Archive for December, 2007

Monday, December 31st, 2007

More Technical Difficulties

This is my first attempt to post something directly into Wordpress, as opposed to having a not-yet-published post imported from Movable Type. Hope it works! Comments:
1) Thanks to Eric Smith ‘99 (and our genius intern Michael) for help with the process so far. Although the pain is great now, I hope that the benefits will [...]

8 Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Same old New Year, with pepperoni, please

For the same reason I hate sunny days (oh! the pressure to be happy! to smile and say, my, what lovely weather! isn’t it gorgeous?), New Year’s Eve always makes me tense. All those puff-chested resolutions! All that hope being bandied about, recklessly! All the ensuing disappointment! I want to have a happy New Year [...]

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by jenn

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Happy New Year!

From Madrid, from the home of my friends. It has been a fantastic visit so far. Playing with little Alvaro.Wandering through museums with Marta.Walking and window shopping alone.Writing in my journal.Reading The English Patient. (I finished it. As alwa…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by GailNHB

Monday, December 31st, 2007

18 for 08

in 2008, i want to . . .1. remain calm under pressure. 2. read more for work.3. read more for fun.4. discover more new music.5. travel at least one place exciting and new.6. floss (of course).7. improve my wardrobe and generally look more put-together…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by sarah

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Thankathon

Why not cut out the middle man from this?
Help support the Alumni Fund and earn additional funds for your Williams student athletic team, club, or organization. Each hour that is spent by each student sending Thank Yous to Williams Alumni for their contribution to the Alumni Fund is counted toward the 25-hour goal, which is [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in EphsChoose by admin

Monday, December 31st, 2007

I’m Losin’ It Ya’ll…

As I re-enter society like an ex-con who just did a five year bid up-state, I am finding it terribly difficult to be normal. I can’t seem to entertain conversation with people who are not in law school. I can’t sleep when everyone else is asleep….

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Brother Spotless

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

Hotness Cools

Greg Crowther ‘95 reminds us that “over time, hotness cools.” He also notes that:
Most scientists now consider the “bar magnet” model of human interaction to be inadequate. The preferred current model is that of the enzyme-substrate complex. In brief, you and your partner should complement each other physically, and physical proximity should lead to [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in 1 by admin

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

Games bloggers play

I’ve been tagged by Peter Lubbers in a year-end round of “blog tag” for trail runners. I’m not necessarily a fan of these reindeer games, nor do I consider myself a true-blue trail runner. But who am I to rebuff…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by crowther

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

Urban-west lit?

Great discussion happening (as usual) over on the Books page at www.newwest.net: Where is the literature of the urban West? Jenny Shank starts by looking for great narrative nonfiction — and then expands her search to fiction as well — in which an ur…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by John Clayton

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

stuff and things

Guitar Hero rules.


Boston Legal rules.

Ruby on Rails may rule, I don’t know - but my personal opinion of it was that it didn’t do it for me.

Catalyst is more up my alley in that it is Perl based and I am a Perl fan (not saying it is better than anything, I just happen to personally like it). Getting Catalyst installed on Windows is comically difficult.


The net connection I am on sucks.

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by cardboardutopia

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

Use SPF

DeWitt Clinton ‘97 claims that he has nothing to do with a recent outbreak of text-spam.
I awoke this morning to see numerous emails in my personal inbox reading:
To: dewitt@gmail.com
From: nnnnnnnnnn@vtext.com
Subject: Stop texting me!
Now obviously I’m not spam texting anyone. Not via the phone, not via email.
Sure, DeWitt. Whatever you say . . .

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Carnival of Mathematics #23: Haiku Edition

Welcome to the 23rd Carnival of Mathematics: Haiku Edition! First, I must apologize for the delay: I usually have very little trouble with my hosting provider, but of course it went down just when the CoM was supposed to be posted. But it’s free, so I can’t complain! It’s back up now, [...]

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Brent

Friday, December 28th, 2007

note to self:

i should get massages more often.

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by sarah

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Through the Canyon: Stunning Bighorn Canyon still casts its spell

One of my fellow contributors to The Montana Quarterly magazine is David Crisp, editor of the alternative weekly newspaper in Billings, the Billings Outpost. I’ve always admired the way David reprints his magazine pieces in the newspaper. The magazine …

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by John Clayton

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Top ten posts of 2007

It’s fun to read back through a year’s worth of posts, looking for my ten favorites. Themes and subconscious fixations are often clearer in hindsight, and you may be able to spot a few of mine in these posts. Thanks…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Rachel Barenblat

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Technical Difficulties

We are in the process of moving EphBlog to a different hosting company and switching to Wordpress from Movable Type for our blogging software. There will, no doubt, be teething pains. Apologies in advance for any difficulties, especially for authors trying to post new material. The process should be complete before the start of Winter [...]

29 Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Academic Communities

Three years ago, David Ramos ‘00 wrote
If Williams wants to engineer additional communities, why not build real academic communities? Environmental Studies comes together every week for Log Lunch, and CS meets for pizzas and colloqiua. My department, English, did nothing of the kind, barring once-a-year socials.
Good question. Which departments/programs do the best job of [...]

5 Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Margot at the Wedding

Quite a comedown from The Squid and the Whale, Noah Baumbach’s new film boasts distinctive performances from Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh (his wife) as a pair of close but equally-impossible sisters, trying to get back together — and at ea…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Steve Satullo

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

Julia Jentsch is utterly convincing as the anti-Nazi college girl in Marc Rothemund’s meticulous recreation of the White Rose resistance movement at Munich University, through the capture, trial and execution of their ringleaders in 1943. Working fr…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Steve Satullo

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Backward glances

Without any plan, based on broadcast or disk availability, my movie viewing has been proceeding into the past. I’m no fan of Anthony Mingella as a director, but I always like to watch Matt Dillon, so when I happened upon Mr. Wonderful (1992, *6+*) o…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Steve Satullo

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

From this book on fasting.I’m taking off this week’s day of fasting and waiting til next week to do a 2-day one instead. I think just 1 day only uses up glycogen stores. If this pattern doesn’t work out, I’ll go the 3-day every month route. Fasting is …

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by L.

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

I´m here…

At the home of my friends, Leticia and Eduardo, and their beautiful baby, Alvaro. I arrived here without any problems. Flew out of Miami a little late, but arrived here in Madrid without any problem. I came up out of the subway station near my friendsÂ…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by GailNHB

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Recounting the Rationals, part I

This is the first in a series of posts I’m planning to write on the paper “Recounting the Rationals“, by Neil Calkin and Herbert Wilf, mathematicians at Clemson University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively. I’m really excited about it, and I hope that you’ll soon see why! It’s an incredibly elegant and [...]

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Brent

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Modest Proposal

Interesting video of Wendy Shalit ‘97, author of Girls Gone Mild, discussing mentors.
There is a story about a Williams professor toward the end. Previous Shalit posts here.Related (?) is this Record article about Liz Osthus ‘96, the only (?) Eph stripper.
For graduating students, entering the real world often means following a dress code. Sometimes [...]

16 Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

How to Eliminate America’s Addiction to OilBy 2016, half of new cars sold here could be hydrogen powered? That’d be nice. The government and NASA are already using hydrogen power… I hope widespread use is more than just a pipe dream.

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by L.

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Phonefare

Greg Crowther ‘95 defines “phonefare” as the “that brief musical ‘fanfare’ that cell phones emit when they are turned on or off.” Given EphBlog’s Google juice, I expect this to be the top hit for the term shortly. Spread the word.

1 Comment » - Posted in 1 by admin

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

One year stroke-free

We were eating cheap takeout Chinese food and watching a dvd when the vision in my left eye became occluded. At first I thought it was a floater. Then we thought it might be a detached retina. I convinced myself…

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by Rachel Barenblat

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Hope you had a merry Christmas…

It was a good day for us yesterday, quiet. Mom and Mom-in-law came for brunch at 9 am.Both were on their way home by noon.A quiet afternoon here.Cleaning up. Putting dining room linens away.Munching on cookies and other goodies.Went to the movies with …

No Comments » - Posted in 1 by GailNHB

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Due Date

Grades from professors are “due” to the Registrar today. Cale Weatherly comments, “You are significantly likelier to receive grades on time from professors who do not have tenure than from professors who do.”
Indeed. And this would make for an interesting senior thesis! What is the pattern of timeliness among professors when it comes to getting [...]

60 Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Merry Christmas!

Can you guess this Eph Santa and his elf, and the occasion for their merriment?

8 Comments » - Posted in 1 by admin