Thursday, March 25, 2010

Quick hits


Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind,

Dr Grigori Perelman, a reclusive Russian genius, is refusing to accept the prestigious $1 million "Millennium" mathematics prize awarded by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, MA.

Perelman was awarded the prize for solving the one-hundred-year-old Poincaré conjecture, one of the most complicated mathematical problems in the world - so complex, in fact, that after Perelman posted his proofs in 2002 it took several years for other experts to confirm he was correct ...

I would like to think that he's just not selling out, which is admirable. But, I think he's probably just nuts, a la John Nash.

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My wife is working security at this weekend's Wrestlemania. Never have so many low IQ mouth-breathers been assembled in one location since ... well ... since CPAC.

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Speaking of morons, from local progressive radio host, Jeff Farias:

"Consider these Harris poll numbers * 67 percent of Republicans believe that Obama is a socialist. * 57 percent of Republicans believe that Obama is a Muslim * 45 percent of Republicans agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was -not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president- * 38 percent of Republicans say that Obama is -doing many of the things that Hitler did- * Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans say that -Obama may be the Antichrist- ..."

Do you think people think up these things by themselves? No, they are spoon-fed ideas. Any self-respecting conservative needs to denounce people like Beck and Limbaugh. It's not about the fringe any more. Look at those numbers ... 67%! Every one of those items is easily refuted with facts (those pesky things). So, why would people still believe them? Because they are not interested in facts. They want to believe these things are true and will look for pundits who reinforce their prejudices. If it was just harmless disagreement, it wouldn't be a big deal. But racial epithets and anti-gay slurs have been hurled at our congressmen. People's families are being threatened, people are being shot at. Enough is enough. It's obvious that the disagreements actually have nothing to do with healthcare.

"Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge." -- Horace Mann

2 comments:

wstachour said...

I'm just returning to life after a cruise, but we did manage to read a couple really inspiring columns in the NYTimes digest on the ship after the health care passage (the always-wonderful Paul Krugman and one by Bob Herbert, I believe).

I think the world is aware that the Republican Party has been taken over by a really extreme fringe, and that what is going on there is profoundly anti-social and not part of a rational and healthy political discourse. One never saw this kind of invective and threats and lies about impending apocalypse from the left during the tenure of W.

I think these people are profoundly anti-American, and Obama's victory here makes them seem starkly so. Bravo.

dbackdad said...

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Krugman. I'll track down those columns.

You went on a cruise, yet there are no pictures or a journal of your exploits? Come on, buddy, let's get on the ball. See, those that can't go on these cool trips read about those people that can. :-)