Aaaaahhhhh

Last week I ended a stressful few weeks and successfully defended my dissertation proposal, Computational Aspects of Approval Voting and Declared-Strategy Voting, which is a relief.  Now I've sold my doctoral committee on the value of my work and all I have to do is the work I proposed.  I took a few days to relax, but now it feels so good to concentrate on getting new research results again!  The future is now much less uncertain and I feel reenergized.

Plus Aggie basketball is in the Sweet 16 and Aggie baseball is off to a great start, having just beaten perennial power Rice in 11 innings.  Even Wash. U. basketball got to the Division III Final Four.  It's an exciting time.

Ridiculing easy targets

This last weekend I posted about the webpages of a girl that O's brother had met, making fun of her bizarre lies and exaggerations.  But after reading it again, that post seemed overly harsh and mean-spirited, so I deleted it. I have better things to write about anyway.

. . . like the University of Metaphysical Sciences!  UMS offers courses such as Wizards, Magical Creatures & Adepts, Witchcraft, Divination Systems, Crystals/Gemstones, Astrology Basics, Connecting With Angels, Aura Viewing, Feng Shui, Ear Candling (!), Breatharianism, Mary Magdalene, Vibrational Healing, and, of course, Attracting Clients.  What a relief to know that there's training out there for New-Age pseudoscientists.

How easy is it to earn a doctoral degree at UMS?  One of the Frequently Asked Questions is "Can I have all the Doctorates and my Ph.D.?  What if I want all of it?"  The answer is "We do not recommend more than two doctorate degrees."  And here I am working hard like a sucker for just one.

Esoterica

I recently found DM's Home Page, which is unremarkable at first glance but is filled with brilliant stuff.  There's a hilarious list of esoteric programming languages; I especially like Piet (a program in Piet looks like a piece of modern art) and ZOMBIE.  The original esoteric programming language is INTERCAL; another classic is Brainf*ck.

The site also has an excellent and very thorough explanation of cricket, my favorite sport and an esoteric sport for most Americans.  Another esoteric sport I discovered just this week is kolf, which evolved from the same ancestor sport as golf.  It's weird.

Also be sure to check out Arlington Wolfe Enterprises (especially their resurrection service), 7-Word Stories, Spoilers for Every Movie Ever Made and The Web Page From The Future!