effect.The feds were directing it towards the Mississippi Coast, because it would be easier to clean there.Both of them have turned up false. Oil has now turned up on the beaches of both Louisiana and Alabama… but not Mississippi. (If I understood jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-87491787328994066362010-05-09T23:20:00.004-05:002010-05-09T23:34:56.813-05:00Who's sick now?An article from The Economist, five years ago, almost to the day: "Italy: The real sick man of Europe". A couple of days ago, one of those villainous bond rating agencies (Moody's) actually stated that Italy isn't among the nations at risk.Heh. I don't dispute that Italy's financial affairs were, and remain, in poor health.* I do wonder, though, how on earth The Economist missed Greece, Spain, jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-32248592755310175272010-05-07T09:37:00.007-05:002010-05-09T23:47:35.226-05:00Is this what a "healthy Conservative party" looks like?The healthy, modernized Conservative party of Britian… still can't muster enough votes to govern.Over the last few months, I've read a lot of commentary about how a healthy, modernized conservative movement in the United States would look and sound like Cameron's Conservatives in the UK. I really, really hope that this election result puts an end to all that. The United States cannot now, jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-91649232646521273932010-05-02T13:09:00.004-05:002010-05-02T13:27:55.691-05:00Secession? in Italy? Surely I understand wrong...For all the talk by Lega Nord about increasing federalism in the Republic of Italy (they used to talk about secession if I'm not mistaken), there is apparently a serious move in southern Lazio to secede, thereby getting away from the influence Rome has over the region.Italy is divided into Regions, which are subdivided into Provinces. Lazio is the region in central Italy that contains the soccer jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-2589980891325361882010-05-02T13:02:00.003-05:002010-05-02T13:09:48.357-05:00The spillAssuming our Representative to Congress is correct, the effect of the spill won't actually be that bad: it may dissipate, he said to the local newspapers. Perhaps. People on the coast are complaining about an awful smell in the air.Nevertheless, the Coast is preparing for the worst. If I understand an article in the Sun-Herald correctly, some officials have claimed that their discussions with jack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8092896.post-67328833491067513022010-04-27T11:42:00.003-05:002010-04-27T11:59:45.521-05:00The dictator-pig and the smoking presidentThis isn't about Orwell's Animal Farm, honest. Rather, this story starts with a Nebraska (?) county official who couldn't (he claims) get an official photo of the president despite repeated requests (he claims), so he put up a photo he found of the president… smoking. Naturally,* this drew a complaint, so the photo came down.For some reason this reminded me of a story my Italian Nonno usedjack perryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681558050302289235noreply@blogger.com2